Loyal readers may have noticed much of February was without dispatches from this columnist. You may wonder, “How was your vacation?”
Well, since you asked, here are some musings:
Grateful our luggage didn’t end up in North Korea. With checked bags, you never know what to expect.
A couple years ago my wife mistakenly took someone else’s travel bag off the luggage carousel. While waiting in a long car rental line she received a call from a stranger who had her bag. Jeanne’s luggage and that of the stranger were identical including Viking Cruises tags.
In case you are curious, I can report the pickleball rage has reached Southwest Florida. I have long been a tennis advocate, but “the sport of a lifetime” is giving way to the “pickle.” The picklers are taking over tennis courts and even small empty stores from Florida to California.
The easy to learn, easy to play game isn’t appreciated by all. In San Francisco there have been complaints about the annoying “ping, ping, ping” from dawn to dusk. Hard plastic against hard paddles isn’t so soothing to noise-sensitive residents.
Not that downtrodden San Francisco doesn’t have more serious issues. Some wealthy Californians have had enough crime and dirty streets. They are in motion to elect city supervisors to restore the sanity.
Where is the “cavalry” for Minneapolis?
Word reached me that Anthony Edwards thought it was cute to shoot left-handed in the NBA All-Star game. Next year, why not bounce the basketball off his head? That would be most intriguing on three-point shots.
Time in the Florida sun boosted optimism for improving my golf game. I found “therapy” on the putting green near our rental condo (adjacent to the pickleball courts). It was there I refined my trademark approach of striking the golf ball with the toe of the putter.
Will I consistently two-putt next summer? Will the Vikings give Kirk Cousins a guaranteed three-year deal? Will Ant Edwards stop doing dumb stuff? Will the boys’ state high school hockey tournament be played in front of empty seats?
We enjoyed dinner at a popular Peruvian restaurant with another couple from back home. Mr. Minnesotan reminded me of a restaurant quip from baseball humorist and Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra who reportedly once said of a dining establishment, “No, I don’t go to that restaurant anymore. Nobody goes there. It’s too crowded.”
We talked about shopping while at dinner. Mr. Minnesotan is still (“tongue in cheek”) upset about the Dollar Store raising prices from a buck to a $1.25. A few days later, I was pining for something like a Dollar Store when $750 shoes sent me scurrying out of Saks Fifth Avenue with no purchases in hand.
I had the other couple laughing with stories about my thrifty (but charitably generous) Uncle John. We lived together years ago and one day I trashed a winter cap that had seen better days. Awhile after that I was dispatched to the downtown bus station to pick up John and his cousin. Sauntering out of the station door was thrifty Uncle John wearing my old winter cap.
Perhaps you’re curious whether I keep up with emails while out of town for extended times. The answer is yes. I can report there was nothing found in my private email account more curious than repeated donation requests addressed to “Janet” from Biden-Harris.
Although the solicitors don’t seem to know my gender or correct name, I draw no harsh conclusions about their campaign. Heck, even our own Amy Klobuchar has it wrong.
Signing off for now. Your amused and humble correspondent, “Janet.”
The Golden Gophers football program today announced what could turn out to be the best recruiting class of the P.J. Fleck era that began in 2017. The 24-man class has that potential and breathes positivity into a program that experienced a disappointing 5-7 record last fall and saw the December departure of elite defensive coordinator Joe Rossi for Michigan State.
Minnesota signed to National Letters of Intent the No. 1 rated players in the states of Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin—a program rarity. Safety Koi Perich from Esko, Minnesota got a heavy recruiting rush from Ohio State this month but the state’s top ranked player by the 247Sports composite rankings chose the Gophers.
Perich is a superb athlete with a fluid running style and other skills that raise expectations he could follow in the steps of Minnesota All-American safeties Antoine Winfield Jr. (2019) and Tyler Nubin (2023). Fleck and assistant coach Danny Collins prioritized Perich for a couple of years. Fleck and previous Gopher coaches have been spurned too many times in the past by the state’s No. 1 recruit so today was a win worth celebrating.
Perich may have the potential to one day make a living playing football on Sundays. The same may work out for Wisconsin’s No. 1 player, offensive tackle Nathan Roy, and North Dakota’s No. 1, defensive lineman Riley Sunram. All three are four-stars, per 247Sports.
Perich, Roy and Sunram, along with Kansas offensive lineman Brett Carroll, have invitations to the prestigious All-American Bowl in San Antonio January 6. That’s the first time in the Fleck era four Gopher recruits have been invited to the game formerly known as the Army All-American Bowl, which showcases many of the best prep seniors in the country.
High school recruits who signed today include six Minnesota natives. None may have as much maroon and gold DNA as Detroit Lakes linebacker Mason Carrier. His brother Ethan, a defensive back, is already on the roster and Mason posted this on X a few days ago:
“…We would rather MAKE a better team than FIND a better team. Thanks coaches and those loving and loyal to MN. I am Mason Carrier. Get used to the name.”
