Stadiums – Page 24 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Forbath Can Ease Walsh Memory

Posted on January 11, 2018December 26, 2024 by David Shama

Nervous Vikings fans might be making a list of worries about their favorite team, as kickoff nears for Sunday’s game against the Saints at U.S. Bank Stadium. Minnesota hasn’t won a playoff game since 2010 and near the top of some worrywart lists could be the effectiveness of placekicker Kai Forbath.

Memories (nightmares) of Blair Walsh’s late-game field goal miss two years ago linger with both normal and neurotic fans. Walsh’s 27-yard miss cost the Vikings a win in their first round NFC playoff game in 2016. The miscue placed him in the Purple Hall of Infamy after the Seahawks defeated Minnesota 10-9.

Forbath isn’t seeking such club membership on Sunday in another opening NFC playoff game for Minnesota. Forbath realizes he and new long snapper Jeff Overbaugh need to execute when called upon against New Orleans.

“These are very important games and very well could come down to a field goal, or one point,” Forbath said. “Always go out there and try to score points whenever I get the opportunity.”

Overbaugh is a rookie free agent signee who made his debut in the last game of the season, replacing Kevin McDermott who was placed on the injured reserve list. “He’s done good, we haven’t had any issues at all,” Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer said of Overbaugh.

Forbath, 30, caused some nail-biting earlier this season on extra points. In the first two games of the season he missed two of four extra point attempts. Then he went through a stretch of two games in late October where he converted one of three. In the last eight games of the season, though, he made 22 of 23 attempts.

Forbath said he didn’t change his technique to improve his extra point kicking. “We don’t even call them extra points,” Forbath said. “We call them field goals—33 yard field goal. We just focus like a field goal. Can’t take anything for granted. Just a little bit of extra focus, I think that’s helped.”

Starting with the 2015 season the NFL moved the line of scrimmage for extra points from the two-yard line to the 15. “The old extra point you could take for granted,” Forbath said. “You didn’t really have to hit a perfect ball and focus as much, so I just treat it like a field goal and it’s worked.”

The majority of NFL kickers converted 90 percent of their extra points, with a few of them perfect at 100 percent. Forbath compares better against his peers in field goals. Only five NFL kickers totaled more than his 32. He had six misses in 38 attempts after making all 15 of his attempts for the Vikings in 2016. In his last three games this season he converted on five of six attempts, including makes of 53 and 49 yards.

The Vikings signed Forbath as a free agent in November of 2016. The last team that employed him was the Saints who released him in September of 2016 as part of final roster cuts. “It was kind of shocking but it’s not the first time something shocking has happened to me in this league,” said Forbath who has also kicked for the Redskins. “It’s a business and everything happens for a reason.”

If given the opportunity, worrisome Vikings fans hope Forbath will be part of the reason their team advances against New Orleans to the NFC championship game.

Worth Noting

Saints fans have incentive to see their heroes win on Sunday. Not only did their team lose to the Vikings in the regular season opener, but a few years ago Minnesota’s bid to host the 2018 Super Bowl beat out New Orleans.

There will be familiar voices at U.S. Bank Stadium for the February 4 Super Bowl. Dave Mona, who for over 40 years has been the press box announcer for Vikings games, will have the same assignment February 4. Vikings public address announcer Alan Roach, who has also worked many previous Super Bowls, will be the P.A. man for the big game in Minneapolis.

Running back Latavius Murray made his Vikings debut against the Saints after being signed in the offseason as a free agent. Murray was sidelined and his progress slowed in training camp because of an ankle injury. He said he hadn’t received enough practice repetitions going into the September 11 game against New Orleans. He rushed for six yards on two carries and fumbled on his first run. “I just don’t think it was me,” Murray told Sports Headliners this week.

Murray’s power and Jerick McKinnon’s speed have given the Vikings an effective combination at running back. The two have rushed for 1,412 yards.

