FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[DuffMan]

Well, I've been away on a camping trip to the north country since Friday, but I did switch my phone on and find a bit of reception about 4:00 on Saturday to hear the good news!  Fantastic!  Congrats to the players and to SJU's staff.  Well done!

[stanbob]

Still just mostly Johnnies here.  You don't think there was a mass suicide pact or anything, do you?

I'm thinking that today a few sheepish people make a short return...

[DuffMan]

Getting back to important topics, I tried a new local brew this past weekend

http://www.bigwoodbrewery.com/Big_Wood_Brewery/Minnesota_Craft_Beer___www.bigwoodbrewery___HOME.html

I took home a 4 pack of their APA, and found it to be quite enjoyable.  A little steep at $9.99 (I'm not on a U$T budget), but you're still saving a buck or two over Surly Furious, which remains as my favorite.

I picked up a 4-pack of their IPA and their APA on your recommendation.  Both are darn good, but I liked the APA a bit better.  MGM in Maple Grove has it on sale for $8.44 this week, if you're in the area.

[Walter Eagle]

wow...just watched the youtube video of the St. John's fans storming the field in St. Thomas!! I see many Tommy fans are avoiding the boards thus far. I'm interested to hear their reactions of not just the visiting fans storming the field, but of the game itself.

The one's who kept this game in perspective (as usual being respectful in victory, humble in defeat and wary of trying to predict the future) have said their piece, complimentary to the Johnnies in general and reserved in criticism of their own team, with some understanding of what went wrong.  The one's with the wild predictions of another rout and mocking of the opponent are presumably preparing a major diatribe of excuses, yea but's, or counter-attacks.  Or just going to stay away until they regain perspective.

Personally I'm fine with the opponents storming the field.  Happened at St. John's when the that streak was broken.  Shows how important the game was to them and how happy they are with the outcome.  On the other hand, if St. Thomas had won and their students had stormed the field (which I am sure they would have), it would have been received with a lot of criticism and ridicule.  Personally, considering the closeness of the score and the fact it would have been a victory pulled from the jaws of defeat, I would have given them a pass this time.  But had it been another lop-sided score with the typical one-quarter of the stands still occupied; had those few stormed the field, well, that would have been stupid.

BTW for the record, those students with their props in the photo are seminarians.

[DuffMan]

I was sporting my red in Northern MN while the Johnnies took care of business in St. Paul!

[Walter Eagle]

From the UST Football Twitter 21 hours ago:

"Great atmosphere yesterday, tough day all around, but as always, we'll expect to learn & grow from our shortcomings. Hats off to SJU."

[Boys of Fall]

A sad day for UST to be sure, but we shold commend their head coach for being gracious enough to take time away from the TEAM to accept his INDIVIDUAL honor.  His players can now accept him back into the FAMILY to have him hold their hands and lead them onto the field again next Saturday.

Kudos to the fans of both teams, and especially to the players on both teams, for letting us all enjoy what D3 athletics has to offer.

[Retired Old Rat]

I think the storming the field thing is fine, going both ways.  The youthful exuberance of the respective student bodies is fun to see.  Also very demonstrative of the passion in the rivalry.  Looks like it's a real rivalry again.  At least for now.

[USTBench]

wow...just watched the youtube video of the St. John's fans storming the field in St. Thomas!! I see many Tommy fans are avoiding the boards thus far. I'm interested to hear their reactions of not just the visiting fans storming the field, but of the game itself.

No problem with it. They beat their rival and the #2 team in the country after 3 losses in a row to UST. Plus, UST fans did it at SJU. Big win for them.

One problem I did have: second time in 4 UST/SJU games that someone has attempted to physically assault me after the game ended.

In 2010 a Johnnie fan kicked me after the missed extra point, and Saturday some dude in a blue flannel shirt was SUPER pissed about something, mean mugging and ramming his shoulder into people, another guy and myself for sure (No idea if he was an SJU fan or a UST fan, but certainly an a-hole.)

[faunch]

wow...just watched the youtube video of the St. John's fans storming the field in St. Thomas!! I see many Tommy fans are avoiding the boards thus far. I'm interested to hear their reactions of not just the visiting fans storming the field, but of the game itself.

No problem with it. They beat their rival and the #2 team in the country after 3 losses in a row to UST. Plus, UST fans did it at SJU. Big win for them.

