Who: Dave Mona

What: After a controversial overtime loss to Penn State and no-show blowout at Wisconsin, the Gopher apologists were out in full force circling the wagons.

Sid Hartman was overhead commenting that the Gophers (with 0-3 Big Ten record at the time) were a "pretty good team". Additionally, he wrote that Big Ten officials "apologized" to the University for the controversial interference call in overtime. This erroneous claim was denied by the conference on their web site.

Pioneer Press columnist Charley Walters used some fuzzy math in an attempt to convince readers the Gopher opponents have been strong (providing an alibi for their struggling season).

Dark Star phoned in to WCCO after the Wisconsin game in an attempt to balance the critical callers with his tired and unconvincing "Mason can coach...he won ten games at Kansas" statement. He went on to defend the program by mentioning the loss of a number of talented players (Close circuit to George, #1 ranked Ohio State lost nine defensive starters).

The most deserving of the wagon protectors was the Karl Rove of Gopher football-one Dave Mona. The day after the 28-27 loss to Penn State, Mr. Mona called his favorite squad a "good team" and described the loss as a "tragedy".

Always one to defend their previous soft schedules, his pre-game "vignette" (commentary) was a sad example of selling hope to the fans for next year. He enthusiastically pointed out the 2007 schedule will be weaker and the Gophers should be back (back to what?).

He finished his shilling duties by framing post game questions to the head coach that emphasized penalties against the Gophers and not the obvious defensive challenges they encountered during the 48-12 shellacking.

Bottom Line: Defending the indefensible clearly reveals ones lack of credibility..