Never say never but don’t hold your breath.  Three recent exhibitions in Asia involving Roger Federer and Pete Sampras have undoubtedly left local tennis fans hoping the legendary two-some comes here.   

Jack Larson, vice president and general manager of the Xcel Energy Center, is aware of the matches between Federer and Sampras but is not pursuing the two at this time for St. Paul.  Xcel has been the site of past tennis exhibitions but didn’t have an exhibition last year or in 2007.

At times this has been an impressive tennis market.  The local fandom, including our Scandinavian base, turned out in large numbers to watch Bjorn Borg at the old Met Center.  Even before that the building was the site of a World Team Tennis record crowd that watched the Minnesota Buckskins against Billie Jean King and the Philadelphia Freedom.

Minnesota tennis legend David Wheaton, who once was ranked No. 12 in the world, shares the hope and enthusiasm that Federer and Sampras will play in Minnesota.  “I think it would be huge if that kind of match were here, a novelty,” he told Sports Headliners.

Wheaton said the two players “are the best of the modern era since 1972.”  Arguably they are the two greatest of all-time.  Wheaton said if Federer finally wins the French Open or exceeds Sampras’ record total of 14 Grand Slam wins, then the 26-year-old Swiss native will deserve to be acclaimed as even a better player than Sampras.

Wheaton is surprised that Federer participated in the three exhibitions against the 36-year-old Sampras who retired from tour competition in 2003.  While it’s great for stirring interest in tennis, Federer doesn’t have much to gain by playing his older rival.  “Federer is the kind of guy, though, that doesn’t care that much about his legacy,” Wheaton said.

Sampras won one of the three matches and Wheaton said the exhibition results don’t prove who is best.  He said Sampras isn’t good enough to be a top five player today but with months of preparation for the exhibitions he can be competitive with Federer.

Meanwhile, the local section of the United States Tennis Association is discontinuing the annual women’s professional circuit tournament that was held in the winter for seven years.  The commitment in resources and staff time to support the event became too much for the Northern Section to be comfortable with, according to USTA sources.

So if you need a pro tennis fix, circle March 10 on your calendar.  Wheaton reports that Federer and Sampras will play an exhibition in New York’s Madison Square Garden on that date.

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Bethel can move on to the Division III national championship semi-final game if the Royals defeat Central College of Pella, Iowa tomorrow.  The Royals would then play the winner of the Mount Union versus St. John Fisher game, also being played this weekend.  The game against Central College will be in Pella and begins at noon, and the broadcast can be accessed at www.kniakrls.com. Bethel won its second round playoff game last week, 21-12 over UW-Eau Claire.  The Royals were undefeated during the MIAC regular season, 8-0.  Overall the Royals are 11-1, including two playoff games for the first time ever (previous record 0-4).  Quarterback Ben Wetzell was chosen the MIAC MVP and Steve Johnson Coach of the Year, the second consecutive season he has won that award.  The awards were voted on by conference coaches.

The New York Post speculates that the Twins may keep pitcher Johan Santana until next summer’s trading deadline, allowing time to see if the team can challenge for a Central Division championship and the playoffs.

The New York Yankees have the most regular season wins, 686, since 2001.  They are followed by Oakland, 649, Boston, 645, St. Louis, 641, Atlanta, 639, the Los Angeles Angels, 621, and the Twins, 619.

The annual TwinsFest is scheduled for Friday, January 25 through Sunday, January 27 at the Metrodome. The event will provide fans their first opportunity to purchase single-game tickets to 2008 home games. Tickets go on sale at 5:30 p.m. on January 25 at TwinsFest, www.twinsbaseball.com, (612) 33-TWINS and (800) 33-TWINS and Twins Pro Shops.  A tentative 2008 schedule is expected to be finalized soon and includes an opening series with the Angels and Torii Hunter.

Twins pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to spring training in Fort Myers on Sunday, February 17. The full squad is expected on Friday, February 22. The team’s first game in Fort Myers will be on Friday, February 29 against the World Series champion Boston Red Sox.

