Souhan: It's a losing play for P.J. Fleck to tout his Gophers "culture" over talent


His job is to generate clicks. Doesn't matter if it is accurate or not. Figurative language and nuance is completely lost on a guy like Jim.

I don't believe there has been a coach he has liked. Ever.

Souhan was probably one of those kids that wanted to be really athletic, but genetics just did not gift him with size, skill and coordination. Armed with a pen, he could live vicariously through the sports he so desperately wanted to be good at and write articles that would bring him the attention he so desperately craved.

My guess is PJ did not kiss his ass, and this feels like more of a personal pissing match than anything else. Don't whiz on the electric fence, Jim.
Boy, are we so special. We know he is physically fit.
 

I am not one that is usually bothered by PJ, but he clearly rubs a lot of people the wrong way. The comment about culture over talent bothered me as I personally interpreted it similarly to Souhan in that it downplayed his teams talent and also served to set low expectations. I don't agree with much of what Souhan wrote in his article, but I didn't like that comment before I read anything Souhan had to say about it. Fleck also talked about "when others go low, we go high" in an interview with Gaard, only to end with a comment about being 4-1 against Nebraska the last 5 years. If that's who you want to be, I don't have an issue with it, but don't be quiet about the records that are reversed against other coaches who clearly don't like you either.

Souhan deserves criticism for rarely ever writing about the Gophers and finding a critical angle in one of the rare times he does write about them after a solid win at home. I do think there's complements of Fleck in that article too, but they are lost in noise of the rest of it. PJ always says he's not for everybody, so it shouldn't bother him that Souhan has decided to criticize him.
 

It didn't matter what Fleck said, Souhan is trying to make something out of nothing because it is harder to be a negative prick when the team plays well.
And because there are many people living in the TC, some of whom read/buy the STrib, who want to see the Gophers fail.

Is what it is. We're a jobs hub, people come in from all over, with different allegiances to different Big Ten or otherwise anti-Gopher (hockey as well) schools.
 

I am not one that is usually bothered by PJ, but he clearly rubs a lot of people the wrong way. The comment about culture over talent bothered me as I personally interpreted it similarly to Souhan in that it downplayed his teams talent and also served to set low expectations.
You're certainly entitled to your perspective an opinion.

But I just don't see how anyone, with the full context of Frost's anti-"sloganeering" comments getting ink in the papers leading up to the game, couldn't see Fleck's throw away comment as nothing more than the jab at Frost that it was.
 






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