Preps – Page 89 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Vikings Need to End Pack Win Streak

Posted on November 18, 2015November 18, 2015 by David Shama

The Vikings, 7-2 and leading the NFC North, appear to have their best team since 2009 and can provide more evidence about that by defeating the Packers on Sunday at TCF Bank Stadium. Green Bay, the elite team in the division for years, is 9-1-1 against the Vikings since 2010 and is 4-0-1 in the last five games of the series.

It was 2012 when the Vikings last defeated the Packers in Minneapolis. Minnesota hasn’t won in Green Bay since 2009 when ex-Packers quarterback Brett Favre led the Vikings to a 38-26 victory. That team, with a 12-4 regular season record, won the NFC North and almost advanced to the Super Bowl.

The Packers haven’t scored less than 23 points against the Vikings since the 2006 season. Green Bay is struggling right now, though, and managed just 16 points last Sunday in a loss to the now 2-7 Lions. The Packers, 6-3, have lost three straight games, and the Vikings haven’t allowed an opponent to score more than 23 points all season.

Sunday starts an unusual week for the Packers who will fall two games behind in the loss column to the division-leading Vikings if they can’t win at TCF Bank Stadium. On Thursday night next week the Packers meet the Bears in a Thanksgiving game in Green Bay.

Vikings players probably won’t say anything provocative about the Packers this week but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a special feeling at Winter Park. Coach Mike Zimmer has given the players black T-shirts with these words on the back: “Beat Green Bay.”

Vikings defensive tackle Linval Joseph told Sports Headliners he’s excited about Sunday’s game. “I can’t wait to play against the Packers. They’re a very good team. You can’t sleep on the Green Bay Packers. Not at all.”

Mike Wallace (Photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings.)

Vikings wide receiver Mike Wallace said he’s isn’t paying attention to his team’s winning streak or Green Bay’s losing skid. “It’s not about when we’re catching them. It’s about one day, one week, one game. It’s not really about them. It’s about us and trying to build toward something we’re trying to get to (division title, playoffs).”

Worth Noting

Vikings wide receiver Charles Johnson after being asked what he thinks of Packers All-Pro quarterback Aaron Rodgers: “That man can do it.”

Bleachereport.com’s Monday NFL power rankings listed the Vikings fourth and Packers ninth among the NFL’s 32 teams. The top three ranked teams are the Patriots, Bengals and Panthers.

Former Vikings defensive lineman Bob Lurtsema said 29 current members of the team, including Adrian Peterson and Harrison Smith, attended the “Bowl with the Vikings” event last week in Oakdale to benefit the Vikings Children’s Fund.

60 Minutes devoted a segment to football’s concussion issue last Sunday night with reporter Steve Kroft warning this is the sport’s biggest crisis in more than 100 years when there was talk of banning football. The segment focused on the NFL and concussion research.

No Big Ten football team with a 5-7 record has ever been invited to a bowl game. The Gophers, with a 4-6 record, have two remaining regular season games and could finish 5-7. With 80 teams needed for 40 bowl games, 5-7 teams may have to fill some of the vacancies if there aren’t enough qualifying schools with .500 or better records.

True Thompson, the son of Gophers all-time leading rusher Darrell Thompson, is a senior wide receiver at Robbinsdale Armstrong High School. Among the football schools he has heard from are Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin—all of whom have raised the possibility of him being a preferred walk-on with their programs. (Preferred walk-ons, although they aren’t scholarship players, generally are assured of roster spots their first year on the team.)

St. Thomas and Saint John’s could be headed for a rematch in the Division III football playoffs. The 10-0 Tommies host La Verne in an opening playoff game on Saturday while the 9-1 Johnnies have Dubuque at home. If both MIAC schools win, they will play each other on November 28 at St. Thomas.

St. Thomas defeated Saint John’s 35-14 during the regular season. That was the closest score in a St. Thomas game this season. It might not be exaggerating to say the Tommies could finish high up in the Division II Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference that includes UMD and Minnesota State.

The Gophers basketball team has only neutral court and home games on its entire nonconference schedule that began earlier this month. Minnesota plays Thursday morning against Temple in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off tournament. Then the Gophers have four home nonconference games before facing Oklahoma State in Sioux Falls on December 12. Two home games follow to finish the nonconference schedule before playing Ohio State in Columbus on December 30 in Minnesota’s first Big Ten game.

