Clay Geary surprised with Scholarship while throwing first pitch at Twins game


I really love the sort of outreach we see from the Gophers these days doing stuff at a Twins game, getting out there in front of other sports fans and such.
 


These are indeed cool moments. Congrats!

Really nice gestures towards the true PWO’s (not the Maroon Shirts) who stay and earn them!!
 



Very cool. Ended up walking into one of the Spring practices with his Dad and chatting with him. He was very proud.
 

I really love the sort of outreach we see from the Gophers these days doing stuff at a Twins game, getting out there in front of other sports fans and such.

Couldn't agree more. Especially big with the decline in attendance we have seen. However, I expect attendance to trend upward this year.
 

Very nice! They keep upping the game!
 

Personally I hate these things- every time I see one at work people come up to me wondering what’s wrong because of the tears in my eyes.

Very cool way to recognize from what accounts is a great young man. Congrats.


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Couldn't agree more. Especially big with the decline in attendance we have seen. However, I expect attendance to trend upward this year.

Yeah I don't know if these things alone hit attendance, but I doubt that these things along with other events that keep the gophers in folks mind help with other things start to come together.
 


Rather than complain about this being a pro sports town, kick the ground and say "Well, I guess we can never capture the attention of people here," I like the way Fleck has approached things. He has totally embraced the pro teams and has been careful to minimize the "competition" with them. Everything from having a practice out at the Vikings facility to events like this. Think of all the fans in the Target Field stands today that got a jolt of positive Gopher Football vibes.

I like the way Fleck is building the image of Gopher Football with the things he can control.

And, I might add it also helps to get a writer like Meg Ryan covering the team. Well written stuff. Excellent material appearing regularly now in the Strib as it relates to Gopher football. Useful, interesting info yet avoiding the politics. A completely different story than that writer they had dug up last fall, totally intent on hammering on or exposing anything related to Gopher athletics. The agenda was soooooo obvious. Glad to be rid of that.
 

^^^ agreed. Trying to integrate and advertise Gopher team brands at the pro games (of all kinds) is a no-brainer!
 



Rather than complain about this being a pro sports town, kick the ground and say "Well, I guess we can never capture the attention of people here," I like the way Fleck has approached things. He has totally embraced the pro teams and has been careful to minimize the "competition" with them. Everything from having a practice out at the Vikings facility to events like this. Think of all the fans in the Target Field stands today that got a jolt of positive Gopher Football vibes.

I like the way Fleck is building the image of Gopher Football with the things he can control.

And, I might add it also helps to get a writer like Meg Ryan covering the team. Well written stuff. Excellent material appearing regularly now in the Strib as it relates to Gopher football. Useful, interesting info yet avoiding the politics. A completely different story than that writer they had dug up last fall, totally intent on hammering on or exposing anything related to Gopher athletics. The agenda was soooooo obvious. Glad to be rid of that.

Well said
 

We're going to get spoiled by Meg's and Daniel's great write-ups. Congrats to Clay!
 

Hometown kid gets to throw out the first pitch for what I assume is his favorite baseball team and then receives his scholarship in front of hometown team's fans. Fun for the player and Twins fans as well as brilliant marketing
 

Rather than complain about this being a pro sports town, kick the ground and say "Well, I guess we can never capture the attention of people here," I like the way Fleck has approached things. He has totally embraced the pro teams and has been careful to minimize the "competition" with them. Everything from having a practice out at the Vikings facility to events like this. Think of all the fans in the Target Field stands today that got a jolt of positive Gopher Football vibes.

I like the way Fleck is building the image of Gopher Football with the things he can control.

And, I might add it also helps to get a writer like Meg Ryan covering the team. Well written stuff. Excellent material appearing regularly now in the Strib as it relates to Gopher football. Useful, interesting info yet avoiding the politics. A completely different story than that writer they had dug up last fall, totally intent on hammering on or exposing anything related to Gopher athletics. The agenda was soooooo obvious. Glad to be rid of that.

I have been saying this for years, stop having the mindset that local pro teams are competition but instead more of promotion opportunities, from to getting fans to getting recruits. Love the fact that lately I have been seeing on social media our sports programs working with the local pro sports scene, from throwing out first pitches, to "let's play hockey" to local pro coaches and players coming to games/practices. This gets your brand out there to other fans, and something that you can sell to recruits, there are not many programs who can sell these type opportunities to recruits. I was mad back in the day when North Dakota teamed up with the Vikings and was wondering why the U wasn't doing the same, glad that seems to have changed.
 

