Bits of Wooden Chair

The Minnesota Gophers play for four trophies against rivals across the Big Ten.

Floyd of Rosedale – Minnesota vs. Iowa

Little Brown Jug – Minnesota vs. Michigan

Governor’s Victory Bell – Minnesota vs. Penn State

Paul Bunyan’s Axe – Minnesota vs. Wisconsin

…and now the Bits of Wooden Chair Trophy?

From bringmethenews.com

This past weekend, the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers beat the University of Nebraska’s Cornhuskers to claim the Bits of Wooden Chair trophy.

So how exactly did this trophy come into existance? To answer that, we have to go to Twitter. It all started with a friendly wager between Gophers mascot Goldy, and an account run by Nebraska called Faux Pelini.

It seems like Nebraska liked the initial offer, responding with:

And the Gophers responded with:

As it would turn out, Minnesota came up with a trophy named ‘Bits of Wooden Chair’ that was claimed by the Gophers after they won on Saturday. A poll on the Daily Gopher states that 94% of voters say that the trophy should exist, and the trophy was well received on Twitter as well.

This is the way a trophy game should start. Not by conference mandated games or two schools looking for additional revenue, but by a sincere rivalry that is well supported on both sides.

Personally, I think that the trophy is a great thing. Some people might say that the Gophers play to many trophy games, but I think that isn’t an issue. Minnesota and Nebraska is defiantly a rivalry in the making, and this trophy is a perfect symbol of it for years to come.

Stocking up on Socks

Just a few years ago the Boston Red Sox dumped their roster to the Los Angeles Dodger. They sent Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett to the west coast and received very little in return.

The Red Sox were awful to finish the year and the future didn't look bright. Well what do you know, the Red Sox somehow pulled it together to win the 2013 World Series after trading three of their stars. The city of Boston needed the win after the tragedy back in April. The 2014 season began with the team losing Jacoby Ellsbury to the Yankees. The season wasn't looking great so they sent, soon to be free agent, Jon Lester to Oakland for Yoenis Cespedes who was just crowed Home Run Derby champion for the 2nd straight year.

The Red Sox have trimmed their roster quite a bit in the last few years, but they managed to have one great season. While the Yankees are suffering with Alex Rodriguez and other expensive, aging stars, the Red Sox appear to be going all in this offseason. Boston just signed Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval. This would give the Red Sox a solid batting lineup that consists of: Hanley Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval, David Ortiz, Yoenis Cespedes, Dustin Pedroia and Shane Victorino. 

The Red Sox would just need to build their rotation and bullpen to become an instant threat at the World Series again. Remember when the Red Sox traded away Jon Lester? Well now he is a free agent. Talk about a steal from Oakland, if they can sign him back. 

I've talked in the past about spending a lot of money on free agents. 

I support this strategy under two rules: 

1. The money is spread out over multiple players, not just one giant signing.
2. The contract is less than five years. 

One player can't carry a team, and it's not often a player stays consistent for too long. If a team is giving a player a large contract, odds are he already used up some of his good years. 

This should be a fun offseason to watch the Red Sox. If some of these deals don't work out, look for Boston to make a strong push for Yasmany Tomas. Tomas is a Cuban player who could fit nicely with their other Cuban player, Cespedes, in the outfield, but he could also be placed at third base. 

The Weather Outside is not Frightful

Mother nature does not like to make things easy on anyone. The city of Buffalo was recently ambushed with heaps of snow. When this storm is all said and done, Buffalo could be looking at 100 inches. 

Incase you didn't know, the Buffalo Bills were scheduled to host the New York Jets on Sunday. That is not happening. The game has been moved to Detroit on Monday night. 

A similar situation happened in 2010 when the Minnesota Vikings were scheduled to host the New York Giants (Maybe New York teams are bad luck). Come Sunday morning, the Metrodome's roof collapsed, and the teams faced off in Detroit on a rare Tuesday night game. 

