Media – Page 64 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Worth Noting

Posted on June 1, 2012June 1, 2012 by David Shama

Former Twins broadcaster John Gordon, 72, is spending his first spring retired from baseball and “enjoying the retired life,” according to Patrick Klinger, the team’s marketing vice president. “He’s playing a lot of golf,” Klinger said.

The Twins finished the month of May with a 12-16 record. Their sweep of the A’s earlier in the week was only the second of the season against an opponent.

Outfielder Josh Willingham leads the club in home runs with 10. The first Twins hitter to reach 10 last year was Michael Cuddyer on June 16.

Now that spring semester has ended, the Gophers football team has put together consecutive semesters of collective GPA’s over 3.0 for the first time in our memory.

Former Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin, now with the Steelers, is ranked the fourth best head coach in the NFL by Sportingnews.com. Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier is ranked No. 27 out of 32 head coaches. Former Vikings tight end Mike Mularkey, now head coach at Jacksonville, ranks No. 25 while the Giants Tom Coughlin, coach of the Super Bowl champions, is No. 1.

Frazier and others with the Vikings organization, including players, volunteered their time yesterday to help build a playground at Sheridan Arts Magnet School in Minneapolis. The playground is being paid for by the Vikings and The Toro Company.

Mark Rosen’s new book, Best Seat in the House, was No. 3 in the sports essays category last week for Amazon Kindle sales, according to the WCCO TV sports anchor. He also told Sports Headliners that about 8,000 books have been printed. He’s been busy with book signings in the metro area and other parts of the state. “I realize more and more you can’t just put a book on the shelves,” he said.

Rosen said it’s been an “amazing” and enjoyable experience meeting so many people who have their own stories about the Minnesota sports heroes he writes about in his book. “I’ve met a lot of great people,” he said.

Minnesota native Tom Lehman, who will play in the 3M Championship in Blaine later this year, has three top 10 finishes on the Champions Tour in 2012 but has not won a tournament. www.pgatour.com

The Timberwolves will select Dion Waiters, a 6-4 shooting guard from Syracuse, with the No. 18 pick in the NBA draft later this month, according to www.nbadraft.net. Waiters averaged 12.6 points per game as a sophomore last season.

Former Hopkins forward Royce White will be drafted by Boston at No. 21, according to the website. White is unusually strong for a small forward but must improve his outside shooting in the pros.

For the fifth consecutive year St. Thomas finished first in both the men’s and women’s MIAC all-sports final standings. Gustavus and St.Olaf placed second in the men’s and women’s standings. St. Thomas won eight conference titles in men’s athletics, five in women’s sports during 2011-12.

The Mr. and Ms. Lacrosse winners will be announced on Sunday afternoon during a banquet at the Crowne Plaza Riverfront Hotel in St. Paul. A total of 14 high school boys and girls are finalists for the awards (presented by the Minnesota Swarm). A selection panel will also choose the Mr. Goalie and Ms. Goalie of the Year winners. To see the names of candidates and learn more about the banquet, visit the Minnesota Minutemen website. www.minnesotaminutemen.com

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Worth Noting

Posted on April 6, 2012April 6, 2012 by David Shama

Maturi said the contract hasn’t been signed but it’s likely the Gophers will play a major conference opponent that will be a local box office draw as part of next fall’s nonconference schedule. The Gophers nonconference home schedule is frequently criticized for not having marquee opponents.

The Big Ten and ACC annual series has helped enhance the nonconference schedules for teams in both leagues. A new alliance between the Big Ten and Pac-12 might lead to an annual basketball series, further improving nonconference schedules.

A Monday article in the Wall Street Journal ranked the Gophers as the 10^th most valuable Division I college basketball program in the country. Citing a study by Ryan Brewer, an assistant professor of finance at Indiana-Purdue Columbus, the publication listed Louisville ($211.5 million) No. 1 followed by Kansas, Indiana, Ohio Sate, Arizona, North Carolina, Duke, Virginia, UNLV and Minnesota ($87.9 million). The study included a formula using current revenues and expenses, and also other data. The Gophers and fellow Big Ten schools Indiana and Ohio State benefit from the lucrative Big Ten Network revenues.

Jerry Robertson, grandfather to Gophers forward Rodney Williams, said his grandson benefitted from playing near the basket when inside players Trevor Mbakwe and Ralph Sampson III weren’t able to play because of injuries. Williams had three straight 20 point games in the NIT. “Rodney was forced to step up his game instead of deferring to Mbakwe and Sampson,” Robertson said.

Robertson, who coached Williams in AAU basketball, thinks his grandson will come back for his senior season rather than pursue the NBA draft.

Redshirt freshman center Elliott Eliason, a business management major, was the only Gopher basketball player to make Academic All-Big Ten this past winter. Minnesota and Ohio Sate were the only schools to have just one selection while Purdue and Indiana had a league-leading seven each. To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten, student-athletes must be letter winners who are in at least a second academic year at their institutions and have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher.

