Golden Gophers – Page 207 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

More B-Days Ahead for Williams Arena

Posted on February 6, 2018February 6, 2018 by David Shama

A Wednesday notes column:

The University of Minnesota celebrates the 90th anniversary of Williams Arena tonight at the Golden Gophers-Nebraska game. Despite the building’s age and flaws it’s likely to be the home of U men’s and women’s basketball for many more years.

The facility is revered by Minnesotans for its history and great moments including not only for the Gophers, but also as the home of the Minnesota high school basketball tournament for many years. The raised floor is almost unique among college gyms and the proximity of the seats to the court makes for an intimate arena. When the 14,625 seat building is filled to capacity, and the Gophers are playing a big game, there are few college venues as loud and fun.

Known in recent decades as the “Barn” because of its outside shape, the building has long been criticized for crowded concourses, narrow seats, obstructed views of the court and minimal number of bathrooms. A remodeling of the arena in the 1990s included installation of many chairback seats, but bench seating also remains in place.

At least two major factors make it unlikely the arena will be replaced anytime soon. To many fans and ticket buyers, the thought of replacing the beloved building is heresy. A move to a new arena could cause a revolt by some season ticket holders and athletic department donors—telling the athletic department, “See you later.” Abandonment by supporters would be even more probable if the men’s team continues its almost annual performance of playing mediocre (and worse) basketball.

The second issue is money. The athletic department still has more than $60 million to raise in paying off the new $166 million Athletes Village project. There is also ongoing maintenance and renovations on existing facilities. And there is an overall annual challenge to fund the 23 sport men’s and women’s programs—with only football, men’s basketball and men’s hockey being profitable. Those three generate much of the money in the athletic department budget.

At tonight’s game celebrating the 1928 opening of Williams Arena several promotions and special pricing will be offered. Included will be recognition of season ticket holders and 90 cent tickets available for anyone age 90 or older at the arena box office.

Isaiah Washington (photo courtesy of Minnesota Athletic Communications)

Minnesota’s Isaiah Washington averaged 20.5 points in two losses last week to Iowa and Michigan. The Gopher point guard was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week yesterday, and he is playing his best basketball of the season.

Minnesota is 1-8 since starting center Reggie Lynch was suspended indefinitely. Starting forward Amir Coffey, with an injured shoulder, has missed seven of the last nine games.

With the second of two national Signing Days coming tomorrow, P.J. Fleck’s Gopher football class of 2018 now has a composite ranking at No. 34 by 247Sports. That’s down from No. 27 but still second best in the Big Ten West behind No. 25 Nebraska. Ohio State is No. 1 in the website’s rankings.

Sunday’s Super Bowl did more than set offensive records for the big game. Nevada’s 198 sports books had a record $158.6 million wagered on the Eagles-Patriots game, according to figures released Monday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board and reported in an online Las Vegas Review-Journal story.

Look for the Vikings to hire their new offensive coordinator before any news breaks regarding the quarterback roster for next season. It will be interesting to learn whether offensive line coach Tony Sparano is in the mix of candidates for OC. Sparano was offensive coordinator for the Jets in 2012 and before that held the same title at Boston College.

While the Vikings have three quarterbacks on their roster who are free agents, Super Bowl 52 MVP quarterback Nick Foles is under contract for one more season with the Eagles. The journeyman turned star will earn $4 million in base salary, and with a roster bonus of $3 million, will receive a total of $7 million in 2018, according to Sportac.com.

When the Twins go to spring training later this month, among the topics sure to come up in the media is Brian Dozier’s contract. The second baseman has one season remaining on his current agreement and reportedly will be paid $9 million in 2018. Dozier has led the Twins in home runs the last two seasons with a total of 76. The Mariners’ Robinson Cano at $24 million is MLB’s top paid second baseman, according to Sportac.com. He has 62 home runs the last two seasons.

Fox Sports North Plus will telecast the Twins spring training game against the Gophers February 22 game. The Thursday night game starts at 5 p.m. Central time.

The University of Minnesota has historic ties to men’s Olympic hockey but this year in South Korea only one U alum, former Gopher All-American Ryan Stoa, is on the American roster. Ex-Gopher and Hobey Baker winner Robb Stauber is the head coach of the U.S. Olympic women’s hockey team. Kelly Panek, a current Gopher, joins seven other U alums on the women’s team.

The Wild, who play the Coyotes Thursday night at home, is 4-0-1 in its last five games at Xcel Energy Center. Minnesota has dominated Arizona with an 11-1-2 record in the last 14 games.

The Wild is publicizing a free open to the public outdoor practice Sunday at the St. Louis Park Rec Center. The practice starts at 11 a.m. and is scheduled for 45 minutes.

Twin Cities golfers were able to play last February but it doesn’t look like an encore in 2018. Daytime temps may hit 40 at best between now and March 1, per AccuWeather.com.

