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.

Winner on & off Field: Vikings’ Smith

Posted on October 15, 2014October 15, 2014 by David Shama

The NFL’s image has taken numerous hits in recent weeks but there are high character guys in the league including Vikings’ safety Harrison Smith who hosted kids from Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities last night at Winter Park.

“There’s obviously not a lot of good PR going (on) all around the league, and I just don’t think that’s reflective of what the majority of the guys in this league are about—the players, the coaches (and) the people,” Smith told Sports Headliners on Sunday. “All these guys care about doing things, care about helping people. I just think the PR is not the truth of what’s going on (with) the majority.”

Smith has been involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters since 2013, his second year with the Vikings. At last night’s event several teammates joined Smith for activities with the kids that included a kickball game, tours of the team’s practice facility, and player autographs and pictures.

Smith has also been involved with other community activities since joining the Vikings as a first round draft choice out of Notre Dame in 2012. The club emphasizes involvement by players with nonprofits and employs a community relations executive to manage the Vikings’ many projects and events.

Smith was raised by parents who encouraged him to think of others. “My parents kind of always taught me to include everybody in everything,” he said. “I think you gotta do a good job with the youth today, because they’re gonna be the leaders when they grow up.”

Paul Wiggin, a former NFL head coach and now a consultant for the Vikings, knows how Smith was raised. “He hasn’t been idolized. He’s been brought along like a normal human being. I think he’s classy.”

Smith’s play on the field has impressed Wiggin and others. “He’s a great player,” Wiggin said. “He’s better than what we thought he would be and we thought he’d be great.”

Wiggin said the Vikings use colors to label players and blue is elite status. “You have five or six blue players on your football team if you’re lucky—winners do. He’s one of them.”

Smith, 6-2, 215-pounds, has made a difference in the Vikings’ secondary. He can make an impact both with tackling and defending the pass. “He has a little hate in his heart when he plays, even though he’s a great kid.” Wiggin said. “A lot of collision football players in the game today run into people and they don’t go down. This guys brings ‘em down because he wraps them up.”

In the opening game this season Smith returned an interception for a touchdown. It was the third of his career for a touchdown and it tied him for the club record. What are his thoughts about getting the fourth and breaking the tie shared with eight others?

“It would be big (but) that’s not the end-goal.” Smith said. “Right now I just want to win.”

The Vikings are 2-4 after Sunday’s loss to the Lions but part of the positive news was the ankle injury that had made Smith’s availability questionable for the game didn’t keep him from playing. In the locker room following the game he said the ankle was okay.

That doesn’t surprise Smith admirers who know he is a “tough guy” and loves playing football. And enjoys helping others.

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Prep QB Green Set for Oregon…Or Is he?

Posted on October 15, 2014October 15, 2014 by David Shama

It was predictable that Seth Green, perhaps the state’s best prep football player, announced at East Ridge High School this morning his college choice is Oregon. What the junior quarterback may not realize is he might one day change his mind and play for the Golden Gophers.

Green told Sports Headliners in late August he was leaning toward Oregon with the Gophers also being considered. The Ducks are among college football’s elite programs and their offense is a fit for Green who is the No. 8 dual-threat quarterback in the country for the class of 2016, according to Rivals.com.

A program like Oregon can be selective in recruiting. Oregon likely will only recruit a couple of quarterbacks at most for its 2016 freshman class and Green made sure he will be one of them by announcing for the Ducks today (earlier this year they offered him a scholarship).

But a lot can happen between now and February of 2016 when Green and other high school seniors can sign National Letters of Intent binding them to college programs. What Green did this morning was verbally commit to the Ducks, and they reserved a scholarship for the talented young man who has visited Eugene a couple of times.

Beyond that, Green’s situation—like any high school player who makes a verbal commitment—remains fluid. In the more than 15 months between now and 2016 National Signing Day there could be developments that change Green’s outlook, perhaps even in the Gophers’ favor.

“That’s an eternity (of time). There’s so many things that can happen, and a verbal means nothing,” said Ray Hitchcock.

Hitchcock, the former Gophers center and now an assistant coach at Cretin-Derham Hall High School, has seen Green play against the Raiders. “He’s a top quarterback,” Hitchcock told Sports Headliners. “He has the skill set that you are looking for—a very strong arm (and) understands the defenses that he is looking at.”

The Ducks’ program committed NCAA recruiting violations awhile ago and was placed on three years probation in 2013. That probationary period is scheduled to end on June 25, 2016. What if the NCAA found more problems at Oregon in the near future? Those problems and possible NCAA penalties such as a bowl ban could impact the commitment of high school players to the school?

Then there is the possibility of the Gophers’ winning profile increasing even further and Minnesota becoming a more attractive choice for Green. If the Gophers become contenders in the Big Ten Conference West Division, nationally ranked and earn a trip or two to New Year’s Day bowl games between now and February 2016, it would impress recruits—perhaps including Green.

Certainly as a home town kid Green faces pressure to play for the Gophers and as recently as last Saturday he was interested enough in the program to attend the Minnesota-Northwestern game at TCF Bank Stadium. That pressure goes up a few notches if Minnesota becomes a legitimate top 15 national program. Sports Headliners asked Green back in August what might cause him to one day commit Minnesota?

“I don’t know—just sort of seeing how they keep building their program,” Green said. “They’re on a really great track right now and I like what they’re doing. They’re headed in the right direction with (head) coach (Jerry) Kill and (quarterbacks) coach (Jim) Zebrowski. So just seeing them continue to grow.”

Green was born in Minneapolis. His parents, Bryan and Teresa Green, both attended the University of Minnesota. Obviously for family it will one day be a lot easier to watch Green play in Dinkytown than on the West Coast.

