Reusse blog: New grandeur for U of M moral victory

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Why bring %@# PR's link up? I can't stand what this guy has to say about anything. He's foul up everything with his negativity.
 

You can argue about tone of article and back handed compliments, etc, but there is one fact in his blog (and have seen in others) that is incorrect. USC has not lost 1 scholly yet. They appealed the NCAA ruling and recruited a full class last year (and the year before). The loss of scholly's does not occur until this year and next since NCAA just denied their appeal a couple months ago.
 

Reusse has said more than once he hates football. He would like nothing more than for Coach Kill to fail. I can't stand him or anything about him.
 

In both Reusse's blog and Souhan's article from the previous day, they avoided gaping holes of logic that are immediately spotted and keep credence to the thought that all they're trying to do is provoke the Gopher football fan base.

Reusse points to the similarities in statistics between the loss last season and this season to USC. No mention is given to the implementation of new schemes brought by a new coaching staff on the road in the first game of the season with a new starting quarterback (versus game #3 at home with a veteran quarterback from last season). I don't think I have read any Gopher fans asking yet to commission a Jerry Kill statue or booking hotel rooms in L.A. over New Year's, but I have read a lot of cautious, anticipated optimism towards what was seen yesterday and hope for the future. Honestly, any follower of Gopher football steps with cautious optimism given our program's recent history and heartbreaks.

As for Souhan, his take was so laughably bad-that because history shows us only a small handful of NCAA programs have avoided sanctions, that means you can only win with dirty pool. If indeed all of these sanctioned programs had received said sanctions in the last 5 or so years, I couldn't help but agreeing; but the sanctions of a program from the '90s and previously have little to do with current events. I would imagine a quick perusal of last season's top 25 would indicate a fair number of programs that try to win the right way.

Anyway, both of these guys are smart enough to realize these points are major blind spots in their arguments. More examples of lazy provocations aimed to get page views and their names swirling.
 


I actually enjoy Reusse's articles and blogs from time to time. His best writing is when he talks about the past and compares it to something in the present. Like him or not, he's been covering sports for a long time.

That being said, one thing that's never held any water with me is his frequent use of hypotheticals to prove a point. Like in this article when he suggested that if USC hadn't snapped the ball over the qb's head and turned it over it would have been a blowout. The problem with that argument is for every, "if this hadn't happened" there could easily be another "if this hadn't happened" to counter it. If Shortell doesn't throw the INT the gophers probably win, for example. Well, USC did snap the ball over the qb's head and Shortell did throw an INT to end the game so that's that.
 

TNGophfan said:
You can argue about tone of article and back handed compliments, etc, but there is one fact in his blog (and have seen in others) that is incorrect. USC has not lost 1 scholly yet. They appealed the NCAA ruling and recruited a full class last year (and the year before). The loss of scholly's does not occur until this year and next since NCAA just denied their appeal a couple months ago.
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Reusse just said on the sports show that you could really see the effect of USC losing scholarships and talent. Sid had to correct him that they hadn't lost any schollies yet and they still had a top class this year. When Sid's correcting you...well, you know the score.
 

Obviously he has his facts wrong, and is spreading misinformation across every sportstalk platform in minnesota (as is tradition). Nowadays he is a well-paid whore for the Twins; he has to do his best to convince people it is still really cool to hang out at Target Field and watch the Twins get 10-runned by clubs that aren't going to make the playoffs.


But I will give him this: he put himself out there. He predicted Kiffin's Trojans go 8-5 at best. We shall see.
 

Per PR,

"Obviously, if the basics had been executed, Barkley had a chance to keep that drive going. And if Southern Cal had reached the end zone, it would have been 26-3 (or 25, if Kiffin again gave his blessing to a 2-point conversion), and we probably wouldn't have heard a peep from the Gophers."

There's a wise old saying that goes, "If the Queen had testicles, they'd call her the King. If my aunt had testicles they'd call her my uncle."

Anyone using the hypothetical, "if," as proof for their reasoning is making a meaningless argument with the resulting and appropriate reply being, "Who cares!"
 



Tully55 said:
Per PR,

"Obviously, if the basics had been executed, Barkley had a chance to keep that drive going. And if Southern Cal had reached the end zone, it would have been 26-3 (or 25, if Kiffin again gave his blessing to a 2-point conversion), and we probably wouldn't have heard a peep from the Gophers."

There's a wise old saying that goes, "If the Queen had testicles, they'd call her the King. If my aunt had testicles they'd call her my uncle."

