I REALLY hate to do this, but...

If you guys want a good laugh, check out Reusse's column today.

I know and fully understand the whole "if you don't like Reusse, just don't read him" argument and I am certainly usually one of those in that boat. But this column is so bad it's more funny than infuriating

In other words, I couldn't help myself.

The only words that come to mind while I'm busy snickering, are "BOO HOO."

MRJ said:

The only words that come to mind while I'm busy snickering, are "BOO HOO."

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hahahahahhahahahahahaha, right on!

It's obvious Reusse simply has a personal vendetta against Brewster, I wonder where that came from. He just sounds ridiculous, as if he's trying to get back at someone who's picking on him. "I'm gonna tell my mommy!" Poor little fat guy.

This was my opinion:

Minnesota fans can generally understand talent and they understand when a team has more talent on the field than the competition. The NFL has a win now mentality and when you bring in players (Allen, Berrian, Williams) the Vikings are expected to win now. If the Vikings were in a rebuilding phase and trading away players the feelings would be different. However, the Gophers clearly have less talent than opponents. Mason was 6-7 with what Reusse calls a cupcake schedule in 2006. Brewster has done an outstanding job on the recruiting trails and that is recognized by Gopher fans. The difference is that when the Gophers bring in a group of talented freshman, fans realize that it will be a few years before they make an impact. So it is as simple as Jared Allen, the Williams wall and AP is superior talent and starting 6-8 freshman and sophomores on offense is not superior talent and will take time to build.

But this was even better:

Let me count the ways....
Let's see....I don't have the benefit of an entire article (like Reusse), so I'll try to be brief. Childress takes over a team that had won 9 games in consecutive years. It's has multiple Pro-Bowlers (Williams, Birk, McKinnie), and by his admission is the 'cream' coaching job in the NFL. His owner allows him to increase his coaching staff by 50% and the players' salaries from the min to the max allowable under the cap. He adds to this roster the best running back in football, the best pass rusher in football, one of the highest paid receivers in football, multiple other top tier free agents. And in 3 years he fails to win as many games as his successor did with 1/2 the coaching salaries and almost no support from the owner. Brewster takes over a program in slow decline, with little talent base to speak of (three consecutive recruiting classes at the bottom of the conference) and without the benefit of free agency. He gets three weeks to recruit, then loses the senior quarterback (Cupito), top receiver (Speath), multiple O-linemen, and almost all of his top defensive players to graduation or disciplinary / legal issues. Most of the key returning juniors / seniors suffer injuries that keep them inactive most of the season (Pinnix, Sherrels, VanDeSteeg, etc). He institutes a new offense and new defense, starts a redshirt freshman quarterback, along with multiple freshmen all over the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. He goes 1-11 but pulls in a top 20 recruiting class, beating out Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan State for several key recruits (rather than Central Michigan, Northern Iowa, etc). In his second year, he again starts multiple freshmen (and a few sophomores) at receiver, running back, O-line, D-line, D-back, and Linebacker. Yet he increases his win total by 6 games over the previous year, with one game left to play. (It's a bowl game, by the way). He also wins more games than his predecessor did in his final year (with a senior laden roster), including two Big 10 games on the road. He continues to recruit well and appears to be lining up another great class, including 7 of the top 8 recruits in the state. That's called PROGRESS vs REGRESSION. If you can't tell the difference between those two scenarios, then you're in the wrong business. But we already knew that about Reusse, didn't we?

posted by eman68 on Dec. 5, 08 at 10:38 PM |

Wow, that was pathetic. He must be a miserable person all the time as every article he writes is so negative. Get a life fatty.

grunkiejr said:

...
But this was even better:

Let me count the ways....
Let's see....I don't have the benefit of an entire article (like Reusse), so I'll try to be brief. Childress takes over a team that had won 9 games in consecutive years. It's has multiple Pro-Bowlers (Williams, Birk, McKinnie), and by his admission is the 'cream' coaching job in the NFL. His owner allows him to increase his coaching staff by 50% and the players' salaries from the min to the max allowable under the cap. He adds to this roster the best running back in football, the best pass rusher in football, one of the highest paid receivers in football, multiple other top tier free agents. And in 3 years he fails to win as many games as his successor did with 1/2 the coaching salaries and almost no support from the owner. Brewster takes over a program in slow decline, with little talent base to speak of (three consecutive recruiting classes at the bottom of the conference) and without the benefit of free agency. He gets three weeks to recruit, then loses the senior quarterback (Cupito), top receiver (Speath), multiple O-linemen, and almost all of his top defensive players to graduation or disciplinary / legal issues. Most of the key returning juniors / seniors suffer injuries that keep them inactive most of the season (Pinnix, Sherrels, VanDeSteeg, etc). He institutes a new offense and new defense, starts a redshirt freshman quarterback, along with multiple freshmen all over the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. He goes 1-11 but pulls in a top 20 recruiting class, beating out Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan State for several key recruits (rather than Central Michigan, Northern Iowa, etc). In his second year, he again starts multiple freshmen (and a few sophomores) at receiver, running back, O-line, D-line, D-back, and Linebacker. Yet he increases his win total by 6 games over the previous year, with one game left to play. (It's a bowl game, by the way). He also wins more games than his predecessor did in his final year (with a senior laden roster), including two Big 10 games on the road. He continues to recruit well and appears to be lining up another great class, including 7 of the top 8 recruits in the state. That's called PROGRESS vs REGRESSION. If you can't tell the difference between those two scenarios, then you're in the wrong business. But we already knew that about Reusse, didn't we?

