Chris McCosky of the Detroit News didn’t hold back in a recent article that contrasted Boston’s Kevin Garnett and rival Detroit power forward Rasheed Wallace, https://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080602/SPORTS0102/806020370/1004/SPORTS. “Off the court, Garnett can be a jerk,” McCosky wrote. “He is rude to ball boys and locker room attendants. He gets himself so intensely wound before games, he’s even a jerk to his teammates at times. But on the court, Garnett is the perfect teammate. He plays hard every second he’s on the floor. …
“Wallace off the court is one of the warmest and funniest guys in the league. There isn’t a ball boy or locker room attendant that he hasn’t tipped lavishly. … But on the court, Wallace can be a jerk. There are times, because he is so ridiculously skilled, he just gets bored and lax. He doesn’t always agree with the game plan, but instead of arguing about it before the game, he sometimes tries to rebel against it during the game.”
Former Gopher player and Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders, fired earlier this week as Detroit coach, will have another NBA job if he wants one. It doesn’t take too much imagination to think that Saunders, 53, may one day coach the Wolves again, or even succeed Tubby Smith as Gopher coach.
Major league baseball is proud of its superior attendance for interleague play but an article in the No. 35 Baseball Research Journal pointed out certain advantages about the American League-National League games. Generally, interleague games have been played when school is out and weather is warm, plus a majority of games have been scheduled on weekends, according to the Journal article that analyzed data from 1997-2006.
Twins second baseman Alexi Casilla has reached base via hit or walk in 15 of his last 17 games. He has hit safely in 13 of 14 games and extended his hit-streak to eight games yesterday in the team’s 3-2 loss to Baltimore. He is hitting .343 (24-for-70) and he has either scored a run or drove in a run in 15 of his 20 games played in 2008. He had three hits yesterday.
Kevin Gorg, who has been part of the FSN North broadcast team on Minnesota Wild games, will be appearing on several of the network’s Twins telecasts. Gorg said his role will be providing “behind the scenes” reporting such as selling beer at the Metrodome. For that assignment Gorg will become a vendor.
Twenty current and former NFL players, including the Vikings’ Darren Sharper, will participate in the annual NFL Broadcast Boot Camp at NFL Films in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. The activity, from June 16-19, will be directed by the NFL Broadcasting Department and cover a wide range of topics with instructors from each of the NFL’s broadcasting partners – CBS, ESPN, FOX, NBC, NFL Network, Sirius Satellite Radio, Westwood One Radio, plus local radio and TV. The training will include hands-on work in areas such as tape study, editing, show preparation, radio production, control room operation, studio preparation, production meetings, field reporting and game preparation.
Gopher hockey coach Don Lucia talking last week about his new assistant Mike Hastings who is the winningest coach in United States Hockey League history and in 14 seasons led Omaha to a 529-210-56 record: “After a month-long search and talking to numerous people, I believe Mike Hastings is the right fit for Gopher hockey. He is a former defenseman who has established himself by winning over 70 percent of his games over the last 14 years in the USHL. Mike has recruiting contacts all over North America, but his ties with the USHL will prove invaluable to our program.”
The Gopher women’s track and field team has four student-athletes, Heather Dorniden, Liz Podominick, Jamie Cheever and Alicia Rue, on the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V teams as voted upon by the nation’s sports information directors. Dorniden, Podominick and Cheever are first team honorees while Rue is second team. Minnesota’s four selections was best among Big Ten Conference teams.