Justin Morneaureturned to the Twins lineup on Monday night after not playing since August 17. The team was 5-2 without Morneau, the American League’s RBI leader with 95.  He homered last night for the first time since August 2 in the Twins’ comeback win over Baltimore.

If junior college transfer Trevor Mbakwe isn’t with the Gophers this fall, freshman Royce White is a likely replacement at power forward.  A woman alleges Mbakwe attacked her earlier this year in Florida.  A trial later this year regarding a felony aggravated battery charge will further address the allegation.  White has impressed associate head coach Ron Jirsa with his strength.

The Vikings’ defense has so many standouts that Madieu Williams doesn’t receive a lot of publicity but the 27-year-old safety is a solid player and a smart free agent signing in 2008.

That was 96-year-old former national championship coach Murray Warmath who made the effort to attend the Gophers scrimmage last Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium.  Warmath, who lives in Bloomington and coached the Gophers to the 1960 national title, is confined to a wheelchair.

Announced attendance at the stadium open house and scrimmage was 15,103.  Official capacity is listed at 50,805.

The stadium’s M Club facility for Gopher letterwinners is expected to open on Thursday, September 10, two days before the season opener against Air Force on September 12.

Former Gopher linebacker and Sartell native Craig Sauer is an assistant coach at Augsburg as part of a National Football Players Association/NCAA coaching internship program for former NFL players. A former linebacker with the Falcons and Vikings, Sauer is a defensive/special teams assistant on Augsburg coach Frank Haege’s staff.  https://athletics.augsburg.edu/news/2009/7/8/fb070809.aspx?path=football

Saint John’s sophomore offensive lineman Cody Socher spent four hours each day this summer lifting, conditioning and practicing with UFC champion Brock Lesnar.

The Johnnies’ John Gagliardi will become the first known head coach in college football history to coach his own grandson, Joey Benson, this fall.

St. Thomas coach Glenn Caruso’s 50-plus freshman football recruiting class includes four players born in Africa who later grew up in the Twin Cities.

Local author Bob Showers has a new book, “The Twins at the Met,” debuting this week at the Minnesota State Fair (the Twins exhibit).  It will be available only at the fair and Twins Pro Shop locations until early September, and then in bookstores. The book is a history of Twins baseball at Metropolitan Stadium, the franchise’s home from 1961-81.  Showers interviewed many sources including team alumni like Bert Blyleven, Kent Hrbek, Tom Kelly, Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Jim Kaat, Paul Molitor, Jack Morris and Dave Winfield.

Wrestling fans can see the WWE at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday, September 5.

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TCF Bank Stadium is opening to applause and the new facility almost makes Minnesota unique compared to other college football programs and their old facilities, yet short term the stadium is a challenge to the Gophers’ on field performance.

Coach Tim Brewster has been saying all summer the focus of his team is on one goal: prepare for the opening game at Syracuse on September 5.  There’s so much anticipation about the first game in TCF Bank Stadium on September 12 with Air Force, that Brewster welcomed last Saturday’s scrimmage and public open house in the new facility.  Those were “butterflies” of the figurative kind floating out of the stadium and across campus on Saturday.

Still, the build-up to the first game ever in the stadium presents a challenge of focus for team and staff.  The Gophers, 7-6 last season and 1-11 the year before, aren’t good enough to perform without their collective heads attached to their bodies.  The return to playing home games on campus should mean more student interest and attendance, a potential temporary distraction for players.  Then, too, there will be so much media and public conversation during game week that the players can’t help but notice.

Brewster told Sports Headliners earlier this summer that the focus challenge includes practice and the game on September 12.  He and his staff have to help ready the players so they’re not so excited to play that they can’t execute properly—not understanding plays, overthrowing receivers, jumping off side, taking poor angles on tackles and other similar problems.

Quarterback Adam Weber acknowledged at last Saturday’s news conference that opening stadium week will be a challenge.  He said the players will look to the coaches for help in staying on task.

Before kickoff on September 12, pre-game festivities (including fly-over jets and fireworks) will have the crowd rocking and players will be more nervous than usual.  Who wants to be known as the team that lost the first ever game at TCF Bank Stadium?

Brewster isn’t interested in that scene right now.  All that matters is preparing for Syracuse on September 5.  He’s encouraging competition for playing time among his players and that provides day-to-day focus.  He’s even told the Gophers the Wally Pipp tale, the New York Yankees first baseman that supposedly took a day off because of a headache and never got back in the line-up after Lou Gehrig won the job.

Today for the Gophers there’s likely no dwelling on the festive atmosphere that will surround the September 12 opener, or even the opening game at Syracuse.  The messages to the players: stay in the moment, learn your practice lessons, take a calm approach and carry the preparation over to game days, September 5, 12 and beyond.  The mantra is clear and the results will come soon enough.

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Former Gopher Ben Coleman told Sports Headliners he has the local rights to operate an American Basketball Association franchise and plans for his team to begin play in 2010.

Coleman, who attended North High School and played one season for the Gophers and then transferred to Maryland, will hold a tryout for players on September 19 at a site to be determined.  Players selected will form a barnstorming team that will play games in various parts of the state against local amateur teams.  The games will help promote the new ABA franchise, according to Coleman who played pro basketball in the states and Europe, and is now a local businessman.

The players from the tryout may form part of the roster for next year’s team.  For certain, Coleman said, players on the 2010 roster will have Minnesota connections.

The team doesn’t have a name or a home, although Coleman said Blizzards is a potential nickname.  While a location at the old Minneapolis Central High School gym is a possibility, other metro area buildings, or even a facility in St. Cloud or Rochester, are being considered.

Minnesota had an ABA team based in St. Paul but that team, the Ripknees, is no longer in operation.  Coleman hopes to make his team more popular than the Ripknees and intends to emphasize community marketing, admiring the “model” of baseball’s St. Paul Saints.

According to its Web site, the ABA has 60 teams, plays a schedule from late fall through early spring and emphasizes high scoring basketball.  The site also said that 60 percent of its franchises are owned by African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians and women.  Coleman, who is African-American, said he will be the new franchise’s owner.

The league plans to have 11 games on the VERSUS Network during the 2009-10 season, according to the Web site, https://abalive.com/headlines/index.html?article_id=241

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