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RailBaronYarr

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Wow. Kent writes a very nice, positive article about the scrimmage, stadium, and team, and along with that is a great video montage of the day. And it makes front page on the website. Something that seems to be missing typically relating to Gopher football.

Then you read the comments. I know it's been stated here before how bad the Strib boards are, but it is worth noting (IMO) because I feel all the negative comments on there represent the majority of the population in MN. Just some highlights of misconceptions/complaints:

- MANY people complaining about how this stadium was funded by taxpayers
- Using this to justify the fact that since the stadium wasn't full, they should have opened it up to everyone in the public, not just "elitist" ticketholders
- Complaining that 15,000 is a ridiculously low number for attendance for a free event and it points to how sad a shape this program is in. (keep in mind WI's spring game attendance in 2008 was 22k, Iowa's was 15k. even USC only had 23k this year)
- Complaining that season tickets are ridiculously expensive (another argument for the elitist camp)
- The notion that this stadium is gouging students in tuition payments... has been posted a few times. Seriously? $50 a year?
- The cold argument again...

I just can't believe all this crap that spews out of people's mouths. Am I disappointed we didn't have a packed house yesterday? Sure. But Since most students with season tickets aren't on campus, I'd say 15k (95% of those were regular ticket holders) aint too shabby. I just get so depressed when an event so great as yesterday gets rained on by a bunch of idiots who, sadly, seem to be in the majority in terms if public opinion.
 

If just one or two people had posted ignorant stuff like that, it would have been funny. But, the same incorrect themes appeared over and over and over. The level of negativity and ignorance on that Strib comment board is AMAZING. I posted on there earlier today and I haven't checked back since but I'm sure by now it is just buried under a heap of ignorance, just like the three or four other posts like mine.
 

Okay, I just checked the comments again after reading Rail Baron's post and if you want to know the flavor of the negativity over there I can sum it up nicely with one example:

Someone simply posted "Go Gophers, Rose Bowl Soon" and after the post it showed 3 of 11 people "liked the comment". I raised it to 4 out of 12. That pretty much sums it up.
 

I was surprised at the turnout

I guess I listened to the hoopla that predicted 40k at the event, so it was strange to see less than half of that. Nonetheless, I enjoyed my limited time there.
I did listen to WCCO radio for about 15 minutes this morning when Brewster was speaking. An older gentleman called and made a comment that he wasn't a season ticket holder and was disappointed that the scrimmage wasn't open to the public. I thought Brewster handled the call well and certainly didn't come off as an elitist. There have been many, many things that have gone right with this stadium being built, but it's not perfect. It probably would have been a good idea to have an open house for all of Minnesota, but hindsight is 20/20. It's kind of late to come up with something now, but then again, they're pretty creative.
 

CWCWCW said:
I guess I listened to the hoopla that predicted 40k at the event, so it was strange to see less than half of that. Nonetheless, I enjoyed my limited time there.
I did listen to WCCO radio for about 15 minutes this morning when Brewster was speaking. An older gentleman called and made a comment that he wasn't a season ticket holder and was disappointed that the scrimmage wasn't open to the public. I thought Brewster handled the call well and certainly didn't come off as an elitist. There have been many, many things that have gone right with this stadium being built, but it's not perfect. It probably would have been a good idea to have an open house for all of Minnesota, but hindsight is 20/20. It's kind of late to come up with something now, but then again, they're pretty creative.
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How Did Brew respond to that??
 


I continue to be amazed at how the majority of the public in this state is either apathetic to the Gophers or down right anti-Gophers. We all see and hear it all the time. It isn't even just football. There are many people in this state that simply enjoy disliking our only Division 1 athletic program. I'll never, ever, ever understand the hate. I can understand the apathy considering the results for the last 45 years, but the people the people that have lived here there whole life, have no direct connection or fondness for any other team, and still dislike the U are a complete mystery to me.

