Sid Hartman: Sullivan does well as Vikings center

Vikings coach Brad Childress was asked how much the team missed 11-year veteran center Matt Birk, a Pro Bowler who signed with the Ravens and was replaced by John Sullivan, a first-year starter.

"Well, he's along the same lines as Matt Birk," Childress said of Sullivan. "Matt went to Harvard, [Sullivan] went to Notre Dame. [Sullivan] loves football. He spends time at it, it's important to him, he's got a great relationship with the quarterback, he's got a great relationship in that offensive line room. You can't put a premium on that, it's like getting a coach's kid. Any time you get a coach's kid, it's a little bit more important to him because he's seen it come through the door all the time, this guy is a gym rat. He loves everything about the game; you've got to throw him out of here at night."

Childress said Sullivan has done an outstanding job at center.

"I don't think we took a back step like a lot of people would have thought," Childress said.

"There's different ways to win football games. I think probably the naysayers will point to Adrian [Peterson] only rushing for X amount of yardage, but there's different ways to move the football. Would I like to run it? Sure, I'd like to run it. But, my preference is to be able to score points, and however you do that -- if you're a top-five offense, which we finished fifth in the league in offense -- that's not a bad place to be, and more importantly the points we scored.

"I think we were second in the league in points scored right behind New Orleans; you've got to score points to win."

Birk was a great center and a great leader in the locker room, but I wonder how he is going to feel if the Vikings make it to the Super Bowl -- and they certainly have a much better chance than the Ravens now and in the future.

High on Gophers John Laskowski, who did tcolor commentary on the television broadcast of the Gophers' 73-62 victory over Ohio State on Saturday, was one of the great players to play for Bobby Knight at Indiana, and he has some idea how much a home crowd can figure in helping the home team win.

"[Gophers basketball coach] Tubby Smith has got this program going," said Laskowski after the game. "That crowd gives him a great advantage. And you can't play better defense than Minnesota did in the second half."

The Buckeyes came to town with their All-America point guard Evan Turner, who had averaged 31.6 points per game before injuring his back, and was expected to spark his team to victory. However, the Gophers went to pick-up defense in the second half and, according to guard Al Nolen, it certainly frustrated Turner.

"No, we didn't pick him up much in the first half. Damian [Johnson] was guarding somebody else, usually he plays center field for us in the full-court [press]," Nolen said. "Coach moved who he was guarding, so he could come up and help me on the trap of Evan Turner."

Nolen was asked how he likes that type of defense.

"It wears us out, but we like that type of defense. We get a lot of turnovers out of that," said Nolen, whose four steals led the Gophers. "We did it against Iowa, and got a lot of turnovers. We did it against Purdue, and I think they had 17 turnovers. We've been pressing teams this year."

Why does it work so well?

"I don't think a lot of teams have seen it," Nolen said. "Our help defense is really, really good this year."

You talk about coaching and the way this Gopher team has played in the second half since Tubby took over, and it proves what a great coach he is. The Buckeyes led for a good part of the first half, but the second half it was all Gophers, thanks to the changes put in by Tubby.

Hope for Vikings In a recent radio broadcast on WCCO, Gov. Tim Pawlenty offered some hope that a new Vikings stadium will be built.

Told that, according to the projections by the Vikings, they will generate $25 million in income tax and sales tax revenue when a stadium is built -- and only $42 million a year would be necessary to fund the stadium, Pawlenty said:

"The Vikings generate that amount of money now, and it goes into the state's general fund, so if you let them use it for a stadium then somebody's going to argue that, well you are taking it away from schools or nursing homes or whatever.

"But, clearly one of the things that should be considered, either directly or indirectly, is the amount of money and what we would lose if they left. Now ... that's a factor and it wouldn't pay for the whole stadium by itself, obviously, but it is at least one element. But just know that I had a good meeting with [Vikings owner] Zygi [Wilf] a few weeks ago, and we are looking at a lot of different options and he has been a great owner."

At the same time, Pawlenty took a little shot at me.

"But this is the same speech you gave me on the Twins and the Gophers -- and we found a way, surprise, surprise to get it done, we'll see. This is the worst economic circumstance since World War II, so the timing isn't exactly great, we have other fish to fry, but I just want to make sure you don't write this completely off the table just yet."

Jottings Nine of the 12 teams that the Gophers football team will face next year were involved in a bowl game. This includes Penn State and Ohio State, who have been ranked in the top 10 in preseason polls. The Gophers will open at Middle Tennessee on a Thursday night (Sept. 2), with the game being carried on ESPN.

It's amazing how the Alabama program has improved if you look back to the 2004 Music City Bowl, when then-coach Glen Mason and the Gophers defeated Mike Shula's Crimson Tide 20-16. Six years later, Alabama is the national champion.

Current Gophers offensive line coach Tim Davis was with Alabama coach Nick Saban with the Dolphins and then joined him at Alabama. You wonder if Davis has any regrets about leaving that program.

Besides the contract extension for Gophers football coach Tim Brewster, athletic director Joel Maturi is faced with new contracts for baseball coach John Anderson, whose five-year deal is up, and for wrestling coach J Robinson. A contract for Robinson for $130,000 a year has been agreed on that will go in force as soon as allegations over property sales among coaches and wrestlers are resolved.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. • shartman@startribune.com