The Vikings will face future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees on Sunday. Although he turns 39 next Monday, he is still playing at a high level and had a gaudy 115.2 passer rating in last weekend’s win over the Panthers. The Vikings will counter with Case Keenum who has never started a playoff game in his six-year pro career.

“I just think we can’t get caught up in it, veteran quarterback and our quarterback, and comparing the two,” Murray said. “I think we have to focus on the things that have got us to this point (and) the things that we have been doing well. …This chance to play at home versus a really good team.”

Vikings reserve wide receiver Michael Floyd has been on rosters of playoff teams in Arizona and New England. What are his concerns about Brees? “You just gotta make sure you don’t turn over the ball offensively and play sound football, because you can’t give a great quarterback like Drew Brees the ball more times than what he should—because at one point he’s going to do something great like he always does.”

Murray was with the Raiders for four seasons and that franchise is relocating to Las Vegas in a couple of years. Does he think the move will be a downer for the players?

“I know they get to save money, so they can’t be too sad about that,” Murray said about playing in Nevada where there is no state income tax.

Floyd will vacation in Australia starting in late February and will be travelling to other countries, too. “That’s all I am going to be doing, travelling and golfing,” said Floyd with a handicap “about 10” and who plays at Oak Ridge in Hopkins.

Adrian Peterson, who played for the Vikings from 2007-2016, was with the Saints when they played the Vikings on September 11 but the legendary running back was traded to New Orleans in early October. Now the Vikings or Saints could earn their way to the Super Bowl, an ultimate prize Peterson has targeted.

“I know Adrian, and he is probably not the happiest guy in the world, you know, but God has a plan for everybody, so you just always have to remember that,” Vikings wide receiver Jarius Wright told Sports Headliners.

The Capital Club will have former Viking center Matt Birk, who won a Super Bowl with the Ravens in 2013, as its speaker next Tuesday at Town & Country Club in St. Paul. More information about the Capital Club is available from Patrick Klinger, patrickklinger@klingercompany.com.

Alabama won its fifth national championship in nine years with its victory over Georgia on Monday night. The Gophers program hasn’t won a Big Ten title in over 50 years.

The Super60 Showcase during January starts Saturday with boys and girls high school basketball games at Maple Grove and Osseo. The showcase involves 54 prep teams and 27 games at five Twin Cities sites playing on four dates through January 27.

Four varsity boys games are scheduled at Maple Grove High School Saturday, with the first starting at 2:55 p.m.—Fridley and St. Paul Johnson. Four varsity girls games, and one varsity boys game, will be played at Osseo High School Saturday. The Anoka and St. Paul Como girls lead off the schedule starting at 11:35 a.m. All games in January will be streamed via www.PrepSpotlight.TV.

The Hamline women’s hockey team has a top 10 ranking for the first time in program history. The Pipers are No. 10 in the latest D3hockey.com poll and have a 10-2-1 record. Hamline is coached by former Gopher player and Olympic medalist Natalie Darwitz.

It will be 50 years next Monday that former North Star Bill Masterton tragically died. He passed away the day after hitting his head on the ice in a game at Met Center.

The Herb Brooks Foundation and John Gunderson Memorial will benefit Friday night by appearances from hockey legends Henry Boucha, Bill Butters and Jack Carlson who will sign autographs at the Portside restaurant in Stillwater.

Comments Welcome

Memories Endure from Memorial Stadium

Posted on November 28, 2017November 29, 2017 by David Shama

It’s been 25 years since the University of Minnesota’s Memorial Stadium was demolished. With calendar year 2017 slipping away, it’s time to remember the Gophers’ old football home.

Minnesota played in the on-campus “Brick House” from 1924 through 1981 before moving into the Metrodome downtown. In my childhood and teen years I developed a passion for both the Gophers and the University on football Saturdays at Memorial Stadium. My dad was a longtime season ticket holder and attending games with him and my mother was a cherished ritual of fall.

