Gophers Selling The Twin Cities - ?️ + ?

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bigtenchamps1899 said:
i don't know anything about phoenix, but the monsoon season along the front range is amazing. upper 80s to low nineties of brilliant sunshine before an afternoon thunderstorm cools the evening down for open windows of cool 55-60 nights.

there is a happy medium between the arctic north and the tropic south.

i love minneapolis and minnesota, but i would never live there again. it gets plenty hot and humid in the summer in minnesota and the winters trying to kill every living thing got old after about five years.

but, sorry, colorado is full.
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Agreed. And Utah/SLC > them all. Don’t go, I will be retiring there someday.
 

GopherJack said:
Couldn't agree more on the weather as well. I have friends that say they can't wait to move south when they retire.....YUCK! I'd much rather have a very cold day as compared to a very hot day. I have way more energy in the winter than I do on hot muggy days in the summer - they make me sluggish. I'm 60 years old (maybe a bit overweight), and I just love the change of seasons. I also like swimming in our lake at the cabin near Brainerd when the water is colder than most of my family will swim in. Call me a polar bear! (but not a knife wielding one)
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Agreed. I have lived in the tropics and after a few weeks you no longer appreciate the weather, it just becomes the norm. Here, after the winter, we go crazy on that first 50 degree day & we appreciate the spring, summer and fall. The winter is a beautiful, quit time when the snow falls and coats the trees and people are out skiing and running in the cold. In the winter when you are inside, you are comfortable ALL the time. In the summer with the humidity and heat, you are not always comofrtable. I personally don't like air conditioning. So I am sold on Minnesota weather and love this area. How many BIG schools have the pro sports, the arts, the music, the lakes etc. that we do? Just Northwestern & who wants to live in Chicagoland?
 

highwayman said:
I came to AZ 6 years ago now, so I think I'm acclimatized. I simply do not miss 9 months of winter, which is what Minnesota really has. I used to close my pool after Labor Day and reopen the first week of May. It had a heater, or those dates would have been pushed. Also forgotten is the brutal humidity one month of the other three.

That leaves 8-10 weeks of really nice weather.

Here, it has still not gotten really hot. It has been 50s to 70s at night for 4 months and even when it has stretched to 100 during the day, maybe 3-4 days of any humidity. July and August will be hot, but it's like January and February in Minnesota--you stay inside. Come September, it will be like February to June. December and January its 40s at night and 50-70 during the day.

I have a second home in north central AZ, at 5800 ft. Snows some in the winter, but only gets below freezing a couple of nights a week. The weather is fantastic (July in northern MN without humidity or mosquitoes) from March to December.

The hot in AZ is pretty damn hot. However, if you are not in direct sun, its not even as brutal as a Minnesota summer 80 degrees with 70% humidity. You don't get stuck in it, you don't have to shovel it, and there's no weather related traffic jams.

Would not trade the weather here for Minnesota's, and I was born and bred.

The Gophers are still my team, and I wish them all the best. To discount the weather is flat out provincial ignorance.
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I assume you're a Gopher fan so why go on this website & rip on the weather here? Recruits read some of these comments.
 




I prefer the cold compared to the heat if we talking strictly temperature, but when you start accounting for the other things that come with it heat is a lot better to deal with. Gets annoying having to put on layers every time you go out, having to scrap car off, having to deal with driving in snow, shoveling, limited daylight, and so on. I don't mind winter until January 2nd, after that I am over it. If it could be fall like all year long, now that would be my ideal weather. I don't really understand why it's one extreme or the other though when these arguments come up, there are a lot of places in the country who don't have such extremes and it doesn't seem to help them in recruiting, at the end of the day players want to go to program they believe will win. Other Sports programs at the U (volleyball, softball, wrestling, etc) don't seem to struggle with recruiting despite the weather and it's because they are viewed as winning programs.
 

Most people just deal with weather. I know San Diegans who complain about the “cold weather” and June gloom. People love to complain about the weather. It’s a default human condition, like greed, prejudice, and so on. There are usually more important factors involved with choosing a home than weather. Not to say it isn’t a factor for some, particularly those out of the work force.
 


