Author: David Shama

Viking defensive end Jared Allen played with a harness on his injured right shoulder against Green Bay last Sunday. Teammate Ellis Wyms, a reserved defensive tackle, told Sports Headliners he wasn’t a doubter about Allen playing.  “Always expect Jared to play,” Wyms said.  “He’s one of the toughest guys in this league.  I never doubted for a minute.  …The type of person he is, his arm would have to be falling off for him not to be out there helping us win today.”

Bud Grant, 82, remains an active outdoorsman, still hunting in Minnesota and elsewhere.  The former Viking coach has 22 grandchildren including Ryan Grant who is a redshirt linebacker with the Gophers.  Long passionate about ice cream, Grant still eats it for dessert every night.

Ralph Sampson II and Bill Walton are the only men to have won the Naismith award as national player of the year three times in college.  Sampson’s son, Ralph III, is a freshman with the Gophers and dad has been at both Minnesota games this season.  The 7-foot-4 former Virginia center told Sports Headliners that when he was in high school Gopher coach Tubby Smith, then an assistant at Virginia Commonwealth, tried to recruit him.  Sampson lives in Atlanta and said he will attend as many Gopher games as “possible.”

Congratulations to Gopher associate athletics director Phil Esten and wife Dani on the birth of son Cooper, their second child.  Cooper, born Sunday, was 21 inches long, nine pounds, six ounces.

A Timberwolves spokesman reported via e-mail that about 2,000 tickets remain for the November 21 game at Target Center against NBA champion Boston.  The Wolves marketers recently announced a “Star Studded Six Game Package” that includes Boston (Kevin Garnett), the Lakers (Kobe Bryant), Orlando (Dwight Howard), Portland (Greg Oden), Phoenix (Shaquille O’Neal) and New York (Zach Randolph). Starting at $108 for upper level tickets, fans can save up to 10 percent off the price of individual tickets by purchasing the package.

Phoenix is in St. Paul to play the Wild tomorrow night and the Coyotes’ roster includes rookie center Kevin Porter, the 2008 Hobey Baker award winner from Michigan.  Porter has four points on one goal and three assists in 11 games.

The Wild (tied for third in the Northwest Division) has won the last eight games against Phoenix (third in the Pacific Division), including five straight at Xcel Energy Center.

Former Gopher Thomas Vanek, playing with Buffalo, leads the NHL in goals with 12.

Last Thursday quarterback Gus Frerotte stood near his locker in Winter Park before practice and talked about the importance of him minimizing mistakes to give the Vikings opportunity to win.  Yesterday on a day when he threw three interceptions leading to two Green Bay touchdowns and one field goal, the Vikings used a 192 yard rushing performance by Adrian Peterson and a dominant defense to win 28-27 and move into a first place tie with Chicago in the NFC North.

Frerotte, now 5-2 as a starter since replacing Tarvaris Jackson, was almost prophetic about the game when he said this on Thursday: “I think right now the key thing for me…is being smart with the football.  We’ve had some mistakes in the past.  Some of those have hurt us and put us in bad situations. If you look at the stats, when we do turn the ball over we haven’t won games.

The Vikings led 21-10 in the third quarter when Frerotte threw the third of his interceptions, a ball intercepted by Packer safety Nick Collins who ran 59 yards for a touchdown.  Less than two minutes later Green Bay’s Will Blackmon ran a punt back 65 yards for a touchdown and the Packers had a 24-21 lead.

Peterson, though, ran 29 yards for a touchdown to give the Vikings a 28-27 lead with about two minutes to play in the game.  The Vikings defense, that had been led all day by a relentless pass rush, wouldn’t let the Packers score and Green Bay failed on a desperation 52 yard field goal attempt by Mason Crosby.

Ellis Wyms, a Vikings’ reserve defensive tackle, tipped an Aaron Rogers pass on the Packers’ last drive that he thought was going to be intercepted by Minnesota safety Madieu Williams but luckily landed in the arms of Green Bay receiver Donald Driver.  The play went for 19 yards, but on three other plays on their final drive the Packers gained a total of just eight yards.

What was said just before the defense went on the field for the last time?  “We gotta win the game,” Wyms said.  “Particularly we’ve gotta win it up front.  We got a bunch of Pro Bowl players up front. …That’s why they brought all of us here.  To win that game for us. …I talked to Donald Lee (Packers tight end) after the game and he said, ‘I just didn’t expect you all to bring that much heat today.  I didn’t expect you all to bring that much pressure…’  The pressure probably won the game for us.”

The Vikings had four sacks and numerous hurries on Rogers.  The defense held Green Bay to 110 net yards passing, 74 rushing and allowed just one touchdown.

Wyms called it a “big” game and one the Vikings had to win to take that “next step.”  For now the 5-4 Vikings have stepped into a first place tie with 5-4 Chicago while the Packers have reverse numbers, 4-5.  And Frerotte, who was 15 of 28 passing            with two touchdown passes and able to keep his composure in managing the offense, is no doubt happy his prophecy wasn’t perfect.

The Gophers play their first regular season game on Friday night at 8 p.m. in Williams Arena against Concordia (St. Paul), but last week after the team’s second exhibition game coach Tubby Smith described junior college transfer Paul Carter as an “emotional and spiritual leader.”  The statement said a lot about the sophomore forward who has played in just two games for the Gophers, and also the leadership void left from the departure of four seniors from last season’s team.

The 6-8 Carter was at times the best player on the floor for the Gophers last Thursday night in a 92-62 win over Northern State.  In 21 minutes he had a team high seven rebounds, scored 17 points, had a couple of assists and steals, and blocked a shot.  His energy and hustle were exemplary.

In his post game news conference Smith talked about how “people respect playing for glory, not of self, but of team,” and he was referring to his unselfish new player from Little Rock.  “He’s been really that for us, mature,” Smith said.  “That’s one of the reasons we wanted him to be part of this program because I knew that would be key to (the) maturity of this team. …”

The Gophers, including Carter, were unimpressive in the team’s first exhibition game, an 88-80 win over St. Cloud State on November 3.  Carter’s stats included six points on two-for-seven shooting and six rebounds.  The Gophers have five new players on the 13-man roster.  Against St. Cloud they looked like what they were, a bunch of guys playing in their first game together, making an anxious debut on the home floor in front of the fans.

Carter talked about the change from exhibition game one to two.  “As far as improvement from my perspective, it’s just the guys kind of feeling their way out on the court, getting to know each other,” he said. “Our chemistry has been kind of like off here and there because of different rotation of guys in. But definitely tonight we showed that we’re on the same page when we communicate. …”

Sophomore point guard Al Nolen, who while young and inexperienced has to be a team leader, too, said that it takes time for some players to come out of their “shells” in a new environment.  Others, though, are more comfortable sooner on and off the court.  “Like Paul, right away he was right around us,” Nolen said.  “He was really, really social.  Sometimes it takes people longer than others, but I think everybody is coming along well.”