Creative Charters, the Stillwater based company that has hosted about 20,000 customers on sports trips since 1993, will again organize a trip to the Kentucky Derby in Louisville. The 2007 derby is Saturday, May 5. Creative Charters owner Steve Erban is a horse racing enthusiast. He and other partners own horses that race at Canterbury Park.
Brad Johnson is one of three quarterbacks listed on the Vikings roster along with Brooks Bollinger and Tarvaris Jackson but the guess here is he won’t return. Drew Henson is the only quarterback on the practice squad roster.
Timberwolves assistant general manager Fred Hoiberg said the new rule in 2006 preventing players going from high school to the NBA makes scouting easier. There is already plenty to do scouting college and international players without having to spend too much time looking at high school players.
A year of watching a player in college might help avoid a mistake such as when the Timberwolves drafted Ndudi Ebi out of high school in 2003 and released him in 2005. College certainly could have benefited Ebi. “It would have taught him more about discipline,” Hoiberg said. “It would have taught him defensive rules. Basically when you’re taking a high school kid you’re betting on his athleticism and his upside. And he had a lot of athleticism and he was a good shot blocker and he really got out and ran the court, but his basketball IQ probably would have shown up a little bit more if he had gone to college for a year.”
“Wild About Children, An Evening of Fine Dining at Pazzaluna” last Sunday raised $93,000 for Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, the most money ever generated by the event. Minnesota Wild players waited on tables filled with 200 guests at the sold-out event that included silent and live auctions.
In 2006 the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) led NCAA Division III conferences in football attendance for the second straight season. The conference’s nine teams averaged 3,222 fans per game, a 204 per game increase over 2005. In 46 home games in 2006, the MIAC total attendance was 148,203 fans.
For the 10th time in 14 years Saint John’s University was first in Division III football attendance. Saint John’s averaged a school record 8,547 fans per game and had total attendance of 51,284 for six home games, an increase of 622 per game from 2005. Wabash (Ind.) was second at 5,447 fans per game.