David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Donations Saved Courageous Casey O’Brien’s Life

Posted on June 23, 2026 by David Shama

About two years ago beloved former Golden Gopher football player Casey O’Brien and his parents opted for a GoFundMe page to assist with costs from his long battle with osteosarcoma, a rare bone disease.

At one point the online resource showed $394,328 in donations. It wasn’t an easy decision to ask for help, but it was the right one.

“For sure. No question,” said Casey’s father Dan O’Brien. “Experimental things that we’ve done are not covered by insurance and they’re expensive.”

The older O’Brien, the former Gopher football assistant coach/administrator and now athletics director at Saint John’s in Collegeville, expressed the family’s gratitude for donations in a phone interview with Sports Headliners.

“It was incredible. We’ve been able to do several things to keep him alive because of how generous people were to us.”

Now there is no need for a public appeal. “We’re good,” Dan said. “Insurance has been good.”

Casey, 27, has lived a remarkable and inspiring journey since he was diagnosed with his awful disease at 13 years old. He has consulted with countless medical people, endured more than 40 surgeries and beaten his rare cancer seven times only to see it return.

“There probably isn’t anybody that is walking around this earth that has had the same kind of battle that he’s had,” Dan said. “We (including mom Chris) know that. The doctors tell us there’s no script to follow with his situation.

“It’s an amazing story and he’s got an incredible will and fight. And he’s still on this earth for a reason, and we’re thankful for that every single day.”

Sports Headliners reported on Casey in April of last year. A new development in his saga was breathing issues. His lungs were and remain compromised by osteosarcoma.

Dan was asked to compare Casey’s overall health now with 14 months ago. “That’s a good question. I would say it’s probably a little bit better. …

“There’s one spot (osteosarcoma, right lung) that they’re tracking right now and we’ve actually got an appointment here in July that we go to Chicago and get a treatment done on that.

“But his biggest challenge still remains the breathing. His lung capacity is a challenge.

“He can work. He’s working full time for RBC as he was last year at this time. They’ve been fabulous to him.

“So, he’ll work at home in the morning and go to downtown Minneapolis in the afternoon. From that standpoint it’s good. He’ll exercise a little bit (there). They (RBC) have a nice fitness center that he’ll use.

“But he’s still very, very limited with the breathing and that’s our challenge right now is to try to figure out a way to improve his breathing.”

Casey, whose exercise routine includes using a treadmill, is a senior investment associate at RBC and enjoys his work. The position provides a “normalcy” to his life, Dan said. And on the personal side another positive is the home Casey purchased next door to his parents in Mendota Heights. The location gives him his own space but he’s also close enough to get help from his parents if need be.

Caleb Miley, a friend dating back to high school at Cretin-Derham Hall, is Casey’s roommate. His friends also include former roommates from the University of Minnesota. Hanging out with them is frequent and adds to the bright moments in Casey’s life that include spending time at the family cabin near Spicer.

Casey, a Carlson School of Management grad, was part of the U football program for four seasons as a placeholder. He played in two games during his career, including 2019 against Rutgers where he held the football three times on point-after touchdown kicks. Listed at 6-1, 185-pounds, he walked on at the U program and earned two letters before retiring from football at Minnesota after the 2020 season.

Casey counts former Gophers head coach Jerry Kill and current coach P.J. Fleck among his many friends and admirers. “Both of them are really important to Casey,” Dan said.

Kill, himself a cancer survivor, texted last year that “Casey is no doubt the toughest person I have ever met, period!”

Fleck offered this praise via email in 2025: “His story is one that has impacted a community and a sport. He has inspired countless lives and changed the way people look at cancer survivors.”

Comments Welcome

Minnesota Twins Just Keep on With Surprising Good Vibes

Posted on June 21, 2026June 21, 2026 by David Shama

There’s an unexpected positive vibe around the Twins so far this season. At least there is in my head and that of acquaintances.

After the roster shuffling and gaffes of ownership in recent years, the bar for expectations was admittedly low going into the season. This spring the Twins are flirting with a .500 record and Wild Card spot in the playoffs.

Gasp.

With questions about the talent on the roster and unknowns concerning new coaches and manager Derek Shelton, it was easy to be pessimistic about the Twins last winter. The starting pitching has been surprisingly good and so, too, has the run scoring. The defense has been solid and sometimes spectacular. The preseason woebegone bullpen has been just that, but occasionally something better.

Check your pulse if you are not more interested in the Twins after last night’s 16-8 rout of the Diamondbacks in Phoenix. Byron Buxton hit a grand slam in a 10-run fifth inning and he’s now tied with Yordan Alvarez of the Astros for the American League lead in home runs with 24. Minnesota, 37-41 this season, has won seven of its last 10 games.

