Just curious.. What age are you and how long.......

I'm 43 years old. My first game was the dome opener vs. Ohio. Our family station wagon broke down on the way home. In the summer of 1985 my neighbor got a telemarketing call from Lou Holtz, urging him to buy season tickets. He and my dad agreed , and I went to every game in 1985.

Like most people my age, Rickey Foggie was and is my all time favorite Gopher. I had a dog named Foggie, and spent many neighborhood football games wearing a plain white t-shirt with "Foggie 14" written in magic marker.

Otis said:

I am 51, spent my youth hunting with my Dad and brothers every Saturday with Ray Christiansen on WCCO every time we got in the car to change locations. Remember a 70's homecoming against MSU where one of the frats had a Gopher flipping off a Spartan up in the house's windows. Gave my brothers friend my ticket to the 77 game where we beat Michigan 17-0.

Fondest memory: Getting to the barn early to watch Musselman's pregame! Unicycle kid, who was on scholarship and never played. That was awesome.

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I'm 60 and my experience is very similar to yours, road hunting rooster pheasants with my Dad near the Mason-Dixon line (MN-IA border) and listening to Ray on the radio. First visit to Memorial Stadium when I was 14 years old. I was in HS band so I was blown away by the roughly 300 member Marching Band. I was hooked before the first snap. Now in my 27th year as a season ticket holder.

Rog said:

OK - I was going to hold back on this but here goes. I will be 90 in July so I can make excuses for my gaffaws (mistakes), which I have made on my posts.
Anyway, I grew up a Gopher fan in a small town in SW MN; in the 40's WCCO radio was the only access. The Gophers were the main sport teams then (no pro teams) except for the Mpls
Millers and St. Paul Saints in Baseball.

I would lay on the floor with a miniature cardboard football field (available with wheaty boxtops} with moveable yard markers for 1st downs, of course a football and everything else to be
able to visually "see" the game. National Champs, Bierman, Bruce Smith, etc were all my heroes.

After WW2 (I was in the Navy the last Year) and went to the U on the GI Bill (Elect Eng). Those were also great years with Tonnemaker.(SP) Bye, Grant, ect.

As my working life was not in MN (NY) I followed the team as well as I could (Oh! how I wish there was the BTN network then).

Now my only wish is this --- I started my life as a Gopher Fan when we were National Champs and I sure would like to leave it the same way. Gotta hang in there.

A side note. Back in the late 30's WCCO was the only means to follow the team live, so essentially all the stores in town had their radio on full blast with the front doors open so every one in town shopping could follow the team. Oh! the good old days!

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Glad you didn't hold back Rog. It was a great post to read! Thank you


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Rog said:

OK - I was going to hold back on this but here goes. I will be 90 in July so I can make excuses for my gaffaws (mistakes), which I have made on my posts.


After WW2 (I was in the Navy the last Year) and went to the U on the GI Bill (Elect Eng).

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Wow! A member of the greatest generation. Here's to you!

If I ever get to be 90 (which I doubt I will), I hope I still have my mind like you seem to have yours.

OK, I was holding back, too, but can't now. 60. Didn't grow up here and received my degrees in other states (one of them from Iowa no less). Moved here early in this century. Only one D1 football/basketball team so who else am I going to root for? Big Gopher basketball fan since 2012 and big Gopher football fan since 2013 (It took me awhile since I was an Iowa undergrad and old habits die hard).

I'm 35 and have loved the U and Gopher sports as long as I can remember. My fondest memories were watching basketball games on MSC every Wednesday and Saturday with my dad. So began my obsession. The '97 Final Four season is still my most cherished. At that same time, my sister was being recruited by most B1G schools (and many others around the country) to run track/CC. She truly wanted to attend Wisconsin as they had an elite program. It was at that time that my hate for Bucky grew, perhaps to an unhealthy level! I lobbied hard and fortunately she came to her senses and chose the U, where she went on to have success and be named captain multiple years. If I needed anymore convincing about which school I would attend, the experience of being inside the athletics department for those years certainly sealed the deal.

Football in the late 80s and early 90s obviously left something to be desired, but Ray Christensen hooked me. I'd so love to hear him behind the mic again. Like many on here have stated, my earliest Gopher FB memories are of listening to the radio while enjoying a Minnesota fall day as a kid. Usually it was yard work or hunting. Every deer season my dad, grandpa, and uncles would have our hunting party meet up in a certain meadow after morning post, start a fire to warm up, have some lunch, and of course listen to Gopher game. It's in the blood...