Vikings – Page 213 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Here’s the Quiz for Super Bowl Party

Posted on January 31, 2014January 31, 2014 by David Shama

Every Vikings fan worthy of wearing horns and a purple jersey knows the franchise is 0-4 Super Bowls. Just wanted to get that out before inviting you to take the Sports Headliners Super Bowl Quiz.

I promise not to ask too many questions that stir memories of the Vikings’ Super Bowl struggles. On a brighter note, I do predict you will be a candidate for “the life of the party” on Sunday if you share this quiz while watching the game with friends and family.

The following questions might not be as fun as those Super Bowl commercials, but for trivia (and useless knowledge) they will do just fine. Let me know if you answer 20 or more correctly. If you can’t answer any questions correctly, don’t bother with watching the Super Bowl on Sunday — tune into Animal Planet’s “Puppy Bowl” instead.

Here are Sports Headliners’ 22 quiz questions:

1. Name the teams and the score of the first Super Bowl.

2. Who did the Broncos and Seahawks defeat in the AFC and NFC title games to reach the 2014 Super Bowl?

3. Who is the Seahawks player who proclaims himself the NFL’s best cornerback?

4. How many Super Bowls have been played outdoors in northern cities?

5. What do David Shama and Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning have in common? (Okay, so this is the most difficult question of them all. Get over it).

6. Eric Decker is a starting wide receiver for the Broncos but what sport besides football did he play at the University of Minnesota?

7. Decker is the only ex-Gopher playing in Sunday’s Super Bowl but Wisconsin has four alums in the game, more than any Big Ten school. Can you name all four?

8. The 1992 Super Bowl was played in Minneapolis. Name the teams and final score.

9. What future year has prominently been mentioned for a possible Super Bowl to be played in the new Vikings stadium?

10. Who was the Vikings starting quarterback in the 1970 Super Bowl?

11. What years did Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll serve as an assistant Vikings coach?

12. Who is the oldest quarterback to ever win a Super Bowl?

13. Who is the last Super Bowl game MVP who wasn’t a quarterback?

14. Name the ex-Vikings receiver who played in only one regular season game for the Seahawks this season but is expected to be available for the Super Bowl.

15. Name the singer whose breast caused a sensation during halftime of the 2004 Super Bowl.

16. Name the former Twins baseball broadcaster who provided TV play-by-play on CBS during some of the early Super Bowls.

17. In the 2010 NFC title game the Vikings almost won to advance to the Super Bowl, losing in overtime 31-28. Who was the team that defeated the Vikings?

18. Vikings wide receiver Sammy White took a jarring hit in the 1977 Super Bowl loss to the Raiders. Who was the Raider that made this memorable tackle?

19. The Seahawks starting fullback was a quarterback at Penn State. Who is he?

20. In what Super Bowl did the two teams score the fewest points in one half?

21. What’s the name of the annual trophy given to the Super Bowl winning team?

22. The Vikings aren’t the only franchise with four Super Bowl losses. What club is also 0-4?

And the Answers Are….

1. The Packers defeated the Chiefs, 35-17, in Super Bowl I in 1967.

2. The Broncos beat the Patriots and the Seahawks defeated the 49ers (this was a “layup” so hope you scored on this one).

3. Richard Sherman, “Mr. Humble,” who did lead the NFL in interceptions with eight during the regular season.

4. None, but that changes on Sunday when MetLife Stadium in New Jersey becomes the first Super Bowl in a northern climate to host the Super Bowl.

5. Manning and I both have March 24 birthdays. (Point of clarification: we were born in different years).

6. While at Minnesota, Decker was an outfielder for the Gophers baseball team.

7. For head scratching difficult, this might be the second hardest question on the quiz. The four Badgers alums are: Montee Ball, Chris Maragos, O’Brien Schofield and Russell Wilson.

8. Redskins 37, Bills 24 in Minneapolis’ only Super Bowl.

9. Minneapolis is trying to land the 2018 Super Bowl for the new Vikings stadium opening in 2016.

10. Joe Kapp, also known as “Hennepin Joe” for his fun loving ways, was the Vikings Super Bowl quarterback in 1970.

11. Pete Carroll was a Vikings assistant from 1985-89, working first for Bud Grant and then Jerry Burns.

12. John Elway was 38 in 1999 when he led the Broncos to a Super Bowl win over the Falcons.

13. The last non-quarterback MVP in the Super Bowl was wide receiver Santonio Holmes of the Steelers who won the award in 2009.

