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

Stadium Construction May Finish Early

Posted on March 11, 2016March 17, 2016 by David Shama

A notes-focused column on U.S. Bank Stadium, the Vikings, Gophers, Twins and more.

Sports Headliners has learned construction of U.S. Bank Stadium might be completed early. Mortenson Construction has been scheduled to finish the new Minneapolis facility by late July but could complete the project in June.

About 1,200 workers are at the stadium each day and an early completion will be impressive if it happens. Although it won’t be a public event, a June gathering to recognize stadium workers is already scheduled.

Events the public can attend for a first look at the $1 billion-plus covered stadium are expected to be announced soon, but the first concert is booked. Tickets go on sale soon to see country singer Luke Bryan Friday, August 19.

A source said a second concert at the stadium that weekend will be announced. Acoustics in the 1,750,000 square foot facility will be exceptional for a large building.

Although the date hasn’t been publicized, it looks like the Vikings’ first game in the stadium will be a preseason game the weekend of August 26-28. After that weekend, a second home preseason game will be played. Dates and opponents haven’t been announced for the Vikings’ preseason schedule of home and away games.

Philadelphia-based Aramark will run food and beverage operations in the stadium for not only major events like concerts and Vikings games, but also small room gatherings in the year-round facility. As with Target Field, local restaurants will sell food partnering with Aramark.

The stadium’s Purple Club is the one location with direct access to outdoors. Patrons can walk outside to a deck with an elevated view looking east toward downtown green space and the historic Minneapolis Armory.

It wouldn’t be surprising if 2016 is Adrian Peterson’s last season with the Vikings. The All-Pro running back turns 31 later this month. His age and expensive contract could make him expendable if quarterback Teddy Bridgewater emerges as the offense’s igniter. Last April a source told Sports Headliners the Vikings and Cowboys had trade talks about sending Peterson back to his native Texas. He and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones are acquainted.

Ryan Burns, publisher of Scout’s GopherDigest.com, said Eden Prairie’s Carter Coughlin is the most likely Gopher freshman to make an impact next fall. The Gophers need help with pass rushing, and also on special teams. Burns predicted spot duty for Coughlin at defensive end where he could be used like pass rushing specialist Julian Huff in 2015.

“I could see a scenario where he and Julian Huff, on third down and long, try and get after the passer,” Burns said. “Carter also will bring speed and physical talent on special teams.”

Burns said Coughlin’s athleticism is impressive. “You just can’t teach what Carter has with his athletic ability,” Burns said. “That’s something Minnesota needs right away, to try and get after the passer because their pass rush the last couple years has just been abysmal. They know that.

“Carter is the one guy that is going to have his redshirt burned. If he is healthy, he is going to play a lot like Julian Huff did last year.”

Byung Ho Park, the 29-year-old South Korean Twins rookie, leads the team with two home runs and six RBI in 16 at bats during his first major league spring training. He is hitting .313. During the last two years in Japan he hit .303 and .343, with 52 and 53 home runs, and 124 and 146 RBI.

The Tigers reportedly gave ex-Twin Mike Pelfrey a two-year $16 million contract—and that’s a head scratcher. Pelfrey, 32, was 6-11 with a 4.26 ERA for the Twins last season. His career stats include a 61-81 record and 4.52 ERA.

Birthdays: Twins legend Kirby Puckett, who died in 2006, would be 56 next Monday. Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine turned 21 yesterday.

The Las Vegas-based Reviewjournal.com posted a story Monday quoting broadcaster Dick Vitale as saying controversial Louisville coach Rick Pitino isn’t going to fill the UNLV opening. There have been rumors Pitino will accept the Rebels’ coaching job, and a report even had his son Richard Pitino, the Gophers coach, joining him as an assistant. Vitale said Rick Pitino loves Louisville too much to leave the Cardinals.

The Wild had a rare loss to the Oilers last night, 2-1 at Xcel Energy. Minnesota is 2-1 this season in games with Edmonton, and is 21-4-1 in the last 26 games against the Oilers. The Wild plays at Montreal tomorrow night and has won there only twice in franchise history.

The Gophers Eric Schierhorn is a nominee for the Mike Richter Award honoring the top goaltender in college hockey. Schierhorn has started all 33 games this season and has a 18-15-0 record with a .905 save percentage, and a goals against average of 2.71. His total wins lead the Big Ten and he ranks first among NCAA freshmen. He is tied for first among freshmen with three shutouts.

Gophers coach Don Lucia told Sports Headliners Schierhorn reminds him a “little bit” of Adam Wilcox who was Minnesota’s top goalie the previous three seasons. Wilcox was among the best goalies in the Big Ten.

“Both very athletic,” Lucia said. “Adam stepped right in (as a freshman) and pretty much played every game. Eric has started every game his freshman year, which is not easy. Almost every game he has played, he has given us an opportunity to win games. We’re still working with him to quiet his game down at times, and not chase pucks.”

