Vikings – Page 254 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Vikes Turnaround Predicted at 10-6

Posted on July 30, 2012July 30, 2012 by David Shama

Bob Lurtsema, the former Vikings defensive lineman who remains close to the team, predicts Minnesota will finish 10-6 during the 2012 regular season and possibly make the playoffs.

The Vikings were 3-13 last season and a popular guess for 2012 is 6-10 but Lurtsema believes the team will be improved and exceed expectations. “I’ve said it before. I am very optimistic,” Lurtsema told Sports Headliners. “I said 10-6. Everybody said, ‘What are you on? What are you smoking?’”

Lurtsema’s outlook is based on improvement at some positions that faltered last season, including quarterback. He thinks second-year quarterback Christian Ponder will upgrade his play considerably.

Ponder not only had the disadvantage last season of minimal offseason preparation because of the NFL labor dispute but he was a rookie placed in a starting position. The Vikings are counting on maturity from Ponder in year No. 2, perhaps typical of what Drew Brees did for the Chargers when he threw one touchdown pass in his rookie season of 2001 but 17 the next.

Ponder did throw for 1,853 yards last season, the second most ever for a Vikings rookie quarterback. Fran Tarkenton threw for 1,997 yards in 1961.

Vikings and other notes:

Former Vikings coach Jerry Burns told Sports Headliners he’s “hoping” for an 8-8 or 9-7 record. He described Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier as “one of the finest” people he’s met.

Burns will travel to Canton, Ohio to see his former defensive lineman Chris Doleman inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on August 4.

Vikings running back Toby Gerhart, who could be the team’s early season starter if Adrian Peterson isn’t healthy, comes from an athletic family. His dad Todd played in the USFL and went to training camp with the Vikings in 1986. Brother Garth, an offensive lineman, is trying out with the Browns. Gerhart’s triplet sisters are college softball players.

Former Breck and Northwestern football player Regis Eller, son of ex-Vikings star Carl Eller, is scouting for the Chargers. San Diego plays the Vikings at Mall of America Field on August 24.

Gophers coach Jerry Kill said senior quarterback MarQueis Gray has improved so much that he will be a “very, very exciting player to watch” not only in the Big Ten but nationally.

Casey Dehn, the Owatonna native expected to be Wisconsin’s starting offensive right tackle, is no longer with the Badgers.

Former Gophers and now NFL rookies Duane Bennett (running back), Jon Hoese (fullback) and Eric Lair (tight end) are listed on the Packers training camp roster.

Talk about a bad weekend. Not only did the Indians lose three straight to the Twins at Target Field, but Cleveland batters hit .140 in the series and starting pitchers gave up 23 hits and 23 runs in 16 innings. The Twins hit .340 and scored 28 runs.

Twins first baseman Justin Morneau is hitting .333 with three home runs and 12 RBI in his last 22 games. His home run yesterday was No. 198 of his career and moved him within two of becoming the seventh Twins player to hit 200 or more.

Scott Diamond, who leads Twins pitchers in wins with a 9-3 record, is 6-1 at Target Field. He has a 2.28 ERA in eight home game starts.

Twins general manager Terry Ryan said on the Twins Radio Network yesterday afternoon there were no contract “extension talks” between him and Francisco Liriano’s agent in the weeks leading up to last Saturday’s trade of the left-handed pitcher to the White Sox. Ryan also said that during 2006 Liriano was as “good there was” among major league pitchers.

The Timberwolves have scheduled a news conference for tomorrow to introduce guard Brandon Roy to the local media. The Wolves might start the season with only six or seven players from last season’s roster.

Tubby Smith’s contract extension through 2017 with the Gophers means he could determine his Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame credentials during the next five seasons. He won a national championship at Kentucky and had four Elite Eight NCAA appearances, but he’s faltered at Minnesota where his Big Ten record is 14 games under .500.