Shelton and staff have impressed. There’s emphasis on fundamentals and execution. It’s an exaggeration but it seems like the Twins have laid down more successful bunts in 78 games than they did in seven years under previous bench boss Rocco Baldelli.

Kudos to Shelton and the coaches including hitting coach Keith Beauregard for reviving the offense from last season. Only the Yankees with 388 runs scored have touched home plate more times than the Twins (384) among American League teams.

Pitching coach Pete Maki and assistant Luis Ramirez deserve kudos, too. Starters like Joe Ryan, Taj Bradley, Bailey Ober and Zebby Matthews can deliver outstanding performances. Reliever Yoendrys Gomez has been a surprise in the bullpen, stingy with runs, and he leads the team with six saves.

Buxton, 32, is having a career season with home runs and remains a superb centerfielder. Another outfielder, Trevor Larnach, has been hot at the plate—and often the third outfielder is utility journeyman Kody Clemens who has sharpened his stick enough to hit third in the lineup.

Royce Lewis, the man of many stances, has returned from exile in St. Paul to make enough contact with the ball to raise his batting average to .200 and match his 200 pound frame. He may also have found a home at first base while valued young performers Luke Keaschall and Brooks Lee play at second and third base respectively.

Then there are google guys, players you didn’t know about but are contributors to the spring vibe. Shortstops Tristan Gray and Ryan Kreidler have had their moments as have catchers Victor Caratini and Alex Jackson.

The Twins are playing without one of their key starters and veterans in catcher Ryan Jeffers. The injured Jeffers, along with Ryan and Buxton, are drawing trade speculation as the MLB August 3 Trade Deadline approaches.

Such rumors are partially fueled by ownership which has been unwilling in the past to pay pricy veterans. Burned by the past gaffes, fans are reluctant to embrace the Twins now. Parting ways with the team’s best veterans will only deepen the “wound.”

And oh, if the front office hadn’t traded away North St. Paul’s Louie Varland last season! He has 15 saves, with a 0.86 ERA for the Blue Jays. If he had remained a Twin, the club would likely have four or more wins.

Worth Noting

Murray’s restaurant owner Tim Murray, who has visited all the MLB stadiums, now gets his baseball travel fix going with friends every other year to World Series games. His favorite parks are Fenway, Wrigley and PNC. (Murray’s is a longtime advertiser of this space.)

Hats off to former Golden Gophers athletics director Joel Maturi and wife Lois for their volunteer role in hosting a hugely successful open house last week at Second Harvest Heartland in Brooklyn Park. Maturi is a board member for the food bank which is the second largest of its kind in the nation. Timberwolves coach Chris Finch is also on the board.

Spanish playmaking guard Sergio de Larrea is the most speculated pick by the Wolves at No. 28 in the first round of Tuesday’s NBA Draft, per AI.

Don’t be surprised if Wolves assistant coach Michah Nori is the new head coach of the NBA Trail Blazers.

With a corporate naming rights deal, Williams Arena is now The Barn by Blue Cross and Blue Shield. No word I am aware of as to how or if the University of Minnesota will preserve the name of Dr. Henry Williams, the longtime namesake of the arena.

Williams coached Minnesota football from 1900-1921 and has the best football winning percentage in school history. He was 136-33-11 (.786) as coach of the Gophers, and his team won or shared eight conference titles.

Former Gopher football great Bobby Bell — Bobby Bell

Bobby Bell turned 86 last week. He terrified opposing offenses as a defensive tackle for Gophers teams from 1960-1962 that won a national championship and Rose Bowl. He should be on a short list of Gopher football legends deserving statues at Huntington Bank Stadium.

The football Gophers figure to have at least a couple thousand fans in Seattle for their September 26 game against Washington. A friend is asking if anyone knows of people selling individual boat tickets for “sail-gating” on that Saturday. Anyone who has a connection can email ds@shamasportsheadliners.com.

My late father was in the Army during World War II. He was stationed in Panama and liked to quip: “The enemy never took the Panama Canal.”

Happy Father’s Day!

Comments Welcome

Indiana Football Success Hangs Over Gopher Program

Posted on June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 by David Shama

Why can’t the football Golden Gophers duplicate the success of Indiana the last two seasons?

University of Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle hears that question from Gopher fans. Minnesota hasn’t won a national championship since 1960. The last Big Ten title was a co-championship in 1967. The Gophers have never been to the College Football Playoff.

Indiana had close to the worst reputation in major college before coach Curt Cignetti arrived following the 2023 season. After head turning success at James Madison and other lower-level programs, Cignetti told the world upon arrival in Bloomington: ”It’s pretty simple. I win. Google me.”

