Birk: We're just fine with Jackson at QB

While Brett Favre continues to be in the news, Matt Birk said he believes this could be the best Vikings team he has played with. He says this knowing Tarvaris Jackson will be the team's quarterback, not the man from Green Bay.

"I like the guy we've got," said the Pro Bowl center, in his 11th season. "I think there's something to be said for just being able to come to work and focus on your job. I've been in situations like [at Green Bay] before, where there's stuff going on and it's kind of like a circus atmosphere. I feel for those guys over there, because ... they're opening up camp and they're going to get plenty of questions and it's just a big distraction that you don't need.

"Tarvaris is our guy. He's worked extremely hard, and he's earned the respect of everybody here. I think everybody has seen the work he's put in and how excited and how motivated he is and determined to succeed. So he's our guy, and as players we don't get caught up in all those hypotheticals."

Birk said he thinks Jackson is only going to get better.

"It's a process, it takes time, and he's certainly comfortable." Birk said. "He's cool, calm, collected. He's got the talent, I think it's just going to take time. Football is a team game. It's not just on one guy's shoulders, and we're not asking him to go out there and win the game by himself. He has to do his job, just like the other 10 guys on the field have to do their jobs. That's how you're successful. It's a team thing, and success and failure as a team are part of it, too."

Good start at camp Birk said he is impressed by what he seen so far at training camp at Minnesota State Mankato.

"We're only four days in right now, but I certainly like this team," Birk said. "I hate to use the word potential, but I like the way the team is built, kind of from the inside out, starting with the offensive and defensive lines and working out there. A lot of things need to happen between now and September 8, when we open up the season, but we certainly have the talent. We just need to work hard and just keep putting this thing together."

"Berrian's offense kind of gives us that outside threat," Birk said. "I've seen him make a couple nice plays already. I certainly saw him make a bunch of nice plays for Chicago over the years, and that's certainly something that we need.

"Teams are going to try to take away our running game and try to stack the [line of scrimmage] against us, kind of what happened to us at the end of last year. You've got to make them pay, and Bernard's the type of guy that, throughout his career, he's been able to do that. He gives us that threat offensively.

"I think that if you look at all the good offenses, or at least all the good ones that I've been on over the years, you have to be balanced. You can't just be able to run the ball, you can't just be able to throw the ball. You have to be balanced, and being balanced gives you a lot of options when you're looking at how to attack the defense."

As for himself, Birk said he feels great even though he missed the organized team activities (OTA) part of the minicamps.

"I just turned 32, but I feel great," he said. "You never know, everyone is one play away from this thing being over forever with an injury. So you don't -- I certainly don't -- take it for granted anymore when I went through my stuff a couple years back. But I feel great."

"I might have to study a little bit more right now, but I think I'm caught up," he said. "But that's not to say that I don't think those are important, but I'm not just a football player. I'm a father. I'm a husband. And we had our fourth child this offseason, so things were busy at home and that's where I needed to be."

Jottings One of the statistical geniuses has figured it out that the Twins recently have played well in the second half of the season, posting a .572 winning percentage after the All-Star break since 2002. However, even though the Twins play all seven remaining games with the White Sox at home, their schedule is rough in the second half. They play 24 of 30 games on the road from Aug. 21 through Sept. 21.

Timberwolves coach Randy Wittman said he has hired Dean Cooper, vice president of player personnel for the Houston Rockets, to replace Bob Ociepka, who has joined the Chicago Bulls staff. "He's been with the Rockets over the last nine years and was on the bench with Rudy Tomjanovich when Rudy was their head coach there," Witt-man said. "These last couple of years before the draft, we did combine workouts with Houston to look at players. He can really get on the floor and teach, and that's going to be important for us." ... One of the finalists for the job was Minneapolis Community and Technical College coach Jay Pivec. Pivec reported that former St. Thomas Academy and Gophers player Bryce Webster is not playing any more college basketball and is living in California.

The Gophers signed 31 football players to tenders when they actually had 28 scholarships to give out. Now it's apparent they are down to 28, after linebacker Sam Maresh underwent heart valve replacement surgery and two players aren't likely to make it scholastically: Vince Hill II, a wide receiver from Milford Academy in New Berlin, N.Y.; and defensive tackle Tim McGee from Scooba East (Miss.) Community College.

A local AAU basketball team, Net Gain Sports, defeated Team Puerto Rico 64-59 to win the Gold Division title in the adidas Super 64 tournament in Las Vegas on Saturday, according to Scout.com. Sam Dower, a 6-9 Osseo power forward who hasn't been offered a scholarship by Minnesota but has offers from Penn State and California, led the winners with 19 points. Cole Stefan made four three-pointers and added 18 points, Chanse Creekmur scored 12, Trent Lockett eight and Andy Burns seven.