Golden Gophers – Page 261 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Minnesota Lynx Tracking Record Year

Posted on June 15, 2016June 15, 2016 by David Shama

The Lynx set a WNBA record last night for most wins opening a season, pushing Minnesota’s record this spring to 11-0. If the Lynx can win their next three games, including against the 10-0 Sparks on Tuesday, they can break the franchise record of 13 consecutive wins that spanned the 2011-2012 seasons.

The Lynx defeated Indiana last evening at Target Center to break the best start to the season record the 2012 Minnesota team set. The 10-0 2012 club didn’t lose a game until June 17 and went on to lose in the WNBA Finals to Indiana.

The team is off to an impressive start but what matters the most is whether Minnesota can repeat as league champions, and it will be interesting to see how the break for the Olympics this summer impacts the franchise’s title plans.

Four years ago there was also a break in the WNBA schedule because of the summer Olympics, and the stoppage didn’t derail the Lynx season. But there is risk involved with a long break, especially for the Lynx who will send four players to Brazil for the summer games. The last Lynx game before the break will be July 22 and the first after the Olympics will be August 26.

Seimone Augustus, Sylvia Fowles, Maya Moore and Lindsay Whalen will play for the U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team. The Lynx have more players on the U.S. roster than any other WNBA franchise. A serious injury to one or more of the Lynx’s Big Four in Rio de Janeiro could prevent Minnesota from winning its fourth WNBA championship in six years.

Moore is off to a sensational start this season, having twice been named Western Conference Player of the Week. She is fourth in league scoring at 19.8 points per game. Augustus, Fowles and Whalen are former WNBA All-Stars as is Moore. Playing different positions, they bring varied scoring, playmaking, rebounding and shot blocking skills that have helped make the Lynx a dynasty and Minnesota’s most successful pro franchise.

Even if the Lynx players stay healthy during the Olympic break, there are other factors that will test the team when the WNBA season resumes in late August. For example, the Lynx Big Four will face the demands and fatigue of the Olympics. Of the four Lynx players, only Moore is under 30 years old.

Then, too, there is the question of whether team momentum can continue after the WNBA schedule break for the Olympics. In another month the Lynx may still be the hottest club in the WNBA but that offers no guarantee in late August and early September as the schedule draws to a close and the playoffs follow. Momentum is a major factor in continued success for any team and a long break could impact Lynx chemistry in the team’s final nine regular season games after the Olympics. The Lynx’s Big Four will spend a month playing with Olympic teammates, then readjust to their Minnesota teammates. How will that go?

This is not only another talented Lynx team but perhaps the deepest in franchise history. Will this be the most historic of seasons for the franchise?

The 2016 Olympic team, with the key Lynx contributors on the roster and a five-time history of being Olympic champions, will be expected to win Gold again. The Lynx could compile the best regular season record in WNBA history, perhaps breaking Phoenix’s 29-5 record set in 2014. And by repeating as WNBA champions in the playoffs, Minnesota would tie Houston for most league titles with four.

Worth Noting

Former Timberwolves forward Kevin Love draws criticism for not doing more to help the Cavs who trail the Warriors 3-2 in the NBA Finals. Love, though, isn’t a good fit in the Cavs offense featuring a lot of one-on-one basketball with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. Rumors may continue about Love being traded and he would benefit by being in a more team oriented offense like those in Boston, New York and San Antonio.

Jerry Kill told Sports Headliners he starts his new job July 18 as associate athletic director at Kansas State. His focus will be helping the Kansas State football program.

Kill was in Rochester, New York earlier in the week to participate in a Coaches vs. Cancer golf event fundraiser. Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim, himself a cancer survivor, was honored for support of Coaches vs. Cancer.

The Gophers’ opening football game at home against Oregon State on Thursday, September 1 will be the first Big Ten Network telecast of the season. Telecast time from TCF Bank Stadium will be 8 p.m. (Central Daylight).

New Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle is meeting in-person with athletic department contributors who have helped the program in the past.

