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.

Jones Works on Gaining U Admission

Posted on June 18, 2014June 18, 2014 by David Shama

Jeff Jones is focusing on earning admission to the University of Minnesota by attending Minneapolis Public Schools summer classes, and recently took the ACT test for a fourth time hoping to improve his score.

A source told Sports Headliners Jones is working to raise his overall high school GPA and hopes that improvement along with a higher ACT score will allow him to gain admission to Minnesota and join the Gophers in time for August workouts and preparation for the 2014 season. Jones took the ACT test last Saturday and the results are expected later this month.

A combination of ACT result and GPA determines admission at Minnesota and other colleges. Jones signed a letter of intent last February to become a scholarship player for the Gophers but has known for awhile he faced academic challenges.

Jones is the only Rivals.com four-star recruit in the Gophers’ 2014 recruiting class. He drew national attention in the prestigious Under Armour All-America Game in Florida last January, gaining 72 yards and being named Team Nitro MVP.

Other members of the freshman class have started summer school classes at Minnesota and are becoming acclimated to the football program through conditioning and on the field drills. This is Gophers coach Jerry Kill’s fourth freshman group at Minnesota and potentially the best. The coaches have been impressed with the physical size of the players and wait with optimism to see what the freshmen can do during the coming months.

Preseason college football publications rank Jones as Minnesota’s top recruit. Lindy’s Sports rates Jones the No. 10 incoming freshman in the Big Ten Conference but many other Gophers newcomers are intriguing too. Kill and his staff have developed a reputation for identifying talent that is better than advertised.

That intriguing group could include tight end Gaelin Elmore, wide receiver Melvin Holland Jr., center Connor Mayes, quarterback Dimonic Roden–McKinzy and defensive lineman Andrew Stelter. Lindy’s identifies wide receiver Isaiah Gentry as its “sleeper” among the Minnesota freshmen. “Isaiah Gentry out of Cincinnati Moeller was one of the most overlooked players in the Buckeye State, and Minnesota is getting a steal in the speedy 6-4, 185-pound pass catcher,” the magazine wrote.

Worth Noting

The Gophers players and coaches received their Texas Bowl rings on Monday. Minnesota lost to Syracuse in the Houston-based game last December.

Prior Lake linebacker Blake Weber, who was the South Suburban Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2013, has decided to play football at Rochester Community and Technical College.

Gophers football coach Jerry Kill said on WCCO Radio’s “Sports Huddle” program on Sunday that earlier this month the great grandson of the legendary Bronko Nagurski attended Kill’s camp. Nagurski is one of five former Gophers to have his jersey number (72) retired.

Dr. John Baumgartner, who passed away last week, was an outstanding Gophers football player who lettered four times, from 1951-54.

That was Minneapolis entrepreneur, best-selling business author, motivational speaker and former Gophers golfer Harvey Mackay sitting with wife Carol Ann near courtside at Sunday’s Game Five in San Antonio when the Spurs defeated the Heat to win the NBA championship. Carol Ann gave her husband the trip as a Father’s Day present.

“I go almost every year to a finals game,” Mackay said. “This was the loudest arena I’ve ever been in.”

Mackay said he didn’t meet one San Antonio native who wasn’t aware of Sunday’s game. “What was normally a 15 minute drive from our hotel to the arena took two hours. We got out and walked the last five blocks.”

It will be interesting to see how Flip Saunders fills in his Timberwolves coaching staff after already naming Sidney Lowe and Sam Mitchell assistants. Saunders’ son Ryan, with a reputation for statistical analysis expertise, has NBA coaching experience with the Wizards and seems likely sooner or later to join the Timberwolves organization. Don Zierden, a Minnesota native, was an assistant to Flip Saunders with the Timberwolves, Pistons and Wizards in the past, and is still with the Wizards. Former NBA head coach and assistant Eric Musselman is close to Saunders and resigned earlier this season from Arizona State.

Xavier Thames, a 6-3 senior guard from San Diego State, is a player to follow in next week’s NBA Draft. Thames isn’t a “brand name” but he impressed with his shooting at the NBA Combine last month. It would be ironic if the Spurs drafted Thames since their NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard is from San Diego State and was also underrated coming out of college.

The June 18 issue of Sports Illustrated refers to Nick Gordon, who the Twins selected No. 5 overall in baseball’s amateur draft this month, as the “best high school shortstop in America.” The Gordon article includes praise from former Reds shortstop great Barry Larkin. “The kid fields with the best angles of any young shortstop I’ve ever seen,” Larkin said of Gordon who was the first infielder taken in the draft.

