Author: David Shama

David Shama is a former sports editor and columnist with local publications. His writing and reporting experiences include covering the Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Twins, Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Gophers. Shama’s career experiences also include sports marketing. He is the former Marketing Director of the Minnesota North Stars of the NHL. He is also the former Marketing Director of the United States Tennis Association’s Northern Section. A native of Minneapolis, Shama has been part of the community his entire life. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota where he majored in journalism. He also has a Master’s degree in education from the University of St. Thomas. He was a member of the Governor’s NBA’s Task Force to help create interest in bringing pro basketball to town in the 1980s.

Pitino Upbeat on Team Despite Critics

Posted on October 3, 2018October 3, 2018 by David Shama

Richard Pitino’s Golden Gopher basketball team began formal practices last week and will play a season-opening exhibition game in about four weeks against Minnesota Duluth at Williams Arena. How Pitino’s sixth year as coach will go is a mystery to college basketball observers, including me.

Athlon’s college basketball publication forecasts an 11th place finish in the 14-team Big Ten Conference for the Gophers. Dan Murphy, writing for Espn.com last August, placed Minnesota at No. 10 in his Big Ten power rankings.

Street & Smith’s basketball magazine is more optimistic about the Gophers, listing them No. 4 behind Michigan State, Michigan and Nebraska. I am more aligned with Street & Smith’s outlook and believe Minnesota has the personnel to finish between fifth and seventh in the standings.

Front court talent is where the Gophers are most promising. Senior forward Jordan Murphy averaged more than 16 points and 11 rebounds last season. Athlon ranks him the No. 66 player in college basketball and he is on everyone’s list of potential All-Big Ten forwards.

Junior Amir Coffey, a starting forward in the past who could play shooting guard this season, is so versatile he is expected to impact most every game including as a playmaker. Sophomore forward Eric Curry missed all of last season but his scoring and rebounding totals could be in double figures many games this season.

Minnesota’s backcourt outlook is murky with the departure of last season’s senior leader, point guard Nate Mason. Sophomore Isaiah Washington was a flashy but erratic playmaker last season and could be Mason’s successor.

Answering a question last week about Washington, Pitino stressed the importance of improving fundamentals. “…In high school it’s different than college, but I think he is progressing nicely. He’s been really good over the summer. And it’s very important that over the next month, he continues to get better.”

Starting senior shooting guard Dupree McBrayer has a career field goal percentage of .390. His three point percentage is .351. Without improvement, that will open up playing time for combo guard Brock Stull, the senior transfer from Milwaukee who averaged 13.4 points per game last season.

“Really, really good passer. Really good shot-maker,” Pitino said about Stull. “It’s just a matter of getting that conditioning up. That will be there in time.”

For the Gophers to make “crystal ballers” like Street & Smith’s look accurate they will not only need top play from the above mentioned players but also newcomers including top 50 recruit and center Daniel Oturu of Cretin-Derham Hall. Freshmen Gabe Kalscheur (guard) and Jarvis Omersa (forward) may make major contributions too, although it’s possible someone could redshirt. Pitino is still waiting to hear from the NCAA whether Pitt transfer and sophomore point guard Marcus Carr will be eligible for this season or will have to redshirt.

Pitino describes his program as “strong” but others aren’t so sure. “I love where we stand as a program,” he said. “Two years ago we had a terrific regular season. One of the best they’ve ever had (at Minnesota). Last year we were sitting at 13-3 after 16 games. …”

Pitino’s 2016-2017 team was 11-7 in regular season Big Ten games and earned its way into the NCAA Tournament. That was an unexpected turnaround after the Gophers had been 2-16 in conference games the season prior. Last season Minnesota had the impressive start Pitino referenced above but injuries to Coffey, Curry and McBrayer, and center Reggie Lynch’s suspension that hit in January, wrecked what looked like a special year.

“If the Gophers can stay clear of the snake eyes this season, they should be significant factors in the Big Ten race and strong candidates for an NCAA Tournament berth,” Street & Smith’s wrote.

However, both Street & Smith’s and Athlon have Pitino on their national lists of coaches on the hot seat for the coming season. Pitino’s five-year conference record in regular season games is 31-59. In all games he is 12 games over .500 at 90-78.

Dan Murphy’s article for ESPN acknowledged the Gophers great start last season but also said, “…It will take a Herculean effort to get things back on track. Pitino enters the season as the Big Ten coach who has to do the most to keep his job for another season.”

