Bad atmosphere

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Gopher028 said:
Such a Minnesotan thing to say...all I read was:
"yeah but we have great culture with lots of museums and theatre........we're too sophisticated to cheer loudly"
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Agreed. But I refuse to cheer loudly for mediocre play. Want me invested as a fan, give me something worth being fanatical about.
 

We've sold out all four games, including two games against Kent State and Ohio. Sure the atmosphere could be a little better but we also were down 2-3 scores most of the game.

/end thread


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MinneStoa said:
It shouldn't be terribly surprising that the season opener against the #2 team in the nation created a slightly better atmosphere than the Nebraska game...
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Sure TCU was #2 but we had convincingly beat CSU, KSU, O-hi-o, got nipped by NW, and blew away that juggernaut Purdue. I would have thought the crowd would have been way more amped up for Nebraska.
 

'13Gopher said:
Let's not rip the old timers. Those guys and gals have spent a ton of money over the years to watch crap football (excluding a short Mason stint) and they deserve to watch now however they choose just like the rest of us. Or if Limey calls anything other than a 2 yard out on 3rd and 7? Then the fans might get excited. We can't play poorly executed, boring football and expect the fans to scream at the top of their liver-spotted lungs.
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Agreed. Having spent time at several other more football-centric universities, the stadium culture at Gophers games is particularly tame. The demographics are also noticeably skewed toward the ancient. But those are the loyal folks that have stuck around for the last few decades of mediocrity and failure, and until you create a winning culture where 20-somethings have a reason to pay attention, don't discount your existing supporters. It takes time (and unfortunately, a large financial investment) to build a successful football culture in 2015. One or two winning seasons don't erase decades of ineptitude. Lots of work to be done here, but moving in the right direction.
 

Agreed. We have some of the worst chants/songs of any fan base. The winner still goes to the MIN-NE-SO-TA chant with the male cheerleaders sprinting around with flags trying to get the crowd to awkwardly join in.

dpodoll68 said:
The Ski-U-Mah chant is forced and lame.
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The amount of people constantly on their phones at any type of event these days is sickening... and I'm 26. I'm ashamed of my generation, although I would argue the younger ones are much worse.

Mulligan said:
What a dumb ass thing to say. It's that core of fans that have stayed with this program through over 50 years of mediocre to inept football. Without that support the stadium wouldn't have been built, and things would have been even more bleak many years. Not sure why so many comments blaming the old fans (of which I am one) pop up here. That demographic is part of every team's fan base. Sorry, I'm going to get excited when there is something to actually get excited about. The fake cheers and forced attempts at enthusiasm don't do it. I also see many of the younger fans paying as much attention to their phones as to what is going on in the game but not really calling for them to be replaced.
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Sorry.

If you can't go nuts on Nebraska's first possession after the Gophers drive down the field and score on their first possession of the game...and I think for the first time this season...certainly at home...what's the point of a 12th man?

I don't care if you're casual or not. It's Nebraska. At home.

Football is not a spectator sport. Participate or lose.
 

I said several times during the game on Saturday that the crowd seemed subdued and this was early on before the Gophers fell apart. It even took the students awhile to show as the upper deck of the student section didn't fill until after the game had started and even then it didn't fill to capacity.

There were even Cornhusker fans sitting in the row in front of us and when I asked about the folks who normally sit there, the Corn folks said, "we're friends of theirs and they gave us their tickets." Trust me, I'll tell the regular couple who sit there that they should never give their tickets away to the enemy.
 

Gopher2017 said:
" Trust me, I'll tell the regular couple who sit there that they should never give their tickets away to the enemy.
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And if I were that couple, I'd politely say, "Thank you, but you need to mind your own business and I'll decide what I want to do with tickets I bought with my own money."
 



BilldGopher said:
Sorry.

If you can't go nuts on Nebraska's first possession after the Gophers drive down the field and score on their first possession of the game...and I think for the first time this season...certainly at home...what's the point of a 12th man?

I don't care if you're casual or not. It's Nebraska. At home.

Football is not a spectator sport. Participate or lose.
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Nebraska scored on the 3rd play of their drive. I'm not saying your wrong, but I think the crowd would have been different had they not scored so quickly. It was all downhill from there.
 


SelectionSunday said:
And if I were that couple, I'd politely say, "Thank you, but you need to mind your own business and I'll decide what I want to do with tickets I bought with my own money."
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I think the point Gopher2017 was making is that Wisconsin, Nebraska, or Iowa fans wouldn't just give their tickets away to Gopher fans.
 

I thought the atmosphere for the Nebraska game was a bit off.

Having said that I thought the PA system, and the pregame stuff was off all game to. The PA system was oddly loud, then oddly quiet, some graphics were wonky (it kept flashing the OHIO logo for Nebraska). The pacing of the announcing and such from the PA was off for some reason..... The PA drown out the crowd several times when the crowd was getting going.

