For JG

2 quick things:

1. Iowa is starting the process to legaliE sports gambling, could the
be our new Vegas??

2. There are tons of prop bets on-line for the NFL combine...over/
under 40 times, bench press, crazy stuff. Jared, I know you love the
props, so thought I'd make you aware.

Go Gophs!

Sent from my iPhone

Random

Totally just some random stream of consciousness notes on my mind while sitting at BWW waiting for my oil change to be complete.

1. I really like DUKE this year, this is the weird FAV I have for the NCAA Tourney this season. I always hate DUKE and never pick them anywhere past the Sweet 16, so we'll see what happens with the draw...but I'm kind of liking their squad right now.

2. NBA Hoops, catch the fever. After 4 months of not caring at all, I'm kind of getting into the NBA right now. Don't know why, maybe reading too much Bill Simmons, but I'm interested and watching bits and pieces of random games before bed.

3. I'm giving the Gophs 1% chance of winning tonight. PUR is another club I LOVE come tourney time. Tubby has been picking it up, but I really can't pick anything miraculous to happen tonight.

4. Twins...Mauer will sign, I have no doubts.

5. AM 1500, I've listened a little and it's okay. I really am not a big Barreiro guy and especially not a Justin Gaard fan so I've switched over during the drive home lately...it's been decent. I like Cowherd in the afternoons, but I'll still be a Common guy but besides him I really don't like much on KFAN anymore. I'm almost becoming more of a National ESPN/Dan Patrick/FOX radio guy vs. KFAN. Too many bland personalities that say the same thing everyday and don't discuss anything interesting. PA is horrible, morning show is worse. I'm giving the new kid in town a chance, but I'm not sure it will last. I really like Doogie, but he's on so early sometimes that I can't catch it.

6. Spring practice starts in under a month...can't f*ing wait.

7. Wrapping up my SEC 2010 preview already...I think it's going to be crazy competitive and not just the FLA and ALA inevitable matchup this season. But I'm way ahead of myself...I won't start pushing those down your throats until at least June.

7 points and really saying nothing...that's what happens when you are sitting alone at BWW having a beer and working and blogging while wasting some time...dangerous.

Winter Sports Season...not over yet?!?!

So I guess Tubby and Donny must read this blog because after calling out both teams as being completely finished for 2010 they each have huge 2-0 weeks and keep some slim hopes alive for post-season success.

First, the Hoopsters. How fun is it to win 3 in a row vs. Sconny and the angriest looking man in America, Mr. Bo Ryan. Seriously dude, simmer down a little. He looks like he might explode at any moment. This game was fun, and by FAR the best I've seen this team play all year. Offense looked like we had a plan, working the ball inside and getting open jumpers to fall from the outside...I think that's how it's supposed to work. But the defense was an even bigger story for me. They played aggressive, rebounded well, and changed it up at the right times. The 3-2 zone in the 2nd half totally shut down the Baaadgers and allowed us to cruise to a non-nailbiter win for the first time in a while. Then Saturday night they took care of business and pounded a brutal IND club. 4 to play, we still have a shot at 20 wins and a tourney bid...beating PUR at the barn might be a must (barring a B10 tourney run) to keep the dream alive.

Hockey team - where has this been? A dominating sweep of a good CC team this weekend has now made the end of this pathetic season a little more watchable. Now we are off to UMD and then host WIS for the finale series of the regular season. If you're going to get hot, it's a great time to do it! If nothing else, at least this will make the last couple of weekends watchable and with the Final 5 format, there is definitely a chance for this club to make some magic happen. It was nice to see Kangas play as well as he did on Friday night, then Saturday was the offensive showcase scoring 7 times! This is what we should do if you believe the offensive talent we have is what it is perceived to be. UMD is 7 points ahead of us, and they have been a better team all year...but I'll take our momentum and hopefully it will translate into at least 3 points on the road.

