University of Minnesota | Field 2 Field

September 1, 2020September 1, 2020

Birthdays mean you’re still here

Birthdays don’t mean much after you turn 21, do they? Oh, wait. They do when you turn 50 years old. September 2 is the day I mark a half-century of existence. Do you want to know the interesting part? I didn’t expect to live this long.

I was born with what’s called Wolf-Parkinson-White Syndrome. When your heart beats, the nerve impulse from your brain travels in a circuit around your heart, which constitutes one beat. Yes, I’m oversimplifying, but that’s how it was explained to me.

So, those born with WPW have a defect that allows the nerve pathway to short-circuit itself, which plays hell with your heartbeat. The spells of irregular heartbeats could have done some serious damage, especially as I got into my teenage years. At one point, the top half of my heart was motoring along between 250-300 beats a minute, while the bottom half hit hyper speed at more than 500 beats a minute.

Birthdays — My wife describing me after 50 years worth of birthdays.

When that happens, blood clots form easily inside the heart. If that clot should get out of the heart, make a circuit around the body and hit the brain, you’re done. You drop dead on the spot. So, long story short, surgery was scheduled on June 3, 1986.

I remember the gap between making the decision to have surgery and the operation being longer than I wanted. That was hard to live with as an awkward teenager. At one point, my stress level was so high I jumped into the middle of a pickup basketball game over the lunch hour at Castlewood High School. Best basketball I’d ever played in my life.

Remember the movie “White Men Can’t Jump?” I’ve always considered that autobiographical. I am as gravity-bound as the movie described white guys. I was a whirling dervish, running up and down the court as fast as my slow-dude legs could carry me. At one point, I came up behind someone going up for a short jump shot and swatted it to the other side of the room. The only blocked shot of my life. I played that whole game wondering if it was going to kill me and I’m not making that up. Fear of death really adds zip to your game, no matter what you’re playing.

So, the surgery came and went, and lo and behold, it was successful. June 3, 1986, was a monumental day in this guy’s life. The one thing I remember the most vividly came after I was in recovery. They were making final plans to get me ready for release only three days after the operation and there was one important thing left to do.

After the surgeon sowed me up, he made two small horizontal slits right underneath the big scar. The doctor then inserted a suction tube in each slit to clear the body cavity of excess blood, preventing peritonitis, which you do NOT want. The doc says, “It’s going to be uncomfortable.” Right. Let me tell you how it felt.

It was totally worth all the birthdays, too!

Try to imagine that someone was able to pull your shoulders and collarbones down through your chest cavity and then yank them through your skin and out of your body a few inches above your belly button. The pain was unlike anything I’ve ever felt. Every nerve was on fire, my vision went white, and my mom said I was screaming bloody murder. She was being kind. I was screaming my little white butt off and thought I might be dying. I hope I never have to hurt that bad again.

So, there I was, suddenly assured of a much better chance of seeing more birthdays go by. I’m not making it up when I say at one point during those early years of heart trouble, I literally prayed to God to let me live a full life. That’s all I asked for. He answered.

So, what does the second half of my life look like? I don’t know for sure. I’d like to make an impact for the Kingdom before I leave this world. I don’t know when that will be. You see, several years ago, I had to undergo ANOTHER heart operation as I developed an irregular heartbeat problem apart from the WPW I was born with.

Make every day count. You just don’t know which of your birthdays will be your last. If you haven’t had any kind of problems that threaten your ability to keep breathing, it might be hard to truly understand.

Look at Chadwick Boseman. The world-famous actor passed away recently. What we thought was a picture of health in the Black Panther costume wasn’t the case. He had cancer for the last four years of his life and no one knew he was on borrowed time. It. Can. Happen. To. You.

I can tell you one thing for sure. The two biggest commands in the Bible are a good place to start. Jesus Himself said, “Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.” I think that’s a good place to start for the second half of my life, however long that may be.

April 21, 2020April 21, 2020

Farm debt mediation period extended in Minnesota

Farm debt levels are piling up and it’s getting scarier. Here’s a friendly reminder that the period available for working through some debt challenges has been extended.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is reminding Minnesota farmers and agricultural lending institutions that the state legislature extended the length of mediation available for farmers in the Farmer-Lender Mediation Program from 90 to 150 days. Minnesota farmers that are in debt can renegotiate, restructure, or resolve farm debt through mandatory Farmer-Lender Mediation. Mandatory mediation means that creditors cannot start a proceeding to collect a farm debt against agricultural property until an offer of mediation has been extended and, if the farmer so chooses, completed.

