Oh, Timmy (*slowly shaking head*)

I don't want to get into a whole thing here, but in case you missed it the coach with the highest arrogance/accomplishment ratio on the planet ratcheted it up a few more notches, sending a memo into KFAN studios that he would no longer allow players or coaches to be interviewed by the station because he doesn't like how the station has treated the program (although allegedly fences have been mended, egos have been consoled, and everything has been patched up now - which I'm guessing is when the PR guys got involved and told Brewster to get his shit together).  I have three major issues with this:

1.  Thin skinned much?  This is how you want to turn the University of Minnesota football program into a major power, by shutting down when there's a little criticism?  And trust me here folks, I listen to a lot of KFAN at work, and they are extremely mild in their critiques.  Sure, Barreiro won't hesitate to go after the non-conference schedule if it's weak, but he's been extremely complimentary about it this year.  The one and only thing I've heard him say this year is that fans should expect more from a program that is now supposed to be big-time than to be thrilled with an overtime win over Syracuse.  First of all, he's right.  Second of all, if you're the coach don't you want your fans to expect big things?  Do you want your fans to think, "sweet, we beat Syracuse" or do you want them to think, "Wow, we got lucky, we are a way better team and program than that"?  I know which way I would go.  But if Brewster can't handle a little bit of mild criticism, especially in one of the softest media markets for negative press around, he's got a lot of growing up to do.

2.  Cutting off 25% of your exposure.  Wasn't one of Brewster's big platforms keeping kids in state?  When you have four main media channels (TV, Radio, Print, and Internet) to spread the word about your program, how arrogant do you have to be to cut one of them out and expect to still accomplish your goals?  That's 25% less of an opportunity for recruits to hear you or your coaches talk and walk away impressed.  That's 25% less of an opportunity for recruits to hear your players talk about how awesome playing for the U is, or how rewarding it has been staying home to play in front of your hometown fans instead of going out of state to play.  If you have four outlets to get word out, you need to use all four, or you aren't really trying.  I mean really, are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles really the turtles without Rafael? Would you want a deck of cards without the diamonds? Would Sex and the City have been the same without Charlotte?

3.  How would this help?  What is the upside here?  Do you know what happens when you take a sarcastic, somewhat dickish person with access to radio waves and try to show them up?  You get destroyed.  I'm not saying any of the KFAN personalities would have intentionally gone out of their way to sabotage the program, but anything negative wouldn't have escaped notice.  And I can't imagine anyone other than the biggest Gopher homer or Brewster fan siding with him on this one, particularly if they spend any time listening to the station.  More than anything, I keep coming back to "what was the upside?" and I got nothing.  The only thing I can come up with is this was a power play by Brewster, but, boy did it backfire.

This is now seemingly all pretty irrelevant, since according to everyone involved all parties have kissed and made up, but I know for some fans it's certainly changed perceptions of the coach.  I always figured he was kind of an arrogant blowhard, but you need a measure of those qualities in order to succeed as a college football coach and I thought he was probably mostly harmless.  Now?  It looks like he thinks he's far bigger than he is, thinks he's accomplished far more than he actually has, and he's let two wins and a new stadium go to his head.  It's a shame, too.  This should be the most exciting time for Gopher football fans in a long while, but now, for me at least, it's left a sour feeling.  

Incidentally, if you search "Tim Brewster" + arrogant on the google there are 23,600 entries.  For comparison sake, if you search "Urban Meyer" + arrogant you only get 8,620.  Kanye West gets 160,000. 

-  As far as site news, I know what you're thinking, "Hey WWWWWW, when are we going to get some college basketball previews?"  Since in past years I've bitten off a bit more than I can chew and end up getting burned out, I'm going to take one conference a weak, and give a very simple, easy, high-level breakdown of the teams.  This should keep me interested, and make sure they aren't too heavy on the blah-blah talk.  I plan to put one up every Friday until the season starts, following this schedule (with apologies to the other conferences):

•  September 18th - Conference USA
•  September 25th - Atlantic 10
•  October 2nd - Mountain West
  
•  October 9th - ACC
•  October 16th - Big 12
•  October 23rd - Big East
  
•  October 30th - Pac 10
  
•  November 6th - SEC
•  November 13th - Big 10

What's that?  You don't care?  How about you go F yourself?

- Finally, I want to throw a shout out to my good buddy Klingler.  This superstar, besides making more money than an astronaut, also completed the Ironman event in Madison this past weekend, a simply incredible feat.  I know you're reading good buddy, and I want you to know I'm so hot for you right now I can barely keep my pants on.  Congrats.