Viking coach Brad Childress talking about 37-year-old quarterback Brett Favre who has the Packers off to a 3-0 start: “He has no conscience in terms of firing the football in there. He plays with great confidence, and you can see right now he’s playing with great enthusiasm.”
Sports Illustrated jinx? Favre is on the magazine’s latest cover and the superstitious will say that means a Viking win on Sunday.
The Vikings will wear throwback uniforms for Sunday’s game as the franchise celebrates Chuck Foreman’s induction into the Ring of Honor as part of Alumni Weekend. The uniforms are representative of those worn by the Vikings during Foreman’s Viking career and differ from the current uniforms in several areas.
Marion Barber III ran with exceptional emotion and toughness for the Gophers. Those characteristics are being noticed in Dallas, too, where Barber has gained 256 yards, 12th in the NFL. Among rushers, he’s tied in touchdowns (four) with Joseph Addai of Indianapolis. Barber has one touchdown reception and is tied for the league lead in touchdowns (five) with receivers Randy Moss of New England and Plaxico Burress of the Giants.
Dick Tressel, former Hamline football coach and athletic director, has been on brother Jim’s staff at Ohio State since 2001. Dick is the Ohio State running backs coach.
The Gophers have been picked to finish second in the WCHA for 2007-08, according to the Grand Forks Herald’s annual preseason coaches’ poll. The Gophers received three of the 10 first-place votes while WCHA favorite North Dakota received the other votes. North Dakota’s Ryan Duncan was named the Preseason WCHA Player of the Year, and Kyle Turris of Wisconsin was selected as the league’s Preseason Rookie of the Year. Minnesota sophomore Kyle Okposo also received a vote for WCHA Preseason Player of the Year.
The Herb Brooks Foundation’s third benefit gala will be held on Friday, November 9 beginning at 6 p.m. at The Depot in Minneapolis. Hockey Hall of Famers Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull will be keynote speakers. Members of the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team, as well as other former and current NHL players, will be attending the event. Live auction items include an ice skating party for 10 with Olympic star Kristi Yamaguchi and her husband, Bret Hedican, a Minnesota native and Stanley Cup winner . A walk-on role opportunity in the upcoming Mayhem Pictures film, “Secretariat,” and a 1980 Olympic jersey signed by Brooks and the team will also be auctioned off. Tickets are $140 per person and can be purchased by calling Tracy Adams at 763-479-4499 or via email at tracyadams@frontiernet.net.
When Tubby Smith was coach at Kentucky he recruited Joel Przybilla, the Monticello High School center who went on to play two seasons with the Gophers before becoming a No. 1 NBA draft pick. Smith and Przybilla, now starting his eighth NBA season, have been talking since Smith became the Gopher coach earlier this year and the two are building a friendship.