David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Jerry Burns: Give Ponder Time

Posted on November 2, 2012November 2, 2012 by David Shama

Jerry Burns is sometimes as perplexed by Christian Ponder’s decisions as the team’s fans but the former Vikings head coach is supportive of the second-year quarterback.

“Sometimes I am really enthused and sometimes I wonder why did he do this?” Burns told Sports Headliners. “He’s deserving of a full year before any decisions are made.”

The Vikings offense has produced four touchdowns in the last two games. Fair or not, Ponder was booed in the team’s last home game, a 36-17 loss to the Bucs. The Vikings had various issues in the game including poor pass protection.

“That loss can’t be attributed to him (Ponder),” Burns said. “It was a very poorly played game (by the Vikings).”

Ponder has 10 touchdown passes and seven interceptions in eight games. He didn’t throw an interception in the first four but in the last four he’s had three games where he threw two interceptions. He’s criticized for holding the ball too long at times and struggling to make decisions, but Burns said additional experience for Ponder and some of his inexperienced teammates on offense creates potential for better days ahead.

The Vikings (5-3) hope that both the offense and defense play better on Sunday in Seattle against the Seahawks (4-4) than in the Bucs game. A loss would be the Vikings’ third in four games but a win positions the team to stay strong in the NFC North race with consecutive division games starting on November 11 against the Lions, then the Bears, Packers and Bears again.

The Seahawks are 3-0 at home this season, the Vikings 1-2 on the road. “They play very well at home and Seattle is a very rabid city,” Burns said.

Seattle head coach Pete Carroll was Burns’ defensive backfield coach with the Vikings in the 1980s. “He’s a very sharp guy,” Burns said.

Burns also said Carroll is an excellent motivator who relates effectively to both players and coaches. “He’s a very good friend of mine. I wish him well but not particularly this Sunday.”

Comments Welcome

10 Wins Ahead for U Football?

Posted on November 2, 2012November 2, 2012 by David Shama

The Gophers might be working on a 10 wins season two years from now, according to J Leman. The former Illinois linebacker is a Big Ten Network sideline reporter and admires Gophers coach Jerry Kill.

Before Leman committed to Illinois, Kill tried to recruit him at Southern Illinois where he was then head coach. Leman has known about Kill not only for his work in turning around a horrible Southern Illinois program but also his success with other teams.

“I think he’s won everywhere he’s went,” Leman told Sports Headliners prior to last Saturday’s Minnesota win over Purdue. “I don’t think coach Kill is flashy but he’s blue-collar and he will win football games. That’s the way he wants it.

“Frankly, I think most college football fans are sick of flashy. They just want wins, and that’s what coach Kill does.”

The Gophers are 5-3 this season and 1-3 in Big Ten games. This is Kill’s second year coaching Minnesota and Leman described the program as making “sold progression” with a chance to qualify for a bowl game.

“I think next year seven or eight wins is definitely not out of the question, and I think in year four you’re going to see a team that is competing in the upper echelon of the Big Ten (Conference). I think eight to 10 wins during that year—year four—is not out of reach with the amount of freshmen and sophomores they have playing right now.”

Worth Noting

Redshirt freshman Jon Christenson started the season as a reserve but the former walk-on became a starter at guard and now is the Gophers center. He’s earned praise from coach Jerry Kill and new starting quarterback Philip Nelson.

“He’s one of the hardest working kids I’ve ever met,” Nelson said. “In the hotel (last) Friday night he’s snapping to me, making sure his snaps are perfect, exactly wherever I want them. He didn’t have any bad snaps throughout that whole game (Purdue last Saturday).”

Nelson expects the extra time spent snapping the ball at a hotel on Friday nights will continue. “John loves feeling confident the night before,” Nelson said. “I can see why. He wants to make sure he’s perfect and that’s something we all want to do. He cares so much that he’s always finding me trying to get more snaps in, and that’s a great thing as a quarterback.”

Nelson, a true freshman, makes his third start for the Gophers tomorrow at TCF Bank Stadium against Michigan. If Nelson were injured, MarQueis Gray told Sports Headliners he could switch from wide receiver to quarterback. “I feel like I am good enough health wise to go out there and play quarterback again,” Gray said.

Would Gray, who was the Gophers starter at quarterback before missing games because of a high ankle sprain and knee injury, be asked to replace Nelson? Or would the replacement be sophomore Max Shortell, leaving Gray at wide receiver?

“I really don’t know,” Gray said. “Most likely be Max—probably because he’s the No. 2 and I am strictly the receiver, but who knows? Time comes, and they need me to play quarterback, I’ll be ready.”

Gray was optimistic about beating Michigan for the first time in Minneapolis since 1977 and claiming the Little Brown Jug: “I know that’s going to be good for us—and plus, the alumni who hasn’t won it.”

Gophers senior Troy Stoudermire entered this season needing only 315 more kickoff return yards to set the NCAA record for total yardage. But with four games remaining, he is 129 yards short of the 315. “I feel I will crack it open,” said Stoudermire. He made it clear, though, that seeing the Gophers play in a bowl game is more important to him.

Here are Sports Headliners’ weekly Big Ten power rankings: Ohio State, Nebraska, Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, Purdue and Illinois.

St. Thomas, 6-0 in the MIAC standings, heads to Concordia, Moorhead this morning for a game tomorrow afternoon against the 5-1 Cobbers. Concordia and Bethel are tied for second place in the league football standings.

The first place Tommies also have a game remaining against 4-2 St. Olaf. “It seems like every week is a big game,” St. Thomas coach Glenn Caruso told Sports Headliners. “We know we get everybody’s ‘A’ game.”

Concordia sophomore quarterback Griffin Neal had almost 300 yards in total offense last week and accounted for five touchdowns in a 51-27 win over Carleton. “We knew he was good,” Caruso said. “We recruited him as well. He’s a nice combination passer and runner.”

Caruso likes the Cobbers’ defensive experience. “They return 10 starters and seven are seniors,” he said.

St. Thomas has been hit by injuries, particularly on offense where eight backups have stepped in as starters over the course of the season (five on defense). “It’s been a tumultuous year for injuries. We finished with our third string quarterback last Saturday,” Caruso said.

But the Tommies keep winning with amazing personnel balance. No St.Thomas player has more than 500 rushing or receiving yards. No Tommie is averaging more than five receptions per game. (See the St. Thomas football website for a more complete description of how so many players have contributed to the team’s success.)

Although the trip to Moorhead is the longest of the year, Caruso enjoys the outing. He met his wife in Fargo and the couple still has friends in the area. With a nationally ranked Division III team, and friends to see, not even the prospect of gloomy weather in the North Country can deter the coach’s enthusiasm.

Caruso has been checking weather forecasts since Sunday and has steadily seen predicted temps for Saturday go down and skies darken. Saturday could be a high of 36 degrees with snow. “I look at the weather about eight times per day,” he said. “I should stop looking.”

The American Hockey League announced yesterday that Aeros center Mikael Granlund is the CCM/AHL Rookie of the Month for October. The 20-year-old Granlund, the Wild’s No. 1 draft pick in 2010, had three goals and seven assists in seven games, along with a plus-five rating.

Maybe Adam Wilcox can record a second career shutout tonight at Mariucci Arena or Saturday evening in Mankato. The Gopher freshman shutout Canisius 1-0 last Sunday and could win the job as Minnesota’s regular goalie. Minnesota hosts Minnesota State, Mankato tonight before playing on the Mavericks’ home ice Saturday. The No. 2 ranked Gophers have 15 players on the roster who have been drafted by NHL teams.

USA Today columnist Michael Hiestand reported in Monday’s edition that the seven lowest television ratings for the World Series are the last seven years. Multiple sources reported the 2012 World Series drew record-low ratings.

If Twins manager Ron Gardenhire resigned or was fired next season, a guess is the leading candidates to replace him will be minor league manager Gene Glynn or Hall of Famer Paul Molitor.

