Media – Page 7 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Hall of Famers Lavish Praise on Wolves’ Anthony Edwards

Posted on May 5, 2024 by David Shama

Anthony Edwards, 22 years old and in his fourth NBA season, is leaving no doubt about achieving superstar status this spring. His latest statement was scoring 43 points yesterday to lead the Timberwolves to a 1-0 advantage in their second-round NBA Western Conference playoff series with the Nuggets.

Edwards (22 years, 273 days) is the fifth youngest player in NBA history to record three or more 40-plus point playoff games, joining Amar’e Stoudemire, LeBron James, Kevin Durant (three games each) and Luka Dončić (five games). The latter three players, all still active, are one day headed to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

“The Ant man is here to stay,” Hall of Famer Charles Barkley said on TNT’s postgame show. Dirk Nowitzki, enshrined in Springfield last year, was asked on the show about the Wolves’ shooting guard who is drawing early comparisons to legends Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

“I mean his poise at that age,” Nowitzki said. “He’s an unbelievable athlete…(and) he’s got the skillset with him. He’s the complete package.”

In Minnesota’s 106-99 win over the Nuggets in Denver, Edwards had seven rebounds, three assists, one turnover, two blocks and one steal. A second half left-handed block of a shot attempt by Denver’s Michael Porter Jr. was a showstopper.

During the nationally televised game TNT analyst and Hall of Famer Reggie Miller raised the question of whether Edwards isn’t the best two-way player in the NBA now. “I am saying he is,” Miller said.

Yesterday morning, Trent Tucker talking on KFAN Radio, said Jordan, his former teammate and old friend, has taken notice of Edwards’ ascent to elite status. Apparently, No. 23 likes what he sees in No. 5.

Edwards, who scored 25 points in the first half, made an impressive variety of shots during the game, converting 17 of 29 field goals. “When I came in the league, the thing was that I couldn’t shoot,” he said at the postgame news conference.

Then Edwards explained how hard he worked on his shooting during past summers. There were days that 2,000 practice shots were part of his effort.

Nuggets’ superstar Nikola Jokic is a near consensus candidate to win his third NBA MVP Award this year. It’s not too soon to think Edwards could be front and center in that conversation starting next year and for many more.

“To be honest, of course he is a special player,” said Jokic who will one day be a slam dunk selection for Springfield. “I have a huge respect for him. He can do everything on the floor. You need to enjoy and respect your opponent and how good and how talented he is. …”

Worth Noting

Barkley talking on TNT about the second half taunting technical on Edwards called by Courtney Kirkland: “Hey, Mr. Official. Nobody came to see your ass play. Stop giving taunting technicals in the game. Nobody came to see you. You give a kid a warning. You don’t call a taunting technical in the playoffs. Don’t do that (for staring at another player).”

Owner Craig Leipold, GM Bill Guerin and others from the organization are meeting at an out-of-town site this week to make offseason plans for the Wild who missed the playoffs this spring for the first time since 2019.

Former Wild executive and WCHA commissioner Bill Robertson spoke via zoom the other day to Mike Max’s sports leadership class at the University of Northwestern-St. Paul. Max, the WCCO TV sports director, is an adjunct instructor during spring semester at the school.

Robertson, now living in South Carolina, will speak May 13 in Bluffton about the business of sports to the Athletic Club of the Lowcountry.

Outfielder Matt Wallner, who started the season with the Twins and hit 080, is batting .214 with the Triple A Saints. The 26-year-old Forest Lake native’s future may well be determined by reducing his strikeouts which have been a pro career challenge. In 56 at bats with the Saints he has struck out 24 times.

No one should be surprised if 2023-2024 freshman guard Cam Christie, now in the transfer portal while mulling NBA interest, ends up at Michigan State where brother Max Christie, now with the Lakers, played.

Put this in the 2025 prediction bucket: incoming freshman point guard Isaac Asuma will be the Gophers’ starting point guard by mid-January.

Willie R. Braziel, who was the head boys’ basketball coach at Columbia Heights and been involved for years with Minnesota AAU basketball, is the new head coach at Simley.

Joe Alt, from Totino-Grace High School, was the only Minnesota native selected in the 2024 NFL Draft. Florida had 30 players, followed by Texas 24; Georgia 23; California, 18; Louisiana, 11; New Jersey, 11; Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Ohio, all with 10 each.

J.J. McCarthy and his Michigan teammates received four rings last month to commemorate their 2023-2024 success: Big Ten championship, Rose Bowl, College Football Playoff and National Championship.

