Paul Allen's top 10 all time Gopher football greats

Halsey Hall

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Not sure if this has been posted yet but Paul Allen's show featured the top 10 all-time football greats for the Gophers. I about died when he was asked if he knew who Paul Giel was. NO, Allen said. WOW!!! The most amazing thing of all is they had Adam Weber No. 8 on the all-time list. No Rickie Foggie, no Rick Upchurch, no Karl Mecklenburg, no Tom Brown, no Sandy Stephens, no Billy Light (our all-time leading tackler), no Lawrence Maroney, no Eric Decker, no Jon Leverenz, no Matt Spaeth, no Charlie Sanders, no Maxx Williams, no Gale Gillingham, no Aaron Brown, no Leo Nomellini, no Bud Wilkinson (who helped lead the Golden Gophers to three consecutive national championships from 1934 to 1936) no Bud Grant. But by God we got Adam Bounce Pass Weber in there at no. 8
 


Wow. Guess he didn't do research. I'm sure he got ripped for it on social media. Worth noting Paul Allen is not from Minnesota.
 

Someone had to write down the names for old Canterbury and he probably still butchered it. I rarely listen to the Queens on radio because of the colossal blowhard that is Paul Allen.
 

Someone had to write down the names for old Canterbury and he probably still butchered it. I rarely listen to the Queens on radio because of the colossal blowhard that is Paul Allen.

I love PA calling Vikings football games. He is emotionally invested in the team. I think he is one of the best radio voices in the NFL.
 


I love PA calling Vikings football games. He is emotionally invested in the team. I think he is one of the best radio voices in the NFL.
You never listed to Kevin Harlan call the Twolves games did you. PA isn't worthy of being in the same room with Harlan.
 

PA once interviewed Quincy Lewis and he asked Q what it was like to play for Coach Monson, and what it was like to have to sit out an NCAA Tournament game due to the academic fraud.

It was offensive to Quincy on many levels.

Go Gophers!!
 

Who did he have?

The producer Eric Nordquist was the one who actually came up with the list. Here it is in order from 1-10:

Bronco Nagurski
Bobby Bell
Bruce Smith
Darrell Thompson
Carl Eller
Tyrone Carter
Paul Giel
Adam Weber
Greg Eslinger
Ron Johnson

Outside of Weber, I don't have much of a problem with the list. The one argument for Weber is that he is the best statistical passing QB by a mile. Pretty much every other good QB in Gopher history were better runners than passers.
 

You never listed to Kevin Harlan call the Twolves games did you. PA isn't worthy of being in the same room with Harlan.

I did listen to Harlan call T-Wolves games as a kid and loved him. "Easy Rider" "Kevin Garnet is a God" etc.
Checkout the video of Harlan calling the squirrel running for a touchdown during a football game.
 



I did listen to Harlan call T-Wolves games as a kid and loved him. "Easy Rider" "Kevin Garnet is a God" etc.
Checkout the video of Harlan calling the squirrel running for a touchdown during a football game.
So, how do you enjoy PA after Harlan?
I have to believe that PA stands for Pompous Ass.
 

The producer Eric Nordquist was the one who actually came up with the list. Here it is in order from 1-10:

Bronco Nagurski
Bobby Bell
Bruce Smith
Darrell Thompson
Carl Eller
Tyrone Carter
Paul Giel
Adam Weber
Greg Eslinger
Ron Johnson

Outside of Weber, I don't have much of a problem with the list. The one argument for Weber is that he is the best statistical passing QB by a mile. Pretty much every other good QB in Gopher history were better runners than passers.

Agree. I'd probably swap out Weber for Stephens and Johnson for Decker.
 

Not sure if this has been posted yet but Paul Allen's show featured the top 10 all-time football greats for the Gophers. I about died when he was asked if he knew who Paul Giel was. NO, Allen said. WOW!!! The most amazing thing of all is they had Adam Weber No. 8 on the all-time list. No Rickie Foggie, no Rick Upchurch, no Karl Mecklenburg, no Tom Brown, no Sandy Stephens, no Billy Light (our all-time leading tackler), no Lawrence Maroney, no Eric Decker, no Jon Leverenz, no Matt Spaeth, no Charlie Sanders, no Maxx Williams, no Gale Gillingham, no Aaron Brown, no Leo Nomellini, no Bud Wilkinson (who helped lead the Golden Gophers to three consecutive national championships from 1934 to 1936) no Bud Grant. But by God we got Adam Bounce Pass Weber in there at no. 8

I need to do some homework. The ones in bold are the guys I have never heard of.
 

I love PA calling Vikings football games. He is emotionally invested in the team. I think he is one of the best radio voices in the NFL.

He is one of the worst local announcers I have ever heard. My god, "he's loose!" Terrible.

So, how do you enjoy PA after Harlan?
I have to believe that PA stands for Pompous Ass.

You forgot Packer Asskisser. His dad was the CEO. I always (don't) like announcers that call out every yardline..."He's to the 20, the 21, the 22, the 23, the 24...". Every play ends "right in front of the (you name it)". Awful.
 



Hard to come up with a list of ten and not leave someone out, but Tom Brown gets overlooked consistently. Outland Trophy winner on the Gophers' national champion team of 1960 and a two-way player at OG and DT. I think one of the reasons Brown gets overlooked is that he didn't play in the NFL, but instead went to Canada, where he was a standout for a number of years and was elected to the CFL Hall of Fame. Went into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003. Truly great player.

Here's a snippet on Brown: http://www.gophersports.com/genrel/090607aar.html
 

So, how do you enjoy PA after Harlan?
I have to believe that PA stands for Pompous Ass.

With that logic, why ever listen to any radio announcer ever again?

