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University of Minnesota Athletics
Blog: Big Ten Kickoff in Chicago
7/29/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Wednesday, 9:57 a.m.
As a wrap up to Chicago and Big Ten Media Day, we'll post some links from around the country:
- ESPN.com Big Ten Blog: Minnesota craves the spotlight with strong schedule
- Chicago Tribune: Two-sport Gopher Decker focused on football
- Chicago Tribune: A change of scenery, Minnesota moves outside
- Sporting News: Big Ten dish
- Champaign News Gazette: Big Ten notes
- Big Ten Network has plenty of video from the event
Tuesday, 9 p.m.
The Gophers are back home and settling in for the last week or so before preseason camp opens. There are just a couple more orders of business to wrap up our coverage of the Big Ten Kickoff.
I want to personally commend Eric Decker for delivering a solid speech to the fans in attendance at today's Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon. Speaking in front of more than 1,500 fans, 32 of your peers, your head coach, the Big Ten Conference commissioner and others could have been pretty nerve-wracking. But Decker represented Minnesota and the student-athletes of the Big Ten very well. He should be proud and Gopher fans should be proud of him.
Decker did get a pretty good chuckle at the beginning of his talk. The luncheon ran more than an hour long. When, Decker finally got to the podium to deliver his address, he began by saying "Good afternoon. It is still afternoon, right?" That little bit of humor got him off on the right foot and he finished strong as well.
Finally, I'm sure many of you were guessing how many questions Decker would field regarding playing baseball. Well, for those of you who chose the under, you chose correctly. But it was close. Eric called it at 65 for the over/under regarding how many of those questions he would hear. In the end, the number was 55.
It was great two days in Chicago. Now, it's almost time for some football!
-AS
Tuesday, 6:22 p.m.
The Gophers have touched down in Minneapolis-St. Paul after a fun two days in Chicago. The event wrapped up with the Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon.
- Video: Tim Brewster addresses the sold-out crowd
- Video: Eric Decker addresses the crowd
Tuesday, 12:30 p.m.
The Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon is taking place as this entry is being written. A Big Ten Highlight/Preview video aired during lunch, to be followed by brief comments from each head coach. Minnesota wide receiver Eric Decker will speak to the masses on behalf of the Big Ten football student-athletes sometime around 1 p.m.
The autograph/photo session was well-attended once again this year. In this video, we see Coach Brewster, Decker, Lee Campbell and Garrett Brown signing autographs, followed by some mascot tomfoolery and finally a quick look at the photo shoot with all 33 players who were in attendance at the Big Ten Kickoff.
The Athletic Communications staff has a 4 p.m. flight back to the Twin Cities, so we most likely won't have another update to the blog until we get back home. Look for photos, more video in the Gold Zone) and perhaps an update on how many baseball questions Decker heard over the last two days later this afternoon/evening.
-AS
Tuesday, 10 a.m.
While the players and Coach Brewster are talking with the media this morning, we took the opportunity to talk with some of the media. Both Pete Fiutak of CollegeFootballNews.com and Dave Curtis of The Sporting News have an optimistic outlook on the Gophers' prospects for the 2009 season.
In this video, Fiutak discusses Minnesota's outlook for the season, how they stand in the Big Ten and his take on TCF Bank Stadium, which he toured a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, Curtis also gives his opinion on where the Gophers could stack up in the Big Ten and calls Eric Decker one of the two best receivers in the Big Ten.
Also available in the Gold Zone is 20 minutes of football talk with Decker, Campbell and Brown as they meet with the print/radio media this morning. Watch the Gold Zone video here.
-AS
Tuesday, 8:30 a.m.
The Cubs and Astros played a great baseball game Monday night at Wrigley Field, with the Cubs winning on a walk-off grand slam in the 13th inning. Eric, Lee and Garrett were in attendance at the game and had a great time. The three Gopher captains and Coach Brewster are currently doing interviews with members of the writing press.
This video gets some reaction from Decker and Brown regarding the baseball game and their activities today. The video wraps up with a shot of what this morning's interview session looks like.
-AS
Tuesday, 7:30 a.m.
The players are up and ready to go this morning. They will hit breakfast here in a minute, before sitting down for two hours of individual interviews with members of the media. Garrett, Lee and Eric were planning to go over to Wrigley Field last night. We'll catch up with them later this morning to find out how their afternoon/evening in Chicago went.
The highlight of today may be Eric Decker representing all Big Ten football student-athletes when he addresses the fans in attendance at today's Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon.
-AS
Monday, 4:38 p.m.
We just added a couple of images to the photo gallery from Coach Brewster’s afternoon commercial shoot for the Big Ten Network. Coach Brewster will be promoting the network’s new “Big Ten Football Four-Pack”, which is a set of shows that will air on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights this fall. For those who enjoyed last year’s promos for the network, this year’s batch shouldn’t disappoint as the league’s football coaches are back on the couch, with tongues firmly planted in cheeks, to plug different features of the BTN.
In addition to Coach Brewster’s set, during which he touts the need for Big Ten fans to practice their hand-to-remote coordination, the network shot several other hits with various coaches, including one with Michigan’s Rich Rodriguez and Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio on the couch together that should be pretty funny.
-Garry Bowman
Monday, 3:47 p.m.
