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.

Birk Turns 36 But No Family B-Day Party

Posted on July 23, 2012July 23, 2012 by David Shama

Matt Birk’s 36^th birthday is today but there won’t be any family party. The St. Paul native will be at the Ravens training camp in Maryland, a work assignment that started this morning and will extend into the evening.

The former Vikings center has reached an age where a next season is not a given. He took some time after the 2011 season to evaluate his future and then decided to play a 15^th NFL year. It’s a process that likely will be repeated again after this season.

“Give myself a chance to heal up physically and emotionally. Then talk it over with my wife and see what’s best for our family,” Birk said.

Birk told Sports Headliners he has no major physical concerns heading into training camp. If he did, he wouldn’t be in Owings Mills, Maryland where the Ravens train.

“I feel like I am playing good, playing well,” he said. “Physically can I do the same things I did 10 years ago? No, but I like to think I am a little bit smarter.

“But one thing that remains a constant: it’s never easy, it’s always a challenge. Not every single week, every single day. You’re going against the best players in the world. There’s never a day when you can just kind of take a day off or just kind of coast through. That’s what makes it great. The challenge is immense.”

Birk, who was a sixth round draft choice from Harvard, played 11 seasons for the Vikings but never on a Super Bowl team. The Ravens were 12-4 last season. Birk, who expects to be the team’s starting center, believes the Ravens will again be a good football team and obviously he would welcome a Super Bowl experience.

“That’s the ultimate goal but nobody is owed anything,” he said. “It’s a great thing because all 32 teams are working towards that. Just to have the opportunity to be able to still play and also to be on a team with an organization like the Ravens, that’s all I could ask for.”

Birk used free agency to leave the Vikings. He said there were various reasons for his decision, although he said the money offered by the two clubs was similar. “In some ways I was just kind of itching for a change for something different. Baltimore was just a great situation. They had a great team, a great group. They were competitive. Great owner. I mean all those things were in order. I wasn’t going to leave for just anywhere but I felt the situation in Baltimore was too good to pass up.”

It’s been speculated that Birk and Vikings coach Brad Childress didn’t get along. Did his relationship with Childress impact his decision to leave the Vikings? “Maybe a little bit,” Birk said. “We had our ups and downs but at the end of the day I think we both respected each other. I played for him for three years and I learned a lot.”

Leaving the Vikings wasn’t something that Birk had long planned. “I would never have guessed that I wouldn’t have finished (with the Vikings) but things happen. To have played 11 years with the Vikings was unbelievable. I mean just unbelievable. A dream that I didn’t even know that I had that came true.”

Birk comes back to the Twin Cities in the offseason. This is home for his wife Adrianna and their children. The kids range in age from six months to 10 years.

Did the family do anything interesting in the offseason?

“I have six kids. Every day is interesting,” Birk answered.

He won’t see the kids today on his birthday but that’s okay. He’s been anticipating the start of another season for awhile now and knows July 23 won’t always be spent at training camp.

Comments Welcome

Yeo Coaches to Win Stanley Cup

Posted on July 13, 2012July 13, 2012 by David Shama

Second-year Wild coach Mike Yeo didn’t have his team in the playoffs last season but that’s certainly the future expectation now with the early July free agent signings of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to 13-year, $98 million contracts. Yeo will need to show he’s a high level coach, matching the promise of a roster led by talented veterans like Parise, Suter, Mikko Koivu and Niklas Backstrom, plus the much anticipated development of young prospects including Mikael Granlund.

Yeo characterizes the addition of Parise and Suter, the 27-year-olds who will revitalize the team’s scoring and defense, as exciting and not adding to his stress. “I put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure I am working and doing everything I need to do to prepare the team,” Yeo said. “This is not about pressure. This is about opportunity, and now we have opportunity here.

“For me, I don’t coach to try to keep my job. I coach to try to win a Stanley Cup. You add a couple players like this and all it does is enhance those chances. So to me this is not about pressure. This is about excitement. This is about opportunity.”

By the size of the investment in money and contract years made by the Wild to Parise and Suter, will Yeo have to coach them differently than other players? He answers that coaches relate to players individually, implying it will be no different with his two new arrivals. It’s up to coaches to understand what makes players “tick.”

Making Yeo’s job easier is that Parise and Suter are quality people on and off the ice. Tom Reid, the former North Stars player and radio analyst on Wild games, told Sports Headliners the two are “great mentoring” players.

Yeo, who has the reputation of being a players coach, is of course hoping there will be no NHL labor strike and training camp starts on time in September. “…We have to be real focused on our training camp, making sure we get off to a great start in the season,” he said. “Just build off this kind of excitement and build the positive things we’ve got going on right now. …”

Koivu was the team’s leader in assists last season with 32. Parise scored 31 goals for New Jersey. Will the two be on the same line?

