David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Craig Leipold’s House Dodges Dorian

Posted on September 5, 2019September 5, 2019 by David Shama

Enjoy a Thursday notes column with news about the Wild, Twins, Gophers and Vikings.

Dorian, the hurricane that has ravaged parts of the Caribbean this week including the Bahamas, didn’t damage Great Exuma Island in the Bahamas where Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold has a home. Abaco Island in the Bahamas, located about 200 miles from Leipold’s home, was devastated. Leipold was told there was a lot of rain in recent days on Great Exuma, but no property damage.

“We were lucky we dodged it,” Leipold told Sports Headliners yesterday. “The next one, who knows?”

Leipold is looking forward so much to the start of the Wild’s 2019-2020 season he has decided to postpone his fourth hip replacement until January. He was scheduled for September surgery on his right hip but with the doctor’s approval decided to wait until next year.

The Twins have a Cleveland stopper in right-hand starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi. He is 2-0 this season against the Indians who come to Minneapolis for a three-game series starting Friday. He has a 1:04 ERA in 17.1 innings pitched versus the Indians, who as of this morning are 5.5 games behind the Twins in the race to win the American League Central Division title. The Indians lead the season series so far 7-6.

In Odorizzi’s last Cleveland start he pitched 5.2 shutout inngs with six strikeouts. That August 10 win at Target Field was pivotal because it broke a first place tie with the Indians and provided Minnesota a one game lead in the division.

Odorizzi has a career high 14 wins (14-6 record) and will make a Saturday start in the upcoming series. In his last seven starts, he is 3-1 with a 3.00 ERA.

A spokesman in the Twins ticket office said yesterday only ballpark access tickets ($25) remain for Saturday night’s game, with greater inventory available for Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.

The Twins will make an announcement Monday regarding playoff tickets for the general public. Details have already been provided to season ticket holders. The club is also renewing season tickets for 2020 and selling to new account holders.

The football Gophers are 1-6 in games on the West Coast (in California, Oregon, Washington) during the last 50 years. The only win came at Oregon State two years ago in coach P.J. Fleck’s first season. Saturday night Minnesota plays at Fresno State, with a 9:30 p.m. Minneapolis time kickoff and temps expected in the 80s.

Talking on his weekly KFAN Radio show Tuesday, Fleck said he will keep his players on Central Daylight time and not reset watches while in California. For preparation, the heat has been turned up in the Gophers’ practice facility.

Fresno State is one of the best teams in the Mountain West Conference, a league that experienced an impressive opening weekend several days ago. Fresno State lost but was competitive at USC (31-23), while rival power Boise State defeated Florida State from the ACC in Tallahassee. The Mountain West’s Hawaii, Nevada and Wyoming staged upset wins over three Power Five teams, Arizona, Purdue and Missouri respectively.

Minnesota has been one of the least penalized teams in the nation dating back to the 2017 season, Fleck’s first with the Gophers. In the past 26 games the Gophers have been penalized 93 times for 888 yards. In 2016 Minnesota was penalized 88 times for 743 yards in 13 games.

SI.com’s NFL power rankings of 32 teams posted on Tuesday offered this top 10: Patriots, Chiefs, Saints, Rams, Eagles, Cowboys, Packers, Falcons, Steelers and Chargers. The Vikings ranked No. 14, with the Bears at 11. NFC North rivals the Packers, Bears and Vikings made the top 15, with the division’s fourth team, the Lions, at No. 22.

The Vikings, 8-7-1 last season, start their regular season Sunday at home against a Falcons team that also disappointed in 2018 with their 7-9 record. The Falcons have perhaps the NFL’s best unit of wide receivers led by the great Julio Jones, but quarterback Matt Ryan, 34, doesn’t have a strong arm and that may cue the Vikings safeties to play nearer the line of scrimmage and more easily stop the run.

Not much is being said about it, but the Vikings seem likely to often use a two tight ends formation this season with Kyle Rudolph and Irv Smith Jr. Such a scheme changes the technique of defensive linemen and makes them wonder whether the offense will attack with a run or pass.

