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Category: Lindsay Whalen

Good Guy Adam Thielen Worthy Hero

Posted on October 19, 2018October 19, 2018 by David Shama

 

Scan the crowd during Vikings games at U.S. Bank Stadium and notice all the fans wearing Adam Thielen jerseys. His familiar No. 19 is not only a top seller in Minnesota but also across the country.

The 28-year-old Vikings’ wide receiver deserves the adulation. There are so many bad characters in professional sports, but they are adored by fans because of what they do on the field or court. Often the public is unaware or doesn’t care about their lowlife behaviors. Thielen, though, checks all the right boxes on the football field and off. Spend time around the Detroit Lakes, Minnesota native and you realize he is a poster boy for Midwest values such as courtesy, friendliness, compassion, thoughtfulness and modesty.

To be honest, Thielen isn’t all that interesting to interview in the locker room. He takes a humble demeanor in answering questions, avoids controversy and is looking out for the team while talking to the media—and there’s nothing wrong with that approach.

Thielen could have developed a head full of self-importance the last couple of years, but his character won’t allow it. His pro football career has evolved from a guy who hardly interested anyone to a player who perhaps deserves a place among the top 30 players in the NFL.

In Minnesota’s home win over the Cardinals last Sunday Thielen became the first receiver to start a season with six consecutive 100-yard games in the Super Bowl era. Through less than half of the season he has 58 receptions for 712 yards and four touchdowns. His receptions and yardage totals are tops in the league. The Vikings’ single season team records in those categories are 122 catches, 1,632 yards and 17 touchdowns.

As an undrafted free agent out of Minnesota State in 2013, Thielen did enough to earn a place on the practice squad. In 2014 he made the 53-man roster and became a contributor on special teams. That was his niche in 2015 when he was named the club’s Special Teams Player of the Year. His transition season as a receiver came in 2016 when he started 10 games, and then last year he had 1,276 receiving yards on his way to being named second team All-Pro.

Thielen has used his physical skills including running speed and eye-hand coordination to become an elite receiver. His work ethic and the repetition that has gone into perfecting his craft have played a huge role, too. There is a blue collar element to his makeup that no doubt was impacted at an early age when his dad’s favorite Viking was “Benchwarmer” Bob Lurtsema.

Maybe that mentality has contributed to Thielen seemingly being content with the four-year $19,246,000 contract that Spotrac.com reported he signed in 2017. That deal now looks like a bargain but search hard to find any complaints from Thielen.

What’s Thielen done off the field? He has used his name and influence to give back to others. He has hosted football camps, opened a gym, worked with the Humane Society, been involved with Vikings community sponsored activities, and last month with wife Caitlin announced the Thielen Foundation. The foundation’s first gift is to the University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital with a $100,000 pledge.

Worth Noting

Thielen has been able to play this season without experiencing serious injury. After the 2016 season he had shoulder surgery. “I’ve had a lot of (career) injuries but you just try to play your best when you have them,” he told Sports Headliners.

Does Thielen think about the possibility of injuries? “You’re going to think about that stuff, but once you get on the field you’re not thinking about getting hurt. You’re just trying to do the things off the field to try to prevent it—in the offseason, that is.”

Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr has a foundation called Raise the Barr that provides financial help for college to single moms in California and Minnesota. Barr is from Los Angeles and is a Lakers fan. He wears a vintage Minneapolis Lakers jacket to show his support of two places he has lived. “Cross up the love, so that’s all that is,” Barr said.

Jerry Reichow, who played for the Vikings in their 1961 inaugural season and has over four decades of experience working for the club with personnel decisions, is still with the franchise as a consultant and is living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A former wide receiver, Reichow’s expertise includes evaluating quarterbacks.

JD Spielman

JD Spielman, the redshirt sophomore receiver from Eden Prairie who the Gophers face tomorrow in Lincoln, led the Big Ten in conference games in receiving yards per game at 88.1 last year. The former Minnesota Mr. Football is five receptions from 100 career receptions and would be the first Nebraska player to achieve that total before his junior season.

Over 180 high schools, plus the Vikings and most college football programs in the state, are hosting “Tackle Cancer” games this year. The initiative has raised more than $1.3 million since its inception in 2012, and supports cancer research and patient aid in Minnesota.

Former Gophers basketball captain and assistant coach Al Nuness had a first-time experience last week on a friend’s shrimp boat near New Orleans. He worked as part of the crew and helped haul in 600 pounds of shrimp and 200 pounds of blue crab.

Lindsay Whalen said among her adjustments as a first-year head coach is being in a gym “12 to 14 hours” watching potential recruits. She acknowledged how the Gophers perform on the basketball court this season will impact the perspectives of recruits.

