St. Thomas football coach Glenn Caruso will be the speaker on Thursday, November 10 at the C.O.R.E.S. luncheon in Bloomington.  The undefeated Tommies are ranked with the top teams nationally and could win a Division III national championship. C.O.R.E.S. members can contact Jim Dotseth for more information, dotsethj@comcast.net.  C.O.R.E.S is an acronym for coaches, officials, educators, reporters and sports fans.

Myron Medcalf has left the Star Tribune to join ESPN.com.  He’s been replaced as the Gophers basketball beat writer by Amelia Rayno who joined the newspaper as an intern in 2010.

Gophers assistant basketball coach Saul Smith admired former Green Bay Packer Sterling Sharpe while growing up.  Smith’s dad Tubby also wore Packer green while playing basketball in high school so Saul grew up a Packers fan and was at Mall of America Field on Sunday cheering for Green Bay.

Tubby Smith said he’s seen enough in early practices to be impressed with this team’s shooting.  The best since coming here from Kentucky in 2007?  “No question about it,” he said.

Prior to Monday’s practice, Smith said freshman Joe Coleman had made 50 percent of his three point attempts in practices while redshirt freshman Oto Osenieks had converted 46 percent.

The Gophers ran out of point guards last season in part because players transferred either before or during the season.  Sophomore point guard Maverick Ahanmisi is the team’s one returnee at the position.  He’s competing with newcomers Andre Hollins (freshman) and Julian Welch (junior college transfer) to determine the No. 1 point guard.  Ahanmisi said he wants to be the starter but is willing to accept a reserve role if necessary and plans to spend his career with the Gophers.

Smith said none of the point guards has emerged as the best but Welch “probably has the least turnovers.”  Andre Hollins had several stitches in his cheek at practice on Monday after a recent collision with Austin Hollins.

Lester Patrick Trophy 2011 honorees Mark Johnson, Bob Pulford, Tony Rossi and Jeff Sauer will be at the RiverCentre in St. Paul tonight for an awards ceremony.  The trophy honors individuals for “outstanding service to hockey in the United States.”

Despite glitzy conversation, Los Angeles has yet to approve and begin building a new stadium.  It’s doubtful the NFL will send any franchise to L.A. until that bit of housekeeping has been finished.

Just because the lease at the dome expires doesn’t mean it’s California “Here We Come.”  The San Diego Chargers have a deal with the city that allows an opt out in its stadium agreement each year.  Other franchises, including the St. Louis Rams, have been linked to a possible Los Angeles move, too.

In just the next few months does the NFL want to give up on a Vikings franchise that for years has been announcing consecutive sellouts in its stadium and frequently posts some of the highest TV ratings in a local market among the league’s 32 cities?

Abandoning a fan base that’s been so supportive is bad PR for the league.  It’s the kind of potential action that might even draw scrutiny among political leaders in Washington.

None of this is to suggest the Vikings’ request for a new facility can be ignored for long.  But no one should choke on his or her Thanksgiving dinner if a stadium bill isn’t in place by then.

And another thought: why have stadium political leaders consistently limited the state’s funding contribution to $300 million?  Seems like bad strategy because the team is supposed to be a state-wide asset and the $300 million cap puts a lot of pressure on a local funding partner like Ramsey County as part of the proposed stadium cost of $1.1 billion (Vikings to pay over $400 million).