Jul/070
Toting the Rock with AP28
It's training camp time, and although not all draft picks have signed, there is always optimism in the air. One of the most striking points of optimism for the Minnesota Vikings is the eventual addition of their new tailback, Adrian Peterson. Most of the great teams these days have two solid backs, which is what makes the addition of Peterson so intriguing. It's hard to know what the immediate role of the rookie will be, but in time it is clear--feature back. Chester Taylor ran for over 1200 yards last year behind our mammoth offensive line. The line was much maligned for not living up to their potential, but for my money, clearing the way for a career backup to rush for over 1200 yards is a job well done. Peterson is bigger, stronger, faster and quicker than Taylor and by all reports has better vision as well. Physical talent alone does not guarantee success over a career, but it's a good start. I project that by the end of the year Peterson will be getting most of the first and second-down carries as well as goal line handoffs, with Chester Taylor getting the third down opportunities--a similar situation to Maroney overtaking Dillon in New England and Addai overtaking Rhodes in Indianapolis. That said, who is Adrian Peterson anyway?
Strengths: Possesses an outstanding combination of size, power and speed. Shows a great deal of competitiveness and toughness as a runner. Extremely instinctive as a runner. Shows excellent vision and patience. Runs with ideal balance and body control. Makes quick cuts and shows very good initial burst off his plant foot. He is an upright runner but he also knows when to lower his shoulder for the most part. Rare in terms of his ability to gain yards after contact. He is a punishing back that will wear a defense down with 25-35 carries, and he seems to improve as the game wears on. He shows the initial burst and speed to consistently turn the corner as an outside runner. He continues to improve as a route runner. He has displayed soft hands as a receiver and has upside in that facet of the game. He also shows the size, strength and competitiveness to develop into a solid pass blocker with improved technique and more attention to detail.
Weaknesses: Durability is the biggest concern. He has been limited by injuries in each of his three collegiate seasons, yet he also has lots of mileage on his legs with 728 carries in the 30 games played to date. He will enter the NFL having already suffered injuries to his shoulder, ankle and collarbone. He is an upright runner that loses some power because he fails to consistently run with good pad-level. He’s not overly elusive and won’t make many defenders miss in space. He lacks ideal experience in the passing game. Will need polishing as a route runner and as a blocker.
Overall: Peterson started eight of 13 games played as a true freshman in 2004, when he rushed for 1,925 yards and 15 touchdowns on 339 carries. He also caught five passes for 12 yards that season. He was suspended for two days during 2005 spring practice and did not start vs. UCLA because he missed classes. As a sophomore in 2005, Peterson started eight of 11 games played (missed Baylor and parts of three other games with ankle sprain), and finished with 1,108 yards and 14 TD’s on 220 carries, and caught nine passes for 50 yards. A broken collarbone (Iowa State 10/14) forced him to miss seven games in 2006. For the season he rushed 188 times for 1,012 yards (5.4 average) and 12 touchdowns and also caught 10 passes for 136 yards and one touchdown, earning him a first team All-Big 12 selection. On a side note: His father was in prison from when Peterson was in middle school until October of 2006.
Durability is the biggest knock on Peterson. Otherwise, he’s a complete prospect with special physical skills and competitiveness. When healthy, Peterson displays an outstanding combination of size, vision, instincts, burst and power as a runner. Also, while his receptions were limited in college, he displays soft hands and lots of potential in that department. Overall, Peterson is by far the best running back in the 2007 class and he ranks as one of the top-five prospects regardless of position.
The following is from Wikipedia.com; and as Michael Scott says, Wikipedia is the greatest invention ever… anybody anywhere in the world can write anything they want, so you know you are getting the best information…
High school career
Peterson played football at Palestine High School coached by Jeff Harrell. As a senior he rushed for 2,960 yards on 252 attempts, an average of 11.7 yards per carry, and 32 touchdowns. He finished his 2002 campaign with 2,051 yards on 246 carries, an average of 8.3 yards per carry, and 22 TDs. Peterson was considered one of the best runnings backs in Texas prep history and consensus national player of the year 2004. He was awarded the 2004 Hall Trophy as the Ball Park National High School Player of the Year. Peterson was also named MVP of the U.S. Army All-American Bowl after leading the West squad with 95 yards on nine carries and scoring two touchdowns. Highly recruited, he chose Oklahoma over Arkansas, Miami (FL) and Texas.
At Palestine HS, Peterson also competed in track and field and basketball.
College career
Peterson runs against Boise State in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl.