Finally - how about Olympic Hockey! I haven't watched a hockey game that fun in a long time. Unreal talent and competition...it was like an All-Star game but everyone was trying really hard to win. Amazing game, and now it seems like the squad is set in a good position to not face one of the big teams until the Gold Medal game assuming we can win the next couple in the medal round. We'll see, but whatever happens, how fun was it to stick it to the Canadians in their own country in their own national sport??!

Overall - great sports weekend, how can it continue into Monday. Well, I'm guessing I'll be forced into watching the Bachelor Tell All special tonight, which should be super awesome, so I guess I'll take a day off of the amazing winner vibe my teams have going right now.

One final note for the weekend - Gopher baseball takes 2/3 from Akron down in Ft. Meyers, sounds like the pitching was outstanding...as usual. I checked out a NCAA Baseball preview article and it looks like we're a fringe Top 25 club this season...maybe this is the year! Omaha, somewhere in middle America...

Time to start sharpening the mind up for the final 2 regular season weeks of NCAA Hoops and get ready for the Madness...start finding your favorites right now. I have a few already, and you will be VERY suprised to hear some of them...but I can't reveal until we get a little closer.

Loving this song right now...PJ

Do you want to hear something sad?
we are but victims of desire
I'm gonna shake this day
I wanna shake this day before I retire

I'm gonna see my friend
I'm gonna see my friend, make it go away
I'm sick of everything
I'm gonna see my friend, make it go away

Well I said I... I won't be long before we all walk off the wire
Well I'm gonna see my friend, I'm gonna see my friend for what I require
Well I said I will come in quick
don't want my flame to get no higher

I'm gonna see my friend
I'm gonna see my friend, make it go away
I'm sick of everything
I'm gonna see my friend, make it go away
I'm gonna see my friend
gonna see my friend, make it go away

Want to leave it all.
Want to give it up.
Want to see it go once and for all
Want to view it cho
Want a little bit home
Want to be there...
Hard as a statue, black as a tattoo, never to wash away

Gonna take me an astral plane
I'm gonna tunnel through denial
But I'm gonna shake this day
I wanna shake this day before I retire

I'm gonna see my friend
I'm gonna see my friend, make it go away
I'm sick of everything
I'm gonna see my friend, make it go away
I'm gonna see my friend
I'm gonna see my friend, make it go away

Line on Tiger Press Conference

Will he cry at the press conference on Friday?

YES (-250)
NO (+180)


Currently, 73% are saying YES, he definitely will. I tend to agree.

See all the cool stuff you can stay up to date on via TWITTER...I'm telling you guys, it eliminates the need to watch the bottom line on ESPN and eliminates the need to watch the News - good stuff.

Thoughts? I'd like to see the line for Tiger getting caught cheating again once this is all done...no matter what the line, I take YES and bet a lot.

Winter Sports Season

With the Purple making an extended run this year I have kind of been able to avoid thinking about the dreaded Winter sports season in our great state.

However, the lame month of FEB forces me to at least pay a little attention to our pathetic sports scene until March Madness hits...so I have watched, and I have some thoughts.

1. GOPHER HOOPS
People are starting to question Mr. Tubby, but I don't think that's the right thing to do. Sure he has some faults, but the guy is a proven winner and has been dealt a tough hand this season. Take away 2 PF types that were both expected to contribute heavily and lose your starting PG because he can't make it to class for the entire 2nd half of the year. I don't know many teams that can overcome those kinds of losses. But I'm not providing excuses - this team should have about 3-4 more wins than they do right now. How many times have they been cruising and then lose a large lead in the last 10 minutes because apparently we freak out and forget how to run an offense at that point. I love watching our 30 second stall then give it to Westbrook and let him jack one up...fun to watch. The team just lacks hustle so many times and the "strength" that was our defense from a year ago is now a major weakness because we don't seem to stop anyone!

Tonight is probably the last worthwhile game to watch for the season on this club. WIS is actually a dog tonight at Willum...it's a last chance for hope. I guess there was the cliched players only meeting and we have some lineup changes coming...plus we play Sconny well, so there might be a chance. Other than tonight, I'll tune in for the B10 Tourney in hopes of a miracle...then we can rock the NIT. The sad thing is, I'm really not that optimisitic for the future at this point...let's hope they prove me wrong.

