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This is one I anticipated for awhile as his minutes have been cut the last few years......What can you say?? One of the greatest NBA players ever.... 5 NBA championships, 3 finals MVPs, 2 NBA MVPs.. DId it with very little drama.. Fantastic fundamentals..... Maybe not a player that a coach would rather have on the team..19 years with the same franchise. An embodyment of a true leader.. Set the tone for the team with coach Greg Popovich... Started with David Robinson and just continued with excellence without creating headlines outside the game.....One of my favorites ever.....Happy Retirement, Tim Duncan.. You deserve it and you made the game fun to watch for guys like me.

Former Minnesota Gophers track athletes made the U.S. Olympic team. Ben Blankenship made the US Olympic team in the 1500 and Hassan Mead made the US team in the 5000 meters for mens track.... Congratulations to these former Gophers and I know they will make us proud in Rio.!!!

The one comment I have in wrestling is it is utterly insane that they would even consider taking out the sport from the Olympics... These guys work as hard as any sport, if not harder.... I think it is totally unfair if you take out wrestling and add golf, for instance. Wrestling was one of the original Olympic sports though it was more Greco Roman in style originally, if I read history correctly.

You cant really pit one sport against the other, I guess, but I just don't see the relevance in Olympic golf. These pro golfers get to compete world wide at their choice so they are seeing each other at the pro level, anyways. Wrestlers look at the Olympics as the ultimate to represent their country.. They have no pro wrestling outside the entertaining kind in the boxing ring. The NCAAs and the Olympics are the big events for wrestling.. In golf, you have the 4 majors with competing players from all over the world, anyways. There will be few, if any surprises, in the golf field. Who can hit it the longest and most straight but more importantly, get hot with the putter and the short game.. Just like the PGA. I understand it is representing your country, either way, and wrestling has international tournaments, granted... But the Olympics is their mecca whereas golf can be a source of pride for a country, also, but it happens on a weekly basis on their respective tours all over the world.....I say keep wrestling if it is a choice between 2 or more sports, or "both and" as opposed to "either or" considering wrestling vs. sports like golf or others where the participating pros are playing on a continual basis. If you go with golf, let the amateurs play from across the world.. I guess I am old school and behind the times with that issue.

How soon do you think they trade Rubio?? You dont spend high draft picks on PGs in back to back years, because you are looking for depth behind Rubio.(Tyus Jones and Dunn). They are going to look to move him, IMO. Do you think it will be before the start of the NBA season and what would you think would be reasonable as compensation for him?? I think Jones needs to have a strong development year to create depth for Dunn. I think that is why the Twolves have not been more aggressive in shopping Rubio. Dunn had a nice summer league start and I am sure that the franchise is looking at him as the future starter.

This show is awesome. Stories told by real American spies.

It is addicting as it breaks down, through the eyes of those that carried out the missions, how the process works.

Do yourself a favor and watch. It's that good.

Link: Johnson finds Minnesota appealing despite ULL commitment

I don't think Minnesota has Ja'len Johnson on top of their board, but if they do decide to move on him, I think he'd be very flippable. Jay Johnson has been his point of contact.

MJH has asked about suggestions for new names in another thread, so let's have a poll!

This poll is intended to be light-hearted and generate suggestions.

MJH,

Clearly, you are doing a great job... Lots of articles on players... I like the tweets about how the players were doing in basketball for AAU play... Thanks for what you are doing and have done on this site!!

Link: Brown wants to visit Minnesota this month

Shakur Brown did not list Minnesota as one of the four schools recruiting him the hardest, but said he's in the process of setting up a visit to come here in two weeks. He's wide open with his recruitment right now, so I wouldn't necessarily read too much into him not listing Minnesota as one of the four talking to him the.

The math and demographics show that national elections come down to 10 swing-states. Within 1 minute of poll-closings, 40 states can be called. Furthermore....the math/demographics show that the Democrat counties in the swing-states are growing much faster than the Republican counties. Conclusion:

It is no longer possible for a Republican to win nationally. Not without a MAJOR DRAMATIC change in black voting.

Maybe nominating a black candidate would work....eventually. But I doubt it. The first 2 or 3 would be smeared so bad they would lose. But maybe in 15-20 years it could work. Or....

We conservatives should give serious thought to reparations. If we win the Presidency....black people get 20% of our pre-tax paychecks. But the deal is....we institute an equal low flat-tax for all individuals and businesses....and we end entitlement programs for everyone except the truly disabled. NO MORE pitting one group vs. another. We would probably end-up with more money than doing things the current way.

What do my fellow conservatives think about that??

Was having a company cudtom make a tail hitch cover for me with SKIUMAH on it

Just got word from them that my order was automatically cancelled due to it violating it's policy on intellectual property owned by others. Can only think of the U being the so-called "injured" party.

If protected I would be seriously disappointed and frustrated in the U. It would be like trademarking "SKOL" and somehow stopping anyone else from using it.

I get protecting intellectual.property, but at times it seems to go too far.

