The UFC officially announced this week that Brock Lesnar will face Pride veteran Heath Herring at UFC 87: Seek and Destroy.

Lesnar was originally scheduled to face Mark "The Hammer" Coleman, but the UFC Hall of Famer went down with a knee injury during training.

Herring has been something of a mixed bag since coming to the UFC from Japanese arch-rival Pride. He lost an absolutely awful fight to relative no-name Jake O'Brien at UFC Fight Night 8, but looked close to finishing heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 73 before foolishly allowing Big Nog back on his feet, where he was able to control the action for the next two rounds and win via unanimous decision.

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Former all-star second baseman Bret Boone retired this week, ending a comeback bid and leaving Twins fans to wonder why he didn't call it quits after the 2004 season.

In 2005, the Twins wasted 53 at-bats on the man who had once been a runner-up in the MVP balloting. Not one of those plate appearances resulted in an extra-base hit.

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A thorough stomping of the Yankees over the course of the next four days could, and should, provide the Twins some serious mojo heading into a very sanguine June. New York will visit Minnesota twice this year, but the timing of this first showdown offers the Twins a ripe opportunity to surge back into first place (the White Sox visit the East-leading Rays this weekend), to alert All Star voters that the Bread Basket has some deserved selections (Varitek should not be leading Mauer), and to curb the driving east coast bias that seemingly begins each addition of SportsCenter. Yesterday on said program, while watching analyst Steve Phillips dissect the Central Division, I listened as he ripped Detroit's pitching, weighed Cleveland's promise, and celebrated Chicago's progress. There was no mention of the Twins.

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The St. Paul Saints' clever bathroom stall "Bobblefoot" giveaway that made national news is fetching a small fortune on Ebay.

A look at completed listings shows the cheeky tchotchke selling for a high of $182.50. Several sold for around $100 using the "Buy it Now" option.

If you're hoping to get your hands on one, act now. Many of the listings are set to expire today.

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Last season, this space within City Pages was worked by veteran writer Peter Schilling, Jr. His experience was not wasted. Rather -- I feel I can safely assume -- Schilling used pieces of his 2007 blogging season to heighten the lexicon, further the environment, polish the dialogue, and enliven the literary box scores of his debut novel, The End of Baseball, released in the spring of this year by Ivan R. Dee Publishing (Chicago, IL).

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Minnesota native and former UFC champion Sean Sherk was defeated in a dominating performance by "The Prodigy" B.J. Penn last night.

Sherk looked tentative all fight and surprisingly seemed content to keep it on the feet even though he has never been known for his striking and had a significant reach disadvantage to Penn, who was able to jab from a distance. Although Sherk's strategy was to try to drag the fight into the championship fourth and fifth rounds to put Penn's cardio to the test, the Prodigy stopped him at the end of the third with a devestating knee followed by strong ground and pound that left Sherk unable to continue.

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The reputation long-attached to Twins 2B Brendan Harris seems accurate: Good hit, no catch. A veteran of six major league franchises in five seasons, Harris' numbers through nearly 50 ballgames as a Twin mirror the scouting reports that accompanied his arrival to Minnesota. A career .271 hitter with a lifetime on base percentage of .332, Harris is currently batting .262 with an on-base clip of .335.

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After much speculation, the UFC has announced the match that will headline UFC 87 at the Target Center: a welterweight title fight between George St. Pierre and Jon Fitch, a wrestler with an eight-fight win streak.

“He’s a very, very tough guy,” said St-Pierre of Fitch. “I’m gonna have to train hard and be very well prepared because he may be my toughest fight yet.”

“The whole goal is to get the belt and be in the position where guys can’t duck me, run away, or say they don’t want to fight me,” said Fitch. “If I have the belt, there’s no excuse, and if you say you’re the best, then we’re gonna fight. This is gonna be a tough fight, but I’m gonna make sure I’m sharp that night, and wherever the fight needs to go, that’s fine with me.”

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The St. Paul Saints have outdone themselves.

This Sunday's promotion is a giveaway of 2,500 "bobble foot" dolls, featuring a seated figure in a bathroom stall.

You might make the obvious association with Larry Craig, but ...

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When the UFC announced it was coming to the Target Center, a lot of fans thought that the Brock Lesnar vs. Mark "The Hammer" Coleman fight would be the main event. There was even some criticism about putting a relative rookie like Lesnar in a headlining position while at the same time dissing the competition for employing Internet streetfighting legend Kimbo Slice. Well, it turns out that there's a main event yet to be announced, as was made clear by this just-released promotional material:More >>