David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Moss Wouldn’t Change Lambeau Incident

Posted on July 17, 2018July 17, 2018 by David Shama

Enjoy a Tuesday notes column:

Randy Moss, speaking on a conference call with reporters yesterday in advance of his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame next month, said he “wouldn’t change” his January 9, 2005 infamous incident at Lambeau Field.

In that wildcard playoff game Moss helped the Vikings to a 31-17 win by making big plays, but he infuriated Packers fans and amused some Vikings faithful when he feigned pulling down his pants as if to moon Green Bay fans in their home stadium after catching a touchdown pass. Moss was mocking the tradition of Packer fans who mooned the buses of Green Bay rivals when they came to Lambeau. He said yesterday his actions weren’t a celebration but “more for the fans.”

Fox play-by-play announcer Joe Buck called the incident a “disgusting act,” and fans regionally and nationally were divided in their views. “I didn’t know it was going to really get that kind of negative attention,” Moss said. “Of course, I wouldn’t have done nothing like that. I’ve never done nothing like that in my career. But it’s not like I pulled my pants down or anything like that.”

Among the greatest touchdown makers who ever played wide receiver, Moss’s career was characterized as much by controversy as big plays. He grew up poor in West Virginia and carried a chip on his shoulder, convinced that attitude would help him succeed. “Football is a brutal sport,” he said yesterday reflecting on his football days that included 14 seasons in the NFL.

The Vikings drafted Moss in the first round in 1998 and he was an immediate star who played in Minnesota until the 2005 offseason when owner Red McCombs sent him to the Raiders in a trade that still irks many local fans. Moss will be one of eight inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton on August 4.

Buck, who calls his 20th MLB All-Star Game tonight on TV, is married to Michelle Beisner, the niece of longtime Gopher public address announcer Dick Jonckowski of Shakopee.

Best player in tonight’s game? Sports Illustrated and a lot of sources claim that distinction belongs to Mike Trout of the Angels. In the magazine’s current issue S.I. lists “the highest WAR (wins above replacement) by a position player in his first eight seasons.” Trout, at 61.1, trails only Ted Williams, 72.6; Albert Pujols, 64.1; and Mickey Mantle, 61.4.

Any passionate baseball fan has favorite All-Star Game memories. Mine is the 1999 game in Boston when the immortal Williams, nearing the end of his life, was brought out on the field in a wheelchair to thunderous applause and tears of appreciation across the country.

A favorite of Twins president Dave St. Peter is the 1993 All-Star Game in Baltimore when the late Kirby Puckett was named MVP. “He loved the All-Star Game,” St. Peter said.

The Twins have hosted three All-Star Games in their history, 1965, 1985 and 2014. St. Peter said that because MLB likes to move the game around to various cities, it probably will be 20 years or more before Twins decision makers will even consider bringing another game to Minneapolis.

The Twins are 7.5 games behind the first place Indians in the Central Division. Twins catcher Bobby Wilson said on WCCO Radio’s “Sports Huddle” Sunday that the situation reminds him of his 2015 Rangers who were 8.5 games out of first place in the AL West on August 1 and won the division.

The Twins, 44-50, start a 10-game road trip after the All-Star break with a series against the struggling Royals that Minnesota needs to win. The Indians come to Target Field for a series starting July 30.

Minnesota probably needs to be about four games behind the Indians by mid-August to have a realistic chance of winning the division.

The Twins have named Double-A Chattanooga outfielder/first baseman Zander Wiel and Single-A Cedar Rapids right-handed pitcher Bailey Ober Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Week. Wiel played in seven games for the Lookouts last week, hitting .333 with one home run, three RBI, five walks and a .448 OBP. Ober, honored for the second consecutive week with the award, made one start for the Kernels, pitching 6.2 shutout innings while giving up five hits, with 10 strikeouts and allowing one walk.

Niko Guardado, the 21-year-old son of Twins bullpen coach Eddie Guardado, is an actor whose career includes TV appearances on “The Goldbergs” and “The Fosters.”

There is speculation about what’s wrong with the defending WNBA champion Lynx including that core players are declining because of age. These same players, though, have so much experience in knowing how to win they could be a surprise team later in the season and in the playoffs. The Lynx are 12-10, after losing only a total of seven games last season.

Elgin Baylor’s new book, “Hang Time,” includes his early NBA years in Minneapolis when he was almost a one-man team.

Comments Welcome

Streveler Proves U Critics Wrong

Posted on July 15, 2018July 15, 2018 by David Shama

Chris Streveler’s success, including now in the Canadian Football League, is a lot different than what the former Illinois high school all-state quarterback experienced with the Golden Gophers.

Like light years different.

Streveler enrolled at Minnesota in January of 2013 and participated in spring practice. By the spring of 2016 he was transferring to South Dakota, ending a Gopher career that included one meaningful game playing quarterback. Before Streveler transferred, he had been switched to wide receiver in an attempt to get him playing time and use the athleticism that helped produce over 1,200 rushing yards during his high school career.

