FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[piperinsider]

From Reusse:
http://www.startribune.com/508/story/1330566.html

A story on the Gusties and their new stadium.

[repete]

Sweet stadium and a nice opener against a NWC team.

[Kilted Rat]

Thanks all for the B-day wishes. +k back at all of you when the clock allows.

Despite drinking a lot of scotch and some b-day shots at the bar, I'm clocking in with a level 2 hangover.


For those in need of a review:
Level 2
Did I really drink that much last night? Slight headache. Takes you longer to get out of bed. Nothing a ham and cheese omelet can't fix.

[janesvilleflash]

Wow, only a class 2 on the day after your birthday?! You are getting old. +k for the maturity.

[tmerton]

A few comments about the Board's second or third favorite sport (depends upon where you put beer drinking). Attended a MLB game last night - at least it would be considered such in parts of FL and this part of CA, though since one of the teams has served as a sort of farm club for the Twinkies in recent years, I'm not so sure folks in MN would concur.  Anyway, we were two of 50k folks who showed up to watch Dontrell Willis throw BP to (boooo hisssssss) B Bonds to see if he could hit #755.  Barry didn't hit out of the infield (though two of the highest pop-ups I've seen in a bit), but Los Giantes did come through in the bottom of the ninth to scratch out a win.

• With 50,000 folks there you'd think you'd see someone wearing the opposing team's garb, but I didn't see a single person wearing a Marlins hat, shirt or even colors - and we walked damn near around the entire stadium.  Very unusual.  One guy had the balls to wear a Dodger cap but it ended up in the outfield; he complained to the not very sympathetic ears of the SFPD but the SF fans in the area swore it was the wind that carried the cap off his head.
• You need to come over and sit in the upper decks at PacBell/SBC/ATT Park, preferably for a late afternoon/early evening game so you get see it in the both day and night, to get an idea of the incredible views of the Bay and downtown SF that this stadium affords. 8)  Even better to ride the ferry over and back.
• Does any other stadium in MLB have wine concessions?  Gotta love the garlic fries though.
• The prepaid function we attended prior to the game served only Butt and Butt Light - man, just give me some water if that's all you got.
• Is it football season yet?

Happy Birthday, KR.  I looked closely for your YouTube question on the debate last week - were you the snowman?

[sjusection105]

KR- Nice job on making it to 25, having grown up in Raider Guy's neighborhood you've been drinking since you were 12 You could have grown up in Stearns County same thing

You are getting old, with only a class 2 hangover. Heck, you used to live in a constant state of a class 4 hang over the year you & TDT live under the same roof.

[finsleft]

+k to KR for 25 years of honing his smart-ass wit to a fine edge  to KS for the funk  8) and to everyone else in honor of Matt Garza keeping the Twinks on life support. and the Gusties for getting a stadium, Now all they need is a team.

Nothing better than rounding out the weekend with an afternoon Hamm's and Ol' Blue Eyes singing Summer Wind on the pontoon stereo.  8)

And I'm a proud Papa after spending last night watching Fins II in the lead role (Robert) in Stephen Sondheim's "Company". Simply awesome.  8) 8)

[frankrickard]

So this is what this world is coming to...

http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_210151003.html

[Willy Wonka]

repete - You've brought up a VERY tricksy issue for newspapers in the monitoring stuff.

If they monitor their stuff at all, they become liable for a number of different things. If they don't — as the Times sees to do (or not do) — liability is essentially thrown out the window; you can't get in trouble for stuff you never intend to alter. Some may argue that their credibility is also gone with such a stance, but newspapers across the country are cutting staff and you can't really expect them to hire workers to monitor the chats 24/7, as the current staff is already overworked and underpaid.

Situations like this received almost a full hour of attention at the AP sports writer's convention a few years back and a good solution was never really discovered. Though, the Times is one of the few papers who follows that policy and I know plenty who dislike it.

For those who follow the Vikes, you may remember the Strib writers posting blogs each day for fans to respond to at training camp a few years back. This worked great, until a select few forced them to shut the project down. Now, the blogs are left to small things from the pros that don't generate near the interest or dedication from the writers to keep current.

It's a sitution that's easy to criticize, but difficult to remedy...but needs a solution in the coming years, if one even exists.

[wildcat11]

I know this is a little off the current topic but WC11 did attend the Oregon Brewers Festival this past Saturday and know that a number of MIAC PP'ers would have enjoyed the activities.

Instead of boring you all with the details I blogged about it at ADvantage Catdome. 

[repete]

WC11,

Thanks for sharing. The West Coast brews are awesome.

Back in my days out West, I lived a 15-minute ride down a bike path to the Red Hook brewery and the Chateau St. Michelle and Columbia wineries. If things got too crazy, we'd send the pickup for the bikes and the drunks. Neither the brewery nor the wineries were the best in the NW, but it was tough to beat the location ... especially with the ride home mostly downhill.

Wonka,

It's a tough time for newspapers for sure . . . but all the more reason not to let standards slide.

If the SC Times runs its boards that way to dodge liability, it's an even sadder situation than I thought. I think the Times does occasionally close down threads; my problem is they are very slow in doing so. The site's TOS bans "unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane or indecent information" but they don't actively enforce it.

Bottom line: Allowing anonymous hate to go unchecked only spurs the wackos on . . . if you don't have the resources to do it right, then don't do it. There are plenty of other ways to expand beyond ink and paper that don't involve enabling bigots.

[OzJohnnie]

Back in Kuala Lumpur again after a whirlwind trip down to Melbourne to visit the family over the weekend.  Good to know the girls still recognize me.

I didn't follow the conversation during the summer (winter) so if this has already been discussed, my apologies...

I see that the Johnnies open up against Marietta.  It looks like Marietta tends to finish in the bottom half of OAC.  Will this game give us any basis to judge our readiness v MUC or the OAC in general?  Is it the same as a Crown opener?  Anything less that a complete whooping is ignored?

[DuffMan]

Duff is back after a relaxing week at the lake.  I am sure that I have missed much, but I don't have the time to go back.  Anyone want to give me a brief synopsis of what I missed?

I'll get up a few fish pictures for Tmerton later this week.

[HScoach]

I see that the Johnnies open up against Marietta.  It looks like Marietta tends to finish in the bottom half of OAC.  Will this game give us any basis to judge our readiness v MUC or the OAC in general?  Is it the same as a Crown opener?  Anything less that a complete whooping is ignored?

Marietta will be probably be a sub-.500 team this year.  They very surprisingly finished 6-4 last year, but that was with a 4 year starter at QB.  Their defense is historically not very good nor athletic.  No reason to think that's going to change for '07.

I'd put my money on 3-7 or 4-6.  St. John's, Mount Union, Baldwin Wallace, Capital, John Carroll and Ohio Northern are sure losses.  Otterbein is a toss up.  That leaves only Wilmington, Heidelberg and Muskingum as probably wins. 

Here's a Marietta preview from mtunionfootball.com:

http://www.mtunionfootball.com/2007season/07oacpreview.htm
MARIETTA PIONEERS:
The 2006 season for the Pioneers presented an interesting contrast in results and expectations.  Their overall 6-4 record was right on the predicted target as a "middle tier" OAC team.  And as expected, they were easily handled by Mount Union and Capital, clearly the top two teams in the conference.  However it was how the Pioneers ended up at 6-4 that so interesting.  On the positive, they beat two teams that most regard as historically upper echelon OAC squads (Baldwin-Wallace and Ohio Northern).  But on the negative they lost to the Otterbein Cardinals whose only other OAC wins were against Heidelberg (0-10) and Muskingum (2-8).  Looking back, the loss to Otterbein cost them a 7-3 record which would have been their best season since matching that in 1996.

