Ryan Longwell, the Vikings’ 34-year-old place kicker who has made 19 of 23 field goals, is a stretching advocate. Among the most likeable of local athletes, Longwell has the temperament and successful resume to kick for several more years. He needs two more field goals to tie his previous best season total as a Viking.
Viking Ryan Cook not only lost the starting right tackle position this week, his former head coach at New Mexico, Rocky Long, resigned after 11 seasons coaching the Lobos. Cook will have a utility role now with possible future service at center, guard and tackle.
The Vikings’ rushing offense ranks fourth in the league while the rushing defense is second.
Adrian Peterson needs only 59 yards in Sunday’s game at Jacksonville to become the 14th player in NFL history to go over 2,500 yards in his first two seasons.
Bernard Berrian’s 20.2 yards per catch is the best in the NFL for receivers with 30 or more catches.
The Vikings are 0-4 in outdoor road games so far this season.
Troy Williamson, the former Vikings No. 1 pick who bombed here, has played in five games for Jacksonville, starting one. He has four receptions for 27 yards and one touchdown.
Mick Anselmo’s return to local radio as the new boss of CBS properties here has knowledgeable sources anticipating program and personnel changes. Included perhaps is the return of Vikings broadcasts to WCCO Radio.
Bryce McNeal, the Breck wide receiver who was highly publicized coming into this season, wasn’t included on the Star Tribune’s first, second or third team All-Metro selections this week.
Joe Salem, the Gopher coach from 1979-1983, was probably more into the Minnesota-Iowa rivalry than any Minnesota coach in memory. His son Tim, who played quarterback for his dad at Minnesota, once said that Joe had a different look in his eyes the week of the Iowa game. Joe Salem came off the bench as a reserve quarterback in 1960 to help the Gophers beat Iowa when both were top five teams in the country. The Gophers went on to win the national championship.
Gopher fan Ken Lien recalled this week that years ago Salem came out to practice the week of the Iowa game dressed up in overalls and a flannel shirt. He couldn’t remember whether Salem had a piece of straw in his mouth or was wearing a straw hat. Maybe both.
The Gophers will have 12 seniors suiting up for the final regular season game tomorrow. The Gophers expect to be invited to a bowl game and will have 15 practices.
The Wild, which has won seven one goal games this season, lost last night 3-2 to Vancouver after winning the previous two games by one goal. The Wild have four players on the NHL all-star game ballot, Niklas Backstrom, Brent Burns, Mikko Koivu and Marion Gaborik.
Boston’s Kevin Garnett, who was suspended earlier in the week because of an incident with Milwaukee’s Andrew Bogut, will play tonight at Target Center against his old team, the Wolves. During his career here Garnett had run-ins with Wally Szczerbiak, Rick Rickert and Joel Przybilla.
The Gopher basketball team, with five new players on the roster, has its first road game tomorrow night at Colorado State, a 4-0 team coached by former North Dakota State coach Tim Miles. The Gophers won exhibition games against St. Cloud State and Northern State, then took their first three regular season games playing in last weekend’s NABC Tournament with wins over Concordia-St. Paul, Bowling Green and Georgia State.
Gopher co-captain Jamal Abu-Shamala thought the team improved in helping one another on defense in recent games. Shamala was asked about being ready for Colorado State. “We’ll see,” he said. “This weekend will be a good test for us. “
The Gophers’ leading scorer so far is junior guard Lawrence Westbrook, averaging 16 points per game. At Chandler High School in Chandler, Arizona he led the country in scoring with a 41 point average. Last season with the Gophers he averaged 8.5 points per game (3.5 as a freshman).
Is Westbrook more confident now than in the past? “Actually no,” he said. “I’ve been confident since I was a freshman. It’s just that I am one of those guys now that I am getting more of an opportunity than I ever had. I think my confidence level is the same.”