14. In his only regular season game of the year ex-Viking Percy Harvin played against his old team and caught one pass for 17 yards.

15. It was Janet Jackson who had that revealing moment while on stage with Justin Timberlake during halftime of the 2004 Super Bowl.

16. Ray Scott, who was the Twins radio and TV voice in the early 1960s, did play-by-play for CBS on the early Super Bowls.

17. The Saints were the team that defeated the Vikings, a game that is still a painful memory for Purple loyalists.

18. The Raider who made the memorable tackle was safety Jack Tatum, still known as one of the NFL’s hardest hitting players of all-time.

19. Michael Robinson made the unusual but successful transition from college QB to fullback.

20. The Steelers led the Vikings 2-0 at halftime of the 1975 Super Bowl, the fewest points ever scored in one half of the big game.

21. The Vince Lombardi Trophy is annually given to the winning Super Bowl team.

22. The Bills are also 0-4, losing four straight in the 1991-94 Super Bowls.

Comments Welcome

40 Years but Super Bowl Memories Linger

Posted on January 22, 2014January 23, 2014 by David Shama

About four decades ago the Vikings split two games with the Dolphins within a period of five months. Unfortunately for the Vikings, their win came in the preseason of 1973. The loss was in the 1974 Super Bowl.

The Vikings defeated Miami 20-17 in a preseason game at Met Stadium during August of 1973. At Super Bowl VIII the Dolphins scored on their first two possessions and dominated the game in a 24-7 victory.

Forty years ago this month the Vikings were in Houston preparing for the Super Bowl and making news long before kickoff. The AFC Dolphins were allowed to use the Houston Oilers practice facilities but the NFC Vikings were assigned to a high school stadium.

Patrick Reusse recalled the high school facility in the 2008 book Minnesota Vikings, The Complete Illustrated History. “The Vikings were left with the locker room at James M. Delmar Stadium, a high school facility without lockers and only nails in the wall for hanging clothes,” Reusse wrote. He described the room as small, with barely enough space for the coaches, and outside there were no tackling dummies or blocking sleds. But the Dolphins were given superior facilities because both Miami and the Oilers were AFC teams.

The practice setup was so bad Vikings coach Bud Grant criticized NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle. Doug Kingsriter, a tight end on that Vikings Super Bowl team, said Grant was justified in his criticism even though the commissioner later fined him.

“There were birds not only in the shower but they were up in the corners in the locker room,” Kingsriter recalled. “It’s like you’ve gotta be kidding me. I don’t recollect there was even a door going from the workout facility to the outside. It just felt really rinky-dink. And, of course, it got Bud into trouble with Pete Rozelle. He fined him $5,000.”

Kingsriter told Sports Headliners he considered the fine on Grant “very unprofessional” given the status of the Super Bowl and the contrasting practice facilities. A year later the Vikings were back in the Super Bowl, this time in New Orleans and the NFL office did the Purple no favors again.

The Steelers stayed at the upscale Fontainebleau while the Vikings were assigned to a lesser hotel. “It was like a motel in a way,” Kingsriter said. “It was a two-story with a courtyard right under a runway at New Orleans International. We had planes going off all night long. We thought this is Pete Rozelle again. He’s got a chip on his shoulder and he’s gonna play it out with us.”

Kingsriter was married the week before the Super Bowl. He received permission from Grant to join the team late for Super Bowl preparations but couldn’t convince the coach to allow his buddy and teammate, linebacker Jeff Siemon, to attend the wedding in West Texas.

Kingsriter, the former Gophers All-American tight end from Richfield, recalls throwing a block in the game and injuring his nose. “So I was going on my honeymoon after the game with a broken nose,” he said laughing.

Worth Noting

Dave Osborn played on the first three Vikings Super Bowl teams including the club that faced the Dolphins. His opinion is the Dolphins were clearly superior to the Vikings and might have defeated Minnesota seven of 10 times. “Now the other Super Bowls we played, I think we were the better team,” he said. “We should have won some of those games.”

Include Osborn among many former Vikings who praise Grant. Earlier this month, when the Vikings were searching for a new head coach, Osborn suggested Grant should return to the team.

