Author: David Shama

The Gophers defense loses nine of 11 starters from last season.  Filling positions is among the priorities of spring practice which continues now through the annual spring game on Saturday, April 24 at TCF Bank Stadium.

Defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove told Sports Headliners that while his unit is inexperienced the Gophers “do have a lot of talent.”  Included in the talent category are redshirt freshmen defensive ends Ra’Shede Hageman and Matt Garin whose participation in spring practice has been slowed respectively by hamstring and ankle problems.

Through the years the Gophers’ reputation for rushing the passer has been poor but that may change with players like Hageman, Garin and sophomore defensive end D.L. Wilhite.

“D.L. Wilhite has made a lot of progress,” Cosgrove said.  “I really like what I see in him.  He’s really going to help us in the pass rush. …”

Wilhite has been known as a pass rushing specialist but Cosgrove said the       Kentucky native can play the run effectively, too.

Among the developments of spring practice has been the emergence of sophomore middle linebacker Mike Rallis, a former walk-on who missed much of last season because of injuries when he was a safety.  “He’s made an outstanding transition from safety to the ‘Sam’ linebacker and he’s given us…above and beyond what I expected him to be at this point.  He’s really improved everyday. Really detailed guy.”

Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi told Sports Headliners he doesn’t have starting times yet for the 2010 home football games.  The home schedule rates high in box office appeal with opponents that include USC, Ohio State, Penn State and Iowa.

Maturi was sorry to lose Gophers basketball forward Paul Carter who is transferring.  Carter needs to finish his basketball career in the Chicago area and closer to his sister Bria who has cancer.  Carter, who has one year remaining of college eligibility, will earn his degree in communications before leaving Minnesota.

Was the Big East Conference “over-rated” in men’s basketball this year?  The Big East had eight teams selected for the NCAA tournament, three more than the Big Ten Conference.  Five Big East schools were given No. 1, 2 or 3 seeds, while the Big Ten had only one team with a top three seed (Ohio State a No. 2 in the Midwest).  In the tournament’s first round, Big Ten teams were 4-1, while the Big East was 4-4.  Although the Big East had three more teams in the tournament, both conferences had one representative in the Final Four (West Virginia and Michigan State).  In the semi-finals Duke easily won over West Virginia, 78-57, while Michigan State, playing without injured star guard Kalin Lucas, lost to Butler 52-50.

Former Twins Torii Hunter and Johan Santana, now with the Angels and Mets, lead their teams in salaries this season, according to the latest issue of USA Today Sports Weekly.  Hunter will earn $18,500,000 and Santana $20,144,207.  Baseball’s top paid player, Alex Rodriguez, will make $33,000,000.  Justin Morneau leads the Twins at $15,000,000 with Joe Mauer second at $12,500,000.

Ex-Twin Luis Castillo, 34, is still playing second base for the Mets and is in his third season with the New York team.  Former Twin Cristian Guzman, 32, is in his fifth season playing shortstop for the Nationals.

Francisco Liriano, the fifth starter in the Twins rotation, led all major league pitchers with 30 strikeouts during spring training.  Liriano, who some experts thought might contend for the Cy Young award last season before struggling, makes his first start of the regular season tonight in Chicago against the White Sox.

The Wild will pay tribute to center Mike Modano, the all-time scoring leader among American-born players, when he and his Stars teammates play at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday in what could be Modano’s final NHL game.  Modano, 39, may retire after this season following an NHL career that began with the North Stars in 1989.

North Stars management made Modano the overall No. 1 draft pick in the 1988 NHL draft.  His scoring ability attracted attention, although at the time some hockey experts thought center Trevor Linden, a highly regarded player and leader, might be the better choice.

There’s no denying the reputation of Wild tough guy and left wing Derek Boogaard.  The April 5 issue of ESPN The Magazine included an NHL players poll that named Boogaard the league’s best fighter.  In the latest issue of Sports Illustrated, a poll of 272 NHL players selected him as the toughest fighter.

The Minnesota Lynx gave their fans more reason to look forward to the upcoming season yesterday when the local WNBA franchise chose national defensive player of the year Monica Wright from Virginia with the No. 2 pick in the league draft.  The Lynx will offer a roster that includes Wright and local hero Lindsay Whalen at their home opener on Sunday, May 16 at Target Center against the Washington Mystics.

A tennis source believes Martina Navratilova and Lindsay Davenport, in town this weekend to play an exhibition, will receive over $50,000.00 for appearance fees.  https://www.tennisfestivalofthenorth.com/

With winter NCAA championships complete, five MIAC schools rank in the top 70 of the Division III Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings. St. Thomas leads MIAC schools with 466 points and is eighth in the standings. The Tommies’ 271 winter points and 195 fall points are school records. Gustavus is 25^th in the standings with 312 points.  St. Olaf is 40th with 238.50 points, Carleton 47^th at 195.50 points and Concordia 67^th with 150.50 points.

With college basketball ending tonight, it’s time to review the broadcasters who have both soothed and annoyed in 2010, and even further back.

The boys behind the microphones are important to my enjoyment of the game. Sometimes they’re better than the action on the TV screen, while other moments they’re so annoying I hit the mute button on the remote control with the force of a Shaquille O’Neal slam dunk.

Here are my summaries of several basketball broadcasters who, welcome or not, have found their ways into our homes:

I start with Greg Gumbel who is actually a studio host for CBS on the Road to the Final Four.  Gumbel is a personable fella, a smooth professional who like a good host at a dinner party delivers a few affable questions to his basketball panel of Greg Anthony (he’s good) and Seth Davis (he’s better).  Gumbel’s trademark phrase is, “We’ll get you out to that game while others of you will see (fill in the blank).”  This must be wonderful training if Gumbel ever decides to work at a railroad station announcing departing trains to various destinations.

In a mediocre pairing, Jim Nantz, the play-by-play guy, teams with color man Clark Kellogg. The two form CBS’s No. 1 college basketball broadcast team and couldn’t be more different.  Nantz has a calm, flawless delivery and if he’s ever uttered a dumb word on the air I missed it.  A couple of years ago Kellogg replaced Billy Packer as Nantz’s partner.  That’s like having Randy Foye take over for Dwyane Wade as the Miami Heat’s franchise player.  Kellogg talks too much, isn’t that interesting and has a voice more like what you expect to find in an office than at a broadcast table.  Note to Kellogg: occasionally let the game describe itself.