FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[finsleft]

finsleft, I've found your X-Mas present. The t-shirt, not the chick.

It says, "It's the most wonderful time for a beer."

Excellent! I'll take just  the t-shirt. Not sure I'd wanna mess around with a gal with tats like that.

[OzJohnnie]

Thanks, BDB.  Merry Christmas right back at ya.

[finsleft]

Here's one for you, BDB:

[DuffMan]

finsleft, I've found your X-Mas present. The t-shirt, not the chick.

It says, "It's the most wonderful time for a beer."

Excellent! I'll take just  the t-shirt. Not sure I'd wanna mess around with a gal with tats like that.

Tats or...nevermind

[finsleft]

I would be interested in the "nevermind".

[LBean]

tMert, think I read something in Pioneer Press yesterday about a PBS special on Thomas Merton.    Think it's on Dec. 14.   Check your local  listing.   

   I'm always surprised when the godless lefties at PBS do something like this story on such a huge, modern  Catholic figure like Fr. Thomas Merton.     

Godless lefties?? If I didn't love you so much, I'd smite you for that asinine remark.

  Sorry, Fins.   Evidently my attempt at humor failed.    I'll take the smite.   

[finsleft]

Just tell Father to tack on an extra Hail Mary.

[DustySJU]

Football Alert!

Just had Sirius Satelite Radio loaded up on my vehicle and came across a pretty good college football show you can listen to on www.rivals.com.  Bill King is the host and has some good chats about college football rivalries and recruiting.  You can listen to the recorded version for free on line.

Sorry, just sharing my remedy for Johnnie Football withdrawl.... 

[OzJohnnie]

Sorry, just sharing my remedy for Johnnie Football withdrawal.... 

[sjusection105]

105: I don't believe South Dakota has income tax.  Good choice, but perhaps someplace more exotic would be more apropo...

Mr. President, you are correct So.Dak. has no income tax! They generate all they need by sales tax, which I feel is a fair solution. If I buy a SUV- I get hit by sales tax, if I buy an econo-box I don't get hit as bad. There are less "tax-games" with loopholes to justify that my SUV is a "business expense".

As for a more exotic location (or better weather) FL, TX, NV are also options but I have to wean Mrs. 105 away from the Stearns County roots slowly, so So. Dak. would be a first step 

[janesvilleflash]

I start drawing SS end of next  summer. I'd like to head south. Mrs. Flash doesn't wean worth a crap, and doesn't want to wean, among other things. I'm a little nervous I may miss her.

[TC]

Ha, no way in hell.

I see 4 troubling games on that schedule.  Let's hope the Johnnies can go 8-2 (7-1) and make the playoffs. 

So CAR fired all their ammo this year?  Maybe, I guess.

Your troubling games are...? UWEC, @CC, BU, ...USTD?

Call me an out of touch dreamer, but I think CAR has a better chance against the Jays than the Tommies.  The Tommies have a rich tradition of sucking and two seasons are not enough to shed that legacy.  CAR have a couple years on the USTDers in that respect.

Those would be they.

Re: CAR (and AUG, for S&G's) v. UST:  Carleton had 7 All-MIAC players, 5 first team, 2 second team:  1st--Shane Henfling-SR, Matt Frank-SR, Steve Ramey-SR, John Hanks-SR, Drew Ziller-SR, 2nd--Nick Cesarek-SR, Brad Eckelmann-SO.

Do see you a trend there?  I know Ramler has come in and totally changed a lot of things in the program, including recruiting, but I still find it hard to believe that Carleton has become the kind of team that reloads rather than rebuilds.  Just based on the number of kids on their roster, I think it will be almost impossible to replace the considerable amount of talent they lose going into next year.

For fun, Augsburg's 1st teamers:  Jordan Berg-SR, Royce Winford-SR (I could stop there...), Brandon Rudenick-SR.  And 2nd teamers:  Jason Potts-SR, Mike Struss-SR, Muneer Al-Hameed-SO, Donavon Bates-SR, Garrett Adamson-SO.

(A tangent!)  I see teams like Augsburg, Carleton, and St. Olaf kinda like small market teams in baseball--Tampa, Florida, MIlwaukee, Oakland--while St. John's, for better or worse, is the Yankees.  (Concordia is the Dodgers, Bethel is the Red Sox, St. Thomas is the Cubs, Hamline is the Pirates, Gustavus is the Orioles.)

While St. John's has ridiculous resources at their disposal, they still need to get it done on the field, run into some problems unique to a program of their stature, and are the team that everyone loves to hate.  The "small market" schools realize that there are going to be some lean years, but if they get a good group of players together that develop for a few years, they have a small-but-legitimate window of opportunity (at least at the conference level).  For St. Olaf, that window closed in 2007, and I'm afraid Carleton and Augsburg saw their opportunity pass in 2008.  (/tangent)

Let's compare those teams to St. Thomas.  Without listing all the names, their first teamers:  1 SR, 3 JR, and 1 SO, their second teamers:  4 JR, 1 SO, 1 FY.  I'm far from a great football mind, but I think UST has 4 players who have a chance to be legitimately elite (or already are):  Ben Wartman-SO, Fritz Waldvogel-FY, Tommie Becker-JR, and Brady Ervin-JR.  And that's just players that played last year--don't forget about Greg Morse and whatever other recruits Caruso has on board. 

Carleton and St. Thomas were both 7-3 (5-3) last year.  For one team, I see a bright future.  For the other?  Damn, they were SO close this year.  And I say that as a certified Tommie hater.

[tmerton]

  tMert, think I read something in Pioneer Press yesterday about a PBS special on Thomas Merton.    Think it's on Dec. 14.   Check your local  listing.   

   I'm always surprised when the godless lefties at PBS do something like this story on such a huge, modern  Catholic figure like Fr. Thomas Merton.     

   

Grazie.  Amazingly close to the Thomas Merton feast day - Dec. 10 (1968).  It's been 40 years - probably the reason for the special.  Twenty years ago you'd go into a bookstore and find a large section of books on Merton; these days not so much.  I've stocked up, though.

I suspect there will be a mini-party of sorts at the La on the 14th, finals notwithstanding (grrrr).

[tmerton]

tMert, think I read something in Pioneer Press yesterday about a PBS special on Thomas Merton.    Think it's on Dec. 14.   Check your local  listing.   

   I'm always surprised when the godless lefties at PBS do something like this story on such a huge, modern  Catholic figure like Fr. Thomas Merton.     

Godless lefties?? If I didn't love you so much, I'd smite you for that asinine remark.

Yeah, next thing you know Bean'll say something about the NYT!

[TC]

My approximate reaction upon hearing that the Twins ended their pursuit of Casey Blake:  here.




Who is Thomas Merton?