The hot spots right now are along the Red and Wild Rice rivers.

I think the most dramatic difference between the 1997 flood and this year is the fact we never lost power. Folks were able to keep their sump pumps and their flood pumps going and keep the incursion of water to a minimum level.

The last thing we can afford right now is to make excuses. We're inexperienced at some spots, that's the way it is. We have injuries, so does everyone, that's the way it is.

Our returning players learned so much from our seniors last year and they have been quick to demonstrate the right way to do things to our newcomers. We don't believe in the moniker of defending national champions, because when a team wins a championship it's theirs forever. But this group wants to emerge from the shadow of last year's team and create it's own identity. In a lot of ways the lead-up to the 2006 season is more exciting because there is an element of the unknown.

If I threw him 15 balls, he hit 14 of them solid. He was right on.

That was big because they had tied the game and we answered right back.