Depressing Today

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josh087

josh087

Sharing Common Sense & Reality
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So I've got my Gopher jersey on today at work (I'm the only one, of course - usually see about a dozen Vikings jerseys on Fridays before Vikings games). Not ONE person has come up to me and said, "man I hope they win tonight." I've gotten about 15 people who've said "oh, do the Gophers play this weekend?" One guy goes - "how much are they going to lose by, do you think?"

Depressing state of affairs.
 

Tell them to take an aeronautical intercourse at a rotating pastry.
 


Joe Public has used the Gophers as a punchline for years now. That was true during the Mason years as well as the Brewster years. It was the horrible memorable collapse habit that did it back in those years. Nobody noticed the great o-lines and great backs. Every time they started taking notice, there was a Wisconsin blocked punt, a Michigan fourth quarter comeback, or a bowl collapse against Texas Tech. The net result was Joe Public was left with a perception of the team that was actually far worse than it really was. Follow that up with some Brewster 1-11 and losses to South Dakota, and yes, even last year with North Dakota State and New Mexico State... and the public perception beatdown is complete. It is going to take a lot of winning to erase the "who are the Gophers going to lose to this week" water cooler punch lines.
 

Schnauzer said:
Joe Public has used the Gophers as a punchline for years now. That was true during the Mason years as well as the Brewster years. It was the horrible memorable collapse habit that did it back in those years. Nobody noticed the great o-lines and great backs. Every time they started taking notice, there was a Wisconsin blocked punt, a Michigan fourth quarter comeback, or a bowl collapse against Texas Tech. The net result was Joe Public was left with a perception of the team that was actually far worse than it really was. Follow that up with some Brewster 1-11 and losses to South Dakota, and yes, even last year with North Dakota State and New Mexico State... and the public perception beatdown is complete. It is going to take a lot of winning to erase the "who are the Gophers going to lose to this week" water cooler punch lines.
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You need to go back a lot further. It all started 29 years ago with 84 - 13. Every football fan in Minnesota who was old enough to drink beer remembers it. That game has defined the Gopher team for at least two generations. It still gets thrown in my face every once in awhile when people find out I am a Gophers fan. And it happens when I am traveling outside of Minnesota, as well.
 


Depressing

You need to be the change your company needs. You need to pick up posters and gopher memorabilia and start promoting the gophers at your place of employment. Start each day with the rouser, encourage everyone to wear maroon and gold, have everyone stop by your area and let them guess the score and tomorrow you provide the winner with a maroon/gold item, bring a treat on game days and hand an item out to everyone wishing to talk gopher football, etc. The change needs to start with you and very soon the bandwagon at your company will be so full, you will need an extra wagon!
Go Gophers!
 

josh087 said:
So I've got my Gopher jersey on today at work (I'm the only one, of course - usually see about a dozen Vikings jerseys on Fridays before Vikings games). Not ONE person has come up to me and said, "man I hope they win tonight." I've gotten about 15 people who've said "oh, do the Gophers play this weekend?" One guy goes - "how much are they going to lose by, do you think?"

Depressing state of affairs.
Click to expand...

Hey don't feel bad, I was out in San Diego last fall with my gopher shirt and hat on, waiting in line for the Midway museum when this guy from NC with his college garb on says " Hey Do they still even have a FB team up there". The funny thing is I don't think the tarheels are exactly setting the CFB world on fire.
 





Go4Broke said:
You need to go back a lot further. It all started 29 years ago with 84 - 13. Every football fan in Minnesota who was old enough to drink beer remembers it. That game has defined the Gopher team for at least two generations. It still gets thrown in my face every once in awhile when people find out I am a Gophers fan. And it happens when I am traveling outside of Minnesota, as well.
Click to expand...

I was there. The other thing that was memorable for me was that I sat right in front of the former AWA villian Baron Von Rasche. I think he played at Nebraska.
 


Casual fans don't care if the team sucks and there has been plenty of suck around here in recent years.
 

