Media – Page 65 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Worth Noting

Posted on March 9, 2012March 9, 2012 by David Shama

The Timberwolves rank No. 13 in the Sports Illustrated website power poll of NBA teams. That’s one spot better than Kevin McHale’s Rockets and two ahead of Kevin Garnett’s Celtics.

Wolvers general manager Dave Kahn doesn’t receive enough credit for his 2010 deal that brought guard Luke Ridnour to Minneapolis. Without the consistent shooting of Ridnour, the Wolves would have only Kevin Love to include among dependable shooters.

It was six years ago this week that Kirby Puckett passed away at age 44. He was a hero of Garnett’s.

Fox Sports North telecasts the Twins-Yankees game on Sunday, the third spring training telecast seen in Minneapolis-St. Paul this month.

The Twins received a no hit two inning start by Scott Baker on Tuesday against TampaBay. The 29-year-old right-hander has been with the Twins since 2005 and ranks No. 11 in career starts and wins.

Twins left-hander Brian Duensing, who has been a starter in the past, could be most valuable in spot duty out of the bullpen. He held left-handed hitters to a .217 batting average last season.

TV play-by-play announcer Dick Bremer said on a Fox telecast Tuesday the Twins, who suffered through an extraordinary year of regular season injuries in 2011, were the only team in major league baseball last year to break camp with no players on the disabled list.

Former Gophers football player Lewis Garrison continues to make a name in college basketball officiating. He will officiate the men’s Division II NCAA Regional Tournament in Denver this weekend. He’s also one of six officials selected to work the men’s Division III Final Four in Salem,Virginia later this month. Garrison officiated the men’s MIAC championship game between Gustavus and St. Thomas in late February.

At the request of Sports Headliners, Mr. Basketball chair Ken Lien provided his rankings of the best prep boys teams in 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A. His top 10 in big school 4A are Hopkins, Eastview, Lakeview North, Osseo, Apple Valley, Duluth East, Woodbury, Roseville, Eden Prairie and Chanhassen. Benilde-St. Margaret’s is No. 1 in 3A followed by Minneapolis Washburn, DeLaSalle, St. Paul Johnson, Waconia, Mankato East, Blake, Hill-Murray, Grand Rapids and Delano.

The top 10 in 2A are Braham, Perham, Redwood Valley, St. Peter, Pelican Rapids, Plainview-Elgin-Millville, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown, St. Cloud Cathedral, Fairmont and Montevideo. Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa is No. 1 in 1A followed by Southwest MN Christian, Prairie Seeds Academy, Fair School, Dawson-Boyd, Lakeview Christian, Ellsworth, Browerville, Battle Lake and Maranatha Christian.

Lien said Cooper High sophomore forward Rashad Vaughn has scholarship offers from Baylor, Iowa, Iowa State, Minnesota and Texas. Hopkins wing Zach Stahl has an offer from Hawaii and Northeastern while Edina junior point guard Graham Woodward has been offered by Augustana (South Dakota).

Among names possibly on the University of Minnesota’s review list for athletic director are Darrin Nelson, former Vikings running back and senior associate athletic director at Stanford, and Suzanne Sanregret, athletic director at Michigan Tech and one of the few females in the country holding that position.

The Vikings Miller Lite Draft Party starts at 4 p.m. and continues through the conclusion of the NFL draft’s first round on Thursday, April 26 at Mall of America Field. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door. More information is available on the Vikings website.

Mark Rosen’s new book, Best Seat in the House, will first be available on March 29 at the downtown Barnes & Noble store where the WCCO TV sportscaster will be signing books starting at noon.

Through games of March 5, former Gopher Phil Kessel was tied for third in NHL goals with 32. He was fifth in points with a career high 68. Other Gopher alumni with over 30 points in the NHL: Blake Wheeler, 54, Thomas Vanek, 47, Kyle Okposo, 33 and Nick Leddy, 31.

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Worth Noting

Posted on March 7, 2012March 7, 2012 by David Shama

Fox Sports North hockey analyst Kevin Gorg picks Hermantown to win the Class 1A tournament and Benilde-St. Margaret’s to take the Class 2A championship.

The consensus among Sports Headliners’ sources is the Vikings — this year or next —will gain public approval for a new stadium in Minneapolis. Don’t dismiss the possibility, though, the stadium could be built near Target Field, and not on the Metrodome site.

Mark Rosen’s new book, The Best Seat in the House, will be available starting in late March. The WCCO TV sports anchor and reporter writes about his experiences at Ch. 4 and sports figures he’s known. Rosen has been on local TV longer than any other news or sports anchor in this marketplace. He started working part-time at the station in 1969.

Gophers basketball, for the first time in memory, had only two home sellouts this season. The Gophers averaged 11,794 fans (capacity 14,625) for 19 home games. Minnesota’s average for Big Ten home games was 12,723. For conference games two years ago the Gophers average was 14,625, while last year it was 13,241.

