sports

In the same article, Steelers tight end and former Gophers teammate Matt Spaeth said: "I loved having Gary in there, especially when we needed 3 yards, because if we needed 3, he was going to get 4."

Spaeth also has played well for the Steelers in the preseason.

Jottings

Former Gophers interim men's basketball coach Jim Molinari will join new Ball State coach Billy Taylor's basketball coaching staff. ... GopherIllustrated.com reports that Dallas Wilson High School guard Nathen Garth, who committed to Minnesota, has changed his mind and will consider West Virginia, Vanderbilt, California and New Mexico. It could be that Minnesota coaches weren't as high on him after watching him have an unremarkable AAU season.

Gophers baseball coach John Anderson will be inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Hall of Fame during ABCA's annual convention in January in Philadelphia. Anderson, who has coached the Gophers to 946 victories in 26 seasons, will join former Gophers baseball coaches Dick Siebert and Frank McCormick and former Gophers player Jerry Kindall in the Hall of Fame. Anderson is the winningest coach in Big Ten baseball history.

Major League Baseball will have teams playing early-season games in China and Japan in 2008. The Twins, who don't have any Japanese players, have asked not to be included among those making the trip.

Twins attendance is at 1,934,574 in 65 home games, compared to 1,814,892 in the same number of games last season. The average attendance this year is 29,673 (seventh in the American League) compared to 27,921 a year ago.

It was good to see Sheldon Burns -- the team physician for the Wild, Vikings and Wolves -- on national television behind the USA basketball bench as the American team walloped Venezuela on Wednesday night. Burns has been a doctor for the U.S. Olympic team for many years. And it's no surprise that my close personal friend Mike Krzyzewski has the U.S. team playing great basketball and the players are saying great things about him.

Gophers football coach Tim Brewster says he has 500 already registered for the first women's football clinic from 6 to 9 tonight at the Gibson-Nagurski football complex on the university campus.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. and on his Podcast twice a week at www.startribune.com/sidcast. shartman@startribune.com