Wisconsin Coach Changing Axe Policy, Hasn't Talked To Coach Kill About it...

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Looks like the Gophers will need Goldy to bring the Bits of Broken Chair trophy again. Seriously though, what would the procedure be if the Gophers won? Would Wisconsin mail it the following Monday? I wonder if he talked this through with Alvarez? It seems to be negative for his team as well.

Not sure what Anderson is doing except being a dick-wad.
 

DoubleB said:
I have been a long time fan (20+years) and don't recall the goal post chopping until recent.
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I was thinking the same thing (I don't remember it happening until the last maybe 7-10 years), but apparently it has been happening since at least the mid-90s?

Darrell Bevell (QB, 1992-95; current offensive coordinator for NFLs Minnesota Vikings):

I know I was the first person to get the axe. I then went over to the goalposts to try and cut them down. What a great feeling.
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You have to love rivalries because of crap like this happening.

I bet his new policy is going to be that the team goes in after the game and brings out the ax. Both teams will then meet at midfield where the ax is ceremonially handed over and then everyone get together for a group hug.

After the whole heated bench issue with Ohio State, a bunch of buddies of mine were considering rushing the field if we would have won and taken the heated benches from Ohio State's sidelines.
 

Watched the press conference and he makes some good points. There may be a better way to handle it, but it sounds like last year was close to getting really out of control. Comes down to being proactive or reactive.

I think if coaches/administration make it clear what is acceptable the axe can still be on the field.
 

Bad Gopher said:
It's clear they don't want to get their goalpost chopped.
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like us last year???

it sucks that it won't be on the sideline though, it may be there just yet, let the kids have some funs and if a fight breaks out so be it---adds to the rivalry
 


This can't happen. How can they do this to the players? I guarantee some of the gophers have had vivid dreams about being able to run across the field and re-claim the Axe. how can they take that experience away from them?
 

Pretty simple solution.
Make Gary go get the axe himself and on 2 knees, head bowed down present the thing to the gopher team at midfield.

Or how about don't break a tradition that's been the same for 50+ years.
What a loser.
 

They had it in place for their Iowa and Nebraska games this year and things went smooth. Sounds like they want it to be a conference policy.
 

BTN has to love this. What are they going to show coming back from every commercial?
 



Im wondering if Gary Anderson is doing this because he thinks Wisconsin is gonna lose the axe. If I was a football player for Wisconsin and my coach said "Were leaving the axe on the locker room" I would wonder that. If Wisconsin wins Im sure they will bring it out so they better let us go get it.
 

bottlebass said:
This can't happen. How can they do this to the players? I guarantee some of the gophers have had vivid dreams about being able to run across the field and re-claim the Axe. how can they take that experience away from them?
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Seriously. Read some of the quotes former players have about it (I apologize these are all from former Badgers, but it was the easiest link to find):

I know I was the first person to get the axe. I then went over to the goalposts to try and cut them down. What a great feeling.
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We got it (the win) and I just remember trying to time it up and be the first one over there at the end of the game to grab that axe.
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But my biggest motivation was the feeling of grabbing that axe, either from their sideline or ours, right after the game
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When you first get into that Battle for the Axe, you never realize exactly what that means until they come and take it off your bench. Its like they stole something from you, so from that very first game on for the Paul Bunyans Axe, everybody understood what that meant and how bad they wanted to get it back and go over to their bench and take it from them.
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I'm all for avoiding the problems associated with 'chopping down the goalposts', but this is not the way to do it. Grabbing the trophy on the field is not the problem.

This is a stupid idea, and furthermore the Wisky coach should not be doing this on his own.
 

West Fargo Gopher Fan said:
Im wondering if the coach is doing this because he thinks Wisconsin is gonna lose the axe. If I was a football player for Wisconsin and my coach said "Were leaving the axe on the locker room" I would wonder that. If Wisconsin wins Im sure they will bring it out so they better let us go get it.
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They already did it for two games this year.
 



This dink is blaming us:

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This is clearly an attempt by the Wisconsin staff to reduce the ability of MN to celebrate a win on their field. There are other ways to handle it, but instead they choose to hide the trophy so losing it won't be in the spotlight.
 

As much as I love turkey, I'm willing to skip Thanksgiving if it'll make game day get here sooner.
 

What a joke, the U of M should be able to have some say in this.
 

This is even more reason to hate the Badginas. If the Gophers win, running across the field to get the Axe could honestly be one of the greatest memories of these kids college careers if not THE greatest for our seniors. F them for taking that moment away from them.

Not sure why this makes me so mad.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Simple answer. Put it on one end or corner of the endzone during the game. Then the players can rush to that spot rather than through the opponents bench. Just tell the winning team to chop the post opposite the Home teams student section until the home team has left the field.
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Agree, I was thinking the same thing. This avoids the one team rushing the other team's bench. And let's just establish whether it is acceptable for the winning team to chop down the goalpost or not. Then we can get rid of the "outrage" that such-and-such team dared chop down our goalpost.
 

Love the Badger blogger guy blaming the Gophers. Not sure if this is our year, but the tides are turning on this rivalry and some of those sconnies can sense it.
 

Desperation is a stinky cologne, Anderson. This tells me, he's worried.
 

Donovan said:
Agree, I was thinking the same thing. This avoids the one team rushing the other team's bench. And let's just establish whether it is acceptable for the winning team to chop down the goalpost or not. Then we can get rid of the "outrage" that such-and-such team dared chop down our goalpost.
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We can argue about who was right or wrong in 2011 or 2013, but since I can remember, the winning team has chopped down the goalposts with the Axe after the game. That's why last year seemed so confusing to me.

I would prefer that the Axe be somewhere on the field during the game, but I think it's best if it's not behind one team's bench. Last year showed that this is clearly an emotional game, so any effort to reduce the chances of a confrontation at its conclusion is probably a good thing.
 


I hate Bucky as much as anyone, but big deal. Our guys did act a bit childish last year after losing it at home.
 

GopherHole Staff said:
This dink is blaming us:
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Doesn't sound like administration speak.

If we get the axe on Saturday the U should send a message to Wisconsin(along with CC's to Iowa and Mich) that in the future we will keep all traveling trophies off the field and will mail them to the other teams sometime after they win the game.
 

station19 said:
Doesn't sound like administration speak.

If we get the axe on Saturday the U should sent a message to Wisconsin(along with CC's to Iowa and Mich) that in the future we will keep all traveling trophies off the field and will mail them to the other teams sometime after they win the game.
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As long as they mail us participation trophies in return.
 

Having trouble containing my wisconsin hate right now.

There have been brawls and controversy in this series forever(slab o bacon game?)
F wisconsin, win the axe, bring it out of the locker room and ________.

I can't write what I just wrote and deleted.
 

Radio Badger said:
We can argue about who was right or wrong in 2011 or 2013, but since I can remember, the winning team has chopped down the goalposts with the Axe after the game. That's why last year seemed so confusing to me.

I would prefer that the Axe be somewhere on the field during the game, but I think it's best if it's not behind one team's bench. Last year showed that this is clearly an emotional game, so any effort to reduce the chances of a confrontation at its conclusion is probably a good thing.
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I suppose one way would be for the visiting victors to go celebrate by the visitors section of the stadium instead of 120 yards away where the home side is singing to their student section, but hey that's just me. GA has been around for nearly 20 months now so the history of this game is his exclusive domain.

I actually love this move, because there has been a lot of mutual respect between Kill and GA and even despite the high stakes on Saturday it's always good to put some more edge into it. Compare this with the totally invented rivalries forced onto our proud conference in the past 20 years.
 

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