MafiaMan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VUwh3WmxbzI Keith Olbermann on Gordie Howe... Gordie apparently suffered another major stroke yesterday...sounds like #9 is on his last shift.

I'm going with a cinderella pick as I think Izard County Consolidated is gonna take home the title.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/9891201 Interesting article from 2006 on Bryant and UAB...

It wasn't MacGyver, doofus. It was Magnum P.I. Hail Bison.

I've watched Lake State play twice this season - they are young and inexperienced. All three of their goalies are new to the program and if I heard correctly, 7 of their 8 defensemen are new as well. North Dakota should take the Soo Lakers out behind the woodshed this weekend. Book it.

Remember when the Patriots were America's "underdog" in the Super Bowl against the Rams?

Coach #2 is Dennis Franchione, who resigned at Alabama to take the job at Texas A&M. His tenure there was a disaster and he announced his resignation in the post-game press conference after the Aggiest had defeated Texas in the final game of the 2007 season. Coach #3 is the great answer to a trivia question. Mike Price, who left Washington State University (yes, THE Washington State University) to become the coach at Alabama...the end-result was unfortunate, but a foreshadowing of the dangers of the age of the internet and fan message boards everywhere.

To each his own, I guess. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that when the 1997 team 20-year reunion rolls around in a little more than two years, no one in attendance will waste time complaining about the 10 spot that the Gophers put on the board against them in early November of 1996.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2855535/St-Louis-teens-beat-motorist-32-death-hammers-sparking-protests-Bosnian-community.html I'm assuming Al Sharpton and company are on their way over to help calm the Bosnian community...

If this team winds up winning the national title next spring, will some fans here STILL bitch about that 5-0 loss to Bemidji State in the first game of the season? Simple question.

Just to point out how quickly the football landscape can change...let's look at School A: 2000: 3-8 (Coach #1 fired) 2001: 7-5 2002: 10-3 (Coach #2 resigns) 2002-2003: Coach #3 is removed prior to even coaching a single game 2003: 4-9 2004: 6-6 2005: 10-2 (wins later vacated due to NCAA violations) 2006: 6-7 (Coach #4 fired and wins later vacated due to NCAA violations) At the start of the 2007 season, this school was on its 5th different football coach in 7 years. In his first season at the helm, this coach and team would finish 7-6. The program looks like a hot mess, right? 7 seasons later, this program is now the gold standard for college football and no one can seem to remember when they totally sucked. "School A" is none other than Alabama.

Most folks with any insight into college football figure that if Nebraska had opted for the tie, they would have been the 1983 national champions. My point is that Osborne has been held up as the gold standard in Lincoln thanks to those titles in 1994, 1995, and 1997 (and justifiably so, the guy is a coaching legend). Yet if he coached a 20 year stretch like he had from 1973 to 1993 in today's fire-the-coach-if-there's-no-national-championship-within-about-three-years-time-mentality, Osborne would be run out of Lincoln. ESPECIALLY with losing seven bowl games in a row.

Well, how about this? From 1983 to 1993, Nebraska went 6-5 against Oklahoma. Lost national title game to Miami in 1983, lost to Michigan in bowl game in 1985. Beat LSU in 1984 and 1986 bowl games. Then, Nebraska lost SEVEN straight bowl games (1987-1993), going 0-4 against Florida State, 0-2 against Miami, and 0-1 against Georgia Tech. I'm not ripping on Tom Osborne at all, but was there ANY reason to think that he would wind up winning 3 of the next 4 national championships based on the 11-year span that preceded it? Would Tom Osborne even be coaching in today's environment after losing seven straight bowl games?

