A newsworthy aspect of Brewster’s media day on Saturday was the announcement that he won’t make excuses if the Gophers don’t perform.  Seldom has a coach or manager made such a public statement but the new Gopher coach is looking for results. If he and the team don’t produce, he isn’t planning to be a spin doctor. 

Brewster reiterated his goal to win right away, again taking aim on a Big Ten championship and trip to the Rose Bowl.  While predicting a bright future in recruiting, the expectation is to win now.  “Patience is not one of my better virtues,” he said. 

He praised his players for improving their conditioning and strength.  Last winter after being named Gopher coach he said the players needed to be in “better shape.”  He said Saturday the way players look now is “mind blowing in physical appearance and conditioning.”

Brewster’s most enthusiastic and newsy remarks included comments about his offensive and defensive coordinators, Mike Dunbar and Everett Withers.  Famed Texas coach Mack Brown, who once employed Brewster as an assistant, told the Gopher coach that the 58-year- old Dunbar had been on his list of offensive coordinator candidates if the Longhorns were shopping.  “He’s just a sage old veteran,” Brewster said.

Dunbar joined the Gophers after building his reputation at California and before that Northwestern.  Withers, 44, came to the Gophers from the NFL’s Tennessee Titans and before that had coaching stops at Texas and Louisville.  Brewster predicted that Withers will one day become a head coach.  “He is a flat-out star in our profession,” Brewster said.  “I am going to do everything I can to make it happen.” 

Brewster also said the Gophers need to learn to close out games, stopping the trend of blowing leads such as the infamous Texas Tech bowl loss.  “We’re gonna finish games on offense, finish games on defense (and) in the kicking game,” he said. “I am looking for players that… love the game and will finish.”

Brewster said senior linebacker John Shevlin, being counted on as an important defensive contributor, has a sore back.  Even if Shevlin’s practice time is limited, the goal will be to have him ready for the team’s opening game with Bowling Green on September 1.   

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After yesterday’s 1-0 win over the Indians, the Twins are 49-1 when leading after eight innings.

Catcher Joe Mauer has the best percentage in the American League for throwing out runners attempting to steal bases.  He’s 14-28 on the season.

Santana slump: Johan Santana, the Twins Cy Young award winning pitcher is 0-3 in his last four starts with a 4.85 ERA.  In those four appearances he’s given up five home runs and now has allowed 29 homers during the season (in Santana’s career his season high for home runs is 29).

I don’t know how much more Minnesota can do for New England.  We’ve got the Boston area covered in four sports with our former stars: Randy Moss and Laurence Maroney (Patriots), Kevin Garnett (Celtics), David Ortiz (Red Sox), and Manny Fernandez (Bruins).

St. Louis, with Marc Bulger and backup Gus Frerotte, might have the best quarterbacks in the NFC.   Frerotte played with the Vikings from  2003-04. The Rams are in town Friday night to open the Vikings pre-season schedule.  Sporting News ranks the Rams quarterbacks No. 1 in the NFC followed by the Eagles, Saints and Cowboys.  The Viking quarterbacks drew a No. 16 ranking, last place.

The exodus of writers at the Star Tribune includes sports writers Pam Schmid, Jay Weiner and Steve Aschburner, all of whom accepted buyouts.  Gopher basketball beat writer Jeff Shelman has switched from sports to news.  The Gopher assignment is currently open.  Star Tribune space devoted to sports has declined this year.

Fans of the 1986 Boston Celtics NBA championship team recall that Hall of Famer Bill Walton wore jersey No. 5.  That’s Kevin Garnett’s new number with the Celtics.

Tim Brewster hosted a senior night for his players last Saturday at Jax Café.  Speakers scheduled were former Gopher football players Billy Bye, Desi Williamson and Lee Hutton. 

About 35 former Gopher teammates attended Charlie Sanders‘ induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last weekend, according to John Bell Wilson.  Wilson, a long time Gopher booster and former basketball manager, said there are 241 players in the Hall of Fame including six former Gophers, Bronko Nagurski, Bud Grant, Leo Nomellini, Bobby Bell, Carl Eller and Sanders.

Wyatt McCoy, the Mounds View eighth grader who won the state high school class AA singles tennis title last spring, is recognized for his accomplishment in the current issue of Sports Illustrated.  The magazine reported in its Faces in the Crowd section that McCoy is the first eighth grader “in the 79 year history” of the Minnesota tournament to win the singles championship.

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Two organizations benefited immediately from this week’s trade sending Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics and bringing two future No. 1 draft picks and five players to the Minnesota Timberwolves.  Guess who those organizations are? 

The Celtics?  Hard to find anyone except for perhaps Al Jefferson’s family who disagrees with that.  If your second guess is the NBA, take a seat at the front of the class.

In recent years the NBA’s mega east coast teams in Philadelphia, New York and Boston have been lousy.  That’s bad business for the league since those areas offer huge upside in merchandising and TV ratings.  Among the reasons this spring for the NBA’s dismal television ratings was the absence of large market glamour teams such as Philly, New York, Boston and the Los Angeles Lakers.

The league will jump start its marketing next season with a Celtics lineup that includes three superstars–Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.  The Celtics, who won 24 games last season, are possible future NBA champions.

Perhaps one day the Garnett trade will be a win-win-win for the Celtics, NBA and the Wolves.  For the Wolves to ultimately be in the winner’s circle, a couple of acquired players, led by promising 22-year-old forward Al Jefferson, plus a draft pick or two, must become star players.  That’s speculation, but spinning a promising future for the Celtics and an upswing in NBA popularity is based on past performance.

I wanted to see a Timberwolves lineup (at least occasionally) with Garnett starting at center, forwards Craig Smith and Corey Brewer, and guards Ricky Davis and Randy Foye.  That’s a small but athletic lineup with ability to push the ball up the court, cause mismatches on offense and pressure teams on defense.

That lineup would win more games than the one the Wolves will offer up for the 2007-2008 season.  The Wolves roster is now loaded with inexperienced players, plus veterans who have been unproductive.  The Wolves have 10 players 25 years old and under including Jefferson, Gerald Green, 21, Sebastian Telfair, 22 and Ryan Gomes, 25, all who joined the team as part of the Garnett deal.

More youth is coming, likely to include a top pick in the 2008 NBA draft.  The Wolves will probably have one of the league’s worst records next season and could luck into a top three pick in the draft. 

That can be seen as a positive and so is the result of freeing up more money on the team’s payroll by unloading Garnett’s big salary and eventually that of Theo Ratliff, the one veteran player who came here in the trade.  Next year the Wolves will have the opportunity to add free agent talent to mix with their youthful players.

The Wolves were in a rut with Garnett and the situation was screaming for change. The Wolves have missed the playoffs three consecutive seasons with Garnett.  Management hadn’t been able to improve the team.  The last gasp at moving this franchise out of despair probably was the failed attempt to bring Allen Iverson from Philly to Minneapolis last winter.  Two superstars would have brought the Wolves closer to the other contenders in the Western Conference and boosted box office interest in the team. 

 Now the Wolves are searching for one superstar. 

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