Media – Page 59 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Fans Wild about Minnesota Wild Playoffs

Posted on May 14, 2014May 14, 2014 by David Shama

In one day a sportswriter saw more people wearing Wild clothing and caps than he observed in a month this winter. Whether it’s extra chatter in office cubicles or via social media, or record TV viewership and game attendance, the Wild has captured a large audience this spring with its surprising Stanley Cup playoff performance.

Last night the Wild lost 2-1 in overtime to the Blackhawks in game six of their second round playoff series. The best of seven series is over with the Blackhawks winning four games to two but the impact of the Wild’s popularity on Minnesota sports fans, both passionate and casual, is evident.

Until this spring Minnesota had missed the playoffs five of the previous six seasons. But in April and May of this year the Wild played like one of the NHL’s better teams, defeating the Avalanche in a seven game series and playing impressively against the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks.

In Wild franchise history dating back to 2000-2001 the club has advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs only twice, in 2003 and 2014. Last year Minnesota lost its opening series to the Blackhawks in five games. This year the Wild put up a much stronger fight, particularly at home feeding off the energy of frenzied fans.

Wild radio analyst Tom Reid has followed the franchise since its inception. “The interest level is phenomenal with this team,” he told Sports Headliners.

Wild telecasts attracted much larger audiences than normal. For example, the team’s game seven final last month against the Avalanche had a 16.4 household rating in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area — a record for a sports telecast by Fox Sports North. The previous record, a 15.3 rating, was in August of 2010 for a Twins-White Sox game.

In the Minneapolis–St. Paul market 17,280 households represent one rating point. Over 283,390 households tuned in to that Avalanche-Wild game. The telecast received a 32 share, signifying 32 percent of the viewing audience in the Twins Cities area was watching.

For game three of the Blackhawks series the Wild had a record home attendance of 19,416 at Xcel Energy Center, breaking the prior playoff record of 19,396 set last month against Avalanche and exceeding a regular season crowd of 19,409 earlier this spring. Game four against the Blackhawks at Xcel Energy attracted 19,405 and last night attendance was 19,396. The arena’s official capacity for hockey is 17,954.

A Wild spokesman e-mailed late last week the team has added more than 23,000 new followers on Twitter since the end of March, leading all NHL teams in percentage growth of audience during that period. Total followers are 224,000. The Wild’s website attracted more than 700,000 unique visitors during April, an all-time high.

Last night the Wild players left theirs hearts on the ice in the overtime playoff ending loss. The fans, standing and cheering the home team after the game ended, left their hearts in the stands.

Worth Noting

Reid, who played in the NHL for 11 seasons, believes third-year Wild coach Mike Yeo “has really come a long way over the last 18 months,” and is impressed with his composure during games. “What I like about Mike is he doesn’t get rattled — because that also transcends to the players,” Reid said. “If they see a coach that is up there screaming and hollering and jumping all over the place, that’s not a good sign. I played for coaches like that.”

New Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, who at one time was projected to be the first quarterback taken in the 2014 NFL Draft, is likely to receive about $14 million less on his contract than the Jaguars Blake Bortles. Jason Belzer from Forbes.com wrote last Friday he is estimating Bortles, the first quarterback chosen in the draft, will receive $20,654,810. Bortles was the third player selected during the draft’s first round while Bridgewater was the last at No. 32 and his contract is projected at $6,849,502.

Rumors had the Vikings trying to move up during the first round to obtain the Browns’ pick at No. 22 and draft quarterback Johnny Manziel. Instead, the Browns kept the pick and selected Manziel who will receive an estimated $8,247,250 on his contract.

The Vikings top draft choice, linebacker Anthony Barr, was selected ninth during the first round and Belzer has his contract at $12,743,500. Belzer’s contract projections for first round draft choices are based on the NFL’s salary cap and rookie compensation pool that this year is expected to total $955 million and be split among all 32 league teams.

Vikings general manager Rick Spielman has made some outstanding draft choices in recent years but knows his reputation has a lot to do with whether the team solves its quarterback problem. “You are always going to be judged by the quarterback,” Spielman said.

Last week’s draft was the first for Spielman working with new head coach Mike Zimmer. Spielman was the boss regarding who the Vikings selected. “There was not a lot of discussion,” he said.

Tomorrow night Gophers football coach Jerry Kill delivers the commencement address at Mariucci Arena to undergraduate students from the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development, and then attends the 20th anniversary Bolder Options celebration at TCF Bank Stadium’s DQ Room where he will give the keynote address.