Condolences to family and friends of former Gophers’ fullback Dick Borstad who passed away April 25. He played in the mid-1950s and later was an assistant coach on the 1960 national championship team. The Detroit Lakes High School alum was the 1954 Mount Olivet Minnesota State Athlete of the Year.

With Borstad’s passing, assistant coach Dick Larson is the only living coach from the 1960 championship team. A Gopher quarterback from 1955-1957, Larson turns 88 in August and remains a treasured link to great teams of the past.

Bob Parsons, founder of sports equipment company Parsons Xtreme Golf and a “golf nut,” has a book out about his life story including the entrepreneurial success that made him one of the wealthiest people in the world. The Vietnam veteran, best known as the founder of GoDaddy, will be at an event Friday open to the public at the Minneapolis Club to talk about his book FIRE IN THE HOLE! The Untold Story of My Traumatic Life and Explosive Success. Mpls Club welcomes Bob Parsons, Founder of PXG & GoDaddy. Tickets, Fri, May 10, 2024 at 12:00 PM | Eventbrite

1 comment

Ex-Vikings GM: Team Got Best Rusher in NFL Draft

Posted on April 30, 2024April 30, 2024 by David Shama

Enjoy a Tuesday notes column.

Former Vikings GM Rick Spielman praised his former team’s aggressiveness in moving up the draft board and early players chosen. Minnesota’s first three picks were quarterback J.J. McCarthy and outside linebacker Dallas Turner, both first rounders at No. 10 and 17, and cornerback Khyree Jackson, No. 108 in the fourth round.

The Vikings, of course, are hoping they found their franchise quarterback in McCarthy. Defensively, having lost edge rushing talents Danielle Hunter and D.J. Wonnum to free agency, and also needing help in the secondary, the Vikings may have filled significant needs for highly regarded defensive coordinator Brian Flores.

“…In Brian Flores’ defense you have to have pressure on the quarterback which can alleviate some of the pressure on the secondary—which they needed to address as well—which they did with the Oregon kid (Jackson),” Spielman said recently on CBS Sports HQ. “So I think they did a great job, especially in the first round making sure that they got the quarterback. They couldn’t come out of this draft without a quarterback, and they got a legit pass rusher who I thought was the best pass rusher coming out. That’s why I think it was an A (draft grade for Minnesota).”

Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell didn’t hold back in his praise of Turner either (he was the second edge rusher drafted after the Colts selected Laiatu Latu from UCLA). O’Connell described Turner, the 6-3, 247-pound former Alabama star, as a “great fit in Flo’s defense, incredibly versatile, huge traits and skill set to be a dominant player on the edge for us.”

On the plus side, too, from this draft is the club didn’t sacrifice it’s 2025 first round pick. Speculation was GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah might offer his two first round picks in 2024 and his 2025 first rounder to move up to No. 2 or 3 on the NFL Draft board, allowing Minnesota to choose North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye.

Here are four expectations about McCarthy:

Fans are giddy about the 21-year-old former Michigan national championship quarterback. Interest will be intense, and his summer debut will create must-see viewing for the usually “ho-hum” preseason games. There will be a clamoring for tickets to training camp to get the earliest of looks at McCarthy and demand to buy his jersey seems likely to be exceeded in sales only by that of the other J.J.— wide receiver Justin Jefferson.

McCarthy knows he landed in an ideal situation where he is surrounded by talented offensive teammates starting with Jefferson. Also important is learning from O’Connell, a QB whisperer, and his position coach Josh McCown who played 18 seasons of quarterback in the NFL. Teammates and teachers probably will make McCarthy comfortable, and likely the envy of quarterbacks drafted before him who landed in less ideal environments.

Among the many parts of the learning curve that won’t come overnight is McCarthy becoming totally in synch with his receivers. Successful NFL quarterbacks and receivers have a familiarity with one another that doesn’t happen right away. It can take a year or more for everyone to completely know the nuances of each other. How effectively and how fast McCarthy and the key receivers click, will be a key measurement in his development.

How much will McCarthy play during the regular season? O’Connell has said his rookie quarterback won’t be rushed but there is a lot of time between now and next October or November. An injury to presumed veteran starter Sam Darnold, or poor performance for too many weeks by Darnold, might send McCarthy off the bench and into the game. Remember, the NFL is a win now league.

