Twins – Page 168 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Herb Brooks Olympic Legacy Continues

Posted on February 24, 2014February 24, 2014 by David Shama

When the U.S. lost 1-0 to Canada in the semi-finals of men’s Olympic hockey on Friday it meant 34 years have past since Americans won gold medals in that competition.

The aura of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” gold medal winning team is enhanced even more now. A group of amateur players led by coach Herb Brooks defeated the mighty Soviet Union, a hockey empire some observers considered invincible.

Brooks, the former Gophers national championship coach who died in 2003, would be frustrated the U.S. hasn’t been able to win the Olympics since 1980. He was an American patriot whose hockey genius and personality made him uniquely qualified to push a team of college players to perhaps the greatest sports triumph of the 20^th century, defeating the Soviets in a stunning semi-final game and going on to win gold medals 34 years ago today against Finland.

The Soviets used professional players and U.S. Olympic team trainer Gary Smith put the magnitude of the American upset this way: “It was like Eden Prairie High School beating the Vikings in football.”

Brooks’ coaching style was to identify an “enemy” and the Soviets were a perfect fit for his psychology. “Even though it was a hockey game, it just seemed like it was more of the United States of America’s way of life versus the Russian way of life,” Smith said. “He would refer to the Russians as those ‘Commie,’ and I don’t think I can use the (next) word.”

Not even the substitution of professional players from the NHL to replace amateurs has been able to produce another Olympic championship for the U.S. The 2014 Americans couldn’t even earn a third place bronze finish, stumbling in an embarrassing 5-0 loss to Finland on Saturday.

Lou Nanne, who captained the 1968 U.S. Olympic team, said the two most talented clubs in American men’s Olympic hockey history are the 1998 and 2014 teams. Nanne also said the Americans could just as easily be coming home from Sochi as Olympic champions.

“We’re good. We could play tomorrow and we could beat them (Canada),” Nanne told Sports Headliners.

The U.S. was ineffective offensively, having difficulty controlling the puck, in the semi-final loss to Canada. But Nanne gave credit to Canada, a great team that won the gold medal with a 3-0 win over Sweden yesterday.

“No doubt those are the two best teams (the U.S. and Canada),” he said.

The loss to Finland? “We weren’t ready to play,” Nanne said. “It looked like we were still thinking about Canada.”

Host Russia had serious ambitions about winning men’s hockey in Sochi. Instead the Russians didn’t even win a medal with losses including a 3-2 defeat against the Americans. Those results would have pleased Brooks and gave Nanne satisfaction too. “You always want to beat them (the Russians),” Nanne said.

Nanne decided not to attend the Olympics in Sochi because of concerns about terrorism and safety.

Worth Noting

After the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” in Lake Placid, New York, Brooks was probably the most in demand speaker in the country. Later that year I asked him to speak at a banquet for a nonprofit organization. He agreed but refused to be paid.

The Gophers basketball team, 6-9 in the Big Ten and 17-11 overall, is desperate for a win against a top 25 opponent to enhance the fading possibility of being invited to the NCAA Tournament next month. Border rival Iowa, ranked No. 15 nationally last week, will be at Williams Arena tomorrow night for a “circle it” game.

The Gophers, losers in six of their last eight conference games, might be due for a surprise performance. The Gophers lost 94-73 at Iowa in January and Minnesota couldn’t stop fouling a bigger and deeper Hawkeyes team. Iowa made 27 of 37 free throw attempts in that game.

Iowa, 8-5 in the Big Ten and 19-7 overall, is a long shot but still has a chance at winning a share of the conference title. The Hawkeyes’ five league losses are by a combined 26 points.

Former Gophers football player Lewis Garrison, now a Big Ten basketball referee, officiated Saturday’s Iowa-Wisconsin game in Iowa City.

A February 17 Los Angeles Times article lauded the San Diego State basketball program that has been turning heads for years on the West Coast. The Aztecs were ranked No. 6 and 7 nationally last week by two polls. The program is led by head coach Steve Fisher and his top assistant, Brian Dutcher, a University of Minnesota alum and the son of former Gophers coach Jim Dutcher.

“Dutcher, 54, is one of the best college basketball minds never to have held a head coaching position,” wrote James Barragan of the Times. “It doesn’t bother him, though, because he knows one day this program will be his.

