Author: David Shama

Brett Favre told NBC during a pre-recorded interview prior to last night’s Vikings-Saints game that he would have retired had his team won the Super Bowl last February.  “No brainer.  I would be gone (retired),” Favre said.

During the game NBC announcer Al Michaels reported the Vikings quarterback second guessed himself this week about coming back for a 20^th NFL season.  The 40-year-old Favre missed pre-season practice and games by reporting late to the team (August 17).

Last night Favre’s timing with his receivers sometimes didn’t look right.  There were only four receptions by wide outs, with tight end Visanthe Shiancoe being the favorite receiver.  He caught four passes for 76 yards including the Vikings only touchdown in the 14-9 loss.

It was evident the Vikings were not only without a less than sharp Favre but also hurting without his favorite receiver from last season, wide receiver Sidney Rice out indefinitely following hip surgery.  The Vikings passing game couldn’t get established with either Percy Harvin, who missed a lot of August practice time because of his migraine headaches, or veteran Bernard Berrian who even last year didn’t seem to click with Favre.

Favre was 15-27 for 171 yards.  In the second half the Saints adjusted to Shiancoe who was a Favre favorite earlier in the game.

After the game Vikings coach Brad Childress was asked on KFAN about his quarterback.  “I thought he did okay,” he said.  “I think he’ll get better and better again working with these guys and with the offensive line.  He probably missed some but made some nice plays as well.”

The Vikings didn’t have much to brag about after losing to the Saints in the nationally televised NFL opener that followed last January’s NFC title game in which New Orleans won in overtime 31-28 to advance to the Super Bowl.  The Vikings offense, featuring All Pro Adrian Peterson, tried to establish a running game to take pressure off Favre and the depleted receiver corps.  That didn’t work very well with the Vikings rushing for 91 yards, including 87 by Peterson.

The Vikings defense was consistent enough against the run to hold the Saints under 100 yards but that defense wasn’t good enough to stop New Orleans from making some important yardage in the first drive of the third quarter when the Saints went ahead 14-9.  Nor could the highly hyped defense stop the Saints running game when everyone watching knew New Orleans was trying to run time off the clock in the closing minutes.  That’s what they did while the Vikings offense watched the final minutes from the sidelines.

The Vikings have 15 more games to ease the frustration of another loss to the Saints, the Super Bowl champs.  Maybe they will but last night New Orleans only added to the hurt the Saints have caused the Vikings twice in nine months.

“We got a lot to work on, and we’re going to be a good football team before the season is over,” Childress said on the radio last night.

That’s why Favre came back.

Results from a state fair poll reject public funding for a new Vikings stadium by a two-to-one ratio, according to a news release this week from the Minnesota House of Representatives.  When asked if public funding should be used to help pay for the stadium, 66.4 percent of poll participants said no while 24.5 answered yes.  The poll, with 9,926 participating, didn’t ask other stadium questions such as whether it’s important to keep the Vikings in the state, or if public funding from a metro area lodging tax is acceptable.  https://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hinfo/Fair/2010Results.pdf

The Twins starters for next week’s series against the White Sox in Chicago could be Francisco Liriano, Brian Duensing and Carl Pavano.  The major league season ends on October 3 and the Twins have a six game lead on the White Sox today.

WCCO talk show host and former Twins newspaper reporter Dave Mona believes if the Twins come out of next week’s series with a four game lead in the Central Division they will be solidly positioned to end the season in first place.  “It will be devastating to the White Sox who will realize that the race is pretty much over because there are no more head-to-head meetings between the teams,” he said.

Liriano pitched Winter Ball prior to this season.  Now he’s at a career high for innings pitched, with 172.1.  The September 1-7 issue of USA Today Sports Weekly included the following from him:  “I won’t pitch winter ball this year, not at all.  I’m going to go home and rest.  I think I need a break.”

Twins shortstop J.J. Hardy is hitting .444 in his last six games with eight RBI and seven runs scored.

The Twins franchise needs two more wins to reach 4,000 victories since the club began operations here in 1961.  Only five other American League teams have won more games since 1961.

Ron Gardenhire needs eight more wins to reach 800 as Twins manager.

Mona’s award winning Gopher vignettes are heard prior to Minnesota football broadcasts on WCCO Radio.  Tomorrow’s vignette (about 10:30 a.m.) is devoted to legendary broadcaster Tom Brokaw, a University of South Dakota alum, who perhaps has mixed emotions about Saturday’s game between the Gophers and Coyotes.  Brokaw, while growing up in South Dakota, was captivated by Gophers football, including by his hero, Gophers All-American Paul Giel.  Mona’s vignette references Brokaw’s book A Long Way From Home and how the small town South Dakota boy “knew every Gopher player from a religious weekly reading” of the Minneapolis Tribune.

Gophers coach Tim Brewster said fullback Jon Hoese, whose father’s funeral is today, will play in tomorrow’s game against South Dakota.  Brewster said he becomes emotional recalling what a loyal fan and “awesome guy” Terry was. The game ball from last week’s win over Middle Tennessee State was given to Terry.

Safety Kim Royston, who broke his leg last spring, will miss his second game of 2010 tomorrow against South Dakota, but Brewster continues to monitor Royston’s comeback. “We’ll see the week of the SC game (September 18) where he’s at on Tuesday,” Brewster said.

“I can’t say at this point but I will next week.”  That’s how Brewster answered the question of whether he could say what the status for the Southern California game will be for indefinitely suspended safety Kyle Theret and offensive tackle Dom Alford.  Both players missed last week’s game and won’t play against South Dakota.

South Dakota’s starting strong safety is Minnesota native and former Gophers scholarship player Shane Potter.

The Coyotes, who lost their opener 38-7 to Central Florida last week, are members of the five-team Great West Conference that includes Cal Poly, North Dakota, Southern Utah and UC Davis.

Gophers junior guard Devoe Joseph made 55 percent of his field goals including 50 percent of his three point attempts in the three game exhibition series against Canadian schools that ended Sunday.  He led the Gophers in scoring with a 17.3 average, while senior guard-forward Blake Hoffarber was second at 13 points per game.

Freshman forward Maurice Walker led in rebounds with 7.7 per game while junior forward Trevor Mbakwe averaged 7.  The Gophers won all three games averaging 87 points while opponents averaged 65.7.

MIAC football teams continue with nonconference games this Saturday and then conference play opens on September 18.  The league’s most anticipated games come in October involving Saint John’s coach John Gagliardi, St. Thomas coach Glenn Caruso and Bethel coach Steve Johnson.  Saint John’s hosts St. Thomas on October 2 before traveling to Bethel the following Saturday.  Bethel will be at St. Thomas on October 23 to complete the round-robin of the three MIAC favorites. The regular season ends on November 13.

The Wild, who open training camp September 18, will make team veteran Mikko Koivu and free agent acquisitions Matt Cullen, John Madden and Eric Nystrom available to the media today.  Koivu, the team’s captain, signed a seven-year contract extension on July 15 that begins with the 2011-12 season and continues 2017-18. Cullen and Nystrom signed three-year contracts on the opening day of free agency (July 1) and Madden signed a one-year contract August 6.

Bleacher Report includes a Herb Brooks book by former Minneapolis Tribune writer John Gilbert on its list of hockey books NHL fans should read.  https://bleacherreport.com/articles/453189-hockey-books-all-nhl-fans-should-read?utm_source=nhl.com#page/5