Experimental Live College Football Blog

I'm bored, I have tomorrow off, and the baby and Mrs. W are sleeping.  There is no Twins game tonight, so instead I will be taking in the Oregon Ducks vs. Boise State Somethings (Cowboys?), the biggest game on opening college football night with both teams ranked in I think the top 15.  Since I'm bored, this is the only thing on, and I have a brand spanking new bottle of Skyy Vodka, I'm going to try something new.  I'm going to live blog this.

-  Keep this in mind:  I don't watch college football.  I mean, I'll flip it on a game here and there, and I know some teams and players, but I am no expert at all.  I know Boise State has a good QB, Oregon has a good QB, and neither teams plays a lick of defense.  Sounds fun.  Let's see how this goes.

-  We have OVER 65, Oregon +3, and YES there will be a score in the first 5.5 minutes.

-  I've gotten four texts from Snacks who is drafting his work fantasy football team:

1. "2 TEs taken in round three tonight.  Gotta love it."
2. "Percy Harvin just went in round 5!"
3. "First defense off the board in round 6"
4. "Some guys RBs right now are Chester Taylor, Donald Brown, and Beanie Wells."
5. "Oooh Oooh Kicker in the 8th!!!!"

I really hope he wins.

-  Wow, we almost had a fight already.  At the coin flip.  We have a real Montague vs. Capulet vibe going on here.  

-  Jeremiah Masoli is the Oregon QB, and they'll start from their own 42.  If Akili Smith has taught me anything, it's that no matter what kind of numbers this guy puts up, no NFL team should draft him early.  (HINT = he's black and from Oregon).

- A punt?  What the hell is this shit?  I was promised an offensive shoot out.  And Oregon's punter is named Jackson Rice and he's white.  I'm so confused.

- Oh, and he was the #1 high school punter in the country.  That's just weird.

-  Boise's QB is named Kellen Moore (not to be confused with Kellen Clemens, who I think was also a Duck).  He was the WAC freshman of the year last season.  I like to call him the MarQueis Gray of the WAC.

-  Moore is currently slicing up the Duck secondary like a fat girl with a wedding cake.  Want to know his secret?  He's left-handed.  Everything is easier if you're a lefty.  Except Scissors. 

-  Snacks would like you all to know that they just started round 9 and there are already 8 defenses off the board.  Who's in this league, Bogart?  (NOTE:  his first two picks off our keeper league draft were defenses.  He also continues to hold onto Reggie Bush like grim death).

- Do you remember Grandslam from this blog?  He was our golf writer for a while but stopped writing and was replaced by Faldo who might have quit now as well?  He is constantly changing his facebook status to be a catchphrase by one of the KFAN guys.  He probably loves Paul Allen too.  I don't know how it's possible we're related.

- Broncos (NOTE:  not Cowboys) in the midst of a long, tedious drive highlighted by a bunch of short passes by this Moore fella.  Although it's good to know that he has reached Favre-like status with these announcing dingleberries.  He fumbles a shotgun snap, picks it back up, rolls out (left, of course, which confused everyone) and completes it for a 15 yard gain to the three-yard line.  Announcer #1 said it was "obviously a bad snap" even though it was waist high and within his elbow-span and Announcer #2 said it "might have been a trick play, you never know with Boise."  They had one awesome trick play that lead to a win over Oklahoma that one time, it's not like they're out there running Tecmo Style (RIP John Stephens) flea-flickers.  I'm going to have to keep an eye on this.

-  Just saw an email I got from 2P, with mine, his, and Snacks predictions for this Twins season.

The good:

• Crain has an ERA over 4.50 (WWWWWW)
• No reliable 8th inning guy all year (WWWWWW)
• Kubel hits 25 homers (WWWWWW)
• Gomez improves his K/BB rate but everything else is around the same (WWWWWW)
• Crede plays less than 115 games (2P)
• Crain struggles and is a non-factor out of the bullpen (2P)

The bad:

•  Crain with an ERA under 2.50 (Snacks)
• Liriano wins 15+ (WWWWWW, 2P)
  
•  Mauer plays in less than 115 games (Snacks)
•  Span regresses (Snacks) 
• Mauer less than 6 home runs (2P)
• Kubel less than 20 homers (2P)
•  Delmon Young breakout year = 22+ HRs, .300+ avg - (2P)
•  Dickey 10 or more starts (2P)
•  Buscher 10+ homers (2P)
•  Plouffe starting shortstop by season's end (2P)

I win.

