Sports

Baseball hero Kirby Puckett is due to stand trial in February on charges he dragged a woman into a restaurant bathroom and groped her there. How does the dynamic of a trial change when the defendant is a celebrity?

Plans for a football stadium to be shared by the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Vikings hit a snag when Vikings officials rejected a proposed on-campus site. The setback comes just as a design study is due to the legislature. It puts a partnership between the university and the Vikings on hold. The plan for a joint-facility would have been unique in the NFL and some say for a good reason: professional and collegiate sports don't necessarily mix.

The Minnesota Vikings, in a letter to the University of Minnesota Monday, rejected a proposed campus site for a shared football stadium as too small.

The home of the Masters golf tournament continues to feel the heat over its policy to exclude women from membership. The athletic community is divided over the issue as members of the venerable golf club work behind the scenes for change.

The excitement around the Minnesota Twins is generating new interest in ballpark plans, and the issue figures to resurface next year when a new governor is sworn in.

Somalis in Rochester have found a new therapy for the trauma they suffered during their country's civil war - soccer.

If it's Thursday in the summer, that means it's race-day in Willmar. The city features stock car races every week at the Kandiyohi Racing Association Speedway, just blocks from downtown. But the thrill of one of the Minnesota's hottest summer sports is wearing thin for some who live close to the track.

The last day of practice wrapped up Wednesday for golfers at the PGA Championship tournament in Chaska, Minn. They play for real starting Thursday.

The PGA Championship gets underway at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska this week. Grounds crews have been working for weeks to get the course ready for the pros.

This past year the Minnesota Twins were on the path to the World Series, and the Vikings ended the season with a winning streak. The University of Minnesota Gophers Hockey, Golf, and Wrestling teams secured three national championships. What's in store for Minnesota sports in 2003?