Eat these quickly, please;
(1) Welcome another big lug to campus - the Gophers have received the commitment of monster OL Johnathon Ragoo. Beautiful name, 6'7" 345 pounds (which basically means 370 pounds). Has a 4.4 GPA, "claimed" offers from Miami (FL) and Hampton, in addition to Minnesota. Rivals believed him on the Miami offer, Scout did not. Color me skeptical. The kid attended summer camps at Miami and Florida and only had supposedly three offers. The kid is a 3 star (RIvals) or 2 star (Scout) prospect.
Bottom line: earlier this year Ragoo was claiming interest from a wide swath of schools. At most, at the time of his commitment to the Gophers, he had 3 schools after him, and as a Miami kid with great academics, why wouldn't the U be all over him? I believe we just beat out Hampton for a recruit that no one else in Florida had any interest in. This seems to be a trend - we continue to find guys no other BCS schools are interested in.
(2) What in the world did McKinley and Dandridge do to warrant two-game suspensions? Two games means against Wisconsin and Purdue, two teams with not insignificant offensive firepower, which means we'll be tapping the d-line (not that bad) and d-back (dear god help) depth. Not a good sign at all, and it makes one wonder how bad the offense is, because the punishment is probably tailored to make sure they're available against Penn and Ohio States.
(3) The mens' hockey teamenters play this year ranked Number 6. Also, the womens' hockey team opens play this Friday and Sunday against Syracuse (no word on if they have a former Duke PG in goal). Support Gopher Ice Hockey!
(4) Definitely NSFW, but you probably saw it happen live: Simoni Lawrence remarking on a hit he took below the belt this past Saturday.
and finally, (5) don't know if you heard about this, but star USC RB Stafon Johnson had a weight fall on his neck yesterday while lifting. He underwent emergency surgery yesterday and remains in serious condition. Take a moment and think about what these guys go through to earn those scholarships. And give a thought for Johnson.