David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Look for KG to Play All Home Games

Posted on March 2, 2015March 2, 2015 by David Shama

The Timberwolves have 11 remaining home games this season. Fans can expect to see Kevin Garnett in every one of those games in Minneapolis.

“He will play them all at home, and then some of them (13) away,” Wolves owner Glen Taylor told Sports Headliners during a telephone interview.

Garnett, the 38-year-old future Hall of Famer, returned to the Wolves via trade last month and made his debut last Wednesday night before a standing room only audience at Target Center. Garnett, who played for the Wolves for 12 years before being traded away in 2007, is no longer able to play a lot of minutes because of his aging body (he turns 39 May 19th).

In Wednesday’s game he played 19 minutes during the home win over the Wizards, and then watched the entire game from the bench on Friday night when the Wolves lost in Chicago to the Bulls. Saturday evening he played 15 minutes in a home loss to the Grizzlies before being ejected from the game for a second technical foul.

Hit by injuries that sidelined three starters for more than 100 games this season, the Wolves have struggled on the court while compiling one of the NBA’s worst records. The result has been problems at the box office and overall minimal interest in the team including poor TV ratings. The Wolves are last in home NBA attendance averaging 14,225 fans per game, according to Espn.com. Tickets have not only gone unsold but seats already purchased haven’t been used for many games this season at Target Center.

All of that and more is why bringing back Garnett was a calculated business decision by the franchise. In acquiring Garnett from the Nets in a trade that sent Thaddeus Young to Brooklyn, the Wolves agreed to pick up the remaining money owed to Garnett on his contract this season—about $4 million.

Garnett’s presence in a Wolves uniform and playing 13 home games before the season ends on April 15 is probably worth at least a few million dollars in additional revenue to Taylor’s club. The Wolves drew a second consecutive sellout (19,356) on Saturday night and even if Garnett helps the franchise attract only an additional 2,000 fans per game the revenues will be significant. Tickets, concessions and merchandise are all impacted by Garnett. His presence also increases the likelihood of fans using tickets purchased before he came back to town.

“I think we’ve really got a lot of interest (with Garnett back),” said Taylor who told Sports Headliners in January he anticipated the franchise losing a couple million dollars this season.

There’s an economic impact tied to Garnett for next season, too. Getting more fans in the building now to see the team’s roster of high potential players like 2014 first round draft choices Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine is the kind of “product sampling” Taylor and staff marketers want. The potential for selling more season tickets has increased and the renewed interest in the franchise can also impact potential revenue areas such as suite sales, sponsorship and advertising.

Garnett was only 19 when the Wolves made him their No. 1 draft choice in 1995. He is the greatest player in team history and seen as the face of the franchise. His intensity and zeal to win can be inspirational to teammates and fans. The energy Garnett created in Target Center for the first two games put new life into the fans and the Wolves who have a near worst league record of 13-45.

“He just has a showmanship about him,” Taylor said. “…The way he points his fingers and the look on his face and stuff like that. The whole crowd loves it.”

Garnett is a free agent after this season but indications from him are that if he chooses to play a 21st season in the NBA it will be for the Wolves. Taylor said there is no agreement yet about next season but the owner seemed upbeat a deal could be made. “If he remains healthy I am optimistic that he would probably want to continue try playing.”

Worth Noting

Garnett’s first home game with the Wolves last Wednesday night offered a boost in Fox Sports North’s audience compared with typical viewership of the NBA team on the cable network. A Sports Headliners source e-mailed that viewership was “four or five times better” than a typical game on Fox but because of the Wolves’ poor record this season viewership numbers have been low. At peak viewing on Wednesday night about 139,000 people were watching the game.

The telecast of last Tuesday night’s Wild game against the Oilers was the highest-rated regular season Wild game ever on Fox Sports North. The viewing audience was over 200,000.

The prediction here remains the same as months ago: in the near future U.S. Bank will buy the naming rights for the new Vikings stadium. You wonder, though, how the Adrian Peterson controversy is affecting sponsorship relations for the Vikings. Certainly Peterson’s incident with his son last year provoked concerns from corporate supporters of the Vikings and the NFL. More recently Peterson’s publicized reservations about returning to Minnesota added to speculation about how his association with the Vikings might be perceived by the public if he plays here in 2015. When companies invest millions for sponsorships and other affiliations with sports teams, controversy and public disapproval aren’t developments they want associated with their brands.