2. GOPHER HOCKEY
Now I really can't break down hockey, but this team is terrible. Coming in expecting conference title possible national title this season...then we're a bottom tier WCHA team?!?! WTF? Donny really hasn't been "coaching up" his club lately...it's been a bad run and it's over for this season. The question is, is Donny done? Smart people continue to say he can not be fired but a resignation is possible. I think it's time - mediocrity is not an option with this club...they continue to recruit extremely well, so a new leader might be able to come in and turn this thing around in a hurry. Thanks for the memories Don - I'll never forget watching 2 titles being won at Sally's...good times...but it's over.

3. WOLVES
Well, we made a blockbuster yesterday...Darko is here! Had to give up the always annoying Brian Cardinal. I still hold out a little hope for this team, but it's tough to watch. What has changed from the KG + nobody days is that we actually have some young talent that people want and that might actually improve and be a quality club down the road. Once again, nothing is really worth noting from this club until after the lottery and the free agency period this season. The 2010 free agent crew, which has been talked about since about 2007, needs to land a couple of solid pieces in MN. Then hopefully a top 2 or 3 lotto pick (keep losing!) and we might have something. I think the most Rubio will help this team is by being traded, so hopefully there are still some takers out there on this guy. A lot of things are riding on where our lotto pick ends up again...doesn't it seem like we say this every year?!? If KAHN says we're 3-4 years away, then we're probably 5-8 years away. If you're desperate and nothing else is on...check it out. Otherwise, wait until the Lottery.

4. WILD
The one club with a glimmer of hope. How about a GM that makes some proactive trades to get better!?? How about a team that isn't just "accumulating assets" and is actually trying to rebuild and win at the same time? Now I'm not expecting much of a playoff run out of this club, but I feel confident that we have the guys in the front office and the guys behind the bench to make something good happen. It's kind of fun to watch when we're not trying to win 2-1 every night! I'm expecting the club to sneak in and snag an 8 or 7 seed this year and then try to make more of a push in 2010-2011.

I'm kind of excited to watch the USA-CANADA game on Saturday night. I haven't been excited to watch a hockey game since the last Wild playoff run, so it's a weird feeling. I don't think we have a great shot to win, and even if we do it's hard to call it another "Miracle", but it should be a fun watch either way. Maybe the club can talk the Holy Cross radio team into simulcasting the game...then it could feel even bigger than Lake Placid in 1980! I still think that might be the most hilarious clip I've heard in a long time, well...that and the bowling guys talking about how the Spanish are taking over.

So the good news is that the horrible and sad Winter sports season in MN is almost over as P & C report next week and we can be on a 100% Twins vibe (and Gopher Spring Football, of course) through the sunny months until it's time to prepare for TCF Part II this fall. Which is only about 200 days away from welcoming in South Dakota to the Bank...let the countdown begin!

Wild Expansion Rumors

Wow, this would be a stretch, but sounds like nearly all members of the B12 are looking elsewhere at this point.

TEXAS to the B10 and COL to the P10?

It's going to be quite a shake up once one of these dominoes finally drops.

Lock of the Seaon in NCAA Hoops?

MICHIGAN +8.5 tonight vs. our pathetic Gophs...have to love those odds.

Other news - CFN has their Pre-Preseason rankings out for each conference...the Golden Ones are picked 11th in the B10 for 2010. Really? I guess with our complete lack of offense last season and losing our entire defense except for the safeties it probably makes sense. But I still have to believe some of the lesser teams will find a way to finish below us.

Hoping Horton/Hammock our new co-OC's can stabilize the offense and make it productive much like Cosgrove/Lee did with the D last season. It's only FEB and I already feel like I have to start making excuses for this team...yikes!