     Looking closer at the individual numbers from the 2006 season, two things jump out.  First being that Jason Vrable won't be back at quarterback, and second being that the heir apparent at quarterback has no college football experience.  There's no doubt that Vrable was the focus of the Pioneer offense over the last four years as evidenced by his records which include:

·          Sixth place on the OAC's single-season passing attempts list (375)

·          Ninth on the OAC single-season passing yards list (2,845)

·        Single-season and career record holder in every Pioneer passing category including 202-of-375 (.539) for 2,845 yards, 20 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in 2006 as well as career numbers of 495-of-902 passes for 6,102 yards and 41 touchdowns.

     With Vrable putting up huge numbers in 2006, back-up quarterback Dexter Hughes was largely ignored as he attempted only three passes (completing none) and rushed three times for five yards in 10 games.  All indications point to the Pioneers entering the 2007 season with a starting quarterback that has yet to complete a pass in college.  That can't be a good sign of things to come.  The Pioneers were competitive in eight of their first nine games with the exception being a 52-10 loss to Capital, so it is understandable that Hughes didn't get much playing time throughout most of the season.  But shockingly, Coach Wiese didn't play Hughes in the season finally against Mount Union even though the Pioneers were trailing 45-10 entering the fourth quarter.  And with four minutes left in the contest, it was still Vrable leading the Pioneer offense against the Raiders' third string defense.  Thereby eliminating the last chance of getting Hughes some valuable playing experience before heading into the off-season.  On a side note, an intriguing piece of trivia on Dexter Hughes is that he hails from Woodsfield/Monroe Central High School, the same school that produced recently graduated Mount Union signal caller Mike Jorris.

     Mitigating Hughes' lack of experience will be seven returning starters from the 2006 offense including all five linemen (Brad Roberts at left tackle, Steve Kwolek at left guard, Kyle Musselman at center, Lance Parrish at right guard and Jason Mackay, a Second-Team All-OAC performer at right tackle).  Also returning is Chad McDaniel (Second-Team All-OAC) at wide receiver and the combination of George Davis and Garrett Banks at tailback.

     The Pioneer defense returns six starters, led by their only 2006 First-Team All-OAC selection in Clay Ream at nose guard for their 3-4 scheme.  Joining Ream in the front seven are Pete Hashman at defensive end, Carter Shaver at outside linebacker, Grant Cowell and Brian Hahn at inside linebacker.  The only returning defensive back is Cody Venderlic at cornerback.

     The general outlook for 2007?  At first glance with 13 of 22 starters returning, it appears that Marietta will be in pretty good shape.  However a drought of playmakers seems to be the underlying theme as they return only one First-Team All-OAC performer (and that's at nose guard) with only two other returning players earning special mention in 2006.  So with the Pioneers severely lacking in "difference makers" and led by a quarterback who's only attempted three passes, it's not likely that Marietta will be able to duplicate their winning record in 2007.

     Making the '07 outlook even more bleak for the Pioneers is the upgrade in the level of competition for the season opener.  Gone is an Emory & Henry squad that is fighting to return to mediocrity and in its place comes a trip to Collegeville, Minnesota to face St. John's University.  Yes, you read that right.  St. John's of Minnesota.  The same St. John's team that is led by college football's winningest coach, John Gagliardi, who has the Johnnies consistently in the D3 Top 10.

     So not only does Marietta enter the 2007 season without an experienced quarterback or any known playmakers, it opens the season on the road versus a team expecting to battle for a national title.  Ouch.

[Kilted Rat]

Duff is back after a relaxing week at the lake.  I am sure that I have missed much, but I don't have the time to go back.  Anyone want to give me a brief synopsis of what I missed?

I'll get up a few fish pictures for Tmerton later this week.

Lots of legal debate about the Luberts situation, basically he's up sh*t-creek sans the proverbial paddle.

Saturday as my birthday and I drank lots of scotch.

Tmert went to watch the walking asterix chase a record he doesn't deserve to approach.

Fins' son was in some play and did good.

Marietta is gonna get triple monkey-stomped.



I think that's about it.