Random Rabble: August 12

Those who live around the Duluth area know why I haven't been around much. It hasn't been because I don't enjoy throwing up the occasional blog about nothing significant.

Been exceptionally busy with the real job, but hopefully things are back to normal on this day. It'll allow me to get back into my normal late-summer routine, preparing for the fall and winter sports season.

UMD football is first up. I'm looking forward to getting up to campus next week for Media Day as we start to get a lay of the land. New coach in Curt Wiese, a good dude and a guy I think we in the media will all like from a standpoint of access and information. New quarterback to "replace" Chase Vogler, one of the more understated guys to come through this program in a long time. I never doubted for a second that Isaac Odim was appreciated when he was playing at UMD. I'm not entirely sure Vogler was appreciated as much as he should have been.

For evidence, look at what he did for the offense in the playoff loss to Missouri Western. 379 total yards, including 184 on the ground. Yeah, Austin Sikorski was a beast running that day, but Vogler almost singlehandedly kept UMD in the game, especially when Western was threatening a blowout early.

Sikorski is back, as is Aaron Roth and most of the offensive line. The defense was practically disastrous at times, especially in the St. Cloud and Western losses. That said, John Steger is a hell of a coach, and nearly everyone is back there as well.

If that's not enough local football, a St. Scholastica team that returns a ton of talent is picked to win the UMAC in the preseason league coaches' poll. The Saints started slowly last year as they broke in a new starting quarterback (Tyler Harper) and tried to find an offensive identity. A 7-1 UMAC record put CSS in a three-way tie for first, one that was broken by a blind draw conducted over the internet; and CSS won the draw for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs.

The Saints have a slew of starters back, including Harper and running backs Jake Jensen and Chris Gassert. However, the receiving corps took a hit, including the graduation of Nick Thiry, and the defensive line lost a lot of talent.

I'm excited to see what Wisconsin does in its first year under Gary Andersen. Longtime blog readers will know that I was never really a fan of Bret Bielema. I just didn't trust him in big games or close games, and his record -- especially last year -- would seem to support my trust issues. Andersen last worked at Utah State, hardly a powerhouse, but he built a winner there after years of mediocre or worse football.

Job No. 1: Find a quarterback. Usually, I'd put my chips in on the guy the new coach recruited, but it doesn't sound like junior college transfer Tanner McEvoy is throwing well early on. He's the best athlete of the bunch, but senior Curt Phillips and sophomore Joel Stave are both probably better options for the passing game, at least in the early going. How quickly the quarterback race comes together will determine Wisconsin's BCS hopes.

Speaking of the B1G, Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune had a must-read feature on Minnesota coach Jerry Kill in Sunday's paper.

Now, at the dawn of a new season, Kill has come to a pivotal juncture in his eight-year quest to gain control of his seizures. The Gophers need to keep improving, and he needs to prove he can stay healthy.

Knowing the stakes, he found a new doctor, changed medication plans, honed his diet, exercised and adopted a whole new outlook — embracing the word epilepsy instead of shunning it.

“Believe me, there’s nobody who’s trying to do the right thing more than I am because I love coaching the game of football,” Kill said. “And I want to make sure I never have a situation, ever, during a game again.”

Experts say about 70 percent of the people with epilepsy can become seizure-free with the right medication. Kill insists he’s making progress.

We learn that stress and a lack of sleep can make the body less resistant to these seizures. The point? Kill's chosen profession -- football coach -- practically invites his body to continue to have these problems. It means that everything else he does has to be done almost perfectly. He has to make sure he gets enough rest, relaxes as much as possible, and he can't let his guard down.

When Kill seized at halftime of that game against Michigan State last season -- his fifth documented seizure since taking the UMTC job -- people began to talk about the need for the university to move on. Kill himself says in this article that he understands he can't miss entire halves of games when he's the head coach.

Kill is a good coach, and I've heard very good things about him away from the field, too. There is no reason to do anything here but wish for the best for him and his family. He wants to coach, so hopefully his body allows him to continue doing so.

Random Rabble: May 16

For those who can't get enough of me -- and I can't imagine there are many of you -- I'm covering Chicago-Detroit for SBNation's NHL hub. I'll have stories throughout the series. My take on Game 1 is here. At this point, I'm not sure I see anyone beating Chicago. The Blackhawks are playing at an exceptionally high level, and they have gotten the kind of goaltending championship teams need to get, no matter how well they're playing.

As for the Wild, anyone who follows me on Twitter knows I'm somewhat conflicted on what I've seen from head coach Mike Yeo. That said, he had to stay, for a number of reasons. I'm not sure it's totally fair to judge a second-year coach after a shortened season like this. The Wild made a slew of big changes over the summer, and the young players GM Chuck Fletcher set out to start acquiring when he arrived are just now starting to make a real impact.

