Introducing Jeff Kilpatrick & a slightly new direction

I love Gopher football, and I love this blog because it gives me an excuse to care about and follow Gopher football more closely than might otherwise seem reasonable. The bottom line is that I've always wanted to make this blog a place that Gopher football fans can come and hopefully find a voice, or at least an opinion, on Gopher football that is from a fan's perspective. A fan that truly cares about the program and it's success.

But I also want this blog to be informational about it's opinions, and I realize that there is a bigger world out there. I also realize that as much time as I spend trying to keep up on Gopher related content and commenting on it, I don't spend enough time looking at the Big10 conference or college football as a whole. And I admit that is a problem.

In that vein, I have asked a close, personal friend of mine (insert Sid Hartman joke here) to join me in writing this blog.

Jeff Kilpatrick and I have been friends since we were neighbors at Covenant Bible College in Strathmore, Alberta in the fall of 1996. Jeff and I used to write together on another blog called Midwest Sports Rubes, which I left last year in order to focus my blogging efforts on Gopher Football. In the interim Jeff turned Midwest Sports Rubes into Metric Musings.

Jeff grew up in the shadow of one of the greatest cities in the world, Vancouver, British Columbia, and despite growing up in hockey country, he has lived a good portion of the past decade right here in the Midwest. As friends I have always been the homer, keeping a very close eye on local sports teams, and while he is also a big fan of all things Minnesota, he has always been the voice of reason, keeping a closer eye on the national landscape than I.

Jeff also grew up as a Michigan Wolverines fan, but has since buried his allegiance to Ann Arbor, and fully committed his college fandom to the University of Minnesota.

For all of these reasons, Jeff is the perfect person to join the Gopher Football Blog. Jeff will focus most of his efforts on the Big10 as a whole, a bit on the national college football landscape, and then figure out how all of this pertains to the Gophers.

Additionally, something that I am REALLY excited about, is that we are going to be starting a podcast! Jeff is vocationally trained in radio, and has done a lot of work in recent years working in sports information for small colleges, another reason that Jeff is the perfect reason to join the blog.

Please join me in welcoming Jeff to the fold, and expect his first post on the Big10 landscape later today.