Saturday Soiree

And by soiree I mean short items, including links, some related to the UofM, that don't merit individual headlines.

** If you're not doing anything today why not drive to the southwest corner of the state and watch PR extraordinare Tim Brewster take part in a parade in, where else, Brewster, Minn. If my name was Charley Walters, and I wrote a series of blurbs for the Pioneer Press, I'd wait until tomorrow and write the following: "That was Tim Brewster dining at Shaker's in the city of Brewster Saturday, after taking part in a parade to celebrate Brewster Fun Days."

** Orlando Tubby Smith had a lengthy conversation with Gator Country. There's nothing jaw-dropping in the interview, but it does include the requiste conversation about why one would leave the rabids in Kentucky. Predictably, Kentucky Nation is dissecting every word Tubby utters. I'm not sure the UK fans will ever be able to wrap their hands around the fact that Tubby left them. Perhaps, Tubby wanted to coach in a, shall we say, realistic atmosphere. What UK fans fail to realize is every traditionally big-time program has suffered ups and downs during the last two decades--think UCLA, Duke, UNC, Louisville etc. And by ups and downs, I mean an occassional #8 seed in the March dance. Imagine if the Dukies went nuts when Coach K had a--by UK standards--down year by failing to advance in the tourney.

** Nevermind the take above, some writer from the Star-Telegram in North Texas tells us, citing nothing, that "Former coach Tubby Smith, who is now coaching at Minnesota in a much quieter basketball environment, either couldn't or wouldn't recruit with the passion that UK fans required." The same writer, and this is what gives us cause to ignore his take, uses the phrase "True that" in the article. I've made few rules here, but I promise to you, my avid PJS reader, that I will never put those two words together to form a two-word sentence. Promise.

** Jon Marthaler, who runs The National Anthem Before a Cubs Game, suggested in the comments section in the previous post, that my NCAA Football 2008 Gophers would struggle in a simulation of the 2007 season. Well, the boys lost to Bowling Green and beat only Northwestern in the B10 portion of the schedule. I was fired and unable to try and cheat to land a sweet Minnesota receiver.

** Via the Greet Machine--a highly entertaining blog--we learn that Timberwolves point guard Troy Hudson held a CD release party at First Avenue in Minneapolis. The blogger writes: "I don't want to be too dismissive of Thud's music or his talent, though. Not being a fan of "the rap" or "the hip-hop" young folks are listening to today, I can't say for sure if Thud's music is fresh or not. ... In fact, I hope he is so successful he never dons a Timberwolves jersey again. Its a win-win for everyone!" Couldn't agree more. And while I enjoyed the cheap shot on T-Hud, PJS readers really ought to check out this classic blog entry if you need a laugh.

** PJS News Alert!! High Priority: College students, athletes or otherwise, party. They drink alcohol, sometimes before they are 21!! Who knew? Also, once in a while, college students participate in consensual sex or physical contact. What's the world coming to? This is certainly fit to print in the New York Times.

OK, maybe not. But it's fit for trashy local television news. Minneapolis ABC affiliate KSTP did a tabloidish piece this week on the MySpace Web pages Gopher football players have created. Not surprisingly, the pages show Gopher players consuming alcohol, dancing with girls and not completely dressed. In one scene, a Gopher football player puts his bare ass on another player's head (Love the comraderie boys). In this "investigative" report, KSTP apparently is suggesting that because of a horrible decision by four players, all college football players are completely out of line. Watch the video here.

A couple things. 1) Every journalist, about two years ago, did stories about MySpace. It's old. 2) College kids drink alcohol. It'd probably be good if our athletes didn't. But that's not realistic. What we need to ask them is to be responsible. If they have pictures on their MySpace page filled with a heaping pile of white Columbian powder, than by all means "investigate."

Finally, the UofM Communications folks worked themselves into a slight tizzy over this, suggesting that some of their players' reputations were tarnished. One player, who KSTP suggested was holding a pitcher of beer, claims it was rasberry ica tea. For the sake of argument, I'll buy that. But UofM's communications gurus declined to work with, or answer questions from, KSTP on the story. Guys, you can't complain to a media outlet if you won't work with it on the story. If the communications department was doing its job, and had say returned a phone call from KSTP, perhaps the segment is tamed down. Or at least the "investigative" reporter would have known she was looking at a pitcher of ice tea.