P.J. Fleck's change mission extends into Gophers' stands

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I read the title and thought maybe PJ is gonna go into the stands and start pulling fans out onto the field to do Oklahoma drills.....
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I read the title and thought maybe PJ is gonna go into the stands and start pulling fans out onto the field to do Oklahoma drills.....
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Yep. There, for a moment, I thought we were going to be told to wear collared shirts, sit in the front row and greet everyone with respect.
 


Can't expect a championship when you only have 1 senior listed in the two deep on offense and defense. Maybe in 2 years.
 



??

There are 11 seniors on the two deep. I also don't think many expect a championship this year.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I read the title and thought maybe PJ is gonna go into the stands and start pulling fans out onto the field to do Oklahoma drills.....
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I was thinking he planned to body surf the student section.
 

They just regurgitated the same article about the Gophers lack of Championships they always do. How about the Paper actually dig into or write an article about the last time the Vikings played in the Super Bowl?
That's right it was 40 years ago, and they have lost every championship game they have contended for in that time frame. Last I checked they have only played in 4 conference championship(one where they were shut out) games since there last Super Bowl appearance. You never see the Strib heckling the Vikings or regurgitation of the same newspaper story over and over again year after year.

That's right though, the Vikings and their fan's and mind set pay the Bills, and the Gophers it is just easier to perpetuate the same story of lack of attendance and the Gophers reek year after year. Last time I checked the Vikings have had a fairly mediocre coach the last 3 seasons with some pretty lousy records but you never hear anyone calling for the Vikes or Zimmer to be replaced like the paper did last year with Claey's. It's not like the media coverage or opinion columns have helped anything as far as Gopher football goes either, you have Reusse and his lot bagging on the team every year. Would be fun for once to see Reusse poking the bear that is the unsuccessful Vikings. That team has just as lousy a recent record as the Gophers and limited division championships but the local media just glosses over that fact how mediocre to average the Vikings really have become under Rick Spielman.
I like the Vikes but to be honest they have done a lot less with a lot more talent and support from fans, and opportunity than the Gophers have. It bugs me that the local media treats the Vikings with Kid Gloves, and keeps poo pooing Gophers football year after year. Last year they were an obvious target, this year there is a new coach and new attitude surrounding the program why not focus on that instead of past perception?
 



gopherdudepart2 said:
They just regurgitated the same article about the Gophers lack of Championships they always do. How about the Paper actually dig into or write an article about the last time the Vikings played in the Super Bowl?
That's right it was 40 years ago, and they have lost every championship game they have contended for in that time frame. Last I checked they have only played in 4 conference championship(one where they were shut out) games since there last Super Bowl appearance. You never see the Strib heckling the Vikings or regurgitation of the same newspaper story over and over again year after year.

That's right though, the Vikings and their fan's and mind set pay the Bills, and the Gophers it is just easier to perpetuate the same story of lack of attendance and the Gophers reek year after year. Last time I checked the Vikings have had a fairly mediocre coach the last 3 seasons with some pretty lousy records but you never hear anyone calling for the Vikes or Zimmer to be replaced like the paper did last year with Claey's. It's not like the media coverage or opinion columns have helped anything as far as Gopher football goes either, you have Reusse and his lot bagging on the team every year. Would be fun for once to see Reusse poking the bear that is the unsuccessful Vikings. That team has just as lousy a recent record as the Gophers and limited division championships but the local media just glosses over that fact how mediocre to average the Vikings really have become under Rick Spielman.
I like the Vikes but to be honest they have done a lot less with a lot more talent and support from fans, and opportunity than the Gophers have
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The Vikings are professional, don't depend on an alumni base, and have a lot more regional influence than the university of minnesota. This comparison makes no sense.
 