The Timberwolves, who closed out their first-round playoff series Sunday night with a 4-0 sweep of the favored Suns, might be undervalued by oddsmakers who have made the Celtics, Nuggets and Thunder bigger favorites than Minnesota to win the NBA championship. The Wolves are going to be a “heavy lift” for any team as long as the defense remains among the best in the league (anchored by Rudy Gobert) and Anthony Edwards continues to be the premier clutch shooter in franchise history.

Meanwhile, mediation regarding franchise ownership is expected this week. It appears almost certain the contested sale of majority ownership between Glen Taylor and the Marc Lore-Alex Rodriguez two-some will later go to arbitration and eventually be resolved by NBA leadership and league owners. My guess is when the dust settles Taylor prevails—at least partially because of his successful track record with the franchise in meeting financial obligations.

Bustingbrackets.com ranks the Gophers’ Ben Johnson No. 17 in its listing this month of the 18 Big Ten men’s basketball coaches. Michigan State’s Tom Izzo is No. 1 with USC’s Eric Musselman, son of former Minnesota coach Bill Musselman, ranked the fourth best coach.

Elevate the Arches is the new collective supporting St. Thomas athletics. Both Dinkytown Athletes (supports Gophers athletics) and Elevate the Arches are limited liability companies, not charitable organizations.

The football Tommies host their annual spring game Saturday starting at 12:04 p.m. in O’Shaughnessy Stadium. Admission is free. The Tommies, 7-1 in Pioneer League games last season, haven’t lost at home since 2016. They have an NCAA-leading home winning streak of 31 consecutive games.

The Twins have struggled all spring trying to develop a five-man rotation. Sonny Gray, who the Twins lost through free agency last offseason, would be the staff ace if he had been retained. With the Cardinals, he is 3-1 and has a 1.16 ERA.

Lance Lynn, Gray’s teammate with the Cardinals and another former Twins starter, is 1-0 with a 2.64 ERA. Other Twins alums and former starters off to impressive starts are the Blue Jays’ Jose Berrios, 4-1 with a 1.23 ERA, and the Pirates’ Martin Perez, 1-1 and a 2.86 ERA.

It was 30 years ago last Saturday that Twins’ starter Scott Erickson threw a no-hitter, walking four and striking out five in a 6-0 April 27, 1994, win over the Brewers. Francisco Liriano threw the last no-hitter for the club in 2011.

Each year the Twin Cities Dunkers stage a Dunkers Fund Dinner to raise money for the athletic programs at the 14 Minneapolis and St. Paul public high schools. The Fund has generated over $1 million in the last few years and this year’s members-only dinner is Thursday.

There is a silent auction to generate more funding and you don’t have to be a Dunker member to bid. Click on the attached https://bidpartner.net/dunkersfunddinner/silent-auction/ to preview auction items including a trip to watch the Gophers play UCLA in the Rose Bowl on October 12 and golf outings at Wayzata, North Oaks, Minikahda, Woodhill, Stone Ridge, Spring Hill, Bearpath, Burl Oaks, Somerset, Hazeltine and other courses.

Bloomington-based Vintage Sports Authentics’ spring auction includes memorabilia of former Twins Jim Kaat, Joe Mauer and Kirby Puckett with bidding open now. www.VSAauctions.com

Chase Brixius, the linebacker from Benilde-St. Margaret’s who is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 17 state prospect for the class of 2025, is the grandson of Frank Brixius, the Academic-All-American tackle on the Gophers’ 1960 national championship team. Among Chase’s college offers, per 247, are North Dakota State and Buffalo.

I worked for the Minnesota North Stars in the 1980s and never heard a bad word then or since about legendary radio voice Al Shaver who passed away last week at age 96. Son Wally has been calling Gophers’ hockey on radio since 2001 and his son Jason Shaver is the broadcast voice of the Chicago Wolves (American Hockey League) for 13 seasons. Condolences to family and friends of Al, a gentleman and great announcer.

Comments Welcome

Randy Shaver’s Prep Football Bond Likely to Continue

Posted on April 9, 2024 by David Shama

Ron Stolski was on the verge of tears Friday night when talking about Randy Shaver’s Prep Sports Extra. Stolski, executive director of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association, was speaking at the organization’s annual clinic in St. Louis Park and referencing 40 years of the KARE11 Friday night show that is imbedded in the state’s football culture.

“Thank you for four decades of the discipline, the dedication and commitment and effort to make our Friday nights special,” Stolski told Shaver and the audience of state high school football coaches.

