Gophers get started on 2012 class

Two quick things before we get to the sportsy stuff:

1. Words like "mitigate" and "optimize" sound great when presenting something, but they completely lose their effectiveness if you say "um" before them each time you use them.  It ends up having the opposite effect you're going for and you just sound like someone who is trying to use big words but is very uncomfortable with them.  Stop, and learn how to speak in public.  They have classes for this now.
2. When there is a meeting where one person is presenting and informing others it is still just called a meeting.  It is not, under any circumstances, to be called a "download."  I'm not making this up.  Don't we have enough bastardized words shoe-horned into every day parlance without making up more?  It's not a download.  It's just a meeting.  Stop this immediately, if not sooner.

Thanks for listening.  And go:

As I mentioned in the headline, Gopher hoops signed their first dude for 2012.  This actually happened a couple days ago, but like NBC always said if you haven't seen it, it's new to you.  Said signee is Wally Ellenson, a shooting guard out of Rice Lake, WI who is a bit of an anomaly in that he's a white dude whose best skills are his athleticism and dunking ability (which would explain why Bo Ryan had no interest).  I've read that he needs to do some work on his ball-handling and passing skills, so I don't think he's a potential answer to the point guard issue the Gophers.  I've also read varying reports on his shooting, from that he's a deadeye to that it's something he needs to work on.

Ellenson is really a bit of a mystery to those that haven't seen him play, which would include myself.  Rivals doesn't rank him (which means they haven't scouted him).  Scout doesn't rank him (ditto).  ESPN gives him an 89, although what that means I couldn't possibly tell you, and ranks him as the 36th best SG in the class but doesn't give us a scouting report.  We know he's a great athlete because he is a state champion high jumper and holds his school's record in that event, and we know he must have some skill since he was also offered by West Virginia, Washington, and Oklahoma State, amongst others.

Despite a bit of mystery I'm on board with this signing.  Check out this roster for the 2012 season:  Ellenson, the two Hollins, Mo Walker, Oto Osenieks, Joe Coleman, Maverick, Chip Armelin, Elliott Eliason, Andre Ingram, Julian Welch, and Rodney Williams assuming he doesn't go pro, along with another scholarship.  Notice anything?  That is a whole shitload of interchangeable parts.  Obviously Walker, Eliason, Osenieks, Maverick, and Welch don't fit that mold, but most of the rest of these guys can do a little bit of everything and fill a lot of different roles with their athleticism.  You've got Rodney, Coleman, Armelin, both HOllins's, and Ingram who are all plus athletes with varying degrees of ball-handling ability - that sounds a lot like both Memphis's Final Four team and West Virginia's Final Four team.

I'm not saying they'll have that kind of talent, but intentional or not Tubby seems to amassing that type of team, and it gives you all sorts of options.  If they can pick up a big man who has some perimeter skills - and no, I don't mean a dandy like Rick Rickert or Ralph Sampson who prances around the three-point line in their metaphorical sun dress - somebody like a Jon Leuer or JaJuan Johnson (although likely far less talented) I am really going to be pleased with the direction they're heading in. 

Of course if Welch was playing at UC-Davis for a reason and the new Hollins really is more of a shooting guard/wing than a combo guard/point guard (my fear) and they have to have Ahanmisi do the majority of the ball-handling this is all moot anyway and we might as well start lining up to watch the Lynx.  Let's move on to happier things.

Happier as in happy 1st birthday to Baby Ben^TM. Hard to believe it's been a year already, and I'm now realizing that I never really talk about my stupid kids on here anymore.  Well Benny's all dude, and just wants to play sports all day.  As a one-year old that just means picking up a random ball, throwing, and crawling after it mostly, but he has mastered picking up a ball and putting it in the little kiddie hoop we have already.  Future super star, although the bad news is he's pretty clearly right-handed.  His other favorite past times include playing with cars, banging shit together, and throwing things that aren't balls across the room.

As far as Wonderbaby^TM goes, she's now 3-years old and although she loves climbing things, running around outside, and playing with rocks and dirt, she's also got a "pure girly girl" streak running through her.  The other day we were sitting around and I asked her if she wanted to watch my animated copy of "The Hobbit" on DVD and her first question was, "Does it have a princess in it?"  So yeah.  But at least she loves Phineas and Ferb, which is a kid's cartoon but is also one of the funniest shows on TV.  Even better, I'm finding out that Dad's love the show and Mom's hate it, which is exactly what I want to raise my kids on.  They both get a nice sampling of Boy Meets World and Saved by the Bell, too.  Father of the year?  Yes, Father of the Year.

The boy, showing a nice jock/nerd mix:

The Girl, being a delightfully weird 3-year old:

 

And a closer up pic of the girl so you can see how cute she is: