Big Surprise

Minnesota beat Ohio State tonight, 63-53. Ohio State, previously undefeated, has now lost three games in little more than a week, a truly amazing development for what may be the nation’s best team.

We have not attended a Gopher game this season, and do not plan to. We have, more or less, abandoned Gopher basketball—and it will not be easy to re-spark our interest until Minnesota’s boob of an Athletic Director, Norwood Teague, a bush-league figure who should never have been hired by a major institution, has been shown the door.

Fran McCaffery Goes Berserk Again (What Else Is New?)

University Of Iowa basketball coach Fran McCaffery went berserk again yesterday.

What else is new?

Although McCaffery was thrown out of yesterday’s game, at least his wife, Margaret, was not ejected, too—which marks progress of a sort, I suppose. (The University Of Iowa Athletic Department has banned Margaret McCaffery from sitting behind the team bench, an attempt to hold her embarrassing behavior to some manageable level.)

I wonder what goes through this moron’s mind as he tries to attack the game referees.

At least McCaffery’s assistant coaches tried to prevent him from landing punches.

Memo To Sally Mason:

Your basketball coach is an embarrassment to your university.

He is also an embarrassment to the Big Ten Conference as well as to the sport of college basketball.

Do the right thing.

17 November 2013: Johnny Orr’s Final Visit To Hilton Coliseum

Johnny Orr, onetime basketball coach first at Michigan and then at Iowa State, takes the floor at Hilton Coliseum in Ames on November 17, 2013, alongside the current Iowa State coach, Fred Hoiberg. The occasion: an Iowa State/Michigan game, a game Iowa State won.

Regarding Iowa State and Michigan, there was no doubt where Orr’s loyalties resided: he became a Cyclone for life from the day he took the Iowa State job in 1980.

Hoiberg, an All-American at Iowa State two years running in the early 1990s, played for Orr and absolutely worshipped the man. After a lengthy pro career (that included several years in Minneapolis first as player for and then as member of management of the Timberwolves), Hoiberg himself turned to coaching. Hoiberg is now in his fourth year as coach at his alma mater, holding down Orr’s old job.

Hoiberg was born and raised in Ames, and his parents still live there. As a consequence, Hoiberg’s popularity in the city has long been at adoration levels. During his playing days, Hoiberg received numerous write-in votes in an election for the Ames mayoralty—which is how Hoiberg acquired his nickname, “The Mayor”.

Of course, Orr was wildly popular in Ames, too. Orr turned around a moribund program, and became a legend in his own lifetime. As soon as Orr arrived in Ames, Hilton Coliseum, America’s most beautiful basketball arena, began selling out every game every season. Hilton Coliseum continued to sell out well past Orr’s 1994 retirement.

Orr died yesterday.

May he rest in peace.

Creighton’s Doug McDermott

This McDermott guy is GOOD!

Minnesota 24 Penn State 10

A great win for the Golden Gophers!

The game itself was not particularly exciting—there was, for instance, no scoring in the second half, very odd for a Minnesota team that has shown more than a little prowess on offense this season.

We might as well have departed after the halftime show.

Minnesota 42 Indiana 39

The Golden Gophers, playing on the road, prevail in a squeaker.

I think we’ll have to go to next week’s Penn State game.

Minnesota 34 Nebraska 23

And we were stupid enough to skip the game (we thought Minnesota had no chance).

Today was Minnesota’s first win over Nebraska in fifty-three years.

Plans

Other than a football game (Minnesota’s season-opening win over U.N.L.V.), Joshua and I have seen and done nothing since returning from Canada more than six weeks ago.

We skipped Bloomington Civic Theatre’s presentation of “Singin’ In The Rain”, a production now closed. I have never seen any of the stage adaptations of the musical film, and I doubt I have missed much; the very notion of turning one of Hollywood’s greatest musicals into a stage vehicle strikes me as wrong-headed. In any case, we were told that the B.C.T. “Singin’ In The Rain” was not good.

