Vikings – Page 248 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Worth Noting

Posted on December 2, 2011December 29, 2011 by David Shama

The guess here is the Vikings won’t play Adrian Peterson (high ankle sprain) on Sunday.

The Vikings will be scrutinized in next year’s college draft to find players in the middle and later rounds who can contribute, something that hasn’t been a franchise strength lately.

Joe Kapp is a national name again because of his brawl in Canada last week with a former CFL rival documented on YouTube. The 73-year-old former Vikings quarterback also had a well publicized fight during his playing days with a teammate, Lonnie Warwick. Kapp is the only man ever to play in a Rose Bowl, Grey Cup and Super Bowl. He also coached the University of California during “The Play,” the famous 1982 game-ending play against Stanford.

The Vikings encourage fans to bring a new or “gently-used” jacket to Sunday’s Vikings-Broncos game for donation to The Salvation Army. Fans can donate online at www.thesalarmy.org.

Gophers senior Trevor Mbakwe, who is out with a season-ending ACL injury, will be 23 years old in January and no doubt will give pro basketball a long look next spring even if the NCAA grants him a medical redshirt allowing him to play at Minnesota in 2012-13. He graduates this month with a major in recreation, parks and leisure studies, and has a son, Makhi Mbakwe.

The USC basketball team that plays the Gophers tomorrow at Williams Arena is 4-4 on the season. Losses include a double overtime defeat at home against Nebraska. The Trojans are coached by Kevin O’Neill who has travelled a long head coaching road that includes Marquette, Tennessee, Northwestern and the NBA’s Toronto Raptors.

Not expected to play here tomorrow is 7-foot redshirt sophomore Dewayne Dedmon who late last month was diagnosed with a foot injury. Dedmon was the subject of a lengthy Sports Illustrated feature earlier this fall. He was discouraged for religious reasons from playing basketball as a youth and only played one season of high school basketball despite his considerable potential.

Gophers sophomore center Nick Bjugstad is tied for the national lead in points (25) and goals (15). His uncle Scott played for Minnesota in the early 1980s and also eight years in the NHL including with the North Stars. The Florida Panthers drafted Nick 19^th overall in 2010 and have to be impressed with his play in leading the 11-4-1 Gophers back to national prominence. Minnesota has home games against Minnesota State (3-10-1) tonight and tomorrow night.

Burnsville native Mark Osiecki, head hockey coach at Ohio State since 2010, has the Buckeyes off to a 10-3-1 start including a sweep last weekend over Michigan.

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Worth Noting

Posted on November 28, 2011December 29, 2011 by David Shama

Among the Gophers completing eligibility on Saturday was Minnesota native and safety Kim Royston who started his career at Wisconsin. He left Madison after the 2007 season to be near his grandmother who was ill and has since past away. “I don’t have any regrets about transferring,” he said. Royston was involved with 13 tackles in the game Saturday.

Sophomore Dan Orseske has to be the most inconsistent Gophers punter in memory. He’s had punts of fewer than 10 yards and undoubtedly faces off-season competition for his job.

Ed Cohen, who keeps statistics in the press box for home games, completed his 55^th season working for the Gophers last Saturday. His longevity exceeds everyone else on the Minnesota game day crew.

One-sided score: Hopkins led Minneapolis North 80-0 at halftime in girls basketball Friday night on the way to a 94-14 win.

It’s been a busy seven days for Gophers broadcaster Mike Grimm. Last Monday night he did the play-by-play of the Minnesota-Mount St. Mary’s basketball game at Williams Arena. He also called the Gophers basketball games Thursday and Friday in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando. He then flew back to Minneapolis, arriving after midnight on Saturday so he could do the play-by-play on the Minnesota-Illinois football game. And yesterday morning he caught an early morning flight back to Orlando to call the Gophers Old Spice title game against Dayton on Sunday night, an 86-70 Minnesota loss.

It’s not well-known in Minnesota yet but the basketball Gophers will be one of the teams playing in the 2013 Maui Invitational. The field, including the Gophers, was announced last week at the tournament.

Here are Sports Headliners’ final rankings of Big Ten Football teams: Wisconsin, Michigan State, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana.

Vikings coach Leslie Frazier’s career record is now 5-12 including six games as interim coach last year. On the Vikings radio network following yesterday’s 24-14 loss to Atlanta he criticized his closing minutes play call when Minnesota was on the Falcons’ one-yard line. The fourth down play was unsuccessful while a touchdown would have made the score 24-21 Atlanta.

Jared Allen was a long snapper for Kansas City in 2005. Yesterday he filled in for injured Vikings long snapper Cullen Loeffler. As a defensive end, Allen has 13.5 sacks this season. He and the late Reggie White are the only players in NFL history to have 14.5+ sacks in three consecutive seasons.

By joining the Texas Rangers, former Twins closer Joe Nathan will no longer have to face one of the American League teams that was most effective against him. Nathan’s career ERA against the Rangers is 3.60, according to Baseball-Reference.com. Only Tampa Bay at 3.80 and New York at 3.71 had higher ERA’s against Nathan.

The Minnesota Golf Show will be February 17-19 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

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No Joy in Childress Firing Anniversary

Posted on November 18, 2011December 17, 2011 by David Shama

I wonder if all the knucklehead fans who hated Brad Childress are still happy he’s no longer coaching in Minnesota. It was almost a year ago (November 22) that the Vikings fired their coach ─ public enemy No. 1 to much of the fan base.

The record was 3-7 when Childress was fired. The 2011 edition is 2-7 with seven games remaining on the schedule. Childress coached a team with uncertainty at quarterback and failing personnel in other positions. His successor, Leslie Frazier, is reading the same script.

Although Childress wasn’t liked by the masses, his firing hasn’t improved ticket sales. The truth is there are more empty seats at home games this season than last.

Did his dismissal quiet the critics? Hardly. Even the Monday Night TV crew was calling out the Vikings for lack of discipline during Green Bay’s beat down of Minnesota, 45-7.

Until last year Childress coached the Vikings to improved records each season. He was 6-10 in 2006, then 8-8, 10-6 and 12-4. The last two records were good enough to give the franchise its first consecutive division titles since 1977-78. And the 2009 team was within a play or two of qualifying for the Super Bowl.

Less than 12 months after the 2009 NFC championship loss, Childress was fired. Yes, he made a mistake in allowing the toxic Randy Moss on his roster and he should have informed ownership when he decided to dismiss the controversial wide receiver. And, yup, there were locker room problems.

But locker room morale gets fixed over time and the resume of Childress’ work suggests he was capable of the task. He earned a reputation in Philadelphia as a valued assistant and before that was an accomplished college coach. His expertise was offensive football and he knew personnel, too. He had a lot to do with building the Vikings into a winning roster, but then some players grew old and others were injured.

Childress was trying to figure out how to plug the holes when he was fired. Frazier and company are doing the same.

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