Dean Dalton, the former Vikings assistant coach, hosts an NFL show on Sirius Satellite Radio on Saturdays from 7 to 10 a.m. Minneapolis time.  This Saturday guests will include former Vikings’ head coach Mike Tice, now an assistant with Jacksonville, and former Vikings’ defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell, an assistant with San Diego.  Both interviews will be timely as Jacksonville plays at Pittsburgh on Saturday, and San Diego hosts Tennessee on Sunday in first round playoff games.

Vikings’ coach Brad Childress answered with humor yesterday at his press conference when asked if he had more fun this season than last. “I am better medicated this year,” he joked.

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is the Associated Press 2007 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. He received 46.5 of the 50 possible votes by a nationwide panel of media members who cover the NFL. During the season Peterson broke all Vikings rookie rushing records and set an NFL record for rushing yards in a game with 296 against San Diego. Peterson led the NFC and was second in the NFL in rushing with 1,341 yards.

Vikings linebacker Ben Leber said on Wednesday he’s headed home for San Diego to play golf, relax and wait for the birth of his first child due in early June.  He said the team’s five game win streak showed the “potential” of the Vikings.

Placekicker Ryan Longwell said the Vikings, who finished 6-10 in 2006, made progress in 2007.  Results included the five game winning streak, an 8-8 record and a near playoff miss.  He said the team showed “character to get back in the mix” this season. “I am not sure the group we had last year (2006) would have done that,” he said.

Safety Darren Sharper predicts New England and Dallas will play in the Super Bowl, and said “it might be closer than people think.”  New England, 16-0, figures to be a big point spread favorite against Dallas, 13-3, if the two teams play in the Super Bowl.  Sharper emphasized the importance of home field advantage as one reason he believes Dallas will win the NFC playoffs.  The Cowboys will play at home for all their NFC playoff games.

Sharper, 32, starts his 12^th NFL season in 2008.  He would “love” to finish his career with the Vikings and said the fans have “embraced” him similarly to when he played in Green Bay.

Linebacker Chad Greenway said the Vikings’ statistical ranking of last in NFL pass defense, giving up 264.1 yards per game, is misleading.  Teams threw more times, 646, against Minnesota than any other team in the league.

Greenway and other Vikings expressed confidence that Minnesota is close to being a playoff team, a better group than the 8-8 record this season may suggest.  “I don’t think we’re too far away,” Greenway said.

Now that the season is over Greenway will be celebrating Christmas in the days ahead with friends and family in South Dakota and Illinois.

Defensive tackle Kevin Williams, who plays in the Pro Bowl on February 10 for a third time, is headed home to the Little Rock area.  He will lift weights and a few times per week spend 30 minutes or more on a treadmill to stay in shape for the Pro Bowl. Among the best tackles in the NFL, Williams isn’t complacent. “If you ain’t’ trying to get better, you ain’t going to get better,” he said.

Asked what his plans were for January, punter Chris Kluwe said, “try not to freeze to death.”   He plans to pass time playing video games “all day” and taking care of his two dogs. Kluwe will be in the Minneapolis area until visiting family in California next month.  He won’t start punting again until March or April.

Prep basketball expert Ken Lien rates the state’s top 10 boys’ teams each week.  His rankings as of Sunday were: Minnetonka, Hopkins, Osseo, Cretin-Derham Hall, Shakopee, Tartan, Benilde-St. Margaret, Cooper, Eastview, and St. Michael-Albertville.  Lien, who is the Mr. Basketball chair, will consider teams for his top 10 regardless of school enrollment and Minnesota State High School League classification.  Class A 2007 state tournament runner-up Cass Lake-Bena was in his top 10 until losing last week to Crosby-Ironton and has scored over 100 points in three of the last four games.  Cass Lake-Bena plays a team from Tennessee (White Station) in the Gatorade Timberwolves Shootout on Saturday at Target Center and February 2 is at Hopkins.

Twins president Dave St. Peter reported via e-mail earlier this week that the new downtown stadium will be used for more than baseball after it opens in 2010.  “A wide variety of uses” will include business conferences, weddings and reunions.  Many events, including those mentioned, will utilize interior spaces such as the stadium’s clubs and restaurants.  The stadium may host concerts and certainly will be the site of both amateur and professional baseball, according to St. Peter.  Other sports events are possible but the Twins will be protective of the natural grass playing surface in making decisions.

The Timberwolves are giving away commemorative coffee mugs featuring rookies Corey Brewer and Chris Richard to the first 2,500 fans on Sunday for the Dallas game.  The 2:30 p.m. game is being promoted as Rookie Day and fans also receive a $1 off coupon for a Caribou latte.  The Wolves play Denver at home tonight.

There’s a lot of conversation about the Wolves promising young players but so far there’s only one player who’s proven he can help elevate Minnesota to elite NBA status, forward Al Jefferson.  He is fourth in the league in rebounding at 12.2 and a top 25 scorer at 20.6.

Minnesota Wild president and general manager Doug Risebrough and head coach Jacques Lemaire announced that defenseman Nick Schultz will serve as team captain for the month of January.  Brian Rolston and Kim Johnsson will be alternate captains this month.

