Author: David Shama

Former Gopher Travis Busch will be eligible next season to play for Colorado State. He won’t have to sit out a season because of an NCAA rule allowing players who have an undergraduate degree to play for their new school if enrolled in grad school. After the first semester Busch is expected to request an extra season of eligibility at Colorado State because as a freshman at Cal Poly he broke his foot in the fourth game of the season.  Otherwise, 2009-10 will be the former Mounds View High player’s final season of college basketball.

Busch said the Gophers, who made the NCAA tournament last year, will need to be mentally ready in the Big Ten Conference race, a league that could be among the best in college basketball.  “Other teams can break your spirit,” he said. “If you don’t bring it every night, you’re going to get your butt handed to you.”

Busch also said former teammate Jamal Abu Shamala is playing in Europe with the Jordanian national team.

Wheelock Whitney, a longtime civic leader and admired businessman, is friends with Brock Lesnar who defended his UFC championship on Saturday in Las Vegas. Whitney, 83, and Lesnar, 32, became friends as neighbors in suburban Minneapolis.

Nick Blackburn, 8-4 with a 3.06 ERA in his second full season with the Twins, has become the ace of the starting staff.  He is now 5-0 in eight home starts this season. His ERA is 2.19 since May 21.

Twins third baseman Joe Crede has hit four of his 14 home runs against his former team, the White Sox.

The latest issue of the Sporting News ranks the major league baseball stadiums from first to 30^th with the Metrodome at No. 29.  Twins president Dave St. Peter hopes any listings of America’s best ballparks in 2010 and beyond will include Target Field.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it is ranked very high nationally because of its unique design, intimacy of seating in the bowl and urban nature,” St. Peter told Sports Headliners.

Target Field will include a distinctive limestone exterior and contemporary roof canopy.  St. Peter said about 60 percent of fans attending games will enter through the stadium’s outfield area.

Those elements and others, such as the small area upon which the stadium is being built, will make Target Field unlike any other ballpark.  The facility will be the result of thorough planning and input by St. Peter and others with the organization.  They have studied all the big league stadiums during the last several years.

“We took pieces of all of them,” he said.  “It (Target Field) won’t be exactly like any of them.”

Because of what St. Peter refers to as their “small footprint,” or locations, San Francisco’s and Pittsburgh’s stadiums are most like Target Field in his opinion.  Those ballparks made the Sporting News top five ranking that goes like this:  Fenway Park, Boston; PNC Park, Pittsburgh; Wrigley Field, Chicago; Camden Yards, Baltimore; AT&T Park, San Francisco.

While Target Field will embrace fans with a great game day experience that includes public access to the ballpark, intimate sightlines, good eats and friendly service, St. Peter said there was another element that went into the planning that was important. The Twins took a “very inclusionary” approach with their leadership and department heads, encouraging input.  The result will be that behind the scenes operations such as kitchens and lockerrooms will be highly functional and effective, according to St. Peter.

St. Peter said a “few thousand” tickets remain for the franchise’s last game in the Metrodome, Sunday, October 4.  If the Twins “stay competitive” in the Central Division race, he expects total attendance of 2.4 to 2.5 million.

The Twins will announce their All-Metrodome team later this month.  The most obvious choice for the team will be the late Kirby Puckett who St. Peter describes as possibly the most popular athlete in Minnesota sports history.

The Twins rank highest at No. 23 among the four local pro sports teams in ESPN The Magazine’s Ultimate Standings article.  The July 13 issue of the magazine said: “Our standings rank all 122 MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL franchises by how much they give back to fans for all the emotion, money and time fans invest in their favorite teams.” The Wild rank No. 66, the Vikings 89 and the Timberwolves 113.

The Xcel Energy Center is No. 1 in the best arenas/stadiums category.  San Francisco’s AT&T Park is second, Green Bay’s Lambeau Field third and Pittsburgh’s PNC Park fourth.

Among the criteria used in calculating an overall franchise rating is the “stadium experience.”  The Twins received a 114 rating, the Vikings a 117 in the baseball undesirable Metrodome.  Huh?  https://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=4297569

The Twins, who lost 4-3 to the Yankees last night, are 7-31 when they score three or fewer runs.  They are 6-18 vs. the American League East.

Bobby Keppel, who pitched 3.2 innings last night, has 11.1 scoreless innings since joining the Twins from Rochester in late June.