1973: 9-2-1 (4-2-1 Big 8), #11 coaches, #7 AP - lost 13-12 at unranked Missouri, lost 27-0 at Oklahoma, beat Texas in Cotton Bowl 19-3 1974: 9-3-0 (5-2-0 Big 8), #8 coaches, #9 AP - lost 21-10 at home to unranked Missouri, lost 28-14 to Oklahoma, beat Florida in Sugar Bowl 13-10 1975: 10-2-0 (6-1-0 Big 8, BIG 8 CO-CHAMPIONS WITH OKLAHOMA), #9 coaches, #9 AP - undefeated going into final game of season, lost 35-10 at Oklahoma, lost Fiesta Bowl to Arizona State 17-14 1976: 9-3-1 (4-3-0 Big 8), #7 coaches, #9 AP - lost at home to Missouri 34-24, lost 20-17 to Oklahoma, beat Texas Tech 27-24 in BlueBonnet Bowl 1977: 9-3-0 (5-2-0 Big 8), #10 coaches, #12 AP - lost 38-7 at Oklahoma, beat North Carolina in Liberty Bowl 21-17 1978: 9-3-0 (6-1-0 Big 8, BIG 8 CO-CHAMPIONS), #8 coaches, #8 AP - beat Oklahoma 17-14, then lost the next week at home to unranked Missouri 35-31, and lost to Oklahoma in Orange Bowl re-match 31-24 1979: 10-2-0 (6-1-0 Big 8), #7 coaches, #9 AP - undefeated going into last regular season game, lost 17-14 at Oklahoma, then lost Cotton Bowl to Houston 17-14 1980: 10-2-0 (6-1-0 Big 8), ##7 coaches, #7 AP - lost to Oklahoma 21-17 in last game of season that decided Big 8 title, beat Mississippi State 31-17 in Sun Bowl 1981: 9-3-0 (7-0 Big 8, BIG 8 CHAMPIONS), #9 coaches, #11 AP - 37-14 win at Oklahoma, lost Orange Bowl to Clemson 22-15 1982: 12-1-0 (7-0 Big 8, BIG 8 CHAMPIONS), #3 coaches, #3 AP - beat Oklahoma 28-14, beat LSU in Orange Bowl 21-20 That's the first 10 seasons under Tom Osborne. 3-7 against Oklahoma in the regular season, 0-1 against Oklahoma in bowl games. 6-4 against a Missouri team that upset the Cornhuskers several times when Nebraska was highly ranked. 2 conference co-championships, 2 outright conference championships. 6-4 bowl record, 0 national championship game appearances. Good enough to keep Tom around for 1983? Dare I say that Tom Osborne might actually be fired in today's college coaching climate due to some big game losses and no national championships?

Tennessee ran Phil Fulmer out of town...and I bet many fans in Knoxville today dream of the glory days of the Volunteers under his leadership.

Sure, when you count the three titles. I'm asking you to look at 1973 to 1993 pre-title run. You're telling me you'd openly back keeping a coach that long with no national championships, right?

Given the close proximity to Canada and the number of Canadians playing college hockey, I think a nice tribute would be the singing of "O Canada" at all UND home games. Yes, I'm serious...

They didn't win 3 consecutive titles, but you're openly giving a pass to Osborne for 20 years of national title failure...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHSaHRd4Q48 Kudos to Toronto Maple Leaf fans for lending their help - and voices - at a recent game during a microphone malfunction. It's one thing to hear a crowd sing our national anthem...quite another to hear a crowd FROM A DIFFERENT COUNTRY sing in. Gives me goose bumps...

So you have no problem with the 24 year gap between national championships as long as the team is winning conference titles? Florida's a different story...

I concede that point. Would you be in favor of keeping Pelini as head coach had that incident not happened?

R-E-L-A-X. After about week 2, the Packers were left for dead and the Patriots were done. Neither of those teams make the Super Bowl. You heard it here first.

Nebraska won titles under Bob Devaney in 1970 and 1971. Tom Osborne became head coach in 1973. He won his first national championship in 1994. How long was Bobby Bowden at FSU before winning it all in 1993? Same situation. Neither of those guys would last five years at those schools today without a national title. I'm no Cornhusker fan, in fact, I'm probably a hater of their football team on a level with Notre Dame. I just think it's a shame that the game has evolved to the point of make-us-a national-champion-or-you're gone.

How long did it take Osborne to win his first national championship?

Legendary Tom Osborne was 12-13 in bowl games...