So... I am known as the biggest Gopher fan at my workplace. We don't go into the office as much anymore but even on video calls, it has begun. The smirking, annoying, know-it-all attitude of some of my colleagues. These are people who are casual Gopher fans maybe. And these are people who were actually pretty interested in the team last season, especially at the end. Now... it's the old "you fell for it again... it's the Gophers... the boat is sinking... how do you feel about YOUR Gophers now?" All that garbage. I agree that there is not much room for optimism this season. But I can't tell you how annoying that is. Seems like 10 years ago that we beat Penn State and Auburn. I am dreading the staff meeting on Monday.
Coworkers like that you can't really reason with.
Any year without a national title will be a failure in their eyes, and if you don't repeat as national champs, they'll ask why things have fallen off.
This board for example is full of "Gopher football fans", but we already large numbers of people who want to burn everything down because of the slow start.
Some are also broadening the problem to take away the enjoyment of last season making a case that it was a fluke. Whether it was or not or how you even argue that point is insignificant.
Gopher football last year was the best sports season this city probably had since 1991.
A few weeks ago Dan Barreiro was asking what it would take for some people to really get on board with the Gophers. He took one caller.
The caller said... "Well, maybe if they beat OSU in a Big Ten Title game, then I would maybe start to believe."
So win the Big Ten, and be sure to do it in a year when OSU is a nation title contender, and then you "might" start believing.
Nice standards.
These same people are Vikings fans who are happy when they beat Detroit twice in a season.