Seasons
SEASON: 60 | YEAR: 2008
HEAD COACH: MARGARET SUGHRUE CARLSON
Game 710 | January 28, 2008 | Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau
Arguably the most popular pair of players in Twins history, the "M&M Boys" appeared together at Dunkers before leaving for spring training in Florida. Mauer, from St. Paul, won the American League batting title in 2006 and again in 2008. British Columbia-born Morneau was the American League's MVP in 2006 and, before a huge international television audience in 2008, won the Home Run Derby held the day before the All Star Game.
(LtoR) Dave Mona, Joe Mauer, John Gordon, Justin Morneau, Dave St. Peter (physician)
Game 711 | February 29, 2008 | John Anderson
Coach Anderson's young Gopher baseball team had a tough season in 2008, finishing with a 20-35 record. Matt Nohelty paced the team with a .397 batting average. Football star Eric Decker joined the team as an outfielder and hit .329 with three home runs and 28 RBIs.
Game 712 | March 27, 2008 | Bob Bruininks
The University president said he was thrilled with the progress of TCF Bank Stadium on campus. He said the stadium would anchor a building boom to the east of the new stadium that would be the University's largest expansion since the building of the West Bank in the late 1960s.
Game 713 | April 3, 2008 | Ron Gardenhire, Bill Smith
With less than a month remaining in the 2007 Twins baseball season, long-time General Manager Terry Ryan stepped down and was replaced by his long-time assistant, Smith. It was a busy off-season for Smith as the team was unable to come to terms with star pitcher Johan Santana and popular center fielder Torii Hunter. Smith traded Santana to the New York Mets for center fielder Carlos Gomez and three minor league pitchers. Hunter signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. In addition, Smith traded shortstop Jason Bartlett and promising pitcher Matt Garza to Tampa Bay for left fielder Delmon Young and utility infielder Brendan Harris. Gardenhire piloted his young team to a surprisingly good 88-75 record, losing the divisional title to the Chicago White Sox in a one-game playoff.
Game 714 | April 10, 2008 | Gov Tim Pawlenty
Amidst rumors of a possible selection as a vice presidential candidate for Republican John McCain, Gov. Pawlenty said there was more than enough to keep him busy in Minnesota. He said the rebuilding of the collapsed I-35W bridge was ahead of schedule, but that a weakening economy was threatening the state's budget for 2009 and beyond.
Game 715 | May 8, 2008 | Rick Spielman
It was a very active off-season for Spielman, the Vikings vice president of player personnel. The Vikings were without a first-round draft choice as a result of a major trade with Kansas City that brought defensive end Jared Allen to the Vikings. Allen led the NFL in sacks with 15.5 in 2007.
Game 716 | May 13, 2008 | Candice Wiggins, Don Zierden
Winner of the Wade Trophy as the outstanding women's college basketball player in the country, Wiggins was the top draft choice of the Minnesota Lynx in 2008. Daughter of former major league infielder Alan Wiggins, Candice became the all-team leading scorer in Stanford basketball history when she overtook Kate Starbird early in 2008. Her rookie year with the Lynx was hampered by injuries, but she was named WNBA Rookie of the Month in June 2008. Zierden, an assistant to Timberwolves Coach Flip Saunders and the former head coach at his alma mater, Minneapolis DeLaSalle, became the Lynx's fifth head coach in December 2006.
Game 717 | June 25, 2008 | Dottie Pepper, Mark Rolfing
In the Twin Cities for ESPN and NBC coverage of the 2008 Women's U.S. Open at Interlachen, golf analysts Pepper and Rolfing talked about the state of women's professional golf and the future of the game after Annika Sorenstam's announcement that she would retire at the end of the year. Pepper, winner of two Majors and 17 LPGA events, said that Lorena Ochoa should be the favorite to win at Interlachen. Rolfing, a major figure in golf in Hawaii, talked about the difficult career of 18-year-old Hawaiian Michele Wie. The U.S. Open, co-chaired by Dunkers Linda and Dave Mona, was won by Korean Inbee Park.
Game 718 | July 16, 2008 | Gary McCord
In town to compete in the 3M Championship, McCord is better known these days as a golf analyst than as a competitor. He recalled for Dunkers how he was removed from CBS Masters coverage in 1995 for his comments that the 17th green was so fast it appeared to have been "bikini-waxed," and that "body bags" were stacked behind that green for players who missed their approach shots. While he continues to cover virtually every other golf event for CBS, he has never been invited back to Augusta for the Masters.
Game 719 | August 21, 2008 | Tim Brewster
Coming off the best recruiting year in the recent history of the Gopher football program, Coach Brewster told Dunkers he expected this year's team to be "greatly improved" from last year's team, which struggled to learn new offensive and defensive schemes and finished last in the Big Ten with a 1-11 record. Good as the recruiting class was expected to be, Brewster said he looked for the most production out of veterans such as quarterback Adam Weber, wide receiver Eric Decker and defensive lineman Willie VanDeSteeg.
Game 720 | September 3, 2008 | Jeff Greenfield
With the Republican National Convention endorsing John McCain and Sarah Palin in downtown St. Paul, CBS Senior Political Analyst Greenfield talked about the rapidly changing political landscape. He acknowledged that pollsters are having challenges finding ways to contact younger voters who rely solely on cell phones, and he said that Democrats were concentrating on registering large numbers of young voters who had never before voted in a presidential election. A University of Wisconsin graduate, Greenfield demonstrated his knowledge of the historic Gopher/Badger rivalry.
(LtoR) Margaret Sughrue Carlson, Susan Loyd (physician), Jeff Greenfield, Dave Mona
Game 721 | September 18, 2008 | Dave Mona
Coincidental with the publication of his book, Beyond the Sports Huddle: Mona on Minnesota, the long-time Dunker shared stories of well-known people he had worked with, such as Sid Hartman, Dave Moore, Halsey Hall, Bill Martin, Murray Warmath, Garrison Keillor and Harmon Killebrew.
Game 722 | October 1, 2008 | Brad Childress
The 2008 Minnesota Vikings were already off to a 1-3 start when Coach Childress made his annual appearance. He explained his decision to replace struggling quarterback Tavaris Jackson with veteran Gus Frerotte. He said that free agent defensive lineman Jared Allen should give the team the most dominant defensive line in the league and that he expected running back Adrian Peterson to pick up from where he left off as the 2007 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Game 723 | October 21, 2008 | Kevin Love, Fred Hoiberg
Rated by the Timberwolves as the top big man in the 2008 draft, Love came to the team, along with guard Mike Miller, in a draft-night trade for O.J. Mayo. The 19-year-old Love, who played one season at UCLA, is the nephew of Mike Love, one of the founding members of The Beach Boys. Hoiberg, whose NBA playing career ended after successful heart surgery, said he stays in touch with Gopher linebacker recruit Sam Maresh, who also had heart surgery by the same Mayo Clinic physician.
Game 724 | November 14, 2008 | Craig Leipold
A Wisconsin native, Leipold purchased the Minnesota Wild from Bob Naegele in January 2008. He purchased the rights to the expansion Nashville Predators in 1997 and ran that team until selling it in late 2007.
Game 725 | November 20, 2008 | Pam Borton, Emmy Fox
A pre-season first-team All Big Ten selection, senior guard Fox first came to the attention of television fans nationally as a premier cup stacker. A one-time world record holder, she has made appearances on The Ellen Show and CBS Early Show. Recruited by Coach Borton out of the Denver area, Fox was a member of the USA Pan American Gold Medal basketball team.
Game 726 | December 9, 2008 | 60th Anniversary Celebration
Annual Meeting: In remembrance of earlier traditions, the staff at The Minneapolis Club served individual doughnuts, and copies of this book were distributed as members shared stories of their favorite highlights of Twin Cities Dunkers over the past 60 years.