-  Boise misses what looks like a 10 yard field goal.  It's still 0-0 with 2 minutes left in the first quarter and the Ducks punted yet again.  These jackass announcers are now extolling the virtues of the blue turf, but I'm starting to realize it's really pretty damn stupid.

- I have to point out a blog post from the Star Trib that my good buddy Klingler pointed out to me.  In it, the writer (Michael Rand) found an article from the Wall Street Journal saying that Derek Jeter should get MVP consideration in a "lifetime achievement award" kind of way, and he destroys it Fire Joe Morgan style.  It hurts to praise the Star Trib, but good is good, so go read it.

- Holy god this is so boring.  I just flipped over to the Seattle/Oakland preseason game.  Maybe I can watch Michael Bush run all over people's faces.

- God, they're interviewing some dork from some MLS team.  I'm flipping back.

- So Percy Harvin has now been traded twice in our keeper league since being drafted less than a week ago.  I don't know that I have a point, I just find it interesting.

- Another missed field goal by Boise.  I have to be honest with you here.  I was, for some reason, really fired up for some college football this year.  Just 26 real minutes into the season, and I'm already limp.  I may have to pull the plug.

- Hey the Raiders have Gary Russell!  Thus kind of making this gopher related.  I've now seen one carry for -2 yards, but to be fair it wasn't his fault, the o-line sucks.  And now he catches a screen, breaks a couple tackles, makes a couple guys miss, and picks up 13 for the first down.  I'm starting to think I should pick him up.

- If you're still reading this, make sure you check out my book recommendation below.

- I really want a PS3, but I'm poor as a dirt farmer in dirt land, so I checked my American Express rewards account.  In the year and half I've had this card and been at my current job, I've racked up 19,800 points.  A PS 3 is 78,900.  So that means I will be the proud owner of a PS3 around April 2014.  Party at my place.

- Touchdown Boise!!!!!!!!!!!111

 

-  And they run in the two point conversion!!!

-  This freaking Masaoli character can't complete a pass at all.  It's like he's the Akili Smith of the Pac 10.  Jackson Rice on to punt yet again.  I think he's their only good player.

-  Boise punts.  This is the most boring thing I've ever done.  I quit.  I can't take it.  I'd rather watch "Sharks in Venice" again.  These are two of the best team's in college football?  I just can't do it.  Here is a picture of a hot duck to make it up to you:

Best Comments of 2008

I realize most people do their best ofs before the year is quite over, but I'm like a week late. It's hard to go through a full year's worth of posts and read all the comments. Without further ado, here are the best comments of 2008 in no particular order, except chronologically:


- Dawg: "Do you think Hoffbauer will stick around for at least 2 years or will his guranteed NBA lottery pick status force him to leave after his freshmen season?"

- Anonymous: "I will take sweet sweet Pam Oliver anyday"

- Super Sioux Fan: "I am sure you are some old guy who has to stare at it because you cant get it. Creeper"

- The Todd: "I love women...especially ones that are deuce plus and/or in wheel chairs."

- Dawg: "Its a well known fact that Iowans are very anti-vampire."

- Snacks: "fake boobs are very weird"

- Rabid Husky: "Nice blog idiots"

- Joe: "You are without question the most cynical man alive"

- The Todd: "Reason #37 why you are my hero."

- The Todd: "shit my pants drunk or dance with fat girls drunk?"

- Kevin: "Shane Schilling was nice"

- Roy: "Snake is far from a dipshit"

- Jacie Z: "Hot chicks are so nasty!"

- Snake: "I also just had Billy Bob on. One of the greatest pieces of cinema I have ever seen. GOd Damn Mox can sling the pill!"

- Dawg: "I hope they at least have the decency to spit on "it" before they rape us this Sunday"

- Dawg: "I refuse to call a white guy Jamal"

- Everyone: everyone proving how retarded Dawg is about baseball.

- Anonymous: "It's "Hoffarber" not Hoffbauer. You'd think after 20 games you'd know that by now."

- The Sidler: "I always died of dysentery..."

- Larry Eustachy: "Thats the least she could do to make up for her tiny breasts."

- Just telling the truth: "Snacks is gay"

- Anonymous: "This blog just hit rock bottom! Thanks WWWWWWWWWWW, another reader lost!"