The Gophers basketball team plays No. 6 ranked (AP poll) Wisconsin on Thursday night at Williams Arena. Last season Minnesota upset the Badgers in Minneapolis and Jim Dutcher told Sports Headliners it could happen again. The former Gophers coach said the Badgers struggle against guards who penetrate toward the goal, and also Minnesota center Mo Walker matches up effectively against Wisconsin Player of the Year Candidate Frank Kaminsky. “They’re built to really play well against a team like Wisconsin,” Dutcher said.

Walker and point guard DeAndre Mathieu each scored 18 points in last year’s 81-68 win at home. Mathieu’s quickness could be effective again and Dutcher advised watching Minnesota junior college transfer Carlos Morris, a 6-5 wing with NBA type slashing ability. “Morris could have a great game against Wisconsin just taking the ball to the basket,” Dutcher said.

The Badgers, 14-2 in Big Ten games, defeated Minnesota, 63-53, in Madison on February 21. The Gophers, 6-10 with two regular season games remaining, had thoughts of a winning conference record before the season and qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA dream is gone unless Minnesota wins the Big Ten Tournament later this month. A victory over the Badgers would be a morale boost. “This is almost a season salvager for the Gophers,” Dutcher said.

Multiple sources have said East Ridge High School junior quarterback Seth Green, considered the top Minnesota prep football recruit for the class of 2016, will play his senior season for Allen High School in Allen, Texas. An announcement might be made soon that Green will play for the suburban Dallas school, a football power playing its home games in a $60 million stadium.

Green verbally committed to Oregon last fall and if he moves out of Minnesota it appears to further diminish any possibility he will sign a National Letter of Intent with the Gophers next February. Among Green’s college offers is one from Texas, and the Longhorns now might figure more prominently in the young quarterback’s decision-making process in choosing a college.

Rivals.com labels Green as a four-star recruit and ranks him as the No. 10 dual-threat quarterback in the country.

Safety Cedric Thompson was one of the ex-Gophers who impressed today at Pro Day at the University of Minnesota. Thompson was timed at 4.37 seconds in the 40-yard dash as pro scouts looked on.

A quad strain kept ex-Gophers running back David Cobb from participating but he said he will have a private workout for scouts at the U early next month.

Among talent evaluators in attendance were Rick Spielman, Norv Turner and Mike Zimmer from the Vikings. The three talked with Gophers coach Jerry Kill on the field at the U indoor football facility where Pro Day was held.

Hamline’s men’s hockey team has an improbable success story. The Pipers were 2-22-1 last season and won just a single game the year before. Former Gopher Cory Laylin is the new coach this season and the Pipers are 13-10-4 overall after Saturday’s upset of No. 1 seed St. Thomas in the MIAC playoffs. Hamline’s 11 win improvement this season is the best in men’s Division III hockey. The Pipers scored three goals in the final four minutes to break a 3-3 tie against the Tommies (16-6-4) to win the game. Hamline, the No. 5 playoff seed, has advanced to the MIAC playoff championship game where next Saturday night the Pipers will play No. 2 seed Saint Mary’s in Winona.

Bob Gustafson, public relations director for Grandma’s Marathon, will speak at the March 12 CORES luncheon at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington, 1114 American Blvd. A St. Louis Park High School alum, Gustafson is responsible for various public relations and marketing duties for the annual event that attracts 18,000 runners. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans. Reservations for the program (deadline March 9) can be made by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net.

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NFL Scouting Combine Not the Gospel

Posted on February 27, 2015February 27, 2015 by David Shama

The NFL Scouting Combine that ended earlier this week in Indianapolis drew plenty of attention (as usual) from pro football fans but all the measureables recorded of participating players certainly don’t guarantee future results.