Sent an email to vendor requiring specific explanation of who, what etc was being violated. Doubt I will hear anything.

End of rant.

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Minnesota offered 2017 Cushing Academy (Ma.) point guard Wabissa Bede.

Link: By the Numbers: Brad Davison and McKinley Wright

The investigations on the Gopher Wrestling Xanax scandal have been going on for quite a long time now (way too long!!). And the last news was that Hennepin County will not charge the 4 wrestlers who sold drugs with any crimes because of "lack of evidence". The U of M internal investigation is still ongoing.

The U investigation has been very methodical, as all of the wrestlers in question and JRob have been "lawyered up" and I'm sure the U is taking extra time to make sure that whatever decision is made, that in every way...they get it right. Also, if JRob is fired or forced to resign, he is very likely to sue for wrongful termination, so the U is aiming to get all their information in order, to help justify whatever decision is made.

It's been incredibly quiet lately while everyone waits to see what the resolution of this mess will be. And the U's pace is what it is and can't be rushed. But, most Wrestling fans are hoping for a quick resolution so we can (finally!) take stock of where we are...and then move on. We're coming into mid-July and too much is still up-in-the air. Can you imagine:

- being on the team with all of the rumors and anxiety;
- being one of the 4 drug sellers wondering what their future will be;
- being one of the (10-14) wrestlers (I forget the exact #) who bought and took Xanax;
- being JRob...who is fighting for his kids and his legacy;
- being one of the current assistant coaches, who may or may not have a job very soon;
- being a parent, family member, girlfriend, or friend, of the wrestling team members;
- being a Gopher Wrestling fan who has to wait to see how badly this turns out!!!

And, as we are in the early commit period for 2017 recruiting, the sooner this situation gets resolved, the better!! I have heard on various wrestling blogs that 2 major 2017 recruits have our Gophers among their final choices:

- #8 182 lb. Jacob Warner (Washington, IL) had MN in his final 5 list, and now today I hear that we may be in the final 2!!
- # 9 160 lb. Brady Berge has MN in his final 2 or 3 (depending on who you read);
- #17 120 lb. Justin Mejia (3x state champ from Clovis, CA...which has only one huge tournament for the whole state!!) and #39 120 lb. Jason Renteria (Oak Park River Forest, IL) both decommitted from Iowa on Weds this week and are now in discussions with other elite wrestling schools. While Mejia may end up going to Fresno State (right near where he grew up), which just restarted its D1 wrestling program, MN is rumored to be in his final 2 along with Illinois!! IA wanted these guys, but probably let them go to free up scholarship money to chase Warner and Berge (above), after IA recently signed 2017 #1 120 lb. Spencer Lee and #3 2018 120 lb. Gavin Teasdale.

So I and everyone else who follows Gopher Wrestling is hoping for a very quick resolution to this Xanax mess!!!

While, I have no new information on when the U's decision will be coming down, I am getting a strong feeling that it's going to happen next week. Many have debated on this board what they think should happen to the drug sellers, the drug takers, JRob and his assistant coaches. So, I am going to offer my opinion on this and ask the rest of you to weigh in.

JRob and the Coaches:
Unless there is some compelling lack of evidence that JRob did anything wrong, I think he will be fired, or forced to resign. Then it becomes a question as to how much did Brandon Eggum, Luke Becker and his other assistants know, and whether they should go too. If Eggum/Becker are completely cleared and they are somehow given the jobs of new HC and new Head Asst. Coach, it would not be the worst thing in the world. These guys have mostly been running the program lately and, at least, we could move forward and get back to the business at hand. However, I would prefer a new Head Coach...and I feel strongly that this should be former 2x Natty Champ Gopher (and 10 year assistant coach at Cornell) Damion Hahn. Then Damion could keep whatever assistants he wanted (for continuity/recruiting purposes) and also bring in some new blood (for better national recruiting!!) like Kyle Dake or David Taylor!!

Drug takers and sellers:
I think the 10-14 wrestlers who took Xanax last year (I forget the exact #) should be suspended for 1 month next fall and the 4 wrestlers who sold drugs should be suspended for 2-3 months. I'm tempted to say that if need be, that the drug sellers could lose a full year of eligibility...but, I think that's too much!!

Yes, I know that many of you think that the 4 drug sellers should be expelled. With what these 4 drug sellers have been through lately, and what they put their families through, they have suffered enough that I doubt any of them will ever do anything wrong again! There's no need to force them away from home and screw up their whole life/career!!

And remember, these are 18-20 year old first time offenders, who otherwise are pretty much "model citizens". The drugs sold was supposed to have been somewhere between 1400-2500 pills, and this # seems to have been reduced lately, according to the police reports. So if you have 4 wrestlers selling 1200-1400 pills (for $5-8 per pill) that's still only an average of about 350 pills per wrestler. Is this really enough to warrant expulsion from the U (where all of them really, really want to be!) and then all they will do is transfer to some other D1 wrestling power and continue their career? One leading wrestler has already been rumored to be considering transferring to OK State. Do we really need to kick out a first time offender just so OK State Coach John Smith can improve his team at our expense??