At the home opener tonight against the Cavs, the Timberwolves and Levy Restaurants will debut new food offerings at Target Center including a “Kid’s Meal” available for $5 in the “Kid’s Zone” (Section 225). The meal emphasizes healthy options and includes a Timberwolves-themed toy.

That was former Gophers men’s hockey coach Don Lucia jogging on campus this week. Lucia said he runs four miles or more a few times per week.

Clark Griffith, son of former Twins owner Calvin Griffith, turned 77 on Wednesday. He is an astute historian and observer of baseball, and a longtime Minneapolis resident.

Comments Welcome

Pitino Upbeat on Team Despite Critics

Posted on October 3, 2018October 3, 2018 by David Shama

 

Richard Pitino’s Golden Gopher basketball team began formal practices last week and will play a season-opening exhibition game in about four weeks against Minnesota Duluth at Williams Arena. How Pitino’s sixth year as coach will go is a mystery to college basketball observers, including me.

Athlon’s college basketball publication forecasts an 11th place finish in the 14-team Big Ten Conference for the Gophers. Dan Murphy, writing for Espn.com last August, placed Minnesota at No. 10 in his Big Ten power rankings.

Street & Smith’s basketball magazine is more optimistic about the Gophers, listing them No. 4 behind Michigan State, Michigan and Nebraska. I am more aligned with Street & Smith’s outlook and believe Minnesota has the personnel to finish between fifth and seventh in the standings.

Front court talent is where the Gophers are most promising. Senior forward Jordan Murphy averaged more than 16 points and 11 rebounds last season. Athlon ranks him the No. 66 player in college basketball and he is on everyone’s list of potential All-Big Ten forwards.

Junior Amir Coffey, a starting forward in the past who could play shooting guard this season, is so versatile he is expected to impact most every game including as a playmaker. Sophomore forward Eric Curry missed all of last season but his scoring and rebounding totals could be in double figures many games this season.

Minnesota’s backcourt outlook is murky with the departure of last season’s senior leader, point guard Nate Mason. Sophomore Isaiah Washington was a flashy but erratic playmaker last season and could be Mason’s successor.

Answering a question last week about Washington, Pitino stressed the importance of improving fundamentals. “…In high school it’s different than college, but I think he is progressing nicely. He’s been really good over the summer. And it’s very important that over the next month, he continues to get better.”

Starting senior shooting guard Dupree McBrayer has a career field goal percentage of .390. His three point percentage is .351. Without improvement, that will open up playing time for combo guard Brock Stull, the senior transfer from Milwaukee who averaged 13.4 points per game last season.

“Really, really good passer. Really good shot-maker,” Pitino said about Stull. “It’s just a matter of getting that conditioning up. That will be there in time.”

For the Gophers to make “crystal ballers” like Street & Smith’s look accurate they will not only need top play from the above mentioned players but also newcomers including top 50 recruit and center Daniel Oturu of Cretin-Derham Hall. Freshmen Gabe Kalscheur (guard) and Jarvis Omersa (forward) may make major contributions too, although it’s possible someone could redshirt. Pitino is still waiting to hear from the NCAA whether Pitt transfer and sophomore point guard Marcus Carr will be eligible for this season or will have to redshirt.

Pitino describes his program as “strong” but others aren’t so sure. “I love where we stand as a program,” he said. “Two years ago we had a terrific regular season. One of the best they’ve ever had (at Minnesota). Last year we were sitting at 13-3 after 16 games. …”

Pitino’s 2016-2017 team was 11-7 in regular season Big Ten games and earned its way into the NCAA Tournament. That was an unexpected turnaround after the Gophers had been 2-16 in conference games the season prior. Last season Minnesota had the impressive start Pitino referenced above but injuries to Coffey, Curry and McBrayer, and center Reggie Lynch’s suspension that hit in January, wrecked what looked like a special year.

“If the Gophers can stay clear of the snake eyes this season, they should be significant factors in the Big Ten race and strong candidates for an NCAA Tournament berth,” Street & Smith’s wrote.

However, both Street & Smith’s and Athlon have Pitino on their national lists of coaches on the hot seat for the coming season. Pitino’s five-year conference record in regular season games is 31-59. In all games he is 12 games over .500 at 90-78.

Dan Murphy’s article for ESPN acknowledged the Gophers great start last season but also said, “…It will take a Herculean effort to get things back on track. Pitino enters the season as the Big Ten coach who has to do the most to keep his job for another season.”

Worth Noting

College basketball authorities don’t consider the Big Ten an imposing league. Neither Athlon nor Street & Smith’s has a Big Ten team in its top eight nationally. Athlon ranks Michigan State No. 10 in the country, with Michigan No. 24 and Nebraska No. 25. Michigan State, at No. 12, is the only Big Ten school in Street & Smith’s top 20.

