Sid Hartman: Healthier Morneau doesn't want to rest

No doubt Justin Morneau doesn't like Twins manager Ron Gardenhire talking about the first baseman resting more this year so he doesn't suffer any injuries like last season, when he missed the last three weeks of the season because of a stress fracture in his lower back.

"Spring training's fine [for additional rest, but] we'll see about the regular season when it comes down to it," Morneau said. "I want to be in there every day helping, if I'm healthy. I feel like I can do something every day to hopefully help us win a ballgame. If I'm feeling good enough to go out there, that will be the plan.

"Obviously we have guys that are capable of stepping in now with a guy like [Jim] Thome going in at DH and you put [Jason] Kubel in the outfield, move Cuddy [Michael Cuddyer] to first. There's a lot of options with this lineup that you can do, and we have that. But that doesn't mean I'm going to be any happier if I'm not playing."

Morneau, who is signed through 2013, said his back feels much better.

"Yeah, everything's good," he said. "It feels good so far. The back feels better than it did for most of last year, so everything's going good so far."

He said he changed his offseason conditioning program.

"I started a little later, I got a little more rest and we did a lot more core stuff," Morneau said. "[I'm] just trying to avoid something like that happening again, and so far I feel strong and everything feels pretty good."

"It's been kind of interrupted in there, a little tweak of a little rib or something," Morneau said. "I don't know whatever it was, just missed a couple of games. If it was the regular season, I probably would have played through it.

"But now we're coming down towards the end, so I'll probably get in there and play pretty much every day the rest of the way and get us ready for that first game at Target Field and then head to Anaheim to start the season," he said.

Morneau, who always was a great hitter but has developed into a Gold Glove-caliber first baseman, is anxious to see how the hitting is going to go in Target Field.

"Hopefully that wind's blowing out to right," he said. "We'll find out when we get there, but they did it first-class the whole way for the fans and the players. We're excited to get up there to see it and see how it plays and get those first couple of [exhibition] games in there against St. Louis and get used to it, get our routines down and all that stuff, and hopefully feel comfortable when we get back home."

The Twins are lucky they signed Morneau to a six-year, $80 million contract extension in 2008, because it would have been tough signing him and Joe Mauer at the same time.

The Vikings will move their ticket office into space formerly used by the Twins for that purpose. A hospitality room will be expanded into the former Vikings ticket office, and the former Twins executive offices will be turned into another large hospitality room that overlooks the Minneapolis skyline.

MSFC executive director Bill Lester said the remodeling will give the Vikings a chance to maximize revenues and to enhance the fan experience on game days. Tenants other than the Vikings also will be able to use the new facilities.

Total cost for the remodeling project will be $800,000. This is in addition to the MSFC spending $600,000 to put down new turf that will be installed in July and be ready for the 2010 season. The Vikings had expressed concern for player safety on the present six-year-old turf.

Jottings Memo to those geniuses who guessed Gophers basketball coach Tubby Smith was going to Auburn: Well, the Tigers named their new coach ... and it's Tony Barbee, who was at UTEP. And to those who had Smith going to Georgia Tech, Yellow Jackets coach Paul Hewitt is staying put after turning down an offer from St. John's.

The Wofford basketball team that lost to Wisconsin in the first round of the NCAA tournament and has three Minnesotans on its roster will face the Gophers at Williams Arena on Nov. 12. ... Smith has been pushing Gophers assistant basketball coach Vince Taylor for a head coaching job. Taylor isn't up for any positions at the present time, after being a finalist for the Western Kentucky job last year.

Gophers assistant track coach Paul Thornton was named Midwest Region assistant of the year by the U.S. Track and Field/Cross- County Coaches Association. The Gophers recently won the Big Ten indoor track and field title.

Former North Dakota State standout and Albert Lea, Minn., native Ben Woodside is playing for BCM Gravelines Dunkerque Grand Littoral in France in both the EuroChallenge and the French Basketball League. Woodside is averaging 12.5 points, 3.2 assists, and 2.8 rebounds through six games in the EuroChallenge and averaging 14.8 points, 4.8 assists and 3.3 rebounds in the French league.

Former Gopher Dan Coleman is playing for JL Bourg Basket, also in the French Basketball League. He is averaging 16 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 32.7 minutes per game in 26 games this season.

Rick Rickert finished his 2009-10 season with the New Zealand Breakers of the Australian Basketball League averaging 11.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 23.1 minutes per game. The former Gophers forward has now signed on with the Harbour Heat of the New Zealand National Basketball League and has played in three games, averaging 21.3 points and 14.3 rebounds in 34.3 minutes per game with the Heat.