Author: David Shama

A couple dozen family and friends leave on Sunday for St. Louis to watch Joe Mauer in Tuesday’s All-Star game.  A family member said the 26-year-old Mauer isn’t dating but expects Mauer will be married by his 30^th birthday.  “He wants the stability,” the source said.

A crowd of more than 30,000 is possible for the first public scrimmage at TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday, August 22 starting at 3 p.m.  The event is open only to football season ticket holders.

A Goldy’s Locker Room store will be located at the main entrance to TCF Bank Stadium, at the corner of University Avenue and Oak Street. The store will be finished and open to the public by mid-August.  The store will offer the largest selection of Gopher sports products in the state, according to a news release.  Products will range from apparel, accessories and gift items to special collectibles and gameday novelties.

Lakeville South High School will be in the 16-team 7-on-7 High School Player Development National Tournament at Winter Park on Friday and Saturday.  The teams represent eight AFC and eight NFC franchises.  Hosted by the Vikings this year, the tournament is an annual event that started in 2004 as an extension of the NFL’s High School Player Development Program.

Wolves CEO Rob Moor and owner Glen Taylor will have input on final candidates for the coaching position, Moor told Sports Headliners.  David Kahn, new president of basketball operations, likely will have candidates for Moor and Taylor this month, but a coach won’t for sure be in place by August 1.

Moor clarified that under NBA rules the Wolves hold the NBA draft rights to first round pick Ricky Rubio for up to one year after he becomes available to them.  Rubio is presently not available because he’s under contract with his Spanish team.

Moor also said the Wolves have sold about 200 seats through new season ticket purchases since the NBA draft in late June.

Radio personality and public relations executive Dave Mona enjoys Irish music. He and wife Linda are planning an Irish music cruise to the Caribbean next winter.

Ugh.  I am trying to think of a synonym for ugh that’s appropriate for general audience readership.  Otherwise, you will be reading the word more than either one of us cares to see it.  The problem is I have been buying 2007 college football magazines, and Gopher fans please accept this as a warning: proceed with caution at your local newsstand. 

I have been devouring college football magazines since Eisenhower was in the White House.  The arrival of these publications on local newsstands in July and August has been a summer highlight for decades.  Long ago I realized that kind of like pro wrestling, many of the storylines are pure hype but who cares when team rankings, conference predictions, schedules and all-America teams pump you up like an over-time win against a bitter rival. 

From a provincial perspective here in Gopherland, this year’s crop of magazines isn’t one to save for the grandchildren.  In fact citizens of Gopher Nation should only read these publications if they have normal blood pressure and advanced training in anger management.   

So here we go–out with the truth, no matter how painful.  The Gophers who, despite returning 15 of 22 starters, are a popular choice to finish last in the Big Ten Conference.  They were 6-7 overall last season, 3-5 in the conference.  The publications don’t like the quarterback situation (no experienced returnee) and believe mastering the new spread offense will be a challenge.  Double ugh. 

Our hated rivals to the east (novices, listen up, we’re talking Wisconsin Badgers) have been darn good for some time, winning more games than any Big Ten school in the last three years, according to Street and Smith’s college football magazine.  Now the Badgers are supposed to be gaudy good as in ranked No. 3 in the country by Street and Smith’s, plus Big Ten favorites and contenders for a national championship.  

The Good Book says to love our neighbors.  I am not completely aligned with that but I do hope Iowa beats the brains out of Bucky this fall.   God knows, we love Iowa, right?

Even those mildly educated about college football magazines recognize the name Street and Smith’s.  I grew up on Street and Smith’s annual college football magazine.  Seems like I read it forward, backward and even upside down from the backseat of the car on family vacations.  Every year there was some highly hyped golden boy on the cover, more often than not from Ohio State.  For years the players posed wearing helmets with no face bar, and they looked weird even in the 1950s. 

Now take a deep breath and flash to the present!  Imagine the angst picking up a 2007 collector’s issue of Street and Smith’s with an Ohio State cover boy, sans face bar, whose name is James Laurinaitis.  Yup, that’s the kid from Wayzata High School who we thought was going to be a Gopher, who became a Buckeye and is now an all-America.  A junior all-America, no less.  Allow a quadruple ugh, please! 

Laurinaitis is kept company on pre-season all-America teams by tight end John Carlson of Notre Dame.  Yes, that John Carlson from Litchfield, Minnesota.

Done with the ughs.  Damn!

Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi told Sports Headliners that the decision not to serve alcohol in premium seating areas at TCF Bank Stadium, Williams Arena and Mariucci Arena will cost the athletic department at least $1 million for the 2009-2010 budget year.  “Without a question it will put us in the red,” he said.

The department has been operating in the black and was expecting to do so for the coming fiscal year but the no alcohol situation has changed all that.  Maturi said University leadership outside of the athletic department is trying to help solve the problem.

A letter was sent to premium seating purchasers last week regarding options on their financial commitments.  The Gophers have been serving alcohol in premium seating areas at Williams and Mariucci arenas, and had been enticing suite, club and loge buyers in the new TCF Stadium that opens in September with the benefit of having alcoholic beverages (not available to the general public in the three facilities).  Legislation passed by the state this spring required that alcohol be made available to everyone in the facilities, or no one.

Maturi said the letter describes reduced pricing options.  He also said the $1 million in projected losses is based on the assumption “nobody walks away,” meaning the choice isn’t to discontinue being a premium seating purchaser.

The University’s decision to make TCF Bank and its other facilities “dry” is all about commitment to the students, according to school leaders.  “There’s a reason that almost nobody sells alcohol on campuses,” Maturi said.  “There’s a responsibility to teach and lead by example.”

Maturi said Syracuse and Cincinnati are the only schools he knows of that sell alcohol to the general public (including students of drinking age) at their campus stadiums.  He also said the University doesn’t assume that its alcohol ban in athletic facilities will lessen drinking on campus but that doesn’t change the commitment to teach, educate and lead by example.  The policy is consistent with past decisions by the University not to advertise alcohol in its programs, arena signage and radio broadcasts.

Eight other Big Ten Conference schools, or over 70 percent, allow alcohol in premium seating areas.  Maturi guesses the percentage is even higher in other major conferences throughout the country.

He said the Minnesota legislature is the only legislative body in the country to enact law requiring that if alcohol is going to be served in school athletic facilities it must be made available to all. The decision has left Maturi disappointed and frustrated.

Among the reasons he’s upset is that five years ago when football stadium planning was beginning legislators knew about the University’s intent to provide alcohol in premium seating areas only.  “This is old news,” he said.

The timing of legislation being passed and signed by governor Tim Pawlenty within months of the stadium opening left the athletic department in an embarrassing situation with its premium purchasers.  Still, President Bob Bruininks and the Board of Regents did comply with the decision rather than resist.

Now, Maturi said there’s talk about future legislation requiring the Gophers to sell alcohol to the public.  If the legislature further forces the issue, it’s more than a decent bet there will be plenty of push back by the University.