Time for some football talk. Adding over 40 minutes of Gold Zone video from today's media sessions. Tim Brewster addressed the print media for 15 minutes, while coach and his three players met with the television stations in attendance for approximately 30 minutes.
Tim Brewster and players meet the media
Watch Part One (7:29)
Watch Part Two (11:42)
Watch Part Three (9:30)
Watch Tim Brewster meets the press (13:22)
Monday, 2:15 p.m.
We just posted a photo gallery (see link above) of some images from today's Big Ten Kickoff. Don't forget we're also tweeting @GoldenGopherFB and posting YouTube videos as well.
-AS
Monday, 2 p.m.
It seemed like a very quick day. The players are finished with their media obligations for the day. Coach Brewster is taping interviews for Big Ten Network marketing as this entry is being written and then he's done with the media for today as well.
The players will be enjoying the rest of the afternoon and evening in Chicago. Coach Brewster will be attending a reception or two this evening.
-AS
Monday, 1:30 p.m.
Prior to the players entering their first interview sessions, we joked with Eric Decker about how many times in the next two days that he will be asked a question pertaining to baseball, whether it be about a decision to play baseball or football professionally, the time management skills needed or what it took for him to get back into a football mindset after playing baseball this past spring.
Here's a brief video clip of Decker's prediction of an over/under on the number of times he'll hear some version of that question. We'll keep track of them between throughout the two-day event. The number was just under 10 today, which may make Decker's prediction seem a little low. But he still has a chance to get to it, because we've got a two-hour interview session with any and all writers in attendance tomorrow morning. We're also including questions from fans during the autograph session and the time during the Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon.
Perhaps the better over/under question should have been the number of times a member of the Minnesota contingent was asked about playing football outdoors this season. Just in a 30-minute session with local television stations, there were easily 15-20 questions about the weather in Minnesota and how it will pertain to the Gophers when they begin play at TCF Bank Stadium this fall.
The players were unanimous in mentioning that they are looking forward to playing on campus and outdoors. Perhaps Coach Brewster put it best, when he said the Gophers will "embrace the elements" and that he is looking forward to some cold, possibly even wintry conditions for a game or two.
-AS
Monday, 11:30 a.m.
Coach Brew opened his media obligations by speaking to more than 100 writers in a press conference format, as did each Big Ten head coach this season.
Meanwhile, the players faced a battery of questions from the Big Ten Network. I was with Garrett Brown during his session and some of the questions were straight-forward, but some were certainly a little off the wall, as evidenced by this video. But that's part of the fun at the Big Ten Kickoff, the guys get to answer all kinds of questions. The Big Ten Network interviews could be used any time between today through the end of the season, or possibly even down the road further than that.
Getting to the hotel with a bit of time to relax and getting some sustenance, it seems as though Lee Campbell is a little more gregarious than he was early this morning when our flight arrived in Chicago (see the link to video below if you're not sure what I'm talking about). Here's a message from Lee to Gopher fans following along here on GopherSports.com.
-AS
Monday, 11 a.m.
Coach Brewster and the players had a few minutes to catch a quick lunch before starting the rounds with the media.
-AS
Monday, 10:30 a.m.
Just got checked into the Hyatt Regency here in Chicago. On the trip in from the airport, we could see Lake Michigan (along with a ton of sailboats and small yachts), Soldier Field, Navy Pier and the rest of downtown Chicago. The guys will be getting some lunch at 11 a.m., before heading right into their first round of media interviews at 11:30 a.m.
We'll get some reaction (and hopefully some video) from the guys regarding their interviews a little later today.
-AS
Monday, 9:30 a.m.
Touched down in Chicago at Midway Airport after an unventful flight. Looked like all three guys were catching some Z's on the flight. In this brief video clip, Garrett Brown (channeling his inner rock star with the shades and headphones) mentioned getting some rest on the flight over from MSP. Based on Lee Campbell's "comment" at the end of the video, the linebacker needed some more sleep.
-AS
Monday, 7:30 a.m.
Garrett Brown, Lee Campbell, Eric Decker and I have made our way through check-in and security at a much busier than usual Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport sitting at the airport.
As we were getting ready to leave the athletic complex this morning, we saw many of the Gopher players headed to the Gibson-Nagurski Complex for captain's practice at 6 a.m. The captains have been running most of the members of the squad through voluntary workouts through much of the summer. Those workouts will end this week and many of the players will head out for one last trip home before preseason camp gets under way on August 10.
We're enjoying our breakfast at McDonald's when word comes that Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan State have been picked 1-2-3 in the Big Ten Preseason Media Poll. The Gopher players are unfazed by the news. The Buckeyes, Nittany Lions and Spartans are all on Minnesota's 2009 schedule, with the games against Penn State and Ohio State coming back-to-back and on the road.
The discussion turned to why the Big Ten doesn't release a poll of the media detailing where all 11 teams are expected to finish. I didn't have a good answer for that question. We'll be on the plane and off to Chicago in about 30 minutes.
We'll have more updates in "real-time" throughout the day Monday and Tuesday. Check back with GopherSports.com often for the next couple days for more information, including video and other content, about the Gophers' visit to the Big Ten Kickoff.
-Andy Seeley