Minnesotan Thomas Friedman, the Pulitzer Prize winning author and New York Times columnist, was in Minneapolis this week. Friedman said he and WCCO TV’s Mark Rosen attended journalism class together at St. Louis Park High School.

David Jones will speak to the C.O.R.E.S. group at a noon luncheon on Thursday, November 8 in Bloomington. Jones is known for his presentations on historical figures and will talk to C.O.R.E.S. about factors influencing ongoing discussion and debate of President John Kennedy’s assassination. Anyone interested in further information can contact Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net.

Comments Welcome

Losses Pile Up But Jug Special

Posted on October 31, 2012October 31, 2012 by David Shama

Michigan comes to Minneapolis on Saturday for the 93rd game when the Wolverines and Gophers play for one year ownership of the Little Brown Jug. It’s been 35 years since Minnesota defeated the Wolverines in the Gophers’ home stadium, and took possession of the jug that Wikipedia says represents the oldest trophy series in college football.

The Gophers and Wolverines have been playing for the trophy since 1909. The prize came about when the Wolverines inadvertently left their water jug behind after a game in Minneapolis. Michigan wanted the jug returned but a Gophers official said, “If you want it, you’ll have to win it.”

And win it the Wolverines have, with 67 victories. The Gophers have 22 wins and there have been three ties in the Little Brown Jug series. The Gophers won nine straight games in the 1930s and 1940s. During the 1960s Minnesota won six of eight including four games at Memorial Stadium.

But what a drought it’s been since 1967 with the Gophers winning the jug only in 1977 in Minneapolis, and 1986 and 2005 in Ann Arbor. The lopsided results have removed much of the luster from a rivalry that once was among the most glamorous in college football.

Minnesota has more talk about games now with Iowa and Wisconsin, two other famous trophy games. Michigan fires up for games with Notre Dame, Michigan State and Ohio State.

Former Michigan running back Mike Hart, who played for the Wolverines a few seasons ago, told ESPN.com last year that competing against Minnesota is just another game.

“There are so many important games to us that that’s not really a big rivalry game,” Hart said in a September 29, 2011 article on ESPN’s WolverineNation. “It’s more or less just another game to us that has a trophy involved.

“It’s not like, ‘Oh, we’re getting the Jug.’ I personally never saw it as that. I saw it as another Big Ten team we were playing.”

Just another game? That will make Butch Nash roll over in his grave. Nash, from northeast Minneapolis, played for the Gophers in the 1930s, then was an assistant coach over five decades. He reveled in the Michigan-Minnesota Little Brown Jug rivalry.

It was Nash who spoke from the heart before Gopher wins in 1977 and 1986. The 1977 victory was particularly memorable because the Gophers rocked the college football world on October 22 of that year when they thoroughly dominated and punished then No. 1 ranked Michigan 16-0 in Memorial Stadium.

The victories in 1986 and 2005 were much closer. In 1986 quarterback Rickey Foggie’s fourth quarter running set up a game-winning Chip Lohmiller’s field goal for a 20-17 win over No. 2 ranked Michigan. In 2005 running back Gary Russell’s 61-yard sprint down the sidelines positioned Jason Giannini for a game-ending field goal and a 23-20 Minnesota win.

The Gophers aren’t expected to win on Saturday in TCF Bank Stadium. Sports Headliners has the Gophers as a 10 point underdog and losing to Michigan for the 28th time in the last 35 years (the teams haven’t played each year since 1977).

The Gophers would be well advised to talk to Darrell Thompson who played for the 1986 Gophers and heard Nash’s fiery words. “He talked about the tradition and history of the game,” the former Gophers running back told Sports Headliners. “The thing that stuck with me out of his speech was to leave nothing out on the field. Only you know if you have given everything, and then you can feel very good about your effort.”

Thompson, who is close to the program as the radio analyst on the Minnesota games, said the current Gophers are well drilled about the importance of their rivalry games including the Little Brown Jug. He thinks the jug means a lot to the Minnesota players. “When they win (it), they will understand even more (the importance),” he said. “It hurt when we lost it in 1987.”

