Author: David Shama

Sunday’s Viking home game against Philadelphia is likely to sell-out in time to prevent a local TV blackout, according to an e-mail received earlier today from Steve LaCroix, vice president of sales and marketing. As of this morning there were approximately 2,000 seats remaining, most of them in the $46 and $57 price categories, according to LaCroix.

Under NFL rules the Vikings must sell out the game by Thursday to prevent a local TV blackout. “While we have until Thursday mid-day to move these remaining tickets, we feel confident that we will continue our sell-out streak,” LaCroix wrote.

The Vikings have sold-out 98 consecutive home games.  Tickets remain for all six 2007 home games.

In other Viking news today, coach Brad Childress said at his weekly news conference that quarterback Tarvaris Jackson has a splint on the second finger of his right hand.  The finger is sore and swollen from a fracture, but no decision has been made regarding whether Jackson will start Sunday’s game.  Despite disappointing play in the last two games, Childress said Jackson will be the starter against the Eagles if he’s “physically and mentally” ready.

Childress said he isn’t looking back at the team’s decision not to acquire a more NFL ready quarterback during the off-season.  He said a commitment must be made to developing a young player if that’s the direction taken.  “I believe we’ll know a lot more about Tarvaris at the end of this year than we do right now,” Childress said.

Will Jackson improve his play enough in the team’s final 10 regular season games to give the Vikings some hope of making the playoffs?  After three starts this season and two last year, Jackson went to Dallas yesterday and looked like a quarterback who isn’t improving.

Jackson was 6-9 passing as the Vikings produced one offensive touchdown in the 24-14 loss.  The week before he was 9-23 against the Bears and so in his last two games he has 15 completions.  Fox TV analyst and former NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman said during yesterday’s telecast that he considers “accuracy the most important thing” for an NFL quarterback.

Jackson’s struggles include other problems, too.  Observers believe he holds the ball too long waiting to pass, doesn’t see open receivers and frequently throws hard passes when more touch is required.

It doesn’t help that the Vikings receivers appear average at best, but they’re playing at a higher level than Jackson.  Plus, having a running game that’s making defenses crowd the line of scrimmage is an advantage and opportunity for Jackson.

With the Vikings at 2-4 and 10 regular season games remaining, Jackson needs to improve considerably if the Vikings are going to reach a .500 record or better.  A winning team isn’t characterized by a defense that frequently scores with about the same frequency as the offense.

Brad Childress told Paul Allen on KFAN radio last week that he learned the advantages of using two featured running backs when he was an assistant at the University of Wisconsin working for Barry Alvarez. Childress plans to continue indefinitely alternating Chester Taylor and Adrian Peterson.  Defenses often must contend with different styles and fresher legs in a rotation system.

Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo talking about the difference between his former coach, the legendary Bill Parcells, and present boss Wade Phillips: “Besides the language, I would say it is probably just in the fact that one is more of a micro manager.  I think (Bill) Parcells wants to have his hand in and coach just about every position and do different things.  Wade (Phillips) is going to delegate more authority to his assistant coaches.  Both are very competitive people that want to win badly.  I don’t know that there is as much difference as people really want to make that out to be.”

With a competitive team and sold out games, maybe majority owner Bob Naegele, operating the team since the franchise inception 10 years ago, is open to selling the franchise.  A former NHL executive thinks so if the price is attractive.  He places the franchise value between $220 and $250 million.  The original reported franchise cost was $80 million.  The source also said the Nashville Predators are worth about $200 million and may relocate to Kansas City.   

Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins come to Xcel Energy Center for one game this season, Tuesday, October 30. Stubhub.com is listing a ticket range of $73 to $369 for the sold-out game.

Al Jefferson is the Timberwolves’ leading scorer and rebounder in pre-season, averaging 15.3 points and 13 rebounds.  Jefferson, playing power forward and center, will have to be a team leader although he’s only 22 years old.

Look for the Wolves’ Ricky Davis, who is in the last year of his contract, to have his best NBA season.  Davis offers inside and outside scoring, and also playmaking, but has been consistently inconsistent during his nine pro seasons.  He’s the team’s fourth leading scorer in pre-season at 11.3 points per game.

The Wolves, 2-4, close their pre-season schedule this week with two games in Minneapolis.  Tomorrow night Indiana is in town and Friday evening Milwaukee plays at Target Center.  The season and home opener is against Denver on Friday, November 2.  The Nuggets are picked to finish second in the Northwest Division by Athlon’s pro basketball magazine.  The Wolves will finish last in the five team division, according to the magazine.  Regarding the trade of Kevin Garnett and state of the franchise the magazine said, “The best thing you can say about the Timberwolves heading into 2007-08 is that they aren’t stuck in the denial stage of their current plight.”

Tubby Smith’s Gophers will finish seventh in the Big Ten Conference, according to Sporting News basketball magazine.  The former Kentucky coach might have the Gophers in the NCAA tournament, the magazine said.  “If there’s a knock on Smith, it’s not that his teams lacked discipline and toughness—it’s that he didn’t land enough five-star recruits to stop Florida from ruling the SEC.”

A former Big Ten assistant basketball coach who didn’t want his name used, told Sports Headliners in September that the Gophers will surprise and finish among the top five teams in the conference.

The conference schedule has been expanded to 18 games.  The only team the Gophers don’t play in Minneapolis is Purdue.  Two of the best games to see at Williams Arena are Indiana on January 17 and Michigan State January 20. Both are favorites to win the conference title.

Expect college basketball analyst and promoter Dick Vitale to ballyhoo his friend Tubby Smith on ESPN telecasts.

It’s commonplace for college football teams to combine for 80 or more points in single games.  Recently Boise State and Nevada scored 136 points in an overtime game.  Gopher coach Tim Brewster said balance between offense and defense has always been cyclical and he expects a slow down in the present trend.

There will be a lot of disappointed and surprised fans in Nebraska if coach Bill Callahan isn’t replaced after this season.  The athletic director who hired Callahan is gone and speculation by many is that the Husker coach is next after being blown out in three consecutive games against Missouri, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M.  North Dakota State coach Craig Bohl is a former defensive coordinator at Nebraska and his name could be on a replacement list. Perhaps, too, might former Gopher coach Glen Mason whose success with running teams fits the Nebraska tradition (unlike Callahan’s West Coast offense).

Bohl came into this season with a 33-11 record at North Dakota State.  After Saturday’s 27-21 win over the Gophers his team is 7-0 and has won 11 consecutive games.  During the last 44 seasons all but one coach at NDSU has won at least .676 percent of his games.  Included among the winners is former Gopher coach Jim Wacker who was 24-9-1 (.721) during three seasons in Fargo.  At Minnesota Wacker was 16-39 (.291).

Among Big Ten coaches who coached at least 10 years in the conference, Mason ranks 25^th in all-time winning percentage at .529.  

Matt Carufel was the 2005 Gatorade Player of the Year in Minnesota and one of the nation’s most highly recruited linemen before choosing Notre Dame.  His decision to leave the Irish earlier this month during his sophomore season reportedly means he will transfer to either Iowa or Minnesota.  The South Bend Tribune’s Web site, southbendtribune.com, posted a story on Carufel that said he’s one of 17 players to leave the Notre Dame program since December of 2004.

Ken Lien, analyst on Crystal Clear Sports prep Webcasts, is referring to the upcoming state football large school playoff as the “shampoo” tournament.  He said E