Gene's Blog: Fast sports facts for a slow news day

July 18, 2009

It's still two weeks until Favre Mania breaks out at training camp in Mankato.

It’s three weeks until Tiger Mania breaks out at the PGA in Chaska.

And ready or not, it’s still four weeks (exaggeration coming) until Tommie Mania explodes with the start of fall sports practices.

Now seems like a good time for a summer edition of “True/Not True”…

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True: In 73 games, 2009 Division I baseball champion Louisiana State (56-17) had 107 home runs and 28 sacrifice bunts.

True: In 62 games, 2009 Division II baseball champion Lynn (Fla.) (46-16) had 70 home runs and 41 sacrifice bunts.

True: In 60 games, 2009 NAIA baseball champion Lubbock Christian (52-8) had 132 home runs and 14 sacrifice bunts.

True: In 54 games, 2009 Division III baseball champion St. Thomas (41-13) had 23 home runs and 44 sacrifice bunts.

Not True: In the interest of neighborhood relations -- and insurance deductibles -- the Tommies resist hitting home runs at on-campus games.

New York Times?

True: Joe Mauer is looking to become the first major-league player since 1941 to bat .400 on the season.

True: Jake Mauer (shown at right) batted .449 with an MIAC record 83 hits as a senior in 2001 to lead the Tommies to an NCAA title.

True: A Mauer brother was the subject of a New York Times sports feature story this week, but it wasn't Joe: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/sports/baseball/14mauer.html?_r=2&hpw.

True: Former NCAA Division III pitcher Jonathan Sanchez, who threw four no-hitters in college at Ohio Dominican, recently tossed the first no-hitter by a San Francisco Giant in 33 years.

True: The last previous no-hitter by a Giant was in September 29, 1976 by John “The Count” Montefusco.

True: John Montefusco’s no-hitter was baseball’s second biggest news story that week. Four days later, Hammerin’ Hank Aaron played his final major-league game of a 23-year major-league career.

True: Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty greeted the NCAA champion Tommie baseball team last week in a reception at the state capitol.

True: The NCAA trophy, and Governor Pawlenty, both look taller in person.

Father Dease, Coach Denning and team members pose with Governor Pawlenty. (Tom Whisenand photo)

Milestones

True: A past champ with the initials T.W. leads with one round to play at the 2009 British Open (and it's not Tiger Woods).

True: Andy Rooney, of 60 Minutes TV fame, born January 1919, is older than the MIAC, which was formed December 1919.

True: St. Thomas starts its 125th year as an educational institution this fall.

Not True: 60 Minutes reporters get a gold watch on their 125th year of service.

Not True: 60 minutes is the average time it takes to find a parking spot on class days at Twin Cities colleges.

True: The Rev. Dennis Dease is starting his 19th year as St. Thomas’ president –- which ties for the longest tenure for any Minnesota college president.

True: With the College of St. Catherine changing its name to St. Catherine University, the MIAC now has six universities and seven colleges.

True: A man in New Hampshire bought a pack of cigarettes with his Visa card, and his account was mistakenly billed $23,148,855,308,184,500. (That’s twenty-three quadrillion, one hundred forty-eight trillion, eight hundred fifty-five billion, three hundred eight million, one hundred eighty-four thousand, five hundred dollars).

True: Yes, cigarette tax rates are getting ridiculous.

Sweet stadium

True: In the Metrodome planning days, a 1976 idea was discussed (then abandoned) to build a football stadium with one end zone in St. Paul and the other in Minneapolis.

True: The amazing 70-yard long Gophers football locker room in TCF Bank Stadium appears to have one end zone in Golden Valley and the other in Eagan.

True: Gopher football and Tommie basketball moved into new home venues in late 1981 and 1982, and now are changing again.

True: In the 28-year history of Schoenecker Arena, Tommie men’s and women’s basketball teams won 24 of a possible 56 MIAC team titles

True: The Minnesota Gophers played 58 football seasons at Memorial Stadium (1924-1981) and in that era won 10 Big Ten titles.

True: The Minnesota Gophers played 27 football seasons at Metrodome (1982-2008) and in that span had no top-two team finishes in the rugged Big Ten.

True: Memorial Stadium cost $572,000 to build over a seven-month span in 1924.

True: TCF Bank Stadium will cost nearly $289 million and was built over a 25-month span (http://stadium.gophersports.com/).

True: If you took all the concrete poured in the new TCF Bank Stadium, you could build a sidewalk that would stretch all the way to Rochester.

True: If you took all the electrical cables from the new TCF Bank Stadium and laid them end to end, it would reach Chicago (or Talladega, if Larry the Cable Guy was on the job).

Not True: If he placed a work order for that job, Tim Brewster would have to hang around the stadium in person between 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., for the cable guy to show up.

True: Gopher football season tickets for 2009 are $275 for seven games ($39 per game), plus a premium charge for priority seating, although tickets are going fast for this fall.

True: Tickets for the first football game at Memorial Stadium in 1924, a 14-0 Gopher win over North Dakota, cost $1 each.

Not True: More than 30,000 Gopher fans went home disappointed that day in 1924 -- the Dinkytown Taco Bell was giving away 15-cent chalupas every time the Gophers scored 15 or more points in a home game.

Not True: Sid Hartman covered the game for the Strib and took up two parking spots in the press lot.

More football talk

True: St. Thomas football will play seven of 10 regular-season games this fall in St. Paul (at UST, Macalester and Hamline), and won't play outside the city until Oct. 17.

PHOTO: Ben Wartman (8) flies for yards (Mike Ekern photo)

True: The last Metrodome college football game, in Nov. 2008, drew 64,701 fans for the Gophers vs. the Hawkeyes.

True: The next Metrodome college football game will likely be less crowded -- Crown and MacMurray square off at 8 a.m. on Oct. 30 to open the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference jamboree.

True: The Metrodome could play a huge role in the 2009 MIAC title race, thanks to a Nov. 7 clash there between St. John’s and Augsburg.

True: Look for the NCAA to soon announce that it will lift some restrictions for Division III schools’ use of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.

True: St. John’s coach John Gagliardi has his own Facebook page… and some new fodder for his summer speech circuit.

Favre, Franken

True: On Sept. 20, 1992, Philadelphia Phillie infielder Mickey Morandini recorded the National League’s first unassisted triple play in 65 years.

True: The last weekend Brett Favre didn’t start an NFL regular-season game was Sept. 20, 1992.

True: Minnesota Viking rookie WR Percy Harvin was four years old on Sept. 20, 1992.

True: It took Al Franken 239 days to be sworn in as a U.S. Senator.

True: It took Al Franken 239 seconds to be sworn at after becoming a U.S. Senator.

True: Online music seller iTunes reported recently that eight of its top 10 downloads were Michael Jackson songs.

Not True: iTunes reports little momentum for sales of the 1979 song “In the Navy” by the Village People. The song is stalled at 975,386th in downloads for the month of July.

True: “MacGruber,” the current Saturday Night Live sketch that parodies the 1980s TV show “MacGyver,” will be made into a 90-minute feature film.

True: Now NBA playoff games won’t be the only events where the last 70 seconds of action will stretch out over 70 minutes.

True: Tommie men’s basketball assistant coach Johnny Tauer (shown at right) has a new blog on the “Psychology Today” website titled “Goal Posts.” (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/goal-posts):

Not true: Tommie SID Gene McGivern is a senior writer at “Procrastination Today” magazine.

True: This just in… “Procrastination Today” magazine might change its name to “Procrastination Tomorrow.” The editors can't commit to when they'll make an official decision…