Peterson comes from a very athletic family. His mother was a collegiate track athlete, while his father signed a national letter of intent to play basketball at the University of Oklahoma. Personal troubles derailed his father’s enrollment at Oklahoma, however, and he ended up playing for the University of Southern Idaho, and later serving time in prison. He was released from prison during the 2006 season, but was precluded from attending any Oklahoma’s football games until his release from a half-way house in Oklahoma City. Peterson’s father was able to watch his son from the stands for the first time on October 14, 2006. Oklahoma beat Iowa State University in that game, but Adrian broke his collar bone diving into the end zone for a 53-yard touchdown run. During a press conference on October 18, Peterson said he was told by doctors to expect to be out for four to six weeks. He was unable to return for the rest of the Sooners regular season, but he was cleared to play in the Big 12 Championship Game. However, he and the coaching staff felt it would be safer to hold him out one more game. He returned for the Sooners’ last game against Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl where he rushed for 77 yards. He refused to discuss his plans beyond the end of this season with the press. At the time of the injury, Peterson had only 151 yards to gain to pass Billy Sims as the University of Oklahoma’s all-time leading rusher. Peterson finished 74 yards short of that mark after the Fiesta Bowl. Peterson is 6′2″ about 225 pounds, with his 40 yard dash time reported at 4.38 by Sports Illustrated.
Career statistics
Rushing
| Year | Team | Attempts | Yards | Average | Long | TDs | Yards/Game | Rank* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | HS | 259 | 2313 | 8.9 | – | 32 | – | – | |
| 2005 | Okla. | 220 | 1108 | 5.0 | 84 | 14 | 100.73 | 33rd | |
| * National rank based on rushing yards per game | |||||||||
Receiving
| Year | Team | Receptions | Yards | Average | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | HS | 3 | 36 | 12.0 | – | 0 |
| 2005 | Okla. | 9 | 50 | 5.6 | 11 | 0 |
Scouting report
Peterson has good size at 6′2″ and 220 lbs. He has the power to run over a defender and the elusiveness make him miss. He has great speed and has the potential to score on any given play. The main knock on him is durability. Throughout his career at Oklahoma, he has suffered numerous injuries, including a broken collarbone. However, Peterson has been compared to such NFL backs as Shaun Alexander, due to Peterson’s strength and tackle-breaking abilities.
At the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana, Peterson ran a 4.38 unofficial 40 time. The night before the Combine, Peterson’s half-brother was killed in an apparent homicide in Houston, Texas.
Jul/077
A Sad Week In Sports
It has been one incredible and disturbing week in sports. I'm left wondering at what point did ESPN.com become Fox News? As I write this post the top five stories on the AP sports wire have nothing to do with sports but rather the cheaters and law breakers involved in them. You have the NBA ref situation, the Tour de France favorite testing positive after a win, Vick being asked not the report to training camp, the Bonds vs. Selig will he be there debate, Gary Player stating he knows of at least one pro golfer who has used steroids, the Marlins Olsen getting in a police fight, gophers player suspensions and on and on. And all of this after a summer of NFL player problems.
What went wrong? When billions of dollars are wrapped up into TV deals, millions invested in players and 24/7 TV and internet coverage consumes us, does it all fall apart?
With Vick, Pacman, Bonds, steroids, bicyclists doping - these things will be cleaned up and pass with time. But I don't see the NBA recovering soon. The problem is the NBA already lived in a cloud of controversy. As I've blogged about before when the Wolves lost in LA in an "unusually" reffed last few minutes to cover the spread. People have always questioned the refs in the NBA, before we learned of Donaghy. This isn't a new problem, people have been complaining about how the NBA is set up to fix games for years. The ways "special" players like Kobe and Wade some how shoot 20 free throws a game. How star players never foul out.
Bill Simmons is one of my favorite ESPN writers and he has written an unbelievable account of what this could all mean for the NBA. He like myself has always been questioning how the NBA system works. He has written a half dozen articles about ref's manipulating games. In June 2006 Simmons wrote about WWE type help that pulled the Heat out of a 0-2 hole. His opening line of that column over one year ago - "Forget about who's winning the championship. I'm starting to feel like the future of the NBA is at stake."
