Golden Gophers – Page 48 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Rowdy Fans Bad Look for Hawkeyes Yesterday at Kinnick

Posted on October 22, 2023October 22, 2023 by David Shama

And how was your bacon this morning?

To Gophers fans it tasted like filet mignon.

Down in Iowa it tasted more like cardboard.

Minnesota won its rivalry game against Iowa yesterday in Iowa City, 12-10, in a controversial affair that sent Floyd of Rosedale back to Minneapolis. The bronze pig is supposed to symbolize how tensions can be eased and sportsmanship encouraged between the two rival schools and states.

That flew out the window late in the fourth quarter when too many Hawkeye fans lost control following a review disallowing an Iowa touchdown that would have put the hometown team ahead 16-12. Cooper DeJean’s punt return for the go-ahead score was negated after officials determined that before fielding the football, he signaled an illegal fair catch.

Iowa fans reportedly threw bottles, cans, and food onto the field. The Minnesota bench was targeted with debris, forcing the players to move out of their sideline area. Players and coaches had every right to be concerned about their safety.

Justin Gaard, sideline reporter on the Gopher radio network, put this up on X (formerly known as Twitter) yesterday: “This is year 13 on the sidelines. Trying to recall if fans anywhere have ever thrown so much stuff on the field like Iowa fans did tonight. I don’t remember it ever happening like that.”

The ruckus caused a delay in the game. It was a bad look for the Iowa fanbase.

Worse was the 2002 incident in Minneapolis when anarchy surfaced after Iowa’s 45-21 win over the Gophers. Fans stormed the field and tore down a goal post. Then they attempted to carry pieces out of the stadium but were stymied trying to get through the revolving doors. The Iowa athletic department later was billed for damages.

Floyd of Rosedale photo courtesy of University of Minnesota

The creation of Floyd in the 1930s came during a time of perhaps unparalleled tensions between Iowa and Minnesota. I remember my family telling me of how whiskey bottles hurled past Gopher players while playing at Iowa in that era. There must have been a lot of truth to that because before the 1935 game Iowa governor Clyde Herring threatened the Gophers saying, “If the officials stand for any rough tactics like Minnesota used last year, I’m sure the crowd won’t.”

Minnesota governor Floyd B. Olson responded with diplomacy, proposing a bet between the two state leaders over who would win the game. At stake were prize pigs from each state. The Gophers won the game and days after Herring marched a live pig into Olson’s office.

Calm had been restored in the rivalry. But never permanently as shown again yesterday when the Gophers ended an eight-game losing streak against the Hawkeyes.

There are classy Iowa fans for sure but even they would say there are too many boorish patrons among the Hawkeye faithful.

Worth Noting

Minnesota safety Tyler Nubin committed a difficult to understand unsportsmanlike penalty late in the second quarter when after the whistle he flipped the football out of an Iowa player’s grasp. It was one of four penalties for 40 yards the Gophers committed in setting up Iowa’s lone touchdown drive of the game.

The deadline is tomorrow for NBA contract extensions like the one the Timberwolves are trying to make with Jaden McDaniels. Owner Glen Taylor told Sports Headliners he isn’t sure if there is time to “cover the difference” between what the Wolves are offering and McDaniels wants prior to the deadline. Taylor said there is no questioning the Wolves value McDaniels, but a deal might have to wait until after the season.

“I don’t know where he’s really at,” Taylor said. “So far they have not been flexible, and I think we’ve tried to meet what we think is fair.”

That offer might be something like four years, $100 million for the 23-year-old versatile forward who the Wolves like a lot, including because he can guard at least three positions. “He’s gotta play this year, whether we sign him or don’t sign him,” Taylor said. “I mean it’s in his interest to play really well, and certainly at that point he’ll go out and try to get offers from other teams. …We have a right to match them (other team’s offers). I don’t know that it’s going to cost us any more that way than if we do it now. We’d like him to do it now because we’d like him to stay here for the long run, and we’d like him to know that.”

Predictions: John Hollinger from The Athletic has the Timberwolves tying with the Suns for the third best record in the Western Conference at 48-34. Sports Illustrated’s basketball issue out this month has the Wolves finishing No. 11 in the 15-team conference.

On the S.I. cover is former Wolves star Jimmy Butler, one of the most proven clutch players in the NBA who could lead the Heat to two consecutive NBA Finals. “…And I’m gonna whoop all y’all ass. Again,” he said in S.I.

Beth Goetz, who was deputy athletics director at Minnesota from 2013-2015, is interim athletics director at Iowa, and receiving strong support for the full-time job from school president Barbara Wilson, according to The Daily Iowan.

Honors: RB Darius Taylor of the Gophers was named a 247Sports Midseason True Freshman All-American last week. Minnesota senior safety Tyler Nubin made The Athletic’s second team for Mid-Season All-American.

The Wild is again close to 14,000 season tickets and some games are sold out, per owner Craig Leipold. Season tickets are still available for 2023-2024.

The Wild host a free open to the public outdoor practice starting at 11 a.m. Sunday, November 5 at the Recreation Outdoor Center in St. Louis Park. The event includes fan giveaways and activities. With space limited, fans are encouraged to arrive early.

Happy Birthday to Minnesota sports and entertainment icon Dick Jonckowski who turns 80 today, October 22. University of Minnesota alum and former Gopher golfer Harvey Mackay, widely known as a best-selling author and syndicated columnist, will be 91 on Tuesday. Happy birthday, Harvey.

Name, image and likeness rewards are a reality for a small number of Minnesota high school athletes. An educated guess is a dozen or so male and female athletes in the state are making money and receiving product in return for NIL.

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Secret Sauce to Beat Iowa: Huge Passion and Bib Overalls

Posted on October 17, 2023October 17, 2023 by David Shama

The football Golden Gophers have lost eight consecutive games to Iowa dating back to 2015. In the new millennium Minnesota has won just five games in the border rivalry. In the last 30 years the Gophers have claimed Floyd of Rosedale only seven times in the annual game that ranks among the most famous in college football.

This Saturday the 3-3 Gophers go to Iowa City with the intent of defeating the 6-1 Hawkeyes and breaking their losing streak. Minnesota hasn’t won in Iowa City since 1999.

Maybe the Gophers should seek counsel from former Minnesota head coach Joe Salem. The Hawkeye slayer saw his teams beat Iowa three consecutive seasons from 1979-1981 and as a quarterback hero in 1960 helped the Gophers to their biggest win since at least World War II.

A 12-10 victory in 1981 cost the Hawks an outright Big Ten championship. ”Man, that was a tough ball game,” Salem told Sports Headliners by phone on Sunday. “(Jim) Gallery kicked four field goals (in) that game. Nobody could score.”

Salem always let his players know how much passion he had for the Iowa rivalry. It was the biggest game to him, his son Brent, a former college coach, told Sports Headliners. “It starts top down. The energy from the coach matters more. This is why you come here. Every school has those games.”

Joe’s passion during Iowa game week paid off with his players performing with extra focus and adrenaline. “Oh, no question on that one,” Joe said. “We played with pretty good intensity in that game. We had some really good football games. …I would guess today the guys that played for me, that they want to beat Iowa probably worse than anything.”

It didn’t take any time at all to get the attention of his players during practice leading up to the Iowa game. Salem wore bib overalls on the practice field. Anyone acquainted with Salem knows his sense of humor and poking a little fun at the farm-focused state of Iowa just added to the rivalry.

The bib overalls gig didn’t originate in Minnesota, though. “I started that down in South Dakota (as head coach),” Salem recalled. “Of course, our rivalry was with South Dakota State and that’s an agriculture school. So I came to practice one day with the bib overalls—on a Monday. We were getting ready to play them and you know it was just kind of a fun deal.

“I told them (his players) …we’re playing the farmers, so I wore my bib overalls. And so then we won the game, and…I thought, hell, it worked last year, might as well try it again. We won five straight. I just kept doing it.”

Salem, who grew up in Sioux Falls and still lives there at age 85, left his position at South Dakota after the 1974 season. Then he was head coach at Northern Arizona for four seasons before taking the Minnesota job starting in 1979.

“When I came back to Minnesota, I thought, hell, I’ll try it here (the bib overalls), just for the hell of it. It was more a fun deal, was the way I looked at it. Everybody got a kick out of it. It was just kind of the way we did things.”

Iowa coach Hayden Fry got the last laugh, though. After his Hawkeyes beat Minnesota in 1982, Fry showed up at the postgame news conference wearing bib overalls and a cowboy hat. A writer told Salem about it, and he laughed. “Tell Hayden I wore mine before the game. I didn’t have to see what the score was,” Salem responded.

Brent was nine when he and his brothers started attending practices and games in Minnesota in 1979. Brent loves football rivalries and he texted about how his dad once angered the Iowa fanbase the Friday before the Hawkeyes came to Minneapolis. Talking on local radio Joe showed his dry wit with this zinger: “There’s 20,000 Iowans coming to the game on Saturday. They will have a $20 bill and one clean pair of underwear. They won’t change either one of them all weekend!”