Worth Noting

College basketball authorities don’t consider the Big Ten an imposing league. Neither Athlon nor Street & Smith’s has a Big Ten team in its top eight nationally. Athlon ranks Michigan State No. 10 in the country, with Michigan No. 24 and Nebraska No. 25. Michigan State, at No. 12, is the only Big Ten school in Street & Smith’s top 20.

The conference sent only four teams to the NCAA Tournament last season. The Big Ten hasn’t had a national champion since 2000 (Michigan State).

Senior forward Zeke Nnaji, the Hopkins High School basketball star, is being recruited by Baylor and he included the Bears this week on his top five list (he excluded the Gophers). Jared Nuness, who was a standout player for the Royals in the late 1990s, is part of the Baylor staff.

Jared’s dad, Al Nuness, the former Gopher, works at Hopkins and has been impressed with Nnaji for a couple of years. He compared the 6-foot-10 Nnaji with the state’s most coveted senior, forward Matthew Hurt from Rochester John Marshall.

“I think his potential is just as good as Hurt,” said Al Nuness. “He has the potential to be very good. This kid runs the floor, and has a lot of ability. He can shoot and make the three-point shot.”

Congratulations to Minikahda Club pro Jeff Sorenson who topped the 2018 Minnesota PGA standings with 513.70 points and is the Omega Player of the Year. Brent Snyder from Troy Burne was second with 390.50 points. Sorenson has topped the state standings six times since 2007.

The Minnesota United has now sold and distributed more than 50,000 tickets for its last home match of the season at TCF Bank Stadium on October 21. The United is trying to set a new single match attendance record for Minnesota professional soccer. A record announced attendance of 49,572 was established over 40 years ago at Met Stadium for a Kicks game.

The Capital Club, the St. Paul-based networking gathering that features prominent sports speakers, will hear from a panel of prominent female sports reporters including Rachel Blount and Dawn Mitchell on October 23, and Gophers men’s hockey coach Bob Motzko November 13, and Gophers women’s basketball coach Lindsay Whalen November 28.

Meetings are usually at Town & Country Club, but a program is also scheduled for October 30 with a tour of the Treasure Island Center and TRIA Rink. More information about the Capital Club is available at Capitalclubmn.com, or from Patrick Klinger, patrickklinger@klingercompany.com.

Dick Jonckowski will sign copies of his new book, It’s All about Me, from 5 to 7 p.m. October 11 at Mancini’s Char House in St. Paul. The book about the well-known Minnesota emcee and public address announcer has been available for about three months. Jonckowski said over 600 copies have been sold. “It’s really going well,” he told Sports Headliners.

Jonckowski can be contacted at 952-261-3013.

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Twins Need 2019 Mauer Farewell Season

Posted on October 1, 2018October 1, 2018 by David Shama

Joe Mauer can give the Twins a much needed marketing mission for next season if he decides to continue his career. That is the opinion of a sports industry business analyst that has been close to the Twins organization for years.

The club finished the 2018 season yesterday with an unexpected and disappointing 78-84 record. Mauer, the Twins’ 35-year-old first baseman who is unsure whether he wants to continue his 15-year MLB career, is one of the few players on the roster who sells tickets. The roster is one of the least appealing in franchise memory and Mauer, along with outfielder Eddie Rosario, lead any short list of box office attractions.

Mauer has only hit above .300 once in the last five seasons but the legendary Minnesota-born athlete has won three American League batting titles and the AL MVP Award. The sports industry source didn’t want his name used but he believes there was a period when Mauer may have been the most popular pro athlete in state history.

The source believes the Twins have been contemplating a 2019 marketing campaign built around a Mauer farewell season. “The organization needs to find something to promote,” he said.

The Twins drew under 2 million fans for home games this season. That’s just the second time the franchise hasn’t reached 2 million since moving into Target Field in 2010.

The club qualified for the playoffs a year ago and the Twins were expected to again be a winning team in 2018, but this season nosedived months ago and disappointments were many including awful performances by cornerstone players Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano. Fan apathy has been apparent for awhile and last Thursday Ticket King sent out emails to potential customers promoting tickets priced at $4 and $6 for weekend Twins games at Target Field.

Fans are frustrated with an organization that has put teams on the field who have produced six losing seasons since 2010, including five clubs that lost more than 90 games. With an uncertain core of players and limited talent, selling tickets during the offseason and next spring will be a challenge. And when an organization loses the confidence and interest of customers, it’s difficult to reverse direction.

