The Wiz of Odds

At Minnesota, It's Not a Suite Deal Without Alcohol

Minnesota is less than a month from its first game in TCF Bank Stadium, but a slumping economy and decision by state lawmakers to ban alcohol in the new facility have stalled sales of luxury seats.

With the first game set for Sept. 12 against Air Force, about half the indoor club seats and a quarter of the private suites are unsold, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The sluggish sales have forced officials to make the luxury seats available for single-game purchase.

To make matters worse, 15 fans canceled premium seat contracts after the alcohol ban was announced. Nearly all said the ban was the reason. Officials reacted to the cancellations by offering luxury seats at a 10% discount.

All totaled, the decision to ban alcohol sales could result in the athletic department bringing in $2 million less than anticipated from the new stadium.

Latest Editions to College Football's Arms Race

Oklahoma State is finishing work on a three-year renovation and expansion of T. Boone Pickens Stadium. The price tag is $282 million — $47 million for the stadium's south side; $55 million for the north side; $180 million for the west end zone and video scoreboard. Underneath the west end zone are the new training, weight, equipment and dressing rooms. The facility will seat 60,218.

"I was shocked. We have one of the best locker rooms in the country by far, hands down," Oklahoma State defensive end Richetti Jones said. "It is top notch. We are on a different level now, and we just need to keep playing like it. If we play anything like our locker room looks, we are going to win championships."

Brewster's Bio Gets a Makeover

Minnesota's Tim Brewster is trying to set the record straight.

The coaching record that was posted on his blog has been changed to more accurately reflect his 8-17 mark in two seasons as a head coach, Michael Rand of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. We use the words "more accurately" because Brewster's updated bio is still missing a loss, stating that his record is 8-16.

Maybe it's that 55-0 setback to Iowa, which was not included in portions of the team's 2009 media guide, that is missing from the new bio.

Brewster's original bio, shown on the top left, included his work as an assistant, implying that he was 113-61-1 as a head coach.

The updated bio, shown below, now states: "Heading into his third season as head coach of the Gophers, Brewster owns an 8-16 record (.333) and has an overall assistant coaching record of 120-67-1 (.638)."

The spelling of Mack Brown and Chris Simms have also been fixed.

Rand writes: "Some folks took this issue fairly seriously, which surprised us even if perhaps it shouldn’t. We never thought of it as anything more than a fairly harmless bit of fun, though we are happy to see it has been updated. We imagine much of the blog is put together by folks working for Brewster, and even though he should have final authority on what goes on it, we hardly imagine he instructed his minions to stretch the coaching truth."

Gophers' Brewster Padding Record on His Blog

Two weeks after Minnesota and Tim Brewster made headlines when last season's 55-0 loss to Iowa was left out of a portion of the 2009 media and records book, another incident of fuzzy math has surfaced.

Mike Hlas of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, who broke the news of the earlier gaffe, is on the case again, taking note of Brewster's record posted on his blog: "In total, Brewster holds a coaching record of 113-61-1 (.645)."

Hlas writes: "OK, Coach Brew. Not many head coaches tout their won-lost records as assistants, but that's your right. Just like it's mine to point out you've been a head coach for all of two years, and have a won-lost record of 8-17 with a current five-game losing streak.

"What Coach Brew meant to say — or should have said — is teams have been 113-61-1 on staffs in which he has coached. Which is a perfectly valid thing to pat yourself on the back about.

"But the coach wasn't the mastermind behind all 113 of those wins. Or was he?"

Minnesota Practicing Revisionist History?

The power of the press belongs to those who own it. In this case, it's Minnesota. (Scroll to bottom of post for update.)

The Golden Gophers' 2009 media and records book is now available, and it lists the team's all-time results. Under 2008, it correctly indicates that Minnesota had a 7-6 record, but lists only 12 games. Missing is a 55-0 loss to Iowa in the team's final game in the Metrodome.

Iowans won't soon forget that game. As Mike Hlas of the Cedar Rapids Gazette points out, Tim Brewster's team had six first downs and nine punts.

Minnesota Is Now the Land of 10,001 Mistakes

Minnesota coach Tim Brewster has discovered a new use for Twitter. His account was used last week to insult Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse.

The post read: "How would you like to wake up in the morning and look in the mirror...... if your Fat Pat."

Although Brewster was reportedly told to delete the entry, it remained on an RSS feed and a copy was snagged by Black Heart Gold Pants.