That said, improvement is a must now for Yeo. I didn't think the personnel was handled exquisitely. It seemed too much faith was put in veterans, even when they were struggling. Not enough lineup changes were made during the playoffs when things were clearly going south. The power play never really got going, and it was 0-for-17 in the five-game series loss to Chicago.

Wisconsin racing legend and former NASCAR driver Dick Trickle died Thursday of an apparent suicide. I don't quote Wikipedia often, but here's the lowdown on Trickle's short-track career, much of which came in the Badger State.

A big turning point in Trickle's career happened at the National Short Track Championship race at Rockford Speedway in 1966. Trickle said, "The cars in that area were fancier and looked like they were ahead of us. The didn't treat us bad, but they sort of giggled at us kids with the rat cars. After two days, they look differently at those rat cars. I won and pocketed $1,645. Before, I questioned spending the money to travel that far. But if you could win, that was a different story." Trickle started the 1967 season by winning at State Park Speedway and ended the season with 25 feature victories including wins at Wisconsin Dells Speedway (now Dells Raceway Park) and Golden Sands Speedway (near Wisconsin Rapids).

He toured on the Central Wisconsin Racing Association (CWRA) tracks in 1971. The circuit consisted of larger asphalt track racing on most nights of the week.[9] CWRA regular drivers were able to run over 100 events in a year, and most did the tour with one car and one engine. Drivers would drive on Wednesday nights at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway, Thursday nights at State Park Speedway near Wausau, Friday nights at Capitol Speedway (now Madison International Speedway) near Madison, La Crosse, or Adams-Friendship, Saturday nights at Wisconsin Dells Speedway, and Sunday nights at Griffith Park. Tuesday nights were available for special events.

On Thursday nights at the quarter mile State Park Speedway, he won seven features and lowered his July 1 14.27 second track record to 14.09 seconds on the following week. On Friday nights he raced primarily at Capitol Speedway, winning most nights that rain or his car did not break. Trickle went to Adams-Friendship on July 23 and won the feature after setting the track record. He held the track record at six tracks: Adams-Friendship, Capitol, Wausau, Wisconsin Dells, and La Crosse. He raced at the newly opened third mile Wisconsin Dells Speedway on Saturday nights. By the end of the year, Trickle had won 58 feature events.

Trickle started his 1972 season by winning at Golden Sands Speedway near Wisconsin Rapids. Wisconsin's short track racing season starts in April. By May 13, he had twelve wins in thirteen events. He got this fifteenth win in twenty starts on May 27. Trickle became the winningest short track driver that year when he won his 67th race.

Trickle won numerous special events outside of Wisconsin in 1973, including a 200-lap feature at Rolla, Missouri in April, following by winning a 50-lap feature the following day at I-70 Speedway near Odessa, Missouri. In May he won a 50-lapper at Springfield, Missouri and two more features at I-70 Speedway. Trickle used his purple 1970 Ford Mustang to win at the Minnesota Fair and at Rockford Speedway in September. He had a total of 57 wins in 1973.

Trickle became well-known nationally during his NASCAR Winston Cup career. The old ESPN SportsCenter pair of Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann always made a point to mention where Trickle finished. Maybe they liked his name or something. Olbermann noted the following on Twitter upon word of Trickle's passing.

Awful news: Dick Trickle is dead ... No sports figure Dan + I had fun with took it more graciously. In fact, gratefully.

Olbermann went on to credit Trickle for helping increase NASCAR's visibility on SportsCenter. He said the attention they gave Trickle eventually trickled down (pun intended) to the races themselves, whether Trickle raced in them or not.

His name probably made him famous more than his driving, but Dick Trickle was one hell of a race car driver.

Random Rabble: September 6

Football is front and center, and my NFL division predictions -- tweeted Wednesday -- will be published later.

In the meantime, other happenings this weekend include St. Scholastica taking on Eureka in the UMAC conference opener. The Saints won last year in Illinois 48-7, holding Eureka quarterback Sam Durley to a scant 169 yards passing.

That could be troublesome this time around. Durley set an NCAA record with 736 yards passing in a 62-55 win over Knox last week. That's a great story by itself -- it was No. 2 on SportsCenter's Top 10 that night -- but even better is what wide receiver Jordan Kindred did. The basketball player decided to try football, and his first game was a doozy. Kindred caught 13 passes for 235 yards ... in his first game of organized football.

Seriously.

Might want to cover him, CSS.