“I want to make sure that farmers and their ag lending institutions know that the mediation period was extended by 60 days to 150 days,” said Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen. “This is a critical program for farmers – especially now when COVID-19 has caused the closing of agricultural markets. Having sixty more days to renegotiate or restructure debt will be a huge help in many cases.”

For more information and assistance, farmers can contact the MDA’s Farm Advocate Program at www.mda.state.mn.us/farmadvocates or the University of Minnesota Extension https://extension.umn.edu/get-help/farmer-lender-mediation.

October 22, 2019October 22, 2019

Harvest season in MN requiring extra patience

Here’s another chadsmithmedia podcast, this time with Houston and Fillmore County Extension Educator Michael Cruse, talking harvest progress in southeast Minnesota.

Harvest season. Never a dull moment in farm country. It’s never an easy season for anyone, regardless of what the growing season was like. This year’s ridiculously wet growing season is going to make things even more challenging, which is not exactly a state secret.

The harvest season is officially underway in southeast Minnesota. A few days of drier and windier weather last week allowed some crops to come out of fields across the area. Houston and Fillmore County Extension Educator Michael Cruse said timing appears to be everything when it comes to fall harvesting in 2019.

“I’m glad you called me later last week, rather than on Monday,” Cruse said. “I would have been much more down on the situation earlier last week. However, a couple of windy days helped some farmers take some corn and beans out of their fields. In spite of that, we’re still behind and we’ll still be scrambling to make sure everything gets done before the ground freezes. At least we’re starting to make some progress.”

The excess rainfall this year means the crops will come out of the fields much wetter than normal. He said the recent windy days seem to have put soybeans into pretty good shape. But, the corn is still going to require some time in the dryer, which isn’t a big surprise this harvest season.

Harvest season is underway in southeast Minnesota, all be it slowly, according to Michael Cruse of the University of Minnesota Extension Service. There’s still a long way to go in very we conditions. (Photo from UMN.Extension.Edu)

“The beans are actually drying down to the point that it looks like they’ll be okay,” Cruse said. “Just be patient with them. Obviously, the last thing you want is to get a big snowfall on top of them, but they seem to be coming along. However, the hard truth is that the majority of our corn crop will come out of the field too wet.

“No matter how long we wait this fall, we just won’t have the drying conditions to get that corn down to optimal moisture,” he added. “That’s probably why we see a lot of farmers working corn right now. They know there’s going to be a bottleneck while the corn has to sit in their dryers and it’s going to take some time. Get a head start because it’s going to take a while.”

August 14, 2019August 14, 2019

Wild Parsnip Invading southern Minnesota

Wild parsnip is back in southeast Minnesota and that’s not a good thing for man nor beast. According to the website www.invasivespecies.com, wild parsnip is also known as poisonous parsnip. When the sap from wild parsnip comes in contact with human skin that’s exposed to direct sunlight, the chemicals cause intense burns, rashes, or blisters. Take it from someone who knows.

James Colbenson, who once lived in the Chisholm Valley area between Rushford and Houston, had a run-in with wild parsnip back in his mid-teens. “I was looking to make money back then and the neighbors hired me to whack some of their weeds,” the now-34-year-old recalled. “I was wearing a cutoff shirt while I was working that day, so I got some of the sap on my arms, which were then sunburned too.

“I first remember it starting to sting,” he recalled. “When I got done working, I remember jumping in the pool and it burned everywhere. I had one small blister the next day, but over the next two days, my arms and my neck were just covered with inch-high blisters.”

Houston and Fillmore County Extension Agent Michael Cruse says the chemicals in the plants are in the seeds and especially in the stem. Once the chemicals get on to human skin and that person gets out into the sunlight, that’s when things begin to deteriorate.

“That’s when you start to see those blisters and burns,” Cruse said. “You really want to be vigilant and keep kids away from this stuff. If you are going out to clear this stuff off your property by hand, make sure you wear gloves, long sleeves, hats, and pants. Make sure you take care of those clothes because they’re going to have the chemical all over them.”

Southeast Minnesota sees the largest amount of wild parsnip in the state; however, the noxious weed is found in every county in Minnesota. Cruse says wild parsnip was a big topic of conversation a couple of years ago, and it’s a conversation-starter in county-level extension offices again. “Probably two years ago, we had the big flush of wild parsnip that led to a bunch of conversations at the county level,” he recalled.