Anyone looking for a party this weekend - it's in New Ulm. Bock Fest is on Saturday, weather looks okay...but not great. Basically, line up outside the brewery around 10am and hang inside trying to stay warm until about 4pm when we move the party downtown. It's a great time - but get there early or you won't get inside. BTW - if you're looking for a good Schell's beer, and they are kind of hard to find, try the Bock...it's solid.

I'm mailing out checks tonight for Mr. Roe and Mr. Kobow...let me know when you receive them.

Gopher Talent...finally up to par?

I think I commented on this article when it was posted last time on thedailygopher.com, but it now has a look ahead at what we can expect in 2010.

The premise is simple, whoever has the most talent on the field should be winning the most games...right? Well, it's not always that simple, but in my opinion this is a very good indicator at what a coaching staff has to work with and where realistic expectations should be set each season.

How does he do it? The guy takes all the rankings of each recruiting class and adds up the ratings of the 4-5 classes that make up the team each year with heavier weighting being applied to the Juniors and Seniors. If you don't have time to look at the link, I'll summarize for you:

2007: Gophers=600, WIS=900, IOWA=1150 - obviously heavy advantage IOWA
2008: Gophers=400, WIS=750, IOWA=1000 - once again, huge edge IOWA
2009: Gophers=500, WIS=850, IOWA=1050 - pretty accurate predictor
2010: Gophers=725, WIS=800, IOWA=750

This equalizing of talent has to do with Iowa losing their a very highly rated class of seniors (plus a handful of underclassmen not accounted for on these ratings) and Brew's improved recruits entering their 3rd year and making a larger impact. WIS has stayed very consistent throughout.

As far as overall B10 rankings, it looks like this:
- OHIOST and MICH on top around a 2000 rating (MICH has lost a ton of players from these classes since the great DickRod took over, so it's a little misleading)
- PSU rolls in around 1400
- ILL at 1200
- Sparty at 900
- WIS, IOWA, MIN all right around 750-800
- PUR at about 350
- NW at 250
- IND at 150

So we're placed right around 6th-8th place based on talent, which is much better than the 8th-9th place talent we had last season.

What does this mean? Well, I think this is the most talented, on paper, team that the Gophers will have fielded in a long long time. Does that mean we win 8 games...no, but it means that we're moving the right direction and this season with a "level" playing field with Iowa and WIS, Brew has no excuses. We need to beat at least one of these teams this season and we need to show progress. The time is now!!

Is it September yet?

Playoff/Bowl Challenge Results

Well, it doesn't get any closer than that...for our purposes at least. The game wasn't in doubt once the pick-6 happened, but the prop bets ended up deciding the whole thing. Here are the final standings:

JR-104
MC-103
SS-100
MK-97
GR-89
MH-84
JG-75
AW-65
MR-48

There you have it. I know what you're saying, what kind of a progrum is this where the organizer of the pool wins the whole thing?!? Well, I was due. I've been playing this thing for 4 years without winning a dime! I'll be mailing out the winning checks this week to those who won in the regular season and the post-season...here are the numbers:

MIKE ROE - $260
MIKE KOBOW - $20
MIKE CORCORAN - $20
JR - $160

Thanks to all for playing again this season - like I said, we'll have a March Madness Pool next month and plenty more as we begin the "off-season" leading up to an exciting 2010. Start reviewing your strategies now and be ready to improve for next year. Somebody has to knock ROE out of the winner's circle for the first time in 3 years! He can't be that good!! We're currently sitting at a full boat of 10 guys for next season, if anyone doesn't want to play anymore and receive this blog just please let me know and I'll go on the hunt again for more members. Also, please provide any feedback you might have on how to improve the league and make it even more fun than it has been this season.

Thanks. Go Gophs!

Super Bowl Picks

And we're all set for Sunday...well, almost. No picks submitted for our last place post-season contestant Mr. Roe...but even with a 28 pt week he couldn't finish in the money, so we'll let it go.

First - for 18 points and likely the Championship of the world - the actual game picks:

We are split right down the middle 4:4.

