Condolences to the Fitzgerald family, including Larry Sr., Larry Jr., and Marcus, following the death of Sally Fitzgerald, their mother and grandmother. Services were held last Friday in Chicago.
The NBA’s compacted, strike-shortened season can be ridiculous as witnessed last week when the Wolves played on three consecutive nights—all road games. No wonder the Wolves, including Kevin Love who had a busy All-Star Weekend and was suffering from the flu during the week, looked sluggish at mid-week.
Gophers senior forward Trevor Mbakwe, injured and unable to play since November 27, was ceremoniously named the sixth man of the game on Saturday in Minnesota’s 81-69 win over Nebraska. The Williams Arena crowd responded with a standing ovation for Minnesota’s best player.
Paper work has been submitted to the NCAA requesting one final season of eligibility for Mbakwe since he was only able to play in seven games. It’s not known when the NCAA will respond and if Mbakwe will want to play next season for the Gophers, or pursue a professional career.
Sophomore guard Chip Armelin had a career high 20 points off the bench in Minnesota’s win, the last Big Ten regular season game prior to the start of Thursday’s conference tournament. He was given a rare second half start. Armelin has talked in the past about playing college football. It will be interesting in the coming months to see if he tries to play both football and basketball, or chooses one sport.
Coach Jerry Kill will provide C.O.R.E.S. members with a look at his Gophers football program on Thursday. Minnesota starts spring football practice on March 22. Ron Stolski, Brainerd High football coach and executive director of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association, will introduce Kill. C.O.R.E.S. members can still make reservations by contacting Jim Dotseth. C.O.R.E.S. is an acronym for coaches, officials, educators, reporters and sports fans.
Fox Sports North televises the first of five Twins spring training games starting tonight at 6 p.m. when Minnesota plays Boston.
Patrick Reusse, talking on 1500 ESPN last week, credited a caller with a different way to look at the public commitment for a new Vikings stadium: The team ownership is willing to spend $427 million on the proposed $975 million facility and will use it only 10 or 12 times per year. The state and city, investing a combined $548 million, gets a covered facility to use for more than 300 days per year for community sports and a variety of major events. Seems like a good return on investment.
License plate seen Saturday on the all-electric Nissan Leaf car: Ybuygas.