Guest post: TwinsJunkie weighs in
Posted on January 10th, 2007 – 2:19 PMBy Michael Rand
Trevor Born writes for GopherIllustrated.com and has authored his own blog, TwinsJunkie, for more than two years. And you know what? He’s only 17. Yes, he’s a senior at Bloomington Kennedy High School. At an age when RandBall was riding on the roofs of cars and stealing road signs — don’t do that, kids — Trevor has been putting together a resume that many J-school graduates would be happy to have. He’s hanging out at the Star Tribune office today, and we thought: What the heck, let’s let Trevor have some space here. So here he is:
Well first of all I’d like to thank Michael for letting me pound at his keyboard during his incredibly busy day (as evidenced by the assorted empty coffee cups and Mountain Dew bottles lying around) and giving me an opportunity to post on one of the best blogs around [RandBall note: He was paid handsomely to say that].
I’m the TwinsJunkie, but the hot topic around town seems to be the firing of coach Mason and who he should be replaced with. A lot of names have come out, some of them crazier than others (whenever someone says suggests Tony Dungy, I typically reply “Why not Bill Belichick?”), but I’d like to make my case for a guy that grew up just a few minutes away from me: Lane Kiffin.
Mr. Kiffin is a 31-year-old graduate of Bloomington Jefferson who is now serving as the offensive coordinator at USC. During his tenure he has coached two Heisman Trophy winners (Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush) as well as three first round draft picks (Leinart, Bush, and Mike Williams). He was ranked by Rivals.com as one of the top 25 recruiters in the nation and is busy grabbing the top talent around the country as we speak. And at 31, he could lead the Gophers for quite a while, Joe Paterno-style.
19 Responses to "Guest post: TwinsJunkie weighs in"
The list right now, as far as I’m concerned:
1. Tony Dungy (and he thinks the very idea is laughable)
2. Lane Kiffin
3. Everyone else
Now, the worry is this: I’d rather not be a three-year stop on a rising coach’s shoot to the top, a la Petrino at Louisville. Right now, Kiffin is sayign all the right things about wanting to be at Minnesota… but when a bigger fish comes calling, will he immediately take the bait without another look back?
Ultimately, though, if he has success in a short stay here - say, a conference title - then as far as I’m concerned, he’s worth it, even if he ditches Minnesota midstream.
TwinsJunkie- I love your blog but you are already falling into the Minnesotan way of journalism.
Why was the first thing you mentioned about Kiffin that he was from Minnesota? Shouldn’t that be an aside that may help him and not the first thing mentioned?
My guess is that you met Sid today during your visit and he ridiculed you into saying that.
Also, do you think that a part of him being a top 25 recruiter may be that he is at USC?
With all of this talk about the “Twins Junkie” tossing in his two cents I was excited to read his take on the TWINS. What a disappointment. Hey, maybe he can do a second guest post to correct the problem.
“Now, the worry is this: I’d rather not be a three-year stop on a rising coach’s shoot to the top”
Obviously this is a concern, but it is an unavoidable possibility with any coach who might be good. The alternative to hiring a good young coach is hiring a not very good/old coach, and we’ve tried that before, with less than desirable results.
“Why was the first thing you mentioned about Kiffin that he was from Minnesota? Shouldn’t that be an aside that may help him and not the first thing mentioned?”
Being from Minnesota is definitely not why Kiffin should be the coach, I just think its an interesting lead-in. He should be the coach because he has proven what he can do at arguably the top school in the country and has a ton of upside.
“Also, do you think that a part of him being a top 25 recruiter may be that he is at USC?”
There’s no doubt that this has something to do with it, but the rankings aren’t based on simply how good the players are that you get (Rivals has their own rating system as well as a star system), but rather how much better you do than an assistant would do in your position.
“With all of this talk about the “Twins Junkie” tossing in his two cents I was excited to read his take on the TWINS. What a disappointment. Hey, maybe he can do a second guest post to correct the problem.”
In this red-hot stove winter, the Twins have signed Jeff Cirillo, Sidney Ponson, and have re-signed Rondell White. Enough said.
If, by “Joe Paterno-style,” you mean “hobble from the field during the game to go potty,” color me enthused!
Color me enthused about a 363-121-3 record, 5 undefeated seasons, a national championship, etc. over a fifty year span.
I should probably have noted that I agree with TwinsJunkie that Kiffin’s as good a candidate as I’ve seen so far. I just like making fun of Joe Paterno, because old people are funny (see also: Simpson, Grampa).
You’re right about that.
Will the Twins be able to hang on to Morneau, Mauer, AND, Santana for more than three years? Shower me with your amazing Twins knowledge.
Too bad the University of Eden Prairie pays Mike Grant so much. Maturi could never come up with that kind of coin.
shower me with your amazing who gives a flying chinese finger trap. Not about the twins. sorry, starting off on the bad note already. Its important to note that the Gophers will NEVER be relevant to the college football world. They just won’t. They aren’t even in the top 5 in their conference and any time that they were in the last 10 years it was a happy accident, kinda like half of all firstborns in this country. Whoops, golly gee whiz, we were just having fun right? alright fine, checks in the mail.
Wow! 17 years old and already on his wat to being one of the best journalists this sports era has ever seen. I bet his younger brother is very proud to be releated to him. wink wink
[…] And whilst USC fans may find Kiffin’s offense becoming tired and predictable, leading to some desiring his departure, we’ve seen just what it can do to teams from the woeful Big Ten. Guest post: TwinsJunkie weighs in [RandBall] […]
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