At a Fort Myers town hall meeting featuring Barack Obama, Julio Osegueda made an impression not only on the President but also the promotions director of the Fort Myers Miracle, a minor league affiliate of the Twins. According to the Twins Website, Osegueda told the President of his interest in broadcasting during the meeting earlier this week. The promotions director has since offered the 19-year-old an opportunity to provide radio commentary during the Miracle’s April 10 game.
Tony Oliva was released from a Miami hospital on Wednesday and will stay in south Florida for a couple of days before going on a cruise with his wife Gordette, according to a Sports Headliners baseball source. Oliva, who works for the Twins in baseball and public relations roles, had been hospitalized with a blood infection earlier in the week, per media reports.
The source also said the Twins were interested in relief pitcher Luis Ayala last season. They finally acquired the 31-year-old right hander this winter from the New York Mets and he could be the eighth inning stopper the Twins have been seeking since last year when Pat Neshek was injured.
It will be interesting in April to read the Forbes.com annual values of major league baseball teams with the Twins now only one year out from moving into Target Field. Of interest, too, will be how the sliding economy impacts valuations of all teams.
Despite the economy, plans are reportedly moving ahead for a privately funded football stadium in Industry City, California. What if some day the stadium housed not one but two NFL teams in the highly populated Southern California market? That would certainly make the stadium more economically viable. Expansion franchise fees presumably will generate more in revenues for NFL owners than relocation fees for one or two existing clubs. An expansion fee could reportedly be $1 billion or more.
Former Bloomington native Lane Kiffin, now head football coach at Tennessee, is featured in this week’s Sports Illustrated. He’s described as a workaholic, non-stop coach who has recruited his staff of assistants with the same zeal he pursues players. Monte Kiffin, his father, is being paid $1.5 million to be the defensive coordinator and another assistant, Ed Orgeron, earns $650,000, according to the article. Gophers head coach Tim Brewster.