I had a couple people ask me if the Gophers were going to win tonight at work

These were just casual football fans not Gopher fans. U alumni are oblivious there is even a game.
If I could have gotten out of work I would be in Las Vegas(Damn boss). Luckily my brother(Alumn) was able to take my plane ticket and game ticket and go in my place and the airline let me tansfer the ticket to him so I did not have to eat the money.

Sad thing at work is there are at least 8 other alumns that I know of from the U that neither sported the colors or care about football but many are die-hard hockey and basketball fans.
Kevin even said "are the Gophers going to lose tonight" like it was a joke or punchline and he is a Hockey season ticket holder.
Few knew it was gameday, that is how off the radar for a lot of alumnus that the football program is. It is not just current students folks we have lost a lot of people because of the bad years.
The Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin alumns all wear there colors especially the Bucky knobs.
Even the Kentucky, Cal, Stanford, Iowa State, NDSU, and South Dakota State guy's and gals wear there colors. Heck St Cloud ST has a couple guy's here who's kids are playing for them and there dads were proudly wearing there colors.
Gophers have a long way's to go to reach out to the alumni, yes we really need to start winning.
This is going to change, IN KILL and Gray and company we trust.
 



Schnauzer said:
Joe Public has used the Gophers as a punchline for years now. That was true during the Mason years as well as the Brewster years. It was the horrible memorable collapse habit that did it back in those years. Nobody noticed the great o-lines and great backs. Every time they started taking notice, there was a Wisconsin blocked punt, a Michigan fourth quarter comeback, or a bowl collapse against Texas Tech. The net result was Joe Public was left with a perception of the team that was actually far worse than it really was. Follow that up with some Brewster 1-11 and losses to South Dakota, and yes, even last year with North Dakota State and New Mexico State... and the public perception beatdown is complete. It is going to take a lot of winning to erase the "who are the Gophers going to lose to this week" water cooler punch lines.
Click to expand...

You know what?
We've turned the corner.
It's already better than it was.
Jerry knows what he's doing.
It's an upward arc now...
 


Cobra said:
You know what?
We've turned the corner.
It's already better than it was.
Jerry knows what he's doing.
It's an upward arc now...
Click to expand...

Well, the more involved fans like us know there has been a change in culture. I think that Kill has brought a bit more edge to the team, we're not just going to be happy making it to bowl games and we're not just happy to win more games this year. He wants this team to competer for a big ten championship and that is the ultimate goal. There are some clear differences under Kill and we can see that it's heading the right direction but the casual fan would have no idea because they don't follow it that closely and the media is still largerly Gopher football haters.
 

Gopherprof said:
Though that doesn't really explain the Vikings fans. :cool02:
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I happen to be both a big gopher fan and vikings fan so my world has been full of suck lately. I think both teams have made improvements for this year though.
 

I'm watching South Carolina and Vandy on ESPN. The first 10 minutes have been what college football is all about. Vikings? I'd rather watch two old women knit. Viva Vegas!
 

Gopherprof said:
Though that doesn't really explain the Vikings fans. :cool02:
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It's really not comparable. In terms of wins and losses during the regular season, the Vikings have at the very least been consistently competitive - over .500 all-time. They just haven't been able to close the deal. The closest the Gophers ever came to sniffing success was '03, surrounded by a bunch of mediocrity. Their entire history since the late 60s is basically that 10-3 season surrounded by decades of mediocrity and sub-mediocrity.
 

Had my polo on at work today and no one even commented. Not until a client with season tickets came it did I get a reference. We talked Gophers FB for a bit and it made my day. I like the idea of decorating with Gopher stuff.
 

Keep wearing your Gopher gear. You will be the go to guy when we are 4-0 and Vikes cannot get out their own way.
 


You guys can chill. I saw two people today here in Monterey wearing Gopher stuff. And that is on a military base where close to everyone is in uniform.

I'm feeling good.
 

mcrow said:
I happen to be both a big gopher fan and vikings fan so my world has been full of suck lately. I think both teams have made improvements for this year though.
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How about the Twins. There're awsome right?
 

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