Don’t be surprised if the basketball Gophers lose one or more players with remaining eligibility who decide to transfer.

The Gophers women’s swimming and diving team had 23 Academic All-Big Ten student-athletes. The men’s gymnastics team 13, the men’s swimming and diving team 11, and the women’s basketball team 10.

Timberwolves president Chris Wright said the franchise has renewed 98 percent of its Target Center lower bowl season ticket holders, and 94 percent overall. The club has sold over 900 new full season tickets and hopes to reach 2,000 by next season. That would push the total on full season tickets to more than 8,000, Wright said.

Timberwolves rookie point guard Ricky Rubio tore his ACL on March 9. The Wolves were a .500 team with him but their record is 4-11 since he’s been unable to play.

The Hobey Baker Award winner will be announced tonight from Tampa as part of the Frozen Four. The finalists for the award honoring college hockey’s best player are Spencer Abbott, senior forward from the University of Maine; Jack Connolly, senior forward from the University of Minnesota-Duluth; and Austin Smith, senior forward from Colgate University. The announcement will be aired live on the NHL Network and on the Hobey Baker website at 5 p.m. Minneapolis time.

WCCO TV’s Mark Rosen signed copies of his new book, “Best Seat in the House,” for two hours last week at the downtown Barnes & Noble store. Chapters include one devoted to former Vikings coach Bud Grant who signed copies of the book at the store and surprised Rosen by staying for 90 minutes. “I would have been happy if he had stayed 15 minutes,” Rosen said.

No dates and times yet but the Vikings will play preseason games (in this order) at San Francisco, home against Buffalo and San Diego, and at Houston.

Congratulations to St. Croix Lutheran’s Carl Lemke, honored as the 2011 MFCA Coach of the Year at the Minnesota Football Coaches Clinic last week. St. Croix Lutheran won the Class 3A state championship last fall. Lemke was also recognized as the Class 3A coach of the year. Other coach of the year winners by class: Class 5A, Mike Grant, Eden Prairie; Class 4A, Mike Rowe, ROCORI; Class 2A, Brent Schroeder, Caledonia; Class 1A, Cory Larson, Dawson-Boyd; Nine Man, Andrew Fleischman, Edgerton/Ellsworth.

Wally McNeil, “Wally the Beerman,” said racehorse Wally’s Choice is retired. McNeil was a part owner of Wally’s Choice, a horse that earned the second most money ever for a Minnesota bred racehorse.

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Twins Forecast Dim from National Media

Posted on April 2, 2012April 2, 2012 by David Shama

The Twins open their regular season in Baltimore on Friday and their doubters include the national media. Sports Illustrated and Sportingnews.com predict the Twins will finish fourth among the five teams in the American League Central Division while Bleacherreport.com projects fifth place for Minnesota in the final standings.

In its March 26 baseball issue, S.I. questioned the Twins’ defense, pitching and lack of run production. The magazine believes Target Field (opened in 2010) isn’t working out because the team’s pitchers (minimal strikeouts) allow a lot of baseballs to be put in play and mediocre fielders, including outfielders, will be chasing those balls. Then, too, Twins batters can’t knock the ball over the fence at spacious Target Field.

S.I. quotes an anonymous rival scout about the Twins. He thinks Joe Mauer is no longer capable of winning batting championships and wonders if Justin Morneau is ever “going to be that scary middle-of-the-order hitter again.”

Pitching? The scout said the Twins don’t have a late inning reliever they can count on, and he wasn’t upbeat about the starters either. “None of their starters are great,” he said. “The rotation is full of 3s and 4s.”

The Twins lost 99 games last season and to improve that record a lot in 2012 the often injured “M&M Boys,” Mauer and Morneau, and starter Francisco Liriano will have to lead the way, Sportingnews.com said in its AL Central preview last week. “Not only must both (Mauer and Morneau) stay on the field, they must produce at their past MVP levels. Meanwhile, inconsistent but talented lefthander Francisco Liriano must emerge to fill the ace void.”

The Sporting News website said if Mauer and Morneau “spend more time in the trainer’s room than on the diamond, Minnesota won’t be relevant after May.”

Bleacherreport.com also expressed multiple and similar concerns about the Twins in its division preview last week. Included were Morneau’s health, starting pitching and the commitment to Matt Capps (4.25 ERA in 2011) as the team’s closer. “If all of these red flags turn out to be nothing, the Twins will finish much higher than last place in the Central,” the website said. “As of now, we haven’t seen anything from them, so there’s no reason to expect anything to be different.”

All three media sources predict Detroit will win the division. Sports Illustrated and Sportingnews.com project Kansas City and Cleveland to finish second and third, while Bleacherreport.com reverses the Royals and Indians. Chicago received a fifth place forecast from both S.I. and Sportingnews.com while Bleacherreport.com has the White Sox finishing fourth.

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