FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[BDB]

They would beat your team 179 to 0. Your team sucks. They just suck so hard.

Every once in awhile we get a noteworthy quote of the highest level.  +k Bench

[cobbernation]

So...what are the playoffs like?

Overlook Northwestern and it won't matter

Just because teams from Iowa can't beat crappy teams named Northwestern doesn't mean the same will hold true for teams from Minnesota.  Northwestern should essentially be a bye for St. Thomas, but still not kill them in OW%.

LOL was that a stab at the Hawkeyes?? Good one...still reeling from the 55-0 debacle last year or what?

Or was it the fact that I think Cornell is the only IIAC team to play Northwestern of the MIAC lately...

Reusse isn't the only one without his facts straight.

   Northwestern is not a MIAC school.  Northwestern has played Simpson the last 2 years.  Playing Northwestern will help St. Thomas' OWP, even though Northwestern is having its worst season in a decade at 5-4. 

UST playing Mac and Northwestern could ultimately give them a horrible seed in the playoffs.  I could see UST getting a 7 or 8 seed next Sunday. 

Better to play Northwestern (5-4 in region) than Concordia (4-4).   

I know, I wish concordia had a weaker non-conference schedule.  Playing the #8 team in the country and winning is not a great accomplishment.  Yes, I realize concordia slipped for a few games, but they have won 3 straight! 

Refresh my memory when was Northwestern in the D-3 playoffs last?

The strength of schedule ratings do not take into account the fact that you beat the #8 team in the country.  It's a bad system I agree, but your statement that St. Thomas will get a bad seed due to playing Northwestern is false.  In fact, their position will improve.  If they beat Concordia saturday, their OWP would go down.  Facts are stubborn things...

You are telling me that is UST was in the UMAC, ran the table all year it would look better than being a 1 loss team in the MIAC?  Hard to believe!  The MIAC usually gets 2 teams into the playoffs each year because it's a very competitive conference.  

Do you think Northwestern has a tougher SOS than Concordia?  No possible way, look at your loss to simpson by 20+ and they are 3-6 overall.  Does Northwestern have any quality wins?

Take Monmouth as an example of a team in a worse conference, running the table and getting ranked ahead of St. Thomas.  Northwestern does not have a better SOS than Concordia.  What's important for St. Thomas is Northwestern's in-region record.  Northwestern has been averaging 8 wins a season the last 5 years, but this year they are 5-4.  This is better than Concordia or another strong team who has played great competition, but is 4-4.

To the Northwestern rube: It's a step above scheduling Trinity Bible for a game, but not by much. Your team is the last embarrassing thing UST has to deal with from the Roney era. Hamline shouldn't even schedule your team. Northwestern football is a pit of despair. In an era where soccer moms think everyone should get a trophy, it's fitting that Northwestern thinks they're good for winning the UMAC last year. The Cobbers beat Williamette this year. They would beat your team 179 to 0. Your team sucks. They just suck so hard.

It has benefitted the Tommie's Strength-of-schedule numbers the past 2 years playing Northwestern.  It benefits Northwestern to play better competition than playing Trinity Bible.  If Northwestern is in a pit of despair, so is more than half of d3 as Northwestern was in the top 100 in the pre-season poll.  Hamline and Northwestern have scrimmaged the past few years after splitting a pair of games 5 years ago.  Your team is having a good year, my team not so much, but it should still be a fun game on Saturday.  

AO,
The cobbers are 5-4 on the year. 

[Willy Wonka]

(Note to WW: even without getting into the debate over your abilities, it's probably too late for you.)  

I certainly don't agree with all of his columns and often think he can be a bit predictable. Sometimes he mails it in with that old-school "afflict the comfortable, comfort the afflicted'' (i.e., shots at JG running it up, Bud Grant, etc) formula, but on the whole he will generally grab my eye, at least for a quick scan of the topic. And you can often see when he writes on d3 or preps that he has a genuine interest in telling the stories and history of the non-pro Minnesota sports scene.

Too late for me? Meaning what?

[OzJohnnie]

RE: The johnniefootball.com alleged rumor on Grant coming to SJU:

The full text is, "With rumors of EP head coach Mike Grant heading to Collegeville next fall here's one Johnnie fan who hopes he packs his trailer and saves room to bring along a few of his football playing graduates."

A couple obvious things to point out to the mouth-breathing Johnnie haters:

A) Dusty does not endorse the rumor, but merely hopes it's true.

B) This rumor is an annual favorite.  Name the year in the last five where this rumor was not circulated.

C) Tommies suck and Northwestern wishes it was good enough to suck.

