Fairly new to the front-range and haven't been to a football game in person since moving from California. Kind of getting an affinity for the Cowboys (helps how bad the Buffs and Rams look). Was thinking of heading up to Laramie to catch a game with the girls (wife and daughter). And would love to see city and campus anyway. Buddy at work said I don't need to prepay tickets, but can save money by just driving up and they should be easy to get. Considering the 2hr drive was a little rulucatant... What do you guys say? And finally is there a place you'd recommend we can't miss after the game? Now the question is how to convince SoCal girls to watch a football game outside in the snow?

As a Detroit area ex-pat living and working through the southwest for the last dozen I've gotten tired of the drone from up north... This constant drone from the Canadian press ever since Balsille showed his face in 2005 when he tried to steal the Penguins has reach fever pitch. Such that the press leading up to and following the Winnipeg announcement the Canadian press has approached jingoisim.

Whatever your thoughts are about hockey in the south you can't tell me Quebec has done a damn thing to show anybody they deserve a team. I ask seriously... What has Quebec done to deserve a second look after the Nordiques left? This isn't about if Quebec can support a team, or if Canada likes hockey... Ever since the Nordiques left Quebec has been sulking in private like a little girl throwing French curses at their ex. For as much as the Quebec and Winnipeg situations in 1995-1996 are similar Winnipeg moved on after the Jets left. To continue the analogy they went to the gym, took some time off, toured Europe, and confidently started dating again. Winnipeg brought in an AHL team, constantly put a winner on the ice and at the ticket booth, and leveraged that team into building a new arena. Why Quebec when they only consider building a new barn and organizing an ownership group now? I would put them down near the bottom of the list, just above Balsille for other reasons, because it reeks of arrogance. The same level of arrogance that has doomed many of businesses because they think they don't need to work at success.

Oklahoma City didn't just get the Thunder because they had a ready made arena. OKC became a major league city by first focusing on being the best AAA baseball city out there. Such that when the New Orleans Hornets needed temporary place to play it was a no-brainer. I say Winnipeg did the same thing... Worked hard to prove themselves to be the best AAA hockey city out there, such that when the Atlanta situation dissolved they were a no brainer. I don't see what Quebec has done to make it such a no brainer.

I’ll accept that right now ownership gives Quebec a head-start, but I wonder how Quebecor will be as an owner… There were some troubling signs during their unsuccessful bid for the Canadiens. It seemed to be less about the team than about getting a piece of the hockey media rights. A twist on Disney’s ownership of the Ducks.

Generally not someone to post, but with Rafalski confirming his retirement my attention turned to the FA market... I would think Ken Holland is going to use the freed cap money to get a long-term solution (5yr contract for someone under 30). He'll also be looking for someone with an offensive streak to fill Raffi's role on the team. With that in mind there are only a few FAs that I think fit the mold.

Christian Ehrhoff (Vancouver)

Age 28 from Moers, Germany - 6’2" 203lb with LH Shot

James Wisniewski (Montreal)

Age 27 from Canton, MI played for Plymouth Whalers - 5’11" 205lb with RH Shot

Joni Pitkanen (Carolina)

Age 27 from Oulu, Finland - 6’3" 213lb with LH Shot

Do the Wings bring back a local boy, or go with one of the two Europeans?

Draft is over…  Time to take a look at the current depth chart (assumes they resign their FA)

Quarterback

Matt Stafford – Shaun Hill – Drew Stanton

Running Back

Jahvid Best – Mikel Leshoure – Maurice Morris – Jerome Felton

Wide Receiver

Calvin Johnson – Nate Burleson – Titus Young – Stefan Logan

Tight Ends

Brandon Pettigrew – Tony Scheffler – Will Heller

Tackle

Jeff Backus – Gosder Cherilus – Corey Hilliard - Jason Fox – Johnny Culbreath

Guard/Center

Dominic Raiola – Rob Sims – Stephen Peterman – Donald Thomas – Dan Gerberry

Defensive Tackle

Ndamukong Suh – Nick Fairley – Corey Williams – Sammie Hill – Andre Fluellon

Defensive End

Kyle Vanden Bosch – Cliff Avril – Lawrence Jackson – Turk McBride – Willie Young

Inside Linebacker

DeAndre Levy – Isaiah Ekejiuba

Outside Linebacker

Bobby Carpenter – Landon Johnson – Jordon Dizon – Caleb Campbell – Doug Hogue

Safety

Louis Delmas – Erik Coleman – Amari Spievey – John Wendling – Randy Phillips

Cornerback

Chris Houston – Nathan Vasher – Alphonso Smith – Aaron Berry – Prince Miller

Special Teams

Jason Hanson – Nick Harris – Don Muhbach

This is not a argument for or against Brady Hoke, but a needed truth finding exersize because people are showing their ignorance.  As a Michigan grad out here in the Denver (and LA before that) I follow quite a bit of the Mountain West and WAC, and I have seen a ton of mistakes in the Detroit based newspaper writers or blog contributors when it comes to SDSU.  There is a huge amount of "mountain time zone bias" where people aren't or can't do the proper research.  So here's some help:

1) SDSU is in the Mountain West, not the WAC...  This means their "hard games" were TCU, Utah, BYU, and Air Force.  They didn't actually play Boise, making the "blown out" comments I've read total BS.  At least look at their schedule before proving your ignorance.

2) SDSU's non-con schedule this year was Nicholls State, New Mexico State, Missouri, and Utah State.  First two were patsies, but Mizzu certainly wasn't and Utah State beat BYU this year so was a so-so opponent.

3) Lost 4 games by a total of 15 points...  Mizzu needed a miracle play with 51 sec left.  BYU was a slug-fest which was fairly even.  They had the lead on TCU, lost the led, then came back late to nearly steal it (was best conference game of the year).  Utah was another slugfest which they lost due to a blocked punt late.

4) This years SDSU's team made the jump to the top tier of the conference, and with lots of kids returning is expected to challenge Boise next year.  TCU is expected to take a step down with the loss of Dalton to graduation. 

OT but it annoys me that people can't seem to read a press release...  TCU leaves for the Big East in 2012, not 2011.  2011 Mountain West losses Utah and BYU (to Notre Dame like independence), and Boise joins.  2012 TCU leaves, and Nevada, Fresno, and Hawaii move over.  More laziness that is getting annoying to read.

One of the things I constantly read is that people don't like the cross-divisional rivalry game (ala SEC) because it ends up in an unbalanced rotation. The way to fix that is a 9 game conference schedule... We already know some ADs and such have been supportive of the idea. So how about you guys? As a Michigan alum I'd love more Big Ten games and no more D-1AA schools (I know the name has changed, but I'm stubborn).

Here's an example 8 game schedule for Michigan assuming an E-W division split:
  -  5 In-Division (Indiana, Purdue, Michigan State, Penn State, Ohio State)
  -  1 Cross-Division Rival (Minnesota) - historically weak rival gives Michigan an advantage
  -  2 Rotating makes a complicated schedule with 5 (Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Illinois)

While here's an example 9 game schedule for Michigan assuming an E-W division split:
  -  5 In-Division (Indiana, Purdue, Michigan State, Penn State, Ohio State)
  -  2 Cross-Division Rivals (Minnesota and Nebraska) - more balanced schedule
  -  2 Rotating divides well between 4 (Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Illinois)

 

First off let me say welcome to the Big Ten from Colorado.  Wrong state you say...  Well as a proud Michigan born and bred kid a long way from home I can say the Big Ten is never far from my heart.  Even 12 yrs in smoggy LA followed my 3 out here in the Rockies didn't kill the passion.  To this day I root for Michigan first and Big Ten second, many years after rooting on my Wolverines in person wasn't possible (thank god for the internet).  I'll regret saying this in person, but I even root for the Buckeyes every now and again (grudgingly reserved for when they reach the highest rung of competition).

It is this passion for your school and team first, and conference second that I think you'll find throughout all of Big Ten country.  As I find with many of the Big Ten alumni (and SEC and PAC-10) I work with.  Consider it like the stories you hear about a big family of brothers and sisters always trying to one-up each other.  The result of which is some pretty serious feuds and bad blood between each other...  But just like those stories you don't want to ever go against that family because in the end bad blood or not, they come together and fight as one.  That's what being in the conference is all about and why Penn State, Florida State and Miami gave up their lonely wanderings for.

Unfortunately as an interested observer I never sensed that here with the Buffs and the Big XII.  The Big Roman Numerals have some impressive history athletic achievements...  But I never sensed the conference pride I did in Michigan and LA with the Big Ten and PAC-10.  You could say it's that Denver isn't a college town, or the Buffs suck, but the expansion drive and the various bloggers showed me it’s deeper than that.  The media can talk about a 100+ yr history, but all that died in 1996 when the Big XII replaced the Big Eight.  And the same politics that made the SWC were carried over and have collapsed the Big Eight too.

In Big Ten country we used to say that Husker football was based on wins against Oklahoma and 6 patsies.  This isn't to start a fight, but to point out that Nebraska-Oklahoma was the big rivalry that defined the Big Eight.  Just like Michigan-Ohio State does the Big Ten.  And the Big XII and Oklahoma just threw that away...  Something that is unthinkable to me as a Michigan alumnus.  To me the day the decision was made to disregard historical rivalries in the name of money was the day the Big XII signed its death warrant.

To tell the truth I'm upset the PAC-10 and Texas have decided to explode conferences...  Only the same media types that brought you Leno at 10 pm would be in favor of a 16 team conference.  It's essentially two 8 team conference in a wedding of convenience.  And just like those weddings people will leave as soon as they see a pretty secretary.  12 team conferences are as big as you can get and play each other enough to make it seem a family.  Instead of stopping with Colorado and Utah the PAC-10 is getting greedy, and Texas seems to taking their toys and going home like a 5 yr old.

This could have been "relatively painless"...  PAC-10 takes Colorado and Utah, Big Ten takes Nebraska, Big XII gets back healthy with TCU and Houston (old SWC dancing partners), and the MWC feeds on WAC and C-USA.  Yes feelings will be hurt...  But it doesn't explode the whole endeavor with the risk of a clumsy government response.  There's still time to avoid pushing the big red button.  No pun intended because we know the real color of the button is burnt orange...  The parachute rip cord color was red.