FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[sju56321]

Hey KR, I been mourning SJU hockey for the past two days, what a way to bow out as seniors. Thank God SJU has football.

[Johnnie Red]

finsleft, I do believe there is a hotel in Belle Plaine. If nothing else, you could always crash at my place. If I can host DesertCat (as I did when the Wildcats came to Collegeville in `03), a fellow Johnnie/attorney should not be a problem.

Wish I could have been at the state wrestling meet yesterday. Sounds like the title match in 1A between Canby and Frazee was a barn burner. Got to spend the day at the University of Minnesota aquatic center for the boys' state swim meet. Pretty impressive.

[Willy Wonka]

So, let me get this straight. The Godfather chose boys with shaved legs in speedos over sweaty dudes in spandex yesterday? I'm sure TDT, a true fan of such manly sports, would have found a way to hit both.

[Johnnie Red]

Willy, trust me, I would have preferred to be at the state wrestling meet. As a former high school wrestler who had the privilege of being on the same team with Buck "Rock`n Roll" Zumhofe and a long-time writer for The Guillotine, wrestling is THE winter sport for the Godfather.

My reason for being at the state boys' swim meet is that I was assigned to hand out medals and trophies for both Class A and AA. Making the award presentations is one of the many privileges of being on the board of directors of the Minnesota State High School League. Since I am a relatively new board member, my ability to get to work the tournaments I want is rather limited. This will improve over the next four years of my term as I move up in seniority. Hopefully I will be at the wrestling tournament in 2007.

It was kind of neat to be able to award a medal to a diver from Stillwater whose father was a classmate of mine at St. John's. The dad was in the stands and I got to visit with him.

[tmerton]

Just got Sweet Season (ordered it from a second hand bookseller so it took a couple of weeks).  After the intro and the first chapter I know a lot about Murphy and not so much about St. John's, but it's still a good read.

I'd be interested if someone, not a Johnnie, will find that book as good as all us Johnnies did. We'll await your review.

I'm a little over half way through now and am definitely glad I picked it up (at least at used book rates).  The main problem for me, though, is that the book continues to be as much or more about Mr. Murphy as it is as about St. John's, and I'd like less and more respectively.  I'm somewhat cynical that the autobiographical approach is really a salve for his marriage (if I write a lot of witty things about my wife and family maybe my wife won't be so hard to live with once we get back to covering pro sports for SI).  As it is, I'm more interested in reading the material he decided to leave out than what he decided to include.  I particularly don't give a sh!t about his brother at BC and the toads at that institution.  We know he covers professional and college sports for SI; I could pass on the constant reminders.

At the same time, I have been laughing a lot, so in many ways I have been having a good time with the book.  Thus far, John has pretty much kept Mr. Murphy at arm's length, which seems to be part of the message of the book.  The description of the monks and the campus is perhaps the best part so far I think. 

I suppose the biggest disappointment for me is that I had intended to share it with #2 son as a sort of intro to St. John's and I don't think it's going to work as well in that respect as I had hoped, since I think he'll have even less appreciation for Mr. Murphy and his family life than I do.  I think it will be a hard book for him to get into and, given the attention span of teenagers, I doubt very much that he'll finish it.

I'll post my final review when I'm finished.

BTW, I realized a friend of ours was the president at St. Benedict's from 96 to 03, before moving to warmer climes in San Diego.  She seemed to like it a lot.

[frankrickard]

As a non-Johnnie who has read the book, I hated it...especially the part where you guys beat us at the Dome...oh yeah, I "played" on that team.  By played I mean I was a lowly freshman who was good enough to go on road trips but not play.

[johnnie_esq]

It's interesting to hear your opinion, tmerton.  Keep it up-- it's hard for me to give an objective opinion because the players that Murphy talks about are guys who I know on a personal basis and simply by Murphy's mention other memorable images of these guys arrive.  I should apologize to you then about my recommendation...

When it gets closer, let us know when/where you'll be coming in so we can get together to celebrate your visit.  I have a bachelor party that weekend for a SJU classmate (marrying a Bennie friend of mine), but if my schedule allows, I'd be very happy to join up to buy you a Hamm's.

So you're a friend of Mary Lyons! She stepped into a tough spot (being the first non-monastic prez of CSB) and did a great job- my wife worked with her a lot and really thought a lot of her.  I for one can't blame her for picking San Diego over St. Joseph, though...

Lone Auggie-- I'll be leaving for Paris on Wednesday of this week, and my wife and I may take a trip over to Belgium at some point.  If you and yours are interested in meeting up there, drop me an email.

[MongolianWarrior]

So if anyone was lucky enough to witness the Philly Soul at Las Vegas Gladiators arena game on OLN (okay, nobody on this board), you would have noticed I was sitting next to the TV comentators.  This was because 5 min. before kickoff I was asked to work stats for the company, since I had college football experience (I credit the whole MIAC).   I was in charge of getting stats and relaying them to a crew who put them on TV seconds later.  I was tempted to say many players had GAC ties and MIAC tailgating was a national attention-grabber, but apparently they were too busy plugging Hamms...or pro bull riding, whatever.


I then talked to the TV comentators at the post-game party after a few, okay, quite a few beers.  We concluded that the MIAC has the best D3 conference in the nation.  A successful night indeed.

[Johnnie Red]

TDT, my Wisconsin Badger son and three of his buddies are going to be in Miami next week for spring break. Any suggestions on hot spots that they should visit? Any parts of town to stay away from? He does have a cousin who is a Cobber who is in graduate school at the University of Miami. I suppose she could be the tour guide for the lads.

Johnnie Esq, have a great time in Paris!

[Kilted Rat]

TDT, my Wisconsin Badger son and three of his buddies are going to be in Miami next week for spring break. Any suggestions on hot spots that they should visit? Any parts of town to stay away from? He does have a cousin who is a Cobber who is in graduate school at the University of Miami. I suppose she could be the tour guide for the lads.

JR,

Your son and his buddies from one of the top 5 party schools in the US are going to Miami...for spring break. The last thing they're going to need is advice from TDT.

That's kind of like a hooker moving from Las Vegas to Anoka and asking a nun where the best corner in town to stand would be.

Instinct trumps inexperience every time!

[janesvilleflash]

The "hot spots" TDT visits may well be the "parts of town to stay away from"

[Buckman]

 The owner of a golf course was confused about paying an invoice, so he decided to ask his secretary for some mathematical help.

He called her into his office and said, "You graduated from the University of St. Thomas and I need some help. If I were to give you $20,000, minus 14%, how much would you take off?"

The secretary thought a moment, then replied, "Everything but my earrings?"

[DuffMan]

Since TDT has not posted in a while, here is a link to one of his posts so that it is easier to smite him.  He is fast approaching -200.

[Kilted Rat]

Since TDT has not posted in a while, here is a link to one of his posts so that it is easier to smite him.  He is fast approaching -200.

-199 now!


Who gets the honor of taking TDT over the vaunted -200 milestone?

[DuffMan]

Wait for it...wait for it...wait for it...