Knowing what I know now if I were on the NCAA Tourney Selection Committee I would vote NO on the Gophers bid to play in the tourney this year.  I know we were all very happy after they upset number one Indiana a couple of weeks ago but so much has happened since then.  Yes, they did blow out Penn State at the barn on Senior Day – not a big accomplishment if you think about it.  The problems started after that.  They had two games remaining against Nebraska and Purdue.  Both of these games were on the road but there is no doubt that the Gophers have better talent than both of teams.  But, of course they found a way to lose both. Nebraska did everything in their power to give the game to the Gophers but they still found a way to lose to the Huskers 53-51.  Then they followed that up with a reverse beat down of epic proportions to a well below average Purdue team on Saturday.  In mid-January they were 15-1, ranked number eight in the land with the only loss coming to Duke – nothing to be ashamed of there.  Since then they are 5-10 with losses to Iowa, Purdue, Nebraska and even (gulp) Northwestern.  They do have a couple of nice wins over that span – the aforementioned win over Indiana and an overtime win over the Badgers on Valentine’s Day. But, these wins do not outweigh the misery of the other losses and even though they still have some good numbers as far as strength of schedule and other computer rankings they don’t pass the “eye test” in my opinion.

I think the best outcome for the long term success of the program would be for them to get hammered by Illinois on Thursday and be left out of the NCAA tourney.  If I were Athletic Director Norwood Teague I would then do the following. 1. Respectfully decline the NIT Tourney invite. 2. Get the company checkbook out, swallow hard and write a check for 2.5 million dollars hand it over to Tubby Smith and ask him to go away. 3. Go to VCU and beg your old pal Shaka Smart to take the job. I know these three things are a pipedream but it’s really the only chance for the Gophers to recover from this debacle.

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I will have to admit I was not expecting the Gophers basketball team to pull off the upset last night against the number one team in the nation – The Indiana Hoosiers.  Maybe because they had lost eight of the last eleven big ten games, maybe because they have been blown out in their last two games against Iowa and Ohio State, maybe because the coach has been blaming the seniors on the team.  I am sure I am leaving some reasons out but my point is that anyone who saw that coming last night is not being honest.  They even went so far as to bring in a sports psychologist to try to help get the team in the right frame of mind. Whatever they did to prepare for this game they should bottle it and use it for the rest of the season because it worked.  The last time the Gophers beat a team that was ranked number one in the country was 1989.  I was not at the game last night but just watching it on television made me remember how great things can be when the Gophers play well.  The old barn was rocking and watching the crowd storm the court after the win was definitely a sight for sore eyes.  Let’s hope they can build on this a turn the season around.  It seems like ages ago when they were 15-1 and ranked number eight in the country.  Everyone knows the potential is there and now that they have beaten the best team in the land they should be able to use that as a spring board to greatness.  But, even if things don’t turn out well the fans still have that game last night to fall back on and remember for a long time to come.

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The Gophers have a couple of tough road games this week.  They play at Northwestern tomorrow night and at Wisconsin on Saturday.  When looking at the schedule I am sure that most of us would agree that any game against Northwestern would be a win.  I am sure Wisconsin may have been thinking that when they went to Iowa last weekend and were upset by the Hawkeyes.  The moral of the story here is that in the Big Ten there are no “gimmies”.  The Gophers have lost two straight all be it to two top five teams in the country (Indiana and Michigan) and if they want to still have a shot at winning the Big Ten regular season title they can’t afford to lose too many more games.  That’s why these two games are so important.  So far the Gophers have been fun to watch and a 15-3 overall record is nothing to be ashamed of but to get to the next level and be seriously considered a contender for the Big Ten title they need to win tough road games like they have on the schedule this week.