The conference sent only four teams to the NCAA Tournament last season. The Big Ten hasn’t had a national champion since 2000 (Michigan State).

Senior forward Zeke Nnaji, the Hopkins High School basketball star, is being recruited by Baylor and he included the Bears this week on his top five list (he excluded the Gophers). Jared Nuness, who was a standout player for the Royals in the late 1990s, is part of the Baylor staff.

Jared’s dad, Al Nuness, the former Gopher, works at Hopkins and has been impressed with Nnaji for a couple of years. He compared the 6-foot-10 Nnaji with the state’s most coveted senior, forward Matthew Hurt from Rochester John Marshall.

“I think his potential is just as good as Hurt,” said Al Nuness. “He has the potential to be very good. This kid runs the floor, and has a lot of ability. He can shoot and make the three-point shot.”

Jeff Sorenson

Congratulations to Minikahda Club pro Jeff Sorenson who topped the 2018 Minnesota PGA standings with 513.70 points and is the Omega Player of the Year. Brent Snyder from Troy Burne was second with 390.50 points. Sorenson has topped the state standings six times since 2007.

The Minnesota United has now sold and distributed more than 50,000 tickets for its last home match of the season at TCF Bank Stadium on October 21. The United is trying to set a new single match attendance record for Minnesota professional soccer. A record announced attendance of 49,572 was established over 40 years ago at Met Stadium for a Kicks game.

The Capital Club, the St. Paul-based networking gathering that features prominent sports speakers, will hear from a panel of prominent female sports reporters including Rachel Blount and Dawn Mitchell on October 23, and Gophers men’s hockey coach Bob Motzko November 13, and Gophers women’s basketball coach Lindsay Whalen November 28.

Meetings are usually at Town & Country Club, but a program is also scheduled for October 30 with a tour of the Treasure Island Center and TRIA Rink. More information about the Capital Club is available at Capitalclubmn.com, or from Patrick Klinger, patrickklinger@klingercompany.com.

Dick Jonckowski will sign copies of his new book, It’s All about Me, from 5 to 7 p.m. October 11 at Mancini’s Char House in St. Paul. The book about the well-known Minnesota emcee and public address announcer has been available for about three months. Jonckowski said over 600 copies have been sold. “It’s really going well,” he told Sports Headliners.

Jonckowski can be contacted at 952-261-3013.

Comments Welcome

Vikings Kicker Carlson on Spot Thursday

Posted on August 28, 2018August 28, 2018 by David Shama

 

Enjoy a Tuesday notes column on the Vikings, Gophers and Twins.

No Viking will probably be more closely watched in the team’s Thursday night final preseason game than placekicker Daniel Carlson. The rookie fifth round draft choice missed two field goal attempts in last week’s win against the Seahawks and he prompted the displeasure of coach Mike Zimmer.

Zimmer was upset enough to call for a two-point conversion attempt after a touchdown rather than have Carlson kick the extra point. Carlson’s rough evening against the Seahawks came days after the Vikings released veteran Kai Forbath.

While Zimmer apparently is playing head games with his promising 23-year-old kicker, this might be a moment for a slice (no pun intended) of levity. If the Vikings want to consider options other than Carlson before their September 9 regular season opener against the 49ers, they need look no further than a couple of Purple alums.

Last time we checked, Forbath—the man who struggled to make extra points with Minnesota—was available on the NFL labor market. Blair Walsh, who missed the infamous playoff field goal attempt against the Seahawks in January of 2016, was replaced by Forbath later that year and is also now a free agent.

Retired kicker Ryan Longwell, the third leading scorer in Vikings history, just turned 44 years old this month. The Seahawks employ 40-year-old Sebastian Janikowski, and 45-year-old Adam Vinatieri is still kicking for the Colts. Why not a Longwell comeback even if the Packers, another of his former NFL teams, just inducted him into their Hall of Fame?

Mike Zimmer

Okay, back to reality. Zimmer, burned by kicking failures in past seasons, will turn up the “heat” again on Carlson to determine whether he has a specialist with a long future in Minnesota. Perhaps as soon as Thursday night in Nashville against the Titans.

Kirk Cousins posted on Twitter last Saturday that trying to find parking at the State Fair was such a challenge he had to take a “rain check.” The Vikings quarterback wrote he is still hoping to try a “fried Twinkie.”

The Vikings’ new headquarters and practice facility in Eagan has opened this year with raves from not only the organization and media but also fans of Minnesota’s NFL team who attended training camp. Since the franchise’s inception in 1961, the organization has done business, including its training camps, in various places in the Twin Cities and state.