In two seasons at South Dakota Streveler threw for 6,081 yards and 54 touchdowns. He was named Missouri Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Year following last season. That wasn’t enough, though, to make an NFL team draft him. Instead, he signed a CFL deal with Winnipeg where earlier this season he became the first quarterback coming straight out of college to start a league game since 1994.

Injury and retirement thinned the Blue Bombers’ quarterback roster this year and prompted naming Streveler the starter for the first three regular season games. Streveler had impressed in the preseason including in his first game when he completed 10 of 10 passes, with an 80-yard touchdown pass.

Streveler started the first three regular season games for the now 2-3 Blue Bombers. He has also seen game action since then. He has completed 57 of 91 passes, with six touchdown passes (tops on the team) and two interceptions. He is the team’s second leading rusher with 228 yards and four touchdowns.

At Minnesota Streveler, whose completion percentage in high school was 68.8 percent, was labeled a quarterback who couldn’t pass after the one start of his career for the Gophers. He attempted seven passes and completed one as part of a game plan against San Jose State that clearly mandated running the ball. Streveler rushed 18 times for 161 yards and running back David Cobb had 207 yards on 34 carries in Minnesota’s 24-7 win in September of 2014.

Critics thought the Gophers had a running back disguised as a QB. They saw him as a dart thrower, perhaps as likely to toss an interception as a completion. Streveler played behind Mitch Leidner, the 2014-2016 starter who had his own critics. Leidner never found the consistency needed to maximize Minnesota’s offense.

Turns out Streveler could have been the type of quarterback talent that has often been nonexistent at Minnesota for decades. Since 1987 the Gophers have had two highly honored quarterbacks with end of season Big Ten recognition. Rickey Foggie was named second team All-Big Ten in 1987 and Adam Weber earned the same honor in 2008.

Streveler found opportunity at South Dakota where he listened to his coaches including head man Bob Nielson. In a June 3, 2018 story in the Winnipeg Sun, Streveler said “…the amount that I learned in those two years, from those guys, it took my game to a level that I didn’t even know was there. If I hadn’t gone to South Dakota I wouldn’t have the opportunity to be here right now.”

Among Streveler’s receivers in Winnipeg is former Gopher teammate and wide receiver Drew Wolitarsky. In the San Jose game it was Wolitarsky who caught the one pass from Streveler—a modest seven-yard completion.

Oh, how things have changed.

Worth Noting

Wolitarsky has eight receptions for 136 yards and a Blue Bombers best three touchdown catches.

Dick Jonckowski’s biography came out last week and copies of the book are available by calling him at 952-261-3013. “It’s All about Me—Dick Jonckowski, a Minnesota Treasure” includes his trademark jokes and nearly 50 color photos of celebrities from Hulk Hogan to Red Skelton. The popular banquet emcee and longtime Gopher public address announcer collaborated on the biography with Jim Bruton who has authored other sports books with Minnesota connections.

Jose Berrios, the Twins’ 24-year-old pitcher who participates in his first MLB All-Star Game Tuesday night, earns $570,000 this season, according to Spotrac.com, the website that tracks baseball salaries.

Joe Mauer, the Twins’ 35-year-old first baseman, hasn’t played in the All-Star Game since 2013. He has six career All-Star Game appearances including three consecutive from 2008-2010.

Murray’s Restaurant owner Tim Murray has visited all 30 MLB stadiums and 22 facilities no longer being used. On July 27 he will watch the Twins and Red Sox at Fenway Park, and then two days later he will be at Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees and Royals.

Condolences to former Gopher wide receiver and now local TV personality Ron Johnson on the passing of his father July 10. His dad, also Ron Johnson, was 62 and played defensive back for the NFL Steelers.

Appointment viewing: the NFL Network and Fox 9 will televise the Kirk Cousins-Vikings versus Case Keenum-Broncos preseason game from Denver August 11. Fox 9 will televise all four of the Viking preseason games starting with the Broncos.

The NFL Network will televise all 65 NFL preseason games.

Vikings single game tickets go on sale Thursday starting at 10 a.m. and are available only through Ticketmaster online. Tickets start at $20 for preseason games, $58 for regular season.

Former Gopher assistant football coach Dan O’Brien, now head coach at St. Thomas Academy, has ex-U star Rickey Foggie as his quarterbacks coach, and two promising sophomore offensive linemen in Michael Bagley and Joel Vascellaro. Michael is the son of Vikings front office executive Lester Bagley and Joel’s parents are WCCO TV anchors Frank Vascellaro and Amelia Santaniello.

Comments Welcome

Another View on Wolves’ Butler-Towns

Posted on July 12, 2018July 12, 2018 by David Shama

Media reports that Timberwolves leader and best player Jimmy Butler is “fed up” with the alleged nonchalant attitude of teammate Karl-Anthony Towns are prevalent, but are those rumors true?

I asked Timberwolves point guard Tyus Jones if he is aware of a rift between Butler and Towns? “No,” he answered.