One problem I did have: second time in 4 UST/SJU games that someone has attempted to physically assault me after the game ended.

In 2010 a Johnnie fan kicked me after the missed extra point, and Saturday some dude in a blue flannel shirt was SUPER pissed about something, mean mugging and ramming his shoulder into people, another guy and myself for sure (No idea if he was an SJU fan or a UST fan, but certainly an a-hole.)

About 30 seconds after I got out of my car on Portland Ave (3 blocks away from campus) some piss drunk male college student says to me, "Johnnies are below average."  To which I responded, "You are an amateur drunk."  I was pleasantly surprised that was the only negative interaction I had directed at me. 

On my way back to the car however I encountered what appeared to be a piss drunk Johnnie fan and a Bennie.  This guy was a complete horses arse.  He kicked over a sign on the sidewalk and then started chirping at a bunch of U$T students.  I was kind of hoping they's open a can of whoop ass on him.  I tried telling him to mellow out and he gave me a hard time as well.  Some people just can't handle Vegas (or rivalry games) I guess.

[USTBench]

wow...just watched the youtube video of the St. John's fans storming the field in St. Thomas!! I see many Tommy fans are avoiding the boards thus far. I'm interested to hear their reactions of not just the visiting fans storming the field, but of the game itself.

No problem with it. They beat their rival and the #2 team in the country after 3 losses in a row to UST. Plus, UST fans did it at SJU. Big win for them.

One problem I did have: second time in 4 UST/SJU games that someone has attempted to physically assault me after the game ended.

In 2010 a Johnnie fan kicked me after the missed extra point, and Saturday some dude in a blue flannel shirt was SUPER pissed about something, mean mugging and ramming his shoulder into people, another guy and myself for sure (No idea if he was an SJU fan or a UST fan, but certainly an a-hole.)

About 30 seconds after I got out of my car on Portland Ave (3 blocks away from campus) some piss drunk male college student says to me, "Johnnies are below average."  To which I responded, "You are an amateur drunk."  I was pleasantly surprised that was the only negative interaction I had directed at me. 

On my way back to the car however I encountered what appeared to be a piss drunk Johnnie fan and a Bennie.  This guy was a complete horses arse.  He kicked over a sign on the sidewalk and then started chirping at a bunch of U$T students.  I was kind of hoping they's open a can of whoop ass on him.  I tried telling him to mellow out and he gave me a hard time as well.  Some people just can't handle Vegas (or rivalry games) I guess.

Clearly, by my count 3 UST girls were on their way to get their stomachs pumped. If you're such a drunken idiot that the ambulance that's going to whisk you away to St. Paul Regions (or wherever), is blocking your home team from getting to the locker room at halftime, you should have to apologize to the team.

[sfury]

Posting because of the Duffman quote. And because I wrote it and crave attention.

bit.ly/1fbBbeB

[DuffMan]

Posting because of the Duffman quote. And because I wrote it and crave attention.

bit.ly/1fbBbeB

Ha!  11 years from my playing days and I get quoted. 

[finsleft]

Posting because of the Duffman quote. And because I wrote it and crave attention.

bit.ly/1fbBbeB

You deserve the attention. Great piece of writing, in spite of the Duffman quote 

Rambling thoughts on SJU...

Our defense has been playing increasingly inspired football this year. They have gotten better with each game, and have allowed SJU to win. Like Bud Grant said, "Offense scores points, defense wins games." True here.

As good as they are becoming, (making me almost forget how bad they were last year) the SJU D could be called spectacular if they could have stopped UST conversions on 3rd/4th downs. Especially in 2nd half, UST pulled off plays with gains that kept their drives going.

Bruns has certainly taken advantage of the situation and rightfully owns the starting QB spot. He looks like a man in charge and he knows how to use his tools.

Can't say enough about how good our offensive line looked on Saturday. And Sura is an outstanding runner, but the boys in front of him made a lot of what he did possible.

Kudos to Ramler and the job he's doing so far. But late in the game, the play calling seemed predictable and stoppable when they should have been trying to open it up a little more.

Oh, and one more thing, Tommies suck.

Love and Karma to all,
Your Pal,
Fins

[ChicagoTommie]

Just got back to office, haven't caught up to all the posts but it was a great game and I congratulate SJU! You have earned my respect! Now I have to go eat some more crow! I can't wait for next years game! I strongly believe that UST will rebound they will get a lot of positives out of this!