We intend to skip Jungle Theater’s current production of “Fool For Love” because we are not in the mood for a Sam Shepard play. A couple of years ago, Josh and I saw an exceptional production of Shepard’s “True West” at Minneapolis Theatre Garage, but we are not keen on more Shepard at present. I have to be in the proper frame of mind to tolerate Shepard’s fundamentally ugly view of mankind, and at the moment I am not in that frame of mind.

Everything else on our list has been saved for this coming weekend, when Josh’s sister will come for a visit.

Despite the fact that Josh’s sister has no interest in sports, we plan to take her to the Minnesota/Iowa game. For us, this is the most important game of the year—we seldom miss the Minnesota/Iowa game—and we hope she will find some enjoyment at the stadium. Saturday will be Homecoming, and extra festivities will be on offer in addition to the standard game-day attractions.

We have tickets for Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut” at Minnesota Opera, and we are confident that Josh’s sister will enjoy the Puccini.

We also have tickets for Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” at The Guthrie Theater, and we have tickets for David Auburn’s “Proof” at Bloomington Civic Theatre.

Further, we have tickets for Molière’s “The Imaginary Invalid” at Theatre In The Round, but we shall not use them. We had looked forward immensely to the Molière, but our former landlady warned us off the production, telling us that Theatre In The Round’s “The Imaginary Invalid” was the worst thing to hit the Upper Midwest in decades.

Instead, at our former landlady’s insistence, we shall see a production that had not even been on our list: David Lindsay-Abaire’s “Good People” at Park Square Theatre. Our former landlady says that “Good People” is the finest production in town, and must not be missed—and we have decided to heed our former landlady’s advice.

Consequently, between Thursday evening and Sunday afternoon, we shall be dragging Josh’s sister to three plays, one opera and one football game.

However, only one of the plays, and not two, will be a classic—a slight change from our original plans.

The Other Great Calvin

Cal, Jr., with his father, Cal, Sr., in 1987.

Cal, Sr., was to die of cancer twelve years later, at the age of 63.

In Ripken’s Footsteps?

Cal Ripken, Jr., had a twenty-year career in the major leagues—exceedingly long by baseball standards, and unprecedented for a Shortstop (Ripken moved to Third Base for his final few seasons)—and over two decades Ripken built up an astonishing fan base and an enormous reservoir of goodwill that will last him throughout his life.

No athlete since Ripken, in any sport, has been able to acquire and maintain such a gilt-edged reputation among the nation’s sports fans.

But if an athlete is to follow in Ripken’s footsteps, it will be Aaron Craft.

Craft has been on the national scene only three years, but he has already become the most respected and most fascinating college basketball player of my lifetime—and big box-office at Ohio State as well as on the road (the latter is unprecedented in recent decades). Fans all over the country now line up to have their photographs taken with Craft, a phenomenon unique in the history of college basketball.

Officials at Ohio State realized that Craft was a dream student/athlete as soon as Craft arrived on campus. The Ohio State Athletic Department immediately made Craft available to the press (a most unusual practice in the case of Freshman athletes) and Craft instantly became a fixture at Ohio State press events. Jim Delany, Commissioner of The Big Ten Conference, was quick to realize that in Craft The Big Ten had a major star on its hands—and Craft was soon to be seen, year-round, on The Big Ten Network.

Perhaps most interesting of all: at the nation’s premiere football school, a basketball player is now the premiere athlete. Craft is the biggest celebrity ever on the Ohio State campus. His every move is tweeted instantly by Ohio State students.

Craft is listed as 6’2”. Under normal circumstances, that height would be too short to play in the NBA. However, if Craft gets drafted—and he has given some intimation that he would like to play in the NBA—he would be capable of elevating and transforming the sport. Further, Craft’s presence in the league would go a long way in helping the NBA to clean up its less-than-spotless image.

Craft, a brilliant student, ultimately plans to become a physician.

He can solve a Rubik’s Cube in less than one minute (and has been filmed doing so).

The Greatest Season Ever?

Cal Ripken, Jr., in 1991.

In 1991, Ripken had what may have been the greatest season ever in the history of baseball. One must go back almost 100 years to find valid comparisons.

Ripken turned 31 years old that summer. He had already reinvented the shortstop position, transforming it from a pure defensive position into an offensive-and-defensive power position. The game of baseball has never been the same since.

Ripken had the greatest defensive season ever in 1991—the only genuine competition comes from Ripken himself and his 1990 season—and yet Ripken’s offensive statistics in 1991 were staggering, too. His season was so phenomenal that, at season’s end, Ripken was awarded Major League Baseball’s MVP, the second time in his career Ripken won the award (he had first been honored with MVP in 1983).

That anyone at age 31 can even PLAY shortstop (the most exposed position on the field) is remarkable. That someone at age 31 can play shortstop at so high a level is historic.

In addition to capturing the 1991 MVP, Ripken also won the 1991 Gold Glove Award, the 1991 Louisville Slugger Award and was named MVP of the 1991 All Star Game. Amazingly, Ripken also won the Home Run Derby that season. That such a long string of awards, offensive and defensive, was conferred—deservedly—on one player was unprecedented.

Things really do not get any better than Cal Ripken in 1991.

Yet, in 1995, things were to get better still . . .

You Gotta Love The Guy

After yesterday’s heroics, Aaron Craft told reporters that he had to cut short post-game festivities because he had to prepare for today’s organic chemistry exam.

A Pre-Med Student With A 3.9 GPA

I am by no means an Ohio State fan, but I believe it is obvious that Aaron Craft is the finest all-around player in the Big Ten Conference.

This week, sportswriters covering the Big Ten named Craft to the all-conference First Team—yet Big Ten coaches placed Craft on the all-conference Second Team.

Coaches hate Craft because he shuts down an opponent’s highest-scoring guard.

Minnesota had trouble scoring against Ohio State this season. In the only meeting between the two teams, Minnesota suffered its worst loss of the year, 71-45. Craft single-handedly disrupted the flow of the Minnesota offense in that game.

The following game, the Minnesota offense was back on track: the Golden Gophers shocked Indiana, then the nation’s top-ranked team, 77-73.

2013 Has Arrived

Joshua and I very much enjoyed Christmas Week in Oklahoma. We had a series of very nice visits with Josh’s family, members of whom dropped in all week. The weather in Oklahoma was unusually cold, and discouraged outside activity, so we stayed in all week—and probably drove Josh’s mother and father out of their minds.

A nearby tragedy occurred late on Christmas night: a family with four very young children was wiped out in a house fire. According to the local fire marshal, there had been no working smoke detectors in the home, which probably would have saved everyone in the household. The event put a pall over our week.

Josh’s sister came back to Minneapolis with us, and she will remain until Sunday. She thinks Josh and I are boring, but she also thinks we are “reliable”—and, she says, we have no irritating habits that get on her nerves. She likes the fact that we keep a clean house, and a kitchen well-stocked with food. She also contends that we are “undemanding”, low-stress, no-maintenance guys—and, therefore, providers of satisfactory companionship.

We had a wonderful New Year’s Eve. The men in my family went to the Minnesota-Michigan State game, which featured an early-afternoon tip-off, perfect for my nephew. The Golden Gophers closed the game on an eight-minute 20-4 run, and defeated Tom Izzo’s Spartans, 76-63. It was an excellent game, and a great start to the Big Ten season. The Golden Gophers are much better this year than expected, and have the potential to become Tubby Smith’s finest Gopher team. It was not until we arrived at Williams Arena that I realized that the Gophers are now ranked number nine (they had been ranked thirteenth the last time I checked).

Last night my mother served her Christmas carp, which she had been saving for Josh’s and my return from Oklahoma. It was a festive dinner, and a festive way to end the year.

