Author: David Shama

Reading the tea leaves: Look for Pat Williams and Kevin Williams to avoid missing any games because of suspension.  There’s been talk about possible four-game suspensions for allegedly violating NFL steroid policy.

Vikings safety Darren Sharper, who started the season with 53 career interceptions, has none through 10 games including yesterday’s 19-13 loss to Tampa Bay.

Look for the Vikings stadium push to include a plan to use environmental friendly building materials.

Something which hasn’t been widely publicized is that eventual expansion of the new TCF Bank Stadium doesn’t have to jump from 50,000 to 80,000 capacity.  Gopher associate athletic director Phil Esten said expansion could (at least initially) add 10,000 seats, not 30,000.

Although he’s a nominee for the honor, Gopher junior wide receiver Eric Decker, arguably the best pass catcher in school history, has no chance of winning the Biletnikoff Award given to the nation’s best receiver.  The winner will be Texas Tech sophomore Michael Crabtree who was a finalist last season and has helped the Red Raiders to a No. 2 national ranking this fall.  He leads all Division I receivers with 18 touchdown catches.

For the first time in memory Gopher basketball season ticket holders had the privilege/duty of attending three consecutive nights of home games when Minnesota hosted the NABC tournament in Williams Arena on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings.  The Gophers defeated Division II Concordia, and Division I Bowling Green and Georgia State to start the regular season 3-0.

It’s popular “sport” to compare Kevin Love’s and O.J. Mayo’s stats early in their rookie seasons, then bash the Timberwolves for another bad personnel move.  But judge last June’s draft in a year or two on the basis of who makes his team better.  It’s all about winning and who can contribute best to the team goal.  Through last week Love, playing power forward, was averaging 9.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game for the Wolves.  Mayo, the Memphis shooting guard, is averaging 21 points and 4.6 rebounds for his 3-7 team.  The Wolves are 1-8.

Ron Gardenhire’s older brother Mike died unexpectedly earlier this year.  Gardenhire, 51, is under a lot of stress managing the Twins.  An observer has to wonder how much longer he wants to manage after he recently signed a contract extension that only goes through 2011.

It’s a possibility, according to local media sources, that Minneapolis-St. Paul will be a one newspaper ownership town within 18 months or less.

Here’s a guess that the Gophers will try to establish a solid running game and play more physical offensive football than in recent weeks in tomorrow’s game at Wisconsin.  Earlier this week tackle Jason Meinke talked about the offensive line being more physical, and running back DeLeon Eskridge voiced his opinion about passion.

Meinke was expecting practice to be more intense this week as the Gophers attempt to end a two-game losing streak.  Eskridge and quarterback Adam Weber believe the offense needs to start Saturday’s game more effectively than in recent games.

‘We can come out with a little more passion,” Eskridge said. “At least to start the games out with more enthusiasm and not come out flat. …Play our game. Play hard. Play aggressive.”

Weber wants to establish momentum early on Saturday, playing against a Badger team that has won two of its last three games and in front of a capacity crowd in Madison where the Gophers haven’t won since 1994.  “You have to come up solid,” he said.  “You have to come out with a good attitude.  You can’t let the game get out of hand in the first quarter.  And that’s obviously been our problem, these two losses we’ve had, especially Michigan (last Saturday). …

“As an offensive squad we have to come out and have a couple of solid drives right off the bat.  I don’t know if we have to score.  Obviously, that’s our goal.  But move the ball, get some first downs.  Get some momentum going and take the crowd out of the game and I think we’ll be just fine.”

The Gophers had one first down in the first half against Michigan.  They had two field goals in the 29-6 loss and haven’t scored a touchdown for six quarters.  In their last three games (Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan) the Gophers have only four scoring drives of over 48 yards.

Wide receiver Eric Decker, a candidate for the prestigious Biletnikoff Award given to the nation’s best receiver, will not play tomorrow because of a high ankle sprain.  A healthier Decker presumably will play in the season finale at home against Iowa a week from Saturday and that will increase Minnesota’s likelihood of a win but it doesn’t brighten prospects in Madison.  That’s why the Gopher game plan might be to run more than in the past, trying to establish a physical presence on the line of scrimmage that can also protect Weber when he passes.