I love this thread, sincere, pointed and funny.

I left Hector Field in Fargo in February, 1977 for a business trip to Phoenix, my first. It was 30 below in Fargo that morning with a chilling wind from the northwest. I landed a Sky Harbor Field around 1:00 local time. We exited the plane into terminal 1 which no longer exists. That terminal was unique (at least to me) as the baggage pick up was outside the terminal. As I waited for my bag I stood by an orange tree that was covered with fruit. I contemplated what I had left versus what I was experiencing. My bag came and before going to the car rental I placed a call to my wife. Made it safely and by the way, we're moving to Phoenix. I haven't looked back since.
 



I love that Gopher Football is promoting the U of M in this way. One, it’s factual. And it is a huge benefit being so close to everything the Twin Cities have to offer. For those that suggest the hustle and bustle of a big city, traffic and so forth could actually be a deterrent for teenage scholarship athletes... That’s just crazy. They don’t care about such things. And traffic in Minneapolis is absolutely nothing compared to what it is in most large, southern cities. Compared to many cities in the South, Minneapolis offers a safe urban environment that could feel vibrant and homey at the same time. I don’t see any downside to this approach at all. That said, the weather will always be a barrier.
 

The U’s location in the middle of the Twin Cities is one of the primary reasons I chose to attend. I loved the feeling of a traditional college campus with views of a beautiful skyline and easy access to the city. Of course, there is appeal to traditional college towns too, but that combination of a traditional college campus (I.e., not a computer campus or one that just blends into the city) in the middle of a big city is pretty rare. Washington (Seattle), Texas (Austin), Ohio State (Columbus), Northwestern (Chicago, sort of), and Vandy (Nashville) are a few others. Makes sense to market the U’s highly desirable home to prospective students and student-athletes.

The weather has nothing to do with the OP—it’s a separate issue. Every school in the Big 10 has at least mildly cold winters.
 

GopherBulldog said:
I love that Gopher Football is promoting the U of M in this way. One, it’s factual. And it is a huge benefit being so close to everything the Twin Cities have to offer. For those that suggest the hustle and bustle of a big city, traffic and so forth could actually be a deterrent for teenage scholarship athletes... That’s just crazy. They don’t care about such things. And traffic in Minneapolis is absolutely nothing compared to what it is in most large, southern cities. Compared to many cities in the South, Minneapolis offers a safe urban environment that could feel vibrant and homey at the same time. I don’t see any downside to this approach at all. That said, the weather will always be a barrier.
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My wife and I literally laugh out loud when we return to the cities from SoCal and experience “rush hour”. This is a genuinely underrated selling point of the TCs and a huge quality of life factor. LA, Seattle, Portland and really most large/poorly planned and/or overrun by transplant cities have absolutely awful traffic and gridlock. Public transportation can be an alternative...but has its downsides as well. Count your blessings up there.
 





Pompous Elitist said:
My wife and I literally laugh out loud when we return to the cities from SoCal and experience “rush hour”. This is a genuinely underrated selling point of the TCs and a huge quality of life factor. LA, Seattle, Portland and really most large/poorly planned and/or overrun by transplant cities have absolutely awful traffic and gridlock. Public transportation can be an alternative...but has its downsides as well. Count your blessings up there.
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100%
 

Pompous Elitist said:
My wife and I literally laugh out loud when we return to the cities from SoCal and experience “rush hour”. This is a genuinely underrated selling point of the TCs and a huge quality of life factor. LA, Seattle, Portland and really most large/poorly planned and/or overrun by transplant cities have absolutely awful traffic and gridlock. Public transportation can be an alternative...but has its downsides as well. Count your blessings up there.
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It doesn't help that the traffic in the Twin Cities is self inflicted. I left Sunny SoCal to go to the U and have never returned, but have not been in Minnesota/the upper midwest the whole time. Everywhere I've been has had good and bad weather. I've adapted to the cold and enjoy the four seasons I never experienced as a kid. I've found that in the southern climes I've lived in, I stayed inside in July/Aug time more, in the north Jan/Feb more, but in both cases found ways to enjoy what nature has to offer.