The Gophers, who finished with a 6-12 Big Ten record for the second consecutive season, play their opening conference tournament game tomorrow starting at 4:30 p.m. in Indianapolis against Northwestern. During the regular season Minnesota defeated the Wildcats 75-52 in Minneapolis, but lost 64-53 in Evanston.

Northwestern is likely to win tomorrow if the Gophers don’t minimize the Widcats’ three point shooting. Northwestern made five more three point shots than the Gophers in Evanston. The Wildcats were second in Big Ten three point field goal percentage at .385.

Based on past statistics, Twins catcher Joe Mauer, 28, figures to have a comeback year after last season’s .287 average. He ranks No. 7 with a .323 batting average among the top career major league hitters since 1950 (minimum 3,500 plate appearances). Among those ahead of the Twins three-time batting champion is Tony Gwynn at .338 and Ted Williams, .335. They rank No. 1 and 2 while former Twin Kirby Puckett is No. 10 at .318.

Since the Twins inception in 1961 the club ranks No. 2 in hits, No. 3 in batting average and No. 4 in both runs scored and on-base percentage among major league teams.

Gustavus and St. Thomas, the two MIAC men’s hockey programs in the Division III tournament, both play tonight. The MIAC playoff-champion Gusties (16-6-5) will host Milwaukee School of Engineering (22-6-1) in St. Peter. The MIAC regular season champion Tommies (18-5-2) play at defending national champion St. Norbert (17-5-5) in Green Bay.

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Worth Noting

Posted on February 22, 2012February 22, 2012 by David Shama

Joel Maturi told Sports Headliners he wouldn’t grade his overall work including accomplishments as Gophers athletic director. “I will give myself ‘A’ for effort,” he said.

Maturi and University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler announced earlier this month that Maturi, the school’s A.D. since 2002, will leave his position in June when his contract expires. Although his tenure has been controversial, Maturi said he’s recently received over 500 emails and 99 percent have been “positive.”

“I don’t get too high and I don’t get too low,” Maturi said.

Maturi, 67, won’t be a member of the search committee announced yesterday to find his successor. “Gosh, absolutely not,” he said. “That wouldn’t be right. I wouldn’t accept it (an appointment).”

Media birthdays this week: KARE TV’s Dave Schwartz, 33; FSN’s Kevin Gorg, 45; Lynx assistant coach and Wolves broadcaster Jim Petersen, 50.

The Star Tribune’s Sid Hartman turns 92 on March 15.

Although it’s the offseason, Hartman has Gophers football coach Jerry Kill on WCCO Radio every Sunday from 9:30 to 10 a.m. Co-host Dave Mona said last Sunday that Kill’s weekly comments are transcribed and posted on Gopherhole.com.

C.O.R.E.S. members have a March 5 deadline for attending the March 8 program with Kill in Bloomington. Ron Stolski, Brainerd High football coach and executive director of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association, will introduce Kill. Members can contact Jim Dotseth for more information, dotsethj@comcast.net. C.O.R.E.S. is an acronym for coaches, officials, educators, reporters and sports fans.

The Gophers basketball team, 5-9 in the Big Ten, plays 11-3 MichiganState at Williams Arena tonight and Minnesota will try to end a three game losing streak. In five seasons Minnesota coach Tubby Smith is 0-9 against Michigan State’s Tom Izzo. Smith’s conference record as Gophers coach is 37-49.

As a high school player, MSU’s Draymond Green committed to Kentucky when Smith was coaching the Wildcats, but then changed his college choice. The senior forward, who might be the Big Ten’s best player, leads the conference in rebounding at 10.5 per game and is MSU’s leading scorer, 15.4 points per game.

Gophers senior center Ralph Sampson, described earlier this season as one of Minnesota’s star players by the Star Tribune, has scored four points in each of his last three games (all losses). Sampson is averaging 7.9 points per game, the lowest since his freshman season (6.4).

Although former Gophers forward Royce White is second in Big 12 Conference rebounding at 9.1 and is 14^th in scoring, 12.9, the Iowa State sophomore isn’t listed by nbadraft.net among its projected 60 NBA draft picks next June. Look for White to return to the Cyclones next season.

Former Star Tribune Gophers basketball beat writer Myron Medcalf still lives in the metro area and works seven days per week in his new college basketball writing assignment for ESPN.com.

Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson was in the news last week because his league is merging with ConferenceUSA. Thompson, who used to work in the Gophers sports information department, is from Redwood Falls, Minnesota and could be a candidate for the athletic director job at Minnesota.

Alexandria, Minnesota native Tom Lehman tied for third in last weekend’s ACE Group Classic in Naples, Florida. Kentucky native Kenny Perry won the Champions Tour event and earned $240,000. Lehman, 52, was the tour leader last year earning over $2 million.

The Twins, on March 3, will be the first major league team to play the Red Sox in the team’s new Fort Myers ballpark that includes a replica of the famed Green Monster wall in left field. Lee County spent $77.8 million on the new ballpark and expects an annual economic impact of $24 million from Red Sox generated spring training monies, according to a February 18 article in the Naples Daily News.

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