- Anonymous: "You guys have to lay off the pipe."

- Jimmy: "I'd rather watch Balls of Fury than read another post from Dawg."

- From the Barn: "another coach was forced to resign because he was underutilizing Rico Tucker."

- Anonymous: "Is that her snizz hanging out?"

- Dawd:"in the last year I've seen you get your ass kicked by a ballerina wearing a white vest and Momma Souix Fan."

- Said Person: "Four Letter Lie is the greatest band ever"

- Dawg: "Why does a team that relies on obtaining free agents on the cheap miss oportunities for a couple of studs that are coming off injuries ie Colon and Prior"

- Theory: "Dr. Acula's boyfriend, Camillo Villegas"

- Dawg: "Give the little gay meat raffle guy from the Knight Cap a pat on his sloppy bottom from me."

- Snack's wife: "i'm all real bitch!"

- Amanda Jax: "the parents will have to sue some poor mexican bar tender from Cancun for his donkey and wool blankets because those sissy mankato students can't handle their drinks."

- Dr. Acula: "My buddy has a gay brother named Colton. His last name is not Iverson. Probably no relation."

- The Sidler: ""Twins Baseball - you're going to need two flasks!""

- Bear: "I'm going to go read Up with Bucky, with a flaccid crank"

- Super Sioux Fan: "most sioux fans are complete douches"

- C. Garey: "If you're looking for friends you've come to the wrong blog"

- Anonnymous: "Has Gardy ever made a mistake? I guess not since he's forgotten more baseball than me."

- C. Haskins: "I want to see a winning product. I couldn't give two shits less what the graduation rate is"

- Holy Hell: "I found this blog by googling suck my crank"

- Anonymous: "I didn't expect Blackburn to regress to the mean in the span of one inning..."

- Hawkeye Fan: "Sorry "friend", You got owned by a farmed raised Iowa boy." - after owning Dawg in one of the staggering amount of arguments he lost in the comments.

- Klinger: "I should clarify for this blog...NHL = National Hockey League - my apologies for wandering into this uncharted territory."

- Snake: "Young's problem is he doesn't swing enough. He needs to take less pitches and just chop away!"

- SLombardozzi#4: "Beasley will be a poor mans Anthony Mason in 2 years."

- Theory: "Tiger could punch an old lady in the face and the announcers would be like, "She probably deserved it."

- The Todd: "My main summer attire includes crocs, workout shorts and an old T'wolves KG jersey from Walmart."

- Snacks: "God I can't stand the people on the gopher hole"

- The Sidler: "Livan is the best pitcher on the team--he has 9 wins"

- Jeremy: "this dude is frickin' hilarious."

- Tiffany L: "So what ever happened to Van Peebles two anonymous "colored" friends on the boat? Hopefully they didn't end up in the water because I am guessing they couldn't swim very well."

- Sharks Love Revenge: "this is by far the best movie review of all time. If I had to listen to that queer talk about paladin's one more time I was going to have to go jump in the ocean hoping that some shark wanted revenge on my family too."

- Tom: "You are clearly one of the top 5 or 6 gopher bloggers out there"

- The Todd: "I'm also known as a very solid penetrator and am currently listed at 5'9/235 with a 17 inch vert and 6.7 forty time."

- Faldo: "Doctors say he will be fine but I say blindness, thats what you get when you dont come through for Faldo you get blindness"

- Dawg: "Blacky wins 16 games next season and probably starts dating Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan."

- Anonymous: "there is nothing worse than homer fan"

- Dawg: "By the way my name is Dawg McDawgerson."

- Anonymous: "Gardy is an asshole and so is anyone who doesnt agree."

- Anonymous: "This blog sucks so I would love to read a blog that is average!"

- Bear: "I think it's called You're A Douchebag In C Minor."

- Bogart: "I live in Chicago where I'm a fancy rich lawyer who makes tons of money and I am so much better than you, peasant."

- Matt: "Please spare me with this "blueprint" and "small ball" bullshit."

- Dawg: "The Gophers blew the doors off of Montana State the supposed cream of the I-AA crop."

- Dawg: "Naked Guy looked great taking naked BP today."

- Justin Bobby: "Heidi with Brody, haha, thats just proposterous!"

- Tiffany: "Bogart- You have been portrayed perfectly on this site by WWWWW. Gambling problem (check), poor eye for NFL QB talent (check), love of wearing NFL jerseys (check) and poor skin (check)"

- The Todd: "Suck it long and suck it hard Dharma Bum."

