President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has moved the country increasingly toward dictatorship but the Minnesota Twins continue to operate their baseball academy in the South American nation. “Baseball seems to be immune from a lot of the impact of the Chavez regime,” said Twins general manager Bill Smith. “We have American players down there playing in the Winter League right now. They’re doing great. They’re being well cared for. We’ve never had a problem in Venezuela. …”
The Twins have agreed to terms with shortstop Adam Everett on a one-year contract for the 2008 season. Everett, 30, was limited to 66 games with Houston last season after suffering a fractured right fibula on June 14. He batted .232 (51-for-220) with 11 doubles, one triple, two home runs and 15 RBI. Everett played in 302 games over the 2005 and 2006 seasons. He has a career batting average of .248.
The Chicago Bears should still be annoyed by the 361 all-purpose yards (rushing, receiving and kickoff returns) Adrian Peterson put on them in Chicago earlier this season. He was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week for that performance. His honors so far also include NFL Rookie of the Month for both September and October. Also, he made the mid-season all-pro teams named by Pro Football Weekly and Sports Illustrated.
Peterson and Chester Taylor can move closer to the team’s all-time single season rushing yardage record for two backs when the Vikings play the Bears at home on Monday night. They have 1,916 combined rushing yards, second to Robert Smith and Daunte Culpepper’s 1,991 yards in 2000.
The Vikings defeated the Bears 34-31 in October, and coach Brad Childress said this week “it’s hard to beat somebody twice.” The only team the Vikings have defeated two times in the last two seasons is Detroit last year.
The Vikings have won four in a row and shown improvement including offensively. “We can get better in a whole myriad of areas,” Childress said. “I am not going to share what our shortcomings are with everybody.”
The Vikings-Redskins game originally scheduled for noon on Sunday, December 23 will start at 7:15 p.m. so that it can be televised across the country on NBC.
Here are names that may come up with the Michigan football opening: Brian Kelly of Cincinnati, Greg Schiano of Rutgers, Jeff Tedford of California, Les Miles of LSU and Charlie Strong of Florida. All are head coaches except Strong, the defensive coordinator for the Gators. Will former Gopher coach Glen Mason be a candidate for the job at SMU? Former Gopher administrator Jeff Schemmel is the athletic director at San Diego State but he’s not looking for a football coach right now. Chuck Long, the former Oklahoma assistant, has completed only two seasons in San Diego.
The Big Ten Conference isn’t likely to have any football job openings in 2008 but there could be two or three in 2009, depending how the next two seasons develop.
Tubby Smith’s Fox Sports Net North TV show last night included a segment on Gopher basketball and baseball public address announcer Dick Jonckowski.
The Gophers used to favor gold uniforms but coaches can be superstitious and the team is undefeated at home this season wearing white uniforms. The Gophers may wear gold for a big game in the future.
In the student section someone held up this sign on Wednesday night in Williams Arena, a commentary on the contract Smith signed earlier in the week: “$13 million and worth every penny.”
The recent Wild About Children event, presented by R.F. Moeller Jeweler, raised $180,000 for Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. That’s the highest total in the event’s four years and nearly double last year’s record of $93,000. Wild players waited on tables and visited with the 200 guests at the sold-out event in the Pazzaluna Urban Italian Restaurant in St. Paul.
Bethel’s best football season in school history ended last Saturday when the Royals lost to defending national champion Mount Union, 62-14 in the semifinals of the NCAA Division III playoffs. The Royals set school records for most games played (14), most wins (12), most playoff wins (three) and most consecutive wins (12) in a season.