Sporting News picks the Celtics to beat the Lakers again in the NBA finals. Sports Illustrated predicts it will be the Spurs over the Celtics.
Vikings’ linebacker Chad Greenway will sign copies of the NBC Sunday Night Football Cookbook from 6 to 7 p.m. tomorrow night (Tuesday) in the Sears Court at the Mall of America. Greenway and others have contributed more than 150 recipes to the book, with part of the sales benefiting food banks nationwide through the Taste of the NFL program. The book retails for $27.95 and will be available for sale at the MOA event with proceeds benefiting hunger relief in Minnesota.
If you’re looking for a baseball fix in the dead of winter, one way to satisfy it will be at the fourth annual Diamond Awards dinner on Thursday, January 22 at the Marriott City Center downtown. The event will recognize the 2008 Twins award winners as determined by the Twin Cities Chapter of the Baseball Writers of America.
Among the award winners are team MVP Justin Morneau, upper Midwest player of the year Joe Mauer, pitcher of the year Joe Nathan, most improved player Alexi Casilla, rookie of the year Denard Span, minor league player of the year Ben Revere and minor league pitcher of the year Anthony Slama. Award winners and others associated with the Twins organization are expected to attend the event. Corporate sponsorships, tables and individual tickets are available. For more information call the Twins at 612-33-TWINS or 800-33-TWINS, or Valerie Petermann at the Minnesota Medical Foundation, 612-624-4444 or visit www.minnesotadiamondawards.org.
Northern State’s Kevin Ratzsch, from Bloomington, Illinois, has been selected the 2008-09 NSIC Preseason Player of the Year, as voted on by the league coaches. Ratzsch, already named to the 2008-09 Street & Smith’s pre-season All-American second team, finished fourth in conference scoring last year with 16.8 points per game. The coaches picked Minnesota State, Northern State and Winona State as the teams that will finish first, second and third in NSIC.
Look for Minneapolis-St. Paul to make an effort to attract the 2012 Democratic National Convention here. The Democrats wanted to have their convention here in 2008 but the Republicans made a commitment first, according to a local source.