Representatives of the NFL’s 32 teams judged more than 300 college prospects, evaluating speed, strength and what’s in their collective noggins (Wonderlic intelligence test). Over the years the combine has proven this: low test scores won’t deter players from fooling the personnel gurus and becoming All-Pros.

Former Vikings All-Pro defensive end Jared Allen wasn’t drafted until the fourth round in 2004 by the Chiefs. Michael Salfino, writing in the February 19 Wall Street Journal, offered insight on Allen in his article about the combine. “Jared Allen became a fearsome pass rusher despite being third-weakest since 1999 in the bench press.”

Combine results from 2015 aren’t yet posted on NFLcombineresults.com but details of prior years are. Ever heard of Tom Brady? He is the guy who won four Super Bowls as the Patriots quarterback despite being a sixth round draft choice. Salfino points out that since 1999 Brady ranks 283rd among the 288 quarterbacks tested in the vertical leap at the combine. “Coming out of Michigan in 2000, Brady barely managed to get himself two feet off the ground in the vertical-leap drill,” Salfino wrote.

A source close to the Vikings told Sports Headliners that going into last year’s NFL Draft the Vikings weren’t interested in selecting quarterback Johnny Manziel. “Johnny Football” was drafted by the Browns’ with the No. 22 choice in the first round last year while the Vikings took Teddy Bridgewater at No. 32, the final pick of the round. Maybe Manziel’s 32 score on the Wonderlic (Bridgewater had a 20) was part of the Browns’ decision-making process.

Manziel was no wonder last fall as a rookie having zero touchdown passes, two interceptions and a passer rating of 42 in five games (two starts). Bridgewater was selected as the quarterback on the Pro Football Writers of America All-Rookie team. His percentage completion of 64.4 percent was the third highest in NFL history for a rookie.

While college prospects at the combine parade around in track outfits, it might be best to remember how these guys played on the field during their college careers. NFL teams have countless hours of game films to use in evaluating prospects and scouts are seeing players live week after week in the fall.

ESPN talk show host Colin Cowherd wisecracked last week on his show that if he were running an NFL team he would instruct the personnel guys to stay home. Instead he suggested dispatching a private detective and psychologist to Indy.

Worth Noting

NFL scouts also look at college prospects during pro days at various schools. Expected to participate at the Gophers Pro Day on Monday are former U players Michael Amaefula, Cameron Botticelli, David Cobb, Derrick Engel, Zac Epping, Isaac Fruechte, Logan Hutton, Marcus Jones, Donnell Kirkwood, Harold Legania, Ben Perry, Cedric Thompson, Derrick Wells, Maxx Williams, Damien Wilson and Devon Wright. The event isn’t open to the public.

The Vikings will use their No. 11 first round draft choice to select Stanford junior offensive tackle Andrus Peat, according to this week’s NFL mock draft by Sports Illustrated’s Don Banks. He predicts on Si.com the Browns, drafting one spot after the Vikings, will take DeVante Parker, a wide receiver from Louisville and former college teammate of Bridgewater’s.

Parker, 6-3 and 210, is one of the best wide receiver prospects in the 2015 draft. Although Parker doesn’t have elite speed, he has quickness and is able to get open and make yards after receptions. Bridgewater’s familiarity with Parker causes speculation the Vikings, who need help at wide receiver, will give plenty of thought to drafting him.

The Gophers basketball team upset Michigan State last night for the program’s first win in East Lansing since 1990. It was one of Minnesota’s best performances of the season but the Gophers are a disappointing 6-10 in Big Ten games. Many college basketball authorities thought before the season the Gophers would finish between third and sixth in the standings but with two regular season games remaining Minnesota is in seventh place.

The Gophers have lost seven conference games by a total of 27 points. Jim Dutcher believes if Minnesota had former Apple Valley star and Duke freshman Tyus Jones the Gophers would be around .500 in the Big Ten. Jones, among the nation’s elite point guards, has been a clutch performer for the Blue Devils. “He’s a big game player who knows when certain things need to be done,” said Dutcher, the former Gophers coach.

Dutcher thinks it will be a mistake if Jones decides to enter the NBA Draft after this season. He said Jones, 6-1, 190, needs more experience and physical strength to maximize his chances of succeeding in the pros.

