A lot of fans and media, including Sports Headliners, doubted the Twins and Joe Nathan could reach a contract agreement to keep him with the team beyond this season. The Twins, to their credit, came up with an agreement acceptable to Nathan who wanted to stay here. He has talked in the past about how he likes the city and values how the Twins have managed his career.
Nathan, 33, agreed to a $47 million contract extension earlier this week that keeps him with the Twins through 2011 with a club option for 2012. Nathan’s 160 saves over the last four seasons are tied with Mariano Rivera of the Yankees for the most in the American League. In addition, he became the first pitcher in club history to record 36-or-more saves in four consecutive seasons.
Fargo native Chris Coste has a new book about his 11 year struggle to make the major leagues, “The 33-Year-Old Rookie.” Coste, a catcher, made his major league debut with Philadelphia in May of 2006 and hit .328 for the season. Last spring he was injured and played in the minors before joining the Phillies in May, hitting .279 for the season. Better news this year as Coste, now 35, will head north from spring training to play for the Phillies from the start of the season.
Gene Sperling, the former Gopher tennis player and captain under coach Jerry Noyce, is written about in the latest issue of Time magazine. A short article reports on Sperling’s economic advisory work for Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Noyce will be inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame on May 21 in Tulsa. He coached the Gophers for 15 seasons, winning three Big Ten Conference championships and in 1986 was the ITA’s National Coach of the Year. Congratulations to one of Minnesota’s great coaches.
R&B star J. Holiday will perform in a concert following the Timberwolves-Memphis game at Target Center on Sunday, April 6. Holiday, who established himself on the national music scene last year, will also sing the Star Spangled Banner prior to the game. Last year Holiday’s hit single, “Bed,” reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. His debut album, “Back of My Lac,” has gone Gold in U.S. sales in excess of 500,000 copies and his follow-up single, “Suffocate,” has climbed to No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100. Holiday has performed on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The concert is free to fans in attendance for the game.
The Vikings announced the signings yesterday of restricted free agent linebacker Heath Farwell, 26, and free agent cornerback Benny Sapp, 27, who played the past four seasons for the Kansas City Chiefs. Farwell led the Vikings with a career-high 32 special teams tackles in 2007, which ties for third in franchise single-season history. He set a team record with seven special teams tackles against the New York Giants last season and has 70 special teams tackles in 39 career games.
Sapp played in 56 games with six starts during his four years with the Chiefs and had 30 tackles, an interception, a fumble recovery, and a forced fumble in 2007. He recorded a career-high 45 tackles and 2.5 sacks for Kansas City in 2005.
Concordia senior forward Melanie Hageman and Gustavus senior guard Jess Vadnais have been named to the 2008 State Farm coaches’ honorable mention All-America basketball team for NCAA Division III. The team is voted upon by Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) member coaches. Hageman was named to the MIAC all-conference first team for the third straight season after averaging 16.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. She has earned D3hoops.com All-West Region second team honors the past two seasons and this year was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American team.
Vadnais is a three-time All-MIAC selection and a 2007 Kodak/WBCA All-American pick. She led the league in scoring for the second consecutive season (19.1 points per game), and was third in the league in steals (61) and free-throw percentage (122-142; 85.9 percent). Vadnais is one of 10 finalists for the Jostens Division III Player of the Year award given to the player that best exemplifies the Division III philosophy of basketball skill, academics, and community service.