This year in my eyes.

Here we are: College Football is pretty much done. Now I know we have the national championship game left but I really don't care about LSU or the Tide. I don't think the Tide deserves to be in the National Championship game but that is just me. I want to write about this year in my eyes and what I thought was the highs and lows of this year.

Best Game I watched on TV this year.

This is pretty tough choice for me, but I would have to say the Notre Dame vs Michigan game. This game was so intense my supper was getting cold in front of me as I was hypnotized by what was going on in that game. The last two minutes was the craziest thing I have ever seen. What was it, 21 points in 90 seconds? You can't beat that. The thing about that game was Denard Robinson was practically throwing Hail Mary's every down and the Michigan WR's were catching them every time! You also can't beat the fact that it was the FIRST night game in Ann Arbor. Can you imagine being in the BIG HOUSE on that night? Over 100,000 people going crazy under the lights. I also enjoy watching Minnesota Native Michael Floyd of Notre Dame, that guy is a beast and don't be surprised to see him go in the first round of the NFL Draft. This game was everything it was hyped up to be.

Runner Up : Wisconsin @ Michigan State.

Three things off my Bucket List.

As you know, I live in California and one of the things on my bucket list is too visit every College Stadium in California. This year I got visit two stadiums I've never been too,USC and Fresno State. I was really impressed with the atmosphere USC had overall on game day. I wasn't surprised because I had very high expectations that day. Tail gating on campus is something that every college should do. It was so cool to walk around the campus of USC and see all the crazy tailgating. I say Madison beats out USC by an inch when it comes to tailgating. The Colliiesm is a nice stadium overall, very cool to be in a place that hosted the olympics. The Trojan student section was pretty good also. I was very dissappointed by Fresno State, only because I went to the game when they were playing the #5 ranked team at that time in Boise State. The game was on a Friday Night and there were more empty seats than bodies. How do you not fill a small stadium when one of your rivals come into town? Espicially when they are ranked in the top 5!? Anywho, I got see Kellen Moore and Boise State play, which was also on my bucket list. Very cool to see one of the best college QB's to play that game.

Shock of the year.

I could say a lot of things about Minnesota but I really thought the season went the way I thought it would. Let's be honest, Minnesota does not have depth to compete in the BIG TEN. They have SOME division 1 talent, but not enough to make any noise. Although I will say Minnesota beating Iowa and Illinois was a shock to me. How does Illinois get beat that bad by the Gophers? Crazy. The team got better as the season goes which was the main goal I thought under rookie coach Jerry Kill. I can also talk a lot about how Wisconsin lost there 2 regular season games. I will go ahead and say that the Michigan State Hail Mary had some luck to it, but the Ohio State game was blown coverage all the way. Crazy to think that Wisconsin could easily be playing for the National Championship this year if it wasn't on those two plays.

But clearly the shock of the year goes to Penn State. I really don't know what to say about it really. So sad about everything that went down there. I will say that I approve the firing of Joe P. He had to go and it really made me mad to see the students riot over it. Grow up.

Snake of the year goes too...

This goes to Urban Meyer...HANDS DOWN. I instantly became a Michigan fan for a day when I heard Urban Meyer was hired as the new O$U coach. How do you fire a coach for bre

aking rules and then a hire another coach who also has broke rules? Urban Meyer is currently proving my point as we speak as he is calling and visiting recruits that already has committed to other schools! As he is doing this, Ohio State gets away with the

fact that they have 2 head coaches. One coach is preparing the team for a Bowl game while Urban Meyer is free to do whatever. Say what you want, b

ut I truly don't see Urban Meyer being the head coach there too long. The only reason why he left Florida was because the program was in a rebuilding phase talent wise and the NCAA was also cracking down on him there. He said he left for his f

amily but then he instantly took a job with ESPN that made him travel all around the country. What a joke. My favorite team is now whoever is playing O$U.

OTHER NOTES.....

Rose Bowl was a great game but what a crappy way to end an awesome game. I hate to say it but the refs got it right, the clock was zero when the ball was spiked. You could argue that the refs were out of position and what not, but the real anger has to go to the Wisconsin Coach for wasting a timeout in my opinion to start the 2nd half. They also should have had a play already called to play instead of spiking. Why take that risk? I don't know if you blame Russell Wilson there but again, crappy way to end the game. I am interested to see how good Wisconsin is next year without there OC Paul Chryst who is always taking away Wisconsin's GREAT offensive line coach. I think Chryst is an offensive guru and I give him more credit than Bret Bielema. So next year should be interesting with no Wilson and possibly no Montee Ball.

