Media – Page 57 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Fitzgeralds Keep Father-Son Bond

Posted on January 22, 2016January 22, 2016 by David Shama

Minneapolis native Larry Fitzgerald Jr., the Cardinals slot receiver who is on track for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, will know his dad is in the stadium watching him Sunday when his team plays in Charlotte against the Panthers for the NFC Championship.

Larry Sr. will see a game that will send the winner to Super Bowl 50 to play the AFC champion in Santa Clara, California. Dad hasn’t missed a Cardinals game all season, or in the playoffs. The Fitzgeralds are that kind of family.

Growing up in south Minneapolis, Larry Sr. and his late wife Carol emphasized to Larry Jr. and his brother Marcus the importance of family and the right way to behave. No drugs or alcohol. Get your rest and don’t associate with the wrong people. Don’t do anything crazy.

“That’s the way we raised him—to be careful—and to make certain not to run with the crowd and not be a problem,” Larry Sr. told Sports Headliners. “He’s a leader. He’s a winner.”

Larry Sr. grew up in Chicago and played football at Indiana State, and then briefly with the NFL Giants. He knows how violent the game can be. He was hesitant when Carol started Larry Jr. playing football at age 10. “We had some issues in the family about that, but by blessings we got through it,” Larry Sr. said.

Dad could see the passion his namesake had for football. “From that point I could see he wasn’t afraid of football. He wasn’t afraid of contact. That’s the first hurdle right there. Not fear the game.”

Larry Jr. & Larry Sr. (photo courtesy of Lou Lampson)

Larry Sr. still lives in the Minneapolis area and is a veteran sportswriter and sports radio commentator. He will in the press box of Bank of America Stadium on Sunday covering the game. His relationship with former Vikings coach Dennis Green gave Larry Jr. the opportunity to be around pros like Hall of Fame receiver Cris Carter. By the time Larry Jr. was starring for Holy Angels Academy pro scouts were telling dad his high school age son could already play in the NFL.

Although Larry Jr. grew up here, he didn’t dream about being a Golden Gopher. Schools like Miami, Oklahoma and Pittsburgh (his eventual college choice) wooed him during the recruiting process. “They were in our house a lot earlier than Minnesota,” Larry Sr. said.

Dad was convinced after his son’s freshman year at Pitt that he had the skills and determination to be a pro. For the last 12 years Larry Jr. has more than proven that including last Saturday night when his long run after a reception set up the winning points against the Packers in an overtime playoff classic. He finished things off with a short run for the winning score.

In seven of Fitzgerald’s seasons he has had over 1,000 yards in receptions including 2015. He had a career high 109 receptions during the last regular season and in December became the 11th player in NFL history to reach 1,000 career catches. Six seasons he has had 90 or more catches. He has been selected for the Pro Bowl eight times.

At age 32, Fitzgerald is one win from his second Super Bowl. The Cardinals lost 27-23 to the Steelers in the 2009 game. “We’ll see if this is the best Cardinals team that he’s played on,” his father said. “We’ll find out pretty soon, I guess.”

The Cardinals’ offense was No. 1 in points per game during the regular season. The defense No. 5 in points allowed. Dad thinks his son plays for the league’s best team. “I think they have a group that can go win it all.”

The Cardinals, 14-3, will play a Panthers group that had an NFL-best 16-1 record. If Larry Jr. wants any advice for Sunday he knows his dad is available. “Never stop being a parent,” Larry Sr. said.

Worth Noting

Fitzgerald is on this week’s regional cover of Sports Illustrated on sale in Arizona and other western states, according to SI.com on Tuesday. Legendary quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are on the cover in most states, including Minnesota, as part of the buildup for the AFC title game between Manning’s Broncos and Brady’s Patriots.

Greg Bedard, writing in the January 18 issue of Sports Illustrated, ranked the Cardinals the best NFC team in the playoffs. S.I. said: “Talent, physicality, aggression, daring play-calling—they’re all qualities you look for in a Super Bowl contender, and no one cam match Arizona’s mix of the above.”

Approximately 87 percent of the work is completed on the construction of U.S. Bank Stadium. All the glass for the huge pivoting doors (95 feet at their peaks) will be installed in the next 30 days. Proposals will be solicited for the artificial turf, expected to cost between $1 million and $2 million.

The Vikings have yet to determine how to best acclimate their players to the facility before the team has its first games in the building next summer. Nothing has been decided regarding practices or even scrimmages.

Jedd Fisch, the former Gophers offensive coordinator under Tim Brewster, joined Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan staff last winter as passing game coordinator. Fisch must have done well because this week he received a two-year contract extension paying him between $650,000 and $750,000 annually, according to a SI.com story on Tuesday.

Former Gophers basketball coach Jim Dutcher has written a letter to M Club Director George Adzick recommending Darryl Mitchell be inducted into the M Club Hall of Fame. Mitchell was captain of the 1982 Big Ten champion Minnesota team Ducher coached. Mitchell was an All-Big Ten selection that season and has become an attorney. “He’s got all the credentials,” Dutcher told Sports Headliners.

Gophers senior Rachel Banham ranked 39th all-time among NCAA women’s career scorers after her 32 point total on Wednesday night in Minnesota’s win over No. 20 ranked Northwestern. She has 2,613 career points. The Gophers, 12-6 overall and 4-3 in the Big Ten, play in Madison tomorrow starting at 11 a.m. against the Badgers. Wisconsin is 6-11 overall and 2-5 in league games.

The Gophers men’s hockey team, 11-10 overall and 6-2 in the Big Ten, plays the Badgers in Madison tonight and Saturday evening. Wisconsin, 4-10-6 and 1-5-2-1, has been struggling but the roster includes pro prospects Luke Kunin and Matt Jurusik. The two freshmen were listed by NHL Central Scouting on Tuesday as top 20 players.

Kunin, who at the beginning of the season was on Central Scouting’s Watch List as a potential first round draft pick, is listed as the 16th best North American skater on Central’s latest rankings. A forward, the Chesterfield, Missouri native leads the team with 9 goals and 18 points.

Jurusik, from La Grange, Illinois, is listed as the 15th best North American goaltending prospect and has a 3.18 GAA this season. He is the only Division I goaltender to make the list. He has one shutout this season, 3-0 against Michigan State.

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Riley Put the Needle in Green Bay

Posted on January 4, 2016January 4, 2016 by David Shama

It’s long been suspected the good Lord has a special sense of timing. Confirmation came when Don Riley passed away only days before the Vikings-Packers game in Green Bay.

The legendary Pioneer Press sports columnist made much of his reputation bashing Green Bay fans and the Packers. Riley, 92, died on Thursday in the Twin Cities and he may have had “Green Bush” on his mind last week as the Packers and Vikings got ready to play for the NFC North Division championship on Sunday.

Riley told me a few years ago he used labels like “Green Bushers or “Bushers” in his provocative column because they were derogatory without targeting individuals. He wrote a controversial column (known as “The Eye Opener”) for the St. Paul newspaper for 31 years before retiring in 1987, and much of the time he took direct aim on Green Bay and the Packers.

Riley loved to stir emotions and reactions, and after yesterday’s Vikings’ win in “Green Bush” he might be in heaven writing and needling about how the Packers blew the game.

Aaron Rodgers? Riley would tease that Teddy Bridgewater is better.

The Packers’ chances in the playoffs? The “Eye” might suggest the Packers will be vacationing on frozen Wisconsin lakes when the Vikings are riding deep into the playoffs.

Sportswriting for Riley was the entertainment business and his column sold a lot of newspapers for the Pioneer Press, including in Wisconsin. In addition to writing, Riley was on the speakers’ circuit and he didn’t hold back on fans from Wisconsin. Even during a speaking engagement across the border Riley might put out a plea to the audience to stop stealing the banquet hall silverware.

It’s no wonder audiences booed Riley during his decades of defaming Wisconsin while writing and speaking. He claimed Green Bay was known for having the “world’s biggest toilet factories.” He labeled Wisconsin-River Falls “Moo-U.”

“He’d rip the Packers every chance he could and he’d get booed, but he made a hell of a lot of money doing that,” said Gregg Wong who worked with Riley at the newspaper. “It was a shtick with him.”

