That was the 'Week That Was'

• Lance and Billy

Lance and Billy

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The following is another “Have Fun or Get Out of the Way” column by Don Leighton and Mike Granlund and their alter egos, Lance Boyle and Billy Pirkola, which runs occasionally in the Superior Telegram.

In 1964-65, British television personality David Frost hosted a satirical comedy that focused on the news of the previous week. Nothing was sacred, and fun was had at the expense of many on the show that aired on NBC. In honor of one of the best short-lived shows ever, Lance and Billy present “That Was the Week That Was.”

Pigs are flying, the sun will rise in the west, Lance and Billy are stunt doubles for Brad Pitt and George Clooney, and Jed Carlson falls to second place.

In a Sunday of wild football games — a Packer shutout on the road and the beginning of the end of Brett Favre’s football career — Lance and Billy stormed into first place in Friday’s Superior Telegram Pro Football Forecasters picks.

With the boys exhibiting their loyalty to the Green and Gold, the Purple and White were abandoned by Carlson who chose New England to defeat the Minnesotans. Even so, Lance and Billy achieved an excellent 4-1 record to Carlson’s 1-4 record of mediocrity in the five games of differing opinion. Carlson, who has enjoyed first place since the Russians launched Sputnik, has an uphill climb since Lance and Billy are just beginning to heat up. Watch the one game lead swell as the season progresses. (We hope.)

The No. 1 Division 2 football team in the country, the UMD Bulldog’s, had a great weekend. They defeated the No. 16 St. Cloud Huskies on Saturday, and Grand Valley State was defeated by Michigan Tech.

The 9-0 Dogs are well represented by former Spartans Max Phillips, Joe Reichert and Chris Blake. Northwestern’s Ryan Miesbauer is a red-shirt, and probable All-American, Keil Fechtelkotter is one of the best inside linebackers in the nation. He is a captain and the heart and soul of a defensive unit that has allowed 11 points per game this season.

With two more regular season games on the road, the Bulldogs have a chance to go deep in the playoffs and win their second national title in three seasons.

Speaking of football, the College of St. Scholastica was victorious Saturday at the Metrodome against MacMurray College. A 48-18 victory brought CSS its fifth win of the season.

Former Spartan greats on the Saints are Keegan O’Neill, Matt Johnson, Sean Graskey, Mike LaValley, Mike VanMassenhove, Addison Griffin, Jake Turkowski and Steve Runquist. With two games remaining, they have a realistic chance to go 7-3.

On Oct. 30, UWS women’s basketball coach Don Mulhern hosted his Coaching Round Table at the campus. Legendary Chisholm boy’s coach Bob McDonald was the keynote speaker. His views on kids, life and coaching were insightful and right on. You can see why he has the most coaching victories in Minnesota basketball history with 942.

Other guest speakers included Betty Urmanski and first-year men’s head coach Matt Siverling. Urmanski is the head girl’s coach at Edgar, Wis. and is the mother of outstanding Yellowjacket sophomore guard Connie Urmanski. We predict excitement and great things from Siverling and Mulhern’s Yellowjacket teams this season.

This Saturday, Mulhern takes his team to Madison to face the Badger women in an exhibition game. Play begins at 1:30 p.m. and can be seen by accessing www.uwsuper.edu/athletics.

The Superior High School girls swim and dive team won its second consecutive Lake Superior Conference title with a victory at the LSC conference meet Saturday. Congratulations and good luck in the sectionals Friday and Saturday.

As you may know, Lance loves meeting nice people. During the past few weeks he has made some new friends, including Chris Ferguson of Peterborough, Ontario. Ferguson is riding a bike along the coastline of the continental 48 states. He was headed east towards Ashland and hopes to be done with his excursion by April 2011, ending in Vancouver, Canada. He began his tour of our beautiful country on Sept. 14.

Talking about pleasant people, Tami Campbell, who works at the Superior Erbert and Gerbert’s has a disposition that would make any business proud. With customer service being everything, I cannot thank her enough for her conversation and outstanding service. Thanks, Tami.

One of Lance and Billy’s biggest fans, Isabelle Tosin, will be 93 on her next birthday. She never misses a Have Fun or Get Out of the Way column and gets a kick from our wit and wisdom. (Obviously, the checks we send must be clearing the bank.) She is a real sweetheart . . . who has good taste in writers.

A very special hello goes to Lorrie Hutchinson and her husband Dr. Jim Hutchinson, DDS. Their son Bill lives in Eau Claire and loves watching the Spartans on ifan. Son Dick was an outstanding athlete at Superior Cathedral during the late 60s. He now resides in the Northwestern district in Lake Nebagamon, Lance’s “Shangri La.” Hey Dick, why didn’t you live in Lake Nebagamon when you were in high school? We could have used you.

Speaking of real sweethearts, Kelli Nelson is the sister of SHS football coach Bob DeMeyer. We met at a lunch on Friday attended by Bob, his daughters Lanie and Sydney, fellow coach Jim Hogan and Butch DeMeyer, father of Bob and Kelli. My Grizzly’s chili was great, the company was wonderful and I got to sit next to Kelli. She and her husband Dan love the ifan, especially the lead announcer. (Kelli, your check is in the mail.)

Opinions and story ideas can be e-mailed to dleigh1273@aol.com or wgranlund@centurytel.net.

Tags: have fun or get out of the way, collections, sports, football, basketball, umd, uws, css, preps