Author: David Shama

Brett Favre broke Jim Marshall’s NFL record for consecutive career starts yesterday when the Vikings beat the Lions 27-13 in Detroit.  It was Favre’s second regular season game with the Vikings and his 271^st career start.

Only those who have played football realize the physical and mental challenges, and good fortune, required to achieve such longevity.  Favre, who turns 40 next month, is playing with a partially torn rotator cuff.  This off-season he had surgery on his right shoulder.

During Favre’s pro career he’s had ankle, knee, thumb and other injuries.  He’s suffered a concussion and at one time reportedly was dependent on the pain killer Vicodin.

Marshall played until he was 42 years old.  All but one season of his 20 year NFL career was spent with the Vikings where he played on four Super Bowl teams and showed a remarkable determination from week to week, season to season.

Former Viking teammate Bob Lurtsema recalled a game in the 1970s when he expected to substitute for Marshall who was in the hospital with pneumonia the day of the game.  But Marshall was delivered to and from the game by ambulance, returning to the hospital when his work was finished.

Lurtsema recalled congratulating Marshall after the game and the legendary defensive end told him to “cut out all this mushy crap.”  Lurtsema laughed telling the story and said despite 13 surgeries during his own career he seldom missed practices because of injury or illness.

Even today at 67, Lurtsema has no arthritis.  “I feel great but I am freak, just like Jim,” Lurtsema said recently.

Just like Brett Favre.

The Lions had two players, outside linebacker Julian Peterson (No. 72) and wide receiver Calvin Johnson (No. 82), in the Sporting News magazine list of the top 100 NFL players published earlier this month.  The Vikings had seven including five ranked in the top 50: running back Adrian Peterson (No. 3), offensive guard Steve Hutchinson (No. 14), defensive end Jared Allen (No. 21), and defensive tackles Kevin Williams (No. 30) and Pat Williams (No. 47).  Quarterback Brett Favre ranked No. 51 and cornerback Antoine Winfield No. 76.

With speedy receivers in Bernard Berrian and Percy Harvin, the Vikings might make a smart move in next year’s NFL draft by picking Gopher wide receiver Eric Decker. He’s a possession type receiver who could be available when the Vikings draft beyond the first round.  Vikings director of college scouting Scott Studwell was at Saturday’s Gopher-California game looking at players.

Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell saved a few bucks after his alma mater beat the Gophers on Saturday, 35-21.  He told a certain Web columnist he would buy dinner at DQ or McDonald’s if the Gophers won.

TCF Bank Stadium has been certified as the first collegiate or professional football facility in the country to win the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The stadium has been awarded the LEED Silver Certification established by the U.S. Green Building Council and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute.

WCCO Radio talk show host Dave Mona will make a presentation on the “Future of Sports in Minnesota” at a luncheon on Wednesday at the Minneapolis Club.  The public is welcome to attend and more information is available by calling Margaret Letso, 612-332-2292.

Tony Mortensen, a reserve quarterback for the Gophers last season, is working as an intern in the Athletic Department to associate athletics director Marc Ryan.  Mortensen is interested in a career working for a college athletic department.

Ryan, WCCO Radio broadcaster Dave Lee, Twins vice president Patrick Klinger and Wild vice president Bill Robertson are all friends and live within a few miles of one another in the Apple Valley and Eagan areas.

On a busy football weekend that included the Gophers game in Minneapolis and the Vikings game in Detroit, the Twins drew large crowds at the Metrodome against the Tigers.  Saturday’s attendance was 43,338 while Sunday was 36,335.

Figure the Twins off-season to-do list includes committing to a set outfield, rather than so much rotation of players.  Manager Ron Gardenhire said on his Sunday KSTP Radio show earlier this month that there are too many limited at-bats with an outfield rotation of Michael Cuddyer, Denard Span, Carlos Gomez, Jason Kubel and Delmon Young.

A regular outfield of Cuddyer, Span and Kubel packs a punch at the plate with Cuddyer and Span exceptional in the outfield.  If Kubel gives up the left handed DH role, first baseman Justin Morneau, and catchers Joe Mauer and Jose Morales could frequently fill that spot.

The Twins have committed only 67 errors this season and the club record is 74 set in 2002.

Fox Sports North will televise the Champlin Park at Blaine game starting at 7 p.m. on Thursday.  Other 7 p.m. games to be telecast are October 9, Wayzata at Lakeville North, and October 20, Cretin-Derham Hall at Woodbury.

The California team that plays the Gophers at TCF Bank Stadium tomorrow is a two touchdown favorite.  The point spread is among the reasons the unranked Gophers could surprise and beat the No. 8 team in the country.

Don’t bet your season tickets on it but there’s no reason to enter TCF Bank Stadium looking more lifeless than a bear in hibernation.  Coach Jeff Tedford’s mostly successful coaching era (eighth season, 61-30) has been tainted by struggles on the road.  The Golden Bears entered this season with a 5-11 road record the last three years, according to a Cal Website, https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2009/9/16/1026957/on-the-road-again-how-can-cal.

Among the more talked about road losses was last season’s game at Maryland where the Terps won 35-27 after the Golden Bears arrived only a day before the game and made a three hour time change.  The Bears flew across the country and while Tedford may or may not think the time change contributed to the loss, he brought his team to Minneapolis yesterday, a day earlier than opponents usually arrive.

When tomorrow’s game begins at 11 a.m. Minneapolis time the California lads could be thinking it’s only 9 a.m. on the West Coast.  “I really don’t think it’s an advantage for the Gophers,” Minnesota coach Tim Brewster said.

Maybe, or maybe not.  Now go ahead and take the same view about the Bears being a big favorite in the game.  Gopher quarterback Adam Weber was asked about a possible advantage if the Bears feel a little too good about themselves.  “There’s some truth to that,” he said.  “A team like Cal might come in here and overlook us a little bit.  But we’ll demand respect right away because of how we play and what we show them.  We’re going to have to have a very flawless game on offense and defense.  But if we do that, who knows what happens.”

The 2-0 Gophers have shown an impressive defense and timely field goal kicking in close wins over Syracuse and Air Force, but they hardly have seen a sniff so far from national polls and media.  That’s not the kind of resume that will cause Cal to be extra focused and neither will playing a Big Ten Conference team.

The league’s prestige has been in free fall for awhile including last season when conference teams won one bowl game.  After two weeks the conference has four wins against BCS teams and three losses.

California’s last trip to the Rose Bowl was 1959 and Tedford has fans talking Pasadena with a team that has impressed with home wins over Maryland, 52-13, and Eastern Washington, 59-7.  Conversation about the Bears often begins with game-breaking runner Jahvid Best, among the most likely players in the country to contend for the Heisman Trophy.

Best, though, averaged 96 yards rushing on the road last year versus 153 in Berkeley, according to ESPN The Magazine. The whole Cal team only had 38 yards rushing in that 2008 loss at Maryland, according to the publication which quoted a rival coach as saying this about Best:  “He is really dangerous.  But if you can penetrate and rattle him early, he gets tentative.”

There’s some intrigue about Saturday’s game, so go in with your head up and hope it’s in the same position around 2:30 p.m.