But let's face it, Wisconsin still has the talent and beef to make some noise next year.

Sugar Bowl was a joke. The BIG 12 refs were clearly looking at something else during the game. Was Erin Andrews on the sideline? Here is my opinion...That catch by VT was a catch. The kicker of Michigan is guilty of a false start. You can't miss calls like that in such big games. Too bad for VT but a great bowl win for Michigan.

VERY BOLD OPINION SECTION

Matt Barkley is a better QB then Andrew luck.

Glad Montee Ball was a finalist for the Heisman.

Fresno State firing Pat Hill was 3 years too late.

Alabama is going to beat LSU.

Jerry Kill is the right man for the job in Minnesota.

Let me know what you agree with or disagree with.

Thanks for reading!

When will the Teddy Bear wake up?

When will Gopher Basketball matter?

If you haven't realized it yet, playing a basketball game with no true point guard is difficult for many reasons. But expecting to win any game in the Big Ten with no true point guard creates a recipe being made for the NIT. Gophers took a tough loss yesterday at Indiana losing 60-57. As much as Blake Hoffarber is sick at draining shots from downtown. HE IS NO POINT GUARD.

That showed in the first half when he committed 4 turnovers in the first 10 minutes. We all know he is trying his hardest and we can't blame him for that, but we need Blake to come off screens and hit shots, not him struggling bringing the ball up the court when a smaller and quicker defender is guarding him. Tubby finally realized this in the second off when he brought in 3 freshmen guards in to bring the ball up and that strategy brought the Gophers close enough to win the game by outscoring the Hoosiers by 9 in the second half.

We need to clone Al Nolen or we this season could already be down the drain......unless

RALPH SAMPSON III could wake up and actually play to his potential.

Is it me or does it seem that Sampson takes more outside shots as each game passes? Can anyone tell me why he launched two 3-pointers yesterday? His box score might looked impressive, he did have 10 points and 9 rebounds. You also don't see the fact that he shot 4-11 from the field with most of those shots coming from 14 feet away from the basket. Why is the tallest player on the team taking 5 shots a game 14 feet away from the rim? Anyone? Why has he shot 17 three pointers this season?? (He has only made 4) Maybe this is why he averages only 5 rebounds a game... which is pathetic to think that the tallest player on the court gets that few. Iverson averages more rebounds then him and he plays about 8 minutes less a game then Sampson.

He needs to get his ass down on the block and actually post people up. Has he never watched any tape of his father??

If the Gophers have any chance this season, it will come down to guard play and our big guys.
1.Trevor Mbakwe didn't get the ball enough yesterday, which is baffling due to the fact he is our best player in the post and in general.

2. Play the freshmen so we can use them down the stretch, Hollins had a huge game and we need him every game to step up like he did.

3. Don't be afraid to put Blake at the 2 and let him do what he does best...come off screens and shoot.


Anybody else agree or disagree with me??

Stay Fresh,

Noel

My thoughts to start off the week....

Here are some quick thoughts off my mind about what is going on currently...

-As some of you know, Nick Punto signed a free agent contract with the St. Louis Cardinals after he learned that the Twins weren't going to pick up his option this year. In an article written in the Pioneer Press located here, Punto thought Twins General Manager Bill Smith would call hoping to hear the Twins wanted him back.....I just don't understand how Punto would ever think the Twins would pay him $5 million dollars just to come off the bench. Don't get me wrong, his defense is not in question but I'm pretty sure I could can come up with more hits then he can. Punto is just pain to the eyes when he comes up to the plate.....I would rather send Pavano to the plate, I would bet that his mustache would hit a ball farther then Punto would.


-Us Gopher Basketball fans saw first hand what happens when your one and only point guard goes to due to injury. With Devoe Joseph leaving the program, the Gophers are left with Blake Hoffarber leading the point while two freshman come off the bench.... I noticed two things in the loss against Purdue
1. Rodney Williams needs to step up quick and fast. He is not on the team to score points. He is on the team to bring speed and athleticism on the perimeter. He needs to protect the ball and make sure the big men get the ball inside. His defense needs to improve as all.
2. The only way Hoffarber is going to score is when he is NOT running the point. Hoffarber is deadly when he runs around screens and the offense sets him up with the ball. That is impossible when he is bringing up the ball.

- We will find out pretty soon what the first class of recruits Jerry Kill will bring to the Gopher Football nation. Good news is that Wisconsin only has one commitment from Minnesota. Jerry Kill has a LONG road ahead of him and if he is ever going to turn around the Gopher Football nation... it all starts with recruiting. So we shall see what is ahead for the upcoming season.

