A couple of opinions on the Brett Favre fiasco.  One, he will never play for Green Bay again.  Too many egos involved.  Two, the only way he ever shows up in a Vikings’ uniform is if within a year or two a team other than the Packers trades him here.

Subhub.com lists a ticket range of $1 to $319 for the Vikings’ home preseason opener against Seattle on August 8.  The site shows a range of $28 to $6,000 for Green Bay’s preseason opener against Cincinnati on August 11.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship event on August 9 at Target Center has already generated over $3 million in ticket sales revenue, according to a source.  That’s a record amount for a Target Center event and although the event isn’t sold out yet it’s expected to do so.

At 25 years old and in his third season with the Twins, Scott Baker is being characterized more and more as the franchise’s best starting pitcher.  Last Sunday against Texas he lost for the first time since June 15 at Milwaukee.  It was the third time this season Baker has started a game that ended with the Twins losing 1-0.  His season record is 6-3 with a 3.26 ERA.  He has an ERA of 2.66 during his last 10 starts with a record of 4-3 in those games, and the Twins have scored a total of only 27 runs to support him.

Well traveled Sidney “Suitcase” Ponson, 31, was the starting and winning pitcher for the Yankees on Monday when they defeated the Twins 12-4.  Ponson, who is 4-1 on the season, has pitched for six major league teams.  Going back to 1998 he’s pitched for Baltimore, San Francisco, the Yankees (two different stops), St. Louis, the Twins and Texas.

Robert McChesney, writing for nbadraft.net, came up with a system to rank the 80 greatest NBA players since 1956.  The top five (in order) are Tim Duncan, Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  Former Timberwolf Kevin Garnett earned a No. 19 ranking. More at https://www.nbadraft.net/mcchesney005.html

Former Mounds View basketball player and assistant coach Mark Sembrowich has been added to head coach Johnny Dawkins’ staff at Stanford, according to https://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/061608aab.html

Minnesota Thunder interim coach Donny Gramenz won his first game last night as his team defeated Seattle, 2-1, at the National Sports Center stadium in Blaine.  The Thunder had been 0-6-4 in its previous 10 USL games.

Thunder general manager Djorn Buchholz told Sports Headliners that the team’s record and play on the field prompted a coaching change when Gramenz succeeded Amos Magee earlier this week.  “At the Thunder now, losing is not accepted,” Buchholz said.  The Thunder, in the first season of new ownership, will be looking for a permanent head coach who is a “proven winner,” Buchholz said.  He hopes that a new coach will be hired by late September or early October.  Gramenz will be considered for the position if he’s interested, Buchholz said.

The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) will induct its 2008 Hall of Fame honorees tonight at the Best Western Kelly Inn in St. Paul.  Inductees are Irv St. John, Bemidji State University; Nancy Trebbensee, Southwest Minnesota State University; Randy Sullivan, Minnesota State University Moorhead; Brian Paulson, Winona State University and the 1993-94 Northern State University women’s basketball team.

Canterbury Park will host a dedication ceremony beginning at 6 p.m. on Monday to celebrate the opening of the Dean Kutz Memorial Chapel, located in the stable area of the Shakopee racing facility. The 3,000 square foot facility includes a large multi-purpose area, meeting room, office and kitchen.  The chapel will be used for worship services, events, and group meetings.  The facility is named for Kutz, the deceased jockey who twice led the track’s jockey standings and was the first rider inducted into Canterbury’s Hall of Fame.

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Six years, $80 million.  It looks like a bargain.

Earlier this year the Minnesota Twins signed first baseman Justin Morneau to a contract for those terms, making him the highest paid player in franchise history.  The 27-year-old Morneau has rewarded the Twins with team leading totals in home runs, 15, RBI, 74, plus a batting average of .318, second on the club (among full season regulars) to Joe Mauer’s average of .319.

His home runs are about 22 percent of the team’s total of  69.  That’s huge on a team that lacks power and has the fewest home runs in the American league, yet finds itself only 1.5 games out of first place in the Central Division behind Chicago.

Former Twins star Tony Oliva, who works for the team as a part-time coach, thinks Morneau could hit 40 home runs in a season.  Except for Oliva’s former teammate, Harmon Killebrew, no Twin has ever done that.

But Morneau is a special player adept in both the field (two errors this season, five last year) and at the plate, and he’s already won one American League Most Valuable Player award (2006) and could win another this season.   He ranks second in the league among RBI leaders and his batting average of .318 is only six percentage points behind Ian Kinsler of Texas.  A second league MVP award would be a first in Twins history.   Zoilo Versalles, Rod Carew and Killebrew were one time winners.

Morneau is making $8 million this season, according to espn.com.  Albert Pujols of St. Louis and Ryan Howard of Philadelphia are both first basemen and former MVP winners in the National League.  Their salaries are $13,870,940 and $10 million, per espn.com.  Outfielder Valdimir Guerrero of the Los Angeles Angels and Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees, the most recent AL MVPs other than Morneau, earn $15.5 million and $28 million.

The Twins wouldn’t trade Morneau’s salary, reportedly $8.4 million, for any of those mentioned above.  With Morneau’s talent and upside (he’s younger than all four of them), it’s debatable whether they would swap him either.

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About 50 people filled the Club Room at Williams Arena last weekend for a reunion of Gopher basketball players from the late 1960s and early 1970s.  Jim Brewer and Ron Behagen, the former All-Americans who played on the 1972 Big Ten championship team, were there.  Players like Larry Overskei, a starter on the 1969-70 Gophers that took one of UCLA’s great teams to an overtime loss at Williams Arena, was present, too.  But no one in the room last Friday night was more inspiring than LeRoy Gardner who has cancer and has stopped taking chemotherapy and radiation.

LeRoy, 61, made perhaps his last visit to Williams Arena last week, the historic building where he first played for St. Paul Central in the state tournament.  The 6-foot-4 Gardner had muscular legs and an aggressive style that helped Central to the state tournament consolation championship and also earned him a scholarship to Minnesota where he was a starting forward during a career that ended with the 1968-69 season.

Even as a young man LeRoy knew about adversity.  As an African-American he faced racism both on and off the court.  His first wife, Rene, became a cancer survivor.  He worked his way through challenges during a career at the University that included teaching in the school’s General College.  He also survived a life threatening crisis with his aorta.

Now he’s the victim of lung cancer, and his second wife, Claudia, is in need of a liver transplant.  “Death’s not hard,” LeRoy said.  “It’s living that’s hard.”

Former Gopher captains Al Nuness and Paul Presthus have been part of a support group that has taken LeRoy to his chemo appointments.  Friends and family have brought comfort to LeRoy, reminding him that the most important aspect of life is to spend time with those you love.

“You don’t get strength from yourself,” LeRoy said. “You get strength from the spirit of God, and from your friends and your family, and your community. …”

With a raspy voice and weakened body, he talked about his conviction that people live on after physical death.  “It’s not about faith, it’s about what I know,” he said.

So this summer LeRoy treasures his moments with those he cares about, including his four children, and seven grandchildren, and also his time on the golf course.  Last week he played three times, 18-hole outings.  Last year he played 65 times.  Never broke 100 but he could give a you-know-what about his score.

He’s out on the course to have fun.  And while playing golf and living his life, he’s an inspiration to those who know him.

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