Having grown up with the coldest temp experienced before attending the U was in the upper 30s, I've found it easier to dress warmer when it's cold. Eventually you can only take so much off when it's hot, before you get arrested.

It might be better to pick some music that the "kids" would like vs. the bad euro track they chose here, though.
 
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GO4INLALALAND said:
My wife and I moved to SoCal in 1996 and I have not missed on winter. I will take a hot day over a cold day, anytime. To me, being hot is a heck of a lot better than being freezing cold.
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Just go inside. Warm.
 

Weather is not an obstacle IF you’re born and raised in that type of weather.

Going cold climate to cold climate is not a problem. Kids raised in Chicago suburbs have zero problem in Minnesota, for example.

The hard part is getting warm climate kids to come to a cold climate. That’s a disadvantage.


Our other disadvantage is distance. The farther the distance from home, the more bias against. Flights don’t count unless the family is wealthy and can afford many plane trips a year, most can’t afford that many. I’m talking like the kid randomly wants to come home for the weekend.

We’re 7-8 hrs from Chicago, which is the western edge of the Great Lakes talent pool.
 

My 1st 15 years were in rural Minnesota, then 6 more years in Mpls at the U. Left Minnesota to see rest of USA and ended up the last 28 years in Las Vegas. Although I am not a fan of desert heat, the trade off is that I haven't had to shovel snow, push my stuck car out of a snow bank, or get my ankles covered in slushy water stepping off a curb in March for the last 40 years. Growing up in Minn was a wonderful experience, but I have to vote for warm weather climates. Bottom line.....One man's treasure is another man's trash.
 

GopherBulldog said:
I love that Gopher Football is promoting the U of M in this way. One, it’s factual. And it is a huge benefit being so close to everything the Twin Cities have to offer. For those that suggest the hustle and bustle of a big city, traffic and so forth could actually be a deterrent for teenage scholarship athletes... That’s just crazy. They don’t care about such things. And traffic in Minneapolis is absolutely nothing compared to what it is in most large, southern cities. Compared to many cities in the South, Minneapolis offers a safe urban environment that could feel vibrant and homey at the same time. I don’t see any downside to this approach at all. That said, the weather will always be a barrier.
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I agree with most of what you wrote except the bolded. For rural recruits, that can definitely be an issue. After growing up in a town of 15,000 in SD, with little exposure to large cities, I was completely overwhelmed the first time I stepped on campus. After a day of being there, I was ready to leave. I thought how can people go to school here and handle this everyday? I had a several classmates attend the U and all of them except one left after their first year.

I eventually got used to Minneapolis and loved living there for 9 years. I'm in SD again now, but ready to move back. But to say it wouldn't have an affect on rural recruits, is just not true.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I agree with most of what you wrote except the bolded. For rural recruits, that can definitely be an issue. After growing up in a town of 15,000 in SD, with little exposure to large cities, I was completely overwhelmed the first time I stepped on campus. After a day of being there, I was ready to leave. I thought how can people go to school here and handle this everyday? I had a several classmates attend the U and all of them except one left after their first year.

I eventually got used to Minneapolis and loved living there for 9 years. I'm in SD again now, but ready to move back. But to say it wouldn't have an affect on rural recruits, is just not true.
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Every major campus at P5 schools in the midwest is like a small city, with lots of hustle & bustle.

No kid who goes to a school with overall enrollment of a couple hundred or less, playing 1A/2A ball is going to feel "at home" in such situations, regardless how large the overall city is where the campus is located.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Every major campus at P5 schools in the midwest is like a small city, with lots of hustle & bustle.

No kid who goes to a school with overall enrollment of a couple hundred or less, playing 1A/2A ball is going to feel "at home" in such situations, regardless how large the overall city is where the campus is located.
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Going from a small town to cities with metro areas of ~75k - ~300k like Lincoln, Iowa City, and Madison is very different than going from a small town to a metro area of over 3 million.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I agree with most of what you wrote except the bolded. For rural recruits, that can definitely be an issue. After growing up in a town of 15,000 in SD, with little exposure to large cities, I was completely overwhelmed the first time I stepped on campus. After a day of being there, I was ready to leave. I thought how can people go to school here and handle this everyday? I had a several classmates attend the U and all of them except one left after their first year.