Among the entrants in next month’s Tapemark Charity Pro-Am at Southview Country Club in West St. Paul will be Edina resident Chris Meyer who has been playing on the PGA’s Latin America tour. Meyer, 23, played in the Tapemark last year but didn’t make the cut after graduating from the University of Wisconsin. “My guess is he will be very competitive this year,” said Pro-Am president Phil Callen who noted Meyer is the Tapemark’s first current pro ever from the Latin America tour.

The defending Tapemark champion is Ryan Helminen from Ridgeway Country Club in Neenah, Wisconsin. Helminen also won the tournament in 2010. He attended the University of Wisconsin with Gophers golf coach John Carlson who is also playing in this year’s tournament. Carlson won the Tapemark in 2007 and 2008.

The Southview course is short and hilly, requiring adjustments for long hitters. “Even really talented guys have to change their games,” Callen said. “There are a limited number of holes you can use your driver.”

Tapemark dates for the men’s tournament are June 6, 7 and 8. The women’s event is June 5 and 8, also at Southview. The tournament, now in its 43rd year, benefits people with developmental disabilities. Registration for pros and amateurs is still open. More at Tapemarkgolf.org.

Canterbury Park begins its live racing season on Friday as part of a 69-day race meet through September 13. The 10,000 Lakes Stakes and the Lady Slipper Stakes, both $60,000 sprint races, will be this Friday and Saturday. Saturday attractions include a simulcast of the 139th Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown.

Canterbury Park’s nearly 1,600 horse stalls will be at capacity for only the second time since 1991 because of a cooperative marketing and purse enhancement agreement made in 2012 with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. SMSC will contribute $75 million to the horsemen’s purse structure over the deal’s 10-year span. Purses are projected to total a record $13 million this season.

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Walters Wants More Time for Family

Posted on April 30, 2014May 1, 2014 by David Shama

Charley Walters decided it’s time to stop going to bed every night with three telephones nearby.

The Pioneer Press sports columnist will end his full-time career of almost 39 years with the newspaper at the end of May. The demands of a 24-hour news cycle and desire to have more time for family and personal interests convinced Walters to step away from a career he thought about even as a kid growing up in Minneapolis.

“I just turned 67 and there are a lot of things Paula and I want to do,” he told Sports Headliners recently. “I love my career, and the St. Paul paper has been terrific to me. But I want to ride bicycles, go for hikes, read the 10 books I am only 20 to 30 pages into (and) visit my kids.

“We want to see all the national parks. We’ve done a lot of travel and want to do a lot more of that. I don’t have time with this column.”

Walters’ wife Paula is a Twin Cities pediatrician and is also retiring soon. The couple has three grown children, with two of them living out of state. The children are a priority for Walters and so too is 92-year-old mother Bertha Walters. “Paramount (to having more time) is being able to see mom in eldercare,” he said.

Walters has extensive contacts and his newsy notes column has been a must-read for Minnesota sports fans. Admirers will be happy to know the column won’t be completely disappearing. After he told newspaper bosses a couple of weeks ago he was retiring, they asked him to become a part-time employee and write Sunday columns. He agreed and that means continuing to make good use of 3,500 phone numbers accumulated during nearly four decades of journalism.

A journalism graduate from the University of Minnesota, Walters said his “proudest moment at the newspaper” came when he played a role in the Pioneer Press investigative reporting of the academic fraud scandal in the Gophers men’s basketball program. The newspaper’s lead reporter on the story, George Dorhmann, won a Pulitzer Prize but Walters got things started, although he still won’t say how he did it.

Knowing what’s going on in Minnesota sports has interested Walters since he was a kid delivering the Minneapolis Tribune at 5:30 a.m. His enthusiasm for news and competitiveness to find scoops is evident when he talks about his career. “Sometimes I will make a dozen phone calls just to get a one sentence item in the newspaper,” he said. “The best part (of the job) is people seem to enjoy it. It’s a lot of work but I have no problem filling space.”

Walters began his newspaper career after a few years of professional baseball. Included were several big league games pitching for the Twins in 1969. “There were only two things in my whole life I wanted to do,” Walters said. “One was to play major league baseball and the other was to be in the newspaper business. I’ve been able to do those things.”

Among his peers, Walters will be missed for more than newsy columns. He has never become caught up in self-importance. He greets friends with a secret handshake and is ready to tell or hear a good story. His humble personality is what you might expect from a guy who grew up in working class northeast Minneapolis.

“I don’t care for self-promoters,” Walters said. “I don’t think that gets you anywhere. I think your work gets it done.”

Worth Noting

Shattuck-St. Mary’s hockey coach Tom Ward has been following the Faribault prep school’s many alumni participating in the NHL playoffs. Among them are Wild forwards Erik Haula (2008-2009) and Zach Parise (2000-2002).

