Prep school, college and now the NFL has taken Minneapolis’ Larry Fitzgerald far from home.  Still, Fitzgerald spent the off season here before heading back to Arizona to play for the Cardinals and former Viking coach Denny Green.  In a summer interview Fitzgerald said “Minneapolis is always home.  I will be here from April to the end of July every year.”

Fitzgerald grew up on the south side of the city and through his sportswriter father Larry met Green.  It was the elder Fitzgerald who asked the coach if his son could be a Vikings ball boy.  In that role young Larry received a tutorial on being a receiver from Vikings receivers including Cris Carter.  Randy Moss helped, too, but Fitzgerald said Carter had the most impact noting that Carter was more vocal and instructive.

Fitzgerald learned his lessons, applied his natural gifts, starred at Holy Angels and the University of Pittsburgh, and made the NFC’s 2006 Pro Bowl roster as a wide receiver after his second season with the Cardinals.  He has three more years on his contract with Arizona.  And then? 

“I hope in the next few years I can work out an extension with the Arizona Cardinals,” Fitzgerald said.  “That would be great.” 

The Vikings?  “If that’s what happens I would be more than happy to play at home,” he said. “I have been a huge Vikings fan since I was a child.  That would definitely be a dream come true for me but I am enjoying my time in Arizona with coach Green.  He’s a great coach and great man. . . I love playing for him.”

Fitzgerald’s dad, and his mom Carol, who passed away a few years ago, insisted that Larry adopt a humanitarian view toward life and be involved with community work.  “I have a big heart,” Fitzgerald said in thinking about his mom.  “ If I see someone struggling or in need I am never gonna let that go.  I am going to go out there and help somebody because it’s kind of the way my mom was. Even if she did not have the resources she would find somebody who did to help people out in the community.”

Wally’s Choice, with over $427,000 in career earnings, is closing in on Blair’s Cove’s all-time record of $533,528 for Minnesota bred race horses.   Owned by Wally and Joyce McNeil, and Canterbury Park Board Chairman Curtis Sampson, the horse will race at Canterbury Park on August 20 and September 3, and in November will race in Oklahoma.  Wally, known to many as “Wally the Beerman,” said if his horse remains healthy the earnings record may well be broken before the year ends.

Involved with ownership for 11 years, McNeil said there was no predicting Wally’s Choice would be such a success story.  “You never know with any horse how good it’s going to be.  He’s got a big heart (Wally’s Choice is a come from behind performer).  He’s one of those freaks, a once in a lifetime type of horse.”

It’s a crap shoot to predict whether a horse will become a winner but Wally’s Choice’s granddad, Storm Cat, sure has credibility.  The Kentucky based Storm Cat earns $500,000 when he sires a live foal.

A rivals.com fan poll asked respondents to select the greatest football players at various colleges.  With 83 percent support Bronko Nagurski was easily the popular choice among former University of Minnesota players.  Darrell Thompson was a distant second with less than 20 percent support.

Thompson, the Gophers all-time leading rusher in career yards, mentioned many past Gophers who might have drawn support, including Kent Kitzmann from Thompson’s home town of Rochester.  “It’s amazing that people would think of me,” Thompson said.

Kitzmann rushed 57 times in one game for the Gophers as they defeated Illinois in 1977.    Kitzmann and Thompson are among the school’s famed running backs including Laurence Maroney, Marion Barber (father and son), Paul Giel, Bob McNamara and Heisman Trophy winner Bruce Smith (the subject of a Hollywood movie).

As for Bronko, he merely made all-American at three positions, end, tackle and fullback.  In 1929 he was named all-American at both tackle and fullback, becoming the first player to ever achieve that distinction.