Rittenberg on am1500 at 1:00

[Iceland12]

They were just promoting that Adam Rittenberg the ESPN Big Ten guy, will be on with Ruesse and Mackey at 1:00 today to talk Big Ten and Gophers. This is suppose to become a Thursday feature. Rittenberg knows his stuff, but sensitive or learned Gopher fans may want to tune out right after he leaves if the past verbal antics by the hosts are any indication.

www.1500espn.com

 

[eker0016]

Thanks for the tip; I'm listening now.

 

[sonnygarcia]

would love to get a summary from anyone who listened

 

[eker0016]

They talked about some of the other big games (Alabama PSU, Miami OSU, Michigan Notre Dame). Pat tried to convince Adam to come cover the MN USC game next week but sounds like he is probably going to Notre Dame MSU.

Pat brought up that by the middle of the season in 2008, he would have said that the Gophers had better personnel than Iowa. Then, the end of season drubbing in the dome occurred, and boy was he wrong. Rittenberg and Reusse talked about how Ferentz had a way of improving his team over the course of the season, and that the Gophers would need to show that.

They talked about about Illinois and all parties concerned were surprised that Zook was brought back and allowed two pricy new coordinators and a freshman QB...could be an ugly start to the Big Ten season. Talked about his recruiting results vs. on the field results...surprised Reusse passed at the chance to compare him to Brewster.

Talking Gophers: Mackey and Reusse asked about the passing game and Rittenberg said someone really needed to step up -- no one with more than 2 catches. Between McKnight, Green, Stoudermire and Gray we need to find someone who can somewhat fill the Decker void. Reusse mentioned how bad USC's defense looked and that we could have a high scoring affair at the Bank. I can't remember what Rittenberg said about the D but talked about them being young. They really didn't spend very much time talking about the Gophers -- mostly about other Big Ten teams. That's about all I remember, but I was only 3/4 listening.

Anybody fill in what I missed?

 

[eker0016]

Oh, they also talked at length about Michigan and Rich Rod. Rittenberg likened his stay at Michigan to a novel, and said there would have to be a pretty big plot twist for this one to end well for him. Mentioned that Lloyd Carr left him a pretty bare cupboard on defense (no mention of Ryan Mallet ) and that they had some serious depth issues in the secondary. Even though they could get off to a 4-0 start this year, that happened last year and they finished 5-7...he sounds fairly dubious of Michigan.

 

[eker0016]

One last addendum:

They talked about OSU and that Terrelle Pryor asked fans not to boo Lebron. Reusse pointed out that it was very telling that Pryor didn't have to worry about fans booing him anymore, and could go out on a limb for someone else. Rittenberg pretty much said Lebron was SOL and it especially didn't help that he was coming to the Miami game. Reusse said that maybe Clarett could come and play for the Buckeyes and Rittenberg talked about how he only spent about a week on campus trying to finish his degree before he left for the call of the UFL. He was surprised that Tressel continues to stick his neck out for a guy that did some damage to the program.

 

[Iceland12]

One last addendum:

They talked about OSU and that Terrelle Pryor asked fans not to boo Lebron. Reusse pointed out that it was very telling that Pryor didn't have to worry about fans booing him anymore, and could go out on a limb for someone else. Rittenberg pretty much said Lebron was SOL and it especially didn't help that he was coming to the Miami game. Reusse said that maybe Clarett could come and play for the Buckeyes and Rittenberg talked about how he only spent about a week on campus trying to finish his degree before he left for the call of the UFL. He was surprised that Tressel continues to stick his neck out for a guy that did some damage to the program.

Nice job on the summaries.

An aside concerning Tressel and Clarett, Clarett may be surprised to hear that Tressel stuck his neck out. Neither Clarett or his two buddies who claimed to have been given extra benefits at tOSU actually talked to the NCAA investigators when they came to town. Something that happens a lot during theses things, Jan Gangelhoff not withstanding.

Clarett definitely wasn't rewarded for clamming-up.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=1919246

 

[eker0016]

Nice job on the summaries.

An aside concerning Tressel and Clarett, Clarett may be surprised to hear that Tressel stuck his neck out. Neither Clarett or his two buddies who claimed to have been given extra benefits at tOSU actually talked to the NCAA investigators when they came to town. Something that happens a lot during theses things, Jan Gangelhoff not withstanding.

Clarett definitely wasn't rewarded for clamming-up.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=1919246

Wow...I had never heard of any of that before. That's pretty damning, even if only half of it is true. It makes me kind of mad that OSU has been getting away with things like that and Maurice took the fall rather than have the program absorb any culpability.

 

[year of the gopher]

Wow...I had never heard of any of that before. That's pretty damning, even if only half of it is true. It makes me kind of mad that OSU has been getting away with things like that and Maurice took the fall rather than have the program absorb any culpability.

I have felt for a number of years that Tressel was probably running a dirty program.

 

[MadtownGopher]

I listened to this online from Wisconsin. I don't listen to a lot of local twin cities sports radio, but I was shocked at how little Gopher football was discussed. If Rittenberg would have been interviewed in Madison, it would have been all Badgers. I could care less about the rest of the Big Ten, I can get enough of that from every other sports outlet. When a Big Ten blogger goes on to a twin cities sports radio station, the interview should focus on Minnesota, not every other team in the conference. But that's just my take.

 

[eker0016]

I listened to this online from Wisconsin. I don't listen to a lot of local twin cities sports radio, but I was shocked at how little Gopher football was discussed. If Rittenberg would have been interviewed in Madison, it would have been all Badgers. I could care less about the rest of the Big Ten, I can get enough of that from every other sports outlet. When a Big Ten blogger goes on to a twin cities sports radio station, the interview should focus on Minnesota, not every other team in the conference. But that's just my take.

I thought that too -- I kept waiting for the Gopher segment and when it finally came, it was shorter than the OSU/Michigan segments.

I don't really care as a devoted fan because anything they mention about the Gophers I've likely heard already, while Rittenberg has good insights into other programs. Still, to the casual listener who cares more about the Gophers than the other Big Ten teams it would be kind of annoying/surprising.