hello-world said:
The Vikings are professional, don't depend on an alumni base, and have a lot more regional influence than the university of Minnesota. This comparison makes no sense.
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It's the comparison of reporting on the Gophers football team and the Vikings, if you have not been in the Twins cities, then maybe it doesn't make sense. The Vikings do not get lambasted as perpetual losers like the Gophers have by the Twin Cities media. They get different treatment because the Vikings pay the bills by clicks and reads or ratings(Comparison wise the Vikings record is not significantly better against opponents or rivals for that matter). My point is you could have pulled an article before Jerry Kills first game or Tim Brewster, or Glen Mason and it would have essentially said the same thing as this article did. Coach struggles to change perception and attitudes of Gopher fans. My point is the Gophers even though some media negativity is warranted have been the perennial whipping boys of Twin Cities media, and they always fall back on the same standard when reporting on the new coach or season's. There have been umpteen negative articles about fan attendance and perception of Gophers football, you could write a college course about it. My overall point is the Twin Cities media have contributed greatly to the perception of the state of "Same Ole Gophers".
One thing I am hopeful of is that Fleck can change the perception by being consistently positive and not changing who he is. Like him or hate him the Dude is who is and isn't going to stop being that way. Hopefully some of that will start to rub off on the fan base and he can bring some life back to TCF bank stadium. I sense something different from Fleck, maybe he is a better salesmen than Brewster was, but there seems to be some substance behind what he is saying and selling about the program.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
It's the comparison of reporting on the Gophers football team and the Vikings, if you have not been in the Twins cities, then maybe it doesn't make sense. The Vikings do not get lambasted as perpetual losers like the Gophers have by the Twin Cities media. They get different treatment because the Vikings pay the bills by clicks and reads or ratings(Comparison wise the Vikings record is not significantly better against opponents or rivals for that matter). My point is you could have pulled an article before Jerry Kills first game or Tim Brewster, or Glen Mason and it would have essentially said the same thing as this article did. Coach struggles to change perception and attitudes of Gopher fans. My point is the Gophers even though some media negativity is warranted have been the perennial whipping boys of Twin Cities media, and they always fall back on the same standard when reporting on the new coach or season's. There have been umpteen negative articles about fan attendance and perception of Gophers football, you could write a college course about it. My overall point is the Twin Cities media have contributed greatly to the perception of the state of "Same Ole Gophers".
One thing I am hopeful of is that Fleck can change the perception by being consistently positive and not changing who he is. Like him or hate him the Dude is who is and isn't going to stop being that way. Hopefully some of that will start to rub off on the fan base and he can bring some life back to TCF bank stadium.
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A. Most people in the Twin Cities are still old enough to remember a time when the Vikings were a perennial powerhouse, the people that remember the Gophers being a perennial powerhouse are getting way up there at this point.
B. When the Vikings win only one game and it's against the Browns, let me know how the media coverage is.
The Gophers have had _significantly_ less relative success, and haven't beaten their main rival in what, 13 years?
If the Vikings lose every game to the Packers for 13 years I guarantee you that the coverage would not be favorable.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
They just regurgitated the same article about the Gophers lack of Championships they always do. How about the Paper actually dig into or write an article about the last time the Vikings played in the Super Bowl?
That's right it was 40 years ago, and they have lost every championship game they have contended for in that time frame. Last I checked they have only played in 4 conference championship(one where they were shut out) games since there last Super Bowl appearance. You never see the Strib heckling the Vikings or regurgitation of the same newspaper story over and over again year after year.
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The Vikings have won 11 division titles in those 40 years.
 




Jack jones said:
Can't expect a championship when you only have 1 senior listed in the two deep on offense and defense. Maybe in 2 years.
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I agree a team can't compete with that minimal amount of senior leadership- thankfully this doesn't pertain to our team


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


Maybe that was supposed to be one senior citizen in the two-deeps. who's the oldest player on the team?
 

I'm not a Vikings fan anymore, but they are usually above average, and have very rarely (Les Steckel year comes to mind) hit the level of rock bottom that the Gophers have several times over the last 40 years.
 

I think that PJ was implying that he wants to turn over the fanbase and get a little more energy in the stands.

I would recommend a Washburn McGreavy Funeral Home discount coupon, or maybe a 2 for 1 deal to grease the skids. Of course we are playing in Oregon in two weeks, so maybe the rules might be a little looser out there! Maybe we could bring Dave Lee out there to do a on site radio promo to drum up some business that might open up a few prime seats.
 



The Vikings have one NFL Championship in 1969 and the Gophers have the 1961 AP Championship so that means the score is 1 to 1.
 


I totally agree that the media in this town is a key contributor to the negative (50 year) historical perception of the gophers. Take your pick with the type of media too, they all contribute. One of the few voices that frankly has been positive about the gophers is Sid, sadly, and he is an over the top homer. That said, I still prefer his positivity to all the negative blather.

Surprising to me is that people allow the heavy dose of negativity to persist. Heck, they seem to allow and expect it. At some point I hope it stops, and the culture is improved. It's a cancer to the program (the media) IMO, and it could take a long time to change.

The positive thing is that the gophers have finally hired a coach who is known for culture change, who lives culture, who attacks culture. Finally I believe that the right fit has been hired as head coach. I would urge Fleck to keep it positive and not get sucked into the media swamp.
 

