The Gopher basketball team survived some of the strangest officiating seen in awhile to beat No. 9 Louisville in Glendale, Arizona on Saturday. The Gophers, led by Al Nolen’s 18 points, are 10-0 for the first time since 1976-77 and figure to be nationally ranked when the latest polls are released today.
Vikings place-kicker Ryan Longwell is a neighbor of Tiger Woods in Orlando. He has played golf with Woods and also shared conversation with him at the golf range inside their gated community. While there’s speculation that Woods may not be sufficiently recovered from his left knee operation to resume play next year, Longwell sees it differently.
“Yeah, I would be shocked if that were true,” Longwell told Sports Headliners. “I know that he’s hitting irons and putting and hitting up to 100 yards right now. So he’s still got a lot of time. April is the Masters so he still has almost two and a half full months before he has to start getting in tournament mode where he has to start hitting more balls and stuff. …”
Longwell doesn’t think the left knee will be 100 percent until 2010. He also said Woods, whom he talked to earlier this fall when the Vikings played in Tampa, won’t play in 2009 unless he’s ready to perform at a high level.
Nothing has developed but there was conversation earlier this fall about a Pete Sampras–Andre Agassi exhibition match in Minnesota.
Thunder general manager Djorn Buchholz said first team all-leaguer Stephen deRouex has signed with Montreal but that second teamer Ricardo Sanchez will be back for next season. Typically seven to nine players on the 26 player roster don’t return from one season to the next.
The local USL soccer team has started its season ticket drive for 2009 with prices ranging from $65 to $375, and offers a $20 season pass to youth 20 and under. More at www.mnthunder.com
Clyde Turner’s eighth annual Kwanzaa, Christmas, Holiday Basketball Camp for youngsters starts today at Fairview Park in north Minneapolis. The camp, which runs each day this week except on Christmas Day, teaches basketball skills and sportsmanship, and discusses Kwanzaa. Turner was the leading scorer on the Gophers’ 1972 Big Ten championship team.
Former Gopher national championship coach Murray Warmath, who turns 96 on Friday, will be hosted at a luncheon by former players and other friends on December 30.
Ron Stolksi, who has been coaching high school football for almost 50 years, will be back as Brainerd’s head coach next year. Stolski is also the first full time executive director of the Minnesota High School Football Coaches Association.
Canterbury Park will host Claiming Crown for the ninth time in the event’s 11-year history on Saturday, July 25, 2009. Patterned after the Breeders’ Cup, the $600,000 Claiming Crown consists of seven races offered at varying distances on both dirt and turf.