JOTTINGS
• Ticket-selling for local sports events must not be going very well, including the Wild, which announces sellouts for every game. The Wild and Timberwolves ran color advertisements in the Thanksgiving Day newsÂpapers for discounts as a Black Friday special, while the Gophers had an online special on their website with discounts of up to 50 percent on winter sports tickets.
• Even though Justin Morneau is no longer with the Twins, the former American League MVP still conducted his coat drive for the Salvation Army on Friday and Saturday, with all the coats distributed to people in the Twin Cities.
• Maple Grove quarterback Brad Davison, who last week was named Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year, had one scholarship offer to play football, from South Dakota. His basketball offers came from the Gophers, Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Davidson and Wisconsin, where he chose to attend. Besides excelling at multiple sports, Davison is also a standout in academics.
• The three sons of Todd Oakes — the Gophers pitching coach for 18 years, who died May 26 from leukemia — are following in his footsteps. Tyler Oakes is the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for North Dakota State. T.J. Oakes is the pitching coach for MIAC school St. Mary's in Winona. And Tanner Oakes is a special education teacher in New Prague and an assistant coach for the New Prague baseball team.
• One of the bright spots in the Wolves' dismal start to the season has been the continued improved play of guard Zach LaVine, who has increased his scoring and shooting percentage each year he has been in the league. He has improved his points per game from 10.1 to 14.0 last season to, entering Saturday, 18.6 this season. LaVine had been shooting better from three-point range this season, too, before he went 1-for-7 in the victory at Phoenix on Friday night.