My point wasn't to necessarily rip the Vikings.

joshvanklomp said:
Since 1961
Vikings: 457-387-10 (.535)
Gophers: 290-335-8 (.458)
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Those winning percentages are not that significantly different. My point is the media treats the Vikings like they can do no wrong darlings even when they are having a mediocre season like last year at 8-8. The Vikings record is inflated by there success in the late 1960 and until the late 1970's, same as the Gophers pre1961.

Vikings fans rip the team, but the Twin cities media seldom paints any negative picture of anything but Division title contenders year after year even this year when the team has not significantly changed it's make-up or roster construction. That rotten O-line is again going to be a Vikings Achilles heel. The headlines and lead-in's for the Vikings are mostly positive, while the Gophers get the same ole Gophers treatment from the media. This isn't fake news this is reality.

By the way the Vikings are 15-24-1 against the Packers the last 19 years. Better than the Gophers 13 consecutive losses to the Badgers certainly, but obviously not the inflated ego and hype that the Vikings
always receive from the Twin Cities media in comparison to the reality of there recent records and average level of play.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
They just regurgitated the same article about the Gophers lack of Championships they always do. How about the Paper actually dig into or write an article about the last time the Vikings played in the Super Bowl?
That's right it was 40 years ago, and they have lost every championship game they have contended for in that time frame. Last I checked they have only played in 4 conference championship(one where they were shut out) games since there last Super Bowl appearance. You never see the Strib heckling the Vikings or regurgitation of the same newspaper story over and over again year after year.

That's right though, the Vikings and their fan's and mind set pay the Bills, and the Gophers it is just easier to perpetuate the same story of lack of attendance and the Gophers reek year after year. Last time I checked the Vikings have had a fairly mediocre coach the last 3 seasons with some pretty lousy records but you never hear anyone calling for the Vikes or Zimmer to be replaced like the paper did last year with Claey's. It's not like the media coverage or opinion columns have helped anything as far as Gopher football goes either, you have Reusse and his lot bagging on the team every year. Would be fun for once to see Reusse poking the bear that is the unsuccessful Vikings. That team has just as lousy a recent record as the Gophers and limited division championships but the local media just glosses over that fact how mediocre to average the Vikings really have become under Rick Spielman.
I like the Vikes but to be honest they have done a lot less with a lot more talent and support from fans, and opportunity than the Gophers have. It bugs me that the local media treats the Vikings with Kid Gloves, and keeps poo pooing Gophers football year after year. Last year they were an obvious target, this year there is a new coach and new attitude surrounding the program why not focus on that instead of past perception?
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This, dear sir, is one of the best (if not the best) posts I have seen on here. I was a season ticket holder for the Vikings from the first season until the Dome years. I have been a Gopher season ticket holder almost my whole life. I never put together what you just said. It is amazing how blind I have been to the two programs relationship with each other and the media. Probably one of the main reasons why the Vikings have had such favorable treatment is that they have gotten to the NFC championship games a few times. I would hope every member of the sport media would read your piece. Perhaps you should send this to the Trib as a letter to the editor
 

To paraphrase some movie I saw one time, being mad at the Twin Cities media for treating the Vikings more favorably than the Gophers is like being mad at a frog for being green.
 


GophersInIowa said:
That's a big difference. For the Vikings to equal the winning percentage of the Gophers, they would have to lose 154 games in a row.
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Not to mention the fact that the Gophers get to play roughly 25% of their games against teams that are effectively in lower leagues. The records aren't even close.

And I'd take 15-24 against my rival over 0 fer the past decade plus and give you a $5 bill to boot.

I hate the Vikings (and the NFL overall), but their modest level of success absolutely crushes that of the Gophers.
 

media coverage is driven by ratings and advertising. newspapers and radio station websites track their hits very carefully, and radio stations track their phone calls. The point is this - they know better than anyone what topics and what type of articles are read and listened to the most often.

And - in the Twin Cities market, the Vikings drive the conversation. If you asked the Strib, or any of the radio stations - (and they told you the truth), I suspect they would say that Vikings articles or Vikings talk generates far more reader and listener interest than the Gophers. So, the media is giving the public what it wants in terms of coverage.

I suppose you could organize Gopher fans to call stations and click on websites to generate traffic, and make it look like there is more demand for Gopher news. But, in the end, the Vikings are more popular than the Gophers. Is it always going to be that way? Well, if the Vikes go into the tank, or if the Gophers start winning - really winning - trophy games, bowl games - conference title games - then you might see a swing in coverage.

But - wanting the Gophers to be more popular does not make them popular.
 

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