Two-time Minnesota All-American and 1962 Outland Trophy winner Bobby Bell will be the Gophers’ dignitary for the first-ever All-Big Ten Alumni Cruise of Alaska June 20-30 of next year. Each Big Ten school is inviting its own dignitary, according to an email last week from the University of Minnesota Alumni Association.

A sports industry source told Sports Headliners former Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, who still works for the organization, may interview for the University of Texas head baseball job this week. Gardenhire has the experience and personality to connect with college players.

The Twins host the Yankees for a four-game series starting tomorrow night (Thursday) at Target Field. Saturday the first 10,000 fans receive a Miguel Sano Bobblehead.

Late next week the Twins are in New York for a three-game series with the Yankees that includes a June 24 promotional giveaway of 18,000 Mickey Mantle Triple Crown Bobbleheads. It was 60 years ago, in 1956, that Mantle won the American League’s Triple Crown.

Although the Minnesota Legislature didn’t grant a property tax exemption on the St. Paul land for a soccer stadium this spring, it’s expected to happen in the next 10 months or less. Construction of the privately financed stadium has to start soon for a desired 2018 opening for Minnesota’s anticipated new MLS team. It seems all but certain the team will play next year at the Gophers’ TCF Bank Stadium.

Jimmy Fortune, formerly of the Statler Brothers, will entertain at the seventh annual Camden’s Concert on July 11 at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. WCCO Radio Sports Huddle host Dave Mona and wife Linda named the event after grandson Camden Mona. Now eight years old, Camden was diagnosed at birth with cystic fibrosis and the concert raises money for cystic fibrosis research. More at Camdensconcert.com.

The North Star Bicycle Festival that started earlier in the month will continue today (Wednesday) thru Sunday with the North Star Grand Prix, a five-day, six-stage race held in cities around east central Minnesota that is part of USA Cycling’s national racing calendar. More at Northstarbicyclefestival.com.

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Wolves Owner Sees NBA Glory Ahead

Posted on June 8, 2016June 8, 2016 by David Shama

Glen Taylor is watching the NBA playoffs this spring, including the Finals between the Cavs and Warriors, and thinking about his team becoming a force.

The Wolves owner hasn’t seen his franchise in the playoffs since 2004 but he has a roster of young players that every basketball expert on the planet acknowledges is very promising. The group is led by the NBA Rookies of the Year the last two seasons, forward Andrew Wiggins and center Karl-Anthony Towns.

Asked about the likelihood his club could make a deep playoff run within four years, Taylor said: “I don’t think it’s next year but I certainly think the potential is there.”

Glen Taylor (photo courtesy of Minnesota Timberwolves).

Then Taylor thought for a second and talked about a longer period of time where he envisions the Wolves challenging for NBA titles. “I would say over the next 10 years because of the age(s) of our players we should be a challenging team in many of those years,” he told Sports Headliners on Monday.

The Wolves’ roster has nine players 26 years old or younger. Wiggins is 21 and Towns 20. Even veteran point guard Ricky Rubio is only 25. Rubio’s starting teammate in the backcourt, Zach LaVine, is only 21.

When Taylor watches the playoffs and the teams making deep runs including the Cavs and Warriors, he sees contrasts with his club. The Wolves, he said, must develop better team defense, improve their three-point shooting and be able to make the biggest of plays. And while Taylor likes the nucleus of his starters, he sees a need for a deeper and better group of reserves coming off the bench.

The talent pool figures to improve this offseason. The Wolves will have the No. 5 pick in the NBA Draft later this month and Taylor said new basketball bosses Tom Thibodeau and Scott Layden are sorting out options. Those options include who to draft, or whether to trade the pick.

Thibodeau is president of basketball operations. Layden is general manager. “They’re very thorough,” Taylor said. “They’re doing a lot of work. They work good as a team.”

Taylor said the Wolves have moved beyond the mission of prioritizing the acquisition of young talent and now will give more emphasis to older players via free agency or trades. All tools could be in play this summer, and there is ongoing speculation Thibodeau wants to acquire a veteran or two from the Bulls where he coached before coming to Minneapolis.

