Sid Hartman: Vikings have plan to get Favre to return

Rest assured the Vikings, the Wilf family that owns the team, coach Brad Childress and others in the organization have a plan they will follow to try to get Brett Favre to return for a second season of his contract, one that will pay the 40-year-old quarterback about $13 million in 2010.

No doubt one of the first moves in the plan was Childress' visit to Favre's home in Hattiesburg, Miss., where the coach spent all day Wednesday.

If Favre didn't have any interest in playing football another year, I would think he would have not welcomed Childress like he did to his home.

I believe Favre will definitely come back under the same terms of last season, when he didn't have to take part in training camp or any offseason workouts.

Visiting with Vikings players during and after the season, I find that they don't have any problems with the three-time NFL MVP being treated a lot differently than the other players on the roster.

I can't recall many players getting exceptions to sit out training camp, though many years ago former Vikings coach Bud Grant made a special case for the great defensive tackle Alan Page, who was allowed to miss training camp so he could complete law school.

I believe that Favre had a lot more fun playing football for the Vikings than he has any time recently, either at the end of his Packers career or during the 2008 season with the Jets. His relationship with some of the younger players such as Adrian Peterson, Sidney Rice and others was fantastic.

It was fun to see Jay Leno make fun of Favre's situation Thursday on "The Tonight Show," when Favre wouldn't say one way or the other whether he was coming back to the Vikings. At first, the show congratulated him on his retirement, and Leno gave Favre the gold watch he had received from NBC for his retirement that he backed out of. Then Favre said, "I haven't decided to retire yet," and the show proclaimed Favre was coming back for one more year.

Well, in my long career in this business, I have been wrong my share of times, and I might be wrong again.

But like I said, the Vikings have a plan, and don't forget Favre will make a pretty good salary if he wants to play next season.

No NHL in Olympics Lou Nanne, the former North Stars player, coach, general manager and United States Hockey Hall of Famer, is one who believes NHL fans get short-changed when the league takes two weeks off to allow players to take part in the Olympics, "because you get to see all these games [82 regular-season games] in a shorter period of time.

"It's fun to watch," Nanne said of the Olympics hockey tournament, which got big TV ratings for NBC. "But from a business point of view, they probably shouldn't continue. But as a fan, I would like to see it continue because I'd be attending it.

Nanne said that outside of the great exposure their best players get on television during the Olympics, the NHL doesn't get anything out of the deal.

The 2014 Olympics will be in Russia, so the games will not occur at television-friendly times like they did in Vancouver.

Plasencia honored Steve Plasencia, the Gophers track and field coach who has guided the team to three conference titles, was named by the other 10 coaches as the Big Ten Indoor Coach of the Year. This was his third consecutive conference Coach of the Year honor after he took both the indoor and outdoor awards for the 2009 season.

And shot put and weight throw champion Aaron Studt, a Gophers senior, was named Big Ten Field Event Athlete of the indoor championships.

The Gophers track program had 10 athletes competing in meets at Iowa State, Notre Dame and Washington University over the weekend to try to improve on their performances in order to get named to the NCAA championships field that will be announced Monday night. Those who have automatically qualified for the NCAAs are Studt in the shot put and R.J. McGinnis in the heptathlon.

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said half of the 30 teams in the NBA will lose money this year, and the Wolves are one that will lose a lot.

Asked about U.S. Olympian Zach Parise, the former Shattuck-St. Mary's and North Dakota standout now with the New Jersey Devils, Nanne said: "Zach Parise is one of the best players in the league right now, and he's got his whole future ahead of him. Nobody works harder than he does, he's got an unbelievable work ethic, and he's highly skilled. He's one of the best players, easily, ever produced in this state by far." ... Then asked about the Gophers men's hockey program, Nanne said: "The Gophers have got problems. They've had a tough year and a tough three years. They've got to get better."

Vikings Vice President of Personnel Rick Spielman doesn't believe the second surgery Gophers receiver Eric Decker had recently will affect his draft status. "No, I think because he has a legitimate injury and I know he had to get the foot surgery and he'll continue to rehab and do what he has to do as the spring goes along," Spielman said. "A lot of it will be determined, I think, on what the doctors think once they put their hands on him here, see how the repair went."