COLTS -5: JG, MK, AW, MH
NO +5: JR, GR, MC, SS

Now the prop bets worth 1 pt each:
O/U 55.5: JR and GR on the UNDER...all else on the OVER
1st TD: MK, MH, MC on INDY...all else on NO
Def/SpT TD?: MK, AW, MH say YES...all else say NO
More FG's: 8 for 8 on INDY...nobody is trusting the young fella for NO
Last to score: JR, JG, MC, SS all on INDY...rest on NO
Score in first 6:30: JG is the only one who said NO...how can you bet against this? Especially you Jared?!?
O/U 3.5 turnovers: JG, AW, GR all say OVER...rest on UNDER
More rush yards?: MH picks INDY, all else on NO - I think this is the easiest bet of all of them.
TD of 40+yards?: JG, GR, SS say NO...all else say YES
Finally O/U 23.5 1st Half: 8 for 8 on the OVER in this one.

STANDINGS
MK-92
JR-83
MC-82
SS-81
MH-78
JG-74
GR-69
AW-62
MR-48

I think it should be a really close game. Not convinced the Saints will win, but I like them getting the 5 points.

With the scheduling challenges in place for the proposed March Madness party, we may have to wait a month or two and turn it into an all day golf and cards on the porch party instead. Too difficult to make it work in March with the little man's B-day on opening weekend, sorry about that. But this way we can be outside (huge advantage to staying on the good side of my better half), and we can mix in some golf competition along with likely some Twins baseball or something like that on the tube. Maybe a Wild playoff run or Timber...no, maybe not that I guess. Sadly, I think I am actually planning on watching the Pups tonight as they go for their 3rd in a row at DAL...should be fascinating.

Hope everyone has a great time watching the Super Bowl on Sunday - I'll send out the full recap on Monday and get the $$$ mailed out next week as well for all of the winners.

I'm thinking a March Madness pool could be in the works for us in lieu of a get together in March...so keep your eyes on the inbox and we'll see what happens.

10th...and final member?

In all the craziness of signing day, I forgot to introduce the 10th member to the Football Challenge Family...Rob Olson. Rob is a friend of mine and Roe's from college. He gave me his email address to enter for next season on New Year's Eve...I just stumbled onto it on my phone this week. Anyway, Rob is in giving us a full 10 for next season...beautiful.

Rob - you'll get blasts, like I'm sure you've seen the last few days, throughout the year from me and anyone else who decides to post knowledge or something like that on the blog. Once September hits, it will be the source for all line info and updated standings etc. We'll get to the logistics of the whole progrum as we get closer to the 2010 football season, but until then...enjoy all the filler I'll be posting for the next 7 months!

Welcome Rob.

Seantrel - the game may not be over after all

So the big man has NOT signed his LOI, and is waiting until after USC meets with the infractions committee on 2/19/10. Wow, this could change some things since all indications are that they cheated pretty badly and Carroll knew it and left town before the hammer dropped.

But it's okay - Lame already informed Sean, who seems to be the mastermind through all of this trying to get his sad little rap career started out in LA, that there is no proof of any major violations and everything will be fine. Yeah, I'd trust that guy...wouldn't you?

So does this open the door for the Gophs...probably not. But it does leave a glimmer of hope for Ohio State and Miami as possible destinations.

The wildcard in all of this is that Seantrel still hasn't qualified academically yet...so we might be going through all of this garbage for nothing if he can't even be on the field.

College Football at its best...gotta love it.

Just in case you needed one more reason to hate Lame Kiffin...

Seantrel to USC...the song girls were too much of a draw. Sorry
Seantrel, but I hope they get the death penalty for the Bush bullshit.
Commit to USC and then they get banned from Bowls for the next 4
years...nice choice.

Happy with the fellas who are here though - ready for Spring ball!!

Sent from my iPhone

2009 Class - 1 year later

Well, last year we had 20 guys - most red-shirted, but here are some thoughts on where we are with the class of 2009.

QB - Alipate
He may get a chance to compete for the starting job this season, if not he for sure will next year.

