The Genz

With the South Dakota football team set to play Northwestern at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 22 in Evanston, Ill., it is worth a little time to check how the Coyotes have fared vs. the Big Ten and the Wildcats. A quick review of the 2011 South Dakota football media guide, shows USD is 2-25 vs. the Big Ten with both wins coming on the road against Minnesota, 10-0 (Northrup Field) in 1912 and 41-38 (TCF Bank Stadium) in 2010. While USD has just two wins, they nearly knocked off the Michigan Wolverines in 1912, The Wolverines team, coached by the legendary Fielding Yost (198-35-12 overall - 165-29-10 with six national titles at Michigan), defeated South Dakota, 7-6, at Ferry Field in Ann Arbor. The Coyotes led Michigan, 6-0, until the final seconds when the Wolverines scored a TD and added the extra point for the win. USD's Big Ten record does not includes games vs. Nebraska (1-14-2) or Michigan State (0-5-1) because the Huskers and Spartans were not Big Ten members when the Co...

Sadly, the days are gone when trains motored down the rails with people hanging out windows, waving their goodbyes, blowing kisses and cheering wildly as the locomotive engine and whistles blared away. Those images are only captured now in movies or TV shows, except maybe in Europe or tourists traps. Still, it is easy to romanticize about the era many decades ago when the train was the primary mode of transportation. In reflection, I believe many of us get a rush while imagining about a bygone era and what we perceive was a more innocent, less stressful time. One such era - the early 1900s - wasn't a simpler time, just different. It was a world without the Internet , cable TV, smart phones, SUVs, and airplanes, all of which has made life faster, seemingly more stressful, but clearly different. People didn't have to check their phones for a text, email or information update as they shopped for groceries or just roamed the street.  As a connoisseur of knowledge and informatio...