Conference realignment of schools will be discussed among Big Ten athletic directors early next week in Chicago, Gophers football coach Tim Brewster said.  Officials representing the league office and conference schools are expected to meet about how the Big Ten will position itself into two football divisions with the arrival of Nebraska as a 12^th member in 2011.  The gathering in Chicago will also include the conference’s annual media football kickoff with all 11 head coaches having news conferences on Monday.

Brewster said he’s firm about one expectation for scheduling starting in 2011.  He wants Wisconsin and Iowa on Minnesota’s schedule each season, even if all three schools aren’t in the same division.

Is he concerned that annually the Badgers and Hawkeyes won’t be on the Minnesota schedule?  “No, absolutely not, because that’s vital to our conference,” he told Sports Headliners.

Preserving historic football rivalries is expected to receive the highest of priorities when commissioner Jim Delany and others decide who to place where in two six team divisions.  What’s the timeline for a decision?

Brewster said he isn’t sure “but this has got to get in place because there’s a tremendous amount of time” involved with scheduling preparation and details.  He’s confident Delany will present a plan at the earliest date once things are in place.

Gophers athletics director Joel Maturi told Sports Headliners he will be surprised if he leaves Chicago on Tuesday without knowledge of a working model for realignment.  The model might not be a finished product but certainly a significant step in that direction.

Maturi said he doesn’t know how the Big Ten will ultimately group its 12 schools in various sports.  It’s presumed football will have two six-team divisions but basketball, for example, might have a single 12 team league.  The advantage for football having two divisions is to allow the conference to stage a lucrative and high profile conference championship game between the two winners.

Brewster will take three players to Chicago to participate in the media sessions, quarterback Adam Weber, defensive tackle Brandon Kirksey and safety Kim Royston.

Brewster plans to tell the media he believes his team, picked by most writers to finish near the bottom of the conference standings, has a “chance to be much better than most people think.”  Brewster has a lot of confidence in his fourth Gophers team, a group that is more athletic than in the past.

He has also been impressed with the summer workouts of his team.  “Guys are so much stronger, so much bigger,” he said.

A more physical, athletic and better conditioned team can provide a payoff during the season to the messages the Gophers had on their workout shirts this summer: “Finish.  Compete Forever.”

Brewster’s Gophers have sometimes been challenged to win games in the fourth quarter.  That’s been a reason the team finished around .500 each of the last two seasons, 7-6 in 2008 and 6-7 in 2009.

“We want to take games into the fourth quarter and win games in the fourth quarter,” Brewster said.

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The stats are eye-catching.  With about one-third of the schedule remaining, the Twins are often a different hitting ball club at their new home, Target Field, than on the road.

The Twins have the highest team batting average in major league baseball at .283.  At Target Field the team is hitting .292 while on the road the average is .275, according to https://espn.go.com/mlb/team/stats/batting/_/name/min/minnesota-twins.  But in their new home park the Twins have hit just 28 home runs in 50 games while on the road they have homered 63 times in 52 games.

Enough baseball has been played in different weather conditions at Target Field to know this is a pitcher’s ballpark.  Balls that initially seem destined to fly over the fence more often end up as long outs.  With the Twins so-so starting pitcher this seems more of an overall advantage to the team than having a home run happy ballpark.

But it has left Twins batters with some frustrations.  Joe Mauer has been the poster boy for drives hit to the power alley in left field that don’t quite make it into the seats.  He has six home runs this season, all on the road.

No Twins batter has more home runs at home than on the road.  Jim Thome has hit six at Target Field, six on the road.  Everyone else has hit fewer at home including Justin Morneau who has a team leading 18 home runs, with 14 on the road.

Twins president Dave St. Peter was asked by Sports Headliners if the club will consider changing outfield dimensions for next year.  “We haven’t even gone there yet,” he said.  “That’s not something that’s right now on our radar.  We’re more focused on different elements that will impact fan experience. …

“But we’ll review a number of issues over the course of the last couple months of the season and into the offseason with hopes of making Target Field better.  And certainly some of those issues will be playability issues.  I can’t speak to whether dimensions will even be part of that discussion.”

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The Twins, home and away, have mostly been wearing their navy blue uniform tops during recent weeks.  That’s a departure from how the team dressed earlier in the season.

Who makes the uniform choice before each game?  “It is the starting pitcher,” St. Peter said.

Why the blue tops?  “…I think that blue jersey has a bit more venting, and it might be made out of a little different material,” St. Peter said.  “So when you’re playing in extreme heat I think often the team likes to play in that navy top.”

The Vikings open practice tomorrow in Mankato and last year more than 50,000 fans watched workouts there.  All practices are free and open to the public.  Visit www.vikings.com for the most up-to-date schedules.

This is the 45^th consecutive year the Vikings are in Mankato for training camp.  Among NFL teams only the Packers have been in the same training camp location longer (53 years), at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin.

ESPN’s Rece Davis will emcee the 39th Annual Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon on Tuesday at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago.

Tim Brewster, while vacationing in Naples, Florida, spent time with his friend and former Kansas football coach Mark Mangino who hopes to coach again.

Brewster is disappointed about the Texas-Gophers series being cancelled but said another marquee opponent is being sought to fill the dates left open in 2015 and 2016.  A conflict between Texas and the Big Ten Network regarding game and post-game video led to the cancellation.

In this week’s Fischler Report former Wild general manager Doug Risebrough describes the Rangers’ Derek Boogaard as “arguably the second most popular player the Wild ever had.”  Presumably he means Marian Gaborik is the most popular.

With the support of the Native American Law Enforcement Summit and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Minnesota Swarm is hoping to bring lacrosse back to tribal communities and help preserve the sport’s heritage.  An inaugural lacrosse camp involving the Swarm is being held this week at the Fond du Lac Reservation in northeastern Minnesota.  “With 23 percent of our league (players) being Native American and lacrosse originating from the Natives, it was important to make sure that the Native community was playing lacrosse in Minnesota,” said Andy Arlotta, Swarm co-owner.

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