Seimone Augustus, Maya Moore and Lindsay Whalen from the Lynx are among 38 current or former WNBA players on teams competing at the Olympics in women’s basketball. Nine of the 12 nations competing in the Olympics have WNBA alumni.

Golf returns to the Olympics in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro after a 112 year absence.

A celebration for the completion of Todd Anderson Field in Brooklyn Park will be held starting at 5:30 p.m. on August 9. The facility provides a home for Courage Center’s wheelchair softball players, a first in 30 years of competition.

Comments Welcome

Frazier to Give Vikes Behavior Message

Posted on July 25, 2012July 25, 2012 by David Shama

The Vikings lead the NFL in arrests since 2000 and coach Leslie Frazier told Sports Headliners he will “hammer on” behavior when he meets with his team later this week to begin training camp.

“No question. We’ll definitely hammer on it and make our guys aware of the history here in Minnesota, and really try to curb that number.”

Media reports put that number at 39 after running back Adrian Peterson’s incident in Houston earlier this summer. “We’re going to do all we can in 2012 and beyond to make things a little bit better and hopefully decrease those numbers,” Frazier said.

Frazier also said that while arrests make headlines, the public may not be fully aware of the many good deeds by players. Even Frazier doesn’t always know about community causes when a Viking player may donate time or money.

“Every single player on our team is involved with community service of some sort,” Frazier said. “I didn’t say 60 percent, 70 percent. I said 100 percent participation.”

Vikings & other notes:

This will be the 47^th consecutive year the Vikings have trained in Mankato. Among NFL teams, only the Packers have trained more consecutive years at the same site – 55 at St.Norbert College in De Pere,Wisconsin.

The Vikings report to training camp tomorrow and the first practice session open to the public at Minnesota State, Mankato will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday. All regular practices are open to fans and admission is free.

The Vikings player perhaps most likely to have a breakout season is Kyle Rudolph. The 6-6 tight end showed remarkable hands and the running potential to become a favorite of quarterback Christian Ponder.

Former Vikings head coach Mike Tice, now with the Bears, begins his first training camp as Chicago’s offensive coordinator this week. He was promoted by the Bears from offensive line coach after last season, and now perhaps has an opportunity to earn another head coaching job.

Former Vikings head coach Brad Childress, who succeeded Tice, begins training camp with the Browns as the team’s new offensive coordinator.

Minneapolis native Larry Fitzgerald Jr. travelled to Uganda last week, working with former President Bill Clinton and the Starkey Hearing Foundation. Before he left the country the Arizona All-Pro wide receiver appeared on ESPN where his mentor, former Vikings wide receiver Cris Carter, said Fitzgerald’s best playing weight is just under 220 pounds.

Carter has a new book about wide receivers called Going Deep.

Former Gophers quarterback Gino Cappelletti is retiring after 32 seasons as color commentator on Patriots radio broadcasts. Cappelletti’s last season with the Gophers was 1954.

The Big Ten Network will offer live coverage tomorrow of news conferences with all 12 of the Big Ten Conference’s football coaches. The conference’s annual football media gathering in Chicago will also include players such as the Gophers MarQueis Gray, Ed Olson and Keanon Cooper.

Former Gophers and other invitees will attend the dedication today of the Murray Warmath conference room in the new fitness center at Friendship Village in Bloomington. The deceased Gophers coach, who won the school’s last national football championship in 1960, was a resident at Friendship Village for several years.

Who could have predicted White Sox general manager Kenny Williams would use his time during MLB’s All-Star Game break to visit Egypt? Not sure whether he found any power hitters or power arms in the Middle East.

Former Twins starting infielders Tsuyoshi Nishioka and Danny Valencia are hitting .246 and .250 respectively with AAA Rochester. Nishioka has one home run and 19 RBI while Valencia’s totals are seven and 36.

If Joe Mauer wins the American League batting championship this season it will be his fourth title in seven years. Mauer is hitting .332, second best in the league but he trails Angels’ rookie Mike Trout by 25 points.

