PCM

I'll have you know that I was a star on our flag football team that summer.

I'll shoot some photos and write the USCHO game recap. I used to be a pretty good skater (by South Dakota standards), but it's been years since I've been on skates. As long as we stick to 20-second shifts, I'll be fine.

Hey, I went there, too. How come nobody ever mentions that?

Noooo!!! I can't handle the pressure!

Forecheck, lucky for you, I was listening and taking notes. Here's what you missed: Brad Berry was subbing for Blais. Blais is watching Shattuck-St. Mary

Part of the problem is that POIers seem to assume that everyone posting on the board has the same level of knowledge they do about Chad Roberg. Obviously, that's not the case. It's a lot like those from the Boston area on USCHO expecting everyone on the board to get as fired up about the Bean Pot as they do. As long as POI allows fans from other teams to post there, it's unreasonable to expect everyone to view events in the same perspective and context as Gopher fans.

I know Bochenski uses a Synergy. I'm not sure about anyone else.

U2Bad1 wrote on the Pride On Ice message board: Hammy, the POI comment by U2Bad1 that got him banned could clearly be taken two ways. The first is: Roberg's goal doesn't count! HAH HAH HAH!!! The second is: It sure would be nice if Roberg's goal showed up in the stats. Not being a mind reader, I can't determine which way U2 intended the post to be taken at the time he made it. Most POI members know U2 is a Sioux fan, so they interpreted the comment the first way. However, had a well-known Gopher fan such as yourself posted the exact same thing, it would have been interpreted the second way and nobody would have been upset. This was an opportunity for Gopher fans -- some of whom love to lecture other fans about their "thin skins" -- to demonstrate that they, indeed, can tolerate criticism and ignore taunts and insults. But by choosing to apply the most negative possible conotation to five words stating a simple fact, POI and many of its members have instead demonstrated that they are no better than anyone else. Welcome to the Glass House Neighborhood.

Some points: 1. Pride On Ice isn't as bad as Iraq, IMO. 2. I agree that the POI operators have the right to ban anyone they want, although banning someone for stating a simple fact is a bit odd. 3. I haven't read all of U2Bad1's POI posts, but my impression is that he generally makes valid points and provides differing opinions without being overly hostile or defensive. 4. I always thought that Gopher fans, living in a major media market, had thicker skins than Sioux fans.

You need to factor in how Blais probably felt about someone who's supposedly pro-Sioux not only publicly attacking him in his most hated rival's back yard on the day of a big game, but also declaring his support for the opposition. There might also have been a calculated bit of strategy to arouse the ire of Sioux fans and UND alumni. After all, if Blais had simply made some glib comment that indicated he wasn't all that concerned with what Schultz said, it would have generated little, if any, media attention.

That's what I thought. Maybe we should send Ed a bag of chicken feathers.

Which brings up another question: On his show, has Ed ever replayed the tape of his comments about Blais that he made on The Fan? I would think that if Schultz believes that he's done nothing for which he needs to apologize, he'd have no problem replaying the tape and generating support from his legion of fans. By not replaying the tape, Schultz creates the impression that he knows public opinion would come down solidly on the side of Dean Blais.

I don't get it. How do you privately punish someone in the public spotlight who publicly humiliated you and made a public spectacle of himself in the process? It was Schultz who chose to make it a public issue by attempting to punish Blais in public. Now, from PR perspective, perhaps Blais could have come off looking better by appearing to take the high road and letting someone else do the dirty work behind the scenes, but that doesn't seem to be his style. If there's a groundswell of sentiment from Sioux fans and UND alumni to oust Schultz as the voice of Fighting Sioux football, then there's no way a "private punishment" is going to work.

According to the Virg Foss story in today's Herald, the line combinations for Friday night's game with UAA will be: Fylling-Parise-Bochenski Noterman-Lundbohm-Massen Spiewak-McMahon-Prpich I'm guessing the fourth line might be Connelly, Genoway and R. Hale. Brandt and Ranfranz are the only two goalies on the trip. Canady is out for at least 3-4 weeks and possibly the season. In Virg's column today, he also has some interesting comments about the Schultz-Blais situation and Gopher fans booing native son Zach Parise.

You have to be careful with stories that have been repeated so many times that everyone assumes they're true. For example, there was a story about a close relative of mine who was a policeman. Supposedly he was demonstrating his quick-draw skills for patrons in a bar when he accidentally shot a vending machine. Years later after he ran for county sheriff and was defeated, he told me that what hurt his campaign most was the untrue story about him shooting a vending machine. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I'd been repeating the story because I always assumed it was true.

I'm getting sick of this being reported as if the worst thing Ed Schultz did was call Dean Blais "bush league." Have any of these journalists actually heard everything that Schultz said? Have any of them asked for a tape or a transcript of the program? Blais is being made to look like the bad guy in this and he's not. Anyone who heard what Schultz said would know that it was unprofessional and inexcusable.

Virg Foss has a nice article about David Lundbohm in today's Herald.

Anyone know the answer to Speez's question? When was the last time a team ranked first in the polls won a national championship? As the 2000 Fighting Sioux and last season's Gophers proved, you don't even have to win the WCHA to win a national championship.

Will all those who couldn't see this post coming please raise their hands.

I spoke to Benson about this today to find out what happened. It was an unfortunate and completely unavoidable set of circumstances. Benson set up the interview last Wednesday and confirmed it with Blais. Blais had done media interviews all Friday morning and had every intention of being on Ed's show. Unfortunately, the window of opportunity was very tight and Blais was very busy. He had a luncheon to attend with the Gopher boosters and a pregame meeting scheduled shortly after 1:30. He had to drive to the lunch and back again, not knowing how traffic would be. Just before Blais left for the lunch, he told Benson that it would be best if Schultz called him in his hotel room at 1:30. He expected to be back from lunch and in his room by then. He stressed to Dan that if they didn't call him right at 1:30, he'd be unable to do the interview. This was a change from the previous plan where Blais was going to call the station. Benson got on the phone immediately and confirmed the change of plans with Ed's producer. He also told the producer that Blais was running on an extremely tight schedule and didn't know if he would be back in time. Around 1:30, Benson called the radio station to see if they'd gotten in touch with Blais. Ed's producer said that they had been unable to reach him. Benson then went looking for Blais. By the time he found him, the team pregame meeting had started and Blais was already involved in it. Blais told Benson that he wouldn't be able to do the interview. Benson immediately called Ed's producer, told him Blais couldn't do the interview, apologized and explained the situation. The producer told him "No sweat." When Ed was informed, he went off the deep end on the air. No, it's one person's version of reality. The truth is that Farkas called Benson at the last minute and asked him to set up an interview with Parise. Benson said he'd try, even though he didn't know Parise's schedule. As it turned out, Zach had a class and couldn't do it. To represent it as incompetence on Benson's part is simply unfair. Only if doing his job can be construed as having a role. Look, Dan and I have had our differences. I don't always agree with the way he does things. But he is a straight-shooter and one of the friendliest, most polite people you'll ever meet. Using him as a scapegoat for this mess is completely off base. I am also convinced that Blais made a good faith effort to honor his commitment. It just didn't work out. Schultz has only himself to blame.

Nothing Ed might say this morning can excuse the lack of professionalism he displayed on Friday. Nobody is saying that the interview wasn't scheduled and that Dean didn't do it. Obviously, it would have been better if he did. That's not the issue. The issue is how Schultz handled it on the air.

Be sure to e-mail Ed Schultz at edkfgo@aol.com to let him know what you think of his fondness for Gophers.