Congratulations to Dave and Linda Mona on the birth of their first grandchild, Camden Mona, a boy, born on Sunday to son Kirk and wife Chelsey. Dave is the color commentator for Gopher football games on WCCO Radio. The Minnesota football staff sent flowers with a note asking for first recruitment rights.
A broadcast industry source said when local TV stations buy tickets to help sellout the Vikings home games, they pay face value. NFL revenue sharing policy among teams doesn’t allow for discounting the tickets. The inventory for local commercials on Vikings home telecasts is about 15 ads, perhaps worth $200,000 or more to a local station. Rather than face a TV blackout because a game isn’t sold-out, stations can be willing to help buy remaining tickets.
Oakland Raiders coach and Bloomington native Lane Kiffin, 32, was mentioned as a candidate for the Gopher head coaching position before Brewster was hired. If Kiffin had been hired by the Gophers, the Big Ten Conference would have listed the youngest threesome of head coaches in memory. Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald is 32 and Wisconsin’s Bret Bielema is 37. Kiffin, who was an assistant coach at Southern Cal prior to becoming Oakland’s coach earlier this year, brings a Raiders team that is 2-7 to town for Sunday’s game with the Vikings. The Raiders were 2-14 last season.
The Vikings offense is leading the NFL in rushing yards with an average of 172.3 yards per game, while the Raiders defense is 29th in the league against the run, giving up an average of 144.2 yards per game.
With one punt of 50-plus yards, Chris Kluwe of the Vikings can break the team’s all-time single season record of over 50 yard kicks. Kluwe and Mitch Berger share the record now at 22.
Although he has been a part-time starter, former Viking Daunte Culpepper leads Oakland in passing yards with 817, ranking 30th in the NFL. Culpepper has started four games and played in five, throwing four touchdowns and four interceptions. He’s expected to start on Sunday.
The last time the Raiders and Vikings played was 2003 in Oakland. The Raiders won 28-18 and Culpepper threw for 396 yards and a touchdown, completing 27 of 49 passes. He also rushed for 42 yards and one touchdown.
David Gilreath, a freshman from New Hope, set a Wisconsin record for kickoff return yards this season, 756. He averaged 22.9 yards per kickoff return and 11.2 yards per punt return, both big improvements for the Badgers over 2006 averages of 15 and 6.6.
In addition to Gilreath, the Badgers have five other Minnesotans on their roster including starting center Marcus Coleman of Plymouth. Reserves are wide receiver Isaac Anderson of Minneapolis, defensive lineman Brandon Hoey of Shoreview, defensive back Kim Royston of Minneapolis and linebacker Blake Sorenson of Eden Prairie.
The Gophers announced the signings yesterday of basketball recruits Devron Bostick, Paul Carter, Colton Iverson and Ralph Sampson III to National Letters of Intent. They will be eligible to compete during the 2008-09 season for coach Tubby Smith.
Bostick, a 6-4 sophomore guard from Southwestern Illinois College, averaged 19.5 points per game as a freshman for SWIC. He led the team to a 24-8 record and was named the Player of the Year in the Great Rivers Athletic Conference. He was also a second team junior college All-American. The Racine, Wisconsin native has also been named a 2007-2008 preseason All-American. Bostick will have two years of eligibility at Minnesota.
Carter, the son of former NBA player Ron Carter, is a 6-7 freshman forward from Missouri State-West Plains College. He scored 28 points and had 14 rebounds in the Grizzlies’ 83-75 season-opening win over Labette Community College. His coach, Brian Ostermann, has said Carter could be one of the best junior college players in the country by February. Carter will have three years of eligibility at Minnesota.
Iverson, a 6-10 forward/center from Yankton, South Dakota, was named first team all-state following his junior season. He averaged 14.4 points and 9.7 rebounds per game for the Bucks who won the South Dakota AA Consolation Championship. He spent the summer playing for the South Dakota Heat AAU team and led the Heat to a 30-8 overall record, including the championship of the prestigious Hoosier Shootout AAU Tournament in Indianapolis. Iverson was named MVP of the Hoosier Shootout after scoring 28 points and having 16 rebounds in the title game.
Sampson, the son of former Houston Rockets and University of Virginia star Ralph Sampson, attends Northview High School in Duluth, Georgia. As a junior, Sampson averaged 14 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks per game. The 6-11 forward spent the summer playing for the Georgia Stars, one of the top AAU programs in the country. He’s considered a late developing prep star.
MIAC men’s and women’s conference hockey games begin tonight. In a pre-season coaches poll the men’s teams are ranked as follows: Bethel, St. Thomas, Gustavus, Saint John’s and St. Olaf (same number of votes), Augsburg, Saint Mary’s, Hamline and Concordia. Here’s the pre-season coaches poll results for the women’s teams: Gustavus, St. Thomas, St. Olaf, Hamline, Saint Mary’s, Concordia, Bethel, Augsburg, Saint Benedict and St. Catherine.
A pioneering event in female ice sports in Minnesota, the 15th annual All-American Girls and Women’s Hockey Tournament started yesterday and continues through Sunday at the Schwan Super Rink at the National Sports Center in Blaine. Seventy-four youth and women’s teams, including 23 from out-of-state, had registered earlier this month to participate in the tournament, the largest and one of the oldest female-only hockey tournaments in North America. Registered teams are from California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Manitoba and Ontario. Spectator admission prices are $20 for an adult all-tournament pass and $15 for a youth and senior all-tournament pass. Daily passes are $8 for adults and $6 for students and seniors. Children under 10 are admitted free.