I personally don't think so!!

So have at it.


What do you think will happen??
And, what do you think should happen...to all involved??

Hopefully we will all know the resolution to this next week. Or, very soon.

So, we can continue our climb...back to THE VERY TOP!!
GO GOPHER WRESTLING!!!

For the first time in 4 years we are without the services of Eric Murray. Dude developed into one of my personal top 5 all-time favorite Gophers.

The consensus is that our DBs are gonna fall off hard. Listen to this passage complete with an anonymous quote from an opposing Big 10 Offensive Coordinator:

Secondary takes a step back: With so much of the spotlight last season on Iowa’s Desmond King and Michigan’s Jourdan Lewis, it was easy to lose sight of the Gophers’ talented pair of corners (Eric Murray and Briean Boddy-Calhoun). But they were some of the best in the nation, as evidenced by Minnesota’s No. 13 national ranking in pass defense. With their departures – along with safetyAntonio Johnson -- it’s not going to be easy for the Gophers to move on.

Said one B1G offensive coordinator: “Now that those players are gone, I think it’s going to be a challenge. Especially at corner, I’ll be surprised if the next group is quite as talented.”

I disagree. If we have better health than last year (I know I'm a broken record on that), I think our secondary will be just as effective this season as the past 3 have been. Eric Murray was unbelievable the past 3 years, but if healthy Myrick is nearly as good as Murray, and faster to boot.
1) Last year Murray and Myrick were incredible while BBC was still effective at times but he was a shell of his 2014 self. So the past 2 years we've had 2 great CBs each year--Murray/BBC in '14, Murray/Myrick in 15. Myrick is as close to Eric Murray as we could hope for, and I believe Sawvel will find one or two guys who can be effective across from JM.

2)If Damarius Travis is healthy, our Safety play will be better than it was in '15. Travis and Myrick could both be day 2 picks in next year's NFL draft.

3) As I said in another thread, I would bet my last dollar that Sawvel and Claeys have spent every spare waking moment since the end of the Wisconsin game trying to figure out how to finally develop an effective pass rush. We saw the beginnings of that in the Bowl Game and spring ball. It's July, I'm drunk on Kool-Aid, and I'm saying this is the year Minnesota finds a way to consistently get pressure on the QB.

So what say you, TGR? How good/bad will the Gopher secondary be in 2016?

Folks, since my sub is up on Tuesday, I'm throwing one last drunk thread over here.

Let it last as long as my body does....we'll get er good and going in a couple hours

Link: Adidas Gauntlet Finale: D1 Minnesota goes 2-1 on Friday

TGR hired Jack Legwin, who runs Prep Hoops Florida and helps Adam Zagoria with his website, to cover D1 Minnesota at the Adidas Finale. Here are his notes from today.

http://www.startribune.com/aftermat...shooting-captured-on-phone-video/385789251/#1

This makes me so sad. Philando Castile was a longtime public servant, a beloved guy whom kids and adults referred to as 'Mr. Rogers with dreadlocks'.

Philando got pulled over, calmly told the police officer that he had a permit for his gun, and then told him he was reaching for his ID as directed. Yet, the officer shot him anyway. My sister has a good friend on the force. She said that after it happened, the officer was sobbing and just kept saying, 'what did I do? How did this happen?' etc.

This is a tragedy for everyone involved. Police Officers need to focus more efforts on de-escalation rather than 'shoot first ask questions later'.

This year alone, police officers have killed nearly 600 Americans. I'm not here to blame anybody, but the system needs to be reformed. This won't make any sense to some of the more rigid members of this board, but perhaps it's time for fewer police officers to carry guns? In Britain, very few police officers carry guns, and they seem to do just fine.

Of course, that move would need to come in conjunction with real gun control---the kind that has been so effective in other western democracies like Australia, Great Britain, most of Europe, etc.

#PhilandoCastile
#Nomoreviolence

he has the Goohs at 5th. I don't see a lot of difference between 2-5. Only reason I will agree with Sconnie at 1 is Vince Biegel, kid is a stud. Sconnie loses a lot at DT this year and I think that will hurt their LB production. On the flip side, with us playing more 3-4 I think you will see our LBs be recognized more, especially the OLBs.

http://btn.com/2016/07/05/dienhart-big-ten-west-linebacker-unit-rankings/

Link: Peach Jam: Pulley trounce Team Takeover, fall in OT to MOKAN on Friday

I watched Pulley's first game of the day, and EJ and Connor watched the second. The article contains our notes on the games.

Not good. 4 dead. 7 additional shot. 1 bystander also shot.

The running back was going to be in the mix for a lot of carries. The lineman never played a down for OSU, but was on the first team in spring ball.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/oregon-state-rb-lineman-medically-retire-153315693.html

Link: AAU Day in Review: July 8

Posts of beautiful women and Wren moderating politics, hells bells what took me so long to get here!