So Butler and Towns get along?

“They do,” Jones told Sports Headliners on Monday. “As you can see, we won a lot of games this year so I think everyone got along just fine.”

Jones said there were “no chemistry issues” on last season’s team that won 16 games more than the 2016-17 club. Butler, a guard-forward, joined the Wolves last offseason through a trade with the Bulls. As one of the NBA’s best two-way players, he made a major impact on and off the court. The Wolves earned their way into the playoffs for the first time since 2004. In the locker room the intense veteran made his presence known.

Before last season NBA general managers named Towns the player they would want most to start a franchise with. During the 2017-2018 season, his third in the NBA, the Wolves’ 22-year-old center averaged 21.3 points and 12.3 rebounds. However, there have been reports that Butler, the team’s leading scorer at 22.2 points per game, is not only critical of Towns’ lack of intensity, but that he also has the same feelings about another young Wolves player with high potential, forward-guard Andrew Wiggins.

All of this leaves Wolves fans uneasy because Butler becomes a free agent after the 2018-19 season. If Butler doesn’t want to be here, that’s certainly not true of Jones who also will be a free agent next year.

Jones expects his agent to begin talks about a new contract this summer and the Minnesota native admitted it would be difficult to leave Minneapolis. “It would be hard,” he said. “I’ve said since the beginning, when I was drafted here, this is a dream come true. I grew up a big Timberwolves fan.”

Jones has been a reserve in his first three seasons with the Timberwolves, who acquired him from the Cavs on draft night in 2015. Last season he played in all 82 regular season games but his minutes were limited and he averaged 5.1 points per game. He has career averages of 4.4 points and 2.8 assists, but has earned praise from coach Tom Thibodeau.

The 6-foot-2 Jones, who entered the NBA at about 185 pounds, looks more muscular this summer. “Put on some weight,” he said. “Just trying to focus on making good weight (muscle).”

The 22-year-old former Apple Valley star and prep All-American weighs about 190 pounds now. He is working on a summer development program with intentions to not only become stronger but quicker, and “improve all aspects of my game.”

His gym time included an appearance Monday evening in the Twin Cities Pro Am league at DeLaSalle High School. He played for Team Tyus, the team he sponsors in the summer time league that has players of varying ages and abilities.

Wolves fans might have concerns about next season’s team but Jones is upbeat. “(I) feel good about it,” he said. “We took a big leap this year. We’re going to continue to try to do that. Each year you want to improve individually and as a whole (team). So making the playoffs and ending that drought was our goal. Now this year it’s try and take it a step further.”

Crandall, Travis, Talked U Transfer

It’s not that well-known but the Golden Gophers might have started next season with high profile grad transfers and Minneapolis natives Geno Crandall and Reid Travis in their starting lineup. Crandall’s decision to choose Gonzaga over Minnesota is a national story this summer and the former North Dakota guard told Sports Headliners about the background to his process in choosing a school that included communications with Travis who is leaving Stanford to play his final season of college basketball at Kentucky.

Crandall describes Travis as his “best friend,” and the two have played basketball together since they were five years old. They played on state championship teams in high school at DeLaSalle. Earlier this year the two texted about playing for the Gophers in their hometown. “We talked…about it and gave it some thought,” Crandall said.

Crandall averaged 16.2 points per game last season for the Fighting Hawks, leading the team in scoring. The 6-foot-3 Crandall was second-team All-Big Sky for the second consecutive season. Travis averaged 19.5 points and 8.7 rebounds for Stanford. The 6-foot-8 forward was a first-team All-Pac-12 selection.

The Gophers have a roster talented enough to prompt speculation they could earn their way into the NCAA Tournament next season. But with Crandall and Travis they could have been a Big Ten title favorite. “Oh, yeah, no doubt,” Crandall said.

Crandall believes Travis was influenced in choosing Kentucky because of the program’s national exposure and reputation for sending players on to the NBA. Those were factors that resonated with Crandall, too, in choosing Gonzaga.

The Zags are expected to be a top 10 team nationally. Crandall’s goal is to help the Bulldogs earn their way through the 2019 NCAA Tournament to the Final Four in Minneapolis. He knows how special it could feel playing for a national title in his home city.

Gonzaga has an opening for playing time in its starting backcourt. The path to playing time appeared more direct to him than at Minnesota where the Gophers have experienced players at both point and shooting guard. Those players include grad transfer Brock Stull from Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The decision to choose Gonzaga wasn’t easy. He thought a lot about both Minnesota and Xavier where former Gopher assistant coach and DeLaSalle player Ben Johnson now works.

“Honestly, it was probably the toughest decision I ever had to make in my life,” Crandall said. “The first time around, coming out of high school, it wasn’t such a hard decision because I didn’t have too many offers, or too many programs that I really loved.

“But it was an extremely tough decision to say no to the hometown team that I grew up watching. (Minnesota) coach (Richard) Pitino, I think he’s really building something special. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem in the cards for me for what I was looking for my last year…”

Comments Welcome