UMD hosts Winona State Saturday for the 2012 Malosky Stadium opener. The Bulldogs will pay tribute to retired equipment manager Scott "Honey Bear" Hanna at halftime. It will be UMD's first home game since the offseason death of former coach Jim Malosky.

On the field, expect a stiff test for the Bulldog defense. UMD allowed over 300 passing yards to SW Minnesota State last week, and struggled to generate pass rush and force turnovers. Winona hosted Minnesota-Crookston last week, winning 58-6 and outgaining the Golden Eagles 468-188. UMC's only score came on a pick-six.

With old-and-new-again coordinator John Steger, I expect UMD's defense to be pretty formidable before it's all said and done. But for UMD to be highly effective in this 3-4 scheme, they need players making big plays. That means sacking the quarterback, forcing fumbles, and getting interceptions. The Bulldogs had none of that last week, it needs to change, and there's no reason to think it won't change.

Random Rabble: April 10

The idea of crooked coaches with screwed-up ideas of what constitutes discipline and leadership isn't really new to college sports, but the last few days have been another hit to the overall reputation of the profession.

It started early last week, when Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino was in a motorcycle accident that landed him in the hospital with (thankfully) non-life threatening injuries. Of course, the story didn't end there.

The Razorbacks coach was put on paid administrative leave on Thursday night less than seven hours after his boss, athletic director Jeff Long, learned Petrino had failed to disclose he had been riding with a female employee half his age when his motorcycle skidded off the road over the weekend.

Petrino said he had been concerned about protecting his family and keeping an "inappropriate relationship from becoming public."

It was a stunning revelation for a highly successful coach who prides himself on complete control and intense privacy in his personal life. Petrino will now wait out his fate while Long conducts a review.

Whoops.

Petrino could be fired, and probably for cause, not because he's a married man with four kids who carried on an affair with a woman half his age. Instead, his employment could be in jeopardy because he lied to his boss and tried to cover up the fact she was riding with him when he crashed.

Of course, since it's the SEC, it's not as easy as logic dictates it should be. You see, Arkansas was 11-2 last season, and the Razorbacks are favored to be in the preseason top ten this summer. Why the hell would we care about Petrino lying to his bosses, or generally not being a trustworthy cat? He can win football games, and that's all that matters in that particular part of the country.

Well, until it comes to Election Day. Then, suddenly, morals matter when they fit the talking points.

Elsewhere in college football, Matt Hayes of Sporting News has a pretty impressive story on Urban Meyer's undoing at Florida. The new Ohio State coach has been the subject of much controversy already, which we'll get to in a second.

Hayes writes extensively about Meyer's inability and general unwillingness to institute any sort of discipline for his star players with the Gators. It's a culture that caused many a problem for the program after Meyer left and Will Muschamp took over.

Ironically, Florida’s downfall began at the height of Meyer’s success—the 2008 national championship season. Three seasons of enabling and pandering to elite players—what Meyer’s players called his “Circle of Trust”—began to tear away at what he’d put together.

“I’ve never heard of Circle of Trust before in my life,” Meyer said.

Former players, though, contend it was the foundation of Florida’s culture under Meyer. In the season opener against Hawaii, Meyer said a few elite players (including wideout Percy Harvin, linebacker Brandon Spikes and tight end Aaron Hernandez) would miss the game with injuries. According to multiple sources, the three players—all critical factors in Florida’s rise under Meyer—failed drug tests for marijuana and were sitting out as part of standard university punishment.

By publicly stating the three were injured and not being disciplined, former players say, Meyer was creating a divide between the haves and have-nots on the team.

“They were running with us on the first team all week in practice,” one former player said. “The next thing you know, they’re on the sidelines with a (walking) boot for the season opener like they were injured. Of course players see that and respond to it.”

It was Harvin, more than anyone, who epitomized the climate Meyer created. While former players say Harvin always was treated differently as a member of Meyer’s Circle of Trust, it was the beginning of his sophomore season—after he helped lead the Gators to the 2006 national title—that it became blatant. That's also when it began to contribute negatively toward team chemistry.

During offseason conditioning before the 2007 season, the team was running stadium steps and at one point, Harvin, according to sources, sat down and refused to run. When confronted by strength and conditioning coaches, Harvin—who failed to return calls and texts to his cell phone to comment on this story—said, “This (expletive) ends now.”

“The next day,” a former player said, “we were playing basketball as conditioning.”

It only got worse as Harvin’s career progressed. At one point during the 2008 season, multiple sources confirmed that Harvin, now a prominent member of the Minnesota Vikings, physically attacked wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales, grabbing him by the neck and throwing him to the ground. Harvin had to be pulled off Gonzales by two assistant coaches—but was never disciplined.