As a sports personality, PA is about annoying as humanly possible, and the 9 to noon show is impossible to listen to. But if you are a die hard Vikings fan, he is a great radio guy. I loved him as a radio guy when I loved the Vikings. I dont care nearly as much for the Vikings any more, so listening to PA call games annoys me more and more.
 


I need to do some homework. The ones in bold are the guys I have never heard of.

Yes you have work to do. Check them out and I will forgive you but not knowing about Jon Leverenz? Charlie Sanders? I think anyone who is too young to know of these guys is also not understanding the history of Gopher Football.

PA not knowing Paul Giel is inexcusable. Giel was the AD until 1989 so if he did not know he was a standout player he should at least know his role at the University. Paul Allen is basically just standing up and saying "I am a sports fraud. I may have a good voice but I know nothing about history of the Minnesota sports scene"

FWIW I can't listen to him either.
 

The producer Eric Nordquist was the one who actually came up with the list. Here it is in order from 1-10:

Bronco Nagurski
Bobby Bell
Bruce Smith
Darrell Thompson
Carl Eller
Tyrone Carter
Paul Giel
Adam Weber
Greg Eslinger
Ron Johnson

Outside of Weber, I don't have much of a problem with the list. The one argument for Weber is that he is the best statistical passing QB by a mile. Pretty much every other good QB in Gopher history were better runners than passers.

Yep. Oh, and not a surprise that Allen had nothing to do with the list.

Best/Worst thing about any Top List, All Stars, Oscars etc. is people who are outraged that somebody didn't make a list, but they never say who'd they'd bump to get their guys on.
 

Yes you have work to do. Check them out and I will forgive you but not knowing about Jon Leverenz? Charlie Sanders? I think anyone who is too young to know of these guys is also not understanding the history of Gopher Football.

PA not knowing Paul Giel is inexcusable. Giel was the AD until 1989 so if he did not know he was a standout player he should at least know his role at the University. Paul Allen is basically just standing up and saying "I am a sports fraud. I may have a good voice but I know nothing about history of the Minnesota sports scene"

FWIW I can't listen to him either.

Or even more likely, Allen was just trying to be a dick and troll Gopher fans. It's what he does. He's usually pretty good at the "being a dick"part...
 

With that logic, why ever listen to any radio announcer ever again?

As a sports personality, PA is about annoying as humanly possible, and the 9 to noon show is impossible to listen to. But if you are a die hard Vikings fan, he is a great radio guy. I loved him as a radio guy when I loved the Vikings. I dont care nearly as much for the Vikings any more, so listening to PA call games annoys me more and more.

I duno if even being a Vikings fan is helpful.

Dude is so shrill and whiny, I can get that from other vikings fans as it is, don't need it from the radio guy.
 

"I don't really care as much for the Vikings anymore" ......DLguy
And the Lord said: " Let there be light"
"Dad, anybody can be a Viking fan. It takes someone special to be a Gopher fan" .....my son
 

With that logic, why ever listen to any radio announcer ever again?

As a sports personality, PA is about annoying as humanly possible, and the 9 to noon show is impossible to listen to. But if you are a die hard Vikings fan, he is a great radio guy. I loved him as a radio guy when I loved the Vikings. I dont care nearly as much for the Vikings any more, so listening to PA call games annoys me more and more.

I think PA is a perfect example of the generation gap in sports journalism. I'm in my 60s and I can't stand all the homerism. Give me announcers and analysts that provide solid play-by-play and instructive insight without making the other team the enemy and your squad the absolute white hat. A little tilt is fine, but on the extremely rare occasion I listen to PA, I just can't get over how over-the-top he is on the Vikings (which is about the only local team he seems to be interested in).

I grew up listening to Ray Scott, Herb Carneal, Pat Summerall, etc. Boring. I know. For you young guys, just wait. Boring is great!

As for not knowing Paul Giel, that's inexcusable.
 

I'm younger than your average Gophers fan, and I'm not fond of announcers who freak out and melt down whenever something exciting happens. My attitude is, 'You do the telling and I'll do the fanning.' I grew up on Herb Carneal and Ray Christensen, and those guys are my model of a perfect radio sports guy.

Having a paid play by play guy pretend that every play is the most exciting moment of his life is like having a hooker tell you she loves you. I know some guys like it, but I'm in touch with reality.
 

With that logic, why ever listen to any radio announcer ever again?

As a sports personality, PA is about annoying as humanly possible, and the 9 to noon show is impossible to listen to. But if you are a die hard Vikings fan, he is a great radio guy. I loved him as a radio guy when I loved the Vikings. I dont care nearly as much for the Vikings any more, so listening to PA call games annoys me more and more.

To be fair PA a nice guy too. He isn't a prick like Common or Meat Sauce
 


I'm younger than your average Gophers fan, and I'm not fond of announcers who freak out and melt down whenever something exciting happens. My attitude is, 'You do the telling and I'll do the fanning.' I grew up on Herb Carneal and Ray Christensen, and those guys are my model of a perfect radio sports guy.

Having a paid play by play guy pretend that every play is the most exciting moment of his life is like having a hooker tell you she loves you. I know some guys like it, but I'm in touch with reality.

PA is the Hawk Harrelson of the NFL. I can't stand either one of them.
 


Hawk is weirdly.... amusing. I suspect self aware. I kinda like him as an amusing kinda guy.

It's like they just grabbed someone out of the stands one day because the regular guy didn't show up. I think he's annoying but can understand why some may like him.
 

Listening to Paul Allen call Vikings games should make someone want to vomit.
 

"I don't really care as much for the Vikings anymore" ......DLguy
And the Lord said: " Let there be light"
"Dad, anybody can be a Viking fan. It takes someone special to be a Gopher fan" .....my son

What is so special about a Gopher fan compared to a Viking fan? Because the Vikings have been such big winners and are so easy to follow?
 




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