Re: National Semi-Final: Minnesota vs. North Dakota
That's about a 10.5 on the compensation meter, Freds. You have an innie?
You guys want "tArrogance"???
How about this?
UMn has supplied more players to the US Olympic Hockey teams throughout history than ALL of the other 2014 Frozen Four participants COMBINED!!!!!!!!!
UMn has gotten TWICE AS MANY players into the US Hockey Hall of Fame than ALL of the other 2014 Frozen Four participants COMBINED!!!!!!!!!
UMn students, alumni and faculty, combined with the state of Minnesota as an entity, single-handily won World War 2 for the allies, and its really not even debatable.
In basically every way, shape and form you can think of, Minnesota as a entity, led by UMn students, alumni and faculty contributed to the Allied war effort more significantly than any other state and/or school did.
Here is my list of the Top Ten reasons why UMn and Minnesota in general was VITAL to the Allies winning WW2.
#1 - SPAM baby!!! Yeah, that's right, good ole Mn based Hormel and their canned ham helped keep Allied forces fed and able to be more manly. SPAM!!!!
#2 - K-RATIONS!!! To keep on the feeding the troops vein for a bit longer, UMn prof Ancel Keys, was the "K" in K-Rations. K-Rations being short for Keys Rations. UMn prof Ancel Keys ALSO helped keep Allied Troops fed and more importantly HEALTHY and strong and MANLY!!!! Also on the whole feeding the troops vein, the man who would later be accredited for feeding BILLIONS, Norman Borlaug, basically started out his career after graduating from UMn by developing a glue that didn't dissolve in salt water, thus allowing Allied Forces to get food to its troops stationed on the island of Gautalcanel. Simply put, Allied troops may have friggin starved to death had it not been for all of these UMn folk coming up with all these different ways of getting food, and good food, to them.
#3 - Nurses!!! Yeah, you got it, no school in the country supplied the war effort with more nurses than the University of Minnesota. Them hot UMn nurses kept our Allied troops on the mend and inspired them as well with their wonderous beauty and charm and care.
#4 - Doctors!!! Not sure if UMn supplied the most Docs, but with guys like Dr Wangensteen directing General Hospital #26, the LONGEST RUNNING war hospital in the Mediterranean Theatre, sent over by the University of Minnesota, and staffed by nothing but UMn docs and nurses and technicians, etc., UMn's medical presence was felt during WW2, so much so that the President sent a letter to the University of Minnesota thanking them for their support and read outloud during a Gopher sporting event at halftime, and awarding GH#26 with a Meritorious Service Award or something along those lines for their efforts. This hospital was largely funded by private donations collected by Dr Wangensteen before they left to support the war in Algeria and then Italy. Dr Owen Wangensteen's invention, the Wangensteen Suction Apparatus was accredited for saving THOUSANDS of soldiers lives during WW2 as well. Those soldiers whose lives were saved could then go on to possibly get back into action or to serve the military in some other fashion. Nier's Mass Spectrometer, mentioned down further was also used and made a big contribution to medical advancement in the application of anesthesia among other things as well.
#5 - Soldiers baby!!! UMn recorded the most WW2 veterans returning from service in WW2 registering for college in 1946, taking advantage of the Govt's GI Bill benefits, indicating that the state of Minnesota sent over a very large # of its young boys and men to fight in the war, and soldiers smart enough to know to go to college after the war. My guess is larger states probably sent higher #s over, but I wouldn't be shocked if Minnesota sent over the highest # on a Per Capita basis. A Minnesota unit was also the ones who fired the first shot fired by US troops during WW2, as they were the unit based on the ship that fired at a Japanese Sub just before the attack on Pearl Harbor. At least one Minnesotan was also a member of the first unit to land on the beaches of Normandy. This whole thing about being first when it comes to serving our country is not unique to these instances, as it was the Minnesota First that was the first unit to volunteer to serve the Union just after Abraham Lincoln publicly declared war on the Confederation, and it was the Minnesota First that has a song written about them and their losing more of their unit during the turning point battle in the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg. As the Union's forces were starting to retreat, it was the Minnesota First who charged the Confederate Forces, slowing their advance enough for the Union forces to stop their retreat, regather their wits about them and to turn and follow the Minnesota First into the fray, and ended up winning the battle, which was as I said, the turning point in the war. After Gettysburg, the Union just rolled until the war was won. The Minnesota First lost like 212 of its 242 members that day, or something like that.
#6 - Airplanes baby!!! Not as fresh in my memory as the other 4 I've listed, so I'll get back to you all with more details on this one. But off the top of my head I believe UMn prof Bryce Crawford was awarded for his contributions and leadership in developing rocket fuels and Walter Spivek was involved in the design of bombers and other planes used during WW2 if my memory is correct?
#7 - Synthetic Rubber!!! Yeah, while the Allies were running out of rubber, which was an essential product needed for production of so many things vital to the Allies winning WW2, because before the war most rubber came from SE Asia or somewhere like that, and those supplies got cut off by the Japanese forces during WW2, but UMn folk were making advancements in the creation of synthetic rubber that allowed the Allies to be able to go without the rubber they otherwise would have gotten from those Axis controlled countries.
#8 - RADAR!!!! Another one I need to go and brush up on before commenting on. But I think I remember it being UMn alum or Prof John Tate who contributed a great deal in the development of RADAR.
#9 - RU-235 & RU-238, the Cyclotron, the Mass Spectrometer, the Manhatten Project!!! Yeah, UMn grads, students and faculty were big parts of the whole development of the instruments that brought the end to World War 2. A small book could be written about Ernest O Lawrence, Merle Tuve, John H Williams & Alfred O.C. Nier's contributions to the development of the Atom Bomb. Inventing the instruments used for nuclear research, using those instruments to be the first to separate the elements in U-235 7 U-238, etc..
#10 - And finally, the most important factor of all, IRON ORE!!! About 90% of the Iron Ore used by the Allies during WW2 to build all of their guns and bullets and rockets and tanks and airplanes and jeeps and trucks, etc., came from Iron Ore mines in Minnesota. And UMn was leading the way in iron ore mining research, of course.
Honorable Mention - It wasn't just regular joe schmoes that Minnesota was sending into action during WW2, but winners, like the athletes that helped UMn win College Football Natl Titles in 1940 & 1941, and a Natl Title in Hockey in 1940, not to forget those who came close to winning titles, like the UMn wrestlers and tracksters and gymnasts, etc., all who were among the elite in the nation before and just after the war.
That's about a 10.5 on the compensation meter, Freds. You have an innie?