Anyone using the hypothetical, "if," as proof for their reasoning is making a meaningless argument with the resulting and appropriate reply being, "Who cares!"
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Thank you. I'm going to quote your post in another thread of mine, because apparently some of Patty's athletic supporters want reasoning behind my disdain towards him.
 

A football game is a collection of every play, the good, bad, the ugly and the just plain lucky. Sure, if USC had played better and scored more points, they would have won by even more. But they didn't. Things go wrong in football games, that snap was one of them. Every close game could have been turned around if just one play had been different, it is pretty ludicrous to imply that the "real" outcome was something other than what really happened.
 

+1

Excellently put, RR. This was really just an awful piece by Reusse. The what-ifs can go both ways. What if Hawthorne makes one or both of the ones he missed... What if our headsets worked in the 1st half... What if Gray doesn't get injured... The list could go on for both teams, but, in the end, the breaks fell as they did, and I think the 19-17 final was indicative of the course of action. Yes, USC could have played better. But so, too, could have the Gophers. To ascribe that game the storyline of USC almost handing a game to the perpetually inept Gophers is to willfully ignore the halftime adjustments of Kill and his staff and the effort of their team.

I can respect that Reusse doesn't want to have to find moral victories. I'm also not one for moral victories, and I'm sure the many fans that were encouraged by that performance also aren't complacent with moral victories. But that game gave Gopher faithful reason to believe that this year's team can play some football and surprise some people. As I was filing out of the Coliseum (quite a process), I was stopped by a lot of Trojan fans who had nothing but positive comments about the Gophers, our players, and our effort (much like what Trojan Princess has posted since the game on GH). This game wasn't a moral victory, but it provided a number of reasons to be excited about the direction of this team.
 

Reusse: Do you feel happy with a moral victory?

Gopher fan: Moral victory? Well, now, let me see. You know, I don't have any idea what that means.

Reusse: Well, it means you find the bright side in a loss...

Gopher fan: I know what you think it means, sonny. To me it's just a made up term. A journalist's term, so that fellas like yourself can wear humorously gigantic polos and have a job. What do you really want to know? Am I encouraged after the USC game?

Reusse: Well, are you?

Gopher fan: There's not an hour since the game that I haven't thought about it. Not because I was at the game, or because some people think I should. I look back on the way we were: a young, undisciplined team that went 3-9. I want to talk to them, tell them the way things are. But I can't. That team's long gone, and this team is all that's left. I gotta go by that. Moral victory? It's just a bullsh*t term. So go ahead and stamp your forms, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a sh*t.
 



Fat Pat and Souhan are no longer worth reading. Both had decent to good periods in the past but now it seems all they care about is trying to write crap that will get people incensed and click on their article. It's clicks not content that count.
 

TNGophfan said:
You can argue about tone of article and back handed compliments, etc, but there is one fact in his blog (and have seen in others) that is incorrect. USC has not lost 1 scholly yet. They appealed the NCAA ruling and recruited a full class last year (and the year before). The loss of scholly's does not occur until this year and next since NCAA just denied their appeal a couple months ago.
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Well, I have no clue who you are discussing, or his credibility, but he is correct that we felt the scholarship loss last season. Pete never recruited a full class, he left scholarships open for preferred walkons (remember Clay Matthews II?) , plus the "free agency" the lovely NCAA and fat boy Dees handed down by allowing juniors and seniors to transfer out without penalty.

We lost depth (M. Jackson. one of the 5, made all SEC on defense last year) and experience. Add Frankie Telfort - linebacker recruit out of Florida who was found to have a congenital heart disease that ended his FB career before he set foot on the field in the Coliseum. Jarvis Jones, a stud linebacker out of Georgia was not cleared by the USC physicians to play football at USC after a neck injury his freshman year. Two big recruits out of the 2009 class. Jarvis loved USC but wanted to play, so he went back home to Georgia where their physicians cleared him to play..Frankie is a student coach for the Trojans, and the university honored his scholarship.

All last season, there were more opposing players who traveled with their team, on the other side of the field, than we had on our entire roster. This last class was the first full class we've brought in in years, but like last season, a lot of youth and inexperience. Especially on the defensive side of the ball and our o-line.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
Reusse just said on the sports show that you could really see the effect of USC losing scholarships and talent. Sid had to correct him that they hadn't lost any schollies yet and they still had a top class this year. When Sid's correcting you...well, you know the score.
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Speaking of The Sports Show, does anyone agree with me the show is better when Dark Starr is absent.
 

Could USC have blown us out?

Yes.