Ward is particularly close to Parise with the two talking and texting regularly. “We talk about hockey a lot,” Ward told Sports Headliners.

The Wild play the Avalanche tonight in Denver with their best of seven series tied at three games each. The Wild have struggled trying to shut down Nathan MacKinnon, the 18-year-old forward who is also a Shattuck-St. Mary’s alum. He has 10 points on eight assists and two goals in the series.

MacKinnon left Shattuck after his sophomore year so he never played for Ward, the varsity head coach. “He was always a fast, energetic player,” Ward said. “He’s really rounded out his game since he left here.”

Ward is proud of all his Shattuck-St. Mary’s alums who are in the playoffs. “They’re all humble, hard working guys. Team first guys,” Ward said.

Former North Stars general manager Lou Nanne said on KFAN Radio with Dan Barreiro last night if Wild goalie Darcy Kuemper has his best game of the series Minnesota will win.

Minnesota defensive tackle Ra’Shede Hageman will be drafted No. 16 in the first round by the Cowboys, according to Chris Burke’s NFL Mock Draft in the May 5 issue of Sports Illustrated. “His motor ran hot and cold for the Gophers,” Burke wrote. “When he’s on, though, few can disrupt the pocket like this 6’6” monster.”

Former Gophers linebacker Mike Rallis has signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment and is training for his wrestling career in Florida.

Ex-Gophers defensive back and Jim Thorpe Award winner Tyrone Carter is promoting a football camp on Saturday and Sunday at Woodbury High School where scheduled instructors include former Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss. The Tyrone Carter Elite Training Schools Camp is for participants who are in the 8^th thru 12^th grades this school year.

Position-specific training is offered, and scheduled coaches include ex-Vikings David Dixon and Everett Lindsay, and former Gophers Phil Archer, Duane Bennett, Michael Carter, Ukee Dozier, Ron Johnson, Tellis Redmon and Darrell Reid. There is a registration discount code, “Elite.” More camp information at Tcelitetraining.com.

Congratulations to Mark Sheffert, former Gophers football walk-on, who is part of the 2014 Minnesota Business Hall of Fame class that will be honored by Twin Cities Business Magazine on July 23 at the Hilton Minneapolis. Sheffert is chairman and chief executive officer of Manchester Companies. He has over 40 years of business experience and was president at First Bank System (now US Bancorp).

It wouldn’t be surprising if former Timberwolves assistant coach Eric Musselman, who has also been an NBA head coach with two teams, has been in contact with Flip Saunders. Musselman resigned this spring as an assistant at Arizona State. His connection with Saunders, the Wolves president of basketball operations, dates back to when Eric’s father Bill Musselman was Gophers head coach and Flip was a Minnesota player. The Wolves are reviewing candidates to succeed Rick Adelman who resigned earlier this month.

Saint John’s head baseball coach Jerry Haugen increased his career win total to 702 last week with four victories. His record is 702-589-5 record (.543) in 37 seasons at Saint John’s.

The National Senior Games website says Minneapolis has been described as the “healthiest city in America” and refers to 22 city lakes and 6,000 acres of park land. The Games will be hosted by Bloomington, Minneapolis and St. Paul July 3-16 of next year. There are 19 sports involved and past competitors have been in their 90s and older.

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Glen Taylor: 2014 Playoffs ‘a Must’

Posted on April 16, 2014April 16, 2014 by David Shama

The Timberwolves 25^th season ends tonight and the franchise won’t qualify for the playoffs. The club hasn’t participated in post-season games since 2004 and that disappoints owner Glen Taylor who plans on asking plenty of questions during the next couple of weeks.

With a roster of young talent led by All-Star forward Kevin Love, and the addition of new players such as forward Corey Brewer and guard Kevin Martin, the Wolves appeared ready to break the playoff drought when the season started last fall. “It was a must for this year (making the playoffs),” Taylor told Sports Headliners.

Injuries slowed the club’s progress. Most notable was the ankle injury of center Nikola Pekovic who has only been able to play in 54 of 81 games. Other than Love the 28-year-old Pekovic is the team’s best front court scorer and among the NBA’s premier low post offensive players (averages 17.4 points and 8.7 rebounds). Pekovic, who reportedly signed a five-year $60 million contract before last season, has a history of injuries and missing games.

But Taylor said in addition to the team’s injuries contributing to not making the playoffs, he is troubled by the many close games the Wolves lost. The club often was ineffective in the fourth quarter. Taylor intends to explore why. “Is that the responsibility of the staff and the coaches? How much of that is the players? I am going to dig further into that.”