I find it incredulous that in the space of a couple posts, people can defend a professional journalist who made multiple simple and obvious factual errors (as grateful that we are that he at least writes the error-ridden column) while at the same time trying to condemn a fan site for wishing the holy grail of rumors is finally true.

The thing about this persistent rumor is that it is so powerfully intoxicating or infuriating.  For the Johnnie fan it's a marriage of two legends and holds the promise of further Johnnie greatness, and for the other MIAC teams it represents at least another thirty years of sore necks as they crane their heads trying to see the leaders.

[repete]

Meaning the path from smaller in-state papers (i.e,, the Republican Eagle or the PB) isn't nearly as linear as it used to be.

Even if newspapers were hiring, your competition for jobs at the Pioneer Press or the Strib -- assuming that's a goal --  is so much  greater in these days of online portfolios (especially for designers) and the big-time internships. 

It's gone from a farm system career path to a national free agent format.

[DutchFan2004]

Winterhawk - thanks for agreeing.  The only problem with your post is that you mentioned that TDT should use personal email.  You need to have friends or at least acquaintances that you can email to in order to send a personal email so that doesn't work for TDT.  This forum is the only option that TDT has as his email address has been blocked by all others.  

Or he hasn't learned how to use the personal message on this board.   

[repete]

There's no defending lazy or sloppy work here. He f'd the pooch.

It needs context, however. Strib got burned for allowing it to get into print, but also deserves credit for fixing it quickly. The Strib website was fixed by 11 p.m. and later editions of the paper didn't have the byes/rankings mistakes.

Reusse fessed up about it on his blog, much as Pat C. noted on the podcast about being late in acknowledging Linfield's playoff spot.

[Willy Wonka]

Meaning the path from smaller in-state papers (i.e,, the Republican Eagle or the PB) isn't nearly as linear as it used to be.

Even if newspapers were hiring, your competition for jobs at the Pioneer Press or the Strib -- assuming that's a goal --  is so much  greater in these days of online portfolios (especially for designers) and the big-time internships. 

It's gone from a farm system career path to a national free agent format.

Completely agree. I'm about the fourth straight Eagle SE to make the move to Roch, so that pipeline has continued. But the prospects from there are limited, as you say.

I spoke with PR once and he talked all about his career path — his Wiki is pretty incomplete, but he actually got his start out at some weekly in western MN, as did I. I'd rather forget that 6 months of my life, but he tends to lean that direction now with his HS features. Especially during state tournament time.

[Retired Old Rat]

Veek, I hope your girls had a good time at the Johnnie game and enjoyed their first visit to the HHH Metrodome.

TDT, are you aware that the owner of Hell's Kitchen is former Anoka stud linebacker Mitch Omer?

repete and sfury, glad to see your contributions to the discussion. 

John Stanton = Stud.  He's the hardest hitter on the team and always around the ball.  My favorite was his catch of the short Augie kickoff following the INT return for a TD.

I don't think anyone has commented on the, um, "atmosphere" in the dome with 2,500 people in attendance.  To paraphrase Bench, it sucks, it just sucks so hard.

The lines for the Twin's garage sale were crazy.  I asked some people who were about 2/3 down the line how long they had been waiting.  Two hours.  I bet they had another two hours before they got inside.  I did talk to a women on her way out who said she got the entire 1987 bobble head collection.  Sweet.

[OzJohnnie]

Nice analysis by TC (as per usual) in the regional rankings thread, here.  He puts some substance behind the ranking committee's thinking that makes them look smart and the judgment here (mine...) look harsh and off target.  Best of all, he makes a good case (assuming consistency in the ranking process) for the Johnnies to get the overall number one ranking in all regions.  How nice would that be?

[retagent]

Just for discussion sake, and granting that we (Johnnie Fans) would love to see SJU seeded #1 overall, What is the "right" thing to do? If the mathmatical criteria dictates that SJU is rated #1, but most intelligent D III fans would deem both UWW and MUC to be more deserving of such a distinction, what should be done?

I have always thought that objectivity has precedence, but I don't think you can be slaves to the numbers, when they are based on disparate data, i.e. winning percentage of teams played, when those teams are not of similar quality. But that's just me.

[repete]

Ret, bennie:

Local sports here had shots of Ovie doing light skating/shooting drills tonight, wearing the yellow caution sweather.

[CobberFvr]

So...what are the playoffs like?

Overlook Northwestern and it won't matter

Just because teams from Iowa can't beat crappy teams named Northwestern doesn't mean the same will hold true for teams from Minnesota.  Northwestern should essentially be a bye for St. Thomas, but still not kill them in OW%.