Vikings running back Dalvin Cook is counted on to have a breakout season after being held back by injuries in 2017 and 2018. Statistics support his reputation as a playmaker. He has a career rushing average of 4.7 yards, with nine runs of 20-plus yards or more. As a pass receiver he is averaging 7.7 yards, with six receptions of 20-plus yards.

Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer after being asked what needs to happen for this season to be a success: “I would say the biggest thing is…if we go out and we play really smart football, (and) we don’t beat ourselves. We control the explosive plays in the game, on both sides of the ball. We have them and they (opponents) don’t. …I think if we are effective in the last 10 minutes of the fourth quarter in ball games, I think we’ll be good.”

New this year at U.S. Bank Stadium is having a young Vikings fan push the button that opens the massive doors and allows fresh air into the facility. The facility opened in 2016 and late last month was ranked No. 1 among NFL stadiums by Dan Graziano writing for SI.com.

Former Viking Adrian Peterson, now with the Redskins, is tied with Jim Brown for the fifth most rushing touchdowns in NFL history, 106 each. The all-time leader is Emmitt Smith with a 164.

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College Football Weekend a Charmer

Posted on September 3, 2019September 3, 2019 by David Shama

Opening weekend of college football is like Christmas for me, only better. It’s great fun checking in on the televised games, and if I become bored I can head for a break at the swimming pool. Try diving off the outdoor high-board around Christmas time in Minnesota.

FBS Minnesota and FCS South Dakota State got things rolling last Thursday night. FCS opponents are usually scheduled by Power Five Conference teams because they are softer than political campaign promises. The Gophers, though, got the opposite against FCS powerhouses South Dakota State and North Dakota State.

The somewhat wise guy suggestion here is to try lesser FCS teams for the Minnesota opener like maybe Presbyterian from the Big South, or “The Boy & Girl” (William & Mary of the Colonial Athletic Association)—but not the Jackrabbits and Bison who hang out together in the competitive Missouri Valley Conference.

The Jacks know how to schedule nonconference games. After losing a game they should have won with the Big Ten Conference Gophers, they’re at home next Saturday against Long Island University from the Northeast Conference. Make SDSU a big favorite in that game!

If you’re picking up a favorable attitude toward the Jacks, I confess. The program’s boss is John Stiegelmeier, and I like coaches old enough to collect Social Security.

As for the mighty Bison—winners of seven FCS national championships in eight years—they destroyed Butler, 57-10, last Saturday in the second college football game ever played at Target Field. The game was the NDSU head coaching debut of Matt Entz. He’s the program’s third head guy since the national title run started and that speaks to how they know the “secret sauce” in Fargo.

It was encouraging to see the Gophers announce a near capacity crowd Thursday night. Minnesota fans, though, are a casual bunch. They routinely head for the exits in the second half, even when the game is close like against South Dakota State. At Wisconsin games, fans do the “Jump Around” between the third and fourth quarters. In Minneapolis they head for the dorms, the bars and the interstate.

College football is celebrating its 150th birthday in 2019. In the sport’s first game ever, Rutgers defeated Princeton “six goals to four goals” in November of 1869. The Rutgers program hasn’t done a lot to distinguish itself since then, and why the school was welcomed into the Big Ten a few years back is something that makes a lot of the league’s fans wince. Painful, too, was watching the Scarlet Knights start their game down 14-0 to UMass, an awful FBS program.

Rutgers (48-21 winners) was one of three Big Ten teams to play on Friday night. Michigan State looked intimidating while beating up on Tulsa, 28-7. Coach Mark Dantonio’s teams most always play punishing football. He demands it. The guy scowls and I jump a foot, even while watching on TV! Wisconsin embarrassed South Florida, 49-0, to give the Big Ten a Friday sweep.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago the Badger program could be on the decline. I am sure Bucky used my words as bulletin board material for motivation. And, yes, South Florida coach Charlie Strong’s seat is warm in Tampa, and it’s not because of the weather.

