Minnesota Sports Briefs: Golden Gopher gridders in Houston for bowl game

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HOUSTON -- The University of Minnesota football team is in Houston preparing for the Meineke Car Care Bowl December 28th against Texas Tech.

Yesterday, coach Jerry Kill was an honorary captain at the Vikings-Texans game and took part in the coin toss. The Gophers will practice throughout the week as well as take part in a number of off the field activities leading up to their game. This is the first bowl game for the Gophers since they played in the then Insight Bowl in 2009, only seven players who played in that game are still on the roster. Kick-off is set for 8 p.m. Friday night and the game will be broadcast on ESPN

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The University of Minnesota men's basketball team has won eight straight games after beating Lafayette Saturday 75-50 at Williams Arena in their non-conference finale. Trevor Mbakwe made his first start of the season, scored five points and grabbed five rebounds. Joe Coleman led a balanced scoring attack with 12 points. The Golden Gophers are off until December 31st when they host Michigan State to kick off their Big Ten Conference schedule.

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The Cleveland Indians and free agent outfielder Nick Swisher have agreed to a 4-year contract, reportedly worth $56 million. Swisher, who was born in Columbus and attended Ohio State, spent the past four seasons with the New York Yankees. He batted .272 with 24 homers and 93 runs batted in last season. The 32-year-old switch-hitter is a career .256 hitter with 209 homers, 673 RBI and a .361 on-base percentage in 1,209 games over nine big league seasons with the Athletics, White Sox and Yankees.

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