We wonder why our best local recruits don't come, why stations like KFAN say the things they do, why we don't get the coverage deserved in the local papers, etc. but the reality is the people we're talking about are the reason for this stuff. Something has to change and it's going to take a long time. I can only hope the new stadium helps big time. But they are even turning the new stadium into something bad so who knows.

End of sad rant. We have so much to look forward to and be proud of I refuse to let these idiots ruin this fall for me. I will go back to trying to ignore them as best I can. And I'll stay away from the Strib comments. Go Gophers!!
 

no offense, but to those of you who actually believe newspaper comments are....

representative of the MN psyche are "way off base"!!

1.) first, if you actually pay attention to the usernames the majority of people who post on stories on the star tribune and pioneer press websites are complete whack-jobs. a large majority are people who comment on any story (sports or otherwise) and always take negative slants on purpose. it carries over to political articles, sports articles, urban vs. rural articles. they are people with a personal agenda and are often trying to get a rise out of those who are not regular readers or posters. they are truly no different than flaming message board trolls that we see around sites such as gopherhole, buckyville, iowa boards, etc, etc.


2.) some of you need to understand that (especially on sports stories on either site) there are both becky badger and iowa hogeye trolls (many of who live in the minneapolis area now and read either the mpls or st. paul paper) who repeatedly post anti-gophers, anti-vikings, anti-minnesota sports stuff on the newspaper sites to try and get a rise of out the majority of native minnesotans WHO DO support the gophers, vikings, twins, wolves. read a story on there about favre and the vikings and you will immediately understand what i am talking about. they do the same thing with gopher stories. then you also have the wrens, loons and pantherhawks of the world who take up their entire day posting negative crap where ever they can just to be a pest.


if you don't believe this you are kidding yourself by thinking the comments on the strib or pioneer press sites are actually representative of what the normal people (i.e. the majority) of minnesotans think. i would not lose a second of sleep over it if i was you.
 

F%$@ the haters. Chances are they are all dirty sconnies or iowees since everyone knows people flee those states for Minnesota like rats on a sinking ship.
 

Most of those who comment must live in some deep dark caves.
 



Whoever thought there would be 40k in attendance was insane. There are 50k seats... there are no students on campus and no visiting fans. Even if everyone else showed up we'd be in the mid 30k's. A little less than half of those people showed up for a scrimmage. That seems about right to me.
 

Bronko Nagurski Gopher said:
representative of the MN psyche are "way off base"!!

1.) first, if you actually pay attention to the usernames the majority of people who post on stories on the star tribune and pioneer press websites are complete whack-jobs. a large majority are people who comment on any story (sports or otherwise) and always take negative slants on purpose. it carries over to political articles, sports articles, urban vs. rural articles. they are people with a personal agenda and are often trying to get a rise out of those who are not regular readers or posters. they are truly no different than flaming message board trolls that we see around sites such as gopherhole, buckyville, iowa boards, etc, etc.


2.) some of you need to understand that (especially on sports stories on either site) there are both becky badger and iowa hogeye trolls (many of who live in the minneapolis area now and read either the mpls or st. paul paper) who repeatedly post anti-gophers, anti-vikings, anti-minnesota sports stuff on the newspaper sites to try and get a rise of out the majority of native minnesotans WHO DO support the gophers, vikings, twins, wolves. read a story on there about favre and the vikings and you will immediately understand what i am talking about. they do the same thing with gopher stories. then you also have the wrens, loons and pantherhawks of the world who take up their entire day posting negative crap where ever they can just to be a pest.