I fondly recall the anticipation of each season and the football talk in our home. My father and I constantly argued about coach Murray Warmath. Dad thought the University made a terrible decision in the early 1950s not hiring Bud Wilkinson as coach. Wilkinson was a former Gopher standout as a player and became one of college football’s legendary coaches at Oklahoma. My father was constantly critical of Warmath, including his assessment of how the team blocked and tackled.

Warmath came to Minnesota in 1954 and had mixed results through the 1959 season. Then in 1960 the Gophers won the national championship. Between 1960 and 1962 Minnesota’s cumulative record was 22-6-1. During that era the Gophers also played in two Rose Bowls, losing to Washington and defeating UCLA.

Lets it be noted that Dad’s harping about Warmath’s coaching was more subdued in the early 1960s.

Memorial Stadium photo courtesy of Minnesota Athletic Communications

My father was a graduate of the University of Minnesota’s law school. He knew the campus well and to avoid traffic jams on football Saturdays he parked the car on the University’s West Bank. We walked across the old Washington Avenue Bridge and then several blocks further before arriving at Memorial Stadium. There are a couple of things about that walk I vividly remember including this:

Looking down at the Mississippi River while crossing that bridge scared the bejeebers out of me.

I recall, too, how there was pavement and grass down below part of the bridge at the west end. I regularly saw a small group of kids, about my age, gathered in the area. The enterprising 10 to 12 year olds liked to peer up at the masses crossing the bridge and yell, “Throw some money down!” Benevolent Gophers fans then showered them with pennies and other loose change from their pockets.

My dad insisted on early arrival at the games which started at 1:30 p.m. The stadium was mostly empty when we first sat in our seats about 12:15 p.m. The stadium loudspeaker blared John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever,” while Boy Scouts assisted early arrivals in finding their seats. Soon the Gophers took the field for warm-ups. I knew who many of the players were because I studied the Goalpost stadium program and memorized their jersey numbers. These were my heroes and I was entertained by everything they did on the field including simple calisthenics like jumping jacks.

When it was close to kickoff time the marching band took the field and played the “Minnesota Rouser.” I didn’t need the drama of a border rival game, or marquee opponent like Michigan to get me excited because the “Rouser” always sent chills up my spine.

For late season games there was also a different cause for chills. On cold November days I was wrapped up in a blanket, wearing winter clothes, and shivering so badly I thought the shakes might become a permanent condition.

I sat through rain, sleet and snow at Memorial Stadium. Mostly the conditions had little impact on the outcome of the games but in late October of 1955 there was a snowstorm in Minneapolis. At snowy Memorial Stadium the Gophers upset the No. 10 ranked Southern California Trojans. The SC roster was loaded with California boys and my dad always claimed the Gophers pulled off an upset that day because the warm-weather-bred-lads had never experienced the elements they faced in Minneapolis.

Most of the time fans didn’t have much appreciation for the bench style seats that were in place throughout the stadium. The width of each numbered seat was minimal and near the conclusion of the national anthem aggressive fans used to plunk down and claim their wooden space as fast as possible.

However, when the weather turned cold the crowded masses were grateful to share the body warmth of nearby neighbors. On nippy days it was common to see a flask making its way out of someone’s pocket. Unlike today’s stadiums, alcohol wasn’t sold at Memorial Stadium so it was BYOB—sort of. Public address announcer Julius Perlt gave a stern announcement before every game regarding the consumption of alcoholic beverages being strictly prohibited!

The crowd, particularly in the student section, let out a chorus of good-natured (?) boos.

Perlt also stirred the emotions of fans with his announcements of upset scores from big games around the country. He gave the scores backward, setting up the drama. “In the Big Ten today, Michigan, 10 (long pause)—Northwestern, 21!”

When the Gophers were in their glory years Memorial Stadium was packed. I was at the Purdue game in 1962 when a record crowd of over 67,000 watched the Gophers beat the Boilermakers. The biggest of games had fans sitting in the aisles and brought out local celebrities like Minnesota Twins owner Calvin Griffith.