I have been saying this for years, stop having the mindset that local pro teams are competition but instead more of promotion opportunities, from to getting fans to getting recruits. Love the fact that lately I have been seeing on social media our sports programs working with the local pro sports scene, from throwing out first pitches, to "let's play hockey" to local pro coaches and players coming to games/practices. This gets your brand out there to other fans, and something that you can sell to recruits, there are not many programs who can sell these type opportunities to recruits. I was mad back in the day when North Dakota teamed up with the Vikings and was wondering why the U wasn't doing the same, glad that seems to have changed.
And bringing the axe to the Vikings game in which they received a standing ovation from the crowd.
 

I even saw that Twolves head coach was at practice.

This is a step change. It’s a brilliant move. Should’ve been standing operating protocol for years, but better late than never.
 

I even saw that Twolves head coach was at practice.

This is a step change. It’s a brilliant move. Should’ve been standing operating protocol for years, but better late than never.

This is who Fleck is. He’s a PR/CEO type. He’s not an old ball coach or an X’s and O’s genius, which is fine as long as he can keep quality staff and recruit well. He works tirelessly to grow our/his brand. Some people love it. Some people hate it. Time will tell if it works in raising the program.
 

I have been saying this for years, stop having the mindset that local pro teams are competition but instead more of promotion opportunities, from to getting fans to getting recruits. Love the fact that lately I have been seeing on social media our sports programs working with the local pro sports scene, from throwing out first pitches, to "let's play hockey" to local pro coaches and players coming to games/practices. This gets your brand out there to other fans, and something that you can sell to recruits, there are not many programs who can sell these type opportunities to recruits. I was mad back in the day when North Dakota teamed up with the Vikings and was wondering why the U wasn't doing the same, glad that seems to have changed.

The Minnesota NorthStars jealousy and hatred of U of M and HS hockey destroyed them. When you look at other local teams as "competition," you will fail.

PJ knows his stuff.
 

Yeah I don't know if these things alone hit attendance, but I doubt that these things along with other events that keep the gophers in folks mind help with other things start to come together.

Yeah I'm not saying someone is going to see that and say "I'm going to buy single game tickets," or anything like that. What it does is get Gopher Football facetime with thousands of sports fans. Not sure how this wouldn't help the program in some aspect.
 

Rather than complain about this being a pro sports town, kick the ground and say "Well, I guess we can never capture the attention of people here," I like the way Fleck has approached things. He has totally embraced the pro teams and has been careful to minimize the "competition" with them. Everything from having a practice out at the Vikings facility to events like this. Think of all the fans in the Target Field stands today that got a jolt of positive Gopher Football vibes.

I like the way Fleck is building the image of Gopher Football with the things he can control.

And, I might add it also helps to get a writer like Meg Ryan covering the team. Well written stuff. Excellent material appearing regularly now in the Strib as it relates to Gopher football. Useful, interesting info yet avoiding the politics. A completely different story than that writer they had dug up last fall, totally intent on hammering on or exposing anything related to Gopher athletics. The agenda was soooooo obvious. Glad to be rid of that.

Great post.

Was Randy Johnson pretty bad last year with his coverage/biased like the rest of the Trib? Curious as I don't really pick up a trib too often, and usually only read when one is available somewhere.
 

Agreed, the more the gophers get out in front of the public the better
 

One of either Clay or his parents have to be thrilled to save a significant chunk of $...and furthermore get recognition of hard work from the staff.
 

Also a tip of the cap to the Twins for facilitating this. They seem to be at the forefront of efforts by the pro teams in town to partner with the U (and other schools).
 

Yeah I'm not saying someone is going to see that and say "I'm going to buy single game tickets," or anything like that. What it does is get Gopher Football facetime with thousands of sports fans. Not sure how this wouldn't help the program in some aspect.

I agree. And it might be like this:

“Oh hey, I see the Gophers are on TV right now. I’d normally never care or tune that in, but didn’t they give a walk-on a scholarship at that Twins game we went to this summer? That was a cool moment! What the heck, let’s watch their game for a bit.”

That’s a win.
 

Also a tip of the cap to the Twins for facilitating this. They seem to be at the forefront of efforts by the pro teams in town to partner with the U (and other schools).

The Twins haven't been shy about teaming up with the other teams on some things.

I think there is more of a recognition among sports teams now that the fan bases are all one in the same to some extent and there's no harm in partnering up for one off things here and there.
 

This is who Fleck is. He’s a PR/CEO type. He’s not an old ball coach or an X’s and O’s genius, which is fine as long as he can keep quality staff and recruit well. He works tirelessly to grow our/his brand. Some people love it. Some people hate it. Time will tell if it works in raising the program.

Yep, some coaches love to promote their team and some resent it or push back against it. Fleck clearly enjoys working the PR angle and coming up with ways to promote the program outside of gameday.
 

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Go Gophers!!
 




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