Is it time for teams to move indoors? 

I'm not just talking about football. Baseball has many games a year that get postponed and delayed due to weather. Not only does weather cause problems for when or if the game will be played at their scheduled stadium, but it also has an impact on the way the game is played. Rain makes throwing a baseball and football a lot more difficult. It isn't often snow impact baseball, but the Minnesota Twins have experience problems with it in the past. Football has been greatly impacted with snow in the past, as I mentioned the two problems above with stadiums. Games have also been difficult to play in. 

I spent three hours at TCF Bank stadium watching Ohio State beat the Minnesota Gophers in 17 degree weather and a good amount of snow fall. It was probably the most fun game I've been too. It had everything to do with the weather. I think the Minnesota Vikings are making a mistake building a roof on the stadium. I understand a roof gives a team more options but at least a retractable roof. Nothing is better than watching a sporting event outside. For years the Minnesota Twins were stuck under the dome, until 2010 when Target Field opened. I went to the second game at Target Field and the temperature was around 43 degrees and it rained. It was cold but so exciting. I had never experienced something like that before. This past July I went the 2014 Home Run Derby at Target Field, which experienced a very long a rain delay. Weather has had it's fair share of problems at sporting events, but it brings a whole new aspect to the game and to the fans. I can think of multiple outdoor stadiums that are legendary and have stood the test of time: Lambeau field, Solider Field, Wrigley Field, Fenway Stadium, and the LA Coliseum. When looking at closed stadiums, they don't stick around long. 

I think more teams need to go back to the outdoor stadiums. I know it's not the best time to argue this while the snow problem in Buffalo is causing headaches around the NFL, but I would rather have to sit in a snowstorm watching a game than cooped up inside on a beautiful afternoon.

                                                    

Friday Morning Thoughts

Has anyone else been noticing ESPN doubling down on their coverage of the NFL and college football this year? Just two days ago this monstrosity of an article was posted by Chantel Jennings. Meanwhile, hockey can't get but a minute of airtime. According to an article written by Allan Muir of Sports Illustrated, hockey gets a total of 2.7 percent of all airtime on ESPN's headline show, SportsCenter. What's going on here? Hockey fans obviously represents more than 2.7 percent of ESPN's audience, yet the coverage just isn't there.

ESPN also cut the Daily Dime, a daily article giving a recap of all of the previous nights NBA games and ten fun tidbits about those games. The Daily Dime has been replaced with "The Ten", which is a hash up of graphics representing the previous nights action. This leaves me trying to find a new site to read up on the NBA games I couldn't get to watching.

Some lighter news, Papa Johns had to alter their deal with the Philadelphia 76'ers after the 0-11 start left fans with no way to cash out on the deal. The previous promotion was 50 percent off online orders after a Sixers win. Unfortunately, that isn't really feasible for the near historically bad Sixers, requiring Papa Johns to change up the deal. Now, Papa Johns is offering 50 percent off online orders following any game the Sixers score 90 points. With the 76'ers averaging 88.6 points a game this season, fans in Philly stand a chance to cash in this time.

More Money...ball

Moneyball is the idea that the only thing that matters is getting on base. A player can't score a run if they are not on base. Without runs, a team can not win. The Oakland Athletics made a drastic change in 2002. The team has never had enough money to compete for free agents. The Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, and Angels have the opportunity to spend the big bucks. Oakland used the idea of moneyball to look at players differently. The team took players that were overlooked for a variety of reasons. This strategy has worked well for them.

