doesnt know if he will be moved leading up to the March 5 tra

MINNEAPOLIS - The Minnesota Vikings have been in transition all year.Rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is learning on the job. Coach Mike Zimmer is shaping his new teams mindset. Dave Mansell is making sure a 970-foot steel roof truss will be in place on time and within budget, along with tens of thousands of other tasks.Whatever happens on the field this season and next will ultimately be a mere speck on the horizon of this franchises 54-year history. The stadium under construction, set for completion in the summer of 2016 as the next NFL venue to open, will become just as much of an icon for the Vikings as any player or coach.With the Vikings playing a couple of miles away at the University of Minnesota, the modern-style stadium has begun to rise. It will feature giant glass front doors, a see-through roof and a sharp-angled asymmetrical shape not-so-vaguely resembling the ships that once carried the original Vikings across the seas of northern Europe.The yet-to-be-named, 65,000-seat facility will look like nothing else in the league when its finished.When they walk through that bowl, theyre going to be like, Holy wow, said Mansell, the general superintendent for Mortensen Construction, the local company hired to build the stadium over 1.75 million gross square feet with a total price tag of a bit over $1 billion.Mansell managed construction for several other sports venues around town and around the country, at the request of Allen Troshinsky, the vice-president of operations for Mortensens sports group. They have taken the plans devised by the architects led by Bryan Trubey at HKS in Dallas, the firm that designed AT&T Stadium for the Cowboys and Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for the Colts.These guys are used to big, high-tech and bold.This one, though, is headed for the front of the portfolio.The job is just awesome. It sort of exceeds the experience that almost anybody working out here has ever had, said John Wood, a Mortensen senior vice-president who oversees the sports group. Its the biggest project ever built in the state of Minnesota, and so for almost all of us its the biggest thing weve ever done in our careers.The blueprints Mansell and his seven lieutenants inherited came from Trubey and his team, the result of extensive cultural and climatological research.This, after all is Minnesota, where the Vikings were forced out of their previous home at the end of the 2010 season following a massive snowstorm that toppled the Metrodome roof. All those fancy features are useless if the stadium isnt functional through the winter.The pitch of the roof will be steep so the snow doesnt pile up. The peak will be more than 300 feet, about 30 stories, above the field. The building will be largely translucent to match the citys pattern of design. The stadium will feature five 95-foot-tall pivoting glass doors facing the skyscrapers of the central business district and sunlight over the entire playing field. The south half of the roof will be built with the largest span of ETFE in the nation, a lightweight, glass-like substance formally called ethylene tetrafluoroethylene.The multi-purpose facility, which will host the Super Bowl in 2018, also has landed the NCAA mens basketball Final Four for 2019. In addition to college basketball, it also was designed to host major soccer, college baseball, concerts and any number of other events year round.A striking, modern, very progressive, edgy building, Trubey said. Its a very future-oriented culture there.Before the future arrives, there is much work to be done. But not out of panic.Mortensens on-time record has helped the companys sports group flourish, with major venues in Denver, Kansas City, Memphis and many other locations beyond Minnesota. This is the result of careful, confident planning, ever more important with the standards of such buildings increasingly cutting edge and complicated.To try to rush it, it would only lead to safety and quality issues, Troshinsky said. So as often as youre encouraging people forward, sometimes youve got to pull those reins back too so they dont get ahead of their skis.Mansells workdays are often 12 hours. Hes a blunt-speaking busybody more comfortable next to machines than in meetings. Still, his hardhat sits idle on Sundays.Were here to make a living to support our families and it doesnt do us any good if were not with our families, he said, adding: We dont plan these jobs seven days a week. When you go by these construction sites and theyre working seven days a week, I guarantee you its a train wreck.The number of workers on site these days is around 750. Many of them will come back to watch a game in a couple of years. Troshinsky and Mansell always enjoy opening days with their families, but theyre hardly regulars in the seats. Looking around can sometimes feel too much like work.We didnt do it on our own, boy, Mansell said. It takes a lot of dedicated men and women showing up here every day to do the grind right alongside us.