“Last year, the populations seemed to drop off a bit,” Cruse said, “and I think a lot of that had to do with some aggressive spraying in the fall. The state roads saw a lot of mowing too. This is a good bounce-back year for the biennial weed because of the recent run of hot weather.”

Colbenson said it took a while before his family figured out that it was wild parsnip that caused the blisters on his arm and neck. “I felt a stinging/burning sensation when the sunburn really started to kick in,” he recalled. “The stinging and burning lessened as more and more blisters showed up. The blisters didn’t hurt as much but they were big and puffy.

“We tried a bunch of different ointments and anti-itch creams,” he said. “I know we also put a lot of Neosporin on them. I remember the blisters lasting about a week-and-a-half. They slowly went away after that, but they did leave some small scars on my arms.”

Colbenson lives in Rochester these days and travels back home to the Rushford area periodically. He says the weed has “taken over everywhere.” Colbenson says you can see the weed’s explosive growth in virtually every ditch near the road, as well as near rivers and streams.

It’s not just humans that need to worry about wild parsnip. Cruse says it’s important for livestock farmers to make sure their animals don’t ingest it either.

“If animals ingest the plant, the material will enter their bloodstream,” he said. “When it gets into the capillaries that run along the outer edge of the skin, the chemicals can react to the sunlight and cause some injuries there as well.”

Cruse said the burn can be extremely severe for both humans and livestock, depending on the level of contact with the skin and sunlight interaction. If it gets bad enough, this will be a “go to the doctor” type of event. What does wild parsnip look like?

“The first thing people will notice while they’re out driving is the yellow flower,” Cruse said. “But remember, not every yellow flower will be wild parsnip, either. The yellow flower on wild parsnip actually expands out and has a shape like an umbrella. The plant itself is typically four-to-five feet tall.

“It’s a biennial plant,” he added, “so it has a rosette. If you were to walk one of our local ditches in the fall, you’ll notice that virtually everything will be dead. However, there will be some green rosettes in the ditch too. There’s a better than decent chance at least some of that is going to be wild parsnip. It stays green later in the year, which is why that’s a good time to target it with some spraying.”

June 11, 2019June 11, 2019

Minnesota’s Dicamba Cutoff is June 20

Dicamba is an important tool for farmers when it comes to controlling weeds. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) wants to remind pesticide applicators of the state-specific dicamba cutoff for the 2019 growing season. Product application cannot take place in Minnesota after June 20.

The 2019 Minnesota dicamba cutoff is in addition to those established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The affected formulations are XtendiMax by Monsanto, Engenia by BASF, FeXapan by DuPont, and Tavium by Syngenta.

“We understand that late planting this season has caused concern for growers who want to use this crop management tool,” said Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen. “However, delaying applications in an attempt to control later emerging weeds can result in poor control and presents other risks. If you are one of the growers that has invested in dicamba technology, now is the time to use it for the dicamba cutoff date. The University of Minnesota Extension says late planting combined with pre-plant tillage can offer advantages for weed control.”

The June 20, 2019, the dicamba cutoff date is based on the MDA’s ongoing investigations and informal surveys into reports of crop damage from alleged dicamba off-target movement over the past two growing seasons. In 2017, the MDA received 253 reports of alleged dicamba drift; 55 of those were formal complaints requesting investigations. Those reports impacted an estimated 265,000 acres. After state restrictions were put in place for the 2018 growing season, the number of complaints dropped dramatically to 53 reports, of which 29 were formal complaints. Just over 1,800 acres were impacted in 2018.

This year’s dicamba cutoff date was first announced on December 10, 2018. Over the winter, approximately 5,800 pesticide applicators attended trainings across the state as required by the product labels.

Dicamba is most effective early in the growing season. Product labels recommend application on small broadleaf weeds that are up to 4 inches tall.

To manage weeds after June 20, growers can use herbicides from Group 9 (Glyphosate), Group 2 (Pursuit, Classic, FirstRate), and Group 14 (Flexstar, Cobra, Cadet, Ultra Blazer). If you have herbicide resistant weeds such as water hemp, follow University of Minnesota Extension recommendations on layering of residual herbicides such as Dual, Outlook, Warrant, and Valor.

In Minnesota, the XtendiMax, Engenia, FeXapan, and Tavium formulations of dicamba are “Restricted Use Pesticides” for retail sale to, and for use only by, certified applicators.

