Rantz, a St. Paul native and former high school baseball player, signed with the old Washington Senators in 1960, a season before they became the Twins.  In 1965 he began working for the public relations staff and later moved into the farm department.  He has no plans to retire.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Jimmy Williams on Monday in his lawsuit against the University of Minnesota.  Litigation has been ongoing for several years in the case with the possibility of a large financial settlement for Williams.  He was an assistant Gophers coach in the 1980s and had wanted to again work for the University after Tubby Smith was hired as Minnesota coach in 2007.  An appeal to the state Supreme Court seems likely.

Gophers sophomore basketball guard Chip Armelin was all-state in high school football back home in Louisiana. Armelin told Sports Headliners he was seriously considering trying out for football with the Gophers this summer but coach Tubby Smith discouraged him.  “I really miss it (football),” Armelin said.  “…I just love basketball more than football.”

Armelin was a wide receiver in high school and would have pursued that position for the Gophers.  He said it’s “possible” he may talk to Smith again next summer about playing football.  He averaged 11.1 minutes per game and 4.4 points as a freshman.  He hopes to become a starter at shooting guard.

Junior college transfer Julian Welch said “he’s just a ball player” and can play both guard positions for the Gophers, point or shooting guard.  “I love givin’ guys the ball,” he said.  Welch’s college choices among major schools were the Gophers and UNLV.

Gophers senior center Ralph Sampson III, who admitted it was “definitely tempting to make the jump” to the NBA after last season, said this year’s team has a “lot of great players.”

The Gophers volleyball program ranks No. 3 nationally in home attendance average at 4,659 per game.  Hawaii is No.1 at 6,625 while Wisconsin, where the Gophers play tonight, is fourth at 3,615.

Vikings receiver Greg Carmarillo told Sports Headliners the team has a choice now regarding its response to the discouraging 1-5 start.  “I’ve got faith in the team that nobody will give up,” he said.  “There are a lot of determined people that will keep fighting.”

It’s possible there will be more Nebraska fans than Gophers supporters inside TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday.  Minnesota coach Jerry Kill was asked yesterday at his news conference about the possibility of not having home field advantage and what he might say to his players.

“I’m not going to talk about it (with the team),” Kill said. “That’s something I can’t control.  I don’t worry about it.  Only thing I can control is if we know who to block, what to do and those kind of things. … If you’re a focused football player and you’re really a good football player, good coach, you never hear anything anyway, okay. …”

Kill said Lamonte Edwards, who recently moved from running back to linebacker, will remain on defense despite a shortage of running backs.

The Wild, who swept the Oilers last season, are at Edmonton tomorrow night.  Pierre-Marc Bouchard led the Wild in scoring against the Oilers last season with nine points while Mikko Koivu had eight.

The Wild have tickets available for every home game on the 2011-12 schedule.

As of Monday, the presale was over 1,000 tickets for Saturday night’s Minnesota Stars NASL Championship Series game against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers at NSC Stadium in Blaine.  Stadium capacity is about 11,000, according to an email from a Stars spokesperson.