Prep Sports Extra followed the 10 a.m. news in the fall and for a long time was the most viewed program in its time slot in the metro area. When the lights went out at prep football games in the state, players, coaches and fans could relive and forever remember many of the evening’s most enduring moments. “You and Prep Sports Extra have always been our fifth quarter,” Stolski told Shaver before presenting him with an award.

Stolski, the retired Brainerd High School football coach and one of the state’s winningest coaches ever, talked about the fraternity among coaches and others involved with high school football. He saluted Shaver for his legacy and what his show has meant to prep football in the state, telling his friend that he will forever be “in the huddle of the keepers of the game.”

Shaver came to WTCN (now KARE11) at 24 years old in January of 1983. A former high school football player in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he worked his way up from sports reporter and weekend sports anchor to sports director, and since 2012 has been co-anchor on the evening news at the station. He announced this winter that he will be retiring from the station after his 6 p.m. June 28 newscast and ending 43 years total in the TV industry.

The departure includes an end to the Prep Sports Extra which last year celebrated its 40^th anniversary. Shaver opened up to the clinic audience Friday evening and said ending the iconic show that he started, produced and anchored was a decision he “had to make for the sake of the show.”

Then he added: “This last year, our resources, as in every walk of life right now, got cut back. And I have to be honest, I only know one speed for the show. I only know one way of doing it.

“So to ask me to find other ways to fill the show or do the show (won’t work). I did it last year because I wanted to get it to 40 but I also realized that it’s time for either someone else to do it and do it differently…I don’t know. But for me to try…and to piece it all together just didn’t work.

“That and the fact that it was time for me to walk away from the news side of what I am doing in my life right now. So, I really do appreciate this (the honor at MFCA).”

Shaver’s passion for high school football is off the charts and has been for decades. No high school sports show in this market has endured like Prep Sports Extra. “You know it’s just been a labor of love,” Shaver told Sports Headliners. “I never made a dime more for doing it—for all the extra time I put in to make it as great as it could be.

“I just loved Friday night. …I loved more being there until 3 in the morning logging all the video that we would shoot. That to me was the most enjoyable part. To be able to log all that video and to watch all of it. Stuff that we didn’t use on the air. I’ll miss that part.”

But the football community likely hasn’t seen the last of Shaver. He told the clinic audience he’s working “behind the scenes” to stay connected to them and prep football. Perhaps a podcast is next.

“I don’t want this connection to end because it’s so special for me. So just know you might hear something in July that I am popping up someplace and hopefully that’s just the beginning of something I can continue. “

Shaver has been approached about coaching football. “I don’t think that’s in the cards,” he said. “I think it’s going to be something more media related. I am working on trying to figure out what that looks like and feels like, and hopefully by July I’ll have it all figured out.”

During Shaver’s adult life he has twice been a cancer survivor. In 2003, he started the Randy Shaver Cancer Research and Community Fund. That charity has benefited from the MFCA’s Tackle Cancer initiative.

About half the state’s high schools, most of the MIAC and Northern Sun member schools, and the Gophers and Vikings have raised money via Tackle Cancer. After 12 years almost $3.5 million has been raised. “It’s been amazing,” Shaver said.

Stolski credits another prep coaching icon, Dave Nelson, with extraordinary efforts in making Tackle Cancer so successful. “My nickname for Dave Nelson is ‘Bulldog’,” Stolski told the clinic audience. “You get Dave Nelson on a project, on a challenge, on an issue, and I’ll tell you he’ll get it done.”

About a year ago the two men gave a presentation on Tackle Cancer at a national football coaching gathering. Attendees were impressed, with some saying they couldn’t duplicate the initiative back home. Stolski said Nelson and Minnesota’s prep coaches made it happen and that there is a difference between “can’t and won’t.”

Nelson told the audience 92 percent of Tackle Cancer fundraising goes for research and patient assistance. “Cancer touches us all and as Randy (has) said doing nothing is not an option,” said Nelson who was a longtime metro area high school football coach and is now an assistant coach at Holy Family.

A symbolic check in the amount of $566,626 was presented to Shaver on Friday night, the latest contribution from the Tackle Cancer initiative.

Nelson implored coaches who aren’t involved to form a committee and get started. Both he and Shaver emphasized Tackle Cancer isn’t just a Minneapolis-St. Paul initiative. “It’s never been a metro thing,” Shaver said. “Cancer doesn’t know what that is and it doesn’t care.”

1 comment