“He jokes that he has the longest title in college basketball: associate head coach/head coach in waiting.

“Dutcher was officially tapped as Fisher’s replacement in 2011 when the head coach requested as part of his own contract extension that the school identify Dutcher as his successor.”

The St. Thomas men’s basketball team has won a ninth consecutive MIAC title with a 18-2 league record. Coach John Tauer lost five seniors from last year’s Division III Final Four team including four starters but the Tommies regrouped to not only win the conference but earn a 21-4 overall record.

The Tommies’ first conference playoff game is at home on Friday night against an opponent to be determined, possibly St. John’s, a team that defeated St. Thomas last Saturday night and has won 10 of its last 12 games. The Tommies have a first round bye and will play either the Johnnies, Gustavus or Bethel.

Friday’s Ted Williams column generated e-mail responses from readers including from a friend who said his autographed Williams ball was valued at $1,300.00 by a memorabilia store in Boston in 2011.

Another friend told a story about Williams when he managed the Senators. Baseball pretty much started and ended with hitting for Williams, even as a manager. The story is that two of his coaches had a disagreement about how to work rundown plays in the infield. They asked the skipper for advice and he responded something like this: “Screw it. Let’s hit!”

The first of 16 Fox Sports North Twins spring training games from Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers will be this Saturday (noon Minneapolis time) against the Red Sox.

Former Gophers wide receiver Derrick Engel is preparing for the NFL Draft and working with ex-Vikings strength and conditioning coach Mark Ellis. Engel, recovering from ACL surgery, is working out at the University of Minnesota. He has hired Minneapolis-based agents James Selmer and Shawn Stuckey to represent him.

Concordia-St. Paul defensive end Zach Moore is scheduled to work out today with other defensive ends and linebackers at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. Moore is one of only nine Division II players invited to the combine where college players are evaluated for their draft worthiness. He is believed to be the only player from Concordia ever invited to the combine and is ranked as the No. 2 small college prospect for the upcoming NFL Draft by Peter Schrager of Fox Sports.

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Ted Williams: a Mpls. Memory Forever

Posted on February 21, 2014February 21, 2014 by David Shama

It will be 75 years ago next month that Ted Williams arrived in spring training with the Boston Red Sox in Sarasota, Florida. Williams, only 20, came to the big league camp unsure if he belonged, despite a reputation as baseball’s next phenom.

The year was 1939 and the season before Williams had won the American Association’s Triple Crown, hitting .366 with 43 home runs and a 142 runs batted in. But the self-doubting slugger said: “I want to stay right here in Minneapolis with the Millers for another year at least. I’m not ready for the major leagues.”

Ben Bradlee, Jr. quoted Williams with those words in his 2013 biography The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams. The 855-page book is a must-read for not only Williams’ fans but all baseball lovers and even those who relish a biography that is so well researched the CIA might have collaborated.

Williams grew up in San Diego, played 19 seasons with the Red Sox and spent many decades in Florida after baseball but Minnesota was part of his life more than most places. He not only had that one glorious season 76 years ago with the Millers but his first wife, Doris Soule, was from Princeton, Minnesota and he once managed for Bob Short, a Minneapolis businessman who owned the Washington Senators in the 1970s. And during the early years of his baseball career Williams wintered in Minnesota, drawn by his passion to hunt and fish.

This writer’s dad idolized Williams, praising The Kid as baseball’s greatest hitter and a war hero who served in World War II and Korea. “Think about how many home runs he would have hit if he didn’t miss five years serving his country,” Dad said.

Williams, a Marine fighter pilot, finished with 521 home runs but he might have hit more than 700, breaking Babe Ruth’s 714 major league record. Despite missing the war years of 1943, 1944, 1945, and most of the 1952 and 1953 seasons, Williams played through 1960, retiring at age 42 with a lifetime average of .344.

Williams retired with a .482 on-base percentage, baseball’s best ever, and that meant he reached base nearly every other at-bat. His slugging percentage of .634 was second only to Ruth’s .690. His accomplishments included winning two Triple Crowns, six batting titles and 18 All-Star appearances.

Williams wanted to be remembered as the greatest hitter who ever lived. Now more than 11 years after his death, any discussion of who deserves that title has no credibility if Williams isn’t in the final mix.