Minneapolis attorney Marshall Tanick, writing an August 7 article on Hometownsource.com, recalled the Vikings once looked at a site in Golden Valley before choosing Eden Prairie and developing Winter Park where the team made its football headquarters for more than three decades before moving to Eagan.

“In the late 1970s, the Vikings were looking for a new consolidated business operations and practice site,” Tanick wrote. “By then, it had outgrown its meager corporate facility on France Avenue in Edina and sought to build its own indoor field in order to shed its nomadic ways of practicing at different venues around the Twin Cities with no dedicated practice facility.

“The campus of what was then Golden Valley High School, immediately east of Highway 100 to the north of Glenwood Avenue, became available. The school district had closed due to declining enrollment, merging in 1981 with the Hopkins District. The Vikings closely eyed the facility for its business offices, along with its already existing adjacent football field, which could be converted easily into a covered site.”

The Vikings, though, couldn’t close a deal with Golden Valley authorities. Instead, they moved on to Eden Prairie and left behind their practice facility at Midway Stadium in St. Paul. As for the Golden Valley site, it became and still remains the home of Breck High School.

The New Mexico State team the Gophers open against at TCF Bank Stadium on Thursday night looked awful offensively in its August 25 game with Wyoming. The Aggies had one first down in the first half on their way to a 29-7 loss to Wyoming, a team with an outstanding defense.

Although the Aggies were coming off their first bowl game last season since 1960, there were lots of empty seats for their home game in Las Cruces. Yet some tickets were priced as low as $3 each.

The Minnesota Athletic Department has been selling tickets starting at $1 for Lindsay Whalen’s first game as Gopher women’s basketball coach on November 9 against New Hampshire.

The Gophers have 113 players on their roster and 60 of them—or 53.1 percent—are true freshmen or redshirt freshmen. Those are the highest numbers in the country among major college football programs.

Minnesota’s roster of four quarterbacks consists of one true freshman and three redshirt freshmen. The Gophers are the least experienced team in the country at quarterback.

Zack Annexstad wil start Thursday night, the first time the Gophers have begun the season with a true freshman quarterback since Tim Salem in 1980. Salem completed 13 of 16 passes and threw one touchdown pass in Minnesota’s 38-14 over Ohio.

It looks like Gophers special team headliners will include kickoff returner Rodney Smith, punt returner Antoine Winfield Jr., placekicker Emmitt Carpenter and punter Jacob Herbers.

Punting could be a concern for Minnesota. The now departed Ryan Santoso punted 66 times last season, while Herbers punted once. Head coach P.J. Fleck said SMU transfer Alex Melvin will also have opportunities in games.

The Gophers were No. 1 nationally in both fewest total penalties and yards penalized last season. The year before Minnesota ranked 91st in fewest penalty yards and 86th in yards penalized.

Barry Mayer, who is a former running back for the Gophers and three-year letter winner from 1968-70, is a certified paid trainer with the Positive Coaching Alliance in Minnesota. The organization provides various resources, including workshops, to help youth and high school athletes enjoy positive experiences in athletics. PCA’s motto is “Making Better Athletes Better People.”

Mayer’s son Adam was a wide receiver for the Gophers in 2015 and 2016. After lettering in 2016, he gave up football because of chronic hamstring injuries but is still in school and plans to graduate from Minnesota next spring with a degree in business.

“…When Adam told me he was thinking about stepping away from football, he knew it was going to disappoint me,” Barry said in an email. “I told him that sports are a means to an end, never the end in itself. My goal for him participating was to gain and understand the many life lessons sports offers and carry those on into one’s adult life. I truly believed he had done that, and apparently it was time to move on to his life’s next chapter. I couldn’t be more proud of the young man he is becoming.”

The Twins were a Wild Card team last year and expectations this spring were they could qualify for the postseason in 2018. Instead, the Twins are a good bet to finish under .500 and not even come close to earning a Central Division title, or Wild Card entry.

Twins president Dave St. Peter, who often talks about playing “meaningful games” late in the season, was asked if expectations were too high for his club. “I think we had realistic expectations based on what took place last season. Second half of last season we were the best team offensively in the American League, one of the better teams offensively in baseball. Unfortunately, sometimes it doesn’t play out that way. We never really had our entire lineup on the field. …”

The suspension for about three months of shortstop Jorge Polanco and serious injuries to other frontline players impacted the club. Players have also underperformed. St. Peter, though, likes the “young core” of players on the roster and is optimistic about the talent in the club’s farm system.

The great Ted Williams, who played for the minor league Minneapolis Millers before his MLB career with the Red Sox, would be 100 years old tomorrow if still alive.

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