What We Are Thankful For

It's that special time of the year where we celebrate Christ's invention of Thanksgiving.  So we here at Hats Off To Us wanted to get people in the Christ-y spirit and are making a list of what we are thankful for.

Brenden:  I'm eternally thankful for Nic Cage.  I don't really know if I need to expand on that, but here is some hard evidence proving he is THE BEST:


Frank:  I continue to be thankful for all my wonderful friends and family, who have supported me both emotionally and financially. I can't imagine a world without them.
Also this:

Emily: I'm thankfull that there are GaGa fans out there crazier than me:

Pat: I am thankful for the fact that the McRib wasn't nearly as good as I remember it.  So thankfully I only needed to have one and be done with it. (Yeah, we also remembered it being as good as THIS:

but we were wrong too..)

Matt: I'm thankful for Michael Beasley for making the T-Wolves fun to watch again. Now when i go to see a game in person, I'm not going to see the other team, I'm also going to see Beasley and Love ball. (We will keep wanting to go too as long as Beasley Never does this:


Peter: I'm thankful for my new Isotoner gloves. I could take them on and off all day. Plus everyone at The Saloon thinks they're super cute!

Rachel: I'm thankful for the evolution and progression of strap-on technology:

Chip: I'm thankful for THAT ass:

 

Wilson: I'm thankful for Admiral Ackbar and his infinite wisdom:

Lacey: I'm thankful for sleep. Respect that shit!

Carl:  50 Cent's Twitter account: 

"I can't belive my grand mothers making me take Out the garbage I'm rich fuck this I'm going home I don't need this shit"

Sam: The BFC, Tubby Smith, hypothetical Bahamas trips, and best friends.(PS that's me in the video!)

Nate (Pastor Nate): I'm thankful for Blake Griffin dunks:

LeClair: Ben Roeth getting punched:
 


Molly N: Neti Pots:

Alec: I'm thankful that Elway didn't go out like Favre:

Thanks to all the Mad Hatters out there (Rats off to ya)! Merry ThanksSanta from all (two) of us at Hats Off To Us!

We Comin! We Comin!

The Gophers are riding high as they took down #8 UNC on Friday night and now look to face West Virginia in the finals of the Honda Puerto Rico Tip-Off.
Hats off to Tubby and the boys for a great upset win. The Gophers beat a top 10 team on a neutral court for the third year in a row (Louisville in 08', Butler in 09'), and a win over West Virginia (who kinda made the Final Four last year) would only help to establish this Gopher team as a top 20 team in the nation. Regardless of the outcome tonight, the national media is taking notice of this Gopher team, and so should you.
Tip off is around 630pm tonight.

Green Man will be there offering up all the help he can for the good guys, you should be too.

Rise up Gopher Nation!

Tonight is a big night for the fans of the Minnesota Golden Gopher Men's Basketball program.  Fresh off a 95-77 beating of Western Kentucky, our Gophs are lookin ahead tonight to a big showdown with the often-dominant North Carolina Tar Heels. 
These two teams have only played four times in their history, with the only Gopher win coming 30 years ago.  That North Carolina team had SIX (!) former McDonald's All-American prep stars and had been to the Final Four the previous year.  Trent Tucker and company rose up the squash the mighty Tar Heels on that fateful December evening, and tonight Ralph Sampson III can finally make his daddy proud by doing the same.
Some reasons to believe it could happen:

1)  It is early in the season.  Harrison Barnes (out of Frank's college town Ames, Iowa), is a proven commodity and was named to the Associated Press All-America first team before he played his first collegiate game.  It was clear in the UNC match up vs. Hofstra last night that the team is still gelling and can be rattled by a team that can administer a strong zone defense.
2) The Gophs big men have played very well against smaller front courts so far and will have a chance to prove it is no fluke against a larger and more athletic Tar Heel squad.  Ralph and Trevor Mbakwe have had great games; Mbakwe averaging a double-double and Ralph controlling the paint while also showing off his smooth J (even cashing in on a 3).  We also have depth with Colt ( Not THIS Colt ) Iverson able to spell either men and play big minutes.
3) Tubby's teams always bring strong defense and can harass you all over the court.  This team can create turnovers for sure, but the question will be can Al Nolen and Blake Hoffarber continue to hold down the point guard duty without Devoe Joseph.  If we can limit our turnovers and work a strong half-court offense (usually out of the question with Tubby) we will be in it.
4) How many ESPY winners does UNC have? Blake's got 2 words for ya
5) Neutral court.  This is huge.  The Gophers beat Louisville 2 years ago (who ended up being the #1 seed in the NCAA tourney that year) on neutral ground.  Anytime you can catch a top team early in the season AND on a neutral court, you've got a shot.

Game isn't for 8 hours, so check in with your travel agent in the next few hours and let's all make a little trip down to Puerto Rico to support our boys.

KenPom has the Gophs at a 31% chance of winning, no doubt we are the underdogs, but even in a loss if Tubby's boys can keep it close and play well, this game will look good for us down the road when it comes time to talk NCAA tourney.
But I'm gonna drink the kool-aid and be a homer and go with Gophs win 72-69(Chyess!).  It is gonna be close, and might not look so good for the home-town team, but I'm predicting a plethora of Stunners will be given just in the nick of time by Stone Cold to help save the day

Breaking News: This painting was spotted in the background of the Street Fighter movie!

We watched 1994's Street Fighter last night, and besides being as far removed as possible from the simplicity of the game's "two characters with special powers fight" story, we noticed this in the background of M Bison's super villain quarters:

My best guess is it's Bison himself, the real M Bison. The painting is how he feels on the inside. Sure, to most people he's an evil drug kingpin in a fictional southeast Asian country holding a group of prisoners hostage for $20 billion while forcing a single Indian doctor to conduct illegal experiments and simultaneously fighting off Jean Claude Van Damme's UN-style military, but on the inside he's a sad clown holding balloons in a tropical place.

I guess it does make sense, though. This is how he dresses casually:

Hats off to you, M Bison!

Whoooooo!

Welcome to the all new Hats Off To Us blog!

The Hats Off To Us brand is growing faster than we ever thought possible and you, the lucky media-consumer, get to be there from beginning. No doubt you've listened to our podcast both live and archived over at blogtalkradio, and equally doubtless is your hunger for more of what we have to offer.

Fortunately we've anticipated the desires of our public and will use this blog to expand on things we've talked about on the show, forgot to talk about, or couldn't talk about because it's a clip of Vader breaking a jobber's back with a powerbomb:




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