The Mount Olivet Church Men’s Dinner on Thursday night features Brewster and former Gopher All-American defensive tackle Bobby Bell, who played on the 1960 national championship team and two Rose Bowl teams.  Non-church members are welcome.  The cost is $10 per person with an $8 admission for those 65 and over.  Reservations need to be made by noon tomorrow.  Call 612-926-7651 for more information.

The Gophers have four players on their roster from Skyline High in Dallas and the school has several prospects for 2010 college recruiting classes.  A headliner is linebacker Corey Nelson, the No. 24 player in the country, according to Rivals.com, https://rivals100.rivals.com/viewrank.asp?SID=880&Year=2010&ra_key=2369

Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson turns 26 tomorrow.

If the Vikings could make a deal giving up first and third round picks in the draft for Arizona wide receiver Anquan Boldin they will receive applause here.  At 25, Boldin has impressive numbers including 20 touchdown catches during the last two seasons.  He’s a surer thing than a draft choice and remember, too, that acquiring high impact receivers is no easy task.  The Vikings have been trying to replace Randy Moss and Cris Carter for years while looking at Troy Williamson and others.

Arizona’s other star receiver, Larry Fitzgerald Jr., is even better than Boldin and proved his worth helping the Cardinals to the Super Bowl.  The Minneapolis native visited troops in Iraq earlier this year, as did Vikings’ defensive end Jared Allen.

Glen Perkins won his first game of the season yesterday as the Twins beat the Angels, 3-1.  He lowered his season ERA to 1.50 and became the first Twins starter to have three straight eight inning outings since Johan Santana did it in June of 2005.

Joe Nathan, who had the save in yesterday’s win, is three-for-three in save opportunities this season.  He has given up three hits in five innings while striking out five in five appearances.

Center fielder Carlos Gomez had three infield hits yesterday and it was his first multi-hit game of the season.

A source told Sports Headliners that fan response to the Wild has been accepting of need for a change after Wild owner Craig Leipold fired general manager Doug Risebrough last week.

It will be surprising if Leipold doesn’t make hires for the general manager and coach who favor a more wide open style of play than was the standard with Risebrough and Jacques Lemaire who resigned recently.  That offensive philosophy and fresh faces might help keep superstar forward Marian Gaborik here with a new contract.

Kevin Constantine, the Wild’s minor league head coach with Houston, is probably a long shot among coaching candidates because of his defensive reputation.

Devils forward Brian Rolston talking about Lemaire whom he played for in New Jersey and here: “Jacques quite simply is the best coach I have ever had.  I am very lucky to have played for him not only when I was with the Wild, but earlier in my career. The lessons I learned from him remain invaluable to me today.  I can only wish Jacques the very best in the future.”

Fred Hoiberg told KFAN’s Paul Allen on Friday that candidates for the top executive job running the Wolves basketball operation are being given psychological tests providing insights on leadership.  Hoiberg, the Wolves assistant general manager, is an internal candidate who has been interviewed as have outside candidates.

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Count Jedd Fisch among those who see Chicago as NFC North favorites now that the Bears have acquired quarterback Jay Cutler from Denver.  Fisch, who worked closely with Cutler last season as Denver’s receivers coach, spoke enthusiastically to Sports Headliners about the 25-year-old quarterback.

“I think the Bears are going to be a Super Bowl favorite because of Jay,” said Fisch, who became the Gophers’ offensive coordinator in January.  Cutler made the AFC Pro Bowl roster after last season, his third in the NFL.  Among his numbers: 4,526 yards passing, 25 touchdowns and 18 interceptions.

In a league where perhaps half the starting quarterbacks are nothing special, coaches like Fisch know the value of a Cutler.  “Yeah, I would say half might be high,” Fisch said. “They’re all elite athletes, elite of the elite of the elite. But on the same token, there’s only a few that are special.  I think Jay is one of those guys that’s going to be special.”

The Vikings won the NFC North last season without a special quarterback.  The Bears have been looking for an extraordinary quarterback for many years, much longer than the Vikings.  The Cutler acquisition changes the thinking about Chicago.

Fisch likes the Bears’ prospects for winning the division, but adds a qualifying statement. “Yeah, as long as their defense stays healthy and as long as they’ve got a couple (of) receivers around him,” he said.  “They’ve got a really good back (Matt Forte), and Jay Cutler is a Pro Bowl quarterback.  So when you have a Pro Bowl quarterback you immediately should be at the top of the pack.

“For example, Jay is 13-1 when they’ve (the Broncos) kept a team to 21 points.  That’s like 94 percent of their games.  Look at how many times the Bears have kept teams under 21 points (eight times last season).  See how many games they should win. Jay’s a great person and a great player.  He’s gotten a bad rap for no reason.”

The Bears finished 9-7 last season, second in the division behind the 10-6 Vikings.  To make Fisch’s point, the Bears lost three games when they gave up 22 points or less.

It was rumors this off-season about the Broncos and new coach Josh McDaniels wanting to trade Cutler that reportedly set off the young quarterback’s unwillingness to stay in Denver.  Fisch said Cutler isn’t a complainer and that negative perceptions about him are wrong.

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The Wolves season ended last night.  It makes sense that the game will end Kevin McHale’s association with the franchise.  This spring just might see another major development: the hiring of a new coach with franchise ties.

There are so many valid reasons for McHale not to return as coach that the logic dwarfs contrary positions.  The franchise that’s missed the playoffs for five    consecutive seasons has HELP written all over it.

The Wolves need to restructure their basketball operation from the basement to the upper levels.  Neither performance nor public perception warrants any other direction.

Coaching has value in the NBA but talent more so.  For about 15 years McHale and others in the front office have frequently disappointed with personnel decisions. Pick your decade including years ago when the Wolves under-valued Chauncey Billups and couldn’t convince him to stay here, or the improper contract procedure charged by the NBA over Joe Smith and ultimately a penalty that cost the team five first round draft choices.  More recently missteps have included these draft night blunders: trading future Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy for Randy Foye, and giving up Mario Chalmers, among this year’s best rookies, for cash and two 2009 second round draft picks in a 2008 deal with Miami.

McHale impressed years ago when he drafted Kevin Garnett as a teenager out of high school.  But picking high schooler Ndu Ebi in 2003 on the first round was as bitter as the Garnett choice was sweet.

McHale impressed again in December when he left his executive position to replace Randy Wittman as coach.  In January the team was among the hottest in the NBA and McHale deserved credit for instilling confidence and enthusiasm in his players.  Not so impressive, though, has the performance of McHale and the players been since star center Al Jefferson was injured, with a record of 7-27 since February 4.

Owner Glen Taylor has promised a new basketball decision maker in the front office.  Presumably that executive will have the authority to employ the coach of his choice.  It seems improbable that the new hire would want to retain McHale, a person with such a long history of power, success and failure with the franchise.

Why, too, would McHale want to continue with the organization?  Taylor is on record multiple times saying McHale will not return to the front office.  McHale dislikes traveling and the 51-year-old looks like he’s aging faster than he should.

The one-time Hibbing schoolboy star whose Gophers jersey is memorialized at Williams Arena won three NBA titles with Boston and is officially included among the league’s 50 greatest players.  Now he walks with a noticeable limp (he courageously played for Boston with a broken foot) and his reputation has been bruised for years in his home state.  He should recognize it’s time to move on.

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