Author: David Shama

The Gophers’ locker room is shaped like a football. It measures 62 yards long and 32 yards wide.  O’Brien said the lighting system has 1,600 possible combinations, indicating the Gophers’ post-game celebrations will be colorful and special.

“We have without a doubt the finest home team locker room in America today,” Brewster said.  “Period.  I really believe that.”

Among the features that he most appreciates is that there’s no physical separation in the vast room.  No real corners, or partially obscured areas.  “We are out in the open and that’s how I want it,” Brewster said.  “Compartments within a locker room create cliques…We want no cliques. We want team.”

More than 10 years ago I visited an athletic department official who vaguely talked about building an outdoor football stadium across from Williams and Mariucci arenas.  I dismissed the thought.  Brewster is grateful others didn’t and built this stadium where once it was only a passing thought.

While Brewster’s goals are to win a Big Ten title and connect with Minnesota’s storied football past that includes five national championship teams, he’s not thinking about how TCF Bank Stadium impacts the dream of better days ahead.   “It’s not what it does for the dream,” he said. “It is the dream, and now it’s reality.  And that’s so exciting for the state of Minnesota.  For all our fans, for our players that the dream of football being back on campus in a beautiful venue has been realized. … Very few times in life does a dream, a vision, a thought, exceed your expectations.  This without question exceeds any and all expectations you could have had for it. It is amazing what they accomplished in building the stadium in taking every minute detail into consideration and making it happen.”

Brewster was asked what he can envision saying to his players about the stadium in the days ahead.  The Gophers open practice on Monday.  A public scrimmage on August 22 for season ticket holders only will provide a TCF Bank Stadium preview before the grand opening on September 12, the first game in the facility and an event that will draw national coverage.

Brewster said: “You know what? And it just jumps right out of my mouth. It’s such an honor and it’s such a privilege for us as coaches and for this football team to play in a stadium (like this), and understanding the magnitude of what it means. …Honor every minute that we’re in that stadium.  And make certain that we do a great job of paying homage to those that were before us.”

Could 2009 be the best season Adrian Peterson will have during his NFL career?  As the Vikings open training camp this week, there’s reason to wonder if Peterson won’t make this a special season.

The longevity and peak performance of NFL running backs is partially defined by the physical beating endured annually by 16 game seasons.  At 24, Peterson enters his third season in the league presumably healthy and still blessed with the physical gifts of youth including the acceleration and speed that’s already made him All-Pro.

Emmitt Smith and Walter Payton are the NFL’s all-time career leading rushers.  Their third seasons were impressive.  Smith rushed for 1,713 yards in 1992, within 60 yards of his best one season total of 1,773 in 1995.  Payton gained 1,852 in 1977, a single season career best.

Last season Peterson followed up on his rookie total in 2007 of 1,341 yards, with 1,760 to lead the NFL.  In a July ESPN The Magazine article about 2009 Fantasy Football, the publication projected Peterson’s career lasting through the 2019 season and predicted 2009 will be his best for rushing attempts (373) and yards (1,837).

The magazine projected five more seasons of 1,000 yards or more for Peterson.  Using ESPN’s numbers, Peterson will finish his career with 14,829 rushing yards.  That total would place him fourth on the all-time NFL list behind Smith (18,355), Payton (16,726) and Barry Sanders (15,269).

Only three other players have rushed for more yards in their first two NFL seasons than Peterson (3,101 yards).  Eric Dickerson (3,913), Edgerrin James (3,262) and Earl Campbell (3,147) bettered Peterson.

One NFL record Peterson already has is his 296 yards rushing against San Diego in 2007, the single game league high.  As a rookie he only started nine games while playing in 14.  Last year he played in all 16 games and started 15 while leading the league in rushing.  Among his honors was winning the Maxwell Club’s Bert Bell award as NFL Player of the Year, being named All-Pro and starting in the Pro Bowl for a second consecutive year.

It’s not a bad forecast that 2009 will bring even more “hardware” to the Peterson vault.

Tight end Jim Kleinsasser, 32, is the only player on the Vikings’ roster that was with the team 10 years ago.

Among the likely stories coming out of Vikings’ training camp will be the dream of free agent rookie running back Ian Johnson to make the team.  He’s well-known for helping Boise State team to its dramatic 2007 Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma and making a marriage proposal after the game.  Not so documented, though, is Johnson being an accomplished musician who plays the trombone and is learning the piano.

The Twins are 18-6 against the White Sox in the Metrodome since the beginning of 2007 and are 14-2 in the last 16 games.  The Twins are 21-12 versus the American League Central.

The inconsistent collective performance of the Twins’ starting pitchers this season was predictable.  None of the five pitchers in the regular rotation had more than one full season entering this year.

The late inning relief of Matt Guerrier and Joe Nathan has been impressive.  When the starters falter early, though, the Twins are like most teams in that they can’t consistently put their middle inning pitchers on the mound and expect to shutdown the opposition.   Nathan has converted on 29 of 32 save opportunities this season.  Guerrier has an ERA of 0.33 in his last 30 appearances.

Anthony Slama, 25, is a pitcher worth tracking in the Twins’ farm system. The right- handed reliever is pitching for Double A New Britain in the Eastern League and has a 4-2 record with 80 strikeouts in 58.1 innings.

In a 2009 NBA point guard dominant draft, the Wolves’ Jonny Flynn was the “class of the class” in summer league play in Las Vegas earlier this summer, according to Sports Illustrated.  A July 27 article praised Flynn’s decision making and ability to penetrate.  An Eastern Conference scout predicted future All-Star status for the 20-year-old Flynn who the Wolves selected with the No. 6 pick in the June draft. Flynn averaged 15 points and 7.4 assists in the summer league.

Internet and radio reports earlier this week have been saying that former Wolves’ point guard Stephon Marbury is behaving irrationally and ate Vaseline.  Marbury is a free agent but listed on the Boston roster.

The Wolves’ “Early Bird” promotion, that includes season tickets for $5 per game, ends on Saturday.