I saw my first game at Memorial Stadium in 1954 and then witnessed almost every game there through the 1981 season. A few of them, of course, are favorites starting with a long ago Iowa game. The rivalry with the Hawkeyes back then was probably more intense than now. The crowd was raucous on November 13, 1954 when Minnesota halfback Bob McNamara literally carried Iowa tacklers on his back in leading the Gophers to a dramatic 22-20 victory.

The drama was greater and the stakes higher in 1960 when No. 1 ranked Iowa came to play No. 3 Minnesota at the Brick House. All-American nose tackle Tom Brown dominated the Iowa offensive line and the Gophers beat up the Hawkeyes physically in a 27-10 win. Minnesota went on to win its first national championship since 1941 and play in the program’s first Rose Bowl.

I am not sure there has ever been a more anticipated home opener for the Gophers than in 1968 when nationally-ranked Southern California came to town featuring the most hyped player in college football—Orenthal James Simpson. Warmath let the Memorial Stadium grass grow long hoping to slow O.J. but the All-American tailback and the Trojans had their way winning 29-20.

In 1977 coach Cal Stoll, an energetic and rah-rah coach, was trying to revive the glory days of Golden Gophers football under Warmath and before that Bernie Bierman. Stoll never got the program turned around before being fired after the 1978 season but on October 22, 1977 he led Minnesota to one of its greatest upsets. The Gophers totally dominated No. 1 ranked Michigan and won 16-0.

In the 1970s the stadium was in need of repairs and upgrades. Stoll and other athletic department officials had plans to dome the Brick House, turning the old stadium into a climate-controlled environment that could be used for multiple activities. If not for the Vikings and Twins, those plans might have materialized. Minneapolis boosters wanted to move those teams from Met Stadium in Bloomington by constructing a downtown multipurpose domed stadium. They got their way with the help of the Minnesota Legislature, and the Metrodome opened in 1982 with the Vikings, Twins and Gophers as tenants.

Horseshoe-shaped Memorial Stadium, with its handsome brick exterior, stood for 10 more years before it was torn down in 1992 to make way for new buildings including the Aquatic Center and Alumni Center. The stadium’s name was a tribute to 3,527 University workers and graduates who served in World War I. Some of the stadium’s bricks were used in the 1990s to build nearby Mariucci Arena, while others were sold off to the public as keepsakes. A reconstructed Memorial Stadium arch inside the Alumni Center also pays tribute to the old stadium.

Every once in awhile I have a dream that the stadium is still standing. With so many memories, apparently my mind won’t let Memorial Stadium crumble to the ground.

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Final Four to Shutout U Baseball Games

Posted on November 12, 2017November 12, 2017 by David Shama

A Sunday notes column leading off with news about Gophers baseball.

John Anderson thought he had 14 home indoor baseball games scheduled for his Gophers in 2019 at U.S. Bank Stadium, but his team will be shutout. Anderson, in his 37th year at Minnesota, is scrambling now to schedule away games in warm places in February and March of 2019 after recently being told preparations for the NCAA Final Four basketball games will take over the downtown stadium.

Anderson worked with the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority to set up his 2019 schedule, but the NCAA has now decided it is necessary to start staging U.S. Bank Stadium for basketball several weeks in advance of the Final Four dates of April 6-8. The change will mean no amateur baseball, not just for the Gophers but other college and high school teams, in the winter of 2019. “It’s really disappointing,” Anderson told Sports Headliners.

Anderson understands the importance and magnitude of the Final Four but wishes he would have known long ago the Gophers couldn’t use the indoor stadium in 2019. He won’t be able to reschedule all 14 games for his Gophers, and also empathizes with the teams that thought they were coming to Minneapolis but now must find other places to play on relatively short notice.

Anderson, long respected in the community for his coaching and integrity, feels bad that he recruited players with the sales pitch that they would be playing indoor baseball in 2019. This past winter the Gophers played for the first time in U.S. Bank Stadium and have 10 games scheduled in the impressive facility in 2018 from February 27-March 11.