In Bill's latest article he references ESPN's own J.A. Adande with his take
"When news of the scandal broke on Friday, as J.A. Adande pointed out in his column on ESPN.com that day, every diehard NBA fan had the same reaction. They weren't thinking, "I can't believe it!" or "Oh my God, how could this happen?" They were thinking, "Which one was it?" This was like finding out that your grandfather who smoked three packs a day for 50 years just came down with lung cancer. It was sad but inevitable. It was only a matter of time. "
It was only a matter of time. And we still don't know how many were involved. What if Donaghy knows more? What if he squeals? It could get worse. It was so bad last year that Mavs owner Cuban almost sold his team, he was that heart broken by the officiating irregularities. He started feeling like it wasn't sport anymore, it was manipulated entertainment.
The article is long, but it is very, very good. It deals with everything from fixed games, Championships in doubt to LeBron being completely ineffective at the 2006 World Championships when he couldn't get bailed out like he would in the NBA.
Jul/0716
G-O-P-H-E-R-S… What’s that spell? Scandal!
This week a bomb went off on the east bank of the University of Minnesota.
This week 4 University of Minnesota football players were charged with breaking a variety of laws in conjunction with an incendent that happened several months ago in the University Village on campus. The allegations state that they took advantage of a UofM coed when she was passed out after a drinking contest that included 8 shots of Vodka.
It seems like only yesterday that Clem Haskens was patrolling the sidelines at Williams Arena. We all know what that scandal did to our University. What will come of this most recent incident? Will the enthusiasm and hope that Tim Brewster has been selling be dampened because of this most recent case. A few months ago our snake oil salesman of a coach had us chanting "Rose Bowl". Will we soon be hoping any kind of bowl?
While the players involved have not been formally convicted of any crime, they have been dismissed from the team. While I do not believe that this action was necessary, Tim Brewster did this as nothing more than a PR move. I think that he probably did what he thought was best for his team and the university. He talks about accountability and a code of conduct. He hopes that future players might think twice about acting in this manner. Brewster had the choice of suspending the players or dismissing them altogether. We saw what he chose.
I wonder whether this could possibly turn into a Duke Lacrosse situation.... What happens if the DNA evidence disappears or the alleged cell phone video doesn't prove anything. Will these players sporting careers and more importantly their reputation be forever tarnished.
We have seen what has happened to the Duke Lacrosse players. The faculty, media (local and national) and sporting community condemned these players because they were the "rich" White kids who raped the black girl. Will this become a race issue like it did in Raleigh? Will the community rally behind the alleged victim and condemn the athletes because they are black?
I am not siding with any one side. I am merely playing the devils advocate and questioning the way the UofM handled the situation and raising questions as to what makes this case any different than that of Duke.
Your Thoughts?
Jul/0716
With the number 7 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft the Minnesota Timberwolves select…
Corey Brewer. Let me lead off this post by saying that I stand completely behind McHale et al.'s selection of Corey Brewer. He was, in my opinion, the best available player when we picked. However, I was a little surprised that we didn't make a draft day trade for a shoot-first point guard. It just seems to be what the Wolves like to do. I kept expecting to hear "there has been a trade. The Wolves have sent Corey Brewer to Atlanta for Acie Law IV and future considerations or cash." One of the worst moves in team history, right behind Ndudi Ebi and the Joe Smith wink-wink ink-ink, was trading one of my favorite players of all-time, Ray Allen, to Seattle on draft day for Stephon Marbury. The Timberwolves followed the same blueprint last year when we made a draft day trade with Portland sending Brandon Roy there for Randy Foye and cash. For the record, I still support the trade last year, but it looks like a trend. A lot of people like to jump down McHale's throat about many issues, both deservingly and not, but our last two drafts have been fantastic. Foye is going to be a 15 year pro, Craig Smith would start on many teams this year (unfortunately for him he is really a 4, so unless we trade KG he will have a reserve role), Corey Brewer is a proven winner who plays steller defense, is slippery in the lane, and can dish with the best 3's in the league, and Chris Richard, also a proven winner, has looked like a taller version of Craig Smith in the summer league and is a team-first guy--imagine a strong, athletic Mad-Dog.
Speaking of the Foye trade, Brandon Roy was rookie of the year because he was put in a scoring role on a team with no guards and no hope. It's easy to have inflated stats when you are the only perimeter scorer on a bad team (see Mike James for Toronto in 2006). Marbury had a great first couple of years and Seattle looked like dopes for trading him for Jesus Shuttlesworth, but one or two seasons does not a career make. In hindsight Ray Allen has been one of the best players of his generation and Marbury has been a poison pill for every team he has touched.