Darryl Mitchell, who was an all-conference selection on Dutcher’s 1982 Gophers Big Ten championship team, has been practicing law in Florida but is relocating to Minnesota in March. Mitchell was a first team Parade Magazine high school All-American and chose the Gophers over other schools including 1970s powerhouse UCLA.

The Western Collegiate Hockey Association has three teams in the top 11 in the country in two national polls, with No. 2 Minnesota State, Mankato; No. 3 Michigan Tech and No. 11 Bowling Green. Tonight and tomorrow evening Minnesota State hosts Tech.

“I think we’re as competitive as any other league in college hockey,” WCHA commissioner Bill Robertson told Sports Headliners. “We have the hope and intention to get three teams into the NCAA Tournament and we’re on track for that. We could also have more if a surprise team wins the WCHA Final Five which would give them an automatic bid.”

The Final Five will be March 20 and 21 at the Xcel Energy Center. Robertson hopes to approach 8,000 fans in attendance on each of the dates. Ticket information is available via Ticketmaster.com.

St. Thomas men’s basketball coach John Tauer was featured in a February 17 article in the New York Times. Tauer is not only one of the most successful Division III basketball coaches in the country but is also among the few who teach in the classroom, according to the story. Tauer, who has his doctorate in social psychology, is currently teaching a class called Motivation and Emotion.

The Tommies, who won an MIAC record 10th regular season title in 2015, open the playoffs tonight at home against Gustavus. St. Thomas finished 22-3 and 17-3 in the MIAC while the Gusties were 16-10 and 11-9. The Tommies are one of only three Division III programs to have won 1,600 games.

Tommies football coach Glenn Caruso speaks tomorrow at the Chicago Catholic League Coaches Association Clinic at Fenwick Park High School in Oak Park, Illinois. Other speakers include Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz. Caruso is 73-13 in seven seasons at UST and the Tommies have participated in the NCAA playoffs five of the last six seasons.

Tickets are on sale for the sixth annual Camden’s Concert at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. The event will be held July 13 featuring The Wright Brothers who were popular at last summer’s concert and helped generate funding for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Tickets are available via Hopkinsartscenter.com.

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Book Reminds Why Sports Inspire

Posted on February 25, 2015February 25, 2015 by David Shama

Sometimes I am reminded why sports has played such a prominent role in my life. My latest wakeup call was prompted by reading Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville by the late Stephen Jay Gould. Gould’s 2003 book consists of essays he wrote about his lifelong passion for baseball that appeared in publications like the New York Times. Gould was a paleontologist but his intelligent musings about his baseball love affair introduced him to another audience.

A Harvard intellectual, Gould grew up in New York City in the 1940’s and 1950’s, a golden era for baseball in New York. He watched his beloved Yankees in the World Series almost every year. He saw baseball gods like Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle from the Yankees, and the Giants Willie Mays and the Dodgers Jackie Robinson.

Although Gould died from cancer in 2002 at age 60, his passion for baseball over a period of seven decades lives on, and his essays stirred something in me. As I read his book, I realized how the great and rare moments of sports have impacted my being while both enriching and frustrating my life.

I say frustrated because slogging through the mediocre and miserable performances of many teams and athletes year after year is no fun. It’s an experience that lessens my fervor for spectator sports and creates both apathy and anger that my sports world has frequently fallen on hard times.

The last great ride for me came in the autumn of 2009 watching Brett Favre. The legendary quarterback was 40 but in his first season with the Vikings he threw darts where no balls had any right to go. His statistics included career bests in completions (68.4 percent) and passer rating (107.2).

The Saints won the postseason’s dirty play of the year award with their shameless diving at Favre’s legs. Then the Vikings screwed themselves late in that infamous NFC championship game by killing a chance to win after being penalized for having 12 players on the field.

The Humpty Dumpty end to the season and Super Bowl chase couldn’t spoil my satisfaction in watching the old gunslinger will the Vikings to one of their best seasons ever. No Vikings quarterback since scramblin’ Fran Tarkenton in the 1960’s had brought such entertainment as Favre. Tarkenton—who seemingly could run away from tacklers so long you had time to make a sandwich—brought that rare skill level and excitement that we’ve seen too little of in this town.