Hey, is there any better way to start Saturday morning than by watching college football GameDay on ESPN? Let’s put it this way: if I got stuck in an elevator for a couple of hours who better for companions than Lee Corso, Rece Davis and Kirk Herbstreit? Corso is a character who does strange things like picking Utah to make the playoff finals, and he brings down the house when he dons a mascot head to pick the winner of a featured game. Davis and Herbstreit are charmers with football IQ’s through the roof.

GameDay’s Desmond Howard can ride in another elevator. Not big on the Des and part of it might be he is a Michigan alum. Hard to forget the uncivil treatment our travel party received from Big Blue fans when we were at a Michigan game years ago. Apparently it was offensive to wear maroon and gold clothing.

Who says there is no security in college football coaching? Kirk Ferentz began his Iowa head coaching career in 1999 and he is still the Hawkeye boss man. Before Ferentz, Hayden Fry was the Iowa head coach from 1979-1998. That’s two head coaches in 40 years. I would tell you how many the Gophers have burned through but I can’t find my calculator.

I am picking the Hawkeyes and Northwestern to tie for the Big Ten West Division title. The Hawks might have top 10 future NFL draft choices in linemen A.J. Epenesa and Tristan Wirfs. Less is usually more at Iowa where Ferentz and staff make the most of their available talent. A big year for the Hawks gets the minds of farmers off crop prices. Iowa defeated Miami (Ohio) Saturday night, 38-14.

Ohio State put up 28 points on Florida Atlantic by midway through the first quarter and won the game 45-21 Saturday. Oh, my, a tough day for Bloomington Jefferson alum Lane Kiffin who brings his Owls to TCF Bank Stadium for Minnesota’s opener in 2020. As for the Buckeyes, they remain the gold standard of Big Ten football. How high is the bar in Columbus? Well, last year the Bucks won the Big Ten title, won the Rose Bowl and finished a 13-1 season while an air of disappointment hung over Columbus because their beloveds weren’t invited to the playoffs and to have a chance to win the national title.

What was the worst sign I saw a fan hold up over five days of viewing? “Idaho isn’t even a state.”

Honest. Saw it prior to the Penn State-Idaho game on Saturday.

Best mascot in the country? Gotta go with Sports Illustrated’s online August 12 ranking that chose Georgia’s English Bulldog, Uga.

The best game I watched during my college football weekend was Iowa State’s three overtime 29-26 win over Northern Iowa in Ames. The Big-12 Cyclones, a top 25 ranked FBS team, had to rally on their home field to tie the game at 13-13 and head for the first overtime. Substitute walk-on kicker Matthew Cook, a true freshman, made all four of his field goal attempts, including one from 50 yards for FCS Northern Iowa—another member of the Valley.

My finale was Monday night when Notre Dame played at Louisville. During the weekend I wondered whether Fighting Irish and Green Bay Packers legend Paul Hornung might attend the game. I can’t confirm his attendance, but move to the head of the class if you know Louisville was Hornung’s hometown when he went off to Notre Dame in the early 1950s. I believe he still lives there.

After opening weekend the Big Ten had won 12 of 14 games (most by big margins), but lost two of three on the road. Out West Nevada beat Purdue, 34-31, on a last minute field goal and Northwestern lost 17-7 at Stanford. The Gophers, too, head West later in the week to play at Fresno State. Be warned!

That’s my opening weekend college football saga, with just one request for assistance. Several months ago I lost a TV remote in the family room. No kidding, honest to Goldy! Never did find it. Help.

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Whew! 9 Win U Prediction Survives

Posted on August 30, 2019August 30, 2019 by David Shama

Enjoy a Friday notes column dispatched to readers after last night’s comeback win by the football Golden Gophers against South Dakota State.

Darrell Thompson, the Gophers’ all-time leading rusher, believes this Minnesota team is the deepest he has seen while doing 23 years of color commentary on radio broadcasts. He told Sports Headliners earlier in the week the Gophers will finish 9-3 overall, 6-3 in the Big Ten.