My prediction is that the Foye-Roy trade will look similar in the long run. Brandon Roy is a solid pro, but doesn't have the upside to be the face of a franchise like Foye does. This year in the summer league Foye is doing a much better job of running the team like a true point guard and getting his shots in the flow of the offense and at crunch time. On Saturday night Foye scored 26 points in the flow of the offense against Memphis. Granted, they didn't have Pau in the lineup, but Foye was going against Mike Conley Jr. of Ohio State and in the summer league they only play 10 minute quarters. In my opinion, the second round choices of Smith and Richard have saved McHale's job for the next few years. In fact, Foye and Smith made the Summer League First Team, which was announced today. Yes, this was the same summer league that Foye was the MVP of last year, and that is played in by the likes of Roy, Kevin Durant, Greg Oden and Rudy Gay, to name a few.
McHale hasn't been as bad as everyone thinks. The aforementioned Joe Smith and Ndudi Ebi transactions were diseased, don't get me wrong, but McHale has done some good things too. Almost all of rube nation was behind McHale in 2003 when he signed Cassell and Spree. In fact, I was as happy as Pat Williams at an all you can eat Cajun Crawfish buffet about it. We were a Sammy C groin injury away from winning the NBA championship. It is not McHale's fault that Cassell got hurt and we lost in the Western Finals. It's not fair to go back now and criticize McHale for taking the risk to get Sam and Latrell, because we were all behind it at the time.
Also, McHale has been bound by Garnett's contract (who he never gets the credit for drafting, by the way) his entire tenure. Garnett keeps complaining that we aren't putting a good team together? Ok, let's redo your deal so you get the mid-level exception (still about 6 million per) and we'll sign Gilbert Arenas! Oh, I guess he's not THAT upset about losing. Every year all we have is the mid-level and the 1 million dollar ditty to sign new players. KG either needs to take less money so we can afford another (real) superstar, or he needs to start recruiting his friends to come play for the mid-level. Shaq went and got Antoine Walker and Gary Payton for the mid-level and the minimum, respectively, and they won the Championship. Maybe if KG didn't disappear for 6 months during the offseason we could make some progress. Even better, KG could take a pay cut AND recruit his buddies to play for the minimum to win a championship... I guess he hasn't considered that, because if he had thought of it he is such a team-first guy that he would undoubtedly have already done it. I don't know if you can say "unselfish, team first player" and "largest contract in league history" in the same sentence with a straight face. If you can, feel free to leave a comment...
Jul/072
MLB’s Greatest Singles Hitting Team
The one thing that I find very frustrating and very exillerating when watching the Twins is the constant singles parade. I don't know if there has ever been a group of Twins players who hit more singles than the current Twins. I think this fact has led Gardenhire to adopt a run generation model on offense. Going into Sunday's game the Twins are:
- 10th in Hits
- 6th in Runs
- 22nd in Home Runs
- 25th in Doubles
- 4th in Steals
The Twins are manufacturing runs through stolen bases and singles. It's really all they can do, even with Tori and Justin having really good years. In the last three home games against Oakland, the Twins have had runners in scoring position in 17 of the 24 innings played. That is simply amazing.
However, I'd like to see a little more balance. It would be nice to see one more home run/doubles threat in the lineup to help score some of these runs.
Would the Twins make a move for someone like the A's Dan Johnson - Trade Rumors or are they still interested in a deal for someone like Mike Lowell as reported by La Velle? How fun would it be to have Griffey Jr. hitting home runs for a few months in the dome?
With Torii having a career ie. contract year his free agent price is effectively going up every week he plays. Now that Ichiro has signed a ridiculous deal, for what could be marketing reasons and not on field performance, Torii and Andruw Jones are the only two big free agent outfielder's left.
In the past the Twins let Kirby and Herbek test free agent waters before signing them back to the team. That could very well be the case for Torii, which could bring Jacque Jones back into the picture. Jacque and Torii were friends in MN and still are friends. Chicago rumors have Jacque day dreaming about coming back to MN to play in a more comfortable environment free of the 24/7 Cubs Nation scrutiny. Could Jacque actually help decide Torii's fate? Would Jacque help tell tale's of the unhappiness that comes with chasing big money? Would Jacque and Torii want to come back to MN and the outfield foundation until the new stadium opens? Or does Terry Ryan want to bring up some new blood from the farm?
Fox Sports senior writer Ken Rosenthal has a new post examining the Twins situation with Santana. If left open to the market Santana could easily get $15-$20 million/yr. Do the Twins try to move him next season for prospects? The one thing going the Twins way is that Santana wants to stay in MN and is willing to work out a hometown discount, but that may still be $10-$15 million/yr. The other thing to consider is that Santana has a no trade clause running through the end of 2008. If the Twins show him love by not even considering trades would Johan return the favor and play for $5-$10 million/yr. less?
