All time low for gopher football public sentiment?

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stevedave23

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I'm relatively young but I have been following gopher football for the better part of twenty years and I've never seen anything like this.

I certainly didn't expect any media or coffee talk about the gopher game to be overly positive but the past 24 hours have been a bit shocking to me.

This morning I flipped around between several different radio stations as each one absolutely trashed the bowl game tonight and gopher football in general. Bob Sansevere on KQRS said and I quote, "speaking of losing, the gopher football team plays Iowa St in the insight bowl tonight..." he went on to declare that gopher football is now the least compelling of all the teams in the Twin Cities. Even WCCO, the radio home of gopher football, took shots. When talking about the lack of ticket sales by the gopher fans vs. Iowa state one of the guys on the show remarked, "maybe all of the snow birds from Minnesota went to Arizona to get away from gopher football?"

Wow.

This most certainly isn't the worst gopher team or even the worst stretch of teams, but has public sentiment ever been worse?
 

I thought the same thing on my way to work today as well - I also heard two different stations mock the game tonight (KFAN - not a surprise, and K102). More than anything, I feel bad for the players, but the only way to cure it is to win, and win big (I don't mean win big today, but win big next year and the year after). The stadium gave us some tremendous coverage this last Fall, but that's over...we'll get a nice bump in excitement leading up to the USC game (although I fear a lot of it will be irrational blowout predictions) and then after that we'll have to create our own excitement and the ONLY way to do that is to win, and win big.

Until then, beat the Cyclones!!

Go Gophers!!
 

stevedave23 said:
I'm relatively young but I have been following gopher football for the better part of twenty years and I've never seen anything like this.

I certainly didn't expect any media or coffee talk about the gopher game to be overly positive but the past 24 hours have been a bit shocking to me.

This morning I flipped around between several different radio stations as each one absolutely trashed the bowl game tonight and gopher football in general. Bob Sansevere on KQRS said and I quote, "speaking of losing, the gopher football team plays Iowa St in the insight bowl tonight..." he went on to declare that gopher football is now the least compelling of all the teams in the Twin Cities. Even WCCO, the radio home of gopher football, took shots. When talking about the lack of ticket sales by the gopher fans vs. Iowa state one of the guys on the show remarked, "maybe all of the snow birds from Minnesota went to Arizona to get away from gopher football?"

Wow.

This most certainly isn't the worst gopher team or even the worst stretch of teams, but has public sentiment ever been worse?
Click to expand...

Things certainly ain't great in Gopher Football, but it's simply piling on at this point. The team has been far worse as you point out. I think it's largely a response to Brewster's big talk (disclaimer: his big talk has never bothered me personally, I got problems w/ Brew, but I took his talk with a grain of salt. His job is part sales after all...). Many people rolled their eyes, and now that the team is merely mediocre, it gives everyone a chance to pat themselves on the back and say, "I told you so." This creates sort of a reverse band-wagon; people don't want to be associated as someone who has been talking up the program like that guy BREWSTER, do they?

Two lessons here: 1) People are vindictive and petty 2) Because people are vindictive and petty, DON'T SET YOURSELF UP FOR FAILURE BY BOASTING.

A long time ago someone told me it's best to under-promise and over-deliver, where in the eyes of many, the opposite has happened.
 

To suggest even remotely that Sansavere is any type of a sports reporter is ridiculous. On KQ, he merely spews forth comments that Tommy B wants to hear; most of those comments being negative. He has zero originality or insightful perspective.

His ramblings in the PP are equally poor in quality with most of his material being regurgitated drivel pilphered from other sources.:pig:
 

Gopher football the least compelling of all the area's teams? That would be - by far - the Minnesota Timberwolves. No one is interested in the Timberwolves anymore. People are still interested in Gopher football, they wouldn't talk trash about the Gophers if it were otherwise. The local media seems to resent the fact that people still want to talk about the Gophers.

