The Gopher baseball team is 0-3 after losing 15-4 to No. 4 ranked Mississippi in Oxford on Sunday.  The Gophers host the Dairy Queen Classic at the Metrodome this weekend with games Friday, Saturday and Sunday against TCU, Tulane and Pepperdine.

Toronto signed free-agent outfielder Shannon Stewart to a minor league contract with an invitation to attend spring training with the Blue Jays. The former Twin, now 33, hit .290 in 2007 playing for Oakland with 22 doubles, 12 home runs, 48 RBI and an on-base percentage of .345. Originally drafted 19th overall by the Blue Jays in 1992, Stewart was acquired by the Twins during the 2003 season and played here through 2006.

The Twins play their first spring training game tomorrow against Cincinnati.  A total of 25 spring training games, including tomorrow’s opener, will be broadcast on the Twins radio network including AM 1500 KSTP, according to to www.mlb.com.  ESPN will televise the 12:15 p.m. March 5 game against the Yankees and FSN will air the March 9 game against the Yankees, according to the Twins Web site, www.minnesota,twins.mlb.com

Last night was the Wild’s first game on the road against a Southeast Division opponent since playing at Washington on November 1.  A new scheduling format in 2008-09 will make this a thing of the past.  The Wild lost their fourth straight.

Congratulations to Mark Parrish and his wife Nicholle on the birth of their first child, Gianna, last week.

The next “Wild Hockey Unplugged” event will be on Monday from 7 to 9 p.m. at Joe Senser’s, 4217 American Blvd. West in Bloomington. Fans in attendance can ask questions and receive autographs from Todd Fedoruk and Nick Schultz.

Speculation that Brian Burke, the former Edina resident, will leave his job as general manager of the Anaheim Ducks has quieted down.  There had been talk he would take over in Toronto.

Minnesota Swarm goalie Nick Patterson and defenseman Ryan Cousins will be starters in the National Lacrosse League All-Star Game on March 16 in Edmonton.

An MIAC source said it’s likely Macalester will rejoin the conference in 2012.

The MIAC started its league playoffs in men’s and women’s basketball earlier this week with the championship games to be played on Saturday.  Hockey playoffs for both men and women begin tomorrow night, with the championship games on March 5.

Thanks to Jay Pfaender and other members of the West St. Paul Rotary for the opportunity to speak about the local sports scene this morning.

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The Minnesota Vikings’ personnel in the defensive line, linebackers, secondary, offensive line and running backs compares favorably or is superior to the talent on many other NFL rosters.  The quarterback and wide receiver positions are holding this team back.

Frustrating?  “Well, sure it is and no one is more frustrated than the Vikings coaches and players, but I would suggest that the one thing they can offer is try to get better balance in the offense,” said Dean Dalton, the former Vikings assistant coach.  “And to do that they need to improve the team core to give Tarvaris Jackson better outlets, more consistency by his receivers and more explosiveness by the receiver corps. …”

Dalton, who now analyzes the NFL for local and national media, believes the Vikings are committed to Jackson as the No. 1 quarterback.  If there’s an off-season move for another NFL quarterback he thinks it’s much more likely to be for a backup to Jackson.

“I think they’re going to ride the horse that brung-em,” Dalton said.  “Tarvaris Jackson leads the charge.”

Jackson will start his third season as a professional this summer and is coming off a year in which he threw more interceptions (12) than touchdowns (9).  Dalton’s comments about balancing the offense could be vital to further improvement by Jackson and the overall offense.  Dalton advocates an offense that will “stretch” the field more and open up both the passing and the running led by what he calls the “one-two punch” of running backs Adrian Peterson (second in the NFL in total rushing yards in 2007) and Chester Taylor.  That strategy keeps the safeties from crowding the line of scrimmage, taking pressure off the running backs and Jackson.

To find more explosiveness and consistency in catching the ball the Vikings need to look outside the organization.  “If I were making the decisions for the Vikings I would probably bring in a veteran free agent and be aggressive in the draft,” Dalton said.

The free agent market opens this week.  Dalton suggests that Bernard Berrian of Chicago fits the Vikings’ need as someone who can be a big play receiver. He mentioned D.J. Hackett of Seattle, too, but cautioned about his problems with injuries.

Without naming players, Dalton said this year’s college draft seems to offer wide receivers with the speed and talent to help the Vikings.  Still, Dalton doesn’t advocate that the Vikings draft for need on the first round.  It’s sounder policy, he said, to draft for “value,” take the best player available rather than forcing yourself to fill a need.

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Dave Mona has “crossed paths” with many characters including probably a few he wishes he never met during a media career that dates back to the 1960s.  Certainly a guy he worked with at WCCO TV who turned out to be a serial killer fits into the category of undesirables.

Mona writes about the serial killer and also about many respected Minnesotans in his book Beyond the Sports Huddle being published by Voyageur Press and targeted for distribution starting with the State Fair in August.  The long time co-host of WCCO Radio’s Sunday morning Sports Huddle show plans to promote the book at the station’s state fair booth.

Mona, who once covered the Minnesota Twins for the Minneapolis Tribune before developing a successful public relations career, said most of the book is devoted to sports figures but approximately 25 percent is about other interesting personalities he’s known such as Garrison Keillor.

Not surprisingly, the book will offer plenty of laughs along with reminiscences and trivia. “There’s a general sense of humor throughout,” Mona told Sports Headliners recently.  “A lot of stories I hope will make people smile including a few things they’ve probably never heard before. …”

Former Twins owner Calvin Griffith is a Mona favorite.  He was interviewing Griffith about Tony Oliva but as was his habit Griffith digressed.  He brought up the name of Carlos Paula, a Cuban like Oliva but a player not well known to the general public.  Griffith recalled that Paula, a classic good hit, bad field player, once managed to misplay a ball twice on the same play in the outfield.  First Paula let the ball go through his legs, and then it bounced off the outfield wall and through his legs again.  “Calvin thought at the time that may have been the only guy to ever get two fielding errors on a single play,” Mona said.

Mona, who has written previous books on the Metrodome and the Twins, brought up Sid Hartman’s name, mentioning he has compiled the most complete list ever of “Sid-isms.”  Over the years, including on WCCO Radio, Hartman has said one thing while intending to articulate something else.

Mona said, “I’ve been keeping a written list for years. …”  On that list is the time Hartman told listeners about the lack of “INCONSISTENCY” by baseball umpires. The quote was later published in Sports Illustrated.  Another Mona favorite was Hartman’s defense of Barry Bonds, claiming there’s no evidence the home run king used “stereos.”

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