David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Worth Noting

Posted on November 2, 2011November 27, 2011 by David Shama

Lindy’s Sports College Basketball Magazine’s choice for “Most Entertaining” player in the Big Ten is Minnesota’s Rodney Williams. The 6-7 junior forward hasn’t approached his potential but his athleticism is eye-catching. In practice Williams has not only been in his usual role of small forward, but he has also played power forward.

Senior forward Trevor Mbakwe played like an All-Big Ten player last night in Minnesota’s opening exhibition game, a 71-58 win over Bemidji State. Mbakwe played hard and was an inside force scoring and rebounding for the Gophers, finishing with a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Prep basketball authority Ken Lien emailed news that 6-foot-7 forward C.J. Neumann from Cretin-Derham Hall has committed to Wofford.

Wonder if anyone who sent a wedding gift last August is asking for a return after this week’s announcement that former Gophers ball hog Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian plan to divorce?

When the WNBA draft lottery is held Thursday, November 10, the Lynx have the second best odds of winning the No. 1 pick. The lottery is for teams who didn’t make the playoffs but the WNBA champion Lynx have Washington’s draft pick ─ currently slotted at No. 2 ─ because of a trade earlier this year. The lottery determines the first four picks in the draft.

Iowa athletic director Gary Barta compared his 2010 hire of basketball coach Fran McCaffery with Minnesota’s decision to choose Jerry Kill as the new Gophers coach. Both coaches were program builders at lower level schools before coming to the Big Ten and Barta said it’s not always the “sexy hire” who is the best person for the job.

Barta, who played high school football for Burnsville, describes Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz as the “best” football coach in the country. Under Ferentz Iowa has only two losing seasons in the Big Ten since 2000.

Wherever Kill has coached, he’s made special teams a priority. The Gophers’ two wins this season have turned on a few big plays including a blocked punt returned for the decisive touchdown against Miami (Ohio) in September and an onside kickoff that set up the winning drive in last Saturday’s win over Iowa.

Talkative Vikings punter Chris Kluwe hosts the “Know Your Vikings” segment on the Mall of America Field video screen during home games. He includes a question for the interviewee like this: If a tree falls in the forest does it make a sound?

Rookie tight end Kyle Rudolph didn’t hesitate with an “of course not” correct answer to that question.

Christian Ponder said in the October 31 issue of Sports Illustrated that Green Bay’s Clay Mathews told him during the Vikings-Packers game in Minneapolis last month to stop running because he “wasn’t Tim Tebow.”

In the preseason MIAC women’s hockey coaches poll, Gustavus received nine of 10 first place votes. A 2012 Gusties league title would be the program’s eighth in a row.

The men’s hockey poll resulted in considerably more difference of opinion, with St. Thomas picked to finish first in the conference race. The Tommies received 60 points followed by Gustavus (52), Concordia (51) and Hamline (49).

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Mpls. Council President: Arden Hills Plan ‘in Trouble’

Posted on October 31, 2011November 27, 2011 by David Shama

Minneapolis City Council president Barbara Johnson told Sports Headliners she doesn’t expect a special legislative session to be called in November to address the Vikings stadium issue. “I would be surprised if the governor (Mark Dayton) and the legislature can get agreement to go ahead on one (stadium) proposal,” she said.

The Ramsey County-backed Arden Hills stadium proposal is “in trouble,” according to Johnson who is working with mayor R.T. Rybak to promote stadium sites in Minneapolis. “People want a referendum on Arden Hills and that will kill it (the proposal),” she said.

Johnson believes there are also “too many unknowns” about the Arden Hills site to gain state approval in November, and she said a stadium there leaves Vikings fans “captive to ownership.” Those who have the latter opinion will argue the Arden Hills site doesn’t have access to public transportation, fans will pay the Vikings to park, and food-drink and entertainment options presumably will be less varied than downtown if a new stadium is built in any of three potential locations supported by Johnson and Rybak. Minneapolis advocates claim their proposed sites are all less costly than Arden Hills.

The Vikings are adamant in supporting the Ramsey County plan that the two parties reached accord on earlier this year. Johnson knows Minneapolis isn’t being courted by the Vikings while franchise leaders try to push through a special session and a vote in favor of an Arden Hills site. “We just have to continue to be like Rocky (Balboa),” she said. “We’re not discouraged.”

The Minneapolis funding proposal to become the local partner for the stadium would increase the sales tax now dedicated to paying off bonds for the city’s Convention Center. The sales tax would increase from .50 percent to .85 percent and generate benefits beyond a stadium including property tax relief for city residents, according to Johnson.

The effort to keep the Vikings downtown would be made easier if Hennepin County became a partner. “I’ve been talking to county commissioners and the mayor has, too,” Johnson said. “They’re more willing (for now) to sit on the sidelines.”

Although Johnson believes there’s a need to expedite the stadium solution process, she doesn’t believe it has to be in November. “The governor heard from the NFL ‘you better do something,’ ” she said. “He’s trying to be responsive.”

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Iowa AD: U Football Potential ‘Special’

Posted on October 31, 2011December 27, 2011 by David Shama

Gophers football notes:

Iowa athletic director Gary Barta is familiar with Gophers coach Jerry Kill’s program building history and he talked about the task at Minnesota prior to his Hawkeyes 22-21 loss on Saturday. “I think very highly of Jerry ─ his background,” Barta told Sports Headliners. “They (Kill and his staff) start a program that is struggling, and they brought it up to success each step of the way if you look at their history.

“The other thing they have is continuity. They have stayed together as a coaching staff. That builds trust.”

Barta, who is a Minnesota native, said the Gophers have a proud football tradition, a new facility (TCF Bank Stadium) and a new coach in Kill. “You have all the ingredients to create that (program building) foundation and do something special,” he said.

Barta said Iowa home football games generate about $100 million in economic activity each year in the greater Iowa City area.”

Iowa defensive coordinator Norm Parker, who was on the Gophers staff in the 1970s, was using a walker to get around in the press box on Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium. Parker had his right foot amputated last year.

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

Businessofcollegesports.com reports that for school year 2009-10 the Gophers football program produced a profit of $14,888,989, finishing No. 25 nationally on a list ranking the profitability of major college football and basketball programs. The Gophers basketball program is among the more profitable in the country and placed No. 49 in the combined football-basketball rankings at $8,041,167.

The basketball programs at Louisville, Duke, North Carolina, Arizona, Ohio State, Syracuse, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Arkansas ranked ahead of the Gophers, according to the article posted in June of this year.

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