The Gophers (7-3 overall, 3-3 in the Big Ten Conference) rank last in the league in rushing offense at 116.4 yards per game.  Their rankings in passing yards per game and scoring are second and seventh (226.8 and 24.9).  The Badgers (5-5, 2-5 in the league) are No. 1 in the conference in rushing per game at 224.4.  Their rankings in passing yards per game and scoring are ninth and fourth (182.6 and 27.3).

Despite the statistics, the offensive players and coach Tim Brewster believe they can be effective on Saturday in a game where they will be about a two touchdown underdog. “We’ll take a team that believes they can win to Wisconsin,” Brewster said.

Minnesota Thunder general manager Djorn Buchholz expects to announce the name of the team’s new coach on Tuesday.  The coach, he said, has previous professional soccer head coaching experience. The Thunder began last season with Amos Magee as head coach but he was replaced during the summer by interim coach Donny Gramenz.

Buchholz also told Sports Headliners that seven to nine new players are expected on the 26-man roster next season.  Among the returnees will be goalie Nicolas Platter who played every minute of the season.   Buchholz considers Platter to be one of the United Soccer League’s First Division top goalies.  He’s under contract through 2010.

The Thunder, who made the playoffs last season but lost in the first round, will announce a season ticket campaign in the coming weeks.  Buchholz is excited about playing all of next season’s home games at the National Sports Center in Blaine.

Gopher coach Tim Brewster might be trying to give the Wisconsin coaches more than they need to think about with his suggestion earlier this week that Badger transfer Kim Royston, now sitting out the season as a Gopher redshirt, can provide insights to Minnesota coaches.

Brewster praised the former Cretin-Derham Hall player for his leadership and athleticism simulating opposing players in practice.  Royston has been a quarterback, receiver and defensive back in practice to help the Gophers prepare.  Next year Brewster said it’s likely Royston will be a safety when he’s eligible to play.  “He’s going to be a great football player for us,” Brewster said.  “We couldn’t be more proud of him coming home.”

Now in his second season as Gopher coach, Brewster believes that among the school’s rivalry games, Wisconsin is the most important to Minnesotans.

Against the Bucs in Tampa on Sunday, Vikings running back Adrian Peterson can tie Robert Smith’s franchise rushing record of five consecutive 100+ yard games.  Peterson leads the NFL in rushing with 1,015 yards.

Bucs’ coach Jon Gruden was a graduate assistant at the University of Tennessee in 1986-87.  Is he interested in the Vols’ head coaching vacancy?

Vikings coach Brad Childress talking about Jared Allen who played last Sunday despite a right shoulder injury: “I talk about those guys being warriors. You only have a 53-man squad. You can only have 45 (suit) up on game day and maybe you’re holding two or three guys that are already hurt.  You only have a limited number of moves you can make, putting somebody on IR (injured reserve) for the rest of the year. They (teammates) rely on each other to get back, and they’re very hard on each other.

“Nobody had to be hard on Jared.  He has that mentality that he’s going to play every game.  I think some guys say, ‘I’ll take a week off and be better in two weeks.’  If everybody did that you wouldn’t be able to field a team.  It’s a fact that when you play the first week on in this league you’re going to have bumps, bruises, and strains, particularly when you get past this mid-season point.  It’s a war of attrition.  I think they feel that commitment to that defensive unit they’re playing with and to the team they’re playing with. He’s one of those guys.”

Minneapolis native Larry Fitzgerald is featured in the most recent issue of Sporting News and also was a video guest on espn.com last week.  Fitzgerald is fourth in the NFL in receiving yards and his Arizona Cardinals, 6-3, have been receiving attention as the leaders of the NFC West Division.  He’s rated the fourth best receiver in the NFL by Sporting News.  Since the beginning of the 2005 season, he’s the “only receiver in the NFL to rank in the top five in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns,” according to the magazine.