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Gotta Love Twins Opening Day

Posted on March 29, 2018March 29, 2018 by David Shama

Today I make peace with baseball.

It’s Opening Day and I don’t care if the Twins-Orioles game lasts until midnight. Each team can parade most of its pitchers to the mound, sometimes making two or three changes per inning. Batters can constantly step out of the box to adjust their underwear, or whatever it is they do.

Advertisers can toss in extra commercials between innings. The game can go 15 innings, or more. Nothing is going to lessen my enthusiasm for Opening Day.

Pace of play is an issue for 161 games a year but not today in Baltimore when our favorite MLB club begins another season.

On Opening Day I put aside the scandal that long ago stained many love affairs with baseball. The use of steroids by players has changed performances, altered the record books and cast suspicion over Major League Baseball. The purity of the National Pastime was erased a couple decades ago, and I am still in recovery.

But today anyone who cares a Cracker Jack box about the game of Ruth, Mantle, Mays, Puckett and Mauer can come together under one big tent of forgiveness. Opening Day in Major League Baseball is Americana—a time honored ritual of U.S. Presidents throwing out first pitches, kids skipping school and business people leaving work early for “appointments” not on their calendars.

If the Twins are on the road Opening Day, you watch. If they open at home, you watch.

The weather? Who cares? Today in Baltimore it’s supposed to be about 70 degrees at game time. That sounds heavenly compared to the 33 degree temps at a Twins home opener in the 1960s when snow bordered the outfield fence at Met Stadium.

Back then I actually welcomed inclement weather, particularly rain delays. The Twins broadcast team included Halsey Hall, a master storyteller who delighted listeners with tales about baseball while thunder crackled in the background.

Hall was a beloved character who was heard on Gophers football broadcasts and read in the Minneapolis Star before the Twins came to town in 1960. He joined with Herb Carneal and Ray Scott to give the franchise the best broadcasting trio in its history.

Listening to Halsey’s tales and infectious laugh made listeners forget about rainy weather. And just looking at him even made you feel good. He had the appearance of a kindly, overweight grandfather. He often had a smile on his face, a cigar or green onion in his mouth, and greeted you with, “Hi, kid.”

Carneal, who passed away in 2007, had many Halsey stories. A favorite happened in Chicago when Halsey was smoking a cigar in the press box and flicking ashes on the floor. The ashes ignited paper on the floor, setting off a small fire. Halsey’s sport coat, hanging on a chair, caught fire.

Twins catcher Jerry Zimmer quipped, “Halsey Hall is quite a guy. He can turn an ordinary sport coat into a blazer in nothing flat.’”

I doubt we will see any press box developments like that today in Baltimore but the game will be an opportunity to form first impressions about the Twins like these:

How does new pitcher Jake Odorizzi perform in his first ever major league start?

Can newcomer Logan Morrison flash the uppercut swing that made him a home run hitter last season?

Byron Buxton closed so impressively last season he drew comparisons—gulp—to Willie Mays. Buxton didn’t fast-track the start of his career like Mays. Which Buxton will we see early this year?

What if Joe Mauer actually swings at the first pitch during one of his at bats today?

Can Miguel Sano play nine innings without injuring himself?

Could Ryan LaMarre, who surprised the Twins by leading the club in batting average at .475 during spring training, come off the bench with a big pinch hit against the Orioles?

Today’s game might prompt Twins GM Thad Levine to think about his dad. Growing up in Virginia, a five-year-old Levine attended an Orioles game in Baltimore. He fell in love with baseball and it forever impacted the relationship with his father.

“It’s the bond that has tied me to my dad,” Levine said last year.

Opening Day makes us all kids again. “It’s like Christmas, except it’s warmer,” Pete Rose once said.

It doesn’t matter that much whether the Twins win or lose today. They can blow a lead, or Sano can homer in extra innings for a win. The Twins can commit five errors and give the game away, or replacement shortstop Eduardo Escobar (he of limited range) can make a play for the ages to save a run and provide Minnesota a dramatic victory. The point is, it’s Opening Day and nothing can ruin the party.

And it doesn’t hurt the hopes for a winning season that there are 161 more games to be played.

Play ball!

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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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