Author: David Shama

Those dreaded 11 a.m. starting times for Big Ten football games may soon be only memories.

Big Ten schools located in the Central Time Zone, including Minnesota, have started many home games at 11 a.m. for years to accommodate the conference’s TV commitments.  The network obligations haven’t been popular with many fans who found 11 a.m. too early in the day for their convenience or comfort.

Gophers athletics director Joel Maturi told Sports Headliners this week that a change for the coming fall is possible. “With the new negotiations that commissioner Delany has done with ABC, ESPN and the Big Ten Network, it looks very favorable that there may be a possibility that beginning as early as next fall we’ll be able to play at noon,” Maturi said.

If Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany is successful, no future conference games will begin at 11 a.m.  Start times here could be noon, 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Maturi said all the athletics directors in the Central Time Zone realize “what a challenge” it is for fans to deal with the 11 a.m. starts.  Maturi said a noon kickoff, or later when possible, better accommodates tailgaters, students and particularly fans travelling from outside the metro area.

A major college football start time of 11 a.m. Central is uncommon outside the Big Ten.  Locally, the Vikings traditional start times are noon and 3:15 p.m.

Noon kickoffs for Gophers games this fall could help attendance.  The Gophers have a chance to sellout all their home games in the 50,000 seat TCF Bank Stadium but that isn’t assured now.

Maturi said the renewal process for season tickets is underway and that will help determine how much ticket inventory is available.  The Gophers have an appealing home schedule that includes Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin.

New coach Jerry Kill has a team that was 3-9 last season but Maturi said fans like Kill’s “genuineness.”  Maturi hopes Kill’s popularity will continue to increase.

“I think coach Kill has done everything right,” Maturi said.  “I think people have really identified with him.  I think people like him.  People want him to succeed and give him a chance.  We’re hopeful, again, with an unbelievably attractive home schedule that people retain their season tickets. …”

Maturi said it hasn’t been decided what nights of the week the Big Ten Network will air conference hockey games.  A six team Big Ten hockey league that includes the Gophers will start in 2013-2014.

This week’s issue of Sports Illustrated predicts the Twins will not only win the Central Division, but also defeat the Yankees in the playoffs before losing to the Red Sox to determine the American League’s representative in the World Series.

The Twins have lost two regular season openers in a row and four of the last six.  Tonight in Toronto they open against a Blue Jays team expected to be competitive like last year’s 85-77 club.

The Twins’ lineup tonight has four changes from the unit that took the field last year in Los Angeles for the season opener.  Second baseman Orlando Hudson, shortstop J.J. Hardy and third baseman Nick Punto are no longer with the ballclub, while Carl Pavano replaces Scott Baker as the starting pitcher.

Pavano was the winning pitcher last season in the first ever regular season game at Target Field.

Harmon Killebrew, Kent Hrbek and Rod Carew had the most opening game starts in their Twins careers with 12 each.

Coach John Anderson’s Gophers (8-8) play Purdue (15-8) in Big Ten opening baseball games today and tomorrow at Target Field.  Purdue pitcher Brad Schreiber leads the Big Ten with 38 strikeouts and is holding opponents to a batting average of .207, second best in the Big Ten.

The St. Thomas baseball program, MIAC champions 12 of the last 15 years, is the favorite again, according to a poll of conference coaches.  St. Olaf and Saint John’s had the second and third most votes, followed by Concordia, Hamline, Augsburg, Bethel, Macalester, Gustavus, Saint Mary’s and Carleton.  Weather permitting, the MIAC schedule is to begin tomorrow.

Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has been training in the 200 and 400 meters, and wants to compete in the 2012 Olympics, according to Sporting News reports in its magazine and online.

Former Gophers wrestler Brock Lesnar was on ESPN’s First Take this week promoting his new reality TV show and book.  The popular UFC star said he was a “fish out of water” trying out for the Vikings several years ago.  He admires Bears’ linebacker Brian Urlacher.

While the Wild are struggling, the team’s minor league affiliate, the Houston Aeros, is in second place in the AHL’s Western Conference.  The hope is for a successful playoff run and the roster includes NHL veterans Jed Ortmeyer, Patrick O’Sullivan and Warren Peters, plus young prospects like Casey Wellman and Matt Hackett.  Other players include Minnesotans Jarod Palmer (Fridley), Nate Prosser (Elk River), and Chad Rau (Eden Prarie).  The AHL playoffs begin April 14.

The father of former Gopher Colton Iverson was supportive of coach Tubby Smith during an interview with Sports Headliners this week.

Iverson was granted permission by Minnesota last week to transfer to another school, although according to media reports the program can’t be in the Big Ten Conference or on the Gophers’ schedule next season.  Chuck Iverson, speaking by telephone from Yankton, South Dakota where he is the athletics director at Mount Marty College, was asked if his son thought he received fair treatment at Minnesota.

He said Colton never expressed criticism of coaches or teammates.  “He’s never expressed any regrets that way,” Chuck said.  “I don’t think it (transferring) has anything to do with coaching staff or teammates.  I just feel like he felt like it was something he needed to do.  No, I don’t think there’s any issues that way.”

The older Iverson, a former player at the University of South Dakota and NBA draft choice, said his son’s decision was from the “gut.”  Leaving the Gophers after three seasons came down to Colton feeling his basketball experience would be better elsewhere.

“There really wasn’t one specific thing,” Chuck said.  “Sometimes you just go on a gut feeling.  He just felt like he needed to make a change at this point.”

Chuck said Colton deliberated on his decision and made lists of “pros and cons” about leaving or staying. “It was a real tough decision for him,” Chuck said.  “He didn’t do it lightly.  I think he spent a lot of time thinking about it. …”

Iverson, a part-time starter during his Gophers career, was coming off the bench more as a junior this season than he did as a freshman (11 starts versus 27).  The 6-10 forward-center had the lowest field goal percentage of his college career, .446 versus .603 as a freshman.  Even some of his close-in shots were off target.

Chuck said his son “lost confidence” this season.  “I think he’d take as much blame for that as anybody,” his father said.  “Coaches make tough decisions (on playing time).  He lost some confidence.  Some shots that were going for him earlier.  The mind is a very powerful tool.”