The Kid was a genius who studied hitting all his life—like Einstein pursued physics or Edison produced inventions. Putting the ball in play with his bat, where no fielder could initially reach it, was what he lived for.

Teddy Ballgame was the show, occasionally at the expense of fielding, base running and the welfare of teammates. An immature Williams sometimes lost focus playing for the Millers. Bradlee wrote that Williams would go to the outfield with his glove in his back pocket, not on his hand.

There was a game when the Millers outfielder was even more out of sorts, probably daydreaming of his next at-bat. Where was his glove? “It was lying on the ground next to him, a useless appendage,” Bradlee wrote.

Bradlee tells of a Williams many of his admirers never knew. The Kid had demons including shame about his maternal Mexican heritage. In early 20^th century America, ethnic prejudices ran deep.

Throughout Williams’ life he would almost be known as much for his emotions as his Hall of Fame hitting. He swore at sportswriters, cursed fans and bullied most anyone including his wives and children.

There was however both a bad Ted/good Ted. The Kid was devoted to visiting and helping sick children. He also raised millions of dollars for charity.

Williams tried to keep such deeds quiet but through the years his acts of kindness and fundraising became better known. It all became part of the Williams’ image which certainly didn’t hurt his relationship with Sears, Roebuck, the company that employed him as a high paid sporting goods consultant and spokesman.

Williams was a world class fisherman. Bradlee wrote that Williams’ expertise was so great he provided technical advice for Sears fishing equipment. He loved to pursue bonefish in the Florida Keys during the winter and catch Atlantic salmon in Canada in the summer. He became a spokesman for conservation of Atlantic salmon, frequently giving an earful of advice to Canadian authorities, according to Bradlee.

The great hitter, war hero, outdoor expert and conservationist was a real-life John Wayne. Tall, handsome and outspoken he fit the stereotype definition of a man’s man.

Williams would discuss hitting with most anyone, even sharing information with rival hitters, Bradlee wrote. Williams pulled for others to hit .400, the holy ground that he reached in 1941 with his .406 average. He then approached that sacred level again in 1957 when at 39 he hit .388 even though he couldn’t run with much speed and was a poor bet to earn an infield hit.

When the Minnesota Twins’ Rod Carew flirted with a .400 average in 1977—and even made the cover of Time magazine—Williams was the subject of a feature story in Sports Illustrated, lending support to Carew and explaining why he hoped Carew would hit .400.

Seventy-three years after Williams’ remarkable achievement in 1941, no one still has made it to .400. The magic of that figure and all the other Williams accomplishments were why a nation was captivated when they saw Teddy Ballgame in 1999 riding across the sacred Fenway Park grounds on a golf cart, waving to a vast television audience at the All-Star game in Boston.

Not before or since can I remember my eyes becoming watery watching a tribute to an athlete. But that’s why The Kid was a god.

This year it will be 15 summers since that Fenway Park All-Star game. It will be 14 years since Williams passed away at age 83. The 2014 All-Star game will be in Minneapolis and MLB and the Twins should recognize Williams and the city where he took his last step to the major leagues and eventual immortality.

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Decker: from Cold Spring to Super Bowl

Posted on January 27, 2014January 27, 2014 by David Shama

Over 100 million TV viewers will watch wide receiver Eric Decker on Sunday in the Super Bowl when his team, the Broncos, plays the Seahawks at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Competing on football’s biggest stage is something that seemed unlikely when Decker was catching passes for ROCORI High School in Cold Spring, Minnesota, a town of about 4,294 located near St. Cloud.

Decker had 1,288 receiving yards last season for the Broncos, ranking 12^th in the NFL. He had 1,017 as a high school senior at ROCORI High where he did attract enough attention to make the Associated Press all-state team.

But Decker wasn’t exactly pestered by college recruiters during his senior year in Cold Spring. “I knew when we recruited him he was good but no one else was recruiting him,” former Gophers coach Glen Mason told Sports Headliners.

Well, not exactly no one. Division III Saint John’s was excited about having Decker play in Collegeville. After Decker accepted the Gophers’ scholarship offer, Johnnies coach John Gagliardi called Mason and said, “Darn you.”