The same issue includes a story about the infamous O.J. Simpson whose wife Nicole was murdered 20 years ago this month. Simpson later dated Nicole look-a-like Christie Prody, a Minnesota native who the magazine reported is serving time in a Minnesota prison “after a conviction for stealing prescription painkillers from an elderly couple.” Simpson is incarcerated in Nevada from a 2008 conviction on charges that included kidnapping.

Twins first baseman Joe Mauer went 18 games without an RBI before driving in the team’s lone run in a 2-1 loss last night to the Red Sox. The face of the franchise, Mauer is hitting .258 with 16 RBI and two home runs this season. Not surprisingly, he isn’t among the top five fan vote recipients for starting American League first baseman in the 2014 All-Star Game in Minneapolis.

StubHub.com is listing tickets starting at $13.77, $170.30 and $331.45 for the All-Star Futures Game, Home Run Derby and All-Star Game in Minneapolis. Top price listed for the July15 All-Star Game is $11,002.00.

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‘Underdog’ Role Not New to QB Ponder

Posted on June 16, 2014June 16, 2014 by David Shama

During interviews at Winter Park I learned quarterback Christian Ponder sees nothing new in his “underdog” status, and former Vikings defensive lineman Bob Lurtsema is so excited about his old team he made a wager.

As the Vikings go through spring practices at their Eden Prairie facility there is a quarterback competition between Ponder and Matt Cassel, both veterans, and rookie Teddy Bridgewater. If this was a popularity contest with the winner determined by fans voting, Ponder would be left in the dust.

Ponder, now in his fourth NFL year, was scorned by Vikings fans last season when his disappointing play cost him the starting QB job. In three seasons since the Vikings used the No. 12 pick in the first round to draft him, he has thrown 38 touchdown passes and 34 interceptions.

That’s enough to test a man’s faith and the religious Texas native was asked if the intense booing and criticism hurts his feelings. “Not really. I’d be lying to say it’s not hard to hear people boo when you’re on the field and stuff,” Ponder told Sports Headliners. “I feel like I’ve been through ups and downs my whole life. Whether it’s my career or anything—from high school to college to now—I’ve always felt like I’ve had the underdog role. I am used to it, and…being strong in my faith helps me out through all of this.”

As a Texas high school player, Ponder was only the 50th ranked college prospect in the state by Rivals.com, according to Wikipedia.org. At Florida State he struggled before emerging as a Heisman Trophy candidate his senior season in 2010. There were doubters, though, who questioned whether Ponder was worth the No. 12 pick in the draft and the skeptics have needed more room at their table during the last couple of years.

But Ponder is optimistic about his future. He likes working with offensive coordinator Norv Turner and quarterbacks coach Scott Turner, both new additions to the Vikings staff. Ponder said those coaches and a new offensive system he likes, along with three years of NFL experience, have him feeling more confident than he’s ever been about being a pro quarterback. He’s not giving up on his dreams despite past results and the wailing of critics.

“I want to be the best at my position and do as well as I can. I love this game. It’s a dream of mine since I was a little kid. I want to be a starter and play and win a Super Bowl. I think that’s everyone’s dream and goal.”

Ponder has a partner in faith, his wife Samantha who is an ESPN college football reporter and graduate of Liberty University, a Christian school in Lynchburg, Virginia. Samantha’s father was a football coach and she is a student of the game. With her knowledge, she is supportive of her husband.

“She has been so positive,” Ponder said. “She always has the right things to say, and she’s also a motivator. She makes me stay on top of my game. She’s a great wife.”

If Ponder is negligent about his conditioning, he will hear about it from Samantha. “If I’ve been sitting on my butt for a couple of days she makes sure I am getting out there and working out and getting stuff done,” he said.

Samantha, 28, and Christian, 26, were married in 2012. Since then career schedules have occupied much of their time but they did vacation in Italy last winter, spending time in Florence and Rome. “It was awesome,” Ponder said. “My mom’s side of the family is Italian so I’ve always wanted to go over there. We had fun. It was cool.”

The Vikings finish practices soon and then Ponder will have about a month off until training camp starts in Mankato. That means a short break for Ponder and Samantha. “Once the season starts we only see each other a couple of days a week, so we’ll enjoy ourselves,” he said.

Lurtsema was a reserve defensive lineman on three Vikings Super Bowl teams in the 1970s. He is impressed with new head coach Mike Zimmer and Norv Turner. “You know I bleed purple (but) I am legitimately the most excited I’ve been (about) both these coaches that we have right now, Turner and Zimmer,” Lurtsema told Sports Headliners.

Zimmer’s emphasis on accountability from players reminds Lurtsema of his former head coach. “Zimmer’s got a little bit of Bud Grant in him. Bud looked at you and never said a word (when a player did something wrong). …If you didn’t pick it up a notch, he’d let you go.