- Theory: "I thoroughly enjoy these golf posts. They're the only posts on here that I read."

- Trig: "Brady is a man's man, ultimate teammate, and a complete gamer"

- Anonymous: "Reason #2986 why dawg is a complete sports retard!"

- Dawg: "The difference between Okposo and a figure skater is the figure skater isn't afraid to get his hands dirty"

- Mama Dawger: "yeah, your a dork. But I still want to be your live in girlfriend."

- Dawg: "I love you more than Woody Allen and Dusty Rychart combined."

- Super Sioux Fan: "everyone looked at me like I was retarded or something."

- Super Sioux Fan: "I am gay"

- Super Sioux Fan: "I hate the gays..........and the jews."

- Dawg: "When your only interaction with African Americans is watching them from 15 rows up at a Gopher Basketball game then you are probably a racist."

- Mama Dawger: "You have obviously never wrestled. It is a pure man's sport. There is nothing homoerotic about it. Other then the singlettes, the 'saturday night ride' and 'checkin the oil'. I know it makes it "sound" gay. But it's really not."

- Bear: "I thought this was Down With Goldy, not Down With A Blatantly Offensive & Racist Mascot"

- Anonymous: "The only thing that could make that show more gay is to have unicorns prance around the set with rainbow streamers tied onto their little horns."

- Dawg: "Weber throws to Decker every time because nobody can cover him."

- Bear: "Hitler wasn't really that bad of a guy"

- The Todd: "Optimator and I would make out every time the Gophers scored."

- Anonymous: "Sounds like Dawg knows as much about Fantasy Football as he does Baseball and college hoops"

- Super Sioux Fan: "I think I am going to remain drunk until the end of this hockey season"

- Anonymous: "But as we know from Twins talk on this blog, expectations cant change mid year and we need to just accept that this team is doing as good as it is being so young."

- Anonymous: "billy bean can shove moneyball up his gay ass"

- Dawg: "I wish I would have got to see him bean Joe Morgan in his fat head."

- Snacks: "Remember how Hargrow used to put his head down and take it to the rack every single time he had a white guy guarding him?"

- Tubtastic: "D2 football = not able to let go. It is the xfl equivalent for college football. They should blast "Glory Days" in the background during all D2 football games."

- The Todd: "You'll be happy to know I babysat my nephew last night which allowed me some cable access for a few brief hours. And in my stupidity I came across a Gopher basketball game. At Indiana. Thinking it was live. I didn't realize until the very end that it was from last March."


And that'll do it. Do I have a favorite? Nope, comments are like kids, I hate every one equally. Keep up the good work in 2009, comments pretty much make this blog.

Forget About Beltre or Blalock

You can pretty much forget about Beltre or Blalock coming to the Twins based on the price the Dodgers paid to get Casey Blake, the Busch Light of the group, from the Indians. LA sent pitcher Jonathan Meloan and catcher Carlos "Smooth" Santana to the Injuns to attain the services of the former Twin, who can become a free agent after this season and is hitting .289/.356/.465 with 11 homeruns so far this season.

That is way, way to much to pay for a dude who isn't going to be the difference between playoffs and no playoffs. Blake is a nice player, but the Dodgers got fleeced. Meloan was ranked as the Dodgers #8 prospect going into the season, and proved he has the stuff to be a top shelf relief pitcher, putting up ERAs in the low 2s or better and WHIPs less than 1.00 in stops at all minor league levels over the past three years. The Dodgers may have soured on him after trying unsuccessfully to convert him to a starter at AAA this season, but that's their fault. The guy has the stuff to be an excellent reliever, with a "plus-plus-slider" and a sinker in the low 90s leading to 335 strikeouts in 263 innings.

The other dude, Mr. Santana, wasn't ranked anywhere in the top 11 going into the season, but that might change for next year's list. This year in High A ball, Santana has hit .323/.431/.563 with 34 doubles and 14 homeruns in 99 games. Not bad for the "throw-in" in the deal.

This pretty much puts the higher level 3b-men out of what the Twins' will, or should, pay. I'd be comfortable giving up one good prospect, but not two, and that's looking clearly to be the price the Mariners and Rangers are looking for, with Seattle even coming out and saying they would require two top prospects to move Beltre. With the Rangers not really actively shopping Blalock - and looking for pitching help - it would probably take about the same. If anything happens, it looks like it would be for Kouzmanoff, but don't hold your breath.