During the last several seasons a lot of fans have been critical of Mauer. He’s been resented for not producing more at the plate while collecting on his eight-year $184 million contract that ran through this season. But as the possibility of retirement has become a news story this summer, there’s a sense many fans are circling back to Mauer with affection and appreciation.

Mauer has to decide in the offseason whether he still wants to play baseball. If the desire and commitment are present, speculation is the Twins might offer a $10 million one-year contract. The front office could build a ticket selling plan around the hometown hero if he agreed he wanted to play one more season and receive the applause not only of fans at Target Field but throughout the American League on a farewell tour.

Mauer is viewed by baseball authorities as an iffy candidate to one day be voted into the Hall of Fame. A year ago Mauer hit .305, the only time his batting average has been over .300 in the last five years. This season his batting totals included a .282 average, six home runs and 48 RBI. If Mauer could at least find the level of his 2017 performance next year, it certainly wouldn’t hurt his career hitting totals. Another season would move him further up the rankings for various categories in Twins and MLB history.

It does seem all but certain that if Mauer is to play baseball next season, he will be with the Twins. Asked by KSTP TV’s Joe Schmit last week about playing for another club he said, “I don’t think so.”

There is logic in arguing Mauer will announce his retirement in the coming weeks or months. He was celebrated by fans and teammates yesterday in the final game of the season, a 5-4 win over the White Sox. The former catcher who turned first baseman a few years ago even caught a perhaps symbolic pitch behind the plate during the game.

Mauer has all the money he and future generations of his family will ever need. He also has a history of health issues, and he has a young family who no doubt would love to see him spend summers with them. No, he won’t return for another season just to help the Twins sell tickets, and he will retire if he doesn’t have the will to continue his career.

But that’s a big decision for someone whose life has revolved around pro baseball since he was a teenager. The source who talked with Sports Headliners predicts the public will need to be patient about Mauer’s decision—probably a couple of months. “Joe never does anything quickly,” he said.

Worth Noting

The club’s disappointing record this season wasn’t because of competing in a talented five-team division. USA Today’s MLB power poll last week listed Central Division champion Cleveland No. 6, the Twins 22, the Tigers 26, White Sox 27 and Royals 29.

Outfielder Alex Kirilloff has been named the 2018 Sherry Robertson Award winner as the Twins Minor League Player of the Year and left-handed pitcher Lewis Thorpe has been named the 2018 Jim Rantz Award winner as the club’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

Kirilloff, 20, split the season between Single-A Cedar Rapids and Single-A Ft. Myers, combining to hit .348 (178-for-512) with 44 doubles, seven triples, 20 home runs and 101 RBI in 130 games. Thorpe, 22, split the season between Double-A Chattanooga and Triple-A Rochester, having a combined record of 8-7 with a 3.54 ERA. He pitched 129.2 innings and had 157 strikeouts, with opponents having a .250 batting average.

Wonder how many Timberwolves season ticket holders are unhappy after the organization increased prices and then franchise player Jimmy Butler announced last month he wants to be traded?

Former Vikings All-Pro defensive end Chris Doleman has glioblastoma, the same cancer that killed Arizona senator John McCain. Doleman, in a wheelchair, attended the September 29 tribute at U.S. Bank Stadium for Denny Green, his former coach.

Green’s widow, Marie, is a former flight attendant who is now operating partner of the Drybar hair shop in southern California, according to her Linkedin page.

It will be a difficult transition for Eric Kendricks if Anthony Barr isn’t with the Vikings next season. The two have been linebacker teammates at UCLA and with the Vikings (since 2015). Kendricks says of his friend, “that’s my boy,” but the Vikings might not have the financial flexibility (or desire) to sign his teammate who is a free agent after next season and was beaten on three touchdown passes Thursday night against the Rams.

Kendricks was asked last week about a future contract for Barr. “Honestly, I can’t make comment on that. I can just make comment on what kind of person he is and what kind of work ethic I see everyday. That’s all I have to judge off of him. I’ve been playing with Anthony for awhile now and (he’s) pushing me to do better, and that’s how it’s been.”

New Vikings kicker Dan Bailey is 30 years old and has been in the NFL since 2011 when he joined the Cowboys. In two games with the Vikings he is perfect on three field goal attempts and two extra points. “…I think I am hitting the ball just as well at this age as I was seven, eight years ago,” he said.

Condolences to family and friends of former Minnesota sportswriter Tony Swan, 78, who died last week. Tony spent much of his career in Michigan where he established a reputation as one of the preeminent automotive and motor sports journalists in the nation.