“He cut ballplayers that were better than myself. I know that. Everybody knows that. I was coachable and I worked. Those other players they were doing their own little dance. They’d bring it every other play.”

Lurtsema is not just talking optimism about the Vikings who had a 5-10-1 record last season. Las Vegas offered wagering this spring that the Vikings will win only six games in 2014. He has bet that his old team will win more, although he won’t say how much money he gambled.

Why does Lurtsema think he made a solid bet? Because he has said for years the success of a team is “60 to 65 percent” determined by the coaching.

Underdogs like Ponder and the Vikings like that kind of talk.

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Vikings Robison Works to Convert Sacks

Posted on June 12, 2014June 12, 2014 by David Shama

During Vikings practices at Winter Park this month players like defensive end Brian Robison are not only trying to learn team assignments but also improve their individual skills. The idea is to use repetition of correct fundamentals so often that when the season starts in September someone like Robison is in “muscle memory” mode.

Robison, 31, has been a starter for the past three seasons. His contributions this year could include filling the loss of defensive end and pass rushing specialist Jared Allen who has signed with the Bears. Allen’s sack totals the last three seasons were 11.5, 12 and 22. Robison’s have been 9, 8.5 and 8.

“One of the things that really stuck out to me last year was I felt like I missed way too many sacks,” Robison told Sports Headliners. “I got to the quarterback a lot but I feel like a lot of those hurries and stuff like that could have been converted into sacks had my footwork been a little bit better, had my angle been a little bit better.

“So this year that’s one of the keys that I’ve been working on is making sure that when I get to that corner that I am really turning and I’ve got a better angle to the quarterback. To me it’s one of those deals where it doesn’t matter how long you’re in this league, as soon as you think you’ve arrived, you’re kind of on your way out. There’s always something that you can get better at.”

How many sacks can Robison total in 2014? “I’d like to have as many as I can. Bottom line is as a D-line we just gotta disrupt quarterbacks and win ball games. That’s the only thing that’s important to me is winning a bunch of ball games.”

Robison has the experience and determination to expect his best season. “I am gonna do the best I can to be the best defensive end in the league. Whether that happens or not, that’s on me so we’ll find out and see what happens.”

What Robison knows for certain is without the work and repetition of the right fundamentals, success won’t follow.

Worth Noting

Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer credits a nutrition plan, along with efforts by strength coaches and trainers, in helping his players to collectively add 70 pounds of muscle and lose 170 pounds of fat during the offseason. “I actually have also lost some weight too, but I think that’s from stress. No, I’m eating fish every day for lunch so that’s a change for me too,” Zimmer said.

The new Vikings stadium, opening in 2016, won’t host the Big Ten Football Championship Game until at least 2022. Minneapolis stadium promoters are interested in bringing the annual game here but the Big Ten Conference has extended its commitment to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis through 2021. By then Lucas Oil Stadium will have hosted all 11 of the league’s championship football games since its inception.

The University of Houston football program has Minnesota connections beyond head coach Tony Levine, the former Gopher from St. Paul. Levine’s assistants include ex-Gophers defensive coordinator David Gibbs and former offensive line coach Gordy Shaw.

Mike Wilkinson, who authored the biography of former Gophers football coach Murray Warmath, has a story on Weeklynews.com recalling today (June 12) is the 50th anniversary of the Rolling Stones’ performance at the old Excelsior Amusement Park. The British rock group was then in its formative years.

Ryan James, writing in Monday’s Gopherillustrated.com, reported DeLaSalle point guard Jarvis Johnson, who will be a senior next season, was outstanding dribbling and shooting last week in the Clash of the Classes game at Concordia, St. Paul. The all-star type game Johnson participated in matched players who will be seniors next school year against those who will be juniors. Johnson, an ESPN.com top 100 recruit for the class of 2016, has several dunks on Youtube.com.

The Minute Men are promoting a raffle offering the winner two MLB All-Star events packages including admission to the All-Star game at Target Field on July 15 and events in preceding days such as the Home Run Derby. Raffle tickets cost $20 each with more details available at Minnesotaminutemen.com. The Minute Men are a volunteer organization supporting Minnesota sports for more than 50 years.

Rangers’ defenseman Ryan McDonagh (St. Paul) and forward Derek Stepan (Hastings) are among 12 U.S. collegiate alums in the NHL’s Stanley Cup Finals. McDonagh and Stepan, along with Kings defenseman Matt Greene (Grand Ledge, Michigan), are three former WCHA alums in the finals. McDonagh and Stepan played collegiately at Wisconsin while Greene is a North Dakota alum.

Gophers women’s associate head coach Joel Johnson has been named the head coach of the U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Team for the 2014-15 season.

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