RB - Lipscomb
Didn't qualify, but appears to be on track to come back to the squad as a JUCO next season.

WR - Carpenter, Keise
Keise redshirted, will be given a look this season. Carpenter played, but not much. When he did play he didn't look good. A major disappointment from last year.

TE - Hageman
Redshirted - moved to a permanent DE at end of season. Lots of praise there, he needs to learn the position but he's an athletic freak and Brew thinks he could be special.

OL - Campion, Jacques, Michael, Olson, Wills
Wills started every game - looked very bad most times, but seemed to improve a bit over the year. Campion is coming this year after a gray-shirt. Jacques switched to DT and might see time as the #4 or #3 DT this season. Michael and Olson will be given every opportunity to play this season after red-shirt years - both are huge.

DE - Garin
Reshirt - but has the edge pass rusher build and mentality...should play situationally this season.

DT - Searcy
Didn't qualify, sounds like he never will.

LB - Singleton
Will get a look after his redshirt year. I think he can play, was a S.Carolina recruit that switched to Brew...could see some time at OLB this year.

DB - Carter, Lewis, Watkins
Carter played nickel to start and eventually took over for BPT. He'll start the next 3 years. The other 2 didn't see time but could this year...SPT for sure.

ATH - Allen, KGM, Rengel
Allen returned punts, and did a decent job. He'll see more WR time this season as well. KGM is a huge raw athelete, and it looks like he'll be a DE as well. KGM and Hageman could both be beasts on the outside. Rengel is the backup FB and will take over for Hoese after this season.

K/P - Orseske
Looked awesome for 2 games, got mono, missed rest of season. I believe he was able to take a redshirt so he'll have 4 years of booming punts in TCF left for us. He's a nice find who was very impressive last year.


There you go - lots of promise and even a little bit of results from this class already. There will be some major time available for a lot of these guys this year in places like the OL and the entire re-made defense.

1:00 - run down of who we have and who we're still hoping for

So - 24 are signed on the dotted line...here's a quick rundown. Keep in mind most of these guys will likely redshirt so we won't hear much from them until SEPT of 2011.

QB
Tom Parrish and JD Pride

Parrish is the #1 player in WIS, and ladies and gentlemen...we got him. It is just a continuation of Brew's "recruit one starting QB type every year" philosophy, which I love. Now if we'd just give them all a chance to show what they can do...maybe this year I guess. A definite redshirt for 2010, Parrish will be competing with Gray and Alipate in 2011 for a starting gig. Pride is the best HS bud of Senatrel. I guess he's athletic, but very lightly recruited and this seems to be a 100% play to get Seantrel's interest.

RB
Donnell Kirkwood, Devon Wright

Good group of RB's. Both of these guys could compete for time as early as this upcoming season. They aren't the slight Whaley type of back as both come in right around 200 lbs. Both are from FLA, Wright was Broward County player of the year, which is saying a lot. ESPN loves him and lists him as our #1 recruit. Either of these guys could get the chance to knock out the dangerous Bennett/Eskridge combo we have right now.

It's also been written that Woodbury 4-star Lamonte Edwards will be given a look at RB. At 6-2 215, he's the big body that could be really effective as a workhorse, but I still expect him to be a LB instead.

WR
Marquise Hill
This guy was highly recruited with a really nice offer list, so I'm excited to see what he can do. We have a lot of WR's on the roster so I expect a redshirt year...but you never know. He's from STL, which has worked out well for us in the past...Lo-Mo.

TE
Tiree Eure

6-7 245lbs...that's what a TE is supposed to look like. With Hageman being a permanent DE and losing Tow-Arnett, I really like adding a JUCO TE like this. He and Lair will be the pass catchers this year while we have a couple of nobody Sr's who will be the blocking TE's. I hope this guy works out better than a lot of our other JUCO experiments in the past couple of years.