A schedule highlight next year at U.S. Bank Stadium is the DQ Classic Tournament with Arizona, Washington, UCLA and the Gophers March 2-4.

For passionate Golden Gophers football fans with long ago and painful memories, yesterday’s 54-21 drubbing of the Cornhuskers was a sweet afternoon at TCF Bank Stadium. Although Minnesota has now won three of the last five games against Nebraska, the Gophers’ other two wins were by a total of 15 points. Yesterday was Gopher revenge for a string of 16 losses from 1963-1990, nearly all of them lop-sided scores favoring Big Red.

As recently as 1989 and 1990 the Cornhuskers beat Minnesota 48-0 in Minneapolis and 56-0 in Lincoln. If you’re counting, that is 104-0 in two games.

Following yesterday’s win those Gopher fans with nightmare memories might have read and enjoyed the words of Omaha World-Herald columnist Tom Shatel who described the outcome “as perhaps the lowest point in the last 65 years of Nebraska football.”

Fall rumors have swirled about the possible dismissal of Nebraska head coach Mike Riley. His players looked dispirited yesterday and speculation is Riley, one of football’s nicest coaches, could unfortunately lose his job this week—perhaps even today. Bo Pelini, Riley’s predecessor, was terminated soon after Minnesota defeated Nebraska in late November of 2014.

Bad omen? Cheatsheetwarroom.com points out the Vikings are 1-4 in the last five years coming out of their bye weeks. The Vikings haven’t played a game since October 29 and are in Landover, Maryland today to face the Redskins. Coming out of their bye last year, the Vikings lost to the Eagles and went on a four-game losing streak.

The Cheat Sheet website also reports the Vikings are 3-1 in their last four games versus teams coming off their byes. Included is a 26-20 loss last year to the Redskins in Landover.

Former Vikings linebacker Ben Leber predicted to Sports Headliners it won’t be easy today against the Redskins, but Minnesota will win 24-17.

After the first eight games of the 16-game schedule, the 6-2 Vikings rank fourth in the NFL in yards given up per game, 282.1. How does head coach Mike Zimmer assess the defense so far and what can the unit do better in the second half?

“I’ve already made assessments from last bye week,” Zimmer said. “We’re just trying to get better each week. We’re not going to talk about first half of the season. We’re just going to start moving forward here.”

The Vikings have three quarterbacks who are free agents next year, and the 2018 NFL college draft will likely feature at least four quarterbacks taken in the first round—Josh Allen, Wyoming; Sam Darnold, USC; Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma; and Josh Rosen, UCLA.

It was almost exactly 30 years ago that Darrell Thompson made his famous 98-yard touchdown run in the Metrodome against Michigan. Thompson’s run on November 7, 1987 still is the longest run ever from scrimmage by a Golden Gopher.

Here’s a note from the “we already knew that” department. The November 23 issue of Sports Illustrated includes a feature on Badger football that says, “No program is better at mining and developing the talent in its state.”

Newspaper columnist and radio talk show host Patrick Reusse will be roasted by the Minnesota Minutemen at a January 26 luncheon at Mancini’s in St. Paul. Known for his encyclopedic knowledge of Minnesota sports, Reusse is a 1963 graduate of Fulda High School. Local funnyman Dick Jonckowski will emcee the roast.

Twins baseball bosses Derek Falvey and Thad Levine were hired about a year ago. After assessing the organization for 12 months it wouldn’t be surprising if they were active this offseason in player acquisition moves.

Selection committee members for the prep Mr. Football Award met Saturday to narrow the field of finalists to 11 seniors from Minnesota high schools. The breakfast announcing the 2017 winner will be held December 10 at the DoubleTree Hotel in St. Louis Park.

The annual state high school all-star football game, known now as the Minnesota Football Showcase, will start at 3 p.m. December 9 at U.S. Bank Stadium. Only seniors are selected for the game, and more information is available at Vikings.com/showcase.

The Mr. Football Award and all-star game are among the ongoing events and activities of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association, an organization of dedicated supporters and promoters of amateur football in the state.

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