Dick Jonckowski, who is in his 30th season as the Gophers basketball public address announcer, is now cancer-free after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2014.

The Wild play the Bruins in Boston tomorrow night where Minnesota’s all-time record is 7-1-0. Devan Dubynk, the Wild’s regular goalie since last winter, is 0-4-0 lifetime against the Bruins with a 5.56 goals-against average.

Former Gophers football player and ex-pro wrestler Jim Brunzell admired Nick Bockwinkel who passed away at age 80 late last week. “Not only was Nick the consummate professional in the ring, but a wonderful, classy gentleman whose friendship and charisma will be missed by all,” Brunzell wrote via e-mail.

Bockwinkel had a long wrestling career that included being the American Wrestling Association’s champion. Brunzell considered Bockwinkel a great wrestler and praised him for his “psychology, precision and timing in the ring.”

Bridget Hennen, Bethany Lutheran College’s lone senior, is one of seven soccer players from the school selected by the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference for all-league recognition. Hennen is a midfielder from Apple Valley and St. Croix Lutheran High School who over her four-year career started every match for Bethany, was selected All-UMAC each season and was a two-year team captain.

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Blogging on a Football Weekend

Posted on November 16, 2015November 16, 2015 by David Shama

With the Vikings and Gophers playing out of town last weekend, I can’t give you reports from TCF Bank Stadium, but here’s a recounting of how I kept myself occupied the last few days.

On Thursday I listened to 83-year-old former Gophers basketball coach Jim Dutcher speak to the CORES group (coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans). He last spoke to CORES in 1986. This prompted Dutcher to quip: “The next time I talk to this group I will be 112.”

The University of Iowa sent a news release late in the week warning fans to beware of counterfeit tickets for Saturday night’s Hawkeyes-Gophers game. This made me wonder what to do if I had purchased tickets for the game and then encountered strangers sitting in what I thought were my seats. How to decide who would stay, and who would move on?

Rock-paper-scissors?

Maybe, but the ideal situation would be learning these strangers were music teachers who mostly had come to Kinnick Stadium to watch the Iowa marching band before the game, at halftime and post-game. Does a negotiation where my group sat in the seats for the first, second, third and fourth quarters sound unreasonable?

Not sure how Friday the 13th went for you but Brock Vereen will remember the day for awhile—maybe a long time. The Vikings released the former Gophers safety on Friday.

News of Vereen’s departure came via e-mail but there were other e-mails last weekend much more important than football.

Minneapolis advertising legend Pat Fallon, an alumnus of Washburn High School and the University of Minnesota, died unexpectedly on Friday. Heart-felt condolences to Pat’s family and many friends. He was 70 years old.

The Timberwolves sent word about a presentation prior to their home game Sunday against the Grizzlies. Chris Herren, former NBA player and ex-drug addict, came to Target Center to tell his story about addiction and recovery—and his mission to help others by speaking to the public.

I learned via e-mail former Gopher and Viking tight end Doug Kingsriter got married in Dallas on Sunday. Anyone who knows Doug enjoys his wit and wisdom. He was a 1971 All-American at Minnesota and later played for Bud Grant with the Vikings.

I was trying to be on a no-football “diet” during the day on Saturday—saving my brain cells for analysis of the Gophers and Vikings—but a friend phoned and was raving about the performance of North High School’s Tyler Johnson. I turned the TV on when North’s Class 1A state title game against Minneota was in the late second quarter. Right on cue Johnson the quarterback made an elusive run for a touchdown. A couple of moments later Johnson the defensive back intercepted a pass and made an electrifying run where he seemingly left almost every Minneota tackler grabbing for air before finally going to the ground.

Johnson, a Gophers recruit, looks like he has the athleticism to play at a high level in the Big Ten. He won’t be a quarterback but whatever his position he sure looks like a playmaker.

About 4 p.m. on Saturday I received the perfect warm-up text for the Gophers-Iowa game from my son: “Big upset tonight.”

Earlier in the week he predicted a Vikings win in Oakland: 34-31.