The 2024 recruiting class is vital to future success and could prove historic to Gopher football. Minnesota was coming off nine wins or more in 2019, 2021 and 2022 before this season’s fall. Fleck wants a return to the norm and even better results in the future where rewards could include entry into the 12-team college football playoff coming in 2024-2025.
This class and the ones that follow need to provide talent and depth. The Gophers struggled last season when they ran out of both, including at linebacker and running back. Inconsistent quarterback play from Athan Kaliakmanis was a problem, too, and he left the program recently. Don’t be surprised if his transfer process leads him to Rutgers.
QB is the most important position for Big Ten football teams. Fleck’s signings aimed at delivering results this fall and into the future. It all starts with New Hampshire transfer Max Brosmer, probably one of the top 10 quarterbacks available in the transfer portal. Brosmer was nearly flawless at times playing for the FCS Wildcats. The Gophers expect big things from him in accuracy, pocket presence, decision making and leadership.
Fresno State transfer Logan Fife is an experienced quarterback who has been both a key reserve and starter. He will have two seasons of eligibility and his presence will be reassuring if Brosmer misses time because of injury.
Freshman quarterback Drake Lindsey comes from a family with Arkansas Razorback roots. At about 6-6, the three-star Lindsey, whose grandfather Jim Lindsey played for the Vikings, will have no issues seeing receivers from the pocket and he could be the starter in two years.
It might be that the Gophers have more work to do in the recruitment of pass catchers between now and next summer, particularly targeting a wide out. Dropped passes and failure to get open bugged the wide receivers and tight ends last season. It’s been an issue for wide receivers dating back to 2019 when Rashod Bateman and Tyler Johnson were both named first team All-Big Ten.
The 2024 class includes two wide receivers and two tight ends. Among the promising preps is Mankato West’s Jalen Smith. He only had one other Power Five offer (Iowa State), per 247Sports, but he could be a sleeper in this class.
With 19 high school players and five college transfers, the Gophers rank No. 37 among recruiting classes across the country, according to 247. For a program that still doesn’t have the Name, Image and Likeness money of many other programs, and doesn’t cheat in recruiting like the blue-bloods and others allegedly do, that’s impressive.
The Gophers leave for Detroit and the Quick Lane Bowl on Friday in preparation for their day after Christmas game. After losing their final regular season game against Wisconsin, there is a want among the players to get a W for the seniors in their last go round.
Among the seniors is quarterback Cole Kramer who will make his first college career start. He is the ultimate loyalist who has stayed with the program through minimal playing time and changes in offensive coordinators.
Gopher linebacker Cody Lindenberg said Kramer never complained, just “put his head down and worked.” Lindenberg described it as “awesome” to see the former Eden Prairie star get his opportunity.
Kramer said “it means the world” to be leading the Gophers in the bowl game. He is an ultimate legacy player with his grandfather Tom Moe, uncle Bob Coughlin and cousin Carter Coughlin all being former Gophers.
Grandpa Moe began the legacy playing for the Gophers in the 1950s and was named team MVP in 1959, but he likely won’t be attending the bowl game. “I don’t think he’s going to make it,” Cole said. “He’s going through some things right now. But my dad’s side…my grandma and grandpa will be there. My fiancé and her family will be there, and my mom and my dad and my brother will be there as well.”
The Gophers are about a 4-point favorite to defeat Bowling Green, a team with a 7-5 record that closed fast winning five of its last six games. Fleck is 4-0 in bowl games but his struggling offense (averaged 20.2 points) and defense (uncharacteristic 26.2 points) need to show up with improved play.
The optics are such that the Gophers, playing against a non-Power Five team, must not only win but be impressive doing it. That will add to the juice of positivity created by today’s signing day and maybe ease the sting of losing coordinator Joe Rossi.
Rossi had more credibility than any assistant coach in the Fleck era. Fans and players had watched him turn Minnesota’s defense around in 2019 and beyond, with his units excelling in top 10 categories nationally. Last fall wasn’t Rossi-like but no one questioned his coaching chops even then.
The players referred to Rossi as a “guru” and it’s a painful departure that surprised them. Lindenberg and others felt they were blessed to play for a man with so much wisdom who also cared deeply about them. “…Yeah, just a lot to be grateful for that he’s been able to teach me,” Lindenberg said.
Why did Rossi leave? Maybe he thought Michigan State, with superior Name, Image and Likeness resources, offered the opportunity to coach for a bigger winner. For now his shadow hangs over the program but today’s recruiting class, a bowl win next week and the announcement of a high quality replacement in the days ahead can sooth the loss.
BTW: Stillwater-based Creative Charters is in the holiday spirit donating 20 airline seats for Bolder Options mentors and youth to attend the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit between the Gophers and Bowling Green on December 26. Creative has a sold-out plane doing a same day trip for the game and company owners Steve and Dorothy Erban are taking care of the game tickets, too!