This past July, Oakland was the best team in baseball. The moneyball strategy has continued to bring the Athletics regular season success. Billy Beane, the Athletics' GM, was ready to bring home the World Series Trophy. He made moves that shocked the baseball world. Shortly before the All-Star break, the Athletics traded multiple prospects including the highly coveted Addison Russell to the Chicago Cubs, for Jeff Samardzija. Billy Beane wasn't done. Coming off a 2nd consecutive Home Run Derby championship, Yoenis Cespedes was the Athletics' best hitter, but the team needed pitching. Oakland sent Cespedes to Boston for soon to be free agent Jon Lester.
The Athletics began a long decent from the top of the baseball world in August. The team lacked hitting and barely slid into the playoffs. The Oakland Athletics lost to the Kansas City Royals in the Wild Card game.

The team made some gusty calls to win the World Series but once again fell short. Is it time to move on from the moneyball theory and demand more money to bring in some free agents?

I don't think so. The team won't have Lester back next year, but the A's still have a solid rotation. They did lack hitting but if the A's continue to find players that get on base and pay little for, they will succeed. The Athletics did sign Billy Butler, whose on base percentage has always been in the .300 range and adds some much needed power. I don't want to see the Athletics move away from the moneyball idea. The team went against some of their beliefs this last season in a great attempt to win the World Series. Watching the Minnesota Twins, who have a similar payroll that the Athletics have, shows me that Billy Beane and the A's have been doing something right. They win with little money. Hopefully they spend this offseason looking back at how they have been successful and not steer away from that.

Wild/ Niederreiter Rebound After Rough Patch

  If you haven't been watching the 10-7-0 Minnesota Wild lately you need to be. With the exception of a four game stretch in which they played HOT opposition, the Wild have looked like a promising team with real playoff potential overall. However they suffered legitimate losses to Pittsburgh and Montreal  and two rough losses to Ottawa and New Jersey. In the New Jersey game, it was obvious that the Devils controlled the pace and flow of the game, keeping Minnesota off their own game and stopping them from using their speed and skill to their advantage.
  However the Wild have looked fantastic in their other games, showing resilience making a strong third period comeback against Dallas for a 2-1 win, as well as fending off a hard charging Winnipeg Jets team for a 4- 3 overtime victory.
The emergence of Nino Niederreiter's offense has been key in their success as of late. He sits with 8 goals scored, leading the team in the category and producing possibly one of the best examples of silky mitts the game has ever seen:

 

The emergence of Nino and his offense goes along with a huge group of young talent on this squad, Erik Haula, Charlie Coyle, Jared Spurgeon and the like headline an amazing line up. If Thomas Vanek can get his offense going and with Zach Parise recently returning from injury just imagine what this team can do. Look for much more going forward as far as wins go and a heck of a lot more magical play from this young crop of NHL talent that Chuck Fletcher has put together.

The Wild return to the ice Thursday November, 20th away against the Flyers,

Just Roll With It

Probably the coolest sport I've ever seen, and hardly anyone knows about, Gloucester Cheese Rolling. The object of the sport is to race down the bottom of a 200 yard hill and be the first to capture the 9lb rolling cheese. It is not as easy as it sounds. The cheese receives a one second head start and can reach a speed of 70.  The sporting event takes place at Cooper Hill in Gloucester, UK and is often in the spring.

The sport has begun to pick up in popularity the last few years but unfortunately injuries have given the sport a bad reputation. Since 2010 the event has been canceled due to health and safety fears. However people still show up to race in a campaign called "Save the Cheese" and no major injuries have been reported. As for many sports, injuries have plagued Cheese Rolling while people try to figure out a safe way to run. The debate of whether the sport should continue has been growing with it's popularity. In 2013 a police inspector told the Diana Smart, the women who make the cheese, that if she continues to make it for the sport she could be held responsible for any injury that occurs. Luckily for the fans and athletes of the sport she doesn't care. The on going debate has continued as the Unofficial 2015 Gloucester Cheese Rolling event is being planned. 

I one day hope to participate in the great sport but before that happens I have to make sure it sticks around. I'm a proud supporter of the "Save the Cheese" campaign. If you are interested enough check out this awesome display of the sport. 

For more information on the sport check out The official Cheese Rolling Website