Remember Bill Murray in "Stripes"?

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Iceland12

Iceland12

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Remember his speech in the hanger the night before they head to the parade grounds? "We're mutants". That's what we are. We're mutants. I'm not talking about the trolls that hang around here or the old Masonites who are praying for the Gophers to fail. I'm not even talking about the "we wouldn't have that kind of stuff in MY day" old-timers. Or even the guys who want to dump all "Non-Revenue" sports, fire the whole Administration and give a "big time Coach" a blank check and a multi-million dollar salary.

I'm talking about US, the Gopher fans that just want to see them win. The fans who think Brewster's the answer. The fans that think Brewster's way over his head and want him fired now rather then put off the inevitable. The fans that just don't think there's been enough time yet to know either way.

The fact is the Minnesota Gophers have been pretty bad for a VERY long time and we STILL hope and maybe even think they can get a lot better.

Take away the 10-3 team and Minnesota football has ranged from lousy to mediocre to okay since the mid 60's.years. There were NO 7-0 or 6-1 Big Ten seasons. The last two loss season was NINETEEN SEVENTY-THREE!!!Going from that to good to very good is going to take more then 2 or 3 years! Iowa under Fry and Wisconsin under Alvarez are two good examples. They may have had a couple of good seasons here and there but you have to go back to the 60's or 50's before they challenged for the Big Ten title on a regular basis before those guys.

If you think I'm exaggerating take a look at Gopher Big Ten finishes from the Media Guide.

2009 - 8 1997 - 9 1987 - 6
2008 - 7 1996 - 9 1986 - 3
2007 -last 1995 -10 1985 -6
2006 -6 1994 - Last 1984 - Uh hell with it. You get the picture.
2005 -7 1993 - 8
2004 -8 1992 - 10
2003 -4 1993 - 8
2002 -7 1992 - 10
2001 -last 1991 - 10
2000 - 4 1990 - 6
1999 - 4 1989 - 5
1998 - 7 1988 - 9

So what happens next? Who knows, but there does seem to be a bit of a pattern...

Speaking personally, we're still hopeful that Brewster can turn things around (more ME then my wife actually). Not confident, but pretty hopeful. We're keeping our Season Tickets. We'll try to add a couple more. We're proud to have our name on TCF as a donor to the stadium. Things that reflect badly on the University bother us personally. So do one-sided or non-factual attacks.

If you can go along with us on any of those things, then Pvt. John Winger's speech applies to you to:

"We're Mutants!
 

Thanks for your contributions to our great stadium. Minnesota football fans are disgruntled no doubt. Even the Vikes haven't accomplished a damn thing in nearly 50 years. I love the Gophers and I know that if Cincy, Boise, TCU, wisky, iowa, etc... can do it, than we can too. I'm in my early 30's and I'm in it for the long haul! When I bought my season tix 7 seasons ago it was my dream that in my lifetime I would see our beloved Goph's in Rose Bowl. The way I see it, I have 35 years left......here's to hope!
 

It seems like Minnesota sports fans are some of the most pessimistic out there. I guess we've been burnt far too many times, and countless years of mediocrity have made us that way. However, it's pretty sad when anything optimistic that is thrown out there gets devoured by the pessimists immediately.

The way I look at it, I'd rather spend my time looking for the positives, aknowledging the negatives, and hoping for future success instead of the alternative...
 

I love the word "Mutants" first of all.

We are -I agree. I almost accept the fact that I might never see the Gophs in the Rose Bowl. If they do make it, I'll probably drop dead of shock. If not, I'll have a heck of a time...
 

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Gopherlovin said:
It seems like Minnesota sports fans are some of the most pessimistic out there. I guess we've been burnt far too many times, and countless years of mediocrity have made us that way. However, it's pretty sad when anything optimistic that is thrown out there gets devoured by the pessimists immediately.

The way I look at it, I'd rather spend my time looking for the positives, aknowledging the negatives, and hoping for future success instead of the alternative...
Click to expand...

That's putting it mildly.

Vikings - almost 50 years in existence, 1 NFL championship, 0 Super Bowls
Timberwolves - 20 years in existence, one conference finals appearance, generally horrible outside of the Flip/KG years
Wild (for those who care about that sort of thing, aka not me) - one conference finals appearance, appear to have no interest in actually being competitive and are far more concerned with making money
Gophers basketball - our one Final Four appearance never happened, no conference titles in close to 30 years
Gophers football - no explanation necessary

And the one professional team we have that's been consistently competitive over the last ten years, the Twins, are destined to be nothing more than a perennial bridesmaid because they are hamstrung by a skinflint ownership group. Not to mention that it's closing in on 20 years since they last won a title.

The more I think about it, I'm firmly convinced that anyone who is a diehard follower of Minnesota sports is secretly a masochist. Why else would we subject ourselves to this?
 