Thompson’s prediction was tested last night against SDSU, a top-five FCS team that was supposed to lose the game by a couple of touchdowns. Instead, the Jackrabbits led 21-20 until the FBS Gophers scored a late touchdown and two-point conversion to win 28-21 in a home season opening game that could have done major damage to prospects for the program’s first nine victory season since 2016.

Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck emphasizes the subject of turnovers when talking about why teams win or lose games. His team had no fumbles and a harmless interception last night but turnovers by SDSU redshirt freshman quarterback J’Bore Gibbs led to 14 of Minnesota’s points including a 43-yard interception third quarter return for a touchdown by Chris Williamson.

In an entertaining back and forth game, the Gophers made enough plays to win but gave their fans plenty to fret about. The offensive and defensive lines were way to inconsistent in their performances. Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan was frequently under pressure trying to throw as the Jackrabbits either caused confusion or used speed to go around Gopher linemen. The defense, including the Minnesota line, was exploited inside and out against the Jackrabbits who had more first downs, rushing yards and passing yards than the Gophers.

The Gophers were twice out of position on SDSU kickoff returns including what should have been a Jackrabbit touchdown late in the second quarter. An illegal block in the back nullified an SDSU kickoff return touchdown and a 14-13 lead at halftime.

Minnesota now is 2-0 this century against South Dakota State, having won two games by a total of 10 points. Nothing to crow about, but better than the alternative of being 1-1 after last night.

Thompson was interviewed recently on “Behind the Game,” the Twin Cities cable TV program co-hosted by Patrick Klinger and Bill Robertson. The show can also be viewed on YouTube.

By late Saturday evening all 14 Big Ten Conference teams will have played a season opening nonconference game. Every coach will welcome a win but three have such poor career records they badly need a ‘W.’ The college coaching records of Rutgers’ Chris Ash, Maryland’s Mike Locksley and Illinois’ Lovie Smith are 7-29, 3-31 and 9-27 respectively.

In Big Ten games only the three coaches are 3-24, 1-5 and 4-23.

Counting conference and nonconference games, every Big Ten team will play at least six teams that participated in a bowl game last season. Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin have eight such matchups, followed by Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern and Rutgers with seven each.

Among the Power Five Conferences, the Big 12 is the only one without its own stand-alone TV network. Those networks are major revenue and exposure generators, and the day might be coming when there is only a Power Four consisting of the Big Ten, ACC, Pac-12 and SEC. If the Big 12 dissolved, would Oklahoma and Texas join the Big Ten’s West Division? If so, Purdue could move to the East Division so the conference can be balanced with two eight-team divisions.

Minnesota’s next game is at Fresno State a week from Saturday evening, and fans without access to the CBS Sports Network won’t be able to watch on TV.

Barbara Butts Williams is being honored by Twin Cities Business Magazine in October for her board service to Allina Health. She was the wife of the late John Williams, the community minded Minneapolis dentist who was a 1967 first team All-Big Ten offensive tackle on the Gophers Big Ten championship team.

Minneapolis native Larry Fitzgerald will soon start his 16th NFL season, all with the Arizona Cardinals. Paul Allen, the Vikings radio voice, ranks Fitzgerald the NFL’s third best all-time blocker among wide receivers. Allen said during the simulcast of the August 24 Minnesota-Arizona preseason game only Hines Ward and Anquan Bolden rank ahead of Fitzgerald.

With nine teams, including Minnesota United, vying for a playoff spot in the MLS Western Conference, club CEO Chris Wright is pleased the Loons have veteran 31-year-old goalie Vito Mannone playing for them. Wright told Sports Headliners Mannone “is not nervous” in big games and has faced a lot of pressure in his career including in the English Premier League. “Big goalkeepers win big games,” Wright said.

Alpine skiing great and Minnesota native Lindsey Vonn, whose foundation works to empower young girls to grow as athletes and individuals, speaks at the State Theatre September 23.

Jeff Passolt, the St. Louis Park native who won Emmys for sports and news TV journalism, speaks to the CORES lunch group Thursday, September 12 at the Bloomington Event Center, 1114 American Blvd. Public reservations are accepted until Monday, September 9 by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.

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