New York Times best-selling author and former Gophers golfer Harvey Mackay left yesterday for the Olympics in London where he will watch all 17 days of activities. The Minneapolis businessman has attended every summer Olympics for the last 40 years.

The 2012 Olympics will not include competition in baseball and softball.

Watching the NCAA over the years it’s been interesting to see how often the organization’s investigators appear to follow media reports, rather than initiating investigations of athletic programs.

Top boys and girls goalies participate in the four-day Minnesota Hockey Dave Peterson Reebok High Performance Goalie Camp starting tomorrow at the Super Rink in Blaine. For a list of past participants visit www.minnesotahockey.org.

Congratulations to my brother-in-law Mark Gilbertson who on Sunday swam across a part of Montana’s famed Flathead Lake, covering a distance of almost six miles during more than six hours in the water.

Comments Welcome

Birk Turns 36 But No Family B-Day Party

Posted on July 23, 2012July 23, 2012 by David Shama

Matt Birk’s 36^th birthday is today but there won’t be any family party. The St. Paul native will be at the Ravens training camp in Maryland, a work assignment that started this morning and will extend into the evening.

The former Vikings center has reached an age where a next season is not a given. He took some time after the 2011 season to evaluate his future and then decided to play a 15^th NFL year. It’s a process that likely will be repeated again after this season.

“Give myself a chance to heal up physically and emotionally. Then talk it over with my wife and see what’s best for our family,” Birk said.

Birk told Sports Headliners he has no major physical concerns heading into training camp. If he did, he wouldn’t be in Owings Mills, Maryland where the Ravens train.

“I feel like I am playing good, playing well,” he said. “Physically can I do the same things I did 10 years ago? No, but I like to think I am a little bit smarter.

“But one thing that remains a constant: it’s never easy, it’s always a challenge. Not every single week, every single day. You’re going against the best players in the world. There’s never a day when you can just kind of take a day off or just kind of coast through. That’s what makes it great. The challenge is immense.”

Birk, who was a sixth round draft choice from Harvard, played 11 seasons for the Vikings but never on a Super Bowl team. The Ravens were 12-4 last season. Birk, who expects to be the team’s starting center, believes the Ravens will again be a good football team and obviously he would welcome a Super Bowl experience.

“That’s the ultimate goal but nobody is owed anything,” he said. “It’s a great thing because all 32 teams are working towards that. Just to have the opportunity to be able to still play and also to be on a team with an organization like the Ravens, that’s all I could ask for.”

Birk used free agency to leave the Vikings. He said there were various reasons for his decision, although he said the money offered by the two clubs was similar. “In some ways I was just kind of itching for a change for something different. Baltimore was just a great situation. They had a great team, a great group. They were competitive. Great owner. I mean all those things were in order. I wasn’t going to leave for just anywhere but I felt the situation in Baltimore was too good to pass up.”

It’s been speculated that Birk and Vikings coach Brad Childress didn’t get along. Did his relationship with Childress impact his decision to leave the Vikings? “Maybe a little bit,” Birk said. “We had our ups and downs but at the end of the day I think we both respected each other. I played for him for three years and I learned a lot.”

Leaving the Vikings wasn’t something that Birk had long planned. “I would never have guessed that I wouldn’t have finished (with the Vikings) but things happen. To have played 11 years with the Vikings was unbelievable. I mean just unbelievable. A dream that I didn’t even know that I had that came true.”

Birk comes back to the Twin Cities in the offseason. This is home for his wife Adrianna and their children. The kids range in age from six months to 10 years.

Did the family do anything interesting in the offseason?

“I have six kids. Every day is interesting,” Birk answered.

He won’t see the kids today on his birthday but that’s okay. He’s been anticipating the start of another season for awhile now and knows July 23 won’t always be spent at training camp.

Comments Welcome