Tav on the Ave, Blakeslee Field, and The Albatross...

We've been around the state of Minnesota a time or two in our day. We've lived in towns and cities big and small, but Mankato will always hold a place in our hearts because of the three things mentioned in the headline above.

And, it holds a special place because of Vikings training camp. We will never forget working the sidelines of training camp for KMSU back in 1995, rubbing shoulders with Michelle Tafoya, Randy Shaver, and some guy from the Mankato Free Press. We almost got run over by Korey Stringer as he lumbered his way toward the weight room and we were yelled at constantly for standing too close to the field. My tape recorder didn't have a tape in it, because we weren't going to play any sound from training camp on a public radio station, but I carried that thing with me everywhere. That recorder and my "press pass" was just as good as the stuff carried by the big boys in Minneapolis and I didn't have to worry about anything other than watching Denny Green in his super tight gym shorts and tucked-in Vikings polo shirt. Ah...the good old days.

Camp opens today and it couldn't come at a better time. Sure, we don't want summer to be over, but we also don't want to have to pin our sports hopes on a Twins team that won't deal for another hitter so...let's play some football.

It's like having an east coast bias, but kind of different.

Josh Hamilton hits the baseball pretty well. The folks at ESPN were rooting for him to win the homerun derby last night. He didn't. Justin Morneau did. Nobody pays attention to this thing -- and they probably shouldn't. But the network pretty much ignored Morneau the entire evening while Hamilton was the subject of discussion for nearly three hours. If Brett Favre played baseball, he would be Josh Hamilton.

I can't imagine what will happen if Hamilton ends up playing for a New York team when he is a free agent in three years. ESPN might start an entire channel just for him. It is a nice story, he overcame a drug addiction and we are happy for him. But let's not make him out to be something he isn't. He's not a hero, he's a ball player who snorted $4 million worth of coke, messed up a huge opportunity, and then found a way to come back and make it right. Good for him.

Want to know how little respect Justin Morneau got last night? The Major League Baseball VP who presented him the trophy after the event called him Jason Morneau. Sounds about right.

How about a homerun hitting third baseman, is that something you might be interested in?

Back in 2004, we were spending a lot of our time in Las Vegas and Adrian Beltre was hitting homeruns like Nick Punto hits lazy pop flies to the shortstop. Now it is 2008. We haven’t been to Vegas in years, Punto is still popping out weakly (and daily) to short, and Adrian Beltre can’t allegedly take steroids anymore, so he’s not hitting homeruns at such a torrid clip. But, he’s still hitting homeruns. And, compared to the rest of the Twins regulars, he’s hitting homeruns like it is still the steroid era, banging out 26 last year and 25 in 2006.

The Twins might end up with Beltre playing third base sooner than you think. According to the Star Tribune, the Twins contacted the Mariners to see if Beltre is available. The Mariners said “of course” and now it looks like the Twins might make a deal for the decent hitting, great fielding third baseman.

We could use him on this team. We most definitely need help against left-handed pitchers and more power is always a good thing. So he doesn't hit for average and he strikes out a lot, big deal. We need more power. Get this deal done over the break. Please.