Pleased with the team's new makeup, Pohlad stressed that qualifying for postseason alone was no longer good enough for an organization that has lost five consecutive playoff series since 2002. He even appeared to guarantee a future world championship, without specifying when.

Hudson is an excellent acquisition in an offseason full of sound Twins moves and represents a massive all-around upgrade over the various options for filling second base. The team's front office deserves lots of credit for its recent performance.

The whereabouts of Brett Favre when the team returns to the field in September have essentially replaced the sieges of depression and revenge that followed one more Viking failure to reach or win in the Super Bowl.

When Carew compared him to Oliva as a special player and person, the longtime Twins nemesis smiled and seemed touched. The next day, Oliva himself approached Thome, telling the media that "This is a classy guy" and then telling him directly, "I'm so glad you're here."

Minnesota's spectacular Finnish goalie, freshman Noora Raty, leaves the second-ranked Gophers today for about a month to join Finland's Olympic Team for the Games in Vancouver. "She's world class," says Gopher Coach Brad Frost.

Thome is still far too dangerous offensively to limit him strictly to pinch-hitting duties. Against right-handed pitching, his batting stats over the past three years are basically the same as Justin Morneau's production versus righties.

They threw one of the biggest blowouts in the history of New Orleans Sunday night, celebrating into the morning sun and dancing on the ashes of one more flameout by the Minnesota Vikings in their futile pursuit of Super Bowl glory.

Three criteria in baseball's Hall of Fame election rules — integrity, sportsmanship and character — are often overlooked in too many formula-based discussions of who gets in. But integrity counts for me. That's why Mark McGwire and the rest of the steroid cheats will never get my vote.

In three uproarious hours at the Metrodome Sunday, the firm of Allen, Edwards, Williams and Williams destroyed the Dallas Cowboys offense. All of which creates a match-up in Louisiana this weekend that Clint Eastwood would cheerfully choreograph.

To refresh our sports memories as we await Sunday's game, here's a game-by-game review of the Vikings' season by MinnPost's Jim Klobuchar with a little help from Steve Aschburner.

Finally, after six years of trying, the Lynx can call Whalen theirs after today's announcement of  a key trade that should help the team on the court and, probably more important, boost ticket sales.

The warning flags for the Vikings are rattling in the wind today. But while acknowledging the Cowboys' sudden late-season metamorphosis into one of the NFL elites, the Vikings' head coach says: "I feel good where we are."

"I've got to stay positive with it," Blyleven told me when I phoned him shortly after the results were announced. The vote total has "come up a long way, so that's very nice. … There's not much you can say."

Related: Bert Blyleven again falls short of Baseball Hall of Fame

Known almost as much for his fun-loving pranks as for his pitching accomplishments, former Minnesota Twins righthander Bert Blyleven had his sense of humor tested again today when he fell just short of election to baseball’s Hall of Fame.

The transformation of the Minnesota Vikings in the adoring bedlam of the Metrodome Sunday was sudden, utter and virtually uncontested. Today for the Vikings, peace and redemption reign.