When asked about the Harvin incident, Gonzales—now offensive coordinator at Illinois—said, “I think it’s a little overblown. I mean, every great player wants his voice to be heard.”

Said Meyer: “Something did happen and something was handled. I don’t think it’s fair to Percy Harvin or Billy Gonzales to talk about it.”

I'm not one to judge, but it seems like Meyer had a tendency to play favorites at Florida. I'm not saying this doesn't happen elsewhere, but I'm going to guess Nick Saban doesn't pull this stuff at Alabama, and it's a big reason why he is able to win year after year.

I'm also not going to judge Harvin, but it's not like his NFL career has come without any problems.

Speaking of Meyer, do you remember the kerfluffle that Wisconsin created regarding his recruiting practices at Ohio State? Hayes' story, which I told you is extensive (and very long and very, very good, too), goes on to detail some of the things Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema was upset about.

Bielema, whose team hosts Ohio State on Nov. 17, has declined to offer specifics.

However, according to The Sporting News, UW officials accused Meyer of having former Ohio State players currently in the NFL call recruits. Such calls would be an NCAA violation.

In addition, UW officials accused Meyer and other Ohio State coaches of "bumping into" offensive line recruit Kyle Dodson during mandated dead periods. That would also be an NCAA violation. Dodson, from Cleveland, backed out of a commitment to UW and signed with the Buckeyes.

A college football source confirmed Monday those were the alleged violations that raised Bielema's ire long before signing day. Bielema's issues with Meyer were part of a larger look at how Meyer ran the Florida program.

"There's a few things that happened early on that I made people be aware of," Bielema said in February, "that I didn't want to see in this league that I had seen take place at other leagues . . . recruiting practices that are illegal.

"And I was very up front and was very pointed to the fact. I actually reached out to coach Meyer and shared my thoughts and concerns with him, and the situation got rectified."

I'm guessing Nov. 17 will be a very interesting day in Madison. Odds are that it'll be a prime-time game, and there's nothing like giving fans in Madison the whole day to lube up before a big game. I'm sure they'll treat Meyer wonderfully.

Random Rabble: April 4

The NCAA Frozen Four starts Thursday in Tampa, and apparently ticket sales haven't been as brisk as in the past. The NCAA announced Tuesday that single-session tickets would be available for the event. All-session passes were in the neighborhood of $200, with single-session tickets priced at $110.

Does this sound absolutely insane to anyone else? This isn't St. Paul, where you can turn on the lights at the XCel Energy Center, tell people there's a hockey game going on, and draw thousands and thousands of fans.

In Tampa, the NHL team has troubles drawing for playoff games. Yes, there are great hockey fans in Florida, but there isn't a college hockey team within hundreds of miles. And the one closest -- Alabama-Huntsville, the tournament "host" -- is an independent that might be near extinction if it can't find a league soon.

These kinds of prices for what is probably an unknown commodity to most fans -- even diehard hockey fans -- in the general area is just a death wish.

Expect scores of empty seats at the Tampa Bay Times Forum this weekend, and that's too bad. The Frozen Four has grown in stature over the years, just not enough to be held anywhere that has a big-enough facility.

(Then again, the NCAA also thinks that the regional sites are working, even though the crowds two weekends ago were nothing short of embarrassing. Just keep the head buried in the sand, guys. You don't want to see what's really going on, because it might force you to make an effort to improve things.)

Speaking of insanity, I hope you're all familiar with NBC/NBC Sports Network/CBC hockey "analyst" Mike Milbury. The former failure of an NHL coach and executive is a rather controversial figure on television, thanks to a number of different incidents over the years. Rather than go through them all, I'll just give you a couple.





Nuts. I know.

Anyway, Milbury's latest strike came on the Pittsburgh Penguins after Sunday's now-infamous brawl with Philadelphia.

On a sports radio station in Philly Monday, Milbury made fun of Sidney Crosby's concussion problems, called him a "punk" and a "goody two shoes," and told Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma to take off his "skirt."

Milbury apologized -- sort of -- by noon Tuesday.

"I reached out to David Morehouse and the Penguins about the comments I made yesterday on Philadelphia radio. In hindsight, I realize what I said was inappropriate and wrong, and I want to apologize to the Penguins organization and their fans."

Yeah. I can't wait until NBC is carrying Penguins playoff games, and Milbury is called on for some sort of objective analysis. He's such a pro that I'm sure it won't be an issue at all.

Random Rabble: March 19

Where Bruce rambles about topics that interest him but have nothing to do with college hockey.

Haven't done anything like this in a while, so here goes.

