SID's JOTTINGS
• The rumors are that the Vikings will play only seven games at TCF Bank Stadium in 2015 and give up one home game to again play in London, as they did last year.
• The Gophers have raised prices on season tickets for football from $275 to $330 for chair-back seats and from $275 to $310 for bench seats.
• Twins first baseman Joe Mauer and Hall of Famer Dave Winfield will co-host the second annual Players Trust All-Star golf tournament, a charity event at Windsong Farm Golf Club in Independence on July 16, the day after the All-Star Game.
• Justin Morneau entered Saturday on a nine-game hitting streak for Colorado, during which the former Twins star is hitting .395 with 15 hits, 15 RBI, four home runs and seven runs scored. … Former ESPN baseball reporter Peter Gammons recently wrote that Johan Santana, now with the Baltimore organization, has his velocity up to 85 miles per hour and is not far away from returning to pitching.
• Add Duke to the list of schools that have offered Rice Lake, Wis., power forward Henry Ellenson a scholarship. Ellenson, the brother of former Gophers player Wally Ellenson, also has offers from the Gophers, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan State and Iowa State.
• The Gophers had two athletes named players of the week in the Big Ten last week: Jose Mendez got the honor in golf after winning the Rutherford Intercollegiate tournament at Penn State with a 6-under-par 207. In baseball, Gophers shortstop Michael Handel got the award after recording six RBI, three runs scored, four doubles and a home run.
• A Las Vegas sports book has Flip Saunders, Fred Hoiberg and Billy Donovan as the odds-on favorites to be the next Timberwolves coach, but Hoiberg has denied he will take the position and odds are definitely against Tom Izzo leaving the comfort of Michigan State.