I'd also like to take a look at a couple of journalists who clearly should not be writing about baseball, starting with Charly Walters of the Pioneer Press. He writes, "It will be interesting whether the Twins try to package Michael Cuddyer and Livan Hernandez in a trade for a slugging third baseman before the July 31 deadline, saving $20 million in guaranteed money to Cuddyer and $2.5 million to Hernandez. Denard Span ($390,000) would replace Cuddyer in right field, and Francisco Liriano ($400,000) would replace Hernandez in the starting rotation."

What? I don't understand why journalists are allowed to throw out this ridiculous crap with no repercussions. And they claim bloggers are uninformed and unprofessional. That package is, without question, one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. From the complete untradeability of Livan to the assumption that the Twins would even consider trading Cuddyer (hint: they wouldn't) it's just a complete mass of sheer lunacy. Not to mention that no team, ever in history would trade a quality player for that garbage. I've broken down Reusse before, but even though he's written some god-awful articles, he's never written a sentence as bad as that.

Second is some dude named Matt Zimmer from some paper called the Argus Leader in South Dakota, and it's obvious they don't have a baseball team out there and probably don't even watch the games ever even if their job is to cover the Twins. He suggests shouldn't bother to trade for a reliever. His reasoning: the bullpen is bad and anyone they trade for won't be better than Jesse Crain. His solution: make Francisco Liriano a set-up guy. BRILLIANT! Not to mention that Crain's WHIP of 1.42 pretty much means that anybody they traded for would probably be better than him. He's 173rd out of 269 pitchers with at least 40 innings pitched this year. I'm not even going touch on making Liriano a setup man. That's pretty much as dumb as Walters trade ideas.

Last dumb journalist(s) for today are Tim McCarver and Joe Buck. I was watching the Yankees and Red Sox today, and they were talking about the Damaso Marte trade and going on and on about how the Yankees grabbed a great "left-handed specialist" and how he would be great for a batter or two a night. Now, I'm not a Pirates fan, so it's possible things changed, but I remember Marte from his White Sox days and he wasn't a specialist. A specialist is Dennys Reyes, who, incidentally, my child looks a lot like. Marte was always a straight up set up man, pitching to lefties and righties, and pitching full innings at a time. So I checked. He's pitched in 47 games this season, and pitched less than a full inning twelve times. So a little less than 25% of the time. He's also pitched more than an inning nine times. So you know what that means? HE'S NOT A SPECIALIST. Again, uninformed people making uninformed statements to one of the biggest audiences possible. And somehow this is ok. Seriously, this is what is wrong with America.

Two other very quick things I want to mention:

1. Dustin Diamond is writing a tell all book about Saved by the Bell. It promises sex, drugs, and hardcore partying and I could NOT be more excited. Rock on.

2. It seems Snacks has turned into a full-on Jersey Chaser, the worst kind of member of society. He sent me a text today that read, "OMG this iz so kewl. Me and [MRS SNACKS] are drinking at Hooters with [GOPHER LINEBACKER] and [GOPHER D-BACK] and it's so awesome and it makes me feel validated as a person. I have a boner." Nothing worse than a jersey chaser folks. It's pretty much time to give up on him at this point.

Happy Birthday Snacks

I'm leaving in about an hour to fly to Pasadena for a week long National Sales Conference. I will have my computer, but will be in meetings all day with dinners and other functions in the evening, so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to post. Luckily, we'll have The Sidler, Grand Slam, Snake, and a special guest poster to keep you entertained. Will Down with Goldy survive without it's fearless leader? Will it improve? Stay tuned.

Here is this week's ranking of the Big Ten teams:

1. Purdue - Wow. I knew they had a great class this year, but who knew they would be this good this soon. To go into Madison and come out with a win is nothing short of amazing. 10-1 with their only loss by 3 at Michigan State. Their only good non-conference win is against Louisville, or they'd be a top ten team right now.

2. Wisconsin - It's really difficult to rank the next three teams. I'll go with Wisconsin, who hammered Indiana in their meeting and would be undefeated in the Big Ten if it wasn't for Purdue. I think the Badgers might be able to make a little noise in March.

