Author: David Shama

I felt guilty about not attending the Twins’ final scheduled game ever in the Metrodome.  A family commitment on Sunday took precedence in Rochester.

I did attend the final Twins game at Met Stadium and skipped out on work that afternoon to attend.  I feel guilty about that, too.  I thought going to the game was important but there were only about 16,000 of us who thought so.

A story from long ago is that a new Twins broadcaster, confident of his skills to promote interest in the club, pronounced that attendance would increase by 200,000 in his first season with the club.  Before the last game of the season he was told, “If the Twins don’t draw 176,000 today, you’ll miss your prediction.”

The last games in the dome might be a final Twins goodbye to several players including pitchers Carl Pavano and Glen Perkins, catcher Mike Redmond, third baseman Joe Crede and second baseman Alexi Casilla.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire and his coaches did a lot with less including a starting pitching staff that had two guys left from the five-man rotation that began the year.  Gardenhire, his staff and players deserved the capacity crowds and roars of approval heard in the final days of the dome and the regular season.

The fans turned out in attendance numbers of over 40,000 four times in the last five games.  The season total of 2,362,149 is third best in franchise history.

Michael Cuddyer’s inspirational hitting and play at first base will long be remembered by Twins fans as one of the best late season performances in franchise history.  Leo Durocher was wrong when he said, “Nice guys finish last.”

The Twins were 16-4 in their last 20 games.  Their unlikely heroes included outfielder Delmon Young who hit his first career grand slam home run on Friday night, the same game that rookie starter Jeff Manship won his first game.

Then Young hit two home runs yesterday as the Twins swept Kansas City in three games to tie Detroit for first place in the Central Division and force a tie-break game at the dome with the Tigers tomorrow afternoon.

The joy in Twinsville helped Minnesotans feel better after a sixth straight loss to Wisconsin in football.  After the Gophers lost to the Badgers on Saturday, Minnesota coach Tim Brewster said: “It just rips your guts out.”

I’ve been thinking about clever signs to make for tonight’s Vikings-Packers game.  Stuff that will surely stick with and bother the Wisconsin fans.  Try these out:

Our cheese is better than yours.

Your cheese stinks.

Our stadium has backs on the seats, yours doesn’t.

You guys got Favred.

To be fair, I need to report on those T-shirts Wisconsinites are wearing like “We’ll never forget you, Brent.”

Speaking of Brett Favre, a column reader and friend emailed to complain a bit about the new Vikings quarterback who is receiving a heavy dose of reverence.  He referred to those that think Favre sits at the right hand of God.

Right hand?  Left Hand?  What’s the diff?  The guy is there.

Just to clear up any confusion, I didn’t run in yesterday’s Twin Cities Marathon.

Not sure what the news media reports were on the number of marathon spectators yesterday, but in another year awhile back at least one news organization reported a half million or so people watching.  Now let’s see.  The population of the metro area back then was maybe 2.5 million.  So one of every five residents was watching?  Hmmm.

The result of tomorrow’s Minnesota-Wisconsin football game isn’t “life or death” for either program but the outcome carries significance beyond a typical Big Ten game.

Tim Brewster refers to the Gophers as an “ascending program.”  The 3-1 Gophers were 7-6 last season after an awful 1-11 beginning in Brewster’s first year as head coach.  A win over the Badgers would further substantiate the “ascending” description.

Bret Bielema’s Badgers are 4-0 after a disappointing 7-6 record last year.  The season before Wisconsin was 9-4 after Bielema had started his career as Wisconsin head coach with a 12-1 record.  “The what have you done for me lately” crowd in Madison has been critical of Bielema.  A win over the Gophers, his fourth straight, would dial down criticism while placing the undefeated Badgers at 2-0 in the Big Ten.

Tomorrow’s winner impacts perception of not only fans and media, but probably recruits.  The Gophers haven’t defeated the Badgers in Minneapolis since 2003.  A Minnesota team last won in Madison in 1994.  In the previous 20 years Wisconsin has defeated the Gophers 14 times but Minnesota leads the series 59-51-8.

Bielema said on regional TV a few years ago that the Badgers consider “Minneapolis” part of their recruiting territory.  Tomorrow the Badgers take the field here with eight Minnesota natives on the roster including significant contributors in wide receiver Isaac Anderson, kick returner and wide receiver David Gilreath (both from Minneapolis) and linebacker Blake Sorensen (Eden Prairie).  While the Gophers have several Wisconsin natives on their roster, those players aren’t as productive as the Badger trio.

The Gophers have verbal commitments for their 2010 recruiting class from three Wisconsin players, according to Rivals.com.  All are rated three star players. https://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/commitlist.asp?SID=880&Year=2010&School=46

For the Gophers to recruit Wisconsin successfully they obviously have to produce better on the field than in the past.  Minnesota hasn’t been to a New Year’s Day bowl game since 1962.  Wisconsin has won three Rose Bowls and been to other New Year’s Day games in the last 20 years including two under Bielema.

A win by the Gophers figures to further improve player confidence.  All but one of the starters was on last year’s team that collapsed after a 7-1 start, losing five straight games.  Among the losses was a 55-0 defeat at home to Iowa.

The Gophers say they are better and more resilient than last year.  A win or loss will test that opinion.  A victory keeps momentum going toward the following week’s game, Homecoming with Purdue.  The Boilermakers look like a lower level conference team and the Gophers could be 3-0 in the Big Ten after the next two Saturdays.

A Wisconsin loss tomorrow might set the Badgers up for three consecutive conference defeats. The Badgers play at Ohio State a week from Saturday, and then come home to face another favorite for the conference championship, Iowa.

And then, too, the Gopher-Badger game is always significant for its storied rivalry and bragging rights.  This is major college football’s most played rivalry with 118 games in the record book.  The two schools have been playing for possession of the Paul Bunyan axe trophy since 1948 and none of the Gophers on the 2009 team has ever won it.

Minnesota hasn’t won a trophy game against Wisconsin, Iowa or Michigan since 2006 when the Gophers beat Iowa. The Badgers have been winning the axe a lot during the last two decades but that doesn’t mean tomorrow’s game doesn’t have plenty of significance for them, too.