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Eagles Fans Create Poor Impression

Posted on February 1, 2018February 1, 2018 by David Shama

Basketball immortal Red Auerbach used to say forgive but never forget. That might be the mindset of some Vikings fans Sunday when they passionately cheer for the Patriots instead of the Eagles in Super Bowl LII at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Such fans have incentive to see a Patriots win that goes beyond the Eagles ending the Vikings’ Super Bowl dream in the NFC championship game on January 21 in Philadelphia. The Eagles won 38-7 and Vikings fans attending that game in the “City of Brotherly Love” certainly didn’t encounter a welcoming atmosphere.

Philly is famous for a lot of things—a few of them not exactly chamber of commerce bulletin board material. The town where Eagles fans once booed Santa Claus went way beyond that transgression when the Vikings were in town. USA Today reported last Friday social media depicted a “hostile environment” for Vikings fans.

“Some Minnesotans were booed, taunted and the subject of expletives at close range as they walked through the parking lot,” the newspaper wrote. “Another video showed what appeared to be full cans of beer being thrown at Vikings fans.”

Former Viking tight end Doug Kingsriter, who played on Minnesota Super Bowl teams in the 1970s, didn’t have to check out social media to know about the hostility. He and family members were at the game and experienced the unfriendly environment. “There were a number of ‘in your face’ encounters, but we just smiled and kept walking,” Kingsriter said via email to Sports Headliners.

Kingsriter, who grew up in Richfield experiencing Minnesota nice, also encountered Eagles fans at the game who were embarrassed by the behavior of Philly troublemakers. He wrote: “There were more than 20 Eagles fans who approached our group (son, daughter and daughter-in-law) to let us know that ‘not all Eagles fans were jerks.’ These were kind, gracious people. What those folks said helped us to mitigate the groups of mostly young men who would point at us and yell, ‘blow,’ and other somewhat unmentionable phrases.”

While Kingsriter described the scene as an “interesting experience,” he is keeping a balanced view about the incidents. “We did not find it intimidating due to the kindness of those people who took the time to welcome us and our team (the Vikings) to Philadelphia. They were the ‘City of Brotherly Love’ representatives.”

Since the January 21 game, some Eagles fans have donated thousands of dollars to the Mike Zimmer Foundation as a way of apologizing for the rowdy and confrontational behavior of others. The foundation honors the “giving spirit” of Vikki Zimmer, the late wife of the Viking head coach. The foundation provides “opportunities to the youth of today to benefit the future of tomorrow,” according to the website.

Worth Noting

Sunday’s game will be the fourth Super Bowl for the Eagles franchise, the same number of big game appearances as the Vikings. Ten other franchises have played in more Super Bowls, led by the Patriots who make their 11th appearance Sunday.

When the Vikings played in their first Super Bowl in 1970 the price of an ad on the telecast was $78,000. This year the cost for a commercial is about $5 million.

The Vikings’ last Super Bowl appearance in 1977 drew a national TV rating of 44.4 and 73 share. Those numbers are similar to recent Super Bowls and what can be expected from Sunday’s telecast on NBC. Ratings are a percentage of the potential TV audience watching a particular program. A share is a percentage of televisions on at that time viewing a program.

When the Vikings lost to the Raiders in the 1977 Super Bowl each player received $7,500. The Raiders earned $15,000. The winners’ shares in 2018 will be $112,000, while losers receive $56,000 each.

Case Keenum (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

Journeyman Case Keenum’s performance for the Vikings last season approached star status, but despite 2018 free agency a source close to the team’s front office doesn’t expect Keenum to be unreasonable in contract negotiations. He described Keenum as “old school” in attitude and predicted the quarterback who never established himself in four previous NFL seasons will remain a Viking. “He isn’t going anywhere,” the source said.

The Vikings are looking for a new offensive coordinator to replace Pat Shurmur who is the new head coach of the Giants. In the hiring process general manager Rick Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer are likely to value the approach of Shurmur who adapted his system to the talent of the players, instead of mandating a style of play.

Richard Pitino’s Gophers basketball team is 1-7 since center Reggie Lynch was suspended. Another starter and high impact player, forward Amir Coffey, has missed six of those games because of injury. Interest in the team has declined and the Gophers could lose their remaining seven Big Ten regular season games including Saturday at Michigan. Minnesota is 14-10 overall, with a 3-8 conference record.

The nosedive of a team that once was rated among the top 15 in the country is impacting the box office, too. Before January the Gophers were on track to potentially sell out most of their Big Ten home games. It’s likely that the collapse on the court will result in at least 1,000 fewer tickets sold per game for five league games this winter. At an average of $55 per ticket that’s a total of $275,000 in potential lost revenue. And those numbers seem conservative, and don’t include other revenues like concessions and parking.

It’s interesting Kevin McHale is part of the inaugural class of the Minnesota High School Basketball Hall of Fame. McHale probably wasn’t even the best big man in the state his senior season at Hibbing in 1976, with that distinction going to Steve Lingenfelter from Bloomington Jefferson.

The gangly 6-foot-10 McHale was an evolving talent as a teenager. He was a better college player at Minnesota than he was a prep at Hibbing. He became one of the NBA’s greatest players during a career that included three NBA titles with the Celtics.

