In a pop culture quiz, former Gopher and Dallas star Marion Barber tells Sports Illustrated his childhood hero was Jesus Christ, and the vegetable he won’t eat is spinach.

The guess here is the Twins won’t re-sign Torii Hunter and will trade Johan Santana.  The payroll savings will be used to acquire other talent and retain younger core players.

Sporting News predicts that “regardless of where he ends up,” Hunter will be among the top three vote getters next season in league MVP voting.

Sporting News includes four Vikings on its all-NFL mid-season team: running back Adrian Peterson, guard Steve Hutchinson, defensive tackle Kevin Williams and cornerback Antoine Winfield.

Wolves’ rookie Corey Brewer played his best all-around game as a pro on Saturday night at Sacramento. Brewer scored 15 points, including seven-for-seven from the free throw line, grabbed eight rebounds, had two assists and two steals in 29 minutes.

Three of the Gophers’ outstanding basketball players from the 1960s and basketball community leaders over the years will be presented with the Jim Dutcher Award by the Minnesota Magic Basketball Club on Friday evening at Golden Valley Country Club.  The recipients are Bill Davis, Al Nuness and Paul Presthus.  The award recognizes a “lifetime dedicated to basketball” and the event generates scholarship money.  More information is available by calling 612-331-5600, or via kelly@silhouettellc.com

The early signing period for college basketball prospects starts Wednesday and continues through November 21.  Among the players the Gophers hope to sign is Ralph Sampson III of Duluth, Georgia.  Gopher fan Bob Klas remembered that Ralph Sampson II almost became a Gopher but chose Virginia where he developed into a No. 1 NBA draft choice. Virginia painted “The House that Ralph Built” on the roof of its arena, took Sampson up in an airplane to view it, and then signed him to a tender, according to Klas.

The Minnesota athletic department is sponsoring a trip for fans to Tallahassee, Florida where the Gophers will play Florida State as part of the annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge on November 27.  The trip package includes airfare, hotel, game ticket and more. To make reservations call 612-626-2258 no later than November 19.

The Wild recalled goaltender Nolan Schaefer and right wing Aaron Voros from the Houston Aeros yesterday.  Schaefer, 27, was 2-4-0 with a 2.93 goals against average and a .902 save percentage in six games with the Aeros.  Voros, 26, had eight points (four goals, four assists) and 46 penalty minutes in 12 games with Houston.  The 6-foot-3, 205-pound forward led the Aeros in penalty minutes, and was second in scoring and in goals.

Kyle Okposo, expected to be a steady point producer for the Gophers’ hockey team, went eight games without a point until Saturday night when he scored two goals to help Minnesota beat Minnesota State.  The Gophers swept the weekend series to win their first two WCHA games of the season.

Dick Jonckowski, Gopher baseball public address announcer, said Minnesota coach John Anderson will be inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in Philadelphia in early  January.

Jonckowski is friends with former St. Louis manager Whitey Herzog who led the Cardinals to the 1987 World Series against the Twins.  In September Jonckowski emceed a 20 year reunion banquet in St. Louis for the Cardinals.

Concordia-St. Paul’s senior quarterback Kole Goodchild was named to the 2007 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V First Team as voted on by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America.  Goodchild has accumulated a 3.89 grade point average while double-majoring in accounting and finance.  This fall he set the single season school passing record with 3,027 yards. He holds school single-game records for completions, yards, touchdown passes and interceptions and single-season records for completions and attempts.

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It’s been more than a year since the Minnesota Vikings won consecutive games.  In October of last year the Vikings had back-to-back wins over Detroit and Seattle.  Since then the Vikings have lost 13 games and won five, including last Sunday’s upset of San Diego.

Former Vikings’ assistant coach Dean Dalton told Sports Headliners earlier this week that next Sunday’s game in Green Bay against the Packers is “extremely important” for establishing momentum toward better results in the second half of the season.  At 3-5, the Vikings now have eight more regular season games and while playoff thoughts shouldn’t be pre-occupying anyone’s mind, Minnesota can target moving toward a .500 record with wins in the next two weeks against the Packers (7-1) and at home versus Oakland (2-6).

“They (the Vikings) need to win this game to get positive momentum,” Dalton said.  He also said the Vikings aren’t going to win the NFC North with the Packers and Detroit (6-2) so far ahead, but a couple of wins could allow Minnesota to more realistically think there is a chance of making the playoffs.

Dalton, now a pro football media analyst, said if the Vikings are to win Sunday they need to continue with their  “formula.”  That formula includes plenty of opportunities for Adrian Peterson to run the ball behind an improving and more confident offensive line.  Dalton said it’s imperative, too, that the quarterback, either Brooks Bollinger or Tarvaris Jackson, take three step drops to pass, not five.  That measure, along with play action, helps negate the pass protection challenges of the offensive line.