posted by eman68 on Dec. 5, 08 at 10:38 PM |

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I agree, grunk, I came across this comment and was amazed at how good it is. It should be in a newspaper instead of a message board. Whoever wrote this (is it one of us?) should be hired by the Strib and take over fatty's job immediately - this person not only gets IT, he/she can write (wow!). Congrats to them.

cncmin said:

I agree, grunk, I came across this comment and was amazed at how good it is. It should be in a newspaper instead of a message board. Whoever wrote this (is it one of us?) should be hired by the Strib and take over fatty's job immediately - this person not only gets IT, he/she can write (wow!). Congrats to them.

Click to expand...

cosign. But then again, since when does Ruesse care about accurate facts. That would only confuse him.

I always thought it was just the Gopher football program he was so set against but he seems to have a vendetta against all Gopher squads lately. He recently blasted the Gopher basketball team's non-conference schedule in a column, conveniently omitting the fact that they have Louisville on the schedule. He nominates Don Lucia for his Turkey of the Year Award because they are the New York Yankees of the college hockey and should win the National Championship every year, according to him. His lack of objectivity and fairness is really showing.

It's at a time like this that you would think an editor would simply walk in and ask Pat to clean out his desk.

His writing has become biased and vendetta laden. I don't know if it's Brewster or those calling him fat Pat. But it's quite obvious.

If I have the story correct, and certainly my version can be questioned. I think in the first year Coach Brewster was everywhere, and scheduled to make an appearance at Canterbury Park for Gopher Day at The Park. This was a Dark Star Marketing gig, and The Fat A$$ from Fulda was there primarily for the buffet. The Gopher entourage arrived looking for The Dark Man and word on how this was going to happen. Someone had briefed Coach Brewster on all the media, and when introduced to Fat A$$ he tweeked him with who are you, and who are you with? Well, you don't address his largess that way. I think it went on to several press conferences that both the Fat A$$ and Souhan attended. They attempted the school of got ya questions and Coach Brewster showed great latteral movement. It was Souhan and the Fat A$$ who trumpeted the idea that most of the talented recruiting class would never enroll. And while Souhan has backed away, the Fat A$$ picks on the U anytime he needs a column. Hey, Fat Man you have all the columns you need get started. The Timberwolves from Glen to Kevin to Randy all need blasting.

I hate to bring this up but Mason had his back against the wall going into the 2006 season, I said we'd be lucky to win 4 games because he had lost Maroney to the NFL & Russell to academics. He literally had *ZERO* Offense which was designed around his backfield which he was clearly lacking. When he finally resorted to balancing out the passing game we won 3 games to finish the season and should've dominated Texas Tech in the Insight Bowl. Mason was 1 first down away from having an incredible mid-season turnaround with a terrible defense and an unidentified offense which to me says a lot about his ability to coach.

The only problem I have right now is not so much with Brewster but more with the fans who don't have a lot of football knowledge. A new stadium is not gonna make the team any more or less stronger not to mention we have a much tougher schedule next year with an offense that's on a major decline. Brewster did the right thing by bringing in someone who can incorporate a better running game because we were practically a 1 play offense and when teams started locking down Decker we pretty much did nothing on offense after that. I have no problem with the Spread, I have a problem with being in the gun the entire game regardless of down though and even when we did go into an under center formation it was *CLEARLY* a running play to get the first down. Our Offense became too predictable and it cost our Defense some stamina.

I always said I liked John L. Smith's Offense because he ran a Spread and also ran 5 or 6 other formations so the Offense was always a guessing game for the Defense. John L. Smith was also always 1 or 2 plays away from beating teams like Wisconsin, Michigan & Ohio State which is what I hated about him & Mason.

I really hope Brewster starts finding some success in the running game because you can't win in the Big Ten without one.......