The Gophers play Wisconsin tonight and tomorrow evening at Mariucci Arena in their last games before the Big Ten Tournament next week.

The defending national champion Gopher women’s hockey team plays Princeton tomorrow starting at 4 p.m. in Ridder Arena. The NCAA Tournament quarterfinal game will determine whether Minnesota or the Tigers advance to next week’s Frozen Four in Durham, New Hampshire.

Minnesota’s five seniors—Hannah Brandt, Brook Garzone, Amanda Kessel, Amanda Leveille, and Milica McMillen—comprise the program’s most successful class ever. Their teams have an overall record of 145-9-6, a .925 winning percentage from 2012-13 to 2015-16. The Gophers have outscored opponents 770-179 during the four seasons.

Four of the five finalists for the 2016 Mr. Basketball Award have made college commitments: Brock Bertram, Buffalo; Johnny Beeninga, Minnesota State Moorhead; Amir Coffey, Minnesota; and Michael Hurt, Minnesota. Steffon Mitchell hasn’t made a college commitment. The award winner will be announced after this week’s state tournament.

Mr Basketball finalists 2016

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No Escaping Franchises’ Wanderlust

Posted on February 22, 2016February 22, 2016 by David Shama

A trip to southern California reminded me about the nomadic ways of sports franchises. Chargers board chair Dean Spanos has put on hold plans to vacate San Diego and play in Los Angeles—contemplating at least one final attempt for a private-publicly funded stadium in his NFL city.

Thank the Lord it only cost a billion dollars to keep the Vikings in Minneapolis.

When I started thinking about the franchise history of Minnesota’s professional sports teams, I got a bad case of the yips. Vikings, Twins, North Stars, Lakers—yikes! No wonder my right hand shakes while I try to hold a cup of coffee.

American sports teams can move around like doughnut franchises. The NBA’s Kings, for example, started as the Rochester Royals. They became the Cincinnati Royals, and later the Kansas City Kings, before emerging as the Sacramento Kings.

Baseball’s Braves had a long stay in Boston before a sometimes glorious run in Milwaukee during the 1950s and ‘60s. They broke many hearts in Dairyland by relocating to Georgia where those ambitious Braves are counting down the days before moving into their third stadium in greater Atlanta.

Long ago the football Cardinals played second string to the Bears in Chicago and flirted with a move to Minnesota before landing in St. Louis. Then the Cardinals decided Arizona was a better place to roost. St. Louis got its revenge by taking the Rams from L.A. That lasted until last month when the NFL approved a Rams return to southern California where they will play in a new palace said to be the next big thing among football stadiums.

Most Vikings fans could care less about the Rams, who every couple of decades jilt either L.A. or St. Louis. But Purple Nation is still rejoicing that Los Angeles, without any football for about 20 years, didn’t lure the Vikings to southern California where now either the Oakland Raiders (previously the L.A. Raiders) or the Chargers (long ago the L.A. Chargers) might join the Rams in that new palace in suburban Inglewood.

While you may not hate L.A., I do! I remember Los Angeles took the Lakers away from Minneapolis in 1960. To me, it was like the baseball Dodgers moving from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. The Lakers won five pro championships in Minneapolis, and became a dynasty again in the 1960s and beyond playing in southern California. This town lost some phenomenal basketball when it missed out on watching Lakers superstars Elgin Baylor and Jerry West in the 1960s.

Not that this area can claim purity in chasing franchises from another city. Major league baseball began here in 1961 when the Senators moved from Washington, D.C. That was the lowly Senators franchise from Damn Yankees Broadway fame who by 1960 was still losing lots of games but loading up with promising big leaguers. In 1965 players like Harmon Killebrew, Bob Allison and Camilo Pascual helped form the core of a Twins team that lost to the Dodgers in the World Series.

Less than 15 years later Twins owner Calvin Griffith was interested in abandoning Met Stadium, a facility the Vikings also pronounced inadequate. The Met’s sightlines and smaller seating capacity favored baseball but Griffith knew that at least for awhile he could make more money in a new ballpark. As for the Vikings, rumors persisted they might move to Memphis—not only the home of Elvis Presley, but where Purple general manager Mike Lynn worked before coming north.

The Metrodome opened in 1982 and saved both the Twins and Vikings for Minnesota—at least for awhile. By 1997 Twins owner Carl Pohlad let it be known North Carolina could be the franchise’s next stop. Pohlad wanted a baseball only stadium for his team and there was no disputing the Teflon topped dome was a better home for the Vikings than the Twins. Eventually the Twins and Hennepin County came up with $545 million to build Target Field and keep major league baseball here.

By the late 1990s the Vikings were also grumbling about the dome and its limited gameday revenues. As the years went by the franchise’s frustrations increased and so did rumors about moving to Los Angeles. But in 2012 the state of Minnesota, the Vikings, and city of Minneapolis pledged to build the U.S. Bank Stadium that opens this summer.

Memories and wounds from the relocation of the North Stars by villainous owner Norm Green are still vivid. Serenaded by departing choruses from fans of “Norm Green sucks!”, the North Stars’ last season in Minnesota was in 1992-1993—just two years after losing to the Penguins in the Stanley Cup finals. The state of hockey was left without an NHL team when the Stars skated off to Dallas.

For years the North Stars, like the Minneapolis Lakers before them, complained about their home facility. The North Stars wanted more suites and other revenue enhancements at Met Center. The Lakers were bedeviled by frustrations in finding dates and scheduling games at the Minneapolis Auditorium. The community didn’t do enough to help both franchises with their facilities needs.

Health club gurus Marv Wolfenson and Harvey Ratner built Target Center with private funding to bring the NBA back to Minneapolis in 1989. Later they had negotiations with a group interested in taking the franchise to New Orleans. The city now owns the arena and is working with Wolves owner Glen Taylor to renovate Target Center and enhance revenues while ensuring the team remains in Minneapolis.

The city of St. Paul and state of Minnesota answered mayor Norm Coleman’s pleas to replace the St. Paul Civic Center and return the NHL to Minnesota. The $130 million cost to build the Xcel Energy Center was a lot more than the potential funding needed to renovate Met Center and keep the North Stars in Bloomington. No one will argue, though, the “X” is a premier hockey facility.

All is quiet on the relocation front in Minnesota—at least for awhile. Our “doughnut shops” aren’t available to Los Angeles or any other city right now.

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Experts See Vikings as NFL Contenders

Posted on February 4, 2016February 4, 2016 by David Shama

Maybe it’s no pipe dream to believe the Vikings will play in the 2018 Super Bowl in Minneapolis.

Former Cowboys personnel authority Gil Brandt, now writing for Nfl.com, said in a January 28 story the Panthers and Seahawks top his list of teams with the biggest Super Bowl windows, but he is aware of the Vikings. He identified six teams that are best positioned to compete for championships for awhile: the Panthers, Seahawks, Steelers, Bengals, Vikings and Patriots.

Brandt ranked the Vikings No. 5 mostly because of a strong nucleus of defensive players, anticipated improvement of third-year quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, and the excellence of Adrian Peterson who led the NFL in rushing last season and might repeat at age 31. Brandt wrote the Vikings are “by no means perfect” but are an ascending club in a division where the Packers, the longtime king of the hill, are a “bit of a descending team.”

Former Vikings defensive lineman Bob Lurtsema, who remains close to the team, has predicted for about a year his former club will be in the 2017 Super Bowl. “This (coach) Zimmer, he’s got his act together,” Lurtsema told Sports Headliners.

Lurtsema has praised third-year Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer perhaps longer than anyone else. Lurtsema doesn’t see weaknesses on the defense, and he is predicating a successful 2016 season and Super Bowl on an improved offense. Most specifically he sees a better offensive line next fall that will give third-year quarterback Teddy Bridgewater more time to throw.

Lurtsema has watched Zimmer lead the Vikings from a 2014 record of 7-9 to an 11-5 success and the NFC North title during the 2015 season. Zimmer is a demanding leader but generates results. “The players love him,” Lurtsema said.

Super Bowl 50 this Sunday will be played in Santa Clara, California, then next year the game is in Houston before coming to Minneapolis. It will be special if the Vikings earn an invite to the “big party” in the next couple of years. The Vikings haven’t been in the Super Bowl since 1977. Only twice in Super Bowl history has a team played in a stadium in its home market, according to Wikipedia.

The Panthers have been about a six-point favorite over the Broncos this week but Lurtsema said that’s too many points for Sunday’s game. “If I was a betting man, I’d bet my house and everything. I’d take the five or six points and grab Denver—because Denver’s defense, especially the defensive line, is the best in the league. …”

There is a lot of flattering talk about Cam Newton, the Panthers’ talented 26-year-old quarterback. Lurtsema is an admirer and he recalled a 2011 game in Charlotte between the Vikings and Panthers. Late in the game Lurtsema was on the sideline and so close to Newton he could closely observe a hard hit on the 6-5, 245-pound Newton.

Newton’s response to the collision? “God, I love this game.”

Lurtsema was won over when he heard that. “I am in love with this guy from now on,” Lurtsema declared on that late October day.

There are Minnesota connections in Sunday’s game including Jared Allen with the Panthers and Ryan Harris from the Broncos. A defensive end, Allen was one of the Vikings’ most popular players from 2009-2013. In 2011 he had 22 sacks for the season and set a Vikings’ franchise record. He narrowly missed the NFL record of 22.5.