Whether 40-year-old Kevin Garnett returns for another season is undecided. Earlier this spring Taylor was interested in talking to Garnett but the timing wasn’t right because Garnett’s mother-in-law was in hospice and recently died. “I just kind of got off of it,” Taylor said. “I think the next communications will probably be between Thibs and KG. That’s probably the more important one, and that’s what I have suggested to both of them that they get some time together.”

Taylor said he and a Chinese businessman expect to finalize the sale of a five percent share of the franchise this week. Taylor declined to identify the new investor, but the two men were introduced by a mutual friend awhile ago and then meetings developed.

About 10 days ago transactions were completed and approved by the NBA involving a 9.5 percent share of the franchise to Meyer Orbach from New Jersey.

Worth Noting

The Timberwolves began play in 1989 but in more than 25 years the franchise has never advanced to the NBA Finals. Contrast that with the Minneapolis Lakers who won five pro championships from 1949-1954.

The coach of all five championship teams was John Kundla who still lives in Minneapolis and turns 100 on July 3.

Archives in the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting in St. Louis Park include several moments of a 1959 Minneapolis Lakers-Detroit Pistons radio broadcast. Ray Christensen, who made his fame broadcasting Gophers games, does the play-by-play.

Sympathies to family and friends of Bill McMoore who died Monday morning at age 90 in Plymouth. A Minnesotan for most of his life, McMoore was one of the first African-American football players at the University of Minnesota. McMoore made a career of leadership in the Minneapolis public schools including tenure as athletic director for the city’s high schools.

Former Gophers basketball captain Al Nuness said McMoore was revered for his pioneering career. “He was very, very well respected and was Mr. University of Minnesota to many athletes including African-Americans,” Nuness told Sports Headliners.

McMoore was a member of the University Alumni Association board of directors, former president of the “M” Club and is a member of the “M” Club Hall of Fame. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Peter’s AME Church in south Minneapolis.

The goal posts in the new U.S. Bank Stadium were installed Monday. Upon request, individual Vikings are touring their new home but as a team the players won’t take the field until warm-ups for the first preseason game in August.

The city of Minneapolis has inspected and approved the stadium, and provided notification of the findings to the building’s general contractor, M.A. Mortenson. That means organizations such as SMG (the building’s stadium management company) and the Vikings’ ticket personnel can move into the facility.

For the 51st consecutive year the Vikings will hold training camp on the campus of Minnesota State University, Mankato. The Vikings report to camp Thursday, July 28, and hold their first team practice Friday, July 29. The Vikings will have an evening practice for fans Saturday, August 6 in Blakeslee Stadium followed by a team introduction and fireworks.

Studies are showing soccer ranks No. 1 in concussions as measured by percentage of participants. Football ranks behind not only soccer but a few other sports.

Twins shortstop Eduardo Nunez, who never hit more than five home runs during six previous MLB seasons, already has nine. He has homered in four of his last five games including two in last night’s win over the Marlins. He is hitting .400 in his last 13 games and has hit safely in 12 of the games.

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Cheeseheads & More in Today’s Column

Posted on June 6, 2016June 6, 2016 by David Shama

Notes collected before, during and after a weekend trip to Appleton, Wisconsin for a family event:

I talked to two Vikings prior to departure last week—seeking reassurance Minnesotans are safe in Packerland. “They treat us well, as tough and as hard fought as the rivalry is,” safety Harrison Smith said. “For instance, my family went to the week 17 game last year and they had nothing but good things to say about Packer fans. The way they were treated not only before the game—but after we won the division (in Green Bay) they were very congratulatory.”

Tight end Kyle Rudolph had a simple message: “If you’re going to Appleton, my only advice is to make sure you stop by Lombardi’s and get that tomahawk steak. That’s the only good thing I know that’s in Appleton. …”

Lombardi’s is a steakhouse in the Radisson Hotel named after legendary Packers coach Vince Lombardi. The Radisson is a road hotel for visiting teams like the Vikings. Rudolph isn’t sure, but he thinks the tomahawk is a rib-eye cut. Not only does he like eating there, but in a separate interview Smith also praised the food at Lombardi’s.

