The Gopher is catching on

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AuEGO4

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Nice little piece on "The Gopher"
http://www.campusrush.com/minnesota-football-gopher-dance-1374345171.html

"The packed homecoming crowd fell silent between the third and fourth quarters on Saturday, just as the scoreboard went dark at TCF Bank Stadium. Four seasons into a new campus tradition, the fans knew what to expect as R. Kelly's "Bump N' Grind" blared through the bowl. Some even were ready to sing along as the build-up began.

My mind is telling me no. But my body, my body's telling me yes. Baby I don't want to hurt nobody, but there's something that I must confess to you.

All of a sudden, the song switched and over 50,000 were on their feet to dance. Wisconsin has "Jump Around," but now, Minnesota has "the Gopher."

The dance comes between the third and fourth quarter of each game, with the gopher from the 1980 comedy movie Caddyshack popping up on the scoreboard as the R. Kelly song serenades the crowd. But once the short song clip is over, the gopher pops up from the ground and starts to groove, to the faster-paced "Levels" by Avicii."

What will it take to get Bill Murray to make a cameo doing "The Gopher"??
 

It's goofy and canned music but as I've professed before, I love it. Glad they've kept it consistent each and every week.

Is it a "classic college tradition"? No, but it's fun and energetic and the fans interact. More than good enough for me.
 

I heard Teddy "Two Gloves" started it off Saturday

And Bill Murray making an apperance would be legendary.
 

Props to whomever in marketing came up with this idea, and props to whomever in marketing has stuck with this after it was a bit slow to get going initially. It's a great tradition that fans throughout the entire stadium are starting to participate in, and the entire 3rd-to-4th quarter music montage is can't miss. I've heard numerous people say they don't want to leave their seats during the time-out because they want to participate in the music.

Go Gophers!!
 

Gopher07 said:
It's goofy and canned music but as I've professed before, I love it. Glad they've kept it consistent each and every week.

Is it a "classic college tradition"? No, but it's fun and energetic and the fans interact. More than good enough for me.
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Agreed.

"Jump Around" isn't a classic college tradition either, but Wisconsin made it their own. Personally, I like ours better since "Jump Around" gets played at every stadium in the country.
 


I admit, I look forward to "The Gopher" every game now. It's cheesy and corny but dammit, it's ours.
 

Jike Spingleton said:
Agreed.

"Jump Around" isn't a classic college tradition either, but Wisconsin made it their own. Personally, I like ours better since "Jump Around" gets played at every stadium in the country.
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"Do the Gopher" is branding perfection. No one else can do it; it's ours. Also the "Dramatic Gopher (or hamster)" is spot on.

There's also been a montage of retro movies dancing. It's great. Our Marketing Department has upped their game, and the fans love it!!
 

BleedGopher said:
Props to whomever in marketing came up with this idea, and props to whomever in marketing has stuck with this after it was a bit slow to get going initially. It's a great tradition that fans throughout the entire stadium are starting to participate in, and the entire 3rd-to-4th quarter music montage is can't miss. I've heard numerous people say they don't want to leave their seats during the time-out because they want to participate in the music.

Go Gophers!!
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Don't mind people doing the Gopher dance, but the music that was provided to dance to was incredibly lame. Perhaps they can use this year to find one signature song that will make the Gopher dance fun, but whatever songs they chose at homecoming were not it. In addition, it was difficult to determine if some folks were doing the Gopher dance or just milking a giant invisible cow.

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I love it and when I am not able to make a game, I pull up a youtube video and make my kids do the Gopher at home. I think the key to the excitement about it is the ever changing cameos. It makes you want to stick around and see who it is. You would think Bill wouldn't be too hard to get since he is tied to the Saints and all.
 



Do the Gopher is something I look forward to when I get to games. I like to see who the guest "host" is, and I like that the songs vary. Students love it which is really all that matters.
 

Rescooter said:
"Do the Gopher" is branding perfection. No one else can do it; it's ours. Also the "Dramatic Gopher (or hamster)" is spot on.

There's also been a montage of retro movies dancing. It's great. Our Marketing Department has upped their game, and the fans love it!!
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I would also add the Lion King segment as an awesome addition. For the TCU game, I had our entire section cheering to get my 4 month old son wearing a ref onsie up on the big screen.