___AP NFL websites: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/DaveCampbellAP Redskins Jerseys China Cheap . Grimes signed a $32 million, four-year contract to remain with Miami. The deal, which includes $16 million guaranteed, rewards Grimes for his recovery from an Achilles tendon injury that forced him to miss almost all of the 2012 season. Washington Redskins Jerseys China . -- Mississippi State was crushed twice by Florida last season, once by 35 points and the other by 25. http://www.cheapredskinsjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-charley-taylor-jersey . -- After a year spent travelling the world, Brooks Koepka suddenly is in a position to play a lot more golf at home. Charles Mann Jersey . Reimer told TSNs Mark Masters on Tuesday that he doesnt know if he will be moved leading up to the March 5 trade deadline but added he wasnt interested in discussing it. "Who knows whats going to happen on the horizon here and right now I dont know if I want to talk about it too much. Darrell Green Jersey . Louis, MO (SportsNetwork.OAKLAND, Calif. - Coco Crisp homered leading off the bottom of the 12th inning to lift the Oakland Athletics to a 3-2 win over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night. Crisp, who scored the tying run with two outs in the eighth inning, hit a towering home run off Seattle reliever Hector Noesi (0-1) on an 0-1 pitch. The ball landed just above the out-of-town scoreboard in right field. Its the sixth game-ending hit of Crisps career. Yoenis Cespedes and Sam Fuld also drove in runs for Oakland, which rallied from two runs down for its first walkoff win of the season. Drew Pomeranz (1-0), the fifth As pitcher, worked one scoreless inning for the win. Abraham Almonte had two hits and an RBI for Seattle. The Mariners were coming off a series sweep of Anaheim and were attempting to go 4-0 for the first time since 1985. After scoring 28 runs in the three games against the Angels, Seattles offence managed just six hits against Oakland and stranded seven base runners. The Mariners scored in the first without the benefit of a hit. Almonte hit a grounder that went through the legs of Oakland infielder Alberto Callaspo, who was making his first career start at first base. Second baseman Nick Punto chased down the ball in right field but threw wildly back to the bag for another error, allowing Almonte to take second. Two batters later, Canos groundout scored Almonte. Almontes RBI single off Oakland starter Jesse Chavez in the fifth drove in Logan Morrison and made it 2-0. That put Seattle starter Roenis Elias in shape to become the first Cuban-born pitcher to win a game for Seattle before the Mariners bullpen gave up the lead. Elias, an all-star in the minors a year ago, aallowed one runs and two hits in five effective innings but left with a no-decision.dddddddddddd The 25-year-old lefty allowed only two runners past first base and struck out three and walked three. The Seattle rookie didnt give up a hit until Nick Puntos sharp single to left with two outs in the fifth. Fuld followed with a triple after Seattle centre fielder Almonte dived for the ball and missed. Fuld tried to score on the same play but was thrown out at the plate on a relay from Cano. The play was reviewed and upheld. Oakland failed to score after loading the bases with two outs in the seventh before Cespedes tripled in Crisp to tie it with two outs in the eighth. Chavez, making his first start since 2012, allowed two runs and five hits over six innings. NOTES: Oakland manager Bob Melvin met with reliever Jim Johnson to check on the As new closer after he took the loss in each of his first two appearances. "Everything gets real magnified when youre in the closers role because when you have a bad day the team loses," Melvin said. "Thats just the way it is." ... The As voided the March 29 option of IF Jake Elmore and placed him on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained left quad. ... OF Michael Taylor cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Sacramento by the As. IF Hiro Nakajima was also sent outright to Sacramento. ... RHP Dan Strailey faces Seattle RHP Chris Young on Friday. Young last pitched in the big leagues in Sept. 29, 2012. ... Mariners RHP Stephen Pryor (surgery) began a rehab assignment with Double-A Jackson on Thursday. ... RHP Taijuan Walker (shoulder) will make a rehab start for Single-A High Desert on Friday. 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