if you don't believe this you are kidding yourself by thinking the comments on the strib or pioneer press sites are actually representative of what the normal people (i.e. the majority) of minnesotans think. i would not lose a second of sleep over it if i was you.
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I think you're pretty much spot on Bronko. Personally, I was pleasantly surprised by how many people reacted positively to me yesterday. Live in the south metro and took my kids bike to Erik's to get a new tube put in the tire. My 3 year old Gopher obsessed son was with me and wearing his new Nike Adam Weber t-shirt. The first kid working there we ran into came up and talked to him about Weber and the new stadium. When my kid told him we were going there, the kid working there spent 5 minutes telling us how he got stuck working and it was the worst deal because he's a student and he didn't want to miss out. The next guy we talked to there asked if the first kid was complaining to us like he had been to them all day about missing out. Next stop, dropped off wife and 3 y/o at Subway to get some tailgating food (yeah we lamed out and only did a quarter spread and brought food instead of making something there). I took my 6 year old and ran to a liquor store. Both clerks there immediately recognizing our Goph gear commented "you must be going to the stadium huh?" After picking up wife, I told here about my liquor store comment, she laughed and said 2 people inside Subway asked if she was going and both said they were jealous that they weren't. All in all, I think most people in this state are excited about the stadium. To Bronko's point, someone could do a PhD study on the whack jobs posting at the Strib site.
 

Minnesota Can be the Most Negative People on Earth

Schnauzer said:
If just one or two people had posted ignorant stuff like that, it would have been funny. But, the same incorrect themes appeared over and over and over. The level of negativity and ignorance on that Strib comment board is AMAZING. I posted on there earlier today and I haven't checked back since but I'm sure by now it is just buried under a heap of ignorance, just like the three or four other posts like mine.
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I grew up in Minnesota and my uncle was assistant athletic director at the U for many years. It wasn't until I made some corporate moves and then landed in Dallas that came to understand how negative Minnesotans can be. That cynical reserve permeates many things including the general population's approach to collegiate athletics. The whining and complaining of Minnesotans was replaced by risk-taking, high-energy optimism and commitment in a number of other places we lived.

I love Minnesota, but I can only take it in small doses now when I spend time here in the summer and fall. It really really gets old. You get the feeling sometimes that Brewster has got to carry the whole state on his back as he builds the Gopher football program. He commits the sin of unbridled enthusiasm. That's right folks, rip his guts out until he becomes like so many Minnesotans.....a negative, sniping bore.
 

Honyocker said:
I grew up in Minnesota and my uncle was assistant athletic director at the U for many years. It wasn't until I made some corporate moves and then landed in Dallas that came to understand how negative Minnesotans can be. That cynical reserve permeates many things including the general population's approach to collegiate athletics. The whining and complaining of Minnesotans was replaced by risk-taking, high-energy optimism and commitment in a number of other places we lived.

I love Minnesota, but I can only take it in small doses now when I spend time here in the summer and fall. It really really gets old. You get the feeling sometimes that Brewster has got to carry the whole state on his back as he builds the Gopher football program. He commits the sin of unbridled enthusiasm. That's right folks, rip his guts out until he becomes like so many Minnesotans.....a negative, sniping bore.
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Touche'. Couldn't have said it better myself. Been transferred around myself and it is amazing how a lot people and media in Minnesota seem to come down on a person (Brewster) because of his enthusiasm and setting the the bar high. Other places I've lived have media and fans that unabashedly support the local pro teams and especially the state or local University. I'm hopeful that Brewster can invigorate a whole new generation of students that will truly support the University and the program after they graduate. It is the state's only Division 1 football program and it's just a shame so many people are so negative and cynical.
Not living there anymore, I hope Honyocker and I are wrong and some of those more positive are right, but between the comment sections, Rouse and Souhan and the mostly back page coverage compared to the Vikes, it is a bit of a downer. It's so hard to understand how a school that graduates 8k or so every year for the past how many decades can have such shallow support.
A quick aside, the new blogger at the Pioneer Press is great - he's truly a fan.
For all of you who support the school and the program, this it not aimed at you as I know there are thousands of great supporters who helped raise the public $85M.
I wish Brewster and the program nothing but success. I could die happy if the Goph's ever finished in top 10 and won the Rose Bowl - National Title not even necessary!
Thanks,
 



I understand that people who post on boards are typically fanatical one way or another (total dbags who like to rabble rouse or the super fans who have almost too much optimism). I can separate those from the ones who are just either apathetic, misinformed, or have something up their butt about the U (for whatever reason). For every person I've met excited about the stadium, I have also ran in to a lot of people who have gripes with it. About 5 people at work are complaining about the alcohol situation (even though they don't even have tickets) or how much the thing costs the state and all the taxpayers and that we should have just stayed in the dome. Don't get me wrong I agree there is a lot of excitement for this stadium, but there is an equal amount (if not more) of people who have something to complain about it for whatever reason and it always seems like negative media sells better than positive.

