The NFL is re-positioning its umpires in games this season from the defensive side of the ball to the offensive side.  It’s a move designed to reduce injuries to them.

Vikings offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said yesterday he isn’t surprised about the amount of time quarterback Brett Favre is using to make a decision about playing.  “You figure with Brett (Favre) things are going to start happening at some point, particularly this time of year,” Bevell said.  “I know it’s a decision that he wrestles with. He is a great player and great competitor. He mulls things over, he is an emotional guy and he thinks things through long and hard. He takes his time with his decision. I am not surprised that things started to come out. We will just have to wait and see.”

Vikings wide receiver Bernard Berrian has a python named Roscoe.

Vikings defensive end Jared Allen, for years a supporter of war veterans, has a brother in the Marine Corps.

A majority of fans, 72 percent, voting in a Washington Post online poll believe the Nationals got the better of the trade that sent All-Star reliever Matt Capps to the Twins.  Only 17 percent said the Nationals shouldn’t have traded Capps.

Part of that trade included high potential Twins catching prospect Wilson Ramos who the Nationals have assigned to AAA Syracuse.  Today the Chiefs and Ramos play against his former AAA team Rochester.

The Twins finish their four-game series at Tampa Bay today without having to face former teammate Matt Garza who was chosen major league baseball’s co-player of the week with Toronto’s Jose Bautista after recently throwing a no-hitter.  Garza threw the first no-hitter in franchise history.

The Twins acquired pitcher Carl Pavano on waivers from Cleveland on August 7 last year.  This Saturday (August 7) Pavano is expected to be the Twins starter in Cleveland against the Indians.

After winning eight consecutive games, major league baseball moved the Twins’ ranking from No. 11 to No. 8 this week in the power rankings.  Ahead of the Twins are the Yankees, Rays, Padres, Rangers, Cardinals, Braves and Giants.  See www.mlb.com.

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In its August 2 issue Sporting News magazine lists the top 100 prep football recruits from across the country.  There’s not a single player from Minnesota, and the Gophers aren’t included on the possible college destinations for any prospect.

Big Ten football media day (televised by the Big Ten Network) wasn’t without interesting moments on Monday.  A reporter asked 83-year-old Penn State coach Joe Paterno if he plans to die coaching.  Paterno, who has been head coach in Happy Valley since Lyndon Johnson was president in 1966, answered the question politely and said he plans to coach indefinitely.  Wisconsin’s Brett Bielema said coaches “brainwash players” but he doesn’t.  Illinois coach Ron Zook, on the hottest coaching seat in the conference, said his team “on paper” is the equal of the Illini’s 2008 Rose Bowl team.

Gophers coach Tim Brewster has a local media lunch today and then his team opens practice tomorrow.

Independence Party candidate for governor Tom Horner is the son of the late Jack Horner, a pioneer sportscaster on television here.

For the fourth consecutive year Canterbury Park is promoting non-wagering races involving camels and ostriches.  Those races are part of “Extreme Race Day” on Sunday that also includes unconventional horse racing.

Members of the C.O.R.E.S. and Minnesota Minutemen organizations will have their annual golf tournament on September 2 at Ridges at Sand Creek in Jordan.  The registration deadline is August 23.  For more information contact Duane McEwen at 651-484-5614 or mcewendh@aol.com.

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At Big Ten media day this afternoon Gophers football coach Tim Brewster acknowledged his team’s difficult schedule for 2010, and also talked about replacing the Texas series for 2015 and 2016.

Brewster, along with the Big Ten Conference’s other 10 head coaches, addressed a media gathering in Chicago that was televised live on the Big Ten Network.  In Chicago and around the country expectations for the Gophers are minimal, perhaps not even matching last year’s 6-7 overall record and 3-5 in the Big Ten.

Brewster didn’t predict Minnesota’s record for 2010 involving a schedule that includes national powers USC, Ohio State, Iowa, Wisconsin and Penn State.  But he likes what he’s seen of his team this summer.

“We’re bigger, we’re stronger, faster, (and) we’re more athletic than we’ve been, and rightfully so,” Brewster said.  “We need to be.  We know we’re going to play one of the most challenging schedules in America this season, and our players are going to have to be prepared.”

The Gophers lost their second straight bowl game last year and overall had problems finishing games.  “We need to be improved,” Brewster said.  “We need to be better.”

A conflict between Texas and the Big Ten Network regarding game and post-game video led to the cancellation last week of the series with the Longhorns.  Brewster expressed “disappointment…that the University of Texas chose not to play the game.”   Brewster said Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany had assured him that Texas’ needs regarding video could have been worked out.

“We want to be a championship caliber program at the University of Minnesota and we think that to do that we’ve got to bring the spotlight to us,” Brewster said.  “We’re very close to replacing Texas with another marquee nonconference BCS opponent.”

Brewster was asked about realignment of conference schools into two football divisions for next year and whether it was important that the Gophers play Wisconsin and Iowa each year as they do now. “I don’t think there’s any question that as we look at realignment Mr. Delany is going to figure out a way in which we play each other each and every year,” Brewster said.

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