April 16, 2019April 16, 2019

Minnesota Gopher basketball; better than you think?

By Chad Smith

Minnesota Gopher basketball can be a polarizing discussion among their fans. The team finished the 2018-2019 men’s campaign with a 22-14 record. While there are dozens of colleges and universities that would be thrilled with 22 wins and a victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, not all Gopher fans were pleased with the outcome. Mike Grimm is the 13-year radio voice of the Golden Gophers, who made a recent appearance on the Minnesota Sports Weekly podcast. He says it’s important to keep a little perspective when fans look at a basketball season.

“I think it’s all how you look at it,” said Grimm. “It’s hard to say it was a disappointment. I’ve seen people say that on social media and I think they’re wrong. It’s not worth getting into a disagreement with someone if they don’t have the time or patience to look at the history of Minnesota Gopher basketball. We don’t have the history here as a UCLA does.

“This program has only appeared in 14 NCAA tournament, with two of those appearances in the last three years,” he added. “Anyone who suggests they should be ashamed of a season in which they made an NCAA Tournament and won a game for the second time in 20 years is being silly. That’s just dumb.”

There’s no such thing as a perfect college basketball season. However, Mike Grimm, radio voice of Minnesota Gopher basketball, says the 2018-2019 campaign was pretty good, especially when you look at the history of men’s basketball at the University of Minnesota. (Photo from krocam.)

Grimm says if people really want to nitpick, they can. The Gophers did let leads slip away in a few games and they lost a few they probably shouldn’t have. However, they also beat Purdue twice and beat the Badgers IN Wisconsin for the first time in over a decade. They knocked off the PAC-12 champion Washington Huskies to win the Vancouver Showcase.

“There were a lot of good things that happened,” Grimm said. “Remember, this was one of the toughest Big Ten seasons, top-to-bottom. The Gophers didn’t have a bunch of easy wins anywhere on this season’s schedule. The Gophers had to play a total of nine games out of a possible ten against the top five teams in the conference.

“There’s really no reason to sit and argue about it,” he added. “If you want to call it a disappointment, then you haven’t done enough research or you’re just being lazy about it.”

One of the highlights from last season for the Gopher men’s basketball squad was beating Purdue twice in the regular season, as well as a third time in the Big Ten Tournament.

He’s quick to say there were things that could have been done better. However, to say a coach should be fired after leading a team to a win in the NCAA Tournament is “ludicrous.” Grimm took it a step further, saying people who think Minnesota Gopher basketball shouldn’t be proud of this past season is “stupid, really.”

One of the bigger issues when it comes to the Gophers and social media was a sometimes-heated discussion over the contract extension given to Richard Pitino. The agreement will keep Pitino at the University of Minnesota for a total of another five years. It’s the third contract extension for the coach since joining the U back in 2013.

“There are some benefits to doing it now, especially when it comes to recruiting,” he said. “But I know it’s hard to forget the disappointment of the previous season. At one point, that team was 14-3 overall and ranked at No. 11 in the country. Then, the you-know-what hit the fan.”

That team went 2-14 the rest of the way as the wheels fell completely off the wagon. There were so many injuries to contend with, and then the suspension and expulsion of Reggie Lynch added a huge distraction to the season. “I’m not saying what’s right or what’s wrong,” Grimm added, “but there are probably schools where Reggie Lynch stays on the team.” However, there’s no question it’s a university policy and an important issue.”

The main thing about the Lynch situation Grimm wants to get across is it definitely played a role in the abysmal end to the season. Then, there were injuries to several players, including Amir Coffey, Dupree McBrayer, and Eric Curry, to deal with. That dragged everything down to a 2-14 record to end the season and any momentum from the NCAA appearance the prior season was lost.

“If he were sitting on three-straight tournament berths, which likely would have been the case if the wheels didn’t fall off last season, I don’t think too many people would be second-guessing,” Grimm said. “I know people cite the 40-70 Big Ten record, but it’s important to remember that this conference is tough every season. And, if you have two down seasons of 4-14 and 2-16 in the conference, it’s going to be hard to improve your record, even during successful seasons.

“The extension is also really good for recruiting,” Grimm said. “I know people want to dismiss it and say, ‘kids aren’t that dumb,’ but it does make a difference. Everything makes a difference.”

