Author: David Shama

Joe Mauer’s grandfather, Jake, Sr., has macular degeneration but he’s participating in an experimental program at the University of Minnesota and his sight is improving.   Grandpa is back for another year at Canterbury Park selling his tip sheet.

Collector card authority Dave Mona reports the following sports trading cards are the most popular nationally:  Daisuke Matsuzaka, Sidney Crosby, Alex Rodriguez, JaMarcus Russell and Adrian Peterson.

Matsuzaka, the Red Sox pitcher, was the first choice in a Sports Illustrated players poll to win American League Rookie of the Year honors.  The Twins’ Matt Garza, currently in AAA with Rochester, was the fourth choice (one percent of the vote).

The Gopher football team will play four of its seven home games at night, including three of its four Big Ten Conference home games. Those games are Bowling Green, September 1; Purdue, September 22; Ohio State, September 29 and Illinois, November 3.  The Purdue game starts at 8 p.m., the others at 7 p.m. 

KARE 11 meteorologist Belinda Jensen, who is expecting a baby in late July, remains interested in tennis and participates in weekly drills. 

FSN North hockey analyst Kevin Gorg predicts Buffalo will defeat Anaheim in seven games to win the Stanley Cup.

The Minnesota Twins have exceeded the 10,000 mark in season tickets for only the second time in franchise history and are close to breaking the record set in 1993, according to team president Dave St. Peter.  He told Sports Headliners yesterday that counting full and partial season tickets the Twins have sold about 10,500 tickets.  The record of 10,700 was established in 1993 following World Series championships in 1992 and 1987. 

The Twins’ new ballpark and status among the better teams in baseball has sent interest to near record levels.  “We’re pushing to have a season ticket base north of 15,000 by the time we go in the new ballpark in 2010. …Hopefully, we can push it close to 17,000 to 20,000,” St. Peter said. 

He’s projecting three game attendance of 110,000 to 120,000 for the Red Sox series starting tonight at the Metrodome.  The largest crowd is likely to be for Saturday night’s game, probably more than 40,000 but not necessarily capacity (46,632). 

Cover boy Daisuke Matsuzaka won’t pitch in the series, having started last night in the Red Sox game against Seattle.  St. Peter was asked if Matsuzaka would have pushed a game here to a sellout. 

“I think there would be some impact,” St. Peter said.  “Whether it would go to sellout, I am a little bit skeptical of that.   I think some of the mania has subsided a bit.  He’s got hit around a little bit.”    

The rookie right hander’s record is 3-2 with a 5.45 ERA. Although no one is ready to hand him the Cy Young award, fans would like to see him pitch here.  Of course, many customers would like the American League schedule to bring the Red Sox and Yankees to town more than once per season, too. The Yankees made their only appearance here last month. 

Are the Twins pushing for a change from the league’s unbalanced schedule that will bring these teams here more than once per season every year?  “One of these years we’ll get the Yankees twice (the White Sox do this season),” St. Peter said. “We’ll rotate around. …Be careful of what you ask for.  From a competitive standpoint, I don’t want to play the Yankees and Red Sox more than once.  I appreciate the fan (interest) piece of it. …You asked the question if we’re actively lobbying baseball (for a schedule change) and the answer is no.” 

St. Peter highly values the quality of competition and rivalries in the AL Central.  He said schedules build rivalries and rivalries sell tickets. “My sense is the best teams in baseball are in the American League Central and the beauty of that is we get to play those teams 18 times,” St. Peter said.  “The true test of this will be look at what our attendance will be the following week for the White Sox and Tigers (May 8-13).   

“There are tremendous rivalries being developed here between (the) Twins-White Sox, the Twins (and) the Tigers, the Twins (and) the Indians. …We saw that last year as demonstrated by what happened the second half of the season against both the White Sox and the Tigers. …”

Count Randy Taylor among those impressed with the Vikings’ draft last weekend.  He thinks the team’s decision makers such as vice president of player personnel Rick Spielman pulled off one of the best drafts in the NFL. “I don’t think there’s any question it’s an A (letter grade),” Taylor told Sports Headliners. 

Taylor is the Gophers’ director of football operations.  For the past five years he worked for Taylor Scouting Services and Scout.com as the Director of NFL Experts.  He is knowledgeable about many players drafted through the NFL’s seven rounds last Saturday and Sunday.  

Taylor talked with enthusiasm about the Vikings’ choices in rounds one, two and three, running back Adrian Peterson of Oklahoma, wide receiver Sidney Rice of South Carolina and corner back Marcus McCauley of Fresno State.  “Adrian Peterson is a guy that is so talented; (if) he stays healthy he’s a dominant player,” Taylor said.  “Rice I think has great upside and McCauley, those three guys are all first round possible guys. …”     

Taylor said Rice is an “explosive” player and a “heck of a prospect.”  McCauley’s size (about 6-1, 203), physical style and ability to run meant he “could have been a first round draft choice,” Taylor said.   

“Another guy I really like is (linebacker) Rufus Alexander from Oklahoma. …I thought he could be a first day draft choice,” Taylor said. “He slipped all the way to the sixth round.”   

That, of course, raises the question as to why players like Rice, McCauley and Alexander (he was the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year) weren’t chosen earlier.  The short answer is time will tell.  The longer response is draft order can be impacted by what other teams need and sometimes teams see real or imagined issues with players and others may see those issues differently. 

Taylor was asked about players from throughout the draft that may surprise, guys who might eventually emerge as higher valued selections than they are now. “I still kind of think the old Ohio State quarterback (Troy Smith) could perform better than a lot of people have given him credit for.  I think a lot of people put too much weight on his last game (national championship against Florida).  

“Ted Ginn, Jr. (Ohio State) to me is a talent guy and the jury is still out on whether he’s worth the ninth pick (by Miami) in the draft.  He can run and add something to a football team that can change a game.  Ted Ginn may win a couple of games for them that a solid first round draft choice may not. ….So those are two guys who took a lot of heat for different reasons and I would guess those guys will out perform what people think of them.” 

Smith, who won the Heisman Trophy and led the Buckeyes to a No. 1 ranking, waited until the fifth round to be selected by Baltimore.