Gopher football

[Schnauzer]

I understand what your saying. I also understand that no matter how I formatted the question you would have found something wrong with it. The simple truth is Gopher football has never been able to compete with OSU and never will. So continue on with your arrogance maybe one day you'll impress someone other than yourself.

I literally gave you examples of what you could have said that would have had no response from me, but go ahead - you do you.

And I am not here to impress people. If I was, I'd change my Gopherhole avatar to my tinder photo, where I am holding a 14" walleye.

 

[MNVCGUY]

I can respect your opinion and I agree the Gophers could make the playoffs one of these days. Im also realistic that the Gopher football team will more than likely never win a NC. All that being said the performance vs. OSU was embarrassing and im surprised more fans dont share that opinion. Atleast in the 2021 loss they looked like they belonged on the same field as OSU but these last 2 meetings have me wondering do they even belong on the same conference.

Since the Luke Fickell debacle that was 2011 - Ohio State is 102-9 in Big Ten games. You could make a case that very few to any teams in the Big Ten belong in the same conference as them.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

I always love it when people don't like or can't answer a question they use deflection and condescension as a means of communication.
So the Gophers getting embarrassed on national tv is no big deal to you but some random fan commenting on it is somehow bothersome.
I will keep watching and commenting and obviously tormenting those of you who take breaks from real life to scroll a forum page. Oh and im far from a kiddo pops.

Your smugness brings out the best of me

Chronologically you may be middle aged, but me wonders if you’re - Young, dumb and full of rum. If it doesn’t apply, let it fly kiddo.

I was like that until my 50s, when significant health issues humbled my azz.

So no it isn’t a big deal to me bro (sports is strictly entertainment at this juncture); it’s a common for people who have such experiences, to right size shite and things which held paramount importance in their life, no longer do.

Maybe you’ll be a quicker study than me kiddo, granted that’s a low bar.
Remember: Father Time is undefeated and he will mess you up no matter how much of a badazz you may or may not be.

Go get ‘em Tiger

 

[Ope3]

It's on the idiots who destroyed the NCAA's authority to set rules for amateur athletics - and that includes several federal judges.

It's just as much (actually more) on the NCAA that set draconian rules more than 100 years ago and did not adapt once the TV/Cable dough started to roll in during the 1980s.

This last half decade of chaos is because of all the mistakes by the NCAA in the past half century.

 

[Ope3]

I can respect your opinion and I agree the Gophers could make the playoffs one of these days. Im also realistic that the Gopher football team will more than likely never win a NC. All that being said the performance vs. OSU was embarrassing and im surprised more fans dont share that opinion. Atleast in the 2021 loss they looked like they belonged on the same field as OSU but these last 2 meetings have me wondering do they even belong on the same conference.

They don't.

But Minnesota sure does love the checks that keep coming from membership in the current Big 10.

Northwestern St did not belong on the same field as the Gophers a few weeks ago. The check cleared.

 

[Ope3]

of course. We had a close game as recently as 2021. We aren't probably going to win 5 in a row. We will be underdogs but rarely get a win

A lot has changed since 2021 in the College football landscape. Those were the good old days.

The Gophers chances going forward of keeping within a 2 score game against the Buckeyes are dramatically different going forward.

 

[Eastside Forever]

Assuming facts not in evidence - if we win great, if not it’s not a big deal to me and I’ll focus on real life, not entertainment; if this is such a bother for you, don’t watch kiddo.



l

Great, and improper, tool used by many in cross examinations.

But, isn't Gopher Football Real Life?

 

[Eastside Forever]

IMO, if your main reason for watching is in hopes of a playoff appearance and chance of a national championship, you're setting yourself for disappointment.

I do think there is a realistic chance they can go to the playoffs at some point in the new format, but it's not the reason I am a fan. The Ohio St game sucked. There's no denying that. But it doesn't negate the fun and excitement of the Rutgers comeback.

Regardless of outcomes each week and each season, the anticipation of the season and the ability to watch them every week outweighs the negative no matter what IMO.

Say it again!

 

[TurfGopher]

It entertainment. The PJ Fleck years have been better than Mason years. We don't have super embarrassing losing streaks to any team other than OSU. Unless we catch some Cignetti lightning in a bottle we are always going to be a mid-tier B1G team. I just want to beat tier 2 teams more often. This is the first time we have had a QB that looks really good, we should have a winning record this season. Usually the team gets better over the season, our defense and running game stink. If we lose to Purdue at homecoming then I will be depressed just like you.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

Great, and improper, tool used by many in cross examinations.

But, isn't Gopher Football Real Life?

Depends on one’s experiences and perspectives, and for me at this juncture, it’s strictly entertainment and if I don’t see a game, it doesn’t really matter to me.

Said experiences and perspectives are much different for me now at age 59 (end of October) vs. 50 vs.40.

Another way to look at it is -


Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

A Time for Everything​

3 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

It entertainment. The PJ Fleck years have been better than Mason years. We don't have super embarrassing losing streaks to any team other than OSU. Unless we catch some Cignetti lightning in a bottle we are always going to be a mid-tier B1G team. I just want to beat tier 2 teams more often. This is the first time we have had a QB that looks really good, we should have a winning record this season. Usually the team gets better over the season, our defense and running game stink. If we lose to Purdue at homecoming then I will be depressed just like you.

Excellent, rational post.

I would add that owning WI and surpassing them as a program is a big accomplishment and next we need to do so with Iowa.

 

[Ope3]

It entertainment. The PJ Fleck years have been better than Mason years. We don't have super embarrassing losing streaks to any team other than OSU. Unless we catch some Cignetti lightning in a bottle we are always going to be a mid-tier B1G team. I just want to beat tier 2 teams more often. This is the first time we have had a QB that looks really good, we should have a winning record this season. Usually the team gets better over the season, our defense and running game stink. If we lose to Purdue at homecoming then I will be depressed just like you.

Mason did not get the privilege of playing in the Big 10 West in a nice outdoor on-campus home stadium as Fleck did from 2017-2023.

Just sayin...

 

[Ope3]

Depends on one’s experiences and perspectives, and for me at this juncture, it’s strictly entertainment and if I don’t see a game, it doesn’t really matter to me.

Said experiences and perspectives are much different for me now at age 59 (end of October) vs. 50 vs.40.

Another way to look at it is -


Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

A Time for Everything​

3 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

Pete Seeger is a plagiarist?!?

 

[mngg11]

Mason did not get the privilege of playing in the Big 10 West in a nice outdoor on-campus home stadium as Fleck did from 2017-2023.

Just sayin...

He also referred to our trophy games as trinket games

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

Pete Seeger is a plagiarist?!?

As an artist once said, we all steal from others

 

[GophersInIowa]

I can respect your opinion and I agree the Gophers could make the playoffs one of these days. Im also realistic that the Gopher football team will more than likely never win a NC. All that being said the performance vs. OSU was embarrassing and im surprised more fans dont share that opinion. Atleast in the 2021 loss they looked like they belonged on the same field as OSU but these last 2 meetings have me wondering do they even belong on the same conference.

In 2021 we had a veteran QB and really good RB while playing at home. They had a young QB making his first career start on the road. Their defense was no where close to as good as this one. They gave up 31+ points in five games that season.

It was a rough game, I expected them to be more competitive for sure. But bad games happen, especially against probably the best team in the country on the road with a young team.

 

[Ope3]

As an artist once said, we all steal from others

Good artists copy. Great artists steal.

- Pablo Picasso

 

[Eastside Forever]

As an artist once said, we all steal from others

Nothing is original. But not learning from others is to confine oneself to lifelessness and boredom. And ineffectiveness.

 

[disco]

You think a recruit would not want to play in a college town?

Depends on the town and the recruit. I used to think that people would rather play in a traditional college town and being in the city hurt the U. I don't think that anymore. Washington is in Seattle, and they were national runner up a few years back.

And Columbus is the largest city in Ohio FWIW.

 

[FanSinceTheFifties]

Depends on the town and the recruit. I used to think that people would rather play in a traditional college town and being in the city hurt the U. I don't think that anymore. Washington is in Seattle, and they were national runner up a few years back.

And Columbus is the largest city in Ohio FWIW.

I hope you're right.

 

[FanSinceTheFifties]

I would guess a college town with 300k people and a metro of a million people a short drive away would be attractive to most recruits while an urban campus would be attractive to only a smaller cohort.

Fayetteville AR, e.g.

 

[FanSinceTheFifties]

I would guess the Bengels, Browns, Indians, Cavs, Reds and Blue Jackets have zero fans in Columbus and OSU has no fans outside Columbus.

That raises an interesting point. What percent of Gopher fans are alums? Non alums have lots of choices to spend money on. Twins. Vikings. Wild. Timberwolves. To name a few. What other BiG teams have that much competition in their town?

 

[FanSinceTheFifties]

The Blue Jackets (NHL), Crew (MLS) and Clippers (Yankees AAA team), so 1.75.