Grimm was frank in saying that if the school does want out of the deal with Pitino, it’ll actually cost the school less money next year than it would have without the extension. “I don’t know why people lost their minds over it,” he pointed out. “There are just some people that thrive on negativity in this market.

There are things you can nitpick when it comes to Pitino as far as in-game strategies and substitution patterns. However, that’s something fans can do with any coach. But Grimm said you can take that too far.

“To sound off about contract extensions and ask why they didn’t even have a news conference is crazy. There are certain people that love to be negative and won’t give anyone the benefit of the doubt. It’s the world we live in, and it’s an everywhere-thing, not just a Minnesota-thing. Negativity sells and people seem to love it.”

March 12, 2019March 12, 2019

Jesus Christ Changed A Hockey Life

By Chad Smith

Bill Butters is a walking contradiction in terms. He was once one of the toughest guys to ever play professional hockey, a sport populated by some of the roughest people on the planet. Butters is also one of the most passionate people for Jesus Christ that you’ll ever meet. He’s just one example of the life-changing power of God’s only Son.

Butters is a Minnesota-based staff member of Hockey Ministries International. As the name implies, the 40-year old group ministers to hockey players of all ages, both in the United States and throughout the world. They teach hockey players about Jesus Christ and living for him in the modern age through a series of HMI Hockey Camps.

Before Bill became a passionate follower of Jesus Christ, he spent a lot of years playing hockey at many different levels. The St. Paul, Minnesota native played for the University of Minnesota from 1971-1973. He played more than 200 games in the World Hockey Association with teams like the Minnesota Fighting Saints, Houston Aeros, Edmonton Oilers, and the New England Whalers. Butters played 72 games for the Minnesota North Stars in the National Hockey League before retiring as a player in 1980.

Butters wasn’t the most popular player on the ice, no matter where he played. He was once described as “hard-hitting and mayhem” while on the ice. He was once described as “rancid” by fans of the Wisconsin Badgers during his college days. Unfortunately, he was equally hard-hitting off the ice and it affected those closest to him. Speaking during a recent Hockey Ministries International fundraising breakfast in St. Paul, Butters told a crowd of 300 people that his life began to change when one close friend hit him with words he needed to hear.

“Who would have thought back in the day that a guy like me would ever be able to talk about Jesus, especially in a holy way,” Butters told the crowd. “I hated Christians, just like Saul before he became the Apostle Paul. I had a friend who knew me as a pro hockey player, knew my wife, knew my children and had enough courage to lose his friendship with me. His name is Steve.

“One day, we were driving to go play golf with a bunch of buddies,” Butters recalled. “Steve said ‘Butts, I don’t want to be your friend anymore. The man you’ve turned into, your language, the way you treat your wife and family, is despicable. I just don’t want to be your friend anymore.’”

Butters said his first thought was “this guy is a friend?” That moment took place in the summer of 1979. Butters said that was the start of God making a call on his life. His friend Steve had enough courage to confront the sin in his life. “I hated him for that,” Butters said.

Another of Butters’ friends, Tom Reid, invited Bill to be a volunteer coach at a hockey camp. At that time, Bill said he was “a young stud, at least in my own mind, playing for the North Stars.” That camp invitation came shortly after a rough moment in Bill’s life that took place in the office of then-Minnesota North Stars GM Lou Nanne.

“My friend, Lou Nanne, was the General Manager and had just told me how awful of a player I was,” Butters remembered. “Glen Sonmoor was the coach and he loved me. However, Glen also had a glass eye. I remember being in the room with those two when the North Stars weren’t too good. Lou said to me ‘Butts, you’re just not too good.’

“Glenn said ‘Louie, how can you say that? Butts is a great guy. He’s good in the locker room and tells jokes,’” Butters said with a smile. “Lou responded with ‘but Glenn, he’s awful! What you have to do is look at Bill with your real eye.’”

It was at that low point, Tom Reid extended the invite to the camp and Butters simply said: “it changed my life.” Bill remembers thinking he was there to teach kids. A group of 12-year-old boys led him in prayer and told him about Jesus.

“They told me how tough Jesus is,” Butters recalled. “The kids said He was the toughest man who ever lived. Those boys told me He loved me and that He would forgive my sins if I would just accept Him into my heart. Those 12-year-old boys led me to Christ.”

Butters said the next thing he remembered was sitting with his wife and telling her the good news that he’d just become a follower of Jesus Christ. However, what followed Bill’s pronouncement of his new faith was a tough pill to swallow.