OL
Matt Eggen, Zac Epping, Jimmy Gjere, Marek Lenkiewicz, Johnathan Ragoo
That's a lot of beef - but you all know that we need the help. A quick blurb on each: Gjere is the gem of this group - 4-star recruit who is a lifetime Gopher fan, grew up in New Brighton, committed early and turned down Ohio State among others. Eggen and Epping are a couple of big Sconny's that should prove to be solid interior lineman. Marek looks to be a little undersized for an OT, but he'll redshirt and gain size. Ragoo is the opposite, 6-7 342lbs..good god. He's raw, but MIAMI showed a lot of interest in him so he's got some potential but sounds like a bit of a project.

DL
Ben Perry, Sean Ferguson, Harold Legania, Josh Tauaefa

Perry is the only DE, not a super high rated guy, but from a great HS team in Texas...redshirt. Ferguson is a prep school guy out of NJ, very large so he could be a space eater in there. Legania is from New Orleans, had some nice offers so he might have the most hype of the 4. Tauaefa is another Texas kid who is similar to Legania. One or two of the DT's are going to have to play this year to provide depth.

LB
Willie Tatum, Dwayne Mitchell

Like I said, I think Edwards will end up here eventually, but he's starting at RB. Tatum is a super-sleeper kind of guy from Ohio who could be really a nice player by 2011-2012. He's a wrestler and a little thin right now, but I don't think putting on pounds will be an issue, and you know he's gotta be a tackler w/his rasslin' background. Mitchell is a lightly recruited guy from New Orleans, both of these sound like redshirt candidates to me.

DB
Tyrone Bouie, Christyn Lewis, James Manuel, Herschel Thornton, Dwight Tillman, Brock Vereen

Lots of DB depth in this class. Bouie is a sleeper from FLA, like his chances of playing next year. Lewis is a JUCO, so he'll for sure play next year. Manuel is a highly recruited S from Indiana, he might see some time as a backup next season. Thornton is another S who will likely be competing with Manuel for time. Tillman is a low rated guy who seems like a filler to me since we took 2 of his JUCO teammates already. Vereen could be a player. His brother was/is a RB at CAL, and he turned down a Stanford offer to come here. He may be ready for next season too?!? Lots of good talent, very little great talent in this group. Hopefully one or two will outplay their rating and become a big time CB/S for us.

That's all we have for now. Lots of guys still to announce...there has to be at least one surprise before we're done...right? I hope he 6-8 and 335 lbs!!

9:40 - all 24 signed for the Gophers

All of the 24 verbal commits have signed for the Gophs. Now it's the waiting game to see if they can snag any others from some of the other programs or some of the uncommitted guys.

Sounds like Seantrel will be announcing around 4:30 on CBS College Sports (613 DTV). Early rumors/guesses for this morning are USC...but I'll believe it when I see it. Of all the possible places why would you choose to go play for a dbag like Kiffin for a team that is sure to get some sanctions coming at them shortly? Even if that is a possibility, why would you chance it? I don't get it - but I guess it's better than having him in conference at Ohio State.

Speaking of Ohio State, James Louis signed with them this morning. Apparently, he was wavering on joining the Gophs yesterday...but stuck with his Buckeye commit. Whatever, he's dead to me now...on to the next.

I think we have a couple of scholarships left, so I'm hoping for the annual Brewster surprise coming sometime today...we shall see.

I'll be recapping the Gophs class and some of the other big news as we go throughout the day.

NSD Primer

So tomorrow is the big day...National Signing Day. It's the day where we can officially put the close on a mediocre 2009 campaign and start to get excited about your 2010 Golden Gophers.

What should we expect tomorrow/tonight? Well, Brew has had 2 full recruiting classes and there have been some last minute fireworks with both of them. Year 1, Keanon Cooper switched from TXTECH to the Gophs on NSD. Year 2, Michael Carter pulled his commitment from WV and came to Minneapolis on NSD as well. What does the master recruiter have in store for us this season?

Well, the fireworks may have already begun late yesterday with 4-star WR James Louis, an Ohio State commit since July, put on his facebook that he's joining his buddy Donnell Kirkwood (Gopher RB recruit) in Minnesota. This would be retardedly cool. This guy had a Seantrel like list of offers from everyone in the nation.