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Here we are at the Holidays and it’s still fun to be a Viking Fan!  After a couple of seasons that we would all love to forget this season has turned into a very pleasant surprise.  Like most of you I was in the group of fans saying the Vikings would have a great season if they would approach eight wins.  So, after upsetting the overrated Houston Texans they have a chance to get in the playoffs by beating the hated Packers this Sunday.  Even the distraction of the quarterback getting married during the week couldn’t stop the Vikings from traveling to Houston and pounding the Texans.  Nothing would be better than the Vikings hammering the Packers this Sunday and the icing on the cake would be if Adrian Peterson could run for about 225 yards and break the single season NFL rushing record.  Let’s hope that a great win right before Christmas can be parlayed into an even greater win just before New Year’s Eve – if that happens let the party begin!

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The Vikings have put Percy Harvin on injured reserve.  This will not only end his season with the Vikings put my guess is he has played his last game in purple.  He has missed the last three games with a sprained ankle and now word comes out that he’s on the I.R. This must be the worst sprained ankle in the history of the NFL.  The experts can’t say enough about how “tough” Harvin is and now he is going to miss most of the second half of the season with a sprained ankle?  Something smells here.  I will admit Harvin is a very productive and electrifying player when he’s on the field, but he seems to be the classic “diva” as many wide outs are.  The Vikings took a leap of faith in drafting him out of Florida being that he tested positive for illegal drugs at the scouting combine.  He has missed countless practice time because of mysterious headaches over the years.  And now this.  He made a stink last summer because he wasn’t given a contract extension and now in my opinion he has given up on his team when they needed him the most.  The Vikings lack of depth at the wide receiver position is not new news and with Harvin bailing out on his teammates I think we all can see the kind of character – or lack thereof he is demonstrating.

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Another season of Minnesota Golden Gopher Men’s Basketball is upon us.  There is more reason for optimism as we head into this season than the past few.  The team is mostly made up of upperclassmen and should challenge for a Big Ten title and be a factor in the NCAA Tournament in March.  Notice I said “should”.

The Gophers are pretty notorious for finding a way to under achieve.  But, after last year’s run to the NIT Championship game and  a fairly impressive win total (23) they really should be able to take the next step.  Not that the whole season hinges on one player but they could really use Trevor Mbakwe this year.  He blew out his knee in an early season tourney last year and was granted a medical redshirt to come back for this season.  Of course we all know that merely being healthy enough to play is not the only obstacle that young Trevor must avoid.  He seems be to one of those guys who can’t stay out of his own way.  A history of legal troubles and off the court issues had placed him on probation and a DUI charge over the summer seemed to be the last straw.  But, a lenient judge decided to give him “one more chance” to get his act together.  Now it comes out this week that he has tweeted a message saying he “loves his teammates and will refund his scholarship if the Gophs don’t make the tourney”.  Very admirable but is that really necessary?  With all of the issues surrounding Mbakwe I think Coach Tubby Smith should have a little chat with him.  If I were in Coach Smith’s shoes that chat would go something like this “do not tweet anything – do not post anything on Facebook – do not talk to the media – in fact do not talk to anyone.  Just shut up and play ball!”  End of chat.  If the Gophers are to realize their potential they will need a very focused Trevor Mbakwe. The Big Ten is loaded with great teams again this year and the Gophers will need all hands on deck if they are to compete for a Conference Championship.

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The Vikings loss to the Bucs Thursday night was disappointing on many levels.  The game itself was very hard to watch – the offense could not get anything going pretty much from beginning to end.  There were way too many three and outs and I think the quarterback reminds me of another Viking QB that used to wear number 7.  And no, I am not talking about Randall Cunningham.  I am of course talking about our old friend T-Jack!  Remember him?  Ponder has regressed to a point that one can only think that he is the reason the offense is struggling.  AP had another great game and is making everyone forget that he blew out his knee about 10 months ago.  The defense was not great but it played well enough in the second half to give the offense several chances to get back in the game.  So, it comes back to Ponder.  He simply has to play better.  Several times the guys calling the game for NFL Network pointed out that Ponder was making bad decisions and bad throws.  Hopefully he can figure it out because the second half of the schedule is much tougher than the first half.  Going to Seattle this coming Sunday will be no picnic and the Vikes still have to play the Packers twice,  the Bears twice and the Houston Texans on the road.  The quarterback better step up his play or the 5-3 first half will be forgotten very quickly.

