Vikings coach Brad Childress talking about explosive Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson being a difference maker for his struggling offense: “He’ll be a great difference maker for anybody. We’re going to get a good football player (drafting at No. 7).”
Yesterday Childress read his favorite poem The Bridge Builder by Will Allen Dromgoole) at the downtown Minneapolis Public Library as part of National Poetry Month. The poem speaks of each generation’s responsibilities to those who come after and Childress has been reading it since adolescence. Although he’s a fan of the poem and finds it inspirational, he doesn’t write poetry or have any hobbies such as golf or boating.
Media and Gopher fans will watch Tubby Smith in the months ahead to see how recruiting develops. While at Kentucky, Smith had a verbal commitment from Saginaw, Michigan star Draymond Green. Is Green’s coach, Lou Dawkins, who played for Smith at Tulsa, a candidate for an assistant coach’s job at Minnesota?
The April 16 Sporting News listed its top 15 pre-season college football teams and ranked Wisconsin No. 6. Other Big Ten Conference teams were No. 7 Michigan, No. 14 Penn State and No. 15 Ohio State.
Wally’s Choice was injured in a workout recently, won’t be able to race this year and will have to wait until 2008 to break Blair’s Cove’s all-time record of $533,528 for Minnesota bred race horses. The six-year-old race horse tore a tendon but is expected to make a full recovery and needs about $100,000 in additional winnings to break the record. Owners include Wally McNeil, known to local sports fans as “Wally the Beerman.” He has a promising two-year-old filly named Run Danya.
Featherweights Jason Litzau of St. Paul and Aldo Valiterra of Mexico meet at Roy Wilkins Auditorium on Wednesday night in a televised fight on ESPN2.