Even with the Torii and Johan situations, we still have Justin, Cuddy and Nathan to think about. Why can't we just have NY and Boston like money?
Jul/070
Get a good look PART II
Below is a great article from Dave St. Peter President of the Twins Baseball Club. Everything is pointing to a 2015 All-Star game on the 30th and 50th Anniversaries of previous MN All-Star Games. It would also mark the 30th Anniversary of the Home Run Derby.
----From Twins Ballpark Update----
All eyes will be on San Francisco’s AT&T Park this week as the city plays host the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Tuesday’s game will be the 78th “Midsummer Classic” and the third time the City of San Francisco has hosted the event and fifth time overall in Giants franchise history (including two games played at the Polo Grounds in New York).
Meanwhile, with Minnesota’s new ballpark about to rise in Minneapolis’ North Loop Neighborhood, it’s not too early to begin thinking about when the All-Star Game will return to the Upper Midwest. The Twins have hosted the game twice – in 1965 at Metropolitan Stadium and in 1985 at the Metrodome. With Minnesota’s new ballpark slated to open in the spring of 2010, the team has targeted 2015 as the preferred year to bring back the “Midsummer Classic” back to the Twin Cities. Five years into the new park is about the ideal time to host the game. That reality -- coupled with the synergies of the 30th Anniversary of the 1985 game and 50th Anniversary of the 1965 game – makes 2015 the obvious plan.
To date, the team has engaged in only informal discussions with MLB about hosting the game. Those discussions will formalize later this year once the new ballpark is officially under construction. One challenge which exists is the sheer number of communities looking to host the game. To date, MLB has only awarded the next two games – New York’s Yankee Stadium in 2008 and St. Louis’ Busch Stadium in 2009. Kansas City has been promised a game between 2010 and 2014. You can expect a host of other communities – Washington, New York (Mets), San Diego, Arizona, Tampa Bay, Cincinnati, and others -- competing to host games in the years to come.
That competition is well justified based on the fact that the MLB All-Star Game has grown so much in stature and profile since Minnesota last hosted the event. While Minnesota hosted the first-ever Home Run Derby in 1985 (won by Tom Brunansky), that event is now an unparalleled spectacle. Throw in the MLB FanFest, the Future’s Game, All-Star Sunday and you have a three-day event attracting more than 250,000 fans and 1,800+ media. While some attempt to discredit the overall economic impact of pro sports, consider the following numbers which serve as hint of what Minnesota can expect when the Twins host the game in the years to come.
The Economic Impact of the All-Star Game
The economic impact of recent All-Star Games on its host cities and communities has been as follows, as calculated and provided by each All-Star Game host city:
Year Host City Economic Impact*
2007 San Francisco Estimated $60-65 million
2006 Pittsburgh $52.3 million
2005 Detroit $52.5 million
2004 Houston $65 million
2003 Chicago $60 million
2002 Milwaukee $50 million
2001 Seattle $50 million
2000 Atlanta $49 million
1999 Boston $65 million
1998 Denver $40.5 million
1997 Cleveland $37.6 million
1996 Philadelphia $55.9 million
*Past All-Star Games have filled between 14,000 and 16,500 hotel rooms and have drawn between 200,000 and 250,000 fans to the various All-Star Week festivities.
Win Twins!!!!
Dave St. Peter
President, Minnesota Twins Baseball Club
Jul/071
Get a good look during the All-Star festivities
It's no coincidence that PNC and AT&T Park's have been two of my favorite stadiums to visit, they were both built by HOK, the king of stadium architecture. HOK built Camden Yards, the new Wembly in London, new Busch, Petco, Jacobs, Chinese Olympic Venues, the London Olympic Venues and about 50 other stadiums. HOK Sport Oh and they are building the new gopher football stadium. So after comparing the new Twins Park to AT&T Park this All-Star game I'm loving what I'm seeing. Double the bathrooms, a wider concourse and the closest distance to home plate. Please Best Buy, step up and name this thing Best Buy Ballpark. It's about to become my favorite stadium and it hasn't even been built yet.
Jul/070
EA Counter Punch
Looks like 2K Sports isn't going to let EA get away with locking up that NFL deal that eliminates competition. I'm all for more competition and hopefully lower prices. Let's hope 2K does that $19.99 thing again.
Jul/070
Cuban in hot pursuit
It's official. You can now add the Dallas Mavericks to the KG sweepstakes. Considering MN has invested roughly $186 Million dollars into KG...did we get our money's worth?