Reusse: A night ride to Ohio State left the lasting impression of Clem Haskins

per Pat:

In February 1987, I had the coverage for the St. Paul newspapers for a Gophers’ trip that started in Bloomington, Ind. on a Thursday and wound up in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday.

It was a hectic Thursday, since that was the winter that “Hoosiers’’ had been released, and I made a winding, early-morning drive to Milan – home of the real Hickory Huskers.

I owed the St. Paul newspaper a column and there wasn’t much expectation for drama that night in Bloomington, so I inspected the trophies won by the 1954 Milan Indians, visited a couple of oldtimers in the little town and cranked that out just in time for tipoff.

This was Clem Haskins’ first season and he was trying to raise the Gophers from the ashes that remained from the rape accusations (but not convictions) leveled against three players in Madison, Wis. in the winter of 1985.

http://www.startribune.com/a-night-...lasting-impression-of-clem-haskins/508168102/

Go Gophers!!

I know most here hate Reusse, but this was excellent.

howeda7 said:

I know most here hate Reusse, but this was excellent.

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Reusse is an exceptional storyteller, always has been. When he writes to instigate and troll, punching down instead of up, that's where his writing falls short.

WindyCityGopher said:

Reusse is an exceptional storyteller, always has been. When he writes to instigate and troll, punching down instead of up, that's where his writing falls short.

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True


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WindyCityGopher said:

Reusse is an exceptional storyteller, always has been. When he writes to instigate and troll, punching down instead of up, that's where his writing falls short.

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The truth hurts sometimes. He is a superb writer. He is not a cheerleader. Toughen up. And win. Don’t be a corrupt laughingstock.

"... the great ups and distressing down" Doesn't that say it all.

He could flesh this out with a lot of his material from those days and other memories and write a heck of a book about that era of Gopher basketball. I saved paper clippings of his columns from then and will sometimes go back and read them. I can recite whole sections of the one he wrote in the runup to the game against Syracuse in the 1990 regional semi.

Not to go off on a tangent, but those here who are satisfied with the current state of the program: many of them weren't around then and don't know what real excitement and success feel like. Those were heady days.