Dom stays in touch with his older brother.  He said his parents make an effort to attend games of both sons, with an emphasis this year on Dom’s games because this is his senior season.

The Gophers are 1-6 this season, including 0-4 in the Big Ten Conference.  The Cowboys are 5-1.  Dom admires his brother’s attitude and with the Gophers’ record it’s easy to see how it’s useful to him.  “He’s the type of guy that whatever happens, happens,” Dom told Sports Headliners last week.  “He says you got to just keep fighting. You got to keep going and good things will happen. …”

Dom said that although he played running back in high school, he never pressed to play that position with the Gophers.  The team needed help on defense and that’s where he’s stayed. His presence on defense is of some comfort to Brewster whose defense is among the worst in college football. “His (Marion’s) brother is playing extremely well for us,” Brewster said last week.  “I shudder to think where we would be defensively without him.”

Dom couldn’t have expected so much responsibility in his senior season.  Dominic Jones, the team’s best cornerback and defensive player, was asked to leave the team before the season.  Other experienced secondary players haven’t stepped up.  Brewster has turned to true freshmen to join Dom in the backfield.

“He’s a mother hen back there in the secondary,” Brewster said.  “He’s got three true freshmen that he’s trying to line up and he’s trying to guide around. And he has an upset stomach because of it. But I am going to tell you what; he’s playing his butt off.  Dom Barber is playing as good a football on the defensive side as anybody in the Big Ten.  He’s tackling, he’s making plays. … I mean the guy is all over the field. …He honors the game the way he plays it.  Each and every game he’s mentally prepared. He does things right and he’s obviously one of the better players in the Big Ten.”

Dom is the leading tackler on the Gopher team.  In last Saturday’s 49-48 overtime loss to Northwestern he was selected by WCCO Radio as Minnesota’s defensive player of the game.  In the game Dom made key plays including a Northwestern player committing pass interference against him.

Brewster told Sports Headliners earlier this year that Dom is the best pro prospect among his seniors.  “He’s got all the attributes you look for in a safety,” Brewster said. “Very physical guy.  He’s got speed.  He can cover half the field.  He can cover a tight end.  He’s a blitzer.  I think Dom Barber is a real good pro prospect.”

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Adrian Peterson told Fox-TV prior to its telecast of the Viking-Bear game that his goals are to rush for 1,800 yards and be the NFL’s Rookie of the Year.  Peterson ran for three touchdowns yesterday as the Vikings ended a six game road losing streak.  Peterson has now rushed for a league leading 607 yards. The Vikings, who entered the game with a total of two passes for touchdowns and two runs for scores in four games, produced four offensive touchdowns and a field goal to win 34-31.  The Vikings had the fewest offensive touchdowns of any NFL team coming into yesterday’s game.

Minnesota coach Tim Brewster decided on a two point conversion attempt at the end of the second overtime and the Gophers failed, losing 49-48 to Northwestern.  Among the interesting ways of looking at that decision is the college rule mandating teams must attempt a two-point conversion beginning with a third overtime (no extra point attempts allowed).  By making an extra point and going to a third overtime, the Gophers could have postponed the higher risk task of trying to make a two point conversion.

Look for the crowd at Saturday’s Minnesota-North Dakota State game in the dome to be more vocal in favor of the Bison than the Gophers.  The game may sellout later in the week and large numbers of tickets have been purchased by North Dakota State fans.  Others have received tickets from Gopher season ticket purchasers.  The Bison are No. 1 in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision rankings.

Representatives of both the Gopher athletic department and Star Tribune said they have received few comments about local cable subscribers not being able to see Minnesota football games on the Big Ten Network.  Presumably more comments are being sent directly to the cable companies or Big Ten Network.  Also, there’s a lack of interest in the Gophers because of their 1-6 record.

It was on this date in 1967 that the Minnesota North Stars played their first regular season game, losing on the road to the California Seals, according to sports encyclopaedia.com.  Six days later the team played its first game ever in Met Center, a new facility built adjacent to Met Stadium.  In the early years of the North Stars, fans dressed up for the games at Met Center with men wearing suits and women in expensive fur coats.

Tom Hanneman will be working Timberwolves telecasts for a 19^th season in 2007-2008.  Jim Petersen returns for his 10^th season as a Wolves TV analyst.

Theo Ratliff, the Timberwolves 34-year-old center who has had back problems, told Sports Headliners he can’t play as many as 32 minutes per game.

I like Wheaties Field as the name for the new downtown baseball stadium.  Send me your suggested names, ds@shamasportsheadliners.com.

Rondell White, expected to announce his retirement before next season, has hardly been a “hit” for the Twins in two seasons but he has a career average of .284 and hit .300 multiple times in the past, including 2005 in Detroit. White produced 11 home runs with 58 RBI in two seasons with the Twins, with batting averages of .246 and .174.

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A visitor told Minnesota Wild president Doug Risebrough that the Sporting News had predicted Jacques Lemaire will be the 2007-2008 Coach of the Year in the NHL.  Risebrough said with a smile that he’s picking Lemaire, too.

The 62-year-old Lemaire started his seventh season last week as the only coach of the Wild in franchise history.  Prior to coming here, Lemaire has been honored as NHL Coach of the Year (Jack Adams Award) while working for New Jersey and also won the award in 2003 with the Wild.  His reputation as one of the league’s best coaches was established long ago and enhanced by the Wild’s performance last season (most points in franchise history), and the prospect of a breakout season that could see Minnesota go deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs next spring.

Risebrough was asked what he sees in Lemaire and what prompts a publication like Sporting News to think the former Montreal Canadien player and coach is so capable.  “There’s two things that standout for me,” Risebrough said. “First of all, he’s an extremely bright guy, and not just in his knowledge of hockey but in life. … He’s very intellectual… able to articulate his points to the players, to adjust to a game plan.  He’s quick.

“The other (second) thing I would say is he has a great feel for the players.  Meaning it’s kind of a combination of his motivation and a combination of his experience. He’s obviously motivated to try and improve them individually, improve them within the team. …Because he thinks like a player, this makes sense to do it this way, because a player would think about doing it this way. …

“I’ve seen a lot of people who are intuitive and intellectual, but not many people that are both.  And Jacques, I don’t know why and when he knows when to do it, but he can be very intuitive. You’ll ask him why did you do that and he’ll say, ‘I don’t know why, it just felt right.’  Then the next time you’ll ask him about something else and you’ll get a long answer that’s been very analytical.  I’ve seen people that have been successful that are just intuitive and I’ve seen people that have been successful that are just intellectual. …I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody else other than Jacques that’s both. …”

Risebrough was asked how Lemaire, even with his 12-year career as a player for the Montreal Canadiens, and 13 years as an NHL head coach, has improved while directing the Wild since 2000.  Risebrough suggested that Lemaire “is a lot more comfortable” now than he used to be in talking hockey with the media.  Risebrough said people comment that they like Lemaire’s presentation during his post-game radio news conferences.  Lemaire’s analytical, thoughtful style has created a status of respect among many listeners.

Then Risebrough made a second point about his coach.  “I thought when I first started with Jacque he was going to be less flexible,” he said.  “Today he’s a very flexible guy.  I think he was probably more flexible than I anticipated but I’ve noticed that he’s driven with a lot of flexibility.  He’ll do whatever it takes to figure out what makes it work.  He’s a good listener. … He includes people. … He’s not driven with just, ‘we gotta do it this way and it’s the only way.’ …”

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