#TBT 2015 IN REVIEW AND LOOKING AHEAD TO 2016

Next year is almost upon us and I am planning out my #TBT posts for 2016. Here is a quick preview of things I'm thinking about, content I need to work on, and as always I'm soliciting requests in the comments about what you'd like to know more of!

First things first a quick throwback to some of the best  #TBT's of 2015. Probably the most interesting turn of events was the Ole Miss fans commenting like crazy on the 1960 National Championship controversy. I tried to document at all of the Gopher football jerseys. Foolishly 172 people voted for the current jerseys as their favorites, clearly 1992-1995 jerseys are straight fire and anyone who says different is a fool.

I've been researching the building of Williams Arena and hope to continue posting on the history of The Barn in 2016. Gopher hockey won its first game in 1922 vs Wisconsin, I still don't know anything about hockey but next year I hope to do more.  My favorite story though is about a Civil War Veteran who brought his battle flag to Gopher home games for 26 straight years.

Next year I'll be looking back 100 years at the 1916 Gophers. Along with the usual things like the 6-1 football team or the 1916-1917 Big Ten Basketball title I will be spending a lot of time talking about World War I and the Gophers. Next year will kick off the centenary of the Great War. Interestingly the 1916 University of Minnesota athletes played a large and mostly forgotten role in the war. Every football player from the 1916 team enlisted in World War I, and captains from football, basketball, and cross country became decorated war heroes.

Bert Baston was an All-American in the 1916 season and then went on to be a war hero in WWI.

There are a couple of 75 year anniversaries also. The 1941 football national championship, Bruce Smith's Heisman Trophy, and the Big Ten wrestling crown all will be celebrating their diamond (75 years) anniversary. The 1941 wrestling squad is a good segue to my New Year's Resolutions.

Next year I am hoping to do more coverage of sports such as wrestling, baseball, golf, and all of the women's sports. I haven't given these nearly as much attention as they deserve. I wrote a piece a month ago about early women's basketball at the U, and that seemed to go over well.