“Then came the very bad news,” Butters said. “I explained the sin in my life, the infidelity, the lying, the cheating. It broke her heart. After a couple of hours, she looked at me and said the very same words that Jesus said to me two nights earlier; ‘I forgive you. Let’s rebuild our marriage on our faith in Christ.’

“So, I was confronted by a friend, invited by another friend, led by a group of boys, and then forgiven by my best friend,” he recalled. “Then, I had another friend named Gary Roloffs, a pilot from Northwest Airlines who didn’t know me from Adam, that was a Christ follower. He asked if he could meet with me for a cup of coffee.”

They first met in 1980 and have continued to meet once every week since then, all the way up to the present day. Bill said Roloffs has taught him to read Scripture, how to pray, how to memorize Scripture, and how to “think a little bit better.” So, Butter said he had a friend mentor him in the faith, while another friend taught him how to “love my wife and be a dad.”

After that, Butters, who referred to himself as one of the “most despicable men in hockey” was invited to join a ministry and tell others about the love of Jesus Christ. Don Liesemer, President of Hockey Ministries International, is the one who brought Butters aboard.

“Then, there’s Herb Brooks,” Butters said. “What can I say about Herbie other than he was everything to me, including a coach, a friend, a mentor. He was someone who believed in me long before many other people did. One of the most memorable things he said to me was ‘Billy, you’re a character. Someday, I hope you have character.’ There is a difference.

“Later, when I was struggling in ministry and couldn’t raise any money, I went to Herb, who was scouting for Pittsburgh back then. I asked Herb to see if he could use his influence to get me a job in hockey. Herbie said to me ‘Billy, I think God has you right where He wants you. You stay in that ministry.’ As rough as some people thought Herb Brooks was, he was a tenderhearted man. I truly believe he loved me and wanted only the best for me.”

As he gets older, Butters said the two words he fears most are “I forgot. I forgot about my friendships, I forgot the boys who led me to Christ, I forgot about some of you. That’s never gonna happen. I’m going to try hard not to forget the important things.

“Jesus knew the same things way back then,” he added. “I forget my glasses, or even my (false) tooth half the time when I walk out the door. I forget a lot of things, but Jesus doesn’t forget me. He said, ‘remember me.’ But before you can remember someone, you have to know them first.

“When Jesus began His ministry, He didn’t say join a Bible Study, join a church, memorize Scripture, or do this and do that,” Butters said. “He simply said ‘Come, follow Me.’ His disciples left what they were doing to follow Him, then got to know Him. Then, before He died on the cross, He said ‘remember me.’ So, my question for you is do you know Jesus? Are you following Him?

Butters closed out his remarks to the crowd at the St. Paul Hotel by saying that society is telling people to not follow Jesus. “Hockey Ministries International is telling people around the world that ‘If you know Jesus, you will know peace.’ Do you know Him?”

Here’s Bill’s speech at the fundraiser:

Butters Part 1

Butters Part 2

February 19, 2019February 19, 2019

Minnesota Gophers prepare for spring football

It doesn’t seem that long ago that Clemson beat the socks off Alabama to capture the NCAA football crown. As over a foot of snow sits on the ground in Minnesota (with more on the way this week), it may be surprising to realize that spring football isn’t that far away, at all. Ryan Burns of Gopher Illustrated talked all things Gopher football on a recent episode of Minnesota Sports Weekly.

“We’re only a few weeks away now,” Burns said, “and considering the kind of February we’ve had, with all the snow and the Polar Vortex, it’s going to be a sight for sore eyes. Warmer temps are around the corner, the doldrums of winter are getting behind us, which is a good thing for Minnesota residents and for Gopher football.”Recruiting has basically wrapped up (for now). Burns said Gopher coaches spent roughly three weeks in January pounding the pavement on the recruiting trail. That second national signing day cut down on the number of recruits Gopher football signed this time around during the traditional signing day, which is the first Wednesday of February.

“Minnesota only signed one more scholarship player,” Burns said. “They’d signed 21 scholarship players during the early signing day in December. It’s the second year that college football had two signing days. I’d say roughly 70 percent of all college football recruits have signed during December.

Gopher football — Ryan Burns of Gopher Illustrated. (Photo from twitter.com)

“The Minnesota coaching staff should be back in the office this week and looking at more recruiting tape,” he added. “Just a couple weeks later, the staff will get started on their spring football season.”