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OK – raise your hand if you predicted the Vikings would be 4-1 after five games.  If your hand is up you are not a very honest person.  In a perfect world I thought they would be 3-2, more likely 2-3, but to say they would be 4-1 is pretty crazy.  They have done it with a very solid defense and a lot of Percy Harvin.  Not to mention that Christian Ponder has been very efficient and is turning into a real NFL caliber quarterback.  In looking ahead at the schedule it’s not hard to imagine that the word “playoffs” will be thrown around Viking Country as we move through the middle of the season.  They have the Redskins this Sunday followed by the Cards, Bucs, Seahawks and Lions.  All winnable games, although nothing in today’s NFL would be a surprise. If they could come through that stretch and have a record of say 8-2 then the playoffs look like a very realistic possibility.  The Vikes have a much tougher schedule after Thanksgiving with the Bears and Packers both on the schedule twice along with Houston and an improved Rams team.  One would have to assume the Packers will gets their season straightened out and the Bears look to be very solid.  But, at least it’s nice the Vikings are at least in the mix this season after basically being a non-factor the last two seasons.

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Please bring back the regular NFL referees!  The replacement referees are way in over their head in terms of the speed of the game.  Not only that but you would think they could count to two and three.  In the Vikings win over the 49ers yesterday the 49ers called four timeouts and had three challenges all in the second half.  They really can’t keep track of how many time outs are called?  I was watching the Patriots vs. Ravens game and once again these refs have no idea of how to run an NFL game.  There were many “little fights” that could have turned into an all out brawl if the refs did not jump in and throw some flags.  To make matters worse the game winning field goal by the Ravens looked wide right from every camera angle that was shown.  But, the good ole’ replacement refs called it good – most likely because they did not want to have the crowd come down on the field in Baltimore and beat them to death.  The NFL is by far the most popular sport in the country and is making money hand over fist.  Why would they decide to make a point of not paying the regular referees a fair wage to keep the integrity of the game at its highest level?

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What a weekend for the football in Minnesota! I have not done the research but I am willing to bet a considerable amount of cash it has been a long time since the Vikings and Gophers won on the same weekend that the Packers and Badgers lost. While it was not terribly shocking to see the Gophers beat up on New Hampshire and not a major surprise to see the Vikings beat the Jags it was pretty amazing to couple those wins with losses by both teams from the land of cheese. The Badgers losing to the Oregon State Beavers? Really? In the grand scheme of things it probably won’t matter much, what with Ohio State and Penn State both being on probation this season I think it’s safe to pencil the Badgers in the Big Ten Championship Game already. But, the Packers losing at home to the 49ers could really throw a monkey wrench into the first quarter of their NFL season. They play the Bears in Chicago this week, and don’t think that the Bears wouldn’t love to put a good beat down on the Pack and send them back to Green Bay 0-2. Meanwhile the Vikings escaped with a win over the lowly Jags but coming off of 3-13 any win is a good win. They will have a good chance of winning again this week playing the Colts in Indy. The most intriguing team in this group to me is the Minnesota Golden Gophers. They are coming from the same place as the Vikings in that when your team is coming off of a 3-9 season any win is a good win – even if it is New Hampshire. In fact looking ahead at the Gophers schedule an optimist could actually see the Gophers going into Madison to take on Bucky Saturday October 20 as a 6-0 football team. But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It was a great weekend to be a football fan of the teams from Minnesota and a very bad weekend to be a fan of the teams from the dairy state. Maybe we should leave it that. Oh, did I mention the icing on the cake? Iowa State 9 Iowa 6.

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