Well put grunkiejr!!

How does somebody who writes such drivel still have a job at a newspaper?

You think we would see the pattern...

Sid is pro-gophers, but writes such unbelievable crap nobody takes him seriously. Fat Pat is anti-gophers, but writes such unbelievable crap nobody takes him seriously. To the editor, this balanced coverage. I would turn them both out to pasture and start over. I understand the length of article and frequency of them don't equal out, but if the sports editor could add he would be an accountant instead. You guys should see the "new" Duluth paper now, reduced page size, no real local coverage, except for the "local" section, and a sports page that fails to fill three pages with wire copy. The newspaper industry is on its death bed.

Mason had ten years. If your back is against the wall in your tenth season you have no one to blame but yourself.

sorry - I am out of town

can someone please give link to article

Here ya go....

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/35636869.html?elr=KArks:DCiU1PciUoaEYY_4PcUU

With the Vikings in first place, how can fans stand so staunchly against Childress -- while still embracing the Gophers' Brewster?

By PATRICK REUSSE, Star Tribune

Last update: December 6, 2008 - 6:24 AM

There are e-mailers willing to express an opinion on the Vikings following every game. There were a few more than normal this week after the 34-14 thumping of the Chicago Bears.

The fact that this victory moved the Vikings into first place for the first time since 2004 did not cause any of these electronic communicators to salute coach Brad Childress.

The Vikings are 7-3 since Childress made the dramatic switch to veteran Gus Frerotte over third-year player Tarvaris Jackson at quarterback. In most situations, a coach making a key move that worked out so well in the win-loss column would be getting credit for his boldness.

Around here, most of the feedback has been anti-Childress -- blaming the coach for giving Jackson another try in the first place.

When you look back objectively, that decision was not as foolish as Jackson made it appear with his lousy play in the opening losses to Green Bay and Indianapolis.

Jackson was in his second season in 2007 and played better down the stretch. His most dynamic effort of the season was the second-half comeback from oblivion in Game 16 at Denver.

Childress, offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and quarterback coach Kevin Rogers went to work with Jackson. They liked what they saw in minicamps and optional workouts and in those hundreds of hours of study that take place in the offseason.

Jackson didn't get as much work as the coaches wanted in the exhibitions because of a minor injury, but the brain trust wasn't going to throw away every positive it had seen from the kid since last December before he had a shot in the regular season.

Childress gave him two starts, both losses, and then pulled the trigger. Frerotte is tougher to protect and still throws his interceptions, but as Childress said this week, "Damn the rough seas; did you bring the ship in?''

The Vikings are harbored in first place and should move very close to a first-ever NFC North title with a victory Sunday in Detroit.

Which leads to a topic that continues to leaves me confused: Why is it Minnesota fans remain anti-Childress and have such tolerance for the Gophers' Tim Brewster?

Both took over mediocre teams from coaches of lukewarm popularity. Childress inherited a 9-7 team and went 6-10 in 2006. Brewster inherited a team that was 6-6 in the regular season and coached a 1-11 disaster in 2007.

Childress missed the playoffs at 8-8 in his second season, and now the Vikings are in first place. Brewster started 7-1 against a cupcake schedule, then November became a 0-4 collapse.

Childress has a tendency to make points in a roundabout manner, but he's basically straight in dealing with the public. Brewster is always selling and never talking straight.

One guy is a football coach, and the other is trying to sell you the Washington Avenue bridge. One fan base chafes over the coach, and the other embraces the bridge salesman.

What gives?

"In my opinion, the difference between Vikings fans and Gopher football fans in regard to optimism stems from the fact we can't get rid of the university football team,'' said Stephen Ross, an assistant professor of sports marketing at the university.

"The university and its football team will be there through good/bad, TCF Stadium or not. The Gophers wouldn't threaten to move, because they couldn't. As such, the 'Gopher Nation,' or whomever supports Gopher football, simply tries to look on the bright side of everything to make themselves feel better.

"It's about self-esteem and protecting the ego. Who wants to be associated with a loser? In order to prevent that, we project positive thoughts or images onto a team [and thus make them better than they are].

"The Vikings theoretically could up and move ... and the organization uses this type of blackmail in order to justify funding from the state for a new stadium. Individuals are less 'attached' to the Vikings because they are not forever bound to the team. This results in less ego-protection strategies -- [such as accepting] over-the-top platitudes.''

At least it's a theory, which is something a sportswriter hasn't been able to reach concerning the public's evaluation of these two football coaches.

Patrick Reusse can be heard weekdays on AM-1500 KSTP at 6:45 and 7:45 a.m. and 4:40 p.m. [email protected]