Searching the newsstands for college football magazines has long been a tradition for me.  Reading the national and Big Ten forecasts of various publications has ranked among my top 10 delights of summer since grade school.

Somewhere between fresh strawberry shortcake and lazing by a swimming pool comes the pleasure of reading about the Gophers, the Big Ten race, the nation’s top 25 teams, preseason All-Americans, the best incoming freshmen and high school seniors to watch.   Through the years, publications have expanded their content and in addition to all of the above a reader just might see a pictorial of the nation’s hottest cheerleaders, or an article on regional tailgating with recipes included.

As a kid I was excited in late July or early August to buy my Street & Smith’s, the bible of college football magazines.  The best of times was reading Street & Smith’s in the family car as we drove thousands of miles during August vacations.  I read page after page and it didn’t matter that the predicted order of finish in the Big Ten was similar each year.

Perhaps there was appeal ─ even security ─to the sameness of each issue.  An Ohio State football player was often the Street & Smith’s cover boy.  The Big Ten section was always written by Columbus sportswriter Paul Hornung.  As a kid I was almost dumbfounded by the coincidence that there could be a Paul Hornung newspaper guy and an even more famous Notre Dame and Green Bay player by the same name.

Ohio State (no surprise) was often the favorite in the Big Ten race and it was a rare issue that predicted a high finish for the Gophers, but that didn’t stop me from analyzing every word Hornung wrote about Minnesota.  Often I thought he slighted the Gophers, showing an eastern football bias.

And I might even have been critical of the Gophers chosen for photos in the magazine, or perhaps the absence of any Minnesota players.  Back in the 1950s and 1960s players posed for stock photos, often not wearing helmets and grimacing like a pro wrestler.  But who cared as long as your favorites were included in the magazines?

Today the marketing is more sophisticated with regional covers, and now a Gopher is often found on the cover like this year’s issue of Sporting News College Football Magazine that includes a small picture of Minnesota quarterback MarQueis Gray.  The marketing plan also puts the college football publications on the newsstands before summer officially arrives.

That means I am a buyer now in June, not August as in the old days.  And there are more magazines to choose from, making this preseason tradition almost as much fun as the fall college football season.

To some the preseason publications are a waste of time and money.  This view is pragmatic and asserts that nothing matters about the college football season but the results on the field.  I can’t argue that games are won on paper but college football publications offer a glimpse into what might happen and fire up the passion on the eve of the season.

If you don’t get it, then maybe you don’t like strawberry shortcake either.

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College football writers aren’t infusing much sis boom bah into the hearts and minds of Gophers fans these days.  The summer time experts are forecasting a dreary fall for the Gophers following last year’s 2-6 Big Ten finish, one spot ahead of last place Indiana, 1-7.

Athlon Sports predicts Minnesota will be 1-7 this year, finish last in the Legends Division and have a 4-8 overall record.  Athlon does identify Gophers quarterback MarQueis Gray as one of “three sleepers” to watch in the conference.  The publication also includes Minnesota’s Troy Stoudermire on its all-conference first team as the kick returner.  Tight end Eric Lair, offensive lineman Ed Olson and linebacker Gary Tinsley are third team choices.

Athlon, Sporting News College Football Magazine, Lindy’s and Phil Steele all share the same view on the Gophers for 2011.  Lindy’s sums up the pessimism by observing if the Big Ten had expanded to 14 teams instead of 12, “They (the Gophers) would be sitting two spots lower.”

Lindy’s ranks Minnesota a lowly No. 86 in the nation.  The July 4 issue of Sporting News Magazine checked the Gophers in at a more respectable No. 77, at least placing Minnesota ahead of No. 90 Indiana among Big Ten teams.

After four years of the Tim Brewster coaching era, the talent is too minimal at Minnesota to play winning football this fall, the writers claim.  But the arrival of new coach Jerry Kill offers promise, according to both the national and local views.

An anonymous opposing coach is quoted by Athlon as saying Kill is “phenomenal” and preferred that the Gophers new coach stayed at Northern Illinois.  In the July 4 Sporting News former Gopher Karl Mecklenburg predicts Kill will have Minnesota playing hard and this season will be “the start of a steady climb back to national prominence for the maroon and gold.”

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ESPN.com’s Rick Reilly wrote a caustic column last week titled “Big Ten Primer for Big Red.”  In the primer he introduced Nebraskans to the conference including fellow members of the Legends Division.  About Minnesota he wrote: “The only thing they’re legendary for is losing.  You’ll love them.”

Reilly described the conference’s names for its two football divisions (Legends & Leaders) as “incredibly anvil-brained.”  He speculated that among the potential division names that didn’t make the final cut were “Cheats and Soon-to-be-caught Cheats.”

Bruce Smith Day will be Saturday, September 17 when the Gophers host Miami (Ohio.  A bronze bust of Smith, the legendary Minnesota Heisman Trophy winner from Faribault, will be presented to the Gophers athletic department, according to Bruce Krinke.  Krinke is part of a group that is honoring the Gophers’ only Heisman winner ever with the creation of two bronze busts.  One will reside at the University and the other at Faribault High School.  Krinke said via email that the Rice County Historical Society has found a 1941 audio recording of Smith’s Heisman acceptance speech in New York.  The recording may become part of the Smith memorabilia at the University.

Scott Baker, who has a team leading 2.88 ERA among Twins starters, pitches tomorrow night in Texas in the third game of the four game series against the Rangers.  Baker, 29, entered his seventh major league season this year with a career ERA of 4.32.

Relief pitcher Glen Perkins has given up only one earned run in his last 15 appearances (13 innings).

Mark the date: Kevin McHale returns to Target Center for the first time as the new coach of the Houston Rockets on Friday, November 25 (the day after Thanksgiving).

Collegeinsider.com’s Jason Belzer includes Winona State’s Mike Leaf among the top 25 non-Division I basketball coaches in the country.  He reports that Leaf not only won Division II national titles in 2006 and 2008, but that the coach graduates “100 percent” of his players.

Canterbury Park didn’t operate for 20 days because of the state government shutdown and president Randy Sampson estimates the Shakopee facility lost as much as $1 million per week but final figures won’t be known until the racing season ends later this summer.

The track has rescheduled its Extreme Race Day featuring camel and ostrich racing to August 6.

 

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