Minnesota Thunder head coach Amos Magee and the U.S. Macabbi men’s soccer team won the gold medal Wednesday at the Pan American Maccabi Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  The U.S. team defeated Argentina 2-0 in the gold medal game. Thunder defender Kevin Friedland scored a goal and had an assist. Magee was named head coach of the team in March.  The tournament, one of two major tournaments for Jewish athletes every four years, began December 24 and ended earlier this week.

Three players who signed national letters of intent in November to play for the Gophers’ hockey team have been named to the USA Hockey Under-18 Team. Roseau’s Sarah Erickson, Eagan’s Alyssa Grogan and St. Cloud’s Anne Schleper will compete with the Under-18 Team, January 7-12 in Calgary, Alberta at the 2008 IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championships. The three will play against Russia on January 7, Switzerland on January 8 and Sweden on January 9. The bronze and gold medal games are scheduled for January 12.

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Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson told Sports Headliners it’s “disappointing but I guess that’s the nature of the game” when asked recently about the Johan Santana situation.  If the long anticipated deal of trading Santana to another team happens, Anderson understands.  “I can’t see how you can pay one-third of the payroll for one player,” he said.

It’s a guess as to exactly how much money the two-time Cy Young award winner can command from a new team but it could be $25 million a year.  Santana, of course, is a free agent after this season and the Twins aren’t likely to pay that kind of money.  Speculation is the team’s payroll will be $70 to $80 million.

A trade means rebuilding the starting staff after losing the 28-year-old Santana, arguably baseball’s best pitcher, plus 2007 starter Carlos Silva who as a free agent has departed for Seattle.  Santana has won 70 games the last four seasons with an ERA under 3.00 in three of those years.

Anderson, regarded as a superb pitching coach, said with humor the situation in spring training without Santana could “test his patience” while searching through his options. He also said general manager Bill Smith told him that any Santana deal must include a starting pitcher coming here.

Anderson likes competition and figures to see plenty of it among his potential starters in spring training.  He talked about “relying on young kids” and “on the job training.”  In the mix will be 2006 sensation Francisco Liriano who rehabilitated  last season from elbow surgery but will have “no limitations” going into spring training, according to Anderson. The 24-year-old Liriano was 12-3 with a 2.16 ERA in 2006.

Boof Bonser was a starter last season, with an 8-12 record and 5.10 ERA. His conditioning was questioned but Anderson reported the 26-year-old has lost 20 pounds and “worked his tail off” to get in shape for the 2008 season.  The 6-foot-4 Bonser was listed at 260 pounds in last season’s Twins media guide.

Scott Baker, 26, and Kevin Slowey, 23, started games last season and were among the names mentioned by Anderson as possible starters in 2008.  He added that former Gopher pitcher Glen Perkins might figure in the competition for starting pitching, although his assignment was only in relief last season.

Anderson said the “strength” of the pitching staff is the bullpen.  He anticipates having closer Joe Nathan, who is a free agent after next season, with the Twins in 2008.  He said Nathan, one of baseball’s best relief pitchers, “makes the whole bullpen much better.”

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Roy Terwilliger, Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission chair, told SportsHeadliners recently he expects a bill to be introduced in the 2009 legislature supporting a new stadium on the Metrodome site.  Terwilliger agrees with the consensus of various stadium leaders that a bill will not be created during the 2008 session because of other state priorities.

The projected cost of a retractable roof stadium is at least $954 million and delays in construction will escalate expenses.  Terwilliger said that if the project begins in 2010 it may be possible to build at that cost and open the stadium in 2012.  The facility will be home to the Minnesota Vikings and also many of the varied events hosted by the Metrodome over the years.

Support for community use is something Terwilliger has heard a lot abount on the commission’s “Listening Tour” that began earlier this year in places like Virginia, Rochester and Mankato.  The tour’s purpose is to inform community leaders and the public about the stadium issue and to gather opinions from all concerned.  In smaller communities people are accustomed to seeing their high school teams play at the dome and want the area to have a covered facility far into the future.

Terwilliger said people are learning on the tour that the new stadiums for the Gophers and Twins won’t be covered so a future Vikings facility offers the prospect of having a large multipurpose facility that can host high school and small college sports, plus a variety of for-profit entertainment and sports attractions regardless of weather.  There are no guarantees, though, such a facility will be approved by the legislature and the Vikings’ lease with the commission expires after the 2011 season.  Vikings owner Zygi Wilf is pushing hard for stadium action but isn’t threatening to move the team.

On the “Listening Tour” people ask about possible facility financing and Terwilliger said information is disseminated as to how other communities have funded stadiums.  He wouldn’t, however, speculate to Sports Headliners what the financing plan may ultimately be, saying it’s “too early” to comment.

Tour stops coming up this month will be in Moorhead, St. Cloud, Duluth, Marshall, Minneapolis and Woodbury.  So far the tour has been positive and beneficial, providing a forum to tell the story of the stadium situation and gather input from citizenry, according to the MSFC chair.  “It’s really been a good public education experience,” Terwilliger said.

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