Riley was born in Wisconsin but graduated from Minneapolis Roosevelt High School. He was full of energy and often mischief throughout his life. “He was certainly one of the most creative people in the business,” Wong told Sports Headliners. “He had a great way with words, a great imagination. Pretty close to 90 percent what he wrote in his column was purely off the top of his head.

“It’s amazing how many people in St. Paul—for all those years he wrote that column—took him seriously. If Don Riley wrote it, it must be true.

“He’d write (for instance) about the former Viking seen in an eastside bistro with a blonde bimbo on one arm, and a redhead on the other arm.

“People would think that was true, and they would say, ‘Who is that Viking? I wonder who that Viking guy was?’ ”

Riley’s column was published six days per week and he was a celebrity in St. Paul. Often, though, he didn’t remember names he should have known. Instead, he would identify people—both strangers and those he knew from the newspaper—with nicknames he made up. Tiger, Ace and Big Shooter were Riley favorites.

Wong recalled a day when Riley was approached by a friendly stranger near the St. Paul newspaper. The two men chatted for a couple of minutes and then along came a writer from the paper whom Riley had known for about 25 years.

Riley proceeded to handle introductions this way, “Big Tiger, meet Ace.”

An upcoming Vikings-Packers game was just the platform Riley wanted to make his Wisconsin readers fume and Minnesota readers chuckle. During an interview with Sports Headliners in 2011 Riley recalled an outrageous prediction he once made in print. “I told them (Packers fans) if we don’t beat you next Sunday by three touchdowns, I’ll push a peanut with my nose from Appleton to Green Bay,” Riley said. “That was my guarantee.

“Well, they (the Packers) knock us off. They had a cartoon in the newspaper over there on the front page. Color cartoon of me pushing a peanut, (and it) says, ‘Come on, show your guts, Riley.’ “

Riley further infuriated Packers fans by never arriving in Appleton to push a peanut. He got angry letters from people in 35 states. The hate mail was nothing new, though. He was even accustomed to receiving crank telephone calls at home.

Riley got some of his best ideas in bars and used to make column notes on cocktail napkins. If Gallivan’s had a hall of fame, he would have been a first ballot inductee. At the downtown St. Paul bar, Riley and pals might hatch a get rich scheme like selling warm chow mein in a paper cup at the State Fair, or promoting an appearance by Lassie the wonder dog at Met Center. But the paper cup couldn’t contain the warm chow mein, with contents falling on the laps of customers, and Lassie was a flop at the Met, not even able to draw stray dogs.

Adventures like that never quieted the feisty columnist’s enthusiasm and passion for life. He loved to talk and during part of his career he had a radio show in the Twin Cities. After his program he might have a speaking engagement and Wong said one evening Riley couldn’t remember where he was supposed to give his speech.

Riley called the Pioneer Press office for help. He asked newspaper colleague Mike Augustin to find details about the speaking engagement on his desk. Augustin did so, and then Riley, who was calling form a pay phone, requested specific directions to the place he was to talk.

Augustin needed to know where Riley was calling from. Riley—who had consumed a drink or two—replied he didn’t know his location. Augustin then wondered aloud how he could possibly provide directions to Riley.

Riley paused and said, “Augie, my boy, put a trace on this call.”

Up until about a year ago Riley would join Wong and other former Pioneer Press writers for breakfast and reminiscing. Deteriorating health kept Riley from wanting to socialize. He just wasn’t himself. Wong understood that and will fondly remember his friend.

“He was probably the most upbeat, fun newspaper guy I was ever around. He was always up. I never saw him mad, sad about anything. It was always a treat being around him.”

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Vikings Got Cosell at ’75 Super Bowl

Posted on January 30, 2015January 30, 2015 by David Shama

It was 40 years ago this month the Vikings lost to the Steelers in Super Bowl IX, and while that memory brings no joy to Doug Kingsriter he does recall with fondness an incident involving two of his Minnesota teammates and legendary broadcaster Howard Cosell.