Taylor didn’t offer an answer when asked to evaluate and label the performance of the coaching staff. He wants to meet with the coaches and talk to others in the organization after the season.

Head coach Rick Adelman and Taylor will have a discussion that will focus on more than basketball. Adelman’s wife Mary Kay has health issues and Taylor understands “family comes first.” But Taylor wants to know if coaching next season is a priority for Adelman who completes his third season with the Wolves tonight and has a 68^th birthday in June.

What Taylor hears from Adelman, long regarded as one of the NBA’s best coaches, will obviously influence whether he wants the coach to return. “You have to take a lot of your energy and thought and emotion into (helping) your family, and it does affect your other areas of responsibility,” Taylor said. “It’s not a criticism of him. …I just want to really sit down and talk to him and see how he feels…before I make a decision or he makes a decision.”

Taylor acknowledged Adelman’s devotion to his wife sometimes took the coach away from the players. “When things like that happen, the basketball team probably doesn’t get its full attention, but that’s life,” Taylor said.

After tonight’s game the Wolves will finish the season with either a 41-41 or 40-42 record. That will certainly be an improvement over last year’s 31-51 record. But not making the playoffs is frustrating for Taylor who also has seen his franchise operate with financial losses many years.

Taylor thought this year might be different for the bottom line. “We’re not going to make our budget. Our budget was to break even, so my sense is that we’ll lose several million dollars.”

The 72-year-old owner, though, hasn’t lost faith in the franchise and recognizes his young team should get better in coming years, led by Love, 25, and 23-year-old point guard Ricky Rubio. Perhaps the Wolves will even become a special team and achieve the NBA title aspirations the franchise has long had.

“Personally, I think I have the patience. I just gotta make sure our coaches and stuff have the patience,” Taylor said.

It will be up to Taylor and president of basketball operations Flip Saunders to find the best supporting players for Love, Pekovic and Rubio. Any personnel moves, though, will be influenced by payroll.

The owner feels pressure not to exceed the NBA salary cap. They have or will make major salary commitments to Love, Pekovic and Rubio. That’s why Taylor, who has most of his roster signed for next season, doesn’t predict the club will sign an expensive free agent this summer. “…You’re looking at probably more the fifth, sixth and seventh positions on the team,” he said.

Worth Noting

Taylor’s other basketball team, the Lynx, made a six-figure profit of less than $500,000 last season. It was the first time the Lynx, who won the WNBA title last year, have been profitable. Taylor expects another winning season and a profitable year in 2014. “By staying into the playoffs and getting to the end, just makes you profitable,” said Taylor who declined to give exact figures.

The Mankato billionaire is closing in on ownership of the Star Tribune. “It probably won’t get completed until maybe the end of May or first of June but I am confident it will get done,” Taylor said.

As newspaper owner will Taylor expect friendly coverage of his Timberwolves? “No. I expect those guys to do their jobs,” he answered.

Former Gopher football players Keanon Cooper and Chris Hawthorne are among 25 interns working in the University of Minnesota Athletic Department. The Golden Gophers Internship program provides 10-12 months of learning experiences in department areas such as communications, facilities, fundraising and marketing. Participants must have a BA or BS degree and preference is given to candidates who have played for Gophers men’s and women’s teams.

Interns receive $1,000.00 per month. More information is available by contacting senior associate athletic director Marc Ryan, ryanx011@umn.edu.

Rachel Banham, who led the Big Ten in scoring last season as a junior averaging 23.3 points per game, is looking forward to next season when eight players return including four juniors and three sophomores. “I think the sky is the limit,” said Banham who will be the team’s only senior. “We have a bunch of really good girls, and really good girls coming in.”

Banham is dating men’s team junior guard Andre Hollins. What did Hollins say after the Gophers won the NIT championship earlier this month? “He was very excited,” Banham answered. “All he kept chanting was N-I-T champs. Clearly, he was very happy.”

The Gophers women’s team hasn’t earned an invitation to the NCAA tournament since Banham has been at Minnesota. Hollins has played in one NCAA tournament, two years ago. What if both teams made deep tourney runs next year? “That would be awesome,” Banham said. “I think that would be the best way for both of us to go out.”

For the third straight season—and for the eighth time in the last nine years—the MIAC attracted more fans to its football games than any other conference in NCAA Division III, according to information released recently by the league. The conference led Division III in both total and average attendance per game for the year 2013. A total of 160,482 fans attended the 48 football games hosted by the MIAC’s nine schools, an average of 3,343 fans per game.

Saint John’s led the nation in attendance per game (7,364) for the 12th time in the last 13 years. In total attendance Bethel (38,054) and the Johnnies (36,822) finished third and fourth respectively.

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