Mauer Wedding, Wolves Outlook & More

Invitations have been mailed for the Joe Mauer–Maddie Bisanz wedding on Saturday, December 1 at a church in St. Paul. Mauer’s grandfather, Jake Mauer, told Sports Headliners the invitation asks guests not to give wedding gifts but instead make donations to a Twin Cities nonprofit benefiting teens and adults with disabilities. Joe’s brothers Jake and Bill will be co-best men.

The wedding will be followed by a reception and dinner with 720 invitees—many more guests than can be accommodated at the church, according to Jake. There will be various activities for guests on Thursday and Friday leading up to the wedding including a skating party. “It will all cost over $300,000.00,” Jake said.

Bisanz is a Twin Cities nurse who plans to continue her career after marrying the Twins All-Star catcher, according to Jake who said the couple is in southwest Florida for several weeks. Honeymoon plans aren’t decided yet. “Joe wants to go to Paris,” Jake said.

Some Wolves fans may choose to hibernate until box-office stars Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love return from injuries, but the team’s regular season schedule starts on Friday night at home against the Kings. Like it or night, the Wolves have 27 games scheduled between now and year’s end. The Wolves probably will play most or even all of those games without the Big Two.

Only eight of those games are against the better teams in the NBA, with the remaining opponents being mediocre or worse. Down-trodden teams on the Wolves schedule are the Bobcats, Cavs, Hornets, Kings, Magic, Raptors and Warriors. The Wolves will play a balanced home-away schedule during the first two months, with 13 games at Target Center and 14 on the road.

Take an upbeat approach to November and December because of coach Rick Adelman. He’s among the NBA’s better coaches ever and has plenty of experience working with underwhelming talent over the last 20-plus years. He will expect a cast of Wolves role players to play hard and do their jobs. Translation: don’t try to be Love or Rubio.

Take a skeptical approach to November and December because NBA games are frequently decided in the fourth quarter—and the Wolves may not have any players who can consistently close out games. Shooting guard Brandon Roy may want to say, “Boys, jump on my back and I’ll carry us home.” But the burden could be too much for Roy who hasn’t played a regular season game since 2010-2011 because of troublesome knees.

Love and teammate Lou Amundson will be taking 10 children from HopeKids to the World’s Largest Trick-or-Treat event at Mall of America tonight from 5 to 6 p.m. HopeKids benefits families with children who have cancer or other life-threatening medical conditions.

Former Gopher Mychal Thompson’s son Klay Thompson starts his second season with the Warriors and is one of the NBA’s most promising three point shooters, making 0.488 percent of those shots in preseason while averaging 14 points per game.

In the October 29 issue of Sports Illustrated the magazine makes its NBA predictions and picks the Heat to defeat the Lakers in the playoff finals. S.I. predicts the Wolves are a possible playoff team but no cinch.

Gophers football coach Jerry Kill said his offensive line played its best game of the season in last Saturday’s 44-28 win over Purdue. Ed Olson, probably the team’s best offensive lineman before the season started, was injured and didn’t play against Purdue, and Kill doesn’t expect him back for Saturday’s game with Michigan.

Three Minnesota prep football coaches earned milestone career wins earlier this month. Congratulations to Dean Taylor from St. Cloud Cathedral on his 200^th career win, and Jack Drews of Rochester John Marshall and John Clark Jr. from Mahnomen on their 100^th career victories.

The football Prep Bowl will be Friday, November 23 at the Mall of America Field. Last year’s champions were Eden Prairie, Class 5A; ROCORI, Class 4A; Saint Croix Lutheran, Class 3A; Caledonia, Class 2A; Dawson-Boyd, Class 1A; and Edgerton/Ellsworth, Nine-Man.

Former Vikings head coach Jerry Burns worked for legendary coach Vince Lombardi in Green Bay. The stage play “Lombardi” has been at the History Theatre in St. Paul this fall with the final performance on Sunday, November 4. Burns attended the production on opening night and spoke at a special dinner prior to the performance. He recommends the play including the portrayal of the Hall of Fame coach by James Detmar.

Comments Welcome