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Thumbs Down on Wolves’ Jimmy Butler

Posted on September 23, 2018September 26, 2018 by David Shama

The Timberwolves play a preseason game at home on October 5. Their first regular season game at Target Center is October 19.

Jimmy Butler should get an earful from fans at those games—if he is not traded to another NBA team by either of those dates.

The Wolves’ mega-paid star (reportedly near $20 million for the coming year) has decided after one season in Minnesota he doesn’t want to play here and wishes to be traded. Jimmy, where’s the loyalty in honoring the commitment the Wolves organization made to you including the remaining year on your contract?

It was about 15 months ago that this town first embraced Butler with a huge fan turnout and welcome event at the Mall of America. Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau said then of Butler: “He’s a great person. He’s a great leader. We’re thrilled to have him.”

A few years ago Thibodeau coached Butler with the Bulls and helped take him from a late first round draft choice to an All-NBA guard. “Thibs has molded me into the player that I am today,” Butler said at the MOA event.

Butler is not expected at media day on Monday and it will not be surprising if he doesn’t report for the team’s first practice on Tuesday. Internet accounts say Butler’s unwillingness to play for the Wolves is motivated by his dissatisfaction with younger teammates Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins.

Butler, 29, also reportedly was critical of younger teammates when he played for the Bulls. Apparently, instead of being a role model for less experienced players, Butler prefers to move on from teams where he doesn’t like the locker room.

Maybe Thibodeau should get Butler, Towns and Wiggins in a room for a “come to Jesus meeting.” That’s what former NBA champion coach Bill Fitch told Sports Headliners he would do.

Fitch suggested he would meet all day, if necessary, with the players. They could even “agree to disagree” on things but the outcome would be to reach a place where the players could make the team better.

Fitch was an old-fashioned taskmaster when coaching the Celtics to an NBA title. He didn’t hesitate to command players to do extra running for their transgressions. He suggested that measure could be appropriate with the Wolves’ soap opera.

What if Butler doesn’t report to training camp because of his trade wishes? Fitch said the Wolves should start fining Butler.

A couple of days ago Thibodeau reportedly didn’t want to trade Butler, while owner Glen Taylor was supposedly telling other NBA teams to call him for such talks. If true, that kind of split in the organization is dysfunctional. Taylor hired Thibodeau as president of basketball operations and coach to make the difficult decisions, even in times of crisis.

Now it’s said the two are in agreement they need to scramble to trade Butler, who becomes an unrestricted free agent after next season. He has left the Wolves with minimal leverage in trade discussions with teams knowing they could get him next summer without having to give up players they have now.

The best chance of moving Butler soon, or even in coming months, could be to a bubble team that sees acquiring him as a big move toward advancing into or going deep in the playoffs. But that raises the question of whether a team with an already talent-shy roster has enough assets to interest the Wolves.

The Wolves’ best move might be to dump Butler soon in exchange for draft choices. Getting him out of the locker room and off the court looks like it will bring peace among players and fans. At that point the Wolves would have to conclude their 2017 trade bringing Butler here from Chicago was a mistake, sending three players and a high first round draft choice to the Bulls.

When Butler came to Minneapolis it looked like a big part of his motivation would be playing on a winning team. The Wolves were a much better team with him in the lineup and they made the playoffs last spring for the first time since 2004. Minnesota had a 47-35 regular season record. In the 59 games Butler could start when not injured, the Wolves’ record was 37-22.

Butler’s minutes per game of 36.7 were third most in the NBA. He ranked 15th in league scoring (22.2 points per game), 29th in assists (4.9) and fourth in steals (a career-best 1.97). After Butler’s seventh NBA season and first with Minnesota, he was named to the NBA All-Defensive second team.

There’s no doubting Butler’s all-around skills and value. The doubting now is about his loyalty and accountability to the team and fans. The Wolves invested heavily in Butler and so too did the fans, including season ticket holders who paid thousands of dollars and a lot of time to watch him and teammates.

The LA Clippers, New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets, the three teams Butler reportedly has expressed interest in being traded to, all missed the playoffs last season. If the Wolves have Butler, those teams don’t have the potential to win this coming season like Minnesota does.

Maybe Butler wants to be in the glamour cities of Los Angeles and New York to do something in business related to his interest in clothing and fashion. All I know is he didn’t take long to surprise and disappoint a lot of people inside and outside Target Center.

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