While your co-workers, your spouse, your friends, and that guy on the bus will want to talk about the Vikings loss today, all you can think about is the Gopher game tomorrow against South Dakota. You might be outcast for such behavior in some places, but you're welcome here, friend. We've got the Gophers on our minds 24/7 too, and the best way we've found to cope is with a daily dose of Nugz. So here it is.
Not much Gophers coverage in the local papers to start the day. The Strib covers the game with a story about freshman defensive back James Manuel's preparedness, and takes a quick glance at the University of South Dakota. Both the Strib and PP have stories about Becker high graduate James Potter, who redshirted at the U in 2007 before transferring to USD. The PP also has an AP story about next weeks opponent, USC, getting highly touted freshman running back Dillon Baxter back from suspension. Folks that have saw him in spring ball are saying he could have a Reggie Bush-style impact- I'm assuming they mean on the field, and not the kind of stuff that gets his parents big houses and the program on probation. Check out this clip to see what they hype is about. Not sure if the hip-hop song was playing live at practice or if it was dubbed over. In the Pete Carroll days it definitely would have been live.
E!SPN.com Big Ten blogger Adam Rittenberg predicts the Gophs to win big over USD in his weekly conference picks post. Someone should tell him that kind of thinking is over-confident and can lead to losses!
Some guy named JDMill wrote a post over at Off Tackle Empire explaining why the Gophers win over MTSU matters for the Big Ten.
So you know how Boise State likes to whine and cry that none of the Big Boys wants to play them? If this story from CBSSportsline is true, we might know why. They link to this article from the Omaha World Herald that says the bucking blue Broncos wanted $1 million bucks to play in Lincoln. Poor Boise- no one will play them because they won't agree to ridiculous payouts. How cruel is the college football world?
Finally, this has nothing whatsoever to do with the Gophers or college football, but I need more opinions: what the hell is Joaquin Phoenix doing? He has a "documentary" out this weekend called I'm Still Here which chronicles his insane choice to quit acting and become a rapper. This HAS to be a hoax, right? Watch this interview he did with Letterman back in February, both for the extreme awkwardness and hilarity (and to see Letterman in his 1980s Late Night form when he used to regularily rip his guests. I wish he'd do more of this), and it's just gotta be all a gag. Has to be. Kind of like Boise asking Nebraska for a million bucks, right?