Still can't wait for Sept 12.

And on a side note, I was just in DC and an OSU fan saw me on the Metro in a Gopher shirt and came up to me to tell me how "out of control" the new stadium is and how happy he is for us to get such a first-class facility. He also mentioned he heard about the alcohol issues and said it's totally bogus and we'll be over it in a few years, students will just have to sneak in their own booze like everywhere else. He then shook my hand and said good luck have a great season. I know we aren't rivals with OSU (particularly) but I have heard a lot of their fan base are dbags (most likely due to their incredible amount of recent success), and this was the first I've met so it was refreshing to hear such positive comments.
 


Bronko Nagurski Gopher said:
the majority of people who post on stories on the star tribune and pioneer press websites are complete whack-jobs. a large majority are people who comment on any story (sports or otherwise) and always take negative slants on purpose. it carries over to political articles, sports articles, urban vs. rural articles. they are people with a personal agenda and are often trying to get a rise out of those who are not regular readers or posters. they are truly no different than flaming message board trolls that we see around sites such as gopherhole, buckyville, iowa boards, etc, etc.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a certain someone who has accumulated 15,000 posts here on GopherHole.
 

I've got to say that as someone who moved from somewhere else to Minnesota I never got the negativity. Minnesotans are, if anything, a little naive about a lot of things.

Are people negative about Minnesota sports? That probably is the case, but there's a lot of justification for that.

I would also add that I think a lot of the queasyness that comes from Brewster (and I like Brewster) is not because he's positive, it's because he's unconvincingly 'pitchy.' He comes off like a used car salesman a lot of the time. It's not just the statements he makes, it's how he makes them, his whole demeanor can be off putting at times from people that expect a certain level of decorum from their social figures. I'm not saying I agree with this viewpoint, but I think it's about more than just him being optomistic.
 

To Bronko's point, someone could do a PhD study on the whack jobs posting at the Strib site.[/QUOTE]

Yes, and I would hypothesize that many people with strong opinions on politics, sports, you name it, are largely/completely uninformed of the facts that would support or refute these opinions (i.e, their beliefs and opinions are incorrect or unsupported). Anatole France said something to the effect that an education should teach us to be able to distinguish between what we know and what we don't know. Is all I know for sure is that there's a lot I don't know.
 

snackeru said:
Reusse wrote a pretty interesting screed against idiotic commenters on his AM1500 blog:

http://www.am1500.com/blogs/Letting_idiots_damage_a_noble_heritage

As much as Gopher fans usually hate Reusse, he makes some pretty good arguments here.
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You're right - I do agree with him on that commentary.

I know he doesn't like Brewster. Just wish he would give him credit where appropriate (upgrade in speed and athleticism) and apologize for some of the not so subtle comments about grades and criminality that was supposedly to take place. Not naive enought to believe we couldn't be on the bad end of a news headline some day but other than a couple of academic casualties, which are unfortunately pretty normal these days, I think his recruits have behaved themselves well.
 

Gopherprof said:
I've got to say that as someone who moved from somewhere else to Minnesota I never got the negativity. Minnesotans are, if anything, a little naive about a lot of things.

Are people negative about Minnesota sports? That probably is the case, but there's a lot of justification for that.

I would also add that I think a lot of the queasyness that comes from Brewster (and I like Brewster) is not because he's positive, it's because he's unconvincingly 'pitchy.' He comes off like a used car salesman a lot of the time. It's not just the statements he makes, it's how he makes them, his whole demeanor can be off putting at times from people that expect a certain level of decorum from their social figures. I'm not saying I agree with this viewpoint, but I think it's about more than just him being optomistic.
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no, it is just that people from the upper-midwest seem to like passive-agressive, self-depricating types. frankly, it is those types of people who are the most boring and lame people and who often are not the best leaders of men and have no real drive to be the absolute best at anything. they just want to fit in and not make any waves, which is a weak way to approach life, sports, anything.
 