The NCAA Tournament is remarkably low on Cinderellas this year. Yeah, there are some double-digit seeds still alive for the round of 16, but it's hard to look at North Carolina State as a Cinderella. They do play in the ACC, after all. Ohio is about the only one left.

Well, until the Bobcats get waxed by North Carolina Friday.

Can Wisconsin advance? Bo Ryan is notorious for getting teams to the Sweet 16 but not any further than that. But his Achilles heel has been lower-seeded teams, not higher. It's games against teams like Davidson and Butler that have left fans steaming, not games like the one coming on Thursday against Syracuse. In some ways, people may actually like the Badgers' chances more in that game, largely because Fab Melo won't play for the Orange, and also because Wisconsin will go in as the underdog.

You could argue Wisconsin beat Vanderbilt as an underdog, too. The Commodores became a sexy pick to come out of that region after Melo's suspension was announced. Suddenly, the Badgers' suffocating defense has knocked the 'Dores out of the dance.

14 of the 16 teams left come out of major conferences. There are low seeds left -- like NC State and Florida and Cincinnati, for example. But the tournament is void of the kind of story it's had with the Butlers and VCUs of recent years.

That is, unless Ohio does the improbable against the Heels on Friday.

Speaking of the NCAA Tournament, ESPN's Bob Knight is getting plenty of heat, and justifiably so. Previewing Saturday's NCAA Tournament games for ESPN, Knight was asked to put a team on upset alert. He chose Kentucky, set to play a game against Iowa State, but he refused to say "Kentucky," instead referring to the Wildcats as "the team from the SEC."

Fellow ESPNer Rick Reilly, shockingly, threw out a pretty funny tweet ripping Knight.

What happens to Bob Knight if he says the word "Kentucky"? Does his lower jaw fall off? Snakes spring from his hair? My God, does he smile?
— Rick Reilly (@ReillyRick) March 17, 2012

It's pretty lame for Knight to go this route. Obviously, there are petty issues with Knight and Kentucky. While those issues might go back to when Knight coached at Indiana, don't forget that Knight had it out with UK coach John Calipari over players attending class.

Knight apologized for those idiotic remarks, but obviously still feels some sort of bitterness toward Calipari. I'm not saying Calipari is clean as a whistle, because I don't know, but it doesn't justify Knight's unprofessional behavior. If he can't talk about Kentucky in an objective manner, he needs to recuse himself from the conversation.

He might feel people would think he's a chicken for doing that, but he'd be the bigger person, something Knight has never been known for in his career.

NFL free agency has been quiet for the Vikings and Packers so far. No one is surprised that the Packers have been in a slumber. Green Bay, under GM Ted Thompson, just hasn't splurged much, if at all. Thompson builds through the draft, and he prefers to spend money on contract extensions for his young talent as warranted. He lets guys walk and makes it look callous and without any real thought attached to it. In reality, these are tough decisions that Thompson has always taken seriously, and I think his success at making good decisions has made some fans lay off the boss.

It seems Minnesota is trying to copy the blueprint Thompson is following. Asked about his team's lack of spending last week, general manager Rick Spielman told KFAN in the Cities that the organization did spend money, noting contract extensions for guys like Adrian Peterson, Chad Greenway, and John Sullivan.

This seems like something Thompson would say, and it's a fair point. Spielman wants to build a quality team through the draft, and use free agency to supplement the guys he's able to find and develop. This keeps the team from overspending on guys like Pierre Garcon, a quality player who got a lot more money than his production to this point warrants.

Did the Vikings overpay Peterson? You could argue they did, and you'd have a point. But teams are almost always better off overpaying their own guys than overpaying for someone else's guys who could easily become questionable fits in their new team's system, not to mention the locker room.

Greenway, on the other hand, was not a smart signing. He's an average linebacker who tackles well, fills against the run well, and can cover people, but he's not explosive, he's not dynamic, and he's not a playmaker. He doesn't make this a better team, and it was a reach of a signing.

The Twins made a move Monday, sending Tsuyoshi Nishioka to the minors. Nishioka wasn't hitting in spring training (.240 average), and he was continuing to make mistakes in the field. I don't know if this ends the experiment completely, but it certainly is a bad sign.

It doesn't necessarily mean that Minnesota is keeping a better player on the major-league roster. Given his injury setback last year, it could be argued that Nishioka doesn't need to be a bench player for the Twins. He needs to play games. I'm not saying that a two-month stint in Rochester is going to make this signing look good. I'm saying that a two-month stint in Rochester could be just what the doctor ordered to make this signing look like something less than the colossal bust it appears to be right now.

For the Twins, it's probably the last chance to make anything out of the money they gave the former Japanese batting champion.