Harrison Smith (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings).

Smith talks to the media tomorrow about the five-year contract extension he has signed with the Vikings. Since his first NFL season in 2012, Smith is one of two NFL players (Reshad Jones, Dolphins) to have at least 12 interceptions and five sacks.

The Packers will play their first two regular season games on the road in 2016, then the next four at Lambeau Field. Their second road trip is to Minneapolis for the first ever regular season game in U.S. Bank Stadium against the Vikings. StubHub.com listed tickets yesterday starting at $275.

As the Packers practice this spring, potential bad news for Vikings’ pass blockers and quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is that linebacker Clay Matthews is likely moving from the inside to his more natural position of outside linebacker. Personnel circumstances dictated Matthews on the inside in recent seasons but the mobile veteran linebacker has been taking a lot of snaps on the outside this spring where his speed can make a difference going after passers.

Vashti Cunningham, the daughter of former Vikings quarterback Randall Cunningham, is the subject of a four-page feature in the June 6 issue of Sports Illustrated. The Nevada-based 18-year-old is “poised to become the world’s best high jumper,” according to the magazine.

Minneapolis businessman, author and former Gophers golfer Harvey Mackay was close to Muhammad Ali who died late last week. The two men bonded through their mutual love of magic tricks.

The first time they met Mackay travelled to Ali’s home in Michigan. “I went to a magician and brushed up on my magic before the trip,” Mackay remembered in a column I wrote two years ago. “When I met Ali I not only did a magic trick for him, but showed him how it was done. It was something that turned him on.”

It will be interesting to watch new Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle during the next 12 months. Here are a few key items:

How effectively does Coyle manage the crisis situations in the men’s basketball and wrestling departments?

If there are new coaches, who does Coyle hire?

The Gophers men’s hockey program is in the doldrums? What does Coyle do about coach Don Lucia having one more year on his contract?

Exceptional leaders have vision. What’s Coyle’s vision for the major revenue sports of men’s basketball, hockey, and football?

Can Coyle fast-track fundraising for the $166 million Gophers Athletes Village?

One more thought on Lucia: he has high regard for associate head coach Mike Guentzel. Wouldn’t it be interesting if the soon to be 58-year-old Lucia announces shortly before next season that he is retiring effective immediately and presumably creates a “tryout” for Guentzel to permanently become head coach.

Twins first baseman Joe Mauer makes $23 million this season as part of an eight-year deal he signed in 2010. With the Twins on pace to win perhaps 50 games and have the lowest attendance in Target Field history, the long criticized contract looks worse than ever. When judged by directly impacting the outcome of games and generating revenues for a team, Mauer could be baseball’s most overpaid player by season’s end.

The 16-40 Twins have won only six of 19 series of games against opponents so far this season.

Rookie center fielder Byron Buxton had three hits in yesterday’s home loss to the Rays. It was only the second time in his career for three hits in one game. Buxton is hitting .435 in the six games since being recalled from Triple-A Rochester.

With conjecture about the Timberwolves and Wild making playoff runs within a couple of years, optimistic local fans wonder if Minneapolis-St. Paul could some spring host both the NBA and NHL championships. That kind of speculation is prompted because of the Bay Area’s Warriors and Sharks being in the pro basketball and Stanley Cup finals. No one area has ever emerged as champions in both basketball and hockey in the same year. So if you want to dream big, muse about it happening in MSP during Hillary Clinton’s second-term as president. Umm, or is that Bernie Sanders?

Author Patrick Mader willl speak to the “Breakfast with Leroy” group Saturday at the Bloomington Knights of Columbus, 1114 American Blvd West. Mader wrote “Minnesota Gold: Conversations with Northland Athletes Competing on the World Stage.” Mader, whose book came out last October, profiles 57 Minnesotans, including past Olympians, and details their lives and accomplishments. A breakfast buffet starting at 9 a.m. precedes Mader’s remarks, with more information available by contacting Pat Rickert at 612-861-3981. Group attendees are mostly athletes from the Minneapolis public schools in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, many of whom went on to college and professional careers.

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