Former Gopher and NCAA wrestling champion Brock Lesnar will throw out the first pitch at the Twins-White Sox game on Monday night, according to a source who requested anonymity. Lesnar will be a featured participant in the Ultimate Fighting Championship event on Saturday, August 9 at Target Center. Lesnar, 1-1, will fight Heath Herring, 28-13-1, in a heavyweight match-up.
The event will be the first UFC promotion in the state and over 12,500 tickets have been sold at an average cost of $225, according to the source. He also said a news conference promoting the event will be open to the public beginning at 1 p.m. on Thursday, August 7 at the Mall of America Rotunda.
Worry warts and “I told you so” types took note that Wolves’ rookie Kevin Love developed soreness in his right Achilles tendon last week. Love, whose durability was questioned by some before the NBA draft, didn’t finish the fourth Wolves game in the Las Vegas NBA summer league, nor did he play in the finale Sunday night.
Last weekend was the largest three-game home series attendance for the Twins this year. The games against Texas drew 101,248 fans, an average of 33,749 fans per game.
When Glen Perkins of the Twins defeated Texas last week he won his third straight game and improved his record to 7-2. The Minnesota native hasn’t lost since May 30 and is 5-0 with a 3.81 ERA in his last nine starts. He starts in New York against the Yankees today.
Left fielder Delmon Young has three or more hits in 12 games this season including four in July. He’s hitting .381 in his last 10 games with one home run and six RBI.
John Bell Wilson was a student manager for former Gopher basketball coaches John Kundla and Bill Fitch. Kundla is in basketball’s hall of fame in Springfield, Massachusetts for coaching his five world champions with the Minneapolis Lakers. Wilson thinks Fitch should be in the hall of fame, too. Fitch coached the 1981 world champion Boston Celtics and the 1986 runner-up Houston Rockets. He coached five different NBA franchises to the playoffs and is seventh in all-time wins among NBA coaches.
Former Viking wide receiver Ahmad Rashad, who had six seasons here with 50 receptions or more, has to be a candidate for the team’s Ring of Honor recognizing the franchise’s greatest players. Rashad, who played collegiately at Oregon, was recently inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend.