I've been doing this since 1972. I'm 43 now and have only missed about eleven home games since then. This was what my dad and I did-we went to Gopher games together-football, basketball, hockey, and baseball. We gave up on baseball pretty early and hockey soon after. We kept going to basketball games up until 1986 when I started college (my first college was not at the U). We always kept football tickets. I always drove back home to see them no matter what. I became a much bigger fan than my dad was. I became the die-hard fan that lives and breathes Gopher football. I only have enough football love to give to the Gophers, which means I couldn't care less about the Vikings. I wish I could be more like my dad was. He was even tempered-I'm not in the slightest. I like to get buzzed and bitch and moan on message boards after the game when things don't go our way-I make no apologies about that as I mean what I type even if I can't remember doing it all of the time. I have kept the season tickets and struggled mightily to find friends to get psyched about the team and the games. I hope my friend doesn't bail on me next year as I have a feeling he is getting sick of the losing-he's not a hard core fan obviously.
I'm pretty down on the team right now, but that is nothing new to a long-term Gopher fan as we are quite used to it. My dad and I always planned on going to a Rose Bowl game and living it up like all football fans deserve to do once in a lifetime. I thought we had a chance a couple of times with Grinning Glen. I loved the attitude of Brewster and thought "maybe soon". Wasn't thrilled with the Kill hire, but understood the need for a total change. From what I have seen coaching wise, we are a very long way off from even being relevant again. I always hope for the best while knowing deep down I will probably be hoping for a long time. I just don't see anything different from Brewster to Kill so far. Same lazy play-same confused coaching. I wanted the change to be noticeable sooner than later, but I'll have to wait and hope as I always do. I'll keep showing up, I'll keep buying more Gopher gear (I must have thirty shirts/sweatshirts/hats), I'll keep cheering, and I'll keep complaining when I don't like what I see. The life of this Gopher fan hasn't really changed since 1972.