Here's his ESPN description:
"This young man can flat out run. He possesses some of the best quickness and acceleration of any receiver in this class and he can be a dangerous weapon in all three phases of the passing game."

Very much in the Brandon Green mode, but with more speed. This would be a huge coup for Brew considering he only has 1 WR commit right now after previous 4-star signing James Green couldn't qualify academically and went to Toledo.

The other MAJOR storyline to watch for tomorrow is the conclusion of the 3 year process Brew has been on to secure the biggest recruit in the state's history...Mr. Seantrel Henderson. Most recruiting experts are picking him to land with the Buckeyes, Shooter says he hears it will be USC, sounds like maybe ND and MIAMI are in the mix...too tough to say right now. I know he spent his last available hours with Brew at TCF and the threw everything they could at him to make him think. Apparently, he's buddies with Louis and his best HS friend is also coming to the Gophers on NSD tomorrow. Seems like we have a puncher's chance, even though it is an extreme long shot. He will be announcing his choice on live TV with Tom Lemming (a buddy of Brew's) sometime tomorrow...not exactly sure when at this point.

Overall, it's probably going to be a little down from the previous 2 classes, but it should provide a lot of depth and maybe even fill a couple of holes for this season. I'll provide a long rambling recap of the entire day and probably some immediate updates if something crazy and something great happens.

I'm sure most of you won't be parking it in front of the TV from 9-6 to catch all the analysis and live announcements, but you should feel confident that I will keep the whole world up to date via the blog, twitter, text, et al throughout the day.

It should be a fun one - let's hope some good things happen and we can start getting excited for 2010 right now!

Hoops Picks for tonight

UCONN +6.5 at LOU

TEX -2 at OKST

These are 2 winners, I'd even parlay them together...and I never lose parlays.

The Week Ahead

Super Bowl week...wooo. I'm really not at all excited about the "big game". If it wasn't for our gambling purposes I might not even care at all. So what else is ahead this week...a quick list:

1. Picks
I still need picks from ROE, KOBOW, CORCORAN, and GREG. Send 'em over sometime this week and we'll be all set for Sunday.

2. National Signing Day
Recruiting is officially winding down for the class of 2010...how are we going to end up might depend solely on 1 local guy. Seantrel spent his last official 2 hours of the recruiting contact period with Brew last night...let's hope that is a good sign. Honestly, I put our chances of landing the big man at about 5%... but I can at least dream for another couple of days. WED is a work from home day for me so I can do a little wall to wall coverage on ESPNU, BTN, ESPN, CBSCS, etc...and if Seantrel picks the Gophs in the morning I might have to start a party at 10am...who's coming with me?

3. B10 Expansion
Rumor has it that the B10 will officially expand to 12 on Thursday, the day after NSD. PITT is believed to have done everything but officially announce their intention to enter the B10 in 2 years. Obviously, we'll be discussing this much further if indeed it actually does come down this week, but how sweet will this be?!? A B10 Championship Game! Nice!

4. LOST
Not sure if you all watch this show...but you should. Final season start on TUES, it's incredible...trust me.

5. O-HUD
Twinkies seem to be very serious in their pursuit of a 2nd baseman. Would be a large upgrade from Punt-o, but then this probably means he's shifting to a 3rd base platoon with Harris...oh goodie. Well, I guess you can't have a good competant player that can hit and field at every position, so I guess we're sacraficing 3B until Valencia is ready to go - hopefully around mid-season. Anyway, Hudson would be a great addition, so let's hope we get lots of good news out of Twins Territory over the next couple of weeks.


I guess that's all I got - I've got FEB to relax a bit before the Madness of March and then prepping for Football Challenge 2010-11 begins in April.

In examining my March Madness planned party, I may be forced to reconsider. Jace turns 1 that weekend, I thought the opening round was the previous weekend...but I'm dumb. Working on an alternative plan right now...we'll find a time to make it all work out.