Although Green announced for Oregon today, a lot of high school players have flipped their verbal commitments over the years. Green may not, but until Signing Day he still has college options and could eventually shoot down the Ducks if he wants.

“He could change his mind a couple of times,” Hitchcock said.

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Ponder Rookie Stats Top Bridgewater

Posted on October 13, 2014October 13, 2014 by David Shama

Christian Ponder and Teddy Bridgewater have similar statistics in their first two starts as NFL rookie quarterbacks.

In 2011 Ponder threw three touchdown passes with a 80.95 rating in a loss to the Packers and win over the Panthers. Bridgewater has no touchdown passes and a 70.1 rating after a win last month against the Falcons and yesterday’s loss to the Lions. Ponder had two interceptions in his first two games while Bridgewater has three. Ponder totaled 455 yards in those games, Bridgewater 505.

Since the 2013 season Ponder’s disappointing play made him Public Enemy No. 1 with Vikings fans while Bridgewater has been greeted this year as a savior. Before yesterday’s home game Bridgewater’s mother drew attention from the media outside TCF Bank Stadium, and then sounded the Gjallarhorn prior to kickoff. All was well when her son took the field for the Vikings’ first offensive possession and the crowd chanted, “Teddy! Teddy!”

Moments later, though, the 21-year-old Bridgewater threw a bad pass that was intercepted in the Lions’ end zone, killing the best Vikings’ drive of the day. The next time Bridgewater took the field in the first quarter there was no chanting. Then on his third series of the day he fumbled, although the Vikings recovered the ball.

Before the game ended the youngest Viking had thrown three interceptions and could have had a couple more picked off by the Lions. It was a bad day for the offense as the Vikings, now 2-4, came up with only 212 yards and three points on a fourth quarter Blair Walsh field goal.

The similar stats of Ponder and Bridgewater aren’t to suggest who was initially better—or will have the superior long-term career. The numbers, though, make the point that fans expecting rookie quarterbacks to carry offenses and teams in their first games, and seasons, is a task beyond almost any player past or present.

Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer was angry after yesterday’s 17-3 loss to the Lions, a rival team that is now 4-2 and leading the NFC North with the Packers. He didn’t go overboard to defend Bridgewater in the postgame news conference. “There’s a lot of people that could have done better including him,” Zimmer said.

Bridgewater was sacked eight times in the game, a major indictment of the offensive line. He also threw off-target at times while during other plays his receivers dropped balls or didn’t come up with catches that looked possible.

The Vikings only rushed for 69 yards. Part of that is on the offensive line, too.

Left tackle Matt Kalil was frustrated after the game and pointed out the Lions have been among the best defenses in the league. “We definitely had our hands full. We just let some plays get away from us,” he said. “Just little mistakes we gotta fix. They capitalized on them and got pressure on Teddy, and that was the story today.”

Ponder has seen that story, too, but it’s not one an angry Zimmer wants to get used to. “We’re going to look at everything again,” he said when asked about personnel changes.

Worth Noting

Tickets reportedly were being sold for as low as $10 on the street before yesterday’s Vikings game. Other sellers were asking for prices of $20 and $30 per ticket.

Vikings executive vice president Lester Bagley said last week no “announcement is imminent” about naming rights for the new downtown stadium opening in July of 2016. There are 18 Fortune 500 companies in the state—including 17 in the metro area—and Bagley indicated it’s likely one will buy the naming rights. Benefits for a Minnesota company are expected to exceed those accrued by a business from outside the state.

Jalen Myrick’s 100-yard kickoff return was the difference in the Gophers’ 24-17 win over Northwestern on Saturday. The Georgia native said neither in college or high school had he returned a kickoff for a score. “If they come up at me again, I am gonna have to get’em to pay,” the sophomore said.

Myrick was named Big Ten Co-Special Teams Player of the week with Michigan’s Matt Wile, and Gophers’ senior linebacker Damien Wilson was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week for his career high 15 tackles including 1.5 tackles for loss performance in the win over Northwestern. He leads the conference with 11 tackles per game.

Although the Gophers are 5-1 overall, and 2-0 in the Big Ten, they aren’t included in the nation’s top 25 polls. David Cobb, who rushed for 103 yards in Minnesota’s win on Saturday, was asked if the Gophers belong. “That’s up to the people who rank,” he said.

Texas Tech, coached by Tubby Smith, is last in a Big 12 coaches poll released last week forecasting the order of finish for conference basketball teams in 2015. Smith never had a winning league record in six seasons as Gophers coach, nor did he in 2013-2014 at Tech, his first season there. Smith did coach three NCAA Tournament teams at Minnesota and five times won 20 or more games. Iowa State, coached by former Timberwolves player and executive Fred Hoiberg, will place fifth in the 10-team league and Kansas will finish first, according to the poll.

Smith successfully recruited Rice Lake’s Wally Ellenson but after Ellenson transferred earlier this year Minnesota lost any chance of getting his brother Henry, now a coveted high school senior. Both Ellensons will play at Marquette a year from this fall.

Tech has offered a scholarship to Tre Jones, the Apple Valley High School ninth grader. His brother Tyus is a freshman at Duke where first-year teammate Jahlil Okafor is a favorite to win college player of the year awards but he will have competition from Wisconsin senior Frank Kaminsky.

Preseason polls will have Duke and Wisconsin at or near the top, while the Gophers are a contender for an early top 25 ranking.

Apple Valley plays DeLaSalle, featuring Gophers commit Jarvis Johnson, in one of 15 games on December 13 at Minnetonka High School as part of the Tip Off Classic.

Former Timberwolves center Darko Milicic announced last month he will become a professional kickboxer.

Flip Saunders might start answering to the nickname “Cop.” He is coach, owner (minority) and president of basketball operations for the Timberwolves.

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