I also heard that the Ski U Mah at the start of the games is taking off.

Keep packing the stadium and doing these things and all the sudden new traditions are born.
 

I would like Brock Lesnar to tell everyone to do the Gopher because if he said it, everyone would have to do it. Seriously though he is a famous alumn and it would be cool to see him do it.
 

BleedGopher said:
Props to whomever in marketing came up with this idea, and props to whomever in marketing has stuck with this after it was a bit slow to get going initially. It's a great tradition that fans throughout the entire stadium are starting to participate in, and the entire 3rd-to-4th quarter music montage is can't miss. I've heard numerous people say they don't want to leave their seats during the time-out because they want to participate in the music.

Go Gophers!!
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Exactly. I find myself hoping it is a good game as the third quarter ends so "the Gopher" and music interlude have high energy. I like the way the general concept and certain parts are always the same, while other music in the montage is different and fresh each time.
 







The gopher and the little gopher stuff and all seems nice and traditional now. Adds some nice atmosphere to the games.
 

tinyarch said:
Don't mind people doing the Gopher dance, but the music that was provided to dance to was incredibly lame. Perhaps they can use this year to find one signature song that will make the Gopher dance fun, but whatever songs they chose at homecoming were not it. In addition, it was difficult to determine if some folks were doing the Gopher dance or just milking a giant invisible cow.
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Agree on this week's middle part of the mix. Came across pretty flat, which is really unusual.

But like DarrenTheGreek I look forward to it and hope it infuses energy into the crowd for whatever the Gophers are doing.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
I would like Brock Lesnar to tell everyone to do the Gopher because if he said it, everyone would have to do it. Seriously though he is a famous alumn and it would be cool to see him do it.
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This would be AMAZING. Although usually the song mix is good and keeps the crowd dancing. This past saturday's song mix was a huge let down.
 

Jike Spingleton said:
Agreed.

"Jump Around" isn't a classic college tradition either, but Wisconsin made it their own. Personally, I like ours better since "Jump Around" gets played at every stadium in the country.
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How long does it take for "Jump Around" to become a classic tradition? I would say it is there. As a 16 year old in high school at Woodbury, our band teacher went to UW, and took us on a field trip to Camp Randall, where we got to play some pep songs during the game. When "Jump Around" happened, I thought..."holy crap, this is insane." That was 15 years ago...I don't know how long its been around before then, but even if it wasnt around long before that, 15 years is pretty significant.

And just to make things clear, I did not enjoy playing the pep songs, and participated as little as possible. I can't remember the team UW was playing, but it was a pre-conference game, which was a close one, which UW won, but I was openly was cheering against UW. Which I didnt realize at the time, but looking back at it may have been a reason that our instructor did not seem to favor me for the next two years.
 

skauma said:
How long does it take for "Jump Around" to become a classic tradition? I would say it is there. As a 16 year old in high school at Woodbury, our band teacher went to UW, and took us on a field trip to Camp Randall, where we got to play some pep songs during the game. When "Jump Around" happened, I thought..."holy crap, this is insane." That was 15 years ago...I don't know how long its been around before then, but even if it wasnt around long before that, 15 years is pretty significant.

And just to make things clear, I did not enjoy playing the pep songs, and participated as little as possible. I can't remember the team UW was playing, but it was a pre-conference game, which was a close one, which UW won, but I was openly was cheering against UW. Which I didnt realize at the time, but looking back at it may have been a reason that our instructor did not seem to favor me for the next two years.
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They've been doing it since about 1994. It's definitely a tradition but not what I'd call a "classic college football" tradition as Jike referred to. It's not the dotting of the i in Ohio or anything that's been around 50-100 years like some schools have. 20 years is a small segment of the overall history of college football.
 

BilldGopher said:
Agree on this week's middle part of the mix. Came across pretty flat, which is really unusual.
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I thought the exact same thing...it put the brakes on the excitement like a Craig James' punt return. (sorry couldn't resist) But then I looked at the Student section and they seemed to be into it pretty good, so it is likely my age was the real issue. I think 2-3 years ago they were spot on solid, but last year and this year have been kind of weak in my opinion.
 

Has anyone else noticed that doing the Gopher looks a lot like Rick Rolling just saying, the dance is very similar to being Rick Rolled.
 

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