The 1975 Super Bowl was played in New Orleans and the NFL assigned the Steelers to a posh hotel for their stay in the Crescent City. The Vikings, according to Kingsriter, were sent to a motel located adjacent to the New Orleans airport because they had alienated league authorities at the Super Bowl the year before, criticizing the Houston practice field locker room which had no lockers, nails in the wall for hanging clothes and birds flying around in the showers. Kingsriter said the New Orleans motel was “near the end of runway No. 9,” and in the days leading up to the big game the Vikings found themselves listening to one airplane after another taking off and landing.

To pass the time during Super Bowl week—and perhaps to ignore the roar of jet engines—Kingsriter and other Vikings organized a team cribbage tournament. On the Friday afternoon before Sunday’s game he and a couple of teammates were in one of the motel rooms playing cribbage. At the same time Cosell was interviewing Fran Tarkenton in the motel’s open air courtyard for a segment that was to be seen the next night on ABC TV.

Cosell died in 1995 but he is well remembered by those who knew him and millions who watched him on ABC programming including “Monday Night Football” and “Wide World of Sports.” Cosell was known for “tell it like it is” sports reporting and bragged about his accomplishments. He certainly was among TV’s biggest personalities in the 1970s and 1980s even though his arrogance alienated viewers across the country.

“There have always been mixed emotions about Howard Cosell,” the comedian Buddy Hackett once said. “Some people hate him like poison and other people just hate him regular.”

A former lawyer and highly intelligent, Cosell was also admired by many for his willingness to ask probing questions and deliver information to viewers that went beyond much of the drivel from other TV sports journalists. Presumably on that Friday afternoon about 40 years ago, Cosell conducted an interview of substance with Tarkenton, the Vikings Hall of Fame quarterback.

Problem is, we will never know. The interview never aired because Cosell was so upset with the shenanigans of Vikings linebacker Wally Hilgenberg and All-Pro defensive tackle Alan Page.

How did it all come about? Kingsriter, a tight end with the Vikings from 1973-1975, thinks the incident was pretty much spontaneous and probably the creation of the fun-loving Hilgenberg who likely decided enlisting someone of Page’s stature to play a prank on Cosell was a good idea.

“(While playing cribbage) we kept hearing this snickering outside and pitter-pattering running by the door,” Kingsriter remembered. “I went out to see what was going on. I saw Hilgenberg and Page. They both had waste baskets—full of water.

“They were looking down (from the second floor walkway to the open court yard) and they were pretty much over Cosell who had his back to them. He was interviewing Fran.

“Hilgenberg and Page were counting silently were their mouths, ‘1, 2,’ and kind of swaying the buckets in rhythms. I looked at Fran and he saw it (the water) coming, and he didn’t flinch. You know Fran had great peripheral vision. He just sat there.

“They hit Cosell square. When I say square they knocked his toupee off, not totally off but it was off to the side. He quick grabbed it and put it back on before he turned around. They got him in the back, in the head, and really soaked him.

“Well, Hilgenberg ran away. Page stayed there. He hung over the railing looking down with a huge Cheshire cat grin, just looking down at Cosell. Then Cosell turned around and he points his finger up at Alan. He said, ‘I am gonna get you for this, Page.’ ”

Cosell was angry and in the months ahead maybe he forgave Page for the prank but he certainly didn’t forget. The next season, on October 27, 1975, Cosell and ABC were televising the Vikings-Bears game as part of the Monday Night Football series. Page didn’t play in the game and Cosell knew why.

Multiple times during the broadcast Cosell reported Page was sidelined because of hemorrhoids. “This was true but he wanted to make sure that everybody in the world knew that Alan had hemorrhoids,” Kingsriter said.

Kingsriter believes ABC should have aired the interview including when the water hit Cosell. The film could have been edited to show Cosell getting soaked but not losing his toupee. The man with the hall of fame ego had an opportunity to poke fun at himself. “He missed what I thought was a great opportunity to help his image,” Kingsriter said.

As for the Super Bowl game, it was the Vikings’ image that took a hit on January 12, 1975. The Steelers held the Vikings to 119 yards of total offense in a 16-6 win. It was the Vikings’ second consecutive Super Bowl loss, having lost the year before to the Dolphins, 24-7.

But when it came to Howard Cosell, neither the Steelers nor the Dolphins had anything on the Vikings thanks to the chutzpah of Hilgenberg and Page.

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