3. Michigan State - The losses at Iowa and at Penn State are embarrassing, and maybe they should be below the Hoosiers, but this team has a much better shot to do anything in the tournament than Indiana does. Their roster is well put together, inside and out, and with Izzo coaching they could do well.

4. Indiana - I still can't get that UCONN loss out of my head. It was absolutely one of the worst played games by a top team I can ever remember. Despite that, they are still 9-1 and 20-3, albeit without a single impressive victory on their resume. I'll be shocked if they get passed the first weekend of the NCAAs.

5. Ohio State - Clearly the fifth best team, a step below the top four and a step above the bottom crap. Will likely be a tournament team, but still have to play all four top teams, with three at Columbus. If they collapse, Big Ten only gets four bids. I feel sorry for whichever NBA team drafts Koufos.

6. Minnesota - The win over Iowa cements the Gophers as the Big Ten's sixth best team, which isn't saying much until you remember last season. Two wins in a row start off a nice schedule where the Gophers will likely go 5-1, giving delusional fans just enough hope to crush their soul.

7. Iowa - An ugly team from an ugly state playing an ugly style in an ugly arena. Winning enough at home to stay out of the cellar. Ugly basketball.

8. Michigan - Get this spot as the only one out of the bottom four to win this week, even though it was against Penn State - it still counts.

9. Illinois - I picked them to finish third in the Big Ten this year. Third. 3rd. I have no credibility. You probably should be embarrassed to even be reading this.

10. Penn State - I was actually pretty interested to see if they could make a little run this year and make the tournament, before Claxton went down. Without him, they're basically another Northwestern.

11. Northwestern - What is there to say?


And finally, in honor of Snacks' birthday, I present a nice Greg Paulus highlight. I'll talk to you from sunny and warm Pasadena.

Arf-Arf-Arf! Gophers vs Dawgs Preview

The Gophers travel to the twin ports this weekend to take on the UMD Bulldogs. Just like when the Gophers travel to UND, this is like the Superbowl, World Series and Olympics all rolled into one for the people of Duluth. This always makes for a good an environment but always leaves me wondering why someone would get excited about beating a 7th place team. That would be like someone getting excited for beating Northwestern and Penn State in basketball right?

I am not going to put much effort into breaking down what the Gophers need to do this weekend because I am tired of writing the same shite and trying to put a new twist on it. They also gutted me last Saturday so I refuse to give my best effort. So here you go. Score a couple power play goals, don’t give up goals from the blue and red lines, don’t wet yourself when you have a lead in the 3rd period and play physical for three periods. Hopefully that covers it for you.

One positive going into this weekend is Jeff Frazee has finally been told to "F off" by Lucia, at least I hope so. If you missed last Saturdays game here is a recap of Jeff’s one period of work. Frazee gave up a first period goal from between the blue and red lines. Drinky then followed that up by getting beat from the far blue line as the horn sounded to end the 1st period. Luckily two SCSU players where busy enjoying the song "Cotton Eyed Joe" as it was being blared into the arena for the tenth time that period and forgot they where offsides. Lucia gave Frazee a death stare and promptly yanked him from the game. This should mean we will finally see Kangas for the majority of the games down the stretch. "Jeff, you suck, drink to much for a 20 year old kid and I want you to leave....now!" If Lucia would have listened to me months ago we wouldn’t be having these problems every weekend. God I should have his job.

UMD is currently sitting in 4th place in the WCHA. That sounds good, but they suck and have played 2 more games then all of the showers of shit that are behind them in the standings. UMD has been a fairly good team at home this year with a 6-1-4 record, this is not a good sign for the Gophers who have struggled over the years at the DECC. Also, if Brandt Nicklin is reading this blog, I still hate you and think you are a complete douche bag.

The Bulldogs rank near the middle of the pack in most key conference statistics, including scoring offense (5th) and defense (5th). Their key players are????? Well they really don’t have any key players, just a bunch of solid guys who work hard. Alex Stalock can be dominant in the net for UMD and has improved from his freshman season. Stalock currently has a .909 save percentage and a 2.43 GAA. Stalock can be very fun to watch and has a little flair to his game. He can also have a bit of Frazee to his game so lets hope we see the latter this weekend.

My prediction is a split this weekend, because neither team is really that good. UMD wins on Friday night 3-2 and the Gophers rebound 4-2 on Saturday.

On a positive note, the Gophers received a commitment this week from Zach Budish (Edina). Zach had narrowed his list of schools down to UND and MN. Obviously this shows Zach has taste and is not a racist. Below is a description of Budish I stole and plagiarized from another blog.

