Author: David Shama

Timberwolves president Chris Wright told Sports Headliners the new basketball floor at Target Center won’t be in place until the team’s opening regular season game on October 29.

Wright said the Wolves have renewed about 76 percent of their full season tickets.  Seats that weren’t renewed are available to new purchasers.   He expects season tickets of about 5,000 and with partial season packages total of about 6,000, similar numbers to last year.

The Wolves have some $20 per game lower level season tickets available.

Former Pioneer Press Timberwolves beat writer Rick Alonzo, now covering the Vikings for the St. Paul newspaper, predicts the Wolves will win 33 and lose 59 next season, an 11 game improvement over 2007-2008.

The Wild reported that 96 percent of its season ticket holders have renewed for the 2008-09 NHL season.  The Wild will offer approximately 2,000 tickets per game for all games at Xcel Energy Center.  Over 7,500 people are on the Wild Warming House season ticket holder waiting list, according to a franchise news release.

The Gophers open their Big Ten Conference season at Ohio State on Saturday and the Buckeyes lead the series 40-7.  Ouch.

The Gophers’ Big Ten schedule is favorable, not having to play Penn State, perhaps the conference’s best team, and dark horse Michigan State.  Plus, the Gophers play three of the more beatable teams at home, Indiana, Northwestern and Iowa.  If quarterback Adam Weber and wide receiver Eric Decker stay healthy, the Gophers could win two or more conference games after being winless last season.

In 2009, for the first time in memory, the Gopher football team will open its Big Ten Conference home schedule against Wisconsin.

Another scheduling oddity has Tubby Smith’s Gopher basketball team opening its conference schedule at home on New Year’s Eve of this year.  Michigan State will be the opponent.

Former Gopher football player Mark Dusbabek, is a PGA rules official.

Three football coaches with Minnesota ties who could be job hunting by January are Scott Linehan, Ty Willingham and Mitch Browning.  Linehan, the former Vikings offensive coordinator, is 0-3 as head coach of the St. Louis Rams after being 3-13  last season.  Willingham, another former Vikings assistant, is off to a 0-3 start at the University of Washington where his career record is 11-28, according to Wikipedia.org.  Browning, the Gophers offensive coordinator under Glen Mason, has the same title at Syracuse where the Orange is 1-3 including a loss to Akron and win over Northeastern.  Head coach Greg Robinson has a 7-31 record at Syracuse, according to Wikipedia.org.

The Minnesota Thunder was undefeated in its last six games and now has earned the seventh and final playoff spot in the USL First Division.  The Thunder will play the Vancouver Whitecaps in a two-game aggregate score series on Friday in Vancouver, and on Sunday, September 28 at the National Sports Center starting at 5:05 p.m. Each ticket purchased in advance of Sunday’s game is $2 off.  For ticket information, call 651-989-5151 or visit www.ticketmaster.com.

“The team really did what they had to do down the stretch,” Djorn Buchholz, Thunder general manager, said via e-mail.  “To go unbeaten in our last six games with three of them being wins is exactly what we needed. We’re playing our best soccer of the year right now and hopefully that carries us far into the playoffs.”

Trivia answer: Ed Marinaro.

The 32 team NFL has five African-American head coaches.  Two of them, Tony Dungy of Indianapolis and Mike Tomlin of Pittsburgh, came through here as defensive coordinators for the Minnesota Vikings.  Here’s a prediction that the present defensive coordinator, Leslie Frazier, will one day add his name to the list.

Dungy was in town last weekend when his Colts beat the Vikings 18-15.  Dungy was Vikings head coach Denny Green’s defensive coordinator from 1992-1995.  Then he moved on to Tampa Bay as head coach of the Bucs.  In 2007 he became the first African-American head coach to win a Super Bowl.

Low key but effective, Dungy is a contrast to Tomlin, a more emotional leader who was the Vikings’ defensive coordinator for one year, 2006, before becoming head coach of the Steelers at 34 years old.  The book on the Steelers’ decision makers is that they don’t hire bad head coaches. Tomlin is only the team’s third head coach since 1969.  He coached the Steelers to a division title and the playoffs after finishing with a regular season record of 10-6.

Last season was Frazier’s first as the Vikings’ defensive coordinator, coming here from Indianapolis where he had worked for Dungy (Tomlin was an assistant under Dungy in Tampa Bay).  Last season Frazier’s defense was No. 1 in the NFL for allowing the fewest rushing yards per game, 74.1.  The defense scored six touchdowns on interceptions (fifth most in league history) and two touchdowns on fumble recoveries.  The Vikings gave up 17.5 points per game and tied for fifth in points allowed.

Vikings’ linebacker Ben Leber was asked if he considers Frazier one of the league’s best defensive coordinators.  “You know, I think so,” he said.  “…We’re not doing a great job right now helping him out…with the wins and losses but he’s putting together great schemes and I feel like we’re executing pretty well.”

Leber admires Frazier’s technical knowledge of defense, and also his leadership.  “When we’re up, he stays the same,” Leber said.  “When we’re down, he stays the same.  That’s the mark of a good leader.  You know you can’t be too emotional about the game.  You just gotta keep going. …When things need to be said, he’ll say it. So I think he’s got all the leadership qualities of a good head coach.”

Former Viking Mike Morris, now a KFAN Radio talk show host, is also an admirer.  “Part of it is his appeal to the players in the room,” he said.  “…He’s got a great personality for that kind of thing.  Players listen to him and respect him.  He’s sharp. He thinks on his feet.”

Both Morris and Leber consider Frazier, 49, a potential head coach.  Can Frazier be as good a head coach as Dungy and Tomlin?  “Well, who knows?” Morris asked.  “Dungy and Tomlin? Who knows? That’s pretty good company.”

Whether it’s eventually with the Vikings or another NFL team, Frazier looks like he’s in the NFL head coach candidates’ pool.

Frazier’s defense held the Colts to 25 yards on 19 rushing attempts last Sunday.

ESPN.com’s Rick Reilly wrote a column this week about which pro sports teams rule their cities. The Vikings, of course, were a no-brainer for Minneapolis.  Reilly wrote:  “The Twins get no love. Once, they were playing a Saturday afternoon game in the HumpDome, and it went extra innings. The game was stopped so the stadium crew could get the field ready for a football game that night. Ouch.”  https://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3576248

Jared Allen is not only among the better potential pass rushers in Vikings’ history, he’s also the best paid cheerleader.  Allen, who came to the Vikings in the off-season for the richest contract for a defensive player in the NFL, was frequently raising his arms to encourage crowd noise during last Sunday’s game in the Metrodome.

The Purple Nation responded and the Colts’ offensive players had to run their plays in a noisy environment that furthered the dome’s reputation as one of the loudest stadiums in pro football.  Last week, even before Allen played his first Vikings regular season game in the dome, he was talking about the importance of the home crowd to the defense.

“Yeah, definitely,” he told Sports Headliners.  “You thrive off the crowd. …”

Allen said defensive players respond to energy from the fans.  Plus, the opposing offense sometimes can’t “hear their checks (play changes),” he said.  The results can be penalties or turnovers such as fumbles.

The Vikings’ Adrian Peterson leads the NFL in rushing after two games with 263 yards.

Dave Mona’s new book, “Beyond the Sports Huddle,” is headed for a second printing.  Mona said earlier this week about 4,200 books from the original press run of 5,000 had been sold.