How much time do these coaches spend on the road trying to build the future of the program? It’s astronomical. After the Gophers beat Wisconsin at the end of the regular season, head coach P.J. Fleck was out on the road 19 of the next 23 days recruiting, all the way up to the early National Signing Day. As Burns said, “There’s no rest for the weary.” Right after that signing day, the Gophers were off to Detroit and their Dec. 26 appearance in the Quick Lane Bowl.

“They (coaches) got a couple weeks off after the bowl and they were back out on the recruiting trail through late January and early February,” he said. “They get another week off and then it’s back to work figuring out who they want to recruit for the 2020 class, which is all juniors as we speak today. It’s spring football until April 15^th, after which they’ll be back on the road till the end of May.

“Once that wraps up, their home with their families for 6-7 weeks,” Burns said. “Coaching is demanding. I know several Gopher coaches that consistently work 12-14-hour days and it’s tough being away from your family that much. When you’re out for a six-week stretch of recruiting, you’re home maybe one day every week. You better have an understanding better-half who’s willing to put up with the lifestyle.”

Looking at recruiting specifics, Burns said they had a few holes in the roster to fill. “They were trying to add more talent into a young team. The Gophers might have been the youngest team in the country last year. You always want to continue to add talent, especially at the quarterback position.

“It’s the position at which the Gophers have the biggest question marks on how the program takes the next step forward,” he added. “I’d argue they have as good of a stable of running backs that they’ve had in a long time, they have as good a wide receiver group they’ve had in a long time, and the Minnesota offensive line really flipped a switch in the last month of the season. The O line was a big reason the team took a big step forward late in the year.”

Minnesota signed two quarterbacks in the offseason. One was from out-of-state and was the highest-rated QB to sign with the Gophers in decades. His name is Jacob Clark and he’s from Rockwall, Texas. They also signed Cole Kramer, a quarterback from Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Burns said Fleck did “a good job” of filling his two biggest needs at quarterback and along the defensive line.

One of the most amazing things about recruiting under P.J. Fleck is how the Gopher program is getting recruits who are being chased by school in the Power 5 conferences. A good example is defensive lineman Rashad Cheney of Atlanta, Georgia. The 6-foot-2, 270-pound defensive tackle, a four-star recruit, had previously committed to play for both Georgia and Alabama in the SEC. However, he signed a letter of intent late last year to play football for the University of Minnesota.

“Any time that you’re able to get a kid who had committed to Alabama all the way up to Halloween of last year before deciding to look around,” Burns said, “I think Alabama’s defensive line is absolutely something you should try to emulate. Think about it, they annually send two or three guys off their defensive line to the NFL every year.

“Winning in the trenches every year is a big point of emphasis for defensive coordinator Joe Rossi,” he added. “I think they addressed that well.”

Here are lots of Gopher football highlights from last season

The Gopher football team took many Minnesota football fans by surprise, finishing 7-6 overall, getting three wins in the Big Ten Conference, and winning five of their seven home games. The goal of spring football is to make sure the program takes steps to keep things moving forward.

“The coaches want to make sure they can build on some things,” Burns said. “They want to make sure the players who had difficulties last year with certain aspects of their positions can get those things corrected by understanding the cause and correcting their technique. As much as they want to get the kids physically ready to go, it’s more about the mental aspect as Minnesota will continue to install new things both on offense and defense.”

He added, “Going into year three, they want to take things up a notch.”

The big headliner for Gopher football fans to watch in spring football is definitely at the quarterback position.

“You had Mankato native Zach Annexstad win the job out of Gopher football fall camp and then gets injured during the season,” Burns said. “Tanner Morgan then comes in to finish the season. Tanner started seven games and Zach started six. Neither one of them really did enough to pull away from one another.

“You also have the two freshmen quarterbacks coming in, both of whom graduated high school early,” he added. “They’re already enrolled on campus and will be there for workouts, as well as spring ball, trying to compete for that starting quarterback job. Fleck has said the quarterback job is wide open, but I say that Annexstad likely has the inside track. However, they’re all underclassmen, all 18-20 years old, and they’ll all grow and develop at a different pace, so we’ll see what happens.”