We can't infer from the trash talk that people are losing interest in Gopher football.
 


tato2001 said:
Things certainly ain't great in Gopher Football, but it's simply piling on at this point. The team has been far worse as you point out. I think it's largely a response to Brewster's big talk (disclaimer: his big talk has never bothered me personally, I got problems w/ Brew, but I took his talk with a grain of salt. His job is part sales after all...). Many people rolled their eyes, and now that the team is merely mediocre, it gives everyone a chance to pat themselves on the back and say, "I told you so." This creates sort of a reverse band-wagon; people don't want to be associated as someone who has been talking up the program like that guy BREWSTER, do they?

Two lessons here: 1) People are vindictive and petty 2) Because people are vindictive and petty, DON'T SET YOURSELF UP FOR FAILURE BY BOASTING.

A long time ago someone told me it's best to under-promise and over-deliver, where in the eyes of many, the opposite has happened.
Click to expand...

That basically sums it up. The sports radio types feel compelled to mention it, but they're going to be sarcastic and negative if they have to talk about it at all. The mainstream media is going to cover it as minimally as possible while devoting most resources to Favre/Childress and the basketball team beginning Conference Play since far more people care about that. It's just the way it is. If we were playing in even so much as the Outback Bowl it would be 180 degree difference. Even if we were simply playing Oklahoma in the Insight Bowl instead of Iowa State, it would make a huge difference.

But in the end, we are playing in the lowest rated, probably lowest attended game of the entire Bowl season, on a a network many people still don't get, in a timeslot right in the middle of everyone's New Year's Eve plans, in a game we have already played in twice in the last 3 years against a team from a neighboring state that we used to pummel routinely, all while listening to the coach try to make a turd sound like a diamond. That adds up to the loudest response being the sound of silence. If the basketball teams ends up in the NIT, it won't be much better. But at least we won't have to listen to Tubby tell us how tremendous it is.

Is it an all-time low in public sentiment? No. That was sometime during the Whacker years. But that's a bit like saying 5 above feels much better then 5 below. It's still darn cold. It does almost seem like from a PR stand-point they'd have been better off ending up 5-7 and going quietly into the night rather then playing in a Bowl Game that brings them nothing but derision.
 

stevedave23 said:
I'm relatively young but I have been following gopher football for the better part of twenty years and I've never seen anything like this.

I certainly didn't expect any media or coffee talk about the gopher game to be overly positive but the past 24 hours have been a bit shocking to me.

This morning I flipped around between several different radio stations as each one absolutely trashed the bowl game tonight and gopher football in general. Bob Sansevere on KQRS said and I quote, "speaking of losing, the gopher football team plays Iowa St in the insight bowl tonight..." he went on to declare that gopher football is now the least compelling of all the teams in the Twin Cities. Even WCCO, the radio home of gopher football, took shots. When talking about the lack of ticket sales by the gopher fans vs. Iowa state one of the guys on the show remarked, "maybe all of the snow birds from Minnesota went to Arizona to get away from gopher football?"

Wow.

This most certainly isn't the worst gopher team or even the worst stretch of teams, but has public sentiment ever been worse?
Click to expand...

Media sentiment is low on UofM football, yes (when hasn't it been?), but public sentiment is skewed because of these hacks. Don't think that these announcers, writers, online polls, etc. are in any way indicative of public sentiment. That STrib poll showing ~80% want Brewster to go? PRIME EXAMPLE. So is it really 80% of all fans, or 80% of the most vocal, dissatisfied 'fans'?

In all my education of statistics and media culture, I learned that voluntary polls will always be skewed with the most vocal, extreme-viewed opinions and that in the media the most controversial, extreme views and statements are what keep listeners and viewers glued; kind of like watching something so appalling yet you don't know why you can't look away.

Please take it all with the proverbial grain of salt. It's much easier for these guys to complain than to keep tongue-in-cheek.
 

RodentRampage said:
Gopher football the least compelling of all the area's teams? That would be - by far - the Minnesota Timberwolves. No one is interested in the Timberwolves anymore. People are still interested in Gopher football, they wouldn't talk trash about the Gophers if it were otherwise. The local media seems to resent the fact that people still want to talk about the Gophers.

