David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Twins GM Not Worrying about April

Posted on April 20, 2012April 20, 2012 by David Shama

Fans fret about what the Twins record will be at month’s end but not general manager Terry Ryan. The Twins opened the regular season on April 6 and after last night’s loss to the Yankees have a 4-9 record. Ten more games remain in April.

“I’d be more worried about where we’re at September 1^st,” Ryan told Sports Headliners last week. “We play a demanding schedule. We might have all we can handle, but regardless it matters more about September 1^st, and that’s usually a measuring stick. Nobody worries about anybody on May 1^st. For me that’s a tad early.

“But we have some of the requisites to have a decent club here. No one is counting us in, I can tell you that. On paper nobody is talking about us at all, except for us, and that’s all that counts.”

The Twins’ April schedule includes 17 games against some of the American League’s best teams. On the list are the Rangers, Yankees, Rays and Red Sox, ranked No. 1, 4, 8 and 15 in ESPN.com’s power ratings of major league teams. Also on the April schedule are the Angels, off to a slow start but projected to win the World Series by Sports Illustrated.

The Twins so far have one win in each of their meetings with the Angels and Rangers, and two against the Yankees. Ryan was asked if playing baseball’s best can have a positive aspect.

“Sometimes you can get them (best teams) early,” he said. “Sometimes clubs take awhile to settle in, and hopefully we’ll settle in sooner than later than some of these demanding teams that we’re facing. …”

If not, the Twins could set or tie a record for fewest club wins in April. The poorest record was 4-6 in 1966 but a fairer comparison is to start with 1977 when the Twins have played 18 games or more in April. The low mark in that period is 6-12 in 1981. The Twins were 9-17 during April last year.

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Big Ten Analyst: U Progress Best

Posted on April 20, 2012April 20, 2012 by David Shama

Gerry DiNardo had high praise for the Gophers football program this week.

The Big Ten Network’s in-studio analyst, and former head football coach at Indiana and LSU, came to Minnesota’s campus earlier this spring and Tuesday night voiced this opinion on the Big Ten Football Report show:

“Big picture is this. A year ago I thought if you ranked the teams 1 thru 12 in spring practice, Minnesota would be 12^th. I don’t see it that way right now. I think Minnesota has made the most progress of any of the teams that we’ve seen from one spring to the next. …”

DiNardo said the Gophers are a different program under Jerry Kill who was hired in December of 2010 to replace Tim Brewster. “…The offense, the defense has changed, but more important I think the reason it has been such a good and tough transition is—and this word is overused—Jerry Kill has changed the culture. The way they do things. That was culture shock a year ago—man, have they come a long way in one year.”

Fans can make their own judgments tomorrow starting at 11 a.m. in TCF Bank Stadium when Minnesota plays its annual spring game. Most observers who have watched the program in recent weeks believe the Gophers are bigger, stronger, faster, more athletic and sure of themselves than the group that practiced last spring.

What does that mean for next fall? Probably a better team and more wins than in 2011 when Minnesota was 3-9. The 2012 schedule looks less formidable than last fall and anything less than a 4-0 nonconference start against UNLV, New Hampshire, Western Michigan and Syracuse will be a mild disappointment. If the Gophers can find two wins in an eight-game league schedule then Minnesota would have a 6-6 overall record and bowl eligibility.

Not only are Kill and his staff more settled in with themselves and the players, but the Gophers have a talented senior starter at quarterback. A year ago MarQueis Gray was trying to win the job but now he’s in the conversation about the Big Ten’s better quarterbacks.

Gray will need to be healthy and extremely productive for the Gophers to have a .500 season or better. A lot of teammates will have to step up, too, because despite the program’s progress there are many more questions than answers about this team.

Offense? Defense? Special teams? The Gophers have to improve all three units in the next 12 months if DiNardo is going to consider making the same pronouncement in 2013 he did this week.

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Persuasion Fails in Stadium Vote

Posted on April 18, 2012April 18, 2012 by David Shama

A legislative panel was told the Vikings are not “making money” and the state of Minnesota could make a $140 million profit from its stadium financing, but these and other arguments didn’t persuade the House Government Operations and Elections Committee to approve a bill on Monday night funding a new multi-purpose stadium in downtown Minneapolis.

The panel rejected the bill for a nearly $1 billion stadium by a 9-6 vote at the State Capitol in a meeting that Sports Headliners followed via Twin Cities Public Television. The vote may have ended hope during this legislative session for approving a new covered roof facility that would have the Vikings as its primary tenant, although Senate leadership could yet be heard from.

Among those voting no were two committee members from Minneapolis, Rep. Marion Greene and Rep. Frank Hornstein. They and the seven others who rejected the bill voiced numerous concerns and questions including why “billionaire owners” couldn’t fund part or the entire stadium project.

Committee member and bill advocate Rep. Terry Morrow said stadiums that base funding on private dollars have been financed in larger markets able to attract revenues through the sale of personal seat licenses in the facilities. In this market, consumers can’t support such a revenue stream, he said.

The majority of NFL stadiums and baseball parks are funded through public and private partnerships. Team executive Lester Bagley said the Vikings’ proposed stadium contribution of $427 million would be the third largest ever for an NFL franchise.

The Vikings have long argued their revenues are among the lowest in the NFL and remaining in the Metrodome isn’t an option. “The team is not making money,” said Ted Mondale, chairman of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission.

The bill reviewed Monday night calls for $398 million from the state of Minnesota and also $150 million from the city of Minneapolis. Rep. Morrie Lanning, the chief author of the bill, said that after 30 years the state would make a $140 million profit because of income taxes received from the Vikings and visiting players. “This is a good deal for Minnesota,” he said.

Lanning said for seven years the Vikings have been before the legislature, and his bill was the best ever proposed. He also noted that the Government Operations and Elections Committee was where the bill stalled two years ago.

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