I eventually got used to Minneapolis and loved living there for 9 years. I'm in SD again now, but ready to move back. But to say it wouldn't have an affect on rural recruits, is just not true.
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Of course there are people like you that would prefer a smaller, rural setting. Perhaps Bemidji State University would be a better place for those folks. But I don’t understand how this would impact how the U of M markets their program to D1 football prospects. We will never be BSU. Gotta market to your strengths. I’m guessing you and your friends were not D1 football prospects so your personal taste is rather irrelevant in this case. And I would gather that most D1 football prospects would relate well to what PJF and Co. are now trying to sell.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Going from a small town to cities with metro areas of ~75k - ~300k like Lincoln, Iowa City, and Madison is very different than going from a small town to a metro area of over 3 million.
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But it's really not.

Downtown Madison together with the UW campus is as much hustle and bustle as anywhere. I know, I've been. It's a very nice area (in the summer).


With Mpls, the only tangible difference is you have vast acres of bedroom communities spread in 30 miles, all directions. And the downtowns have some skyscrapers, but that doesn't really matter.
 

I think the issue when selling recruits is less about weather than about the city. The twin cites have a lot more to do than most college towns, but it doesn't have the feel of a college town. And it especially doesn't have that feeling a college town does right around a huge football game. The city turns into a tailgating fan fest, we just don't have that here. There are the other pluses, but for some the metro/urban feel is a minus.
 

Gophers_4life said:
But it's really not.

Downtown Madison together with the UW campus is as much hustle and bustle as anywhere. I know, I've been. It's a very nice area (in the summer).

With Mpls, the only tangible difference is you have vast acres of bedroom communities spread in 30 miles, all directions. And the downtowns have some skyscrapers, but that doesn't really matter.
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Yes it is. I've been to those 3 cities several times, plus have lived in Sioux Falls for 3.5 years, which is comparable in size to those cities. It's very different.


GopherBulldog said:
Of course there are people like you that would prefer a smaller, rural setting. Perhaps Bemidji State University would be a better place for those folks. But I don’t understand how this would impact how the U of M markets their program to D1 football prospects. We will never be BSU. Gotta market to your strengths. I’m guessing you and your friends were not D1 football prospects so your personal taste is rather irrelevant in this case. And I would gather that most D1 football prospects would relate well to what PJF and Co. are now trying to sell.
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It shouldn't impact the marketing of the program and they are doing exactly what they should do. No one is ever going to mistaken the Twin Cities for a college town.

All I'm saying is that a big city can, and does turn off some recruits from smaller towns who feel more comfortable in a smaller college town.
 


I’ll take all 4 seasons over hot and humid without hesitation. Minnesota winter is over exaggerated. Yes there’s a few weeks of possible below zero temperatures and those days are few and far between unlike the relentless days of heat you get in places like Texas, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, or any southern state for that matter. The air is clean, we have an underrated night life, and art scene. The north shore is serene and heavenly.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Weather is not an obstacle IF you’re born and raised in that type of weather.

Going cold climate to cold climate is not a problem. Kids raised in Chicago suburbs have zero problem in Minnesota, for example.

The hard part is getting warm climate kids to come to a cold climate. That’s a disadvantage.


Our other disadvantage is distance. The farther the distance from home, the more bias against. Flights don’t count unless the family is wealthy and can afford many plane trips a year, most can’t afford that many. I’m talking like the kid randomly wants to come home for the weekend.

We’re 7-8 hrs from Chicago, which is the western edge of the Great Lakes talent pool.
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"the great lakes talent pool" lol, tf you tryna say?
 

Flash30 said:
Minnesota winter is over exaggerated. Yes there’s a few weeks of possible below zero temperatures...
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Hmmm. An average of 50 days below zero and 143 days below 32 degrees is exaggerated. That’s almost 2 months and 5 months. That’s just in Minneapolis. Facts suck.

Like I said, trying to ignore the weather factor is ignorant and provincial.

I say be honest to recruits, don’t cover it with pablum.
 

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