The Saint John’s men’s basketball team is running away with the regular season MIAC race. The Johnnies defeated Concordia-Moorhead last night to make their overall record 18-1 and 14-0 in MIAC games. If the Johnnies finish the league season undefeated, they can look back to an overtime win against Bethel last Saturday as pivotal.

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“Crown Jewels” among U Walk-ons

Posted on January 30, 2018January 30, 2018 by David Shama

A Wednesday notes column with the focus on football:

Don’t expect the Golden Gophers to add any scholarship football players to their recruiting class of 2018 when the second of two National Signing Dates occurs February 7. Coach P.J. Fleck has no remaining scholarships but next week expect Minnesota to announce the names of “seven to nine” preferred walk-ons, according to Ryan Burns, the college football recruiting authority and publisher of GopherIllustrated.com.

Burns told Sports Headliners the “crown jewels” of that group will be Zack Annexstad and Max Janes. Annexstad, a Mankato, Minnesota native, was outstanding last fall as a pro-style quarterback at IMG Academy in Florida. Burns said Janes, a tight end and linebacker from Mounds View, turned down four Division I offers to become a Gopher. While preferred walk-ons don’t receive scholarships, they put themselves in position to earn assistance by future performances.

It was thought the state’s Mr. Football as chosen by the Minnesota Football Coaches Association in December might agree to a walk-on offer from Fleck but Burns believes Eden Prairie linebacker Antonio Montero is accepting a scholarship to either Rice or San Diego State. Montero recently visited both schools.

Eden Prairie quarterback Cole Kramer, who will be a senior next fall and helped lead the Eagles to the 2017 6A state title, has verbally committed to Minnesota as a scholarship player for the class of 2019. Fleck has stressed the importance of having legacy players in his program, and Kramer is the grandson of former Gopher football MVP Tom Moe who also became athletic director at Minnesota.

Owatonna running back Jason Williamson has also verbally committed to Minnesota’s class of 2019. Burns said Iowa had interest in Williamson and Michigan State was following Kramer.

Fleck and his staff will headline the annual MFCA Clinic April 5-7 at the DoubleTree Park Place in St. Louis Park. South Dakota coach Bob Nielsen will be among the speakers.

Former Gopher football captain Jim Carter said his friend Mike Sherels, the ex-University of Minnesota assistant coach under Jerry Kill and Tracy Claeys, has received an offer to join the Wake Forest staff as linebackers coach, and that Wisconsin also has interest in Sherels. Jay Sawvel, who worked with Sherels at Minnesota, is the defensive coordinator at Wake Forest. Popular with players and others associated with the Gophers, Sherels was a successful coach and recruiter who worked the states of Minnesota and Florida during his time at Minnesota.

Word is each player on the two Super Bowl teams can acquire about 15 tickets for Sunday’s game at U.S. Bank Stadium but only two are free. The other tickets must be purchased at face value, with a guesstimate the cost is over $2,000 per ticket.

Winning players in the game receive $112,000 each, losers $56,000.

A downtown parking spot near U.S. Bank Stadium that cost $40 during the Vikings season will go for $120 on Sunday.

Dave Mona believes the Super Bowl will likely return to Minneapolis after this year’s game but it will be at least 20 years. Northern sites for the big game are rare and that works against a U.S. Bank Stadium encore.

Mona, who helped establish a top public relations agency and for decades has talked sports on WCCO Radio, was involved with efforts for the 1992 Super Bowl at the Metrodome. Next Sunday he will be the press box announcer for the game between the Eagles and Patriots. Mona has the same assignment for Vikings games.

Vikings public address announcer Alan Roach, who has also worked previous Super Bowls, will be the P.A. man for the game Sunday. Roach grew up as Kelly Burnham and lived in Slayton and Brainerd Minnesota.

The 1992 Super Bowl was the first time the NFL offered the now popular fan experience headlined this year as “Get Inside the Game.” The interactive attraction is at the Minneapolis Convention Center through Saturday as part of Super Bowl activities, charging $35 for adults and $25 for children 12 and under. Fans can experience NFL games via virtual reality technology, run a 40-yard dash against NFL players on a giant LED screen, obtain autographs from NFL players and learn football skills at clinics.

Taste of the NFL, another high profile annual Super Bowl event, also originated here in 1992. Often referred to as the “party with a purpose,” the event has raised millions of dollars to fight hunger in the United States. Minneapolis restaurateur and philanthropist Wayne Kostroski founded the event and still leads it.

Eric Curry, the well-known college basketball referee from Minneapolis, has left his executive position at Sun Country Airlines. He officiated last night’s Wisconsin-Nebraska game in Madison.

The Gophers’ Hugh McCutcheon, a former Big Ten and American Volleyball Coaches Association Coach of the Year, speaks to the CORES lunch group March 8 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington, 1114 American Blvd. More information is available by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.

Condolences to the family and friends of Twin Cities native Les Layton who died earlier this month. His career included newspaper, public relations and insurance work. Newspaper employers included the Pioneer Press and Sun publications.

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