Favre's play boosts Vikes' stadium plans

At halftime of Sunday's Seahawks-Vikings game, Brett Favre had completed 14 of 16 passes for 128 yards and three touchdowns.

Team owner Zygi Wilf was all smiles and asked the following question about Favre: "Why wouldn't he come back next year the way things are going?"

I know Wilf and coach Brad Childress talk about taking things one game at a time and stuff like that.

But the chances of the Vikings getting a new stadium are going to be much better if the team continues to win, and they will as long as a healthy Favre is around.

Favre is signed for next year, but the $13 million contract is not guaranteed.

That won't be a problem. It will be guaranteed the second that the 40-year-old quarterback tells Childress he wants to come back.

At Green Bay, Favre didn't have to take part in the spring offseason workouts. He won't have to do that here, either, if he decided to play again in 2010.

No doubt Favre is as happy as he has ever been. I am convinced there isn't a locker room with better chemistry, and the great quarterback is one reason.

I have a lot of respect for Mark Wilf, owner/president of the Vikings. The other day, Mark was quoted as saying they would welcome back Favre if he wanted to come back.

And why not? Favre is playing some of the best football of his 19-year NFL career, and that performance could lead this team to the Super Bowl.

Mauer impressed At the Metrodome news conference to announce Twins catcher Joe Mauer had won the American League MVP award, Twins director of minor leagues Jim Rantz recalled the first time he saw Mauer play.

"Yeah, the first time I saw him was right here in the Dome, when he was playing for Cretin in the Twin Cities baseball game," Rantz said. "He was playing a Minneapolis team, and he went 4-for-4 and hit for the cycle. That was pretty good, as an 18-year-old kid, to hit for the cycle the first time I ever saw him."

"You could tell that he had great instincts," Rantz said. "Of course he had a work ethic, but he always had a nice, sweet swing, and nobody messed with his swing. You could just tell that he was going to move up quick in the system. He was on the fast track."

While the media speculated whether the Twins should pick Mauer or highly ranked USC pitcher Mark Prior first overall in the 2001 draft, Rantz said everybody in the Twins' front office was on board from the start. Mauer was their man.

"He's been, like I said, on the fast track," Rantz said. "He moved quick and he's been pretty consistent every place he's gone. It was fun to watch him come along in the system.

"He's gotten stronger, he's matured more, and after this year coming back [after missing the month of April], you could tell that he hung in there and he played. I don't know how many games he played [138], but he stayed healthy the rest of the year."

Jottings While Childress has a new contract through 2013, all of the assistant coaches are signed only through 2010. However, Childress believes he has the best coaching staff in the NFL and plans to keep all of the coaches, who no doubt will get contract extensions in the near future.

Looks like the Timberwolves drafted the wrong European player. Ricky Rubio, whom the Wolves drafted with the fifth pick in the first round, is averaging 6.5 points per game for Regal FC Barcelona in Spain. Meanwhile Brandon Jennings, who played in Italy last year and was drafted 10th in the first round by Milwaukee, became the youngest NBA player to score 50 points in a game when he scored 55 against Golden State on Nov. 14 at age 20.

Eric Sugarman, the head trainer for the Vikings, was named "NFL's most irreplaceable athletic trainer" by ESPN The Magazine. Sugarman does a great job with the Vikings and seems to do a great job getting injured players rehabilitated and back on the field in a hurry.

SI.com speculates that the Gophers football team will face Missouri in the Insight Bowl on Dec. 31. ... John Carlson, the former all-around Litchfield athlete who was a standout tight end at Notre Dame and is now starting for the Seahawks, is a big booster of Irish coach Charlie Weis. "Well, it always hurts when [the Irish] lose games," Carlson said. "It's hard on me and all the other alumni. I'm thinking about them, though. I'm behind them." Carlson said "I sure hope so" when asked if Notre Dame should keep Weis.

Christopher Knoff, son of former Kansas State and Vikings safety Kurt Knoff, is a starting linebacker for Eden Prairie.

The Gophers baseball team will open its 2010 schedule by playing Akron in a three-game series April 19-21 at Hammond Stadium, the spring training home of the Twins. The new Akron athletic director is former Gophers associate athletic director Tom Wistrcill. ... The Gophers will play their annual Pro-Alumni game at the Metrodome on Feb. 6, and all their home games at the Dome.

According to SportsIllustrated.com, former Eden Prairie defensive lineman Willie Mobley, who started at Ohio State, is attending Orange Coast College and, if he gets his grades in shape, will eventually enroll at UCLA.