I propose we don't totally overlook that?
 

Studwell55 said:
Could USC have blown us out?

Yes.

I propose we don't totally overlook that?
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I don't understand your point. Could they have blown us out? Maybe if we didn't get our act together, settle our nerves, and take care of the headset communication problem they could have blown us out. But the fact remains that you can't score when the opposing D stops you on 3rd down over and over again. So yeah, they could have blown us out if we would have stopped stopping them. Deep thoughts....
 

station19 said:
Speaking of The Sports Show, does anyone agree with me the show is better when Dark Starr is absent.
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I don't know why I watch it. 15 minutes of Sid and Max saying everything is great while "Dark Star" (I bet that's not even his real name) and squinty Ruesse tell us that everything sucks. The other 15 minutes is commercials for JD Hoyt's and Ticket King.
 

SonOfTheVarsity said:
Reusse: Do you feel happy with a moral victory?

Gopher fan: Moral victory? Well, now, let me see. You know, I don't have any idea what that means.

Reusse: Well, it means you find the bright side in a loss...

Gopher fan: I know what you think it means, sonny. To me it's just a made up term. A journalist's term, so that fellas like yourself can wear humorously gigantic polos and have a job. What do you really want to know? Am I encouraged after the USC game?

Reusse: Well, are you?

Gopher fan: There's not an hour since the game that I haven't thought about it. Not because I was at the game, or because some people think I should. I look back on the way we were: a young, undisciplined team that went 3-9. I want to talk to them, tell them the way things are. But I can't. That team's long gone, and this team is all that's left. I gotta go by that. Moral victory? It's just a bullsh*t term. So go ahead and stamp your forms, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a sh*t.
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this is a classic, hall of fame type post. well done. love the shawshank redemption reference. and the not so subtle shot at the disgustingly overweight and grotesque body frame of one fat pat reusse.
 

So Patrick, if we play a crappy game and win by two points, does that make it a moral loss?
 

During the the BTN's wrapup show, they were talking about Purdue. Dinardo said something like, "I'd rather have to try and fix things after an ugly win than a pretty loss." The other guys asked what a "pretty loss" would be and Dinardo said, "Minnesota." The other guys just shook their head in agreement. People on the outside, with no tie to the program, saw this as a "moral victory" as well, I guess. Up yours, you sunken-eyed, bitter lush.
 

TLHGO4 said:
So Patrick, if we play a crappy game and win by two points, does that make it a moral loss?
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Many declared the SDSU win in 2009 a moral win. In fact, I recall more than one poster listing it as a loss, despite us, you know, scoring more points than the other team.

I would imagine Fulda the Hutt was in this camp, as he is a miserable p.o.s. who does his damndest to suck any possible enjoyment out of everything.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Many declared the SDSU win in 2009 a moral win. In fact, I recall more than one poster listing it as a loss, despite us, you know, scoring more points than the other team.

I would imagine Fulda the Hutt was in this camp, as he is a miserable p.o.s. who does his damndest to suck any possible enjoyment out of everything.
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I was far more upset about that win that Saturday's loss. I gave up my last shred of hope for Brew after that 'win.'
 

I think the general point about Gophers fans being happy with moral victories is a valid one. We've gotten so used to bad teams that now even being close to beating a good team is considered almost as good as win.

The way I looke at it is that I'm not happy with the way the Gophers played VS. USC. I'm encouraged by the progress Kill has had so far, this team actually looks like a Division I team now. I'll be happy when the Gophers are in actual contention for a Rose Bowl.
 

Sadly, one of my first thoughts at halftime was "I can just hear what Pat will be saying about this debacle of a game and about Kill"

He is utterly predictable.
 

I'm not happy with losing, but I am happy with the way the Gophers played. Similarly, I can be happy with the win, even if unhappy with the way the Gophers played. I was happy with the win vs. Miami in 2007, happy with the win against SDSU in 2009, but not happy with the way the Gophers played. I'm happy with the way the Gophers played against USC, because it gives me reason to be optimistic about how the season will go. The 3-win predictions look less credible now.
 

Not a big secret, but

Breakin' The Plane said:
I don't know why I watch it. 15 minutes of Sid and Max saying everything is great while "Dark Star" (I bet that's not even his real name) and squinty Ruesse tell us that everything sucks. The other 15 minutes is commercials for JD Hoyt's and Ticket King.
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Dark's real name is George Chapple. And you are forgetting Grandview Lodge, and Canterbury Park.

There is something about that show's extremely low production value that entertains me.
 

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