Author: David Shama

Three college football magazines now on the newsstands predict the Gophers will again be Big Ten Conference bottom feeders.  The Gophers, who finished in last place in 2007 with a 0-8 record, will stay in the same spot in 2008, according to both Sporting News College Football ’08 and Athlon Sports Big Ten Preview.  Lindy’s Big Ten 2008 Preview predicts the Gophers will finish 10^th in the standings, ahead of last place Northwestern.

The publications believe the Gophers, 1-11 overall last season, will be improved in 2008 and beyond.  Sporting News, for example, suggests the team “will win at least two games it isn’t supposed to.”   All three magazines rated Minnesota’s 2008 recruiting class the third best in the Big Ten, an indication better years are ahead for the Gophers.

Lindy’s included Gopher quarterback MarQueis Gray, from Indianapolis, among its “top 20 incoming Big 10 recruits.”  In regard to national recruiting, the publication ranked the top 10 schools at each position.  The Gophers received a No. 7 ranking in the athlete category and a No. 10 in the defensive back listings.

There isn’t much hype about individual Gophers for the coming season.  Senior punter Justin Kucek, who averaged 42.7 yards per punt last season, is on Athlon’s all-Big Ten second team.  Kucek is also on the prospective winners’ list for the Ray Guy award as the nation’s best punter.  Athlon included Gopher receiver Eric Decker on its all-Big Ten third team.

James Laurinaitis, the former Wayzata star who will be a senior at Ohio State, is Lindy’s pick for Big Ten MVP.  The award winning linebacker could go first in next year’s NFL draft, according to the magazine.

The Buckeyes rate at the top among favorites to play in the national championship game.  Ohio State, a school that has been to two consecutive national title games, is the dominant team in the Big Ten, according to the publications.  Lindy’s ranks Ohio State No. 3 in its pre-season national ratings while Sporting News and Athlon have the Buckeyes at No. 2.  Illinois (No. 10 Sporting News) and Wisconsin (No. 11 Lindy’s) are best of the rest in the conference.

Vikings’ single-game tickets and a two-game mini-pack for home games go on sale today (Wednesday) at 9 a.m. in person at the Metrodome Gate B ticket booth. All ticket sales at the Metrodome are cash or credit card only.  At 10 a.m. tickets will also be available in person at all Midwest Ticketmaster locations, and also by phone through Ticketmaster at (651) 989-5151, or via the internet at www.ticketmaster.com. Single-game ticket prices range from $30 to $135.  If available, tickets for the Vikings’ game versus the Green Bay Packers on November 9 will only be sold in a mini-pack that includes the pre-season Seattle game on August 8.  Ticket prices range from $96 to $176 per package.

The Gophers’ TCF Bank Stadium, scheduled to open next year, is impressive already with its arched entrances (like the old Memorial Stadium) and names of Minnesota’s counties on the exterior.

Sporting News College Football ’08 ranks St. John’s No. 3 and Bethel No. 8 in its top 25 listings of Division III football schools.

In this year’s July 15 all-star game the Twins will be represented by three players, catcher Joe Mauer, first baseman Justin Morneau and reliever Joe Nathan.  It’s the 19^th time in Twins’ history the franchise has had three players selected for the game.

Twins pitcher Livan Hernandez, 9-5 overall, is 7-1 at the Metrodome. He starts today against the Red Sox in Boston.

Former Twins shortstop Cristian Guzman, now with Washington, leads the National League in hits with 119.

In his last two starts for the Twins’ AAA Rochester farm team, Francisco Liriano has won twice, pitching 13 innings, striking out 16, walking two batters, giving up seven hits and no runs.

Anticipated date: Timberwolves’ rookie Kevin Love makes his debut next Monday in an NBA Summer League game against Dallas in Las Vegas.   Former Gophers Dan Coleman and Vincent Grier are on the Wolves’ team that will play five games over 10 days.

The Wild opened their seven-day development camp yesterday at Xcel Energy Center.  The camp focuses on the development of the organization’s top young prospects.

This week’s announcement that the NHL will hold another regular season game outdoors (Wrigley Field between Chicago and Detroit) is another indication that in the near future the Wild will play an outdoor game in Minneapolis, possibly in the new Twins’ stadium.

Delmon Young, 22, has two home runs so far in his first season with the Twins even though he has almost 300 at-bats and the season is more than half over.  That’s the fewest home runs of any Twins regular since the start of the season, including shortstop Brendan Harris who has four.  However, Twins’ legend Tony Oliva told Sports Headliners he believes that in time Young will increase his home run frequency.

Expectations of many fans are more than even the 13 home runs Young hit in his first full season in the majors last season, playing for Tampa Bay.  The expectations are based on Young’s reputation in recent years as one of baseball’s best young prospects, plus his physical size, 6-3, 200 pounds, and power is expected from those who play the outfield and hit in the middle of the batting order.  Young was impressive last year leading all American League rookies in games (162), hits (186) and RBI (93).

Oliva, who is a part-time coach with the Twins and is frequently around the players, said eventually Young “will pull the ball” and hit more home runs.  How many will he hit?  “Who knows?” answered Oliva, who had a career .304 batting average, and although he hit the ball to all fields, he had 220 career home runs.

Young, a right-handed hitter, doesn’t try to pull the ball and hit home runs now, preferring to even hit the ball to the right of second base.  That style has produced a respectable average, .278, but not power.  He had a hot June including a second home run on Sunday and ended the month on a six game hitting streak.

The hope has to be that with maturity Young will develop a balance between power and average.  In the minor leagues he twice hit 20 home runs or more.

The Twins consistently lack for home run hitting.  They have 57 home runs, fewest in the American League.  Last season they hit 118, second lowest to Kansas City’s 102.

Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel lead the Twins in home runs with 12 each.  The last two seasons Morneau has hit 34 and 31 home runs.  Oliva said Morneau is capable of hitting “30 to 40 home runs.”