No NBA NFL MLB?

 

[disco]

Fayetteville AR, e.g.

What a coincidence. I flew into Fayetteville this afternoon.

 

[disco]

That raises an interesting point. What percent of Gopher fans are alums? Non alums have lots of choices to spend money on. Twins. Vikings. Wild. Timberwolves. To name a few. What other BiG teams have that much competition in their town?

This is what I tell people when they ask why the Gophers don't have the support of some other teams. It's not just because the school is in a big city and not a college town, but overall, people have so many other options in a major metro - not just sports, but entertainment as a whole. Look at attendance of other major urban programs. Pitt, Miami, UCLA, Georgia Tech, Boston College. None are particularly good. And in the case of Miami, they're often a top program but their attendance is often embarassing.

And I firmly believe that playing off campus for a generation lost a whole generation of college football fans here who never got into how cool the whole experience is. And I suspect that's a big issue for Miami, Pitt and UCLA as well. College football needs to be played AT THE COLLEGE.

 

[WindyCityGopher]

No NBA NFL MLB?

In the city of Columbus? No.

 

[FanSinceTheFifties]

This is what I tell people when they ask why the Gophers don't have the support of some other teams. It's not because the school is in a big city, but overall, people have so many other options - not just sports, but entertainment as a whole. Look at attendance of other major urban programs. Pitt, Miami, UCLA, Georgia Tech, Boston College. None are particularly good. And in the case of Miami, they're often a top program but their attendance is often embarassing.

And I firmly believe that playing off campus for a generation lost a whole generation of college football fans here who never got into how cool the whole experience is. And I suspect that's a big issue for Miami, Pitt and UCLA as well. College football needs to be played AT THE COLLEGE.

Yes, many other places for fans to focus on -- including Going Up North on weekends. You're right, it's not the size of the Metro, it's the dilution of fan interest and money in the market with so many attractions. This was not the case before 1961.

 

[Ski-U-Ham]

Depends on the town and the recruit. I used to think that people would rather play in a traditional college town and being in the city hurt the U. I don't think that anymore. Washington is in Seattle, and they were national runner up a few years back.

And Columbus is the largest city in Ohio FWIW.

I hope you're right.

disco is right, Columbus is in fact the largest city in Ohio, verified by the Google

 

[DEGopher]

But the economy/population of Ohio is like double that of Minnesota and tOSU is their flagship school. Yes, they have other D1 schools, but other than Cincinnati, they're MAC schools with middling support.

This is true. However, Cleveland and Cincinnati do have pro teams that take most of the attention and $ from fans in those cities, but still the Buckeyes are definitely a state wide brand.

But I am still optimistic, by comparison we are a much more thriving economy than Tuscaloosa and the state of Alabama, or Baton Rouge and the State of Louisiana.

So if your argument is OhSt is unique, sure. But compared to the metropolitan areas of most schools, The Gophers are much better positioned and have a lot of room to close the talent gap.

 

[DEGopher]

It's on the idiots who destroyed the NCAA's authority to set rules for amateur athletics - and that includes several federal judges.

Ok, well then let’s not blame it on PJ (not sure that you did, but many here have).

So what’s interesting about that whole Supreme Court rulling, I hate what it has done to college football, yet I like the rulling. Basically it was all around the Sherman anti-trust act, which broke up monopolies such as Standard Oil and AT&T back in the 80’s. The NCAAwa accused of having a monopoly, and they didn’t contest that. They were accused of controlling the labor market and depressing wages, the NCAA didn’t dispute that either. What they sought was an exemption to being regulated under the Sherman anti-trust act.
Justic Kavenaugh stated it this way

The NCAA concedes that its compensation rules set the price of student athlete labor at a below-market rate.….

…… Specifically, the NCAA says that colleges may decline to pay student athletes because the defining feature of college sports, according to the NCAA, is that the student athletes are not paid….

……The NCAA’s business model would be flatly illegal in almost any other industry in America. All of the restaurants in a region cannot come together to cut cooks’ wages on the theory that “customers prefer” to eat food from low-paid cooks. …..Price-fixing labor is price-fixing labor. And price-fixing labor is ordinarily a textbook antitrust problem because it extinguishes the free market in which individuals can otherwise obtain fair compensation for their work.

Link to the actual supreme court ruling

I hate how it’s working out for college football, but I do like how it’s working out for non- revenue generating sports. I think the ladies on our Women’s volleyball team should be able to earn money giving volleyball lessons. Prior to the ruling, that would be an NCAA violation and they would lose their scholarship and a spot on the team.