We can't infer from the trash talk that people are losing interest in Gopher football.
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Exactly.
 

It may be a low-rated bowl, being on a Network many people don't get - and 5 PM? Most people are still at work. But I'm pretty sure it won't be the least attended. The Pizza Bowl for one example, the entire upper deck was empty, and the lower deck was awfully sparse.
 



All I can say is that from a general perspective, it's always darkest before the dawn.
 

tato2001 said:
Things certainly ain't great in Gopher Football, but it's simply piling on at this point. The team has been far worse as you point out. I think it's largely a response to Brewster's big talk (disclaimer: his big talk has never bothered me personally, I got problems w/ Brew, but I took his talk with a grain of salt. His job is part sales after all...). Many people rolled their eyes, and now that the team is merely mediocre, it gives everyone a chance to pat themselves on the back and say, "I told you so." This creates sort of a reverse band-wagon; people don't want to be associated as someone who has been talking up the program like that guy BREWSTER, do they?

Two lessons here: 1) People are vindictive and petty 2) Because people are vindictive and petty, DON'T SET YOURSELF UP FOR FAILURE BY BOASTING.

A long time ago someone told me it's best to under-promise and over-deliver, where in the eyes of many, the opposite has happened.
Click to expand...

My issue is that people have a very funny definition of boasting. I am not sure that saying your goal is to win a championship is a boast. Around these parts, having aspirations appears to be boastful. :rolleyes:
 

Is it just because we are in the Twin Cities that the Gophers are getting this knee jerk yawning reaction to their bowl game? I've watched pretty much every bowl game and they have been horribly attended. Games played right in the backyard of teams (Idaho, North Carolina, Miami) are half empty.
The problem is the media doesn't do its job and actually watch these games so they can compare the interest these bowl games have when hosting a team from that state.

I think the average fan in town here is very uneducated and believe most of what they read and hear. They read that Brew keeps hiring and firing his coordinators but they never get to read how he basically has every single position coach that he hired 3 years ago. That is staff continuity.
 

buddylee853 said:
Media sentiment is low on UofM football, yes (when hasn't it been?), but public sentiment is skewed because of these hacks. Don't think that these announcers, writers, online polls, etc. are in any way indicative of public sentiment. That STrib poll showing ~80% want Brewster to go? PRIME EXAMPLE. So is it really 80% of all fans, or 80% of the most vocal, dissatisfied 'fans'?

In all my education of statistics and media culture, I learned that voluntary polls will always be skewed with the most vocal, extreme-viewed opinions and that in the media the most controversial, extreme views and statements are what keep listeners and viewers glued; kind of like watching something so appalling yet you don't know why you can't look away.

Please take it all with the proverbial grain of salt. It's much easier for these guys to complain than to keep tongue-in-cheek.
Click to expand...

Online polls have only entertainment value. Those who feel strongly about it are the most motivated to participate. If you did a real poll, you wouldn't get anywhere near 80%.
 



Name me a fan base that is excited for a third string bowl game and I'll name you a program lower than MN. There are too many bowl games and tonight is one of them. I want the Gophs to win but am I excited? Nope. I am excited about the future however. MN is upgrading talent and heading in the right direction. MN has had 40 years of mediocrity, why should anyone get excited about it now?
 

Hello, Leafield?

Radio Home of the Gophers, my a##. If it is a three party decision as to who has the broadcast rights, then Joel Maturi, Greg Gerlach, and WCCO see no conflict. No problem. That being only strike one. Strike two is off course the selection of Dave Lee as a play by play voice of Gopher Football. Numerous times i have written, emailed my displeasure with Dave Lee's confused, halting, phoney delivery. But he still has the microphone and can make a heartbreaking loss, cruel and unusual. If you are not yelling at the radio, WHAT? at least once in the first two minutes you need to seek immediate attention. You are brain dead. And the nice interjections from Dave Mona to clearify what actually has happened or is happening, or should happen leads to only further frustration and confusion.