Joe Salem photo courtesy of University of Minnesota

Joe, who couldn’t believe all the mail he received from Iowa fans after he stirred up the rivalry, formed his passion for beating the Hawkeyes as a player with Minnesota. He learned about the heated rivalry after transferring to Minnesota from Iowa State in 1957. Gopher head coach Murray Warmath and Iowa head coach Forest Evashevski didn’t get along, Joe said. After the Gophers defeated Iowa in Warmath’s first season of 1954, the Hawkeyes went on to win every year through 1959.

Things changed in dramatic fashion in 1960. Iowa came to Minneapolis No. 1 ranked in the country. The Gophers were No. 3 and both teams were undefeated going into the November 5 game played before 65,610 fans at old Memorial Stadium.

Salem was a reserve on the team but after Iowa scored early in the third quarter to take a 10-7 lead, Warmath told Joe he was going in the game. “I was a third team quarterback and I never played unless everything was going to hell, and then he’d put me in and he’d just say, ‘Well, you try it.’ … “

On that magical Saturday almost 63 years ago Salem lit a spark in the Gophers, leading them to two second half touchdowns. Minnesota won the game 27-10, bedlam ensued all over the state and the Gophers went on to be 1960 national champions.

Salem became an assistant coach at Minnesota starting in 1961 and that only continued his passion for the Iowa conflict. “It wasn’t a hatred deal. It was just a rivalry. It’s one that (I) kind of grew up with. I would say I still carry it today.” …

Athletic director Paul Giel fired Salem after the 1983 season when the Gophers’ 1-10 record followed a previous year of disappointment at 3-8. Salem’s success against Iowa, winning three and losing two, is memorable for sure but his favorite game was upsetting Ohio State 35-31 at home in 1981. “It was, because Minnesota doesn’t beat Ohio State very often.”

The victory is one of just seven Minnesota has earned over the blue-blood Buckeyes. “We should have beat them in ‘79. …We had over 500 yards on them,” Salem said about a late game 21-17 loss.

The Gophers unveiled the novel run-and-shoot offense for the 1979 game. “It was a tough offense to defend and, of course, they didn’t know we were running it and so that helped,” Salem said.

The pass-focused attack befuddled the Buckeyes that day in 1979 and again in 1981 when quarterback Mike Hohensee threw five touchdown passes, including three to tight end Jay Carroll (father of 2023 Minnesota starting offensive tackle Quinn Carroll).

A friend might ask Salem to wear those old bib overalls this week but that isn’t going to happen. “I have no idea where they ended up,” he said.

Salem didn’t take the bait either when told former Gopher record breaking runner and now radio analyst Darrell Thompson eats bacon the week leading up to the battle for the bronze pig (Floyd). “My wife is in a nursing home, and I am sitting here by myself, and I am not cooking anything,” said Salem.

The old coach’s heart, though, will be with his alma mater. “Yeah, I’d love to see them beat Iowa and I don’t care what sport. I just like to watch it.”

Dick Jonckowski Update

Minnesota icon Dick Jonckowski reports he is no longer scheduled to join the Midas Touch band at Mancini’s Char House on October 20. “The Polish Eagle,” who turns 80 on October 22, was at Mancini’s last Saturday and played two trombone kazoos with the band and received birthday greetings from patrons.

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Carlos Correa ‘Mr. Clutch’ for Twins Just like Kirby Puckett

Posted on October 10, 2023October 13, 2023 by David Shama

Carlos Correa’s clutch performance for the Twins in the postseason prompts memories of the late Kirby Puckett. It was Puckett who made that still famous quote before Game 6 of the 1991 World Series, telling teammates to “jump on his back” because he was going to carry the team.

Correa is more than shouldering his load, too, including driving in three of Minnesota’s six runs Sunday night when the Twins tied their American League Division Series at 1-1 with the Astros. Fittingly, Correa even threw out the last Astros batter of the evening with a spectacular fielding play and throw in the 6-2 win.

In four postseason games this fall Correa is hitting .588, and it’s not just his performance at the plate that has been key for the Twins. His fielding, high baseball IQ and leadership have all been impactful. Before coming to Minnesota, the 29-year-old shortstop experienced six postseason years with the Astros.

Do-Hyoung Park, writing for MLB.com yesterday, offered this timely quote about Correa from manager Rocco Baldelli: “We’ve always heard all of the sayings and things: When the lights come on and the bright lights, there are some guys, they’re giants in the light. He’s one of them. That’s what he is.”

