The Vikings’ have won four of their last five games and those opponents have a combined record of 35 wins, 25 losses.  Remove Green Bay’s 10-2 record and the totals are 25 and 23.  The Vikings have four games remaining and those teams are a combined 18-30.  Winning three games in a row and four of the last five are both bests for coach Brad Childress since he took over as Vikings coach last season.

A Sports Illustrated poll of NFL players had Randy Moss of New England ranked third among  receivers who can be most easily intimidated.  Terrell Owens of Dallas was first, followed by Chad Johnson of Cincinnati and then Moss.

Some Wolves fans aren’t bothered a bit by the team’s 2-13 record, poorest in the NBA.  They want the team to finish with the worst record in the NBA, enhancing chances of winning the draft lottery.  College basketball’s stellar freshman class is deep and talented.  Included is Memphis star Derrick Rose who could be a difference maker for the Wolves at point guard.

Delmon Young’s much publicized temper may benefit from the leadership and calm of the Twins clubhouse.  The 22-year-old former Tampa Bay outfielder will find good role models among his new team.

The educated guess here is it’s not likely former Gopher coach Glen Mason will draw interest from schools in major conferences like the Pac 10 or Southeastern Conference.  Sooner or later an offer might come from a school in a league like the Mid-American Conference or Mountain West Conference.

Goaltenders Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks, Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils and Niklas Backstrom of the Minnesota Wild have been named respectively as the NHL’s first, second and third stars for the week ending December 2.  Backstrom won the Third Star award after a 3-0-0 record, 1.32 goals-against average and.939 save percentage as the Wild (15-9-2, 32 points) moved into first place in the Northwest Division.

Wild president and general manager Doug Risebrough and coach Jacques Lemaire announced that forward Mark Parrish will serve as team captain during December.  Brian Rolston and Nick Schultz will serve as alternate captains throughout the month. The Wild rotate team captaincy on a monthly basis based on the player who has shown the greatest leadership qualities.

Concordia University, St. Paul won its first national championship in any sport on Saturday when the No. 2 ranked volleyball team defeated No. 15 Western Washington in four games, 30-26, 23-30, 30-19, 31-29 in Topeka, Kansas. It is the first NCAA volleyball championship for the Northern Sun Conference and the league’s second team championship (Winona State, men’s basketball, 2005-06). Junior Maria Steinhagen (Alexandria, Minn.) and sophomore Maggie McNamara (Zumbrota, Minn.) were impressive Saturday night. Steinhagen had 26 kills and hit .500 in 46 attempts while McNamara registered a double-double with 71 assists and 17 digs.

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When Jim Bruton heard about the “Love Boat” party on Lake Minnetonka two years ago, he had a different reaction than many Minnesota Vikings fans.  Publicity about the party and other negative news about the Vikings over the years inspired Bruton to write a book, “A Tradition Of Purple, An Inside Look At the Minnesota Vikings.”

The book was published this fall and it’s a positive tale about Vikings coaches, players, front office personnel and the charitable deeds of the organization then and now.  The book’s point of distinction is that it’s written from a fan’s perspective with the intent of documenting what the franchise has meant to this region since its inception in 1961.

Bruton attended the team’s first game and has been rooting for the Vikings ever since.  As a 16-year-old from Alexander Ramsey High School in Roseville, Bruton watched rookie quarterback Fran Tarkenton and his expansion teammates surprise the Chicago Bears in that first game, winning 37-13 at Met Stadium.  Bruton chuckled about the memory in a phone interview on Wednesday when he recalled that Bears owner and coach George Halas helped Minneapolis-St. Paul to secure an NFL team and the Vikings welcomed him to town by solidly defeating his storied franchise.

Bruton has owned Vikings season tickets for 41 years.  He’s not only been watching the team for a long time, he tried to play for the Purple.  Bruton had limited success as a placekicker for the Gophers in 1965 and 1966, kicking off in a few games and once missing a field goal against Michigan.  Still, he pursued a dream to play in the NFL and as a free agent was cut twice by the Vikings, and once by the Dallas Cowboys. “I am probably the only active season ticket holder that (coach) Bud Grant cut (from the team) twice,” Bruton said.

Not that Bruton hasn’t led an interesting and successful life away from football. He spent 35 years in the corrections field and retired as warden of the state’s maximum security prison in Oak Park Heights, Minnesota.  He always retained his passion for the Vikings, though, and in the early 1990s set up a meeting with Grant after having not seen the legendary coach for many years.  This resulted in Grant autographing a photo of himself with this inscription: “To Jim.  I always wished you had tried out again, so I could have cut you a third time!”

Grant was one of seven people associated with the Vikings, including part owner Mark Wilf, who approved the manuscript before it was written.  The book sells for $24.95 and a portion of the proceeds go to the Viking Children’s Fund that has been assisting non-profits since the 1970s when general manager Mike Lynn started it.

Bruton has a series of book signings coming up where he’s accompanied by former Vikings players.  A listing is on the Vikings web site (www.vikings.com) and can be accessed under events and alumni appearances.  Bruton also welcomes calls by e-mail jamesjhbjr@comcast.net, or telephone, 651-398-4937. He will autograph books for those who contact him.

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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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