- I'm going to keep this last one short and simple.... if Kevin Love isn't selected to the All Star Team, I will no longer watch a NBA game for a whole year. There is no argument to be made that he isn't an All Star. Give on look at his stats and the rest of this story is history....

Hope your Monday was alive and kickin,

Stay Fresh,

Noel

How far will the Gophers go?

Hello World,

I apologize that I have abandoned this blog. Life sometimes calls for an intermission.

Some quick notes.

Minnesota Golden Gopher basketball lost a key member this past week when Al Nolen broke his foot against Michigan. This is possibly one of the worse case scenarios for the Gophers. Not only does Nolan have tremendous defense which is key because the Big Ten is full of great point guards, this leaves a huge hole for some of the freshman to somehow fill in. I think that the Gophers had a chance for a Big Ten title with Nolen but I feel that hope is gone with him sidelined.

Minnesota Wild continues to show that they are they better Minnesota team in the winter as they have more wins then the T-Puppies!

I don't even know where to begin about Kevin Love's game.... too bad that he won't last in Minnesota. The true question is when will he leave?

I will post a true blog post in a couple of days..

Until then..

Stay Fresh,

Noel

If only every Minnesota team had him......

I remember the first time I met Mikko Koivu....

I was in line ( first in line) waiting to meet him for the first time and kinda had the same feeling every teenage girl had when Backstreet Boys pretended to sing 15 years ago.
Along with Mikko was Eric Belanger who was another Wild player (at the time). When it was time for them to sit down and get ready to sign stuff, they didn't know which seat was theirs so they played a simple game of Rock-Paper-Scissors......As they started, Mikko lost the first game and instantly wanted two out three, so they played again and he lost for a second time....

After they sat down and were all ready, it was time for me to come up and meet the players. There was one thing that was clearly evident when I approached them, Mikko was red in the face and really mad that he lost that game with Belanger..... Sure you can say I assume that, but while Mikko was signing some things for me, I said "Tough loss their with Belanger" and he quickly replied to me that "Yeah, I hate losing in everything"...

The Star Tribune wrote an article about Mikko the other day.. click here for it.

This is what you want in your Captain for your hockey team. Now sure, Mikko is my favorite player but I usually just don't pick my favorite players based on anything. I always look at their all around game and how that player makes other people better. I am never quick to decide who is my favorite player on teams or leagues.

Mikko Koivu is my favorite Minnesota Wild player because he will admit to you that he is sucking and needs to play better... he never criticizes anybody but himself and will always look to improve. There is a reason why he has led the Wild in points for the past couple of years. His effort is unmatched on the team.

I truly believe is lack of production this early in the season is that with the new contract on his shoulders, he is beating himself up to much and expects too much out of him. But I know Mikko will bounce back because he always does. You know that he is constantly looking for ways to improve his game..

Who is your favorite Wild player and why?

Thanks for reading the rant.

Stay Fresh,

Noel

Is Bucky being bad??

Interesting story coming out of the Badger Herald a couple of days ago and now coming out of the Star Tribune...click here for the story.

Apparently, one of the writers of the Herald has a really big problem with Wisconsin students buying tickets for the Rose Bowl and then selling them to make a profit on websites like Stubhub, Craigslist, and Ebay......

So what the writer did was find out who was doing this horrible terrible act and then publish their names in the paper under the title "The Worse People on Campus"......

Now I understand if you are bitter about this situation.....actually I don't......Because if people had kept their tickets to every sporting event in the world, there is now way I would have seen so many games that range in 12 different pro and college venues.... You think that I would have found a ticket to the "Big House" in Michigan without buying it from someone who wasn't selling theirs???

I am sure people buying things and re-selling them for a profit has been going on for a couple thousand years.....or is that just me?

Accept the fact Badger Herald....That the scalping world may affect the Rose Bowl......
I'm sure any Gopher Fan would have this wonderful problem any day..


Stay Fresh,

Noel

Who is this guy?

Gopher Athletic Director Joel Maturi announced he hired Jerry Kill as the next coach for Gopher Football......

I feel like I should repeat that so you seem more confused...


Yes, Jerry Kill..... Who is this guy...

Well he is the guy who led the Northern Illinios Huskies in a victory over the Gophers this year and then ended up losing to Miami (Ohio) which were a 17 1/2-point underdog in the MAC Title game.

If I was going to the Mid-American conference to find a coach, wouldn't I want the coach who won it???

hmmmmmmm.

Hopefully this guy doesn't announce promises to the Gopher Nation that we are going to the Rose Bowl.....

I can already feel Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa already licking their chomps...


Can you?

Stay Fresh,
Noel