Author: David Shama

The Gopher basketball team survived some of the strangest officiating seen in awhile to beat No. 9 Louisville in Glendale, Arizona on Saturday.  The Gophers, led by Al Nolen’s 18 points, are 10-0 for the first time since 1976-77 and figure to be nationally ranked when the latest polls are released today.

Vikings place-kicker Ryan Longwell is a neighbor of Tiger Woods in Orlando.  He has played golf with Woods and also shared conversation with him at the golf range inside their gated community.  While there’s speculation that Woods may not be sufficiently recovered from his left knee operation to resume play next year, Longwell sees it differently.

“Yeah, I would be shocked if that were true,” Longwell told Sports Headliners.  “I know that he’s hitting irons and putting and hitting up to 100 yards right now.  So he’s still got a lot of time.  April is the Masters so he still has almost two and a half full months before he has to start getting in tournament mode where he has to start hitting more balls and stuff. …”

Longwell doesn’t think the left knee will be 100 percent until 2010.  He also said Woods, whom he talked to earlier this fall when the Vikings played in Tampa, won’t play in 2009 unless he’s ready to perform at a high level.

Nothing has developed but there was conversation earlier this fall about a Pete Sampras–Andre Agassi exhibition match in Minnesota.

Thunder general manager Djorn Buchholz said first team all-leaguer Stephen deRouex has signed with Montreal but that second teamer Ricardo Sanchez will be back for next season.  Typically seven to nine players on the 26 player roster don’t return from one season to the next.

The local USL soccer team has started its season ticket drive for 2009 with prices ranging from $65 to $375, and offers a $20 season pass to youth 20 and under.   More at www.mnthunder.com 

Clyde Turner’s eighth annual Kwanzaa, Christmas, Holiday Basketball Camp for youngsters starts today at Fairview Park in north Minneapolis.  The camp, which runs each day this week except on Christmas Day, teaches basketball skills and sportsmanship, and discusses Kwanzaa. Turner was the leading scorer on the Gophers’ 1972 Big Ten championship team.

Former Gopher national championship coach Murray Warmath, who turns 96 on Friday, will be hosted at a luncheon by former players and other friends on December 30.

Ron Stolksi, who has been coaching high school football for almost 50 years, will be back as Brainerd’s head coach next year.  Stolski is also the first full time executive director of the Minnesota High School Football Coaches Association.

Canterbury Park will host Claiming Crown for the ninth time in the event’s 11-year history on Saturday, July 25, 2009.  Patterned after the Breeders’ Cup, the $600,000 Claiming Crown consists of seven races offered at varying distances on both dirt and turf.

Safety Darren Sharper, 33, is in his 12^th NFL season and wants to play three more years.  “I want to be a three decade guy,” he told Sports Headliners recently. “I think that says a lot about a guy’s career if he can play in three decades and also play considerably well in three decades.”

There is an exception, though, to Sharper’s goal.  A starter throughout most of his career, he doesn’t want to play in the next decade as a reserve. “Nah, I never would be a backup,” he said.

Sharper thinks his performance is effective enough now to provide confidence he can extend his career for awhile.  If not, Sharper is prepared to accept a job out of football, rather than be a reserve.  “If push comes to shove, I gotta get a job,” he said.  “I am gonna take the job.  I ain’t no fool. …”

Sharper wants to become an NFL or college color commentator after football.  He’s appeared locally on Fox 9 sportscasts.  He also was a TV color commentator on NFL Europe games from 2004-2007.

The NFL career interception leader among active players with 54, Sharper has one interception this season.  That’s far off past years like the nine he had for the Vikings in 2005 or the nine with Green Bay in 2000.

“You know what?” he asked.  “It’s kind of weird this season and how it’s been going.  The opportunities haven’t been there as they have in the past.  I think I am playing solid football. Still playing at a high level.  Our season is going well. … When you’re in your 12^th year and you can still play on playoff teams that’s something you can be happy about because a lot of people aren’t playing, and if they are they aren’t playing on playoff teams.”

Wide receiver Bernard Berrian, who joined the Vikings in the off-season as a free agent from Chicago, has become a big play producer including last Sunday against Arizona when he returned a punt 82 yards for a touchdown and also had a 41-       yard touchdown reception.  The Bears had the opportunity to put the franchise tag on Berrian and keep him.  Instead the Bears are being second guessed including by chicagotribune.com writer David Haugh who wrote the following earlier this week:

“Of all the regrets that eventually could define this Bears season, the biggest one popped up Sunday on your TV screen. Don’t adjust your set if it happens again. Bernard Berrian is right where the Vikings programmed him to be, dominating the NFC playoff picture with big plays.  The guy the Bears didn’t do enough to keep around last winter won’t go away now, and it will be his image more than any other that haunts the Bears this off-season if they miss the playoffs. …”

Savvy rookie quarterback Matt Ryan of the Falcons, here to play the Vikings on Sunday at the Metrodome, TiVo-ed press conferences of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning while at Boston College to better himself for media relations, according to a story in the December 15 issue of Sports Illustrated.

The Vikings and Arizona, with four players each, have the most starters on the first team NFC offensive and defensive Pro Bowl teams.  Chicago, competing for first place in the NFC North with the Vikings, had just one player (linebacker Lance Briggs) who made either the first or second teams.  Not only do the players enjoy a trip to Hawaii in February, those on the winning team receive $45,000 each while losers pocket $22,500, according to the NFL Players Association website.

Vikings executive Steve LaCroix reported by e-mail that playoff ticket invoices for season ticket holders are due today and general public sales (via Ticketmaster) will start immediately “upon qualifying for the playoffs.”

An MIAC officiating crew will work the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, the Division III national championship gme, tomorrow at Salem, Virginia.  Mount Union will play Wisconsin-Whitewater.  Officiating will be Twin Citians Pat Whalen, Tom Tucker, Dan Pelletier, Dave Wittman, Scott Mitchell, Bill Nelson and Bill Merritt.

St. Thomas junior center Josh Ostrue and Carleton senior safety Drew Ziller have been named to the American Football Coaches’ Association (AFCA) Division III All-America team. Only 25 players nationwide were named to the team. The pair was also named to the D3football.com All-West Region first team last week.  D3football.com’s All-American team will be announced tomorrow.

Breck wide receiver Bryce McNeal is the only Minnesota prep selected for the January 3 U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio.  The game will be telecast on NBC.