Nugz - 12.31.12

Hey, you know what was fun yesterday? That Vikings win over the Packers, followed by the absolute ass kicking the Gopher pucksters handed the defending champs from Boston College. I made my wife watch a lot of sports this weekend, so I couldn't quite talk her into watching the Gopher Hockey game but during "Old School" ("I thought we were in the trust tree... in the nest... are we not?") commercials, everytime I flipped over to FSN, it seemed that Gophers were pouring it on worse. Fun stuff.

Anywho... on to the Nugz.

MCCBoT reactions & recaps.

* Leave it to Marcus to take it right to the dark place.

* I missed this piece from before the game about how MarQueis was feeling heading into his final game as a Gophers.

* David Ubben (?) of the WWL rehashed the game for us. Perhaps that bowl week rodeo had something to do with the tempers during the game?

A few media members on hand reported that there was some simmering tension after a contentious rodeo contest earlier in the week (which is just as silly as it sounds) -- and it showed up on the field. Nine personal fouls (five for Texas Tech, four for Minnesota) were handed out.

* Gold & Gopher says the Gopher football season exceeded expectations. They also break down the Top 5 storylines from the Gopher football season. A big sigh overcame me when I read "Kill's health concerns" as the #3 storyline of the year. I'm not saying it isn't a storyline, but it generally seems like a bigger story for people that don't follow the program very closely. Perhaps that's not being fair to the author of the piece, I don't know, but for me, it's an honorable mention at best, especially considering the AJ Barker story didn't make the list. If an off-field story is in the Top 5, it's gotta be Barker's mom's friend's opinion, doesn't it?

Men's BBall Previews

* Fellow SBNation Blog The Only Colors previews this afternoon's match-up between the Gopher men and Michigan State. Is a sloppy game on the horizon?

It turns out that the Gophers as a whole are good at manufacturing turnovers, creating one in about every four defensive possessions. Say it with me: "NOT. GOOD. NEWS." The only saving grace here is that Minnesota commits turnovers at a fairly decent rate as well (21.4% of the time), so the potential for a loose game is looming.

* A B1G basketball preview from M Live calls the Gophers a contender for the B1G title, but say they probably aren't talented enough with how deep the conference is.

The Gophers don't have the depth of Indiana or Michigan, Michigan State actually has more depth, too, in my opinion. The Gophers have horses, but do they have enough?

Hockey

* I'll leave the hockey recapping to Jeffrick, but one piece of the Gopher hockey game I DID get to see last night, was Bjugstad's redic goal. GopherState had a blurb on it over at Western College Hockey Blog.

Lastly, it's about a 10 year tradition for me to listen to Frank Sinatra on New Year's Eve. I can't really explain why I started doing this, it just seemed like a good idea and I've never had a reason not to continue it. Frankie Blue Eyes just feels like New Year's Eve to me. So, for your listening pleasure...