Thanks for posting the funeral notice Greg. It wasn't yet available when I signed off last night.

Mr Ypsi~
The Roopachino...or Roopacinno depending on Mr The Roop's mood...was a 16 oz hazelnut latte loaded with whipped cream and sprinkled "liberally" with cashew nut pieces. Mr The Roop always blanched when I used the word "liberally" and would call me a left wing hippie know-it-all when I would (intentionally) point out that the drink recipe he concocted was really a latte instead of a cappuccino. He refused to be known as a "latte swilling liberal".

The Roopachino was part of a bet on a Grinnell/Beloit basketball game Mr The Roop attended - the first of several trips he made to Grinnell to watch basketball games. The original bet was that I would receive a Beloit College coffee mug if Grinnell won, and Mr The Roop would get a Saints Rest mug filled with the newly developed Roopachino and a GC sweatshirt if Beloit won. Grinnell ended up winning but we exchanged everything anyway...including the BC sweatshirt that he literally took off his back and gave to me even though it was not part of the original bet. I still have the Mug and the sweatshirt and consider them prize possessions.

I always enjoyed Mr The Roop's visits to Grinnell and was disappointed that he and his wife Beth had to cancel a visit  this February at the last minute due to family concerns. Mark was a great sport, a great fan, and just loopy enough that we got along quite well. I'm gonna miss you, Mr The Roop.

RIP Mark...

I've just been informed that our friend and d3hoops colleague Mark Ruppert - "The Roop" - has passed after a short illness. This board will never be the same...

May the four winds blow you safely home.

Ripon 126
Grinnell 99
No details yet that I can find.

Wow! Didn't see THAT one coming. Better add Ripon to the mix for the MWC Tourney...

Cute analogy, AppletonRocks. GC certainly has put the pickaxe to a few coaches heads...and others have enough talent and enough talented players to accept the challenge. If a coach can't coach and doesn't like their inability to coach challenged, I'm thinking the "pickaxe" comment would be aprapos.

Ya know, I'd like to see that list too, Scottie. I'm certainly not privilege to it. I'd also like to know if GC may have given up asking, if other D3 teams have given up asking GC, and I'd like to know when the last time some teams were asked. Also, as you so astutely observed, the Tango requires TWO participants, so I'd like to know who is responsible for what invites to play...keeping in mind that a number of opposing coaches in past years have NOT been reticent to say they refuse to play GC.

And yes, I'll bet that some teams hold to your "Whitewater Option" as well. Interesting to note that the 2009 Whitewater Tourney had a mediocre Grinnell squad matched up against both Whitewater and Aurora...both of which stomped all over GC. That was the same year that GC faced a strong NAIA William Penn, IIAC's Buena Vista,  and Wheaton...all big GC losses and all on the road single game contracts. Over recent years Wartburg has been far and away the most willing to play GC, both in their own tourneys and in home and home rivalries. Simpson is a distant second in willingness to schedule GC.

I don't think I've ever suggested that teams were "scaredy cats", only that many teams are unwilling to play GC - with the two most recent known excuses being those mentioned in an earlier post on page 871.

BTW, over the last 10 years the regular season record between GC and LU is 9-8 with GC holding the advantage. It is 9-9 counting tourney games. GC has won 7 of the last 8 regular season match ups.
Things have changed a bit in the last 5 years, eh?

Oh, Appleton....How I wish you would pay attention. I'm talking about non-con games (yeah, I know YOU know) and the 40 or so teams from the Midwest and Western regions of D3 that are in close enough proximity to GC to schedule them. But you do (sorta) bring up a point. NONE of the MWC teams seem to be afraid to take on GC with various strategies for winning, and not a team in the conference has...um...escaped...without winning games. If close by non cons would even consider a home and home two game two year contract with GC, no one should have to worry about anything more than just preparing for one so called bizzare game a year for two years running...adding up to only two "meaningless" games with GC in about 20 years - or something like that. So, how about it folks? Step right up and give it a crack. A once in a lifetime chance to humble the Bastards of D3!

There is ONE solution. One that is related to your mistaken assumption that Grinnell pays low skill opponents to play them SOLEY so they can get individual records. We've discussed it before; no one wants to play Grinnell because of their style of play. It doesn't provide learning opportunities for opposing teams...or so the story goes. And now I hear from some of you that teams won't schedule Grinnell because they are not sportsmanlike and they don't want to be a part of it.
There is ONE solution, one I'm surprised no one has jumped on. Why don't the central states top D3 teams LINE UP...drum roll please...To Teach Grinnell A Lesson! Spank 'em hard. Let 'em know what for. Whether you want to believe it or not, Grinnell would PREFER tougher competition and would welcome challenges from better non conference teams. There are any number of teams from Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota who fit that bill. BRING 'EM ON!

Yawn.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year All!

Ted Eskildsen, former Women's Basketball and Soccer Coach at Grinnell College passed this morning. He was one of the Good Guys...

RIP, Ted

We lost one of the Good Guys today...Ted Eskildsen, Retired Coach and teacher, passed this morning. Ted spent a good part of his career coaching Grinnell College Women's Basketball and Soccer.  If any of you out there knew Ted, you know what an amazing person he was. Ted will be sorely  missed.

Ok, Scottie, I'll bite. It's a bit early, but what the hey.

Team: Illinois College (Not in a good way)
          Monmouth College (3-2? NO way...but in a good way  )
COY: Grzesk*
POY: Cerroni*

*based on St Norbert running the table in the MWC; if they don't I'm changin' my votes.

Oh. Ok.