Another Stripes quote...

Iceland12 said:
Remember his speech in the hanger the night before they head to the parade grounds? "We're mutants". That's what we are. We're mutants. I'm not talking about the trolls that hang around here or the old Masonites who are praying for the Gophers to fail. I'm not even talking about the "we wouldn't have that kind of stuff in MY day" old-timers. Or even the guys who want to dump all "Non-Revenue" sports, fire the whole Administration and give a "big time Coach" a blank check and a multi-million dollar salary.

I'm talking about US, the Gopher fans that just want to see them win. The fans who think Brewster's the answer. The fans that think Brewster's way over his head and want him fired now rather then put off the inevitable. The fans that just don't think there's been enough time yet to know either way.

The fact is the Minnesota Gophers have been pretty bad for a VERY long time and we STILL hope and maybe even think they can get a lot better.

Take away the 10-3 team and Minnesota football has ranged from lousy to mediocre to okay since the mid 60's.years. There were NO 7-0 or 6-1 Big Ten seasons. The last two loss season was NINETEEN SEVENTY-THREE!!!Going from that to good to very good is going to take more then 2 or 3 years! Iowa under Fry and Wisconsin under Alvarez are two good examples. They may have had a couple of good seasons here and there but you have to go back to the 60's or 50's before they challenged for the Big Ten title on a regular basis before those guys.

If you think I'm exaggerating take a look at Gopher Big Ten finishes from the Media Guide.

2009 - 8 1997 - 9 1987 - 6
2008 - 7 1996 - 9 1986 - 3
2007 -last 1995 -10 1985 -6
2006 -6 1994 - Last 1984 - Uh hell with it. You get the picture.
2005 -7 1993 - 8
2004 -8 1992 - 10
2003 -4 1993 - 8
2002 -7 1992 - 10
2001 -last 1991 - 10
2000 - 4 1990 - 6
1999 - 4 1989 - 5
1998 - 7 1988 - 9

So what happens next? Who knows, but there does seem to be a bit of a pattern...

Speaking personally, we're still hopeful that Brewster can turn things around (more ME then my wife actually). Not confident, but pretty hopeful. We're keeping our Season Tickets. We'll try to add a couple more. We're proud to have our name on TCF as a donor to the stadium. Things that reflect badly on the University bother us personally. So do one-sided or non-factual attacks.

If you can go along with us on any of those things, then Pvt. John Winger's speech applies to you to:

"We're Mutants!
Click to expand...

"Lighten Up , Francis." Not overly appropriate, but fun none the less.
I don't think we are mutants, I think we are the norm. Out of 120 odd teams in college football, how many are year in and out are true contenders? how many are wisky style contenders (all talk and fade away when they have to play someone good.) ? How many are the teams, us included, that need, something a little short of Divine Providence, to win it all? We can, at least look and see what is needed. For every Texas, there is a Boise State, The team that has and undefeated season and no possible shot of National Championship. For one Florida, the is a Louisiana-Lafayette. I didn't look it up, but I'm not sure if they as this name or Southwest Louisiana have ever been even close. I think the true mutants are the people with 5 different teams jerseys hanging in their closets and just change to who ever is winning this year. If we ever improved enough we could at least have a chance at winning a title. Under this current system, as this year shows, only teams from 5 or 6 conferences can even say that.

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re3886 said:
"Lighten Up , Francis." Not overly appropriate, but fun none the less.
I don't think we are mutants, I think we are the norm. Out of 120 odd teams in college football, how many are year in and out are true contenders? how many are wisky style contenders (all talk and fade away when they have to play someone good.) ? How many are the teams, us included, that need, something a little short of Divine Providence, to win it all? We can, at least look and see what is needed. For every Texas, there is a Boise State, The team that has and undefeated season and no possible shot of National Championship. For one Florida, the is a Louisiana-Lafayette. I didn't look it up, but I'm not sure if they as this name or Northeast Louisiana have ever been even close. I think the true mutants are the people with 5 different teams jerseys hanging in their closets and just change to who ever is winning this year. If we ever improved enough we could at least have a chance at winning a title. Under this current system, as this year shows, only teams from 5 or 6 conferences can even say that.
Click to expand...

Read it again. The OP was about getting a Big Ten title, not a National Championship. Not having a sniff of a Conference Championship in 35 plus years but STILL staying with the team? Yeah, mutants rather then the norm.
 



When the Gophers do win a Big Ten championship, the payoff will be huge. And I will most definately not "act like we've been there before". ;)
 

Fine.

the main point ways that people with no real loyalty are the mutants and the people who stick with their programs are the norm.
 

We may never win again, who the hell knows? I'm still very proud to be a Goph fan. And I think we will win in the next 7 yrs, if not with Brew then whoever we hire after 2011.
 




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