Where have you gone, Kirby Puckett? The center fielder told teammates they should jump on his back because he would carry the Twins. Perhaps he never carried the load better than when his game six winning home run forced a seventh game in the 1991 World Series against the Braves. “And we’ll see you tomorrow night,” TV’s Jack Buck told the world.

The Twins unexpectedly won both the 1987 and 1991 World Series, the only two MLB titles in franchise history. The nation watched when Twins heroes like Puckett and pitchers Frank Viola and Jack Morris showed they were World Series competitors and heroes for the ages.

For the ages? Coach Herb Brooks and his 1980 Winter Olympics players are at the head of that line. Miracles are not forgotten and the US Hockey team’s 1980 gold medal triumph at Lake Placid still stirs emotions of all sorts including national pride. The best moment, of course, was America’s stunning upset of the Soviet Union. The US team consisted of amateurs while the Red Machine was capable of playing in the National Hockey League.

For years the Soviet Union had tried to bully America politically. Premier Nikita Khrushchev had long ago proclaimed, “We will bury you.” In 1980 America had lost prestige in the world and at home. When the Soviet hockey team humiliated the US in an exhibition game prior to the Olympics, America shrugged its collective shoulders and hung its head lower. But the US Hockey team’s semi-final ground-shattering triumph had Al Michaels asking the TV audience: “Do you believe in miracles?” Americans found new swagger and confidence about their country and themselves. The stunning upset and later gold medal win in February of 1980—35 years ago—helped jumpstart an American comeback at home and on the world stage that saw the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union empire.

Those who had known Brooks for many years may have been surprised by how far the former Gophers coach led the US team but they weren’t completely caught off-guard. The St. Paul native led the Gophers to national championships in 1974, 1976 and 1979. It was the greatest period ever for Gophers hockey.

The 1970’s and the immediate decades before delivered a scrapbook full of great sports memories for Minnesotans. Bud Grant’s four Super Bowl teams set the standard for a franchise that is still trying to climb back to the biggest stage. Tarkenton, Eller, Page, Marshall. Their jerseys are still worn by fans and their images are forever remembered.

Bill Musselman’s Gophers basketball teams created an electric environment in Williams Arena with their pre-game Harlem Globetrotters routine during the 1970’s. The coach got in trouble with NCAA rules but he ignited a passion inside Williams Arena that’s never been duplicated. The highlight of the Musselman era was the 1972 Big Ten championship team that included NBA first round draft choices Ron Behagen and Jim Brewer, and baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield.

The Twins Rod Carew flirted with baseball’s immortals when he chased a .400 batting average and graced the cover of Time Magazine in 1977. The sweet swinging Carew was hitting over .400 in early summer of that memorable season before finishing at .388.

The Twins were an American League power in the 1960s led by a wrecking crew of home run sluggers captained by the great Harmon Killebrew. Long ball baseball put an excitement on the field during that era which the Twins have never duplicated. The team high point was reaching the World Series in 1965. Invincible pitcher Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers were too much for the Twins in their first Minnesota World Series appearance.

The Gophers made two trips to the Rose Bowl in the early 1960’s. The second time they got it right with a 21-3 win over UCLA. The glory of that win, though, didn’t match the Gophers winning the 1960 national championship. That was Minnesota’s seventh and perhaps last national title. The Gophers, led by legendary coach Bernie Bierman, won national championships in 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940 and 1941. Coach Henry Williams also led Minnesota to a national title in 1904.

Bierman’s titles came before another glorious run in Minnesota. The Minneapolis Lakers dominated pro basketball from the late 1940’s through 1954, winning five world titles and boasting pro basketball’s first superstar. George Mikan, the giant 6-10 center, was so revered that he was commonly called Mr. Basketball. When the Lakers once played in New York’s famous Madison Square Garden, the marquee said “George Mikan vs. the Knicks.”

Olympic gold, national championships, world titles, men named Bierman, Brooks, Carew, Favre, Grant, Killebrew, Mikan and Puckett. Whew! That’s the kind of high life this town knew.

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