If you are listening on radio, Good Luck!
 

RodentRampage said:
Online polls have only entertainment value. Those who feel strongly about it are the most motivated to participate. If you did a real poll, you wouldn't get anywhere near 80%.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I'm saying, and I really can't believe there are people that take these as indisputable truths... makes me shake my head in disgust..
 

Here is what I say to people that call this a bad bowl....7 Big Ten teams made the 2009 NCAA basketball tournament and 7 teams are going to a bowl game this year. So should the 7th team that went to the NCAA tournament feel bad for going? Absolutely not.


Tubby went 9-9 in the Big Ten and still made the tourney...not exactly lighting it up, but people were pumped.
 

minngg said:
Name me a fan base that is excited for a third string bowl game and I'll name you a program lower than MN. There are too many bowl games and tonight is one of them. I want the Gophs to win but am I excited? Nope. I am excited about the future however. MN is upgrading talent and heading in the right direction. MN has had 40 years of mediocrity, why should anyone get excited about it now?
Click to expand...

How can you be a fan and not be excited? We haven't played in over a month! There are so many things that we as fans should be looking for in this game from a general improvement perspective that should keep us on the edge of our seats. Have we simplified the offense? Can Weber throw a three yard pass at someone's chest at less than 90 mph? Will the blocking show distinct improvement? How much of the game will revolve around trying to establish the run? Will Collado literally take someone's head off on kick coverage? Will Cooper block a punt and actually have the laws of physics agree with him this time?
 

[QUOTE ...This most certainly isn't the worst gopher team or even the worst stretch of teams, but has public sentiment ever been worse?[/QUOTE]

Wacker's next to last year is the only one that comes close. It was tempered though by two things:

- Wacker was a very tough guy to hate. Brewster has guys coming out and saying that they personally hate him.

- 15 years ago you didn't have knee-jerk "say anything good and you're a homer" reaction. Before the Gopher fan trolls say "how can you say anything good about this team", remember the 4-1 start last year? The main discussion of the 11 point loss to Ohio State was how "Tressel called off the dogs" and how the margin was phony. The road victory over the Illini got some good press. There really wasn't a lot of positive press until the victory over Purdue, a team that was ranked 25th in the country. A team the Gophers had lost to 9 of their previous 10 games. Even that was rather begrudging. Nationally it was a bigger story the locally. The loss to NW and the loss of Decker, Campbell, Theret and a big chunk of the OL brought a very lousy end to that season and the chorus of bile started again.

The other interesting note? During Wacker's years and to some extent Mason's, we heard again and again about how people didn't want to see Offensive Football. Only Defense wins games. Now the whining is about how boring the Gophers are and how Wacker and Mason's teams were at least "fun to watch" because of all the Offense.:eek:

You can't make it up. :clap:
 

Online polls have only entertainment value. Those who feel strongly about it are the most motivated to participate. If you did a real poll, you wouldn't get anywhere near 80%.
Click to expand...

A poll such as this is the equivalent of showing up at a republican rally and askind if they think Obama should go. Do we really need to ask the question?

There is an all out media blitz in the Twin Cities to destroy Gopher Football. It's just weird. Nobody gains from such a thing but a few measily hacks. you'd think there were some people running these papers and radio stations that might be a bit smarter and see the losing end game in such tact. But it is what it is.
 

Schnoodler said:
A poll such as this is the equivalent of showing up at a republican rally and askind if they think Obama should go. Do we really need to ask the question?

There is an all out media blitz in the Twin Cities to destroy Gopher Football. It's just weird. Nobody gains from such a thing but a few measily hacks. you'd think there were some people running these papers and radio stations that might be a bit smarter and see the losing end game in such tact. But it is what it is.
Click to expand...

Dude, from the topic of best poster of the year, you definitely get my vote in football.
 

Schnoodler said:
A poll such as this is the equivalent of showing up at a republican rally and askind if they think Obama should go. Do we really need to ask the question?