Couldn’t help but notice coach Richard Pitino scheduled the Gophers basketball team for a game on Sunday, just an hour before kickoff in Oakland. Coach, I know you have only lived here a couple of years but the Vikings are kind of a big deal.

Umm. The Timberwolves also played Sunday afternoon. Guess they use the same schedule maker the Gophers have. And is that the person who schedules the Wolves and Wild on the same nights?

It was a good weekend to be a Hawkeyes fan. The wrestling team defeated No. 1 ranked Oklahoma State in Kinnick Stadium Saturday afternoon, drawing an NCAA dual match record attendance of 42,287. Then Saturday night at sold out Kinnick Stadium the Hawkeyes hung on to defeat the Gophers 40-35 and stay unbeaten with a 10-0 record.

Quarterbacks are always a focus and certainly were on Saturday night. Iowa’s C.J. Beathard has become one of the better quarterbacks in the country during his first full season as a starter. His passing and running were a problem all night for Minnesota, but the Gophers Mitch Leidner may have played the best game of his career completing 19 of 27 passes with no interceptions and running for a score. His passing rating was 163.2, according to ESPN.com.

Gophers offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover, often a target of critics, impressed with play calling that frequently had the Iowa defense off balance. Minnesota scored three touchdowns rushing against a defense that had given up only three all season. The Gophers had 301 yards passing including a touchdown throw from running back Shannon Brooks to wide receiver Drew Wolitarsky.

Credit too goes to the offensive line that played its best game of the fall. The line gave Leidner more opportunity than in the past to throw and at times opened big holes for Brooks. But while the offensive line had a good performance, the defensive line didn’t. The Hawkeyes were forced to punt only two times all night and Iowa rushers had huge holes including a 51-yard run late in the game when the Gophers were trying to get the ball back while trailing 33-28.

Minnesota is playing through a difficult season characterized by an abnormal loss of starters to injuries and a schedule of nationally-ranked opponents. But Minnesota has played through it all with much more determination and execution than a lot of teams would. The team’s 4-6 overall record and 1-5 Big Ten record doesn’t reflect the team’s quality. There’s reason for optimism in the two remaining games of the season against Illinois and Wisconsin at home.

I missed church on Sunday morning but tried to make up for it by listening to Greg Coleman’s “Pregame Preach” on KFAN prior to kickoff in Oakland. The former Vikings punter quotes scripture each week while talking football. Yesterday he was inspiring listeners while referencing King David and imploring Vikings fans to have faith in the presence of the “Black Hole,” otherwise known as the notorious south end zone section of the Oakland stadium where rowdy fans clad in all kinds of outfits reside.

And now about that Vikings game…and yesterday’s Packers-Lions game…and those NFC North standings…and about next Sunday’s Vikings game with the Pack in Minneapolis.

Remember that famous Al Michaels quote in 1980 when Herbie Brooks and his U.S. Olympic hockey team stunned the world? “Do you believe in miracles?”

Well, the 7-2 Vikings might not be a miracle forming in the northland but they’re a darn good team that just happens to be on a five-game winning streak, partially earned with three consecutive wins on the road including yesterday’s 30-14 victory over the Raiders. Meanwhile, in Green Bay, the Packers lost to—gulp—the lowly Lions, 18-16, and increased their losing streak to three straight.

All of a sudden the “Perfect Packers” are imperfect and are looking up at the Vikings in the standings. The Packers, 6-3, come to town having fallen from their spot among the NFL elite and at best are a shaky favorite in Sunday’s game.

The Packers figure to be a determined bunch next Sunday but the Vikings defense looks like it will carry this team into the playoffs for the first time since 2012. Yesterday in Oakland that defense held a Raiders offense that had scored 34 points or more in three consecutive games to just two touchdowns.

Those who had faith in the Purple before the game were rewarded.

Amen.

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Flip’s Setback Surprised Wolves Owner

Posted on October 19, 2015October 19, 2015 by David Shama

Highlights from an interview with Timberwolves and Lynx owner Glen Taylor regarding various subjects:

Taylor said the setback in Flip Saunders’ health last month surprised him, and he acknowledged the return of his coach and basketball president is completely unknown. Reports in August were the 60-year-old Saunders had Hodgkin’s lymphoma but that it was treatable and curable. However, now sources are saying he has been hospitalized because of a serious—perhaps life-threatening—infection.

