Gopher football coach Tim Brewster has a special connection to the Rose Bowl. In 1984 he and his Illinois teammates were in southern California for the Rose Bowl. He proposed while on the trip to his girlfriend and now wife, Cathy.
The “Tyler Thigpen” era officially began with 13:02 to play in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s opening pre-season game against the Rams. Thigpen, the seventh round rookie quarterback, roused the crowd with a 12-yard scramble for a first down on his first series. Fans love to gravitate to the newest of quarterbacks and Thigpen stirred up some of the loudest crowd noise Friday evening. Fourth team quarterback Drew Henson didn’t play and he seems the likely roster cut when the Vikings go from four quarterbacks to three.
Rookie cornerback Marcus McCauley, a third round pick, is reportedly among the Vikings’ most impressive rookies so far.
Lester Bagley, a key executive for the Vikings in the pursuit of a new stadium, told Sports Headliners the organization hasn’t determined the appropriate time to resume its stadium drive because of the 35W bridge disaster. Bagley, executive vice president of public affairs and stadium development, said there will be a special legislative session within a few weeks to deal with the bridge issue but the Vikings won’t pursue the stadium matter.
The Vikings’ new marketing theme, “You Made The Team,” will likely be used for a few years, according to Bagley. The message relates to both the Viking tradition and present day. Part of the campaign is to tell the stories of individual fans and what the franchise means to them.
Tickets were on sale at the Metrodome Friday night for the home season opener with Atlanta on September 9. A ticket booth seller had lower level end zone seats available for $81 each. Tickets for $113 per seat for the pre-season opener Friday night were being sold by street hawkers for $50 each or less.
Ken Lien, who for years was chairman of the Minnesota Mr. Basketball Committee and has coached local youth teams, is impressed with 6-foot-9, 240-pound center Colton Iverson of Yankton, South Dakota and has seen him play three times this year. “I like his frame, I like his aggressiveness,” Lien told Sports Headliners. “He knows his way around the basket. He plays big.” Iverson has recently become a highly recruited player with the Gophers reportedly among schools in pursuit.
Lien coached Ryan Wittman, son of Wolves coach Randy Wittman, on a Minnesota Select team for three years (2003-2005). Ryan was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year last season playing for Cornell, averaging over 16 points per game. Lien, who owns a local awards and promotions company, said former Iowa coach Steve Alford had interest in Ryan while at Eden Prairie High School but not enough to offer a scholarship.
The Detroit area, including Ann Arbor, is ranked the No. 1 sports town in America in a recent listing of the top 99 cities in the country by SportingNews. Minneapolis-St. Paul is No. 10, preceded by Detroit, New York, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago-Evanston, Los Angeles, Boston, Denver-Boulder, Phoenix-Tempe and Philadelphia. Our neighborhood rivals ranked like this: Madison, 40th, Milwaukee, 47th, Green Bay 51st , and Iowa City, 90th. The rankings are calculated annually and based on a lengthy list of criteria including wins and losses, post-season participation, appeal of athletes and event attendance.