Author: David Shama

The Bowling Green team the Gophers play on Saturday (6:30 p.m. start, ESPN U) is coached by Gregg Brandon.  He’s in his sixth season after succeeding Urban Meyer who left for Utah and is now head coach at Florida.  The Falcons, who lost 63-7 to Tulsa in the GMAC Bowl last January, return eight starters on offense and defense, and are favorites to win the Mid-American Conference East Division championship.  Bowling Green, 8-5 last season including the bowl loss, beat an underachieving team in Pittsburgh last Saturday.

Former Minneapolis Patrick Henry High School football coach Don Swanson hosted his 53^rd Coaches and Captains Crying Towel banquet last week.  The event is for Minneapolis football schools and Swanson good-naturedly provides crying towels so coaches can down play their chances for the coming season.  Don Swanson Awards and the Vikings are sponsors. Swanson was pleased to see players from various schools become acquainted and express appreciation for the event.

The two MIAC players who received the most preseason national football publicity are Saint John’s senior defensive lineman Nick Gunderson and Augsburg College senior wide receiver Royce Winford.  Both were named to multiple All-American teams.

Former Gopher football coach Glen Mason, now a color commentator for the Big Ten Network, picks Ohio State to beat USC in Los Angeles on September 13 if Buckeye running back Chris Wells has recovered from his right foot injury.

Gopher athletic director Joel Maturi said there isn’t enough support among Big Ten Conference athletic directors to add a ninth league football game.  Because there are 11 teams in the conference, one team every season would play eight league games, while the others played nine.

Maturi said a more recent generation of FieldTurf than what is used at the Metrodome will be the playing surface in the Gophers’ new TCF Bank Stadium opening next year.

Gopher football coach Tim Brewster describes true freshman Troy Stoudermire from Dallas as “dynamic” and not only will continue to use him on kickoff returns but possibly punt returns.

Wisconsin transfer Kim Royston, the former Cretin-Derham Hall player, has been given the weekly Teammate award by the Gophers.  Royston, a defensive back who has to sit out this season before being eligible in 2009, has shown an “unbelievable’” attitude in practice, Brewster said.

He also said the Gophers will use true freshmen running backs Shady Salamon, also from Cretin-Derham Hall, and DeLeon Eskridge from San Francisco, in the Bowling Green game.  Neither played against Northern Illinois in the opening game.

Speculation is persistent that within two years or less, Minneapolis-St. Paul will have one major daily newspaper, not two.

WCCO Radio’s Steve Thomson created a spoof called the “Batista award,” according to talk show partner Eric Nelson.  “Minnesota’s infamous signing of Tony Batista a couple years ago fostered the award,” Nelson wrote in an e-mail to Sports Headliners.  “As you know, Batista is one of many coupon-clipping deals that have not worked out.  Others include Sidney Ponson, Tony Clark, Ramon Martinez, Livian Hernandez, Craig Monroe, Mike Lamb, Adam Everett and Bret Boone. Steve and WCCO studio coordinator Craig ‘Hammer’ Schroepfer chose Craig Monroe as this year’s Batitsta award winner.  My selection is Mike Lamb.”

The Twins are eight games below .500 on the road this season, 31-39.  In 2006 when they won the Central Division with a 96-66 record, their road record was 42-39.

Former Gopher football coach Lou Holtz likes to say the Lord gave us two eyes in the front of our head so we can see where we’re going instead of where we’ve been. That’s a good approach for inexperienced Minnesota Twins players as they compete during the final four weeks of the season for a Central Division championship.

Here’s the point: the team relies on 14 players with less than two full seasons of major league experience.  That’s a lot of on-the-job training for a ball club trying to win a championship, or at least qualify for the playoffs.

Twins starting pitchers Scott Baker, 26, Nick Blackburn, 26, Kevin Slowey, 24, and Glen Perkins, 23, are all in their first full seasons of being in the rotation month after month.  Francisco Liriano, 24, the fifth starter, pitched most of the 2006 season for the Twins but didn’t finish it because of his famous left elbow injury.

Left fielder Delmon Young, 22, had one full season in the majors with Tampa Bay before coming here.  Center fielder Carlos Gomez, 22, played in 58 games last year for the New York Mets prior to the trade that made him a Twin.  Right fielder Denard Span, 24, is a rookie.  So, too, is designated hitter Randy Ruiz, who is 30 and almost a minor league lifer.

Second baseman Alexi Casilla, 24, played parts of the last two seasons with the Twins and also in the minor leagues. Third baseman Brian Buscher, 27, played briefly with the Twins last year, his first in the majors. Utility infielder Matt Tolbert, 26, is a rookie.

Even designated hitter Jason Kubel, 26, and infielder Brendan Harris, 28, can only claim a full season each of prior experience, although both have been in and out of the major leagues over the last few years.

The Twins have been surprising most everyone with their record all season and pursuit of first place in the Central Division.  But inexperience could be a problem for this team in the remaining weeks including the much anticipated home series against a more proven White Sox team at the Metrodome September 23-25.

The Twins are a half game behind first place Chicago.  They have lost six of their last 10 games and start a three game series in Toronto tomorrow (Tuesday) night before coming home for the first time since August 20 to play a weekend series with Detroit.

Twins fans have to be hoping for 2006 deja vu.  Not only was that the last time the franchise won the division, but Joe Mauer was the American League batting champion and Justin Morneau the league MVP.  Mauer, hitting .320, is third in the batting race now while Morneau is second in the AL in RBI with 108.   He’s been Mr. Indispensable again for the Twins, hitting .312 and leading the team with 21 home runs, making himself a contender for league MVP.

Two years ago pitcher Johan Santana won 19 games for the Twins, including seven in August, September and early October.  Santana is up to his old ways now with the Mets, closing fast for a team that is leading the National League East by one game.  In his last 10 games he is 5-0 with a 2.24 ERA.  He’s 12-7 overall with a 2.70 ERA.

Gulp!  Sports Illustrated pro football writer Peter King picks the Vikings to have a 13-3 regular season record and advance to the NFC championship game where they will lose to Philadelphia.  Of course, King wrote that before last week’s four game suspension of left tackle Bryant McKinney.

The Vikings had seven players named to the Pro Bowl last year and added Pro Bowler Jared Allen in the off season, but they also have a journeyman left tackle replacement in Artie Hicks.  Then, too, Tarvaris Jackson missed two preseason games with an injured left knee, and that just prolonged the mystery of how he will play in his third NFL season.

Super Bowl champ?  King picks New England.

Chad Greenway, the Vikings’ third year linebacker, is a good bet to be the team’s most improved player in 2008.

Subhub.com lists a ticket range of $49 to $6,000 for Monday night’s Vikings-Packers game in Green Bay.  Kickoff is 6 p.m.

The Vikings and Buffalo Wild Wings are offering a grand prize drawing of a trip for two to the Green Bay game.  The Vikings will also have a promotional event from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday at the Mall of America that includes former and current players.  Appearing from 3 to 5 p.m. will be defensive linemen Jared Allen, Ray Edwards, Kevin Williams and Pat Williams.