Mason recalled Gagliardi thought he had a “great one” that no one knew about. “He (Decker) was just a big, good looking athlete who ran and caught the ball,” Mason said.

Despite injuries Decker became one of the best wide receivers in Gophers history, showing speed and extraordinary ability to make difficult catches while playing with courage. In the 2010 NFL draft the Broncos selected Decker in the third round.

Decker is now a focal point in the Broncos’ offense as a starter catching 13 touchdown passes during the 2012 season and 11 last season. With iconic quarterback Peyton Manning, the Broncos led the NFL in passing and total offense yardage per game during the past regular season.

Mason, who attended Decker’s wedding last summer to country music performer Jessie James, texted congratulations to his former wide receiver after the Broncos qualified for the Super Bowl. Mason predicted a Broncos win in the game on Sunday and said Decker told him Manning is “just a complete professional.”

The same could be said about Decker who has long been known for his attitude and work ethic. That’s part of the formula of how you go from Cold Spring to the Super Bowl.

Worth Noting

Decker played part of his Gophers career for Tim Brewster who succeeded Mason as coach after the 2006 season. Brewster is an assistant coach on the Florida State team that won the national championship earlier this month. Now Decker has an opportunity to win a Super Bowl.

Decker reportedly accepted a contract extension in December worth $39.62 million over five years.

John Schneider, a 1994 St. Thomas alum, is the Seahawks general manager and regarded as one of the NFL’s top executives. He and Seahawks coach Pete Caroll, a Vikings assistant coach from 1985-1989, have been praised for their work in the NFL draft.

Cordarrelle Patterson, the Vikings rookie last season who was named an all-pro kick returner by Associated Press, would be taken No. 8 in the 2013 NFL draft, according to a draft “re-do” posted by S.I.com’s Don Banks last Thursday. Patterson was chosen at No. 29 in the first round by the Vikings.

In 2014 the Vikings have the No. 8 pick in the first round of the draft. Among names drawing speculation are UCLA linebacker Anthony Barr, and two quarterbacks, Central Florida’s Blake Bortles and Fresno State’s Derek Carr. Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater is another quarterback who might be available.

The Gophers’ Ra’Shede Hageman was asked to play defensive end in Saturday’s Senior Bowl. Giovan Jenkins, the Washburn High School coach who talked with Hageman last weekend, said scouts are telling Hageman he needs to be “interchangeable,” meaning he could play end or tackle for a pro team.

Gophers football coach Jerry Kill said on WCCO Radio’s “Sports Huddle” yesterday morning that his two walk-on junior college transfer fullbacks, Miles Thomas and Riley Oharah, have impressed with their toughness since coming to Minnesota this month. Both are from Butler Community College in Kansas.

Cross their fingers, the Gophers are hoping combo guard Andre Hollins will be able to play soon after injuring his left ankle against Wisconsin last week. The Gophers, after losing 82-78 at Nebraska last night, don’t play again until Saturday at Williams Arena against Northwestern.

Without Hollins, their best player, the Gophers had no one step forward in a big way last night except shooting guard Malik Smith who scored 18 points in the first half and finished with 29, mostly from three pointers. Point guard DeAndre Mathieu, who was exceptional in leading the upset over the Badgers, had nine turnovers last night and sat for much of the first half with two fouls. He was ineffective against Nebraska’s double teams. The Gophers, now 4-4 in the Big Ten, were mostly a one-man effort against the mediocre Cornhuskers, 2-5.

Twins president Dave St. Peter said the organization expects to renew about 85 percent of its season tickets for a total of more than 17,000. The club sold more than 20,000 season tickets in earlier seasons at Target Field but disappointing play on the field has impacted interest, although St. Peter predicted the team is headed for a turnaround.

FOX Sports North will televise all 16 Twins spring training games from Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers starting with the March 1 game against the Red Sox.

Former second baseman and 1991 Rookie of the Year Chuck Knoblauch will be inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame on August 23 at Target Field when the Twins play the Tigers. He didn’t endear himself to many Twins fans after leaving for the Yankees so expect a reserved but polite welcome on August 23.

Ex-WCCO TV news anchor and sports fan Don Shelby will be the speaker for the University of St. Thomas First Friday Speaker Series on March 7. More information about the luncheon is available by calling the St. Thomas Alumni Association, 651-962-6430.

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