“I don’t want to say it’s a given, but when you show up for day one of training camp, that’s who you are going to see,” Yeo said. “We won’t beat our heads against the wall but we will expect them to complement each other very well and I am fully expecting those two to click right off the bat.”

Comments Welcome

Worth Noting

Posted on July 13, 2012July 13, 2012 by David Shama

Zach Parise was eight years old when the North Stars moved to Dallas in 1993 but he has memories of the NHL franchise that includes his dad, J.P. Parise, among its alums. “We always loved going to the games,” Zach said.

He described meeting North Stars legends Neal Broten and Mike Modano as the “highlight of a lifetime.”

Ryan Suter said he doesn’t set personal goals but the objective before each season is to have his team win the Stanley Cup. “I think that the better your team does, the more success you have personally. My goals, I think, are just trying to be the best leader I can be. Helping young players – obviously contributing on and off the ice as much as I can. …”

Suter, age 27 and with a 13-year contract, talking about playing at 40: “I hope so. I hope I am still healthy. I would love to be able to play. “

If the Minnesota hot weather continues into August when the Gophers begin preparations for their August 30 game in Las Vegas it will be a plus for conditioning. Summer temperatures in Las Vegas can exceed 110 during the day, although the Gophers-UNLV game will be played at night.

Memorials and donations can be made to a donor’s choice of several organizations in memory of former Gophers football player John Williams. For information about those organizations visit his CaringBridge website, https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/johnbjwilliams

Discussions between the Gophers and basketball coach Tubby Smith regarding a contract extension have been ongoing since at least spring of last year. At this point it will be no surprise if a deal is reached, or if Smith continues with his present contract that has two years remaining.

The basketball staff’s recruiting prowess will be tested during the next two years because of coveted state prep prospects Tyus Jones, Reid Travis, Rashad Vaughn and Kyle Washington.

NBA referee and Minnesota native Ken Mauer Jr. will be the speaker on Thursday, September 13 at the C.O.R.E.S. luncheon in Bloomington. Anyone interested in more information can email Jim Dotseth at dotsethj@comcast.net. C.O.R.E.S. is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.

The Timberwolves have a minicamp roster of players competing this week to be on the team that plays a five-game schedule starting next Monday in Las Vegas for the NBA Summer League. Players trying out include Luke Sikma, son of Wolves assistant coach Jack Sikma, and Coby Karl, son of Nuggets head coach George Karl.

Five-time All-Star Camilo Pascual, who pitched for both the old Washington Senators and the Twins, will be inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame tomorrow night during a pre-game infield ceremony at Target Field prior to Minnesota’s game against Oakland. Pascual might have had the best curve ball ever thrown by a Twins pitcher.

The Kansas City Star reported online Sunday that the biggest economic impact for the city of Kansas City in hosting this week’s MLB All-Star game is media exposure worth $75 million (33 million viewers in 217 countries). Minneapolis may host the 2014 game.

Sports Headliners is told Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church on Prior Avenue in St. Paul will be the site of the Joe Mauer–Maddie Bisanz wedding on Saturday, December 1, and security will be tight.

Internet speculation includes talk various clubs want to acquire former Twins starter Matt Garza, now with the Cubs.

The Vikings, like other NFL teams, have to be concerned about fans who prefer watching games via high-definition television. With a new stadium to fill in 2016 and beyond, look for the Vikings to factor this into marketing decisions including ticket pricing and the game day experience downtown.

Mike Freeman, writing on July 10 for cbssports.com, said 39 Vikings have been arrested by law enforcement officials since 2000, the most in the NFL. The latest was Adrian Peterson’s arrest in Houston several days ago. Freeman also wrote the Vikings have “10 arrests since the start of 2011.”

The St. Thomas football team is ranked No. 4 nationally in the Lindy’s Sports Magazine Division III preseason poll. The Tommies are ranked No. 7 in the USA Today top 10 poll. Last year St. Thomas became the first team in MIAC history to complete back-to-back 10-0 regular seasons and lost to eventual national champion UW-Whitewater in the NCAA Division III semifinals. Saint John’s and Bethel join UST in the Lindy’s Top 25 Poll at No. 14 and No. 15.

Suzy Bogguss, a recent guest on Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion radio program, will perform at the third annual Camden’s Concert on Wednesday, July 25 at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. Camden’s Concert is named after Dave and Linda Mona’s 4½-year-old grandson Camden Mona, and the event raises money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

A silent auction on July 25 will include footballs signed by Jerry Kill, Percy Harvin and John Carlson, plus an Adrian Peterson autographed jersey. Tickets are available by calling the Hopkins Center for the Arts, 952-979-1111, or via the organization’s website. www.hopkinsartscenter.com/

Comments Welcome