Author: David Shama

Vikings coach Brad Childress talking about explosive Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson being a difference maker for his struggling offense:  “He’ll be a great difference maker for anybody.  We’re going to get a good football player (drafting at No. 7).” 

Yesterday Childress read his favorite poem The Bridge Builder by Will Allen Dromgoole) at the downtown Minneapolis Public Library as part of National Poetry Month.  The poem speaks of each generation’s responsibilities to those who come after and Childress has been reading it since adolescence.  Although he’s a fan of the poem and finds it inspirational, he doesn’t write poetry or have any hobbies such as golf or boating.  

Media and Gopher fans will watch Tubby Smith in the months ahead to see how recruiting develops.  While at Kentucky, Smith had a verbal commitment from Saginaw, Michigan star Draymond Green.   Is Green’s coach, Lou Dawkins, who played for Smith at Tulsa, a candidate for an assistant coach’s job at Minnesota?      

The April 16 Sporting News listed its top 15 pre-season college football teams and ranked Wisconsin No. 6.  Other Big Ten Conference teams were No. 7 Michigan, No. 14 Penn State and No. 15 Ohio State.      

Wally’s Choice was injured in a workout recently, won’t be able to race this year and will have to wait until 2008 to break Blair’s Cove’s all-time record of $533,528 for Minnesota bred race horses.   The six-year-old race horse tore a tendon but is expected to make a full recovery and needs about $100,000 in additional winnings to break the record.  Owners include Wally McNeil, known to local sports fans as “Wally the Beerman.”  He has a promising two-year-old filly named Run Danya.   

Featherweights Jason Litzau of St. Paul and Aldo Valiterra of Mexico meet at Roy Wilkins Auditorium on Wednesday night in a televised fight on ESPN2.

NBA gossip volume would plunge without speculation Kevin Garnett will play elsewhere next season.  A rumored destination continues to be Los Angeles where the Lakers offer a trade package including 19-year-old center Andrew Bynum.   

The problem with the move Garnett idea is that invariably the proposed transaction involves unproven players and draft choices.  Why trade by far your best player, an NBA superstar, for the unknown?  Not to mention Garnett has high performance production left in his 30-year-old body and is basketball ticket selling ATTRACTION No. 1 in Minneapolis.

NBA trade history shows the teams receiving the superstars benefit, not the ones giving them up.  Two of the NBA’s most savvy deal makers, Jerry West and Red Auerbach, formed championship teams by exchanging good players for great ones. 

With the NBA season ending tonight, Garnett is on the verge of leading the league in rebounding for a fourth consecutive year.  He’s averaged almost 13 per game.  He’s totaled 22.4 points per game.  Both his rebound and season averages are similar to his best past numbers, an indication he still plays at a high level. 

Head coach Randy Wittman admires Garnett’s durability.  “Knock on wood, he’s been blessed with a pretty healthy career,” Wittman said.  “He’s logged a lot of minutes but he hasn’t had anything where he’s missed half a year, or he’s missed 25 games. …I think he’s got a lot left in the tank. …He improves every year.  He adds something to his game that makes him harder to play against.” 

Does Wittman think Garnett can play at a high level for a long time?  “Absolutely,” Wittman said.  “He’s shown nothing where I’ve looked at him and said, ‘Boy, he’s lost a little bit here, he’s lost a little bit there.’  Nothing.”

Garnett’s career numbers in total points, rebounds and assists are keeping company now with former NBA greats.  He is one of five players in league history to come up with 19,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, and 4,000 assists in his career. The others are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Wilt Chamberlain and Charles Barkley. Garnett’s totals are 19,041 points (20.5 per game), 10,542 rebounds (11.4 per game), and 4,146 assists (4.5 per game).  

What does it say about Garnett? “It’s amazing to be honest with you,” Wittman said. “No. 1 the consistency of doing it is incredible.  That’s why he’s the player he is.  All those things show you different things in a guy and his unselfishness.  His rebounding, leading the league again, that’s not an easy thing.  He plays the game the right way and it shows when you mention numbers like that.”

Some off-season deals seem pre-ordained.  It’s hard to argue with the suggestion the Wild should trade goalie Manny Fernandez, use the contract savings to re-sign Niklas Backstrom and promote Josh Harding to No. 2 status. 

Backstrom and Fernandez won the NHL’s William Jennings Trophy as the goaltenders for the club finishing the regular season with the fewest team goals against.  The trophy is awarded to the goaltenders that played in a minimum of 25 games on the team allowing the fewest goals in the regular season. The Wild allowed a league-low 191 goals.  Backstrom played in 41 games, Fernandez in 44. 

Backstrom, 29, signed a one year contract with the Wild prior to last season.  He went from backup to star in one season after Fernandez was injured.  Fernandez played enough to become the first goalie in franchise history to win a career 100 games. 

Talk is the Los Angeles Kings may be interested in acquiring Fernandez, 32, during the off-season.  Three years younger, Backstrom is closer to his peak years than Fernandez.  Then, too, it’s hard to imagine losing a guy who performed so spectacularly. He becomes a free agent, able to sign with any team, on July 1.   

Backstrom led the NHL with a 1.96 per game goals against average and had a 93% save average during the regular season.  He had five shutouts and in 38 of 41 games allowed three goals or less.  He even became the first goalie in the NHL’s modern era to earn two wins without starting the games.

Backstrom finished the season by making news in the North American hockey world.  He was honored with the NHL’s Third Star for his final three games performance. He had a 3-0-0 record, 0.33 goals-against average, a 99% save percentage and two shutouts as the Wild (48-26-8, 104 points) finished second in the Northwest Division and seventh in the Western Conference. 

With goal scoring absent in three of four games so far, the Wild haven’t been successful in the playoffs but Backstrom has been effective.  He’s continued his consistent play from the regular season and allowed only eight total goals. 

Backstrom played the past four seasons with Karpat Oulu of the Finnish Elite League, including back-to-back championship seasons in 2003-04 and 2004-05. He won 104 of the 177 games he played in the Finnish league, with a 104-36-37 record. He had 18 shutouts in four seasons with Karpat and never had a goals against average over 2.17.  

If Fernandez doesn’t return and Backstrom does, Harding, 22, presumably has the opportunity to become the No. 2 goalie.  He played in seven games for the Wild during the season, starting four.