There is an all out media blitz in the Twin Cities to destroy Gopher Football. It's just weird. Nobody gains from such a thing but a few measily hacks. you'd think there were some people running these papers and radio stations that might be a bit smarter and see the losing end game in such tact. But it is what it is.
Click to expand...

Here's the problem: Who really with a regular voice in town follows the team? I might've been tough on them at times last year on Fanline with Matt O'Connell & Z. Johnson from Rivals, but I would at least like to think we formed thoughts/opinions from a semi-intelligent point of view (I know, many will disagree at least in regards to me).
 

I think people need to understand two things:

1. In a big sports market, one team will always be the brunt of jokes. In Minnesota it will never be the Vikings, Twins, Wild or Gopher hockey. Currently Gopher football fits this role better than the Wolves as Gopher football has a dedicated fan base who reacts- the Wolves don't seem to get any reaction. Monson had basketball in this role a few years ago.
2. Going to a bowl game is good but the average sports fan doesn't understand this. They still think of bowl games as rewards to a great season and thus scoff at 6-6 teams playing 6-6 teams. Gophers and fans really need to soft-sell bowl games unless they are coming off good seasons. Today's game is a case in point. Talk about happy to get more practice and excited to play another game but don't go overboard. Additionally, if we win, talk about how good a win this is for the guys but don't act like it is a huge win for the program. It isn't.
 

It's always going to be a Vikings town, no matter what. It makes no sense to me, but that's the way it is. They haven't been to the Super Bowl in 20 years, have failed miserably each time in the past decade or so when they had the chance to elevate themselves to "elite" status, but for some reason, they are given a free pass each and every time by the media. This season certainly is taking shape as another in which the Vikings will fail to meet expectations, but the "we'll get them next year" attitude will be peppered all over tv, radio and print shortly after the season.
 


Doogie said:
Here's the problem: Who really with a regular voice in town follows the team? I might've been tough on them at times last year on Fanline with Matt O'Connell & Z. Johnson from Rivals, but I would at least like to think we formed thoughts/opinions from a semi-intelligent point of view (I know, many will disagree at least in regards to me).
Click to expand...

Doogie, you take a lot of crap on this board. And unfairly so, I think, for the reasons you just noted. I think some people on this board think that any comment than can be construed as even partially negative makes someone a troll. I disagree. This program and coach have given people plenty of ammunition for criticism. The least that media people can do is become informed and speak objectively. I think you do that, and other than Mark Rosen, I can't think of any others in town who do.

Barriero, Souhan and Sansevere are among the loudest voices in the Twin Cities media, and they have no idea what they are talking about. They're trying to be funny, and they take absolute glee in any Gopher failure. Unfortunately, they have a lot of power among casual sports fans who don't realize that these guys don't know that they're talking out of their a$$.
 

dpodoll68 said:
I wish.:cry: That would mean they have been there in my lifetime.

Try 33.
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2 problems with my statement. For some reason I kept thinking that they went in 1979. Wrong. I also thought that 2009-1979=20. Good job, genius.
 

The media is only successful if there's a following. Negativity is their method, and you're STILL following it. If you want them to stop, QUIT READING/WATCHING!

geez...
 


Hates Monikers said:
Doogie, you take a lot of crap on this board. And unfairly so, I think, for the reasons you just noted. I think some people on this board think that any comment than can be construed as even partially negative makes someone a troll. I disagree. This program and coach have given people plenty of ammunition for criticism. The least that media people can do is become informed and speak objectively. I think you do that, and other than Mark Rosen, I can't think of any others in town who do.

Barriero, Souhan and Sansevere are among the loudest voices in the Twin Cities media, and they have no idea what they are talking about. They're trying to be funny, and they take absolute glee in any Gopher failure. Unfortunately, they have a lot of power among casual sports fans who don't realize that these guys don't know that they're talking out of their a$$.
Click to expand...

What kind of ammunition? Optimism? Aspiration? Just about the only thing in my mind that fuels the criticism-fire is the assumption that this coach promised the summit would be reached right away. If people are so damn patient with the Vikings, then why not with this team??
 

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