LOL was that a stab at the Hawkeyes?? Good one...still reeling from the 55-0 debacle last year or what?

Or was it the fact that I think Cornell is the only IIAC team to play Northwestern of the MIAC lately...

Reusse isn't the only one without his facts straight.

   Northwestern is not a MIAC school.  Northwestern has played Simpson the last 2 years.  Playing Northwestern will help St. Thomas' OWP, even though Northwestern is having its worst season in a decade at 5-4. 

UST playing Mac and Northwestern could ultimately give them a horrible seed in the playoffs.  I could see UST getting a 7 or 8 seed next Sunday. 

Better to play Northwestern (5-4 in region) than Concordia (4-4).   

I know, I wish concordia had a weaker non-conference schedule.  Playing the #8 team in the country and winning is not a great accomplishment.  Yes, I realize concordia slipped for a few games, but they have won 3 straight! 

Refresh my memory when was Northwestern in the D-3 playoffs last?

The strength of schedule ratings do not take into account the fact that you beat the #8 team in the country.  It's a bad system I agree, but your statement that St. Thomas will get a bad seed due to playing Northwestern is false.  In fact, their position will improve.  If they beat Concordia saturday, their OWP would go down.  Facts are stubborn things...

You are telling me that is UST was in the UMAC, ran the table all year it would look better than being a 1 loss team in the MIAC?  Hard to believe!  The MIAC usually gets 2 teams into the playoffs each year because it's a very competitive conference.  

Do you think Northwestern has a tougher SOS than Concordia?  No possible way, look at your loss to simpson by 20+ and they are 3-6 overall.  Does Northwestern have any quality wins?

Take Monmouth as an example of a team in a worse conference, running the table and getting ranked ahead of St. Thomas.  Northwestern does not have a better SOS than Concordia.  What's important for St. Thomas is Northwestern's in-region record.  Northwestern has been averaging 8 wins a season the last 5 years, but this year they are 5-4.  This is better than Concordia or another strong team who has played great competition, but is 4-4.

To the Northwestern rube: It's a step above scheduling Trinity Bible for a game, but not by much. Your team is the last embarrassing thing UST has to deal with from the Roney era. Hamline shouldn't even schedule your team. Northwestern football is a pit of despair. In an era where soccer moms think everyone should get a trophy, it's fitting that Northwestern thinks they're good for winning the UMAC last year. The Cobbers beat Williamette this year. They would beat your team 179 to 0. Your team sucks. They just suck so hard.

It has benefitted the Tommie's Strength-of-schedule numbers the past 2 years playing Northwestern.  It benefits Northwestern to play better competition than playing Trinity Bible.  If Northwestern is in a pit of despair, so is more than half of d3 as Northwestern was in the top 100 in the pre-season poll.  Hamline and Northwestern have scrimmaged the past few years after splitting a pair of games 5 years ago.  Your team is having a good year, my team not so much, but it should still be a fun game on Saturday.  

Concordia would shred Northwestern. Period.

[sfury]

RE: The johnniefootball.com alleged rumor on Grant coming to SJU:

The full text is, "With rumors of EP head coach Mike Grant heading to Collegeville next fall here's one Johnnie fan who hopes he packs his trailer and saves room to bring along a few of his football playing graduates."

A couple obvious things to point out to the mouth-breathing Johnnie haters:

A) Dusty does not endorse the rumor, but merely hopes it's true.

B) This rumor is an annual favorite.  Name the year in the last five where this rumor was not circulated.

C) Tommies suck and Northwestern wishes it was good enough to suck.

I find it incredulous that in the space of a couple posts, people can defend a professional journalist who made multiple simple and obvious factual errors (as grateful that we are that he at least writes the error-ridden column) while at the same time trying to condemn a fan site for wishing the holy grail of rumors is finally true.

The thing about this persistent rumor is that it is so powerfully intoxicating or infuriating.  For the Johnnie fan it's a marriage of two legends and holds the promise of further Johnnie greatness, and for the other MIAC teams it represents at least another thirty years of sore necks as they crane their heads trying to see the leaders.

One person wondered about the Grant rumor - where was the condemning of the fan site, especially since it's a Johhnie fan who was simply curious about it? - and that same person was criticizing Reusse. Not sure what there is to be incredulous about. People "defending" Reusse didn't mention the Grant rumor or criticize jfootball.com

[smedindy]

Pick 'ems are posted. Sorry I did not post a reminder. I missed picking as did a couple of regulars.

Boo me if you wish - though Sid Hartman would say that it's unwarranted. And Sid's forgotten more than I'll know. Unfortunately for Sid, what he's forgotten doesn't make sense either...