Osborn described the franchise as needing leadership and facing “turmoil” with challenges that include winning over the public and selling high price tickets in the new stadium opening in 2016. “I would do whatever possible to hire Bud Grant as an interim coach, whether it was for one year, or two max,” Osborn told Sports Headliners in early January.

“…Let Bud sit in the front office. Bud doesn’t have to go on the field. Just let Bud be in control. Let him hire some good assistants. I guarantee you this team would be better ready to move into that new stadium when the time came. I mean Bud is 86 but he could do it. That’s the confidence I got in Bud. Great leadership.”

Osborn said Grant used to review film to see if his players were lined up the way he wanted for the National Anthem.

Mike Tice owns a 2014 Kentucky Derby contender along with Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville. Midnight Hawk won the Sham Stakes earlier this month at Santa Anita. Tice, the former Vikings coach, led him into the winner’s circle. The Sham is the first in a series of 3-year-old races at Santa Anita serving as Derby qualifiers. The colt is trained by Bob Baffert.

Sophomore Philip Nelson played inconsistently during two years of trying to win the Gophers quarterback job but his announcement last week to leave the program means Mitch Leidner is the only QB on the roster with game experience. The situation is similar to about a year ago when Max Shortell left the Gophers after the 2012 season and Nelson was the only QB with game experience.

Could Nelson’s next school be either North Dakota State, San Diego State, Texas Tech or Wyoming?

Gophers coach Jerry Kill will be among the speakers at the MFCA Clinic March 27-29 at the DoubleTree in St. Louis Park. Last year’s annual clinic drew 1,200 attendees and 50 exhibitors. More details including registration are available at the Minnesota Football Coaches Association Website.

Gophers junior center Elliott Eliason averaged 3.5 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game as a sophomore. He’s improved those figures this season to 8.7 and 2.6, ranking second in both categories among Big Ten players. Big Ten Network analyst Shon Morris said on Sunday’s Minnesota-Iowa game telecast that Eliason is the most improved player in the conference.

If the Gophers can defeat Wisconsin at home tonight it will be their second consecutive win in Williams Arena against the Badgers. The Gophers won 58-53 in overtime last year and earlier in the 2013 season lost by one point in Madison. A win also means the Gophers will be 2-3 in five January games against Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Wisconsin, all teams that either are or have been top 25 ranked this season.

Dan Kornbaum, who led a trio of wins last week by Augsburg when he averaged 23.3 and 10.3 rebounds, will be a player St. Thomas has to watch tonight when the Tommies (9-1) host the Auggies (7-3). Kornbaum also had 25 points and five rebounds in a 97-60 Augsburg win over Saint Mary’s on Monday night.

Comments Welcome

Vikings Need to Avoid Panic Hire

Posted on January 8, 2014January 8, 2014 by David Shama

Dave Mona was retained as a consultant by the University of Minnesota in 2010 to assist in the search for a new football coach. It was a successful process leading to the hire of Jerry Kill as coach.

Hiring Northern Illinois’ Kill, a low profile coach who didn’t come from a football power conference, wasn’t enthusiastically endorsed by the public. However, Kill has improved the Gophers in each of his three seasons, demonstrating he has a plan and the ability to build a competitive Big Ten Conference program.

Mona, a University of Minnesota alum and now a recently retired business executive, isn’t surprised by Kill’s success. He and then Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi were repeatedly told during the search that Kill was viewed as a special coach by his peers.

Mona learned lessons during the search that apply to the Vikings who are looking for a head coach to replace Leslie Frazier. At some point there will be a candidate or two the Vikings will like a lot before completing their reviews. “There’s a bit of a panic factor that you don’t want to lose your guy,” Mona told Sports Headliners. “The thing (the search) gets compressed. In business, a search might take months, a series of interviews.”

The Vikings fired Frazier in late December. General Manager Rick Spielman wants to have a new coach by January 25, if not sooner. Spielman and Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf face that deadline and the competition of several other NFL teams looking for head coaches while knowing assistant coaches are in demand also.

Mona said if multiple NFL teams make hires before the Vikings, the organization can’t panic. “Can you stand up to the criticism you’re going to get in the media? ‘What’s wrong with the Vikings? Why aren’t they making their move?’

“I think no matter how tough Spielman is, it’s hard to resist that (pressure) when it looks like you’re falling behind the pack (even though) you may be doing it the right way.”

A factor sometimes receiving minimal mention during searches is “chemistry” between the decision-makers who have to work together. “You need to have strong chemistry between the ownership, the general manager and the coach who is hired,” Mona said. “…If there’s not good chemistry and you get off to a bad start, it rarely gets better. I think you’ve got to have people who philosophically are on the same page.”

Coaching searches often result in hires who are the opposite of the leaders they replace. A coach with a reputation for being offensive oriented is replaced by a defensive authority. A rah-rah leader is hired to take over for a coach who was quiet on and off the field.

Mona was warned by human resources experts about hiring opposites. “You have to be careful not to go too far because in solving one problem, you might create another,” he said.

The co-host for years of the Sunday morning WCCO Radio “Sports Huddle” program, Mona has followed the Vikings since the franchise began in 1961. How does he describe the type of coach the club should hire?

“Ideally, I think this person is going to have to identify and develop a quarterback that can lead the team for the next decade. Someone with proven experience recognizing and developing skill in quarterbacks.

“I (also) think a good evaluator of people and the ability to put out a team that reflects what’s happening in a changing league. We’ve been a solid 4-3 team. There’s a lot of success out there with 3-4 defenses. There are offensive schemes we’ve probably stayed away from.”

Worth Noting

Expect a high school quarterback and junior college linebacker to enroll at the University of Minnesota later this month. Both would take part in spring football, with the quarterback having four years of eligibility and the linebacker three.

Gophers offensive tackle Ben Lauer has been named to the Football Writers Association Freshman All-America Team. He was a first team selection.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski will visit Rice Lake, Wisconsin later this month to see highly recruited prep star Henry Ellenson, brother of Gophers sophomore forward Wally Ellenson.

The Gophers basketball team plays at Penn State tonight against a Nittany Lions roster that includes freshman guard Graham Woodward from Edina. Woodward has played in 12 games, averaging 2.6 points per game.

The Gophers avoided a 0-2 start in the Big Ten season by defeating Purdue, 82-79, on Sunday at Williams Arena. Coach Richard Pitino’s Gophers lost their first conference game last Thursday against Michigan at Williams Arena.

“Coach said it wasn’t really a must-win (Sunday) but we felt it was a must-win as a team,” said Minnesota guard DeAndre Mathieu. “…0-2 in the Big Ten wouldn’t have been what we expected. We expected to be 2-0 and we came out 1-1. We’ll just have to be satisfied (with) 1-1.”

The Gophers wore gold home uniforms for the Michigan game and then brought out their home whites on Sunday. Are they superstitious about uniforms? “I think so because we won every game in the whites so far,” Mathieu said. “Even the big game over Florida State we wore the whites.”

The Gophers led Purdue by 19 points multiple times but the game was close in the final minutes. Pitino said the first 35 minutes of the game’s 40 minutes “absolutely” were his team’s best of the season.

A look at the most immediate games ahead on the schedule indicates how important the Purdue win was. Although PennState is 0-2 in the Big Ten with 16 and 20 point losses to Michigan State and Illinois, Minnesota knows road wins don’t come easy (last season the Gophers lost eight of nine away from home). After Penn State the Gophers have consecutive games with top 25 ranked teams—at Michigan State, home against Ohio State, at Iowa and home with Wisconsin. OSU, MSU and Wisconsin are ranked among the top five teams in the nation.

Gophers forward Oto Osenieks was inspired as a teenager in his native Latvia when he watched American basketball on TV. He came to the United States where he first played AAU basketball followed by one year of high school competition. He has become a starter for the Gophers as a redshirt junior and turns 23 in March. “I am old,” he said.

There is an extraordinary new sports book on Ted Williams that reports on his life including the 1938 season with the Minneapolis Millers. There are other Minnesota references including to Bob Short who moved the Lakers from Minneapolis to Los Angeles before buying baseball’s Washington Senators and making Williams his manager. The Kid The Immortal Life of Ted Williams is written by investigative journalist Ben Bradlee, Jr. and is 855 pages.

Right wing Eriah Hayes, a La Crescent, Minnesota native, has played in two games for the NHL Sharks since being recalled from Worcester of the AHL. The former Minnesota State, Mankato player had eight points in 29 games for Worcester, his first full season of pro hockey. During the 2012-13 college season he led the nation in shots on goal with 186.

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