Correa, who joined the Twins in 2022 as a free agent and then re-signed with them last off-season, made history Sunday night with those three RBI. He now has 63 career postseason RBI, tied with David Justice for third best ever among big leaguers.

No doubt the Twins’ $200 million “Mr. October” looks forward to moving up that historical list (Bernie Williams tops at 80, Manny Ramirez second with 78) but the big prize right now is advancing to the World Series. To do that the Twins will need two more wins to close out the Astros and be able to win four games in the American League Championship Series.

That itinerary would put the Twins back in the World Series for the first time since 1991. Minnesota defeated the Braves in seven games, partially because of Puckett’s heroics in Game 6. The five-tool superstar robbed Ron Gant of an extra base hit and had three hits including an 11^th inning walk-off home run for the ages that won the game and tied the series 3-3 in front of a delirious Metrodome crowd.

Puckett was a centerpiece on World Series championship teams in 1991 and 1987. In 24 postseason games he hit .309, with five home runs and 16 RBI. He was also a leader who inspired teammates, just like a guy in the here and now—Carlos Correa.

Worth Noting

Twins Hall of Famers Johan Santana and Joe Mauer will do the ceremonial first pitch honors before this afternoon’s ALDS game at Target Field. Minneapolis-based vocalist Aby Wolf will perform the national anthem.

Today’s Minnesota starting pitcher Sonny Gray, who held the Blue Jays scoreless in last week’s Wild Card series win, faces the Astros for the third time this year. He is 0-0 and has a 2.77 ERA against the Astros, with four walks and 16 strikeouts in two starts.

Ryan Jeffers has been the Twins’ catcher in each of the four postseason games, after splitting assignments during the regular season with Christian Vazquez. Jeffers has excelled defensively and calling games for the 3-1 Twins but has just two hits in 13 at bats.

Knowledgeable and optimistic Twins fans know the World Series starts October 27 and potentially runs through November 4. Home field advantage in the best of seven series, just like in the ALDS and ALDCS, is determined by which two teams had the better regular season record.

Twins radio voice Cory Provus, who calls Big Ten Network football games, will also work BTN men’s basketball during the upcoming season.

By Friday, after the Wild’s home opener against the Panthers Thursday night, it’s anticipated that over a nine-day period about 300,000 fans in the Twin Cities will have attended games of the Twins, Vikings, Wild and football Gophers.

The Wild has only two players on its 21-man opening night roster that weren’t with Minnesota last year: forwards Pat Maroon (Tampa Bay) and Marco Rossi (Iowa). Defenseman Brock Faber is the youngest player on the roster at 21; while goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who turns 39 in November, is the oldest.

Hockey authority Bill Robertson predicts the Wild will finish seventh in the Western Conference and make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. “Healthy (Kirill) Kaprizov and solid goaltending will be big keys for the Wild this year,” the former college hockey commissioner wrote via email. “Former Gopher Brock Faber will take a huge step forward and become an impact player for Minnesota.

“Boston is the best team in the NHL as they have depth from top to bottom and will be ready this year for the Stanley Cup Playoffs! No quick exit this year. Best player in the game is Edmonton’ s Conner McDavid as he is a superstar and can impact a game when he is on the ice. Conner has awesome skills.”

The Wild announced today that Kaprizov has been named an alternate captain.

Jim Harbaugh, who was a candidate for the Vikings head coaching job before Kevin O’Connell was hired in 2022, has the No. 2 college football team in the AP Poll but doesn’t make the top 10 in annual compensation among his peers. His $8.2 million at Michigan ranks No. 12, with Alabama’s Nick Saban No. 1 at $11.4 million and Michigan State’s embattled Mel Tucker No. 5 at about $10 million, per Usatoday.com last week.

Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck ranks No. 26 at $6 million.

The 1-4 Vikings and 3-3 Gophers are struggling but other state teams are excelling including St. Thomas, 3-0 in conference games and leading the Pioneer League, and Saint John’s, No. 8 nationally in the D3football.com rankings and tied with Carleton for the best league record in the MIAC at 3-0 each.

Happy birthdays: NFL legend Brett Favre is 54 today, October 10. Former Gopher athletics director Mark Dienhart turns 70 tomorrow.

Forward Parker Bjorklund from St. Thomas has been voted preseason first team All-Summit by the league coaches. The voting also predicted the Tommies will finish fourth in the standings behind South Dakota State, Oral Roberts and North Dakota State.

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