February 3, 2019February 3, 2019

Foxglove, a conflicted MDA Weed of the Month

Grecian foxglove (Digitalis lanata) is a beautiful but toxic invasive plant. It was brought to North America from its native Europe as an ornamental plant. Grecian foxglove thrives in sunny to partially shaded areas and has been found in Washington County, Minnesota. All plant parts are toxic, alive or dried, necessitating careful handling with protective clothing and equipment. This is a threat to humans and other animals. Additionally, Grecian foxglove overtakes and unbalances the ecosystems it takes root in.Grecian foxglove is a perennial plant that forms a rosette then sends up a flowering stem its second and subsequent years. The flowering stems are 2-5 feet tall. Its leaves are oblong-shaped with pointed tips and are simple and alternately placed on the stem. Flower color ranges from white to faint yellow with brownish-purple venation inside. Some of the ways Grecian foxglove can be distinguished from its look alike, common or garden foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), is that Grecian Foxglove has woolly hairs located on the stems and sepals, green petals that surround and protect the flower bud, and garden foxglove’s flowers display a much wider color spectrum.

Grecian foxglove (Digitalis lanata) is a beautiful but toxic invasive plant. It was brought to North America from its native Europe as an ornamental plant. The noxious weed thrives in sunny to partially-shaded areas and has been found in Washington County, Minnesota. All plant parts are toxic, whether it’s alive and thriving or dead and dried out, which means you have to take precautions. Careful handling with protective clothing and equipment is vital to your safety. This is a threat to humans and animals. Additionally, the weed overtakes and unbalances the ecosystems it takes root in, squeezing out other non-invasive plants.

Grecian foxglove synthesizes toxic compounds that impact cardiovascular, neurological and gastrointestinal systems. The poison effects can come after either accidental ingestion or absorption through the skin. Poison symptoms include headache, nausea, vomiting, lethargy, abdominal pain, strange dreams, arrhythmias, and changes in vision.

Please take this seriously. If you suspect foxglove poisoning, call Minnesota Poison Control System at 1-800-222-1222. Obviously, if someone needs immediate help, call 911 if immediate help is needed.

These toxic compounds can be deadly, but when extracted and used properly, they can also be used as a medicine. They can be highly beneficial in treating cardiac arrhythmia, a condition that causes the heart to beat irregularly.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA), Washington Conservation District, along with the Conservation Corps of Minnesota (CCM), University of Minnesota-Extension, Belwin Conservancy, and private landowners and contractors are all working together to find and eliminate foxglove in Minnesota.

These groups and their efforts are supported by Environment and Natural Resources Trust Funds, as recommended by the Legislative-Citizens Commission on Minnesota Resources. Grecian foxglove is a prohibited and eradicate weed on the Minnesota Noxious Weed List. If you suspect that you have found Grecian Foxglove, please take pictures of the plant, note the exact location, and report to Arrest the Pest at arrest.the.pest@state.mn.us.

July 23, 2018

MDA Gathering Info on Potential Dicamba Damage

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is again gathering information on plant damage that may have been caused by the use of the herbicide dicamba. The MDA is encouraging anyone with damage in the 2018 growing season to complete a survey or register a formal complaint. The survey will be open until September 15.

Last year, the MDA received 253 complaints related to the use of dicamba in Minnesota. The complaints centered on off-target movement that impacted non-dicamba tolerant soybeans, other sensitive crops, as well as non-crop plants. The University of Minnesota estimates the damaged area totaled 265,000 acres across the state.

In an effort to prevent off-target movement incidents this year, the MDA added additional restrictions to the herbicide’s application: a June 20 cutoff date and an 85 degree Fahrenheit temperature cutoff. As of July 23, 2018, the MDA had received 30 reports of alleged dicamba damage. Not all of those reports requested an investigation.

“It is important that we continue to monitor the situation this year and gather as much data as we can,” said Assistant Commissioner Susan Stokes. “Last year’s survey gave us very valuable information, and this year’s survey will help the department as we look ahead to the 2019 growing season.”

Dicamba is an herbicide used to control broadleaf weeds in dicamba tolerant soybeans, corn and a variety of other food and feed crops, as well as in residential areas. Dicamba belongs to a class of herbicides that are volatile, and can drift and/or volatilize from the intended application area if not used according to the label. Off-target movement may cause unintended impacts such as serious damage to non-targeted crops.

If you believe dicamba was used in violation of the label or law, and you wish to request an MDA investigation, you will also need to complete the pesticide misuse complaint form or call the Pesticide Misuse Complaint line at 651-201-6333.

You can find more information on dicamba at http://www.mda.state.mn.us/dicamba.

Here’s a refresher from the North Carolina Soybean Association on spotting different levels of dicamba damage: