Buck Bravo

I am currently writing a few articles a week at The Daily Gopher.  In addition to my continued work at The Daily Gopher, I will be launching a brand new BuckBravo.com.  The new BuckBravo.com will be unveiled prior to the start of the 2009 College Football Season.  Stay tuned.

by guest blogger Bobby Springfield

Highly touted recruit Sheldon Richardson was considered one of the premiere athletes in the 2009 class, and considered by some to be the greatest commitment in the history of Missouri football.  Richardson will now be taking the Junior College route at College of the Sequoias in California.  In recent years, College of the Sequoias has been a stepping stone for Division 1 players such as Traye Simmons, Roszell Gayden, Clint Brewster, and Anthony “Juice” Leon.

Sheldon Richardson was recruited as a defensive tackle/tight end by schools such as Florida, Miami, Minnesota, and USC.  He also impressed onlookers as a nearly 300 pound punt returner with blazing speed and surprising agility.  Click on this link for a news story regarding Richardson’s JUCO plans.

According to the message board at GopherHole.com, sophomore wide receiver Brodrick Smith is officially transferring.  Apparently he has a son at home and wishes to be closer to family.  Smith had a breakout Spring Game, and will likely see the field at whatever school he ends up on.  His departure is definitely a loss for the Gophers, but is probably a much bigger gain for his son.

by guest blogger Bobby Springfield

Where do you stand on stadium alcohol sales?

There are those who wish to have selective sale of alcohol drinks restricted to the preferred seating areas. Others wish a more equal access to drinks throughout the stadium, as in the dome. Others wish to forbid the sale of alcohol completely in the stadium. The issue needs debate, as there are many options and alternatives. This is not the most crucial issue to be faced, nonetheless, it is an issue worthy of debate. Obviously outcomes such as profit, collegiate standards, and personal beliefs come into play. How would alcohol sale affect the stadium experience? Is it a good thing for college football games, or something that is inappropriate? I remember Coach Mason created quite a bit of controversy with the student section members when he mentioned that students were seen with beer in the dome during games, something not seen at other Big Ten schools. What do you think?

by guest blogger Bobby Springfield

Smooth sailing for the ticket selection process. The clock on the gophersports website ticked down to the final second and instantly I was given my seat selection time of five minutes just as advertised.  Clicking on the overhead stadium diagram took me to the stadium section of choice, and green dots lit up the available seats.  Clicking on the green dots awarded the seats and then it was on to the parking selection.  Parking was limited to allowed areas with not all available areas allowed at the time of my selection.   Simple enough, click and it is reserved.  Seal the deal and pay online.  The whole process took less than 5 minutes and couldn’t have been any better.  Thank you gopher ticket office for a well planned and well executed seat selection process for seating in the new stadium.  The rules were clearly presented ahead of time through mailings and the online experience worked well and as expected. Go gophers.

by Guest Blogger Bobby Springfield

No doubt this will be a tough season with games against Air Force, California, Syracuse, Penn State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan State, Purdue, Northwestern, Iowa and South Dakota State.  Coach Brewster deserves our all out support in my opinion.  He has tried everything possible to recruit and inspire us with a competitive team.  Give him a break.  Better yet, give him support as it will be a very demanding season.  This is a defining third year for him and his program.  He has had some tough breaks with the coaching staff and some of the players leaving, but he is our coach and our team needs our support.  I feel that the negativism and sarcasm in some of the media wear down our coaches and our fans.  Where is the support?

We have a big ten team and we play visibly on a national level.  What a great asset for the university and our community.  Minnesota is on the map!

Love him or leave him, coach Mason put together a competitive team and some great victories were earned by the gophers over his ten years as head coach.  Can you imagine the pressure he faced with responsibility for around 100 players and coaches, and back at that time a less than supportive administration?  Constantly recruiting with the dome as his draw.  We know there are almost as many local detractors as there are supporters for gopher football.  Remember the previous administration and the failure to get the stadium going?  The ruthless press incessantly criticizing the coach even when he was at 7 or 8 victories.

Get behind the team now, they need us more than ever. The players are going to face brutal competition, cheer them on in the outstanding new venue.  Most of all, rise above the Minnesota disease known as pessimism and refuse to give up on this team or this program.  Show the country this is a great team at a great university in a great state.  It is the best we have, and our support will make it better.  Do we really want another coach to leave?

Can’t wait to see the gophers in the new stadium playing the best teams in the country.  Go Gophers!!!

Having reviewed the 2009 draft by conference in yesterday’s post, let’s take a look at how the teams of the Big Ten stacked up against each other in the 2009 draft.  Final conference standings are also included in the last column:

Not surprisingly, the teams with the most players drafted in the 2009 NFL draft could also be found near the top of the final 2008 Big Ten standings.  Michigan State finished third in the conference despite contributing only one fifth round pick to the draft, and Northwestern finished fifth in the conference despite having no one drafted.

Let’s look at how the teams fared once the picks are weighted by round:

Ohio State still retains the lead, and a few teams shuffle places.  The weighting system that was used works well with large numbers of players, but I’d have to disagree that Wisconsin offered a higher quality class to the NFL than Penn State.  Not a knock on Wisconsin, as four players taken in a single draft is a great feat.  It just seems that Penn State’s first round pick combined with two third round picks should legitimately give them the second best draft class in the Big Ten.

The rivalries and comparisons of major college conferences are usually settled in bowl games.  Advocates and fans of each conference often claim superiority of talent due to speed, size, smarts, and recruiting star ratings.  Let’s break down the number of draftees from each conference by round:

The SEC, as expected, had the most first round picks in the 2009 draft.  The Big 12 had a strong first round, but ended up even with the Big 10 for total number of draftees.

Following is a draft rating chart that weights the rankings for draft rounds (first round picks are more valuable that sixth) and the number of schools in each conference:

When the rankings are weighted, the SEC barely hangs on to a lead over the PAC 10.  The Big East leapfrogs the Big 10 and Big 12 due to having only eight schools in their conference.  The ACC drops down to last place due to having twelve schools in the conference and several late round picks.

While the rankings in both of the above charts shouldn’t be surprising, all of the conferences scored much more closely than some might expect.  All in all, the biggest college football conferences contributed rather evenly to the NFL in 2009.

First of all, let it be known that I hate the whole concept of Twitter.  I don’t care what time anyone takes a shower, what they eat, when they go to bed, or when they’re stuck in traffic.  I will never “tweet,” I’ll never be a “twit,” I’ll never attend a “Twestival,” and I’ll never post my Tweeter online for anyone and everyone to see.

In short, I’ll leave Twitter to the celebrities seeking publicity, the self-absorbed existential narcissists who think people actually care about their daily routines, and the celebrity stalkers who actually read all that BullTwit.

Apparently a local controversy is brewing regarding a twit temporarily left on the account that Tim Brewster runs to publicize Gopher football.  Since this story is a few days old, I’ll just link to the most interesting reactions from the blogosphere:

- PJS at The Daily Gopher offers up a unique Obamicon to commemorate the event.

- Iowa’s Black Heart Gold Pants wouldn’t miss an opportunity like this one.

- Ohio State’s Eleven  Warriors was the first blog to react.

- National blog CFT also picked up on the story.