Named to the list of the 50 greatest Vikings ever in 2010, Allen was often good for a sharp quote during media sessions and was known in the community as a longtime supporter of military veterans. While he was in Minnesota he started Jared Allen’s Homes for Wounded Veterans, a charity to provide handicap-accessible homes for veterans returning from duty.

Allen is an outdoor enthusiast and has hunted wolves, bison and elk. Lurtsema owns land in outstate Minnesota where he gave Allen permission to hunt black bear and deer. “Very nice guy but he beats to a different drum,” Lurtsema said. “He was into hunting big time. That was his passion. He’s been to Africa. He’s done it all.”

Allen left the Vikings during the 2014 offseason to join the Bears. Now 33, he was traded last September by the Bears to the Panthers for a 2016 draft pick. A broken foot caused him to miss the Panthers’ NFC championship win over the Cardinals, but expectations are he will play Sunday in his first Super Bowl.

Harris is another player with a “good guy” reputation among Minnesotans. The Minneapolis-born starting left tackle for the Broncos played three seasons for Cretin-Derham Hall before attending Notre Dame. While at Cretin, his line coach was former Gophers center Ray Hitchcock. For three seasons Harris was a Raiders starter at left tackle and over the years he formed a tight relationship with Hitchcock and his son Brooks.

Five days before the Broncos-Patriots AFC title game on January 24, Harris extended a surprise invitation to the Hitchcocks. They paid their airfare to Denver and back to Minneapolis, but everything else including game tickets, lodging and dinner at Fogo de Chão Brazilian Steak House was courtesy of Harris.

“He is just a hell of a guy,” Ray said. “He’s a guy you want to be around.”

Worth Noting

Football fans learn Saturday if former Vikings quarterback Brett Favre and Tony Dungy—who played for the Gophers and was an assistant coach with the Vikings—are selected as new members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Hall’s Selection Committee meets in San Francisco Saturday to elect the 2016 Hall of Fame Class.

Favre and Dungy are among 15 Modern Era Finalists being considered for induction into the hall. This is Favre’s first year being considered, and the legendary quarterback who led the Packers to a Super Bowl title seems like a cinch to win approval Saturday. Dungy, who was the first African-American head coach to win the Super Bowl when his Colts defeated the Bears in 2007, has been a finalist before.

The criteria used in searching for the next Gophers athletic director is likely to emphasize candidates with integrity and a proven track record in building relationships. Those are qualities that distinguish WCHA men’s hockey commissioner Bill Robertson whose career workplaces have included the Angels, Ducks, Timberwolves and Wild. A Minnesota native with a long list of friends and contacts in the Twin Cities, Robertson’s WCHA office is in Edina.

Perhaps in a couple of years all Gophers football fans will be applauding the 2016 recruiting class coach Tracy Claeys announced yesterday, but for now Websites like Rivals.com aren’t giving the group high rankings. Rivals.com ranks five of seven schools from the Big Ten East Division ahead of the No. 50 Gophers. The West Division is home to the Gophers and Rivals has the recruiting classes of Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa and Northwestern listed ahead of Minnesota. Nebraska at No. 25 is the highest ranked West Division recruiting class while the East is led by No. 3. Ohio State, No. 4 Michigan and No. 20 Michigan State.

The Gophers basketball team is 0-10 in the Big Ten going into tonight’s game against 3-7 Northwestern in Evanston. Minnesota’s laundry list of problems mostly comes down to this: the Gophers have only one consistent impact player. Sophomore guard Nate Mason leads the team on a regular basis in scoring (13.7) and assists (4.5). Last Saturday in a close loss at Indiana he had 21 points. The prior game against Purdue he totaled 15 points and 12 assists.

Mason has scored 19 points or more in three of his last four games, but he plays with inconsistent teammates. In the Purdue game freshman guard Dupree McBrayer tied a career high with 13 points, and then had 8 points against Indiana while missing 9 of 12 shots. Another freshman guard, Kevin Dorsey, didn’t score against Purdue but had a career high 21 in the Indiana game. Freshman forward Jordan Murphy, who leads the team in rebounding at 7.9 per game, often is in first half foul trouble and has to sit on the bench for long stretches.

McBrayer, Dorsey and Murphy are talented and must all become consistent impact players to help the Gophers reach .500 or better in the Big Ten next season. The same is true of sophomore center Bakary Konate who is finally showing improvement and gives the roster badly needed size.

“Future is pretty bright for us,” Murphy said last week after the Purdue loss. “I think we know that as a team, but we still gotta compete this season. It’s not over yet. We gotta just keep grinding. …”

McBrayer talked recently about the problem of making free throws late in games when they’re needed the most: “We shoot them every day after and before practice. They should be second nature to us. It’s just in a game you have to calm down and knuckle down.”

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