Today my mother will give everyone a festive New Year’s dinner. I believe her plan is to build the dinner around a giant, specially-cured Virginia ham she ordered and has been preserving, waiting for the right occasion to use. I saw the ham yesterday. It was two feet long, perhaps longer, and appeared to be a stunning specimen.

The ham will drive the dog nuts today while it is baking.

An Original

He still holds everyone’s respect more than thirty years after bursting upon the national scene. I can think of no other athlete of which this is true.

He was always true to himself, he was always true to his family, he was always true to the sport, and he was always true to the fans.

The man was sui generis.

His like will not come again.

For his sake, I am pleased that his retirement has been so fulfilling and so productive. He knew what he wanted to do after he left the game—and he went out and fulfilled a second dream.

Such good fortune could not have happened to a nicer guy.

Clearing TCF Bank

Clearing TCF Bank Stadium the day before a game.

Cold does not bother me, but today’s wind-chill temperature was 15 degrees Fahrenheit—and we could not help but notice the cold, standing outside for almost four hours. On days like today, I begin to miss the MetroDome.

I am glad my father skipped today’s game, and stayed home and watched it on television.

In another hour or two, snow flurries are supposed to start up again.

It is Winter in Minnesota.

"I Have Told You These Things . . ."

Tebow.

Quiz Time

The first reader correctly to identify the athlete in this photograph, participating (with his wife and daughter) in the torch run leading up to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, will receive two free tickets to all Minnesota Orchestra subscription concerts between now and Thanksgiving.

The Golden Gophers

The University Of Minnesota football team is off to a 4-0 start, not expected by many.

Tomorrow is a big game for the Golden Gophers—they open their Big Ten schedule against Iowa.

In each of the last two years, Minnesota has stunned a heavily-favored Iowa team. Those games, however, were played in Minneapolis. Tomorrow’s game will be played in Iowa City, where Minnesota has not won since 1999.

We shall have to watch.

Minnesota 28, Western Michigan 23

On Saturday, all the men in my family went to the University Of Minnesota football game.

It was a morning game—there was an 11:00 a.m. start—so we had to get things under way early.

By 8:30 a.m., we had assembled, completed breakfast at Perkins (which, for reasons unknown, has become our Saturday-morning breakfast destination on Saturdays on which we have something scheduled), and were on our way to the stadium.

Saturday was the only football game of the season for my nephew—one game is enough for him—and we left the game shortly after conclusion of the halftime show. It is unreasonable to expect a six-year-old boy to be able to make it through an entire college game. The pre-game festivities, the first half, and the halftime show were more than enough to satisfy his interest. In fact, it is the marching band, with its changing formations, that most intrigues him.

I have no idea how many Golden Gophers games we will attend this season. We shall probably make week-by-week decisions as the season progresses. We have not yet decided whether we intend to catch next Saturday’s contest, a night game with a 7:00 p.m. kickoff.

Minnesota is off to a 3-0 start this season, but no one truly knows what that signifies. Until Minnesota plays a high-quality opponent, no one can judge whether the football program is genuinely beginning to recover from its recent woes.

My mother had a late lunch waiting for us when we returned home: shrimp-salad sandwiches on croissants accompanied by a cold garden/pasta salad.

Everyone stayed at my parents’ house for the remainder of the day and played with the kids.

My nephew is now in first grade, and attends school all day (last school year, his kindergarten was only two-and-a-half hours each morning). By all indications, he seems to enjoy school. My niece looks forward to my nephew’s return home each afternoon, but she is not having problems adjusting to her brother’s daylong absence. Kids are flexible.

My mother made a special dinner for Saturday night: pork roast in pastry. She made two kinds: one stuffed with onions and leeks, and another stuffed with apricots and plums.

She served the pork-in-pastry with escalloped potatoes cooked with cheeses and onions, butternut squash, baby Brussels sprouts, white corn, red cabbage baked with cream and butter, and a tart-yet-sweet apple-cranberry-cherry-raspberry-celery-nut salad.

For dessert, we had a maple cake.

No one starved.