The “formula” also demands that the Vikings’ offense control the ball enough to avoid a game day script that has the defense on the field too long. In late October against Philadelphia the defense was on the field for about 30 minutes.  Last Sunday against San Diego the Vikings defense, assisted by an offense experiencing its best day of the season, played about 26 minutes.  That game was only the second this season that a Vikings’ opponent didn’t have possession for 30 minutes or more.

Dalton suggests that the Vikings use a variety of defensive tactics against the Packers offense, similar to the blitzes and other looks Minnesota used effectively to keep Chargers’ quarterback Phillip Rivers off balance.  The strategy, that can also include man-to-man pass coverage, will limit yardage but also make the Vikings susceptible to big gains.

The Vikings’ defense is No. 2 in the NFL against the rush, limiting opponents to 70.4 yards per game, and if that wasn’t formidable enough, Dalton said that because of injuries this season the Packers are “running out of running backs.”  Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre completed 32-45 passes for 344 yards and two touchdowns in the Packers’ 23-16 win here in September.  He doesn’t figure to throw any less Sunday than he did in Minneapolis. The Packers rank second in the NFL in passing yards per game at 290.1.  Vikings coach Brad Childress wants better performance out of both his pass defense (31^st in the NFL giving up 275.6 yards per game) and his pass offense (30^th in the league at 151.5 yards per game).

Vikings linebacker Ben Leber was direct when asked about the importance of Sunday’s game.  He described it as “huge” because the Vikings are coming off a win and playing a division leader.  “It’s a big game for us,” he said.  “We have to prove to ourselves that…we can get on a roll, continue to play consistent. …”

The good feelings about Sunday’s win against the talented Chargers and the positive plays that made it possible haven’t made Leber too giddy.  “Obviously you feel good about the win,” he said. “You feel good about the way we executed, but we’re still 3-5. We have a lot of work to do. I think our crutch and our Achilles heel has been the fact that we are inconsistent. We can play good one series, bad the next.  Play good one game, bad the next game. …It’s going to be important that we don’t get too high on our selves. Yeah, we played well but we need to play better next week.”

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It’s probably more than coincidence that the Minnesota Timberwolves, playing without venerable shot blocker Theo Ratliff, gave up more points against Orlando (111) than they did in their two previous games (99 to Denver, 97 to New York).  Ratliff missed Tuesday night’s 111-103 loss to Orlando because of the flu after blocking five shots in the Wolves’ two other losses.  Who knows how many misses he caused, too, because of his presence and possibility that he would swat away more shots?

Ratliff, 34, is a rare center in today’s NBA because of his shot blocking.  He has led the league in blocked shots three of the past five seasons.  He has been among the top 10 shot blockers in his last seven full NBA seasons.  He’s one of six players in league history to lead in blocked shots at least three times.

Oh, my, if Ratliff, the 6-foot-10, 238-pound soft spoken defensive specialist were 24 instead of 34.  Considered a throw-in among the five players the Wolves acquired from Boston for Kevin Garnett, Ratliff has a large expiring contract after this season and a history of troublesome injuries that have limited his court time.  He makes approximately $11.5 million, according to espn.com, and the speculation is that taking his salary off the payroll next season will open options to sign younger players.

What Ratliff has shown the Wolves in two games, though, is that he can provide them with defensive help much more effectively than anyone else on the roster and better than most players in the league.  He’s also contributed offensively, averaging 11 points per game against a career average of eight, and five rebounds per game.  The questions, though, are how many games and minutes will Ratliff play this season, and what’s the future beyond next spring?

Ratliff missed all but two games last season because of a sore back, surgery and then rehab.  He told Sports Headliners last week that he’s still going through a “healing process.”  He has soreness in the back and endeavors to keep his “muscles loose.”  People with back problems will relate to Ratliff’s awareness of not sitting too long, stretching and utilizing massage and chiropractic assistance.

Before the season began, Ratliff said playing an aggressive number of minutes like 32 per game wasn’t realistic.  Interestingly, though, he played 33 minutes against the Knicks last Sunday, after 29 minutes in the home opener on Friday with the Nuggets. Coach Randy Wittman knows how valuable Ratliff can be and will do his best to successfully monitor his minutes.

Beyond this season?  Ratliff said that after 13 seasons it’s pretty much “year by year now.”  Spoken with the wisdom of experience, his goal is to enjoy this season, contribute to the team and “take a step back and see” what comes next spring and summer.

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