The Gophers landed a big recruit yesterday. 6'2, 210 lbs. Edina forward Zach Budish has given a verbal commitment to play for the Gopher hockey program. Budish is well known as being one of the top players of his age group in Minnesota and his recruitment has been a much discussed situation on the message boards during this past year. The final battle for Budish came down to the Gophers and UND. He had visited both schools in November and had been mulling over the decision ever since.

Budish is a physical forward with soft hands and good play making ability. His skating is above average for a player his size but I would imagine that improving that aspect of his game will be a main focus for future improvement. He is strong on his skates and works well in the corners and around the net. But his biggest asset could be the intangibles he brings to the table. He is very much known as a leader and I have heard more than a few of his peers speak highly of him in regard to his effort and leadership. He is a kid who could very well wear the "C" for the Gophers someday.

On a national scale, Budish performed well at the Selects during the past two summers and was been chosen to be a part of the USA Selects team that would play in an international tourney in the late summer (Three Nations tourney in Rochester, NY in 2006 and the Five Nations tourney in the Czech Republic this past summer). He was one of (roughly) 45 of the best 1991 birth year players invited to try out for the USA National Development Program in Ann Arbor this past spring but he was not extended an invite when all was said and done (only former Chaska HS defenseman Nick Mattson made the team out of the MN kids invited to the tryout).

Congrats to Coach Lucia and the staff on landing another important recruit during a rather frustrating season. Welcome aboard Zach!

* An interesting side note for those who aren't aware of it, Zach's father (Kim) played football at the University of Minnesota back in the 1970s. (According to the records I see via Gophersports, he was in the football program in 1972 and 1973). So Zach is following in his dad's footsteps to some degree. Fortunately, I think Zach's college team will be far more successful than any of the Gopher football teams since the 70s!

Lastly, Congratulations are in order for UND. UND finally swept a home series last weekend breaking a streak that lasted 15 months! Also, congratulations to Snacks on his wedding this weekend.WWWWW, will you be blogging live from the wedding?

Special thanks to Gopherpuck.blogspot.com for writing my Budish comments.

The Tubby Smith era begins!

Snacks here with some thoughts from the Gophers exhibition opener tonight vs. Mankato State (I left with ten minutes left, so all comments pertain to before then):

*I got a serious chill when Tubby Smith was announced as the Gophers coach for the first time. It was awesome. It's amazing watching a guy I've watched on TV time and time again in big time games wearing a gold tie and gold pants coaching the Gophers.

*Definite emphasis on pushing the ball up the court and playing more up tempo. A lot of long outlet passes to a guys breaking away after a defensive rebound. And a lot more movement on offense. Good to see. Also a lot of full court pressure on D.

*Travis Busch. Who the hell is this guy and where did he come from and why is he on the team? He's slow. He's short. He's white. He can't shoot (he had a three pointer hit nothing but backboard). How the fuck is this guy a D-I player?

*Blake Hoffarber. See Travis Busch. Also, one of the kids in the Old Dutch little chipper game at half time was the absolute spitting image of Hoffarber. That's not a good sign. The kid dominated the little chipper game, but that's still not a good sign. (He is a lefty though, so there's hope).

*The blond chick in the low cut black top in section 112. Best talent in the arena tonight hands down. If you are a regular at the barn, I suggest checking out the first few rows of section 112 every time you are there. Always some talent there, that must be where the players girlfriends sit or something.

*Lawrence Mackenzie. Absolutely torched them for 19 in the first half. Of course, he was chiefly guarded by a 5 foot 8 inch white kid. I'm going to reserve judgment on this for now.

*Westbrook. I have very high hopes for him and love his athleticism, but he looked like crap tonight. I figured he could relive his 40 point a game high school career against the collection of slightly above average high school players that is Mankato. Not to be. I hope he figures it out. He was probably distracted by the smoking hot blond chick in the third row of section 112. In fact, he's probably the one who's banging her. I sure hope it isn't Hoffarber.

*Maas and I are not perverts for checking out every college chick we saw tonight (we also went to Stub & Herbs before the game). You would have done it too. Sicko.

Bottom line, they looked good tonight and I liked their new style of play. Of course, it was against pathetic competition. I don't think they have the athletes to play that style in the Big Ten and actually succeed, but we'll see.