Ryan Amoroso of Burnsville, who started his college career at Marquette, led San Diego State in scoring Wednesday night with 19 points as the Aztecs defeated Loyola Marymount, 78-56.

Former Gopher coach Dan Monson is 1-4 at Long Beach State.  Three of the four losses have been by 15 points or more including a 40 point loss to Brigham Young and 22 points to Montana State.

The Gophers, who have a weekend home series with Michigan Tech, are not ranked among the top 15 teams in the nation in this week’s USA Today/USA Hockey national poll. It’s the first time the Gophers have not been in the publication’s top 15 since December of 2003, ending a streak of 99 consecutive polls that Minnesota was ranked. The Gophers, who were 15th in the poll last week, are still ranked 14th in this week’s U.S. College Hockey Online national poll.

Minnesota quarterback Adam Weber, running back Duane Bennett and guard D.J. Burris are included on The Sporting News 2007 Freshman All-Big Ten Team. Minnesota’s three selections on offense were the most of any team in the Big Ten.

Minnesota seniors Dominique Barber, Amir Pinnix and Ernie Wheelwright have been selected to play in the 2008 Hula Bowl all-star game.

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These are the end times, according to many Minnesota Twins fans.  Taking a “Chicken Little:the Sky is Falling” approach, the Metrodome roof will be collapsing, figuratively if not literally, next spring when the Twins open the 2008 season against Torii Hunter and the Los Angeles Angels.

Listen to fans in the days since Hunter was traded and they will make you feel like the Twins are in a nosedive comparable to the stock market.  Hunter is gone.  Johan Santana, Joe Nathan and Carlos Silva won’t be around much longer.  Even Justin Morneau, the doomsdayers contend, won’t play a game in a Twins uniform in the new downtown ballpark that opens in 2010.

The facts are the Twins aren’t as good without Hunter and they were a team with hitting and player position needs before he took the $90 million contract and headed west, deciding that $45 million wasn’t enough to make a life that he wanted.  The reality, too, is the Twins may lose more players either through free agency or trades, but the truth also is no one knows at this moment what the opening day roster will look like.

Patience and perspective, not panic, is the recommended prescription for ailing Twins fans.  The organization ranks among the winningest teams in the American League in recent years and the Twins have made the playoffs four of the last six seasons. (Since the 2001 season only six major league teams have won more games than the Twins and just two are from the American League, New York and Boston).

The front office team has used a philosophy of developing talent in the minor leagues and filling other needs with effective trades.  The results have made the small market Twins, using budget restraint, the envy of some other organizations.

Twins president Dave St. Peter told Sports Headliners on Monday that the organization is determined to field competitive teams now and in the future including when the new ballpark will provide additional revenues that he said will be invested back into players.  What’s his definition of competitive?

“A team that has an opportunity to advance to post season play and contend for a world championship,” he said.  “Of course, we’ve been to the post-season four out of the last six years.  We’ve been in that position.  We failed to get it done once we got there but getting there in baseball is obviously a significant accomplishment. …That’s our intent.  It’s not to be .500.  It’s not to win 85 games.  It’s to get to get to the post-season. …”

St. Peter said the franchise’s same baseball leaders, including Terry Ryan, Bill Smith and Tom Kelly, are still with the Twins.  The goal is to return to the playoffs where a team can get hot and go on a winning streak as Colorado did this year, surprising almost everyone by participating in the World Series.

St. Peter said he shares the frustration of the public about Hunter and understands it, but he hasn’t been hearing that the 32-year-old outfielder is worth $90 million to the Twins.  What about the gloomy feelings of many fans?

“It’s a reaction to people’s feelings toward Torii who was a player that obviously connected with people,” St. Peter said. “I fully understand that and get that.  At the same time, despite his departure, it is not an organization that has the cupboard bare. …It’s a franchise that has a solid nucleus of players.  Now, do we have holes? Yes. … The final chapter has not yet been written.  I continue to believe we will go to spring training with a team that is much more dynamic offensively than the team that we had in 2007. …That’s our intent. …”

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