And then he did.

The 2024 Hoosiers shockingly went 11-2 overall, 8-1 in Big Ten games. The “Miracle Man” delivered even more in 2025, coaching the Hoosiers to a perfect 16-0 record that included Big Ten and national championships.

“I give them a lot of credit,” Coyle told Sports Headliners. “It’s the most unique thing that I’ve seen in college athletics.”

Cignetti has a gift for watching tape and evaluating players, and he’s a tireless worker who sets the highest standards for execution and performance. He brought a boat load of older players to Bloomington via the transfer portal, mostly three-star recruits in high school, and went out and beat the blue bloods of college football with their four- and five-star rosters.

Now the transformation is complete. Elite players want to wear the IU uniform. Name, Image and Likeness money is pouring in to pay players. The stadium is sold out. “Coach Cig” has a new contract that averages $13.2 million per year through 2033. And, oh yes, Indiana is among the favorites to win the next College Football Playoff and the national championship.

Coyle is proud of his program under head coach P.J. Fleck who starts his 10th season at Minnesota in late August with a home game against Eastern Illinois. “I could not be more pleased with the progress we’re making with our football program, and we continue to expect to build it and compete at a high level,” Coyle said earlier this month.

What about the Indiana comparison? “It can be done here (Indiana like success),” Coyle said.

Fleck’s best season was in 2019 when the Gophers finished 11-2, including an Outback Bowl win over SEC bully Auburn. That team was ranked by the Associated Press at No. 10 in the country. It was the program’s highest ranking since 1962.

COVID hit the college football world in 2020, and programs lost momentum like Minnesota and Michigan who finished with 3-4 and 2-4 records respectively. Since then, Fleck has won eight games or more four times including bowl victories.

Throw out the records of Big Ten schools from the West Coast who didn’t join the conference until 2024, and Minnesota has the fifth best overall winning percentage (61.54) in the league dating back to the 2021 season.

Fleck is 24-21 in conference games during that period of 2021-2025. League games are challenging as shown by the mediocre results of Minnesota coaches over the years including national title coach Murray Warmath who in 18 seasons was 65-57-4, per AI.

Only four teams qualified for the playoffs in 2019. Now 12 can and the 2019 Gophers almost assuredly would have received an invite if that number of slots were available back then.

Why can’t the Gophers get back to the 2019 level? “I promise you it’s something he (Fleck) and I talk about every day,” Coyle said. “And we want to do everything we can, given the opportunity, to have those special seasons because it’s a different world.”

Gopher athletic director Mark Coyle — Mark Coyle (photo courtesy of Minnesota Athletic Communications)

Coyle said that 2019 team won some close games that were part of the success. Tight outcomes on the scoreboard can be caused by the bounce of the ball, the absence of injured players, or an official’s judgment. Those are factors that can make a difference between an 8-4 regular season and 10-2.

The “different world” Coyle mentioned is how unexpected and high-level success can translate into selling out Huntington Bank Stadium. How season ticket sales can increase the following year. How ancillary income like merchandise sales and concessions can improve. How donations to the University, including for athletics, can explode. And how NIL giving can help prompt even more success on the field.

Prognostications about the 2026 Gopher season is more of the recent past: A similar success standard of around 7-5 or 8-4 overall and .500 play in the Big Ten. Another bowl game but not a CFP invite.

Coyle, of course, favors talk of expanding the number of teams in the playoffs to 24. That could mean an 8-4 or 9-3 Minnesota would be playoff bound. And Coyle loves the idea of Novembers that have the Gophers in the hunt for a postseason invite. “Once you get to the CFP, anything can happen,” he said.

Fleck has said participating in the CFP is now the program’s goal. Coyle believes the Gophers can break through and part of what gives him optimism is how others regard Minnesota football as a “tough out.”

“What I mean by a tough out is that people don’t want to play us. I can tell you when I talk to football coaches in the Big Ten and I talk to ADs in the Big Ten, people do not want to play Minnesota. I think we’re very close. We are a tough out for people.

“People don’t win games. People lose games, I really believe that. P.J. talks about that, I talk about that. And again, I think we’re incredibly close to having success that our fans want.

“But again, it’s kind of amazing to me because when I got here 10 years ago, people said if you just win in football, we’re all in. We’re winning (with) the fifth best winning record in the Big Ten. … We’re having success. We need to continue to build that success.”

Fleck’s Minnesota record of 66-44 (including seven bowl wins) puts him fourth in program history in overall victories. He’s also fourth at Minnesota in Big Ten wins (39) and fifth in games coached (110). His overall win percentage of .600 is third best among Minnesota coaches with more than 40 games.

3 comments