There are countless ways to make a February vacation away from the Great North a pleasurable experience. Always on my entertainment list is a superb book. As of late, I have reveled in a terrific basketball read: Wish it Lasted Forever: Life with the Larry BirdCeltics by Dan Shaughnessy.
Shaughnessy was the Boston Globe beat reporter on those wonderful Celtic teams from 1982-1986. He didn’t cover Bird’s first NBA title team in 1981, but he was on the scene for the 1984 and 1986 championship seasons. His book has Minnesota connections and is so compelling I was nostalgic reading it.
I traveled to Boston in the spring of 1986 on behalf of the Gund brothers’ organization that owned the NHL North Stars and operated the Met Center. I made the trip to meet with Celtic management regarding the team’s participation in a potential exhibition game at Met Center.
The Celtics provided tickets for my wife and me to watch an NBA finals game at legendary Boston Garden. The Garden, built in the late 1920’s, didn’t have air conditioning and the old building felt like a sauna for the Celtics, Houston Rockets and fans fortunate enough to be in attendance that night.
The Celtics were always alert for gamesmanship that might turn a game or series in their favor. During the 1984 championship series against the hated Lakers, the Celtics were accused of turning the Garden heating system on in the antiquated Los Angeles locker room during a warm spring in Boston. Part of the lore, too, was the showers ran cold water in the Laker locker room.
In the 1984 series, with the Lakers leading two games to one, former Gopher and Hibbing native Kevin McHale made a play that is talked about to this day. Bird had challenged his team’s heart and manhood after a Game Three loss and McHale showed he got the message in the next game by aggressively knocking Laker forward Kurt Rambis to the floor. The Lakers saw the confrontation as a dirty play then and now.
What followed in Game Four was more physical play and contentious jawing including a spat between Bird and the Lakers’ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Along the way, the Lakers lost their cool, with the Celtics winning in overtime.
The Celtics went on to win the championship four games to three. “You could feel the whole thing turn,” McHale said in Shaughnessy’s book.
McHale was a rookie on the 1981 championship team coached by Bill Fitch. I met Fitch when he coached the Gophers from 1968 to 1970. He was often a writer’s dream and a player’s nightmare. With the media, he could be a standup comic but he was beyond hard at times with his players, pushing them to extremes and even embarrassing them.
Fitch, who wisecracked that some days you wish your parents had never met, excelled with the Gophers leading them to consecutive fifth place Big Ten finishes after 10th place finishes the two previous years. He left Minnesota for the Cleveland Cavaliers, an NBA expansion team. He likened the assignment of coaching a first-year team to a religious experience, noting that a lot of prayer was involved “but most of the time the answer is no.”
Fitch was a success with the Cavs, coaching them for nine seasons before joining the Celtics for the 1979-80 season. His timing coincided with Bird’s rookie season and the Celtics became a powerhouse with the demanding coach in charge. But Fitch’s harsh style with players came at a price and by the spring of 1983 he had lost control of the team. “…Bill had jumped a lot of ass and there was a lot of angry feelings,” McHale said in Shaughnessy’s book. Fitch moved on to Houston where he coached the Rockets for several seasons including that NBA Finals in 1986.
K.C. Jones coached the 1984 and 1986 champions. The view from here is he was more of a caretaker than the coach. Shaughnessy describes how it was a player, not a coach, who made the key strategic move on using defensive stopper DennisJohnson on Magic Johnson in the 1984 series. And when games were on the line for the Celtics, it was Bird calling his own play.
The Celtics were a group of high basketball IQ guys. The brain power reached its zenith with the 1985-1986 team that saw the arrival of Bill Walton. It’s a basketball lover’s dream to go back and watch the artistry of the 1986 Celtics including the cutting, passing and playmaking between Bird and Walton.
This was team basketball at its best. Players knew their roles and how to execute them. Textbook defensive positioning, rebounding, fast breaking, ball movement, and high percentage shot selection.
The 1986 Celtics had size, skill, experience and work ethic. All their core players had so many skills including Danny Ange, perhaps the team’s best athlete. He was a Parade Magazine high school All-American in three sports—basketball, baseball and football.
The great Celtics of the 1980’s had camaraderie too. They liked each other and there was constant pranking that went on among teammates. Example: Shaughnessy writes about key reserve Scott Wedman, who was ahead of his time with dedication to nutrition and massage. Wedman drank bottled water and McHale reportedly liked to empty the bottles and fill them with tap water.
The 1986 Celtics were not only the best of the franchise’s three 1980’s title clubs. Many NBA historians, including this one, view them as the greatest NBA team of all time. Hands down, they are the most gifted passing team ever to play the pro game. The ’86 team was 67-15 during the regular season and won the championship series 4-2. They were 50 and one at home during the season and playoffs.
Anyone who knew the game of professional basketball and watched that team will never forget their season for the ages. In 1986, the Celtics painted a Picasso.