“We’re just patiently waiting and hoping that he recovers,” said Taylor, who wouldn’t confirm Saunders is hospitalized. “…You think he is coming along and all of a sudden he’s just had a setback and now we just have to wait.”

Earlier this month Taylor gathered Wolves players, coaches and others with the organization at his Mankato home for the annual lasagna feed. He spoke about the group being family and how Saunders had brought so many players and staff to the organization. “I just talked about the importance of him and how we missed him,” Taylor said. “How we’re going to pray for him, and how we’re all going to do well.”

Kevin Garnett is one of the players brought to the Wolves by Saunders who acquired the 39-year-old former superstar in a trade last February with the Nets. Garnett, who originally had been drafted by the Wolves as a teenager, has expressed interest in team ownership some day but Taylor said no deal is in place and can’t be because of NBA policy.

“No, it’s not something I can talk to Kevin about,” Taylor said. “He’s a player and I am an owner, and that would be a conflict of interest. I’ve never talked to Kevin about that issue. All I know about it is that I think that he has stated a couple different times that he would be interested in that when the opportunity comes. We have to just wait until that opportunity is there and it won’t be while he is playing.”

While the Wolves haven’t qualified for the playoffs since 2004, Taylor’s WNBA Lynx have won three league titles in five years with the latest earned last week. “It still just feels wonderful,” he said about winning another championship.

Although Taylor didn’t have the figures in front of him, his “sense” is the franchise may turn about a $1 million profit because of its successful season. That’s likely the best year financially ever for the Lynx and stands in contrast to most WNBA clubs that lose money.

Minnesota native Lindsay Whalen, a key contributor to the Lynx championships, was frustrated with injuries this past season and is 33 years old. Taylor hasn’t spoken to the point guard about how long she will continue playing. He is a Whalen admirer and thinks she could eventually have other responsibilities in the organization. “It’s not something we’ve discussed (though),” Taylor said.

Taylor is committed to partnering with Dr. Bill McGuire and others in an ownership group to bring an MLS franchise to Minnesota. Taylor, who operates his Wolves and Lynx at city-owned Target Center, thought Minneapolis elected officials would show more interest in having a soccer stadium built in the Farmers market area, a project and site that could create jobs and offer other benefits to the city economy.

Taylor said he sent a letter to Mayor Betsy Hodges awhile back about a Minneapolis soccer stadium. “I didn’t even get a reply, so I assume that’s telling me something—that they don’t see it as a possibility or they aren’t encouraging it,” said Taylor, who is now supportive of the proposed Midway stadium location in St. Paul.

Taylor owns 17,000 acres of farm land in Minnesota and Iowa. Raised on a farm in Minnesota as a youngster, he still likes to be close to the land and planned to spend part of last weekend riding in a combine on one of his farms.

Worth Noting

The Lynx were honored by the Vikings at their game with the Chiefs yesterday at TCF Bank Stadium. Maya Moore sounded the Gjallarhorn prior to the game. Against three different opponents in the playoffs, Moore averaged 23.4 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists. She has experienced a remarkable first five years as a pro. She has been WNBA Rookie of the Year, league MVP and a force on three WNBA championship teams.

Augsburg alum Roger Griffith is executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Lynx. He has been a part of the Timberwolves/Lynx organization since 1994.

Former Gophers Big Ten championship basketball coach Jim Dutcher will speak at the next CORES luncheon on November 12 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington, 1114 American Blvd. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans. More information about CORES is available by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net.

While the Gophers men’s hockey team is off to a 0-3 start, the No. 1 ranked women’s team is 6-0.

The office of former Gophers athletic director Norwood Teague is being used as a conference room in the Bierman Field Athletic Building. Interim athletic director Beth Goetz’s office is nearby.

The late Steve Wilkinson, the Gustavus legend and winningest head coach in collegiate men’s tennis history, was honored by the USPTA when the organization named one of its top awards the “Steve Wilkinson Collegiate Coach of the Year Award.”

Congratulations to prep football coaches Jeff Gronner from Cromwell and Dan Essler of New London-Spicer for achieving 100 career wins this month. Gronner’s record is 100-34 in 12 seasons. Essler’s record is 101-64 in 16 years.

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