Brad Johnson has a career NFL completion percentage of 61.9%, ranking behind Steve Young at 64.3%, Peyton Manning at 63.9% and Joe Montana at 63.2%.  Johnson has completed at least 60% of his passes for 10 consecutive seasons.   After helping Tampa Bay win the Super Bowl in 2003, Johnson appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.  Johnson’s brother-in-law is University of Georgia football coach Mark Richt. 

Rookie pitching sensation Francisco Liriano likes the Twins organization and the city.  “I will do whatever it takes to stay here my whole career,” he said. 

Twins trivia:  Torrii Hunter was the last Twins player to hit an inside -the -park home run (July 26, 2001 at Oakland). 

Former Green Bay and Gopher running back Darrell Thompson talking about the 2006 Packer outlook:  “I think the Packers are going to be better. … Those linebackers they have signed are outstanding.  (Abdul) Hodge and (A.J.) Hawk are fabulous linebackers. … I think they could win eight or nine games.” 

Gopher quarterback Tony Mortensen talking about former Hutchinson High School teammate Lydon Murtha competing for a starting offensive tackle spot at Nebraska:  “They want him to put his head on straight and be the man.  They’re going to give him a shot at it and hopefully it will work out for him.”   

University of Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi, 61, jogs three to five miles daily. 

Bill Kuross, one of the state’s all-time great tennis players and former football coach at Minneapolis Washburn, made a hole-in-one recently when his 150-yard six-iron shot went in the cup on the fly while playing No. 16 at Island View Golf Club in Waconia.   He is the former tennis pro at Minikahda Club and started the Minikahda Tennis Invitational that for 34 years attracted outstanding pros including a young Andre Agassi to Minneapolis.

A long time ago Ted Williams, major league baseball’s last .400 hitter, played in Minneapolis for the AAA Millers.  Now Joe Mauer plays in Minneapolis and, at age 23, in his third major league, there’s talk that some day he, too, may join the sacred .400 club, stirring memories of Williams hitting .406 in 1941. 

Earlier in the summer Mauer’s batting average had climbed to .392.   He still leads the American League in hitting but his average has come down to the .360s and perhaps by season end he will hit .350 or better. There is no whining about that, particularly when logic suggests the Twins’ sweet swinging hitter, on track to become the first catcher to lead the league in hitting, may sniff and even inhale the .400 level as he approaches and enjoys his peak years ahead.

Grandpa Jake Mauer used to watch Williams, his idol, play here in 1938.    He marveled at the fluid swing.  He’s been watching Joe since his grandson was an infant.  He insisted Joe be a left handed hitter (just like Williams, the “Splendid Splinter”) and he knew when Joe was swinging a bat at eight months his grandson was “special.”    

Jake told the Twins when they signed Joe that one day the young man will hit .400.  Grandpa is not backing off that prediction.  “I don’t think he will do it one time,” Jake said. “I think he will do it a couple times and the reason why (is) he takes care of his body. If he stays healthy there is no limit to what he can do.  You will probably see the best baseball player, hitter, catcher there has ever been in the American League.”

Tony Oliva, who won three American League batting titles and now works with Twins hitters, said it’s almost “impossible” to hit .400.  He believes hitting 60 or 70 home runs in one season is easier than batting .400.   

An interviewer initially made no mention of Mauer to Oliva when asking about the possibility of another .400 hitter.  Oliva speculated that Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki, with his exceptional speed and hitting, might have a “chance” at it.  Then he thought of Mauer.

“The way I see Joe Mauer is hitting this year, you never know,” Oliva said.  “He is only 22 (23) years old.  He is going to get better yet.  I don’t know how better he will get because right now he is a great hitter.” 

Mauer said he has not thought much about .400.  He agrees with Oliva that joining the .400 club is more difficult than achieving the once sacred level of hitting 60 or more home runs.  “I just try to keep getting better and better and we’ll se what happens,” Mauer said.  

University athletic director Joel Maturi, a Notre Dame alum, tried but the Fighting Irish said no to being the Gophers’ first opponent in the new Minnesota on-campus football stadium in 2009.  Maturi said California, a program on the rise lately, may be the opponent.  The Golden Bears host Minnesota this year on September 9 in Berkeley and are considered a top 20 team, if not top 10, under coach Jeff Tedford who revived a program that for years rivaled the Gophers for futility. 

Surprisingly, Minnesota’s first game in 2009 will be on the road, not in the new stadium that won legislative approval earlier this year.  “We agreed (with State Fair officials) that the first game ever on campus would not be the same weekend of the state fair,” Maturi explained.  “And it makes a lot of sense because the traffic will be crazy.  We won’t know what to do with it.  I think after a year of the state fair and after a year of home football we will know that we can play a game during the state fair.  People will know where they are going.  Where their parking places will be.” 

Fans will be encouraged to park on the state fair grounds and then shuttled to the new stadium.  The inaugural game will be played on September 12. 

Maturi said Minnesota’s total public season ticket sales for football have been the lowest in the Big Ten Conference but news of the on-campus stadium has created additional interest.  He said about 3,000 new public season tickets have been sold.   Combined with other ticket sales including student season tickets (about 10,000 in the past), Maturi is hoping for average attendance of 50,000 in the Metrodome this year. 

The new stadium will have a capacity of 50,000, but expandable to 80,000.  The Gophers are hoping to create demand in a smaller stadium, encouraging people to buy season tickets instead of waiting to purchase single game seats, or not buying at all.   

There is some talk that if the dome is renovated, or torn down so a new stadium can be built on the site, the Vikings might play a couple of seasons in the Gopher facility.   “I think we could do something that would make it (the stadium) low 60’s (60,000 plus capacity) without doing it significantly differently, and that would help the Vikings,” Maturi said.