RailBaronYarr said:
I understand that people who post on boards are typically fanatical one way or another (total dbags who like to rabble rouse or the super fans who have almost too much optimism). I can separate those from the ones who are just either apathetic, misinformed, or have something up their butt about the U (for whatever reason). For every person I've met excited about the stadium, I have also ran in to a lot of people who have gripes with it. About 5 people at work are complaining about the alcohol situation (even though they don't even have tickets) or how much the thing costs the state and all the taxpayers and that we should have just stayed in the dome. Don't get me wrong I agree there is a lot of excitement for this stadium, but there is an equal amount (if not more) of people who have something to complain about it for whatever reason and it always seems like negative media sells better than positive.

Still can't wait for Sept 12.

And on a side note, I was just in DC and an OSU fan saw me on the Metro in a Gopher shirt and came up to me to tell me how "out of control" the new stadium is and how happy he is for us to get such a first-class facility. He also mentioned he heard about the alcohol issues and said it's totally bogus and we'll be over it in a few years, students will just have to sneak in their own booze like everywhere else. He then shook my hand and said good luck have a great season. I know we aren't rivals with OSU (particularly) but I have heard a lot of their fan base are dbags (most likely due to their incredible amount of recent success), and this was the first I've met so it was refreshing to hear such positive comments.
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well, then it sounds like you work with some grade-a, uninformed d-bags! ;)

i am guessing they are originally from wisconsin or something which would explain it....... :rolleyes:
 

A couple points:

I think the strange and unfortunate truth of these current times we live in is this: Referencing the internet, especially social networking (Twitter and user comments) gives validity to all the idiots of the world who would otherwise get completely ignored. You can't watch cable news anymore because of this. They do any story, cut-reference to the Twitter comments, and it's either some whack-job lunatic, uniformed sheep, or a rather intelligent person who would rather tweet "(insert host/anchor) is a dbag, LOL" 15 times in a minute to get on the air because they know how F-ed up this has all become and how lost in the shuffle actual conversation and debate is these days, especially in major media areas (I've met a pretty smart and informed Political Science major who did this). The same is unfortunately true in sports media.

Second, I think Brewster has toned way down over the past 2.5 years. Does anyone else think he sounds much more relaxed and down-to-earth in interviews lately? I think he's adapting to the Minnesota mentality. The "used-car salesman pitches" he used to throw out might have worked better in other parts of the country (like where he learned them) and I think he's learning.

Third, I think the cold perception is somewhat self-created. One of the things I love about being a Minnesotan is we appreciate and enjoy each season. Most Golfers per capita is what they said several times during the PGA coverage. Winter---state of hockey, tons and tons of snowmobile and cross-country skiing trails, ice fishing, etc.---cold stuff we brag about. From having lived or visited long-term other warmer places for short periods of time I'm convinced that most people think the cold means there's nothing to do but sit inside and hibernate. Kind of like an endless rainy day. They see us having fun and see the temperature and immediately conclude that we're insane. Really they're just naive and boring--like a lot of trolls who destroy message boards and comment sections on blogs.
 

I have been dumbfounded how many times friends/family members have turned down our two unused tickets over the years. And these people are sports fans. The Gophers and/or the damn dome have not been appealing to many folks. Even when games were played at the Brickyard.

We usually miss two home games a year. Tix-Tots and area churches youth programs have been the benefactor which are good causes. I suspect that will change for a year or two with the advent of TCF even though the "hapless" Gophers will still be the home team. Many folks associate the Gophers with losing as that's all they have experienced.

The Twins were a tough sell B4 the 87 (?) World Series. Then it was the place to be seen. I have always said that the Gophers, like the Twins, need to win big and often to be a hot item. The Wild and the Queens, for the most part, seem to be immune from the Minnesota apathy.
 

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