Something was off.
 



dpodoll68 said:
Chicago's metro area is multiple times larger than the Twin Cities.
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Just making sure you're awake. Sad when I was typing and knew that by skipping Chicago, you would correct me. I should have clarified public schools.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I think the point Gopher2017 was making is that Wisconsin, Nebraska, or Iowa fans wouldn't just give their tickets away to Gopher fans.
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There is also likely a better market to sell to their own fans.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I think the point Gopher2017 was making is that Wisconsin, Nebraska, or Iowa fans wouldn't just give their tickets away to Gopher fans.
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Exactly. The amount of red in the stands was depressing. I thought we were past that.
 

I don't think we will ever be past that. There will always be people selling there tickets, especially when you can charge a premium for big games and make up the cost of some other games or the license fee. I am sure we will see it for Wisconsin too.
 

There was a time when I refused to sell my tickets to opposing fans or scalpers and would eat them if I couldn't give them away to someone wearing maroon and gold. With the new ticket price policy, I have changed my policy and sell to the highest bidder regardless of what color they are wearing including better dead than red skunks and yellow belly hog-eyes.
 

Hates Monikers said:
"Bad atmosphere" hasn't been my experience in section 103. But I've seen enough others on this board say it's bad to make me believe that I'm in the minority.

I will say it seemed like there was less red in the stadium than there was in Nebraska's last two visits here.

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+1 Plenty of standing and cheering on defensive 3rd downs where I was sitting (2 seats away from HM) Not nearly as Red as 2 years ago in the stands. I'm attaching a picture of the crowd I took two years ago from my seat.
Nebraska Game 2013.jpg
 


underground629 said:
The amount of people constantly on their phones at any type of event these days is sickening... and I'm 26. I'm ashamed of my generation, although I would argue the younger ones are much worse.
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Congrats on being a crotchety old man at age 26.
 

John Galt said:
I bet that at least 50% of the Nebraska fans yesterday live in the Twin Cities. I work with a guy who grew up in Nebraska, and he was going to the game with a group of 6 who all live here. It's the one chance they get to see their team.

Likewise, I talked with 2 guys in their 60s at Surly who were decked out in red. They both have lived in the south metro for over 40 years and usually cheer for the Gophers...
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I would guess more than 50%


The sad thing is the Nebraska fans I have met from Nebraska and in Lincoln are nice kind people. The Minnesota-Nebraska fans are drunk, loud, and may as well be from Wisconsin.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I commented about this in another thread. I think MN sports fans have seen our teams fail so many times, some people would just prefer to be negative because it is easier. If you're negative and expect the worst, then when it does happen it doesn't hurt as much. But if you're optimistic, then the losses hurt more.

I can see how some will be a little cautious, but what is the point of being a fan if you can't enjoy the wins and be optimistic about the future at least once in awhile?
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Being negative isn't exclusive to Minnesota sports fans. It is the norm not the exception in all the places I have been.
 

Some guy said:
This is a correct observation.
The fact that the announcer starts it makes it almost sad.
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Which is still better than the ear bleeding "and that's another golden gopher first down". They've got to come up with better in game schtick.
 

Be loud, Be nice and sell your tickets to whomever you damn well please! But especially....BE LOUD!
 

goldengophers said:
Which is still better than the ear bleeding "and that's another golden gopher first down". They've got to come up with better in game schtick.
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Nothing wrong with the first down thing. It was great during the Mason era when we could run, the crowd got into that as they just kept driving down the field. The thing is it is offense specific and our offense hasn't been good.

The thing is the offense has been hit or miss when you finally hear "first down" for the second or third time ... late in the 2nd quarter, hard to get into that. Do better and it is a good thing.

It's not the cheer, it's that offense isn't supporting it at this point.
 

We're not the only fan base who has succumb to the buying power of the Husker fan base.
 

gophmeister said:
We're not the only fan base who has succumb to the buying power of the Husker fan base.
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No, and it's not just Gopher fans here in town. I've known Twins fans who sell their Yankee and Brewer tickets to make a significant chunk of change back towards their season tickets. Same with Viking fans selling their Packer tickets, and Wild fans selling their Jets tickets. Considering the high cost of tickets these days, I can't fault people for trying to do what they can to save some money.
 

I lurked here for years before signing up, but remember the months in 2008 and 2009 leading up to the opening of TCF Bank Stadium. Everyone was justifiably excited that we were not only finally getting football back on campus but also in a terrific looking stadium (most of the recently built on campus stadiums had put functionality above asthetics such as Stanford, UCF, and to an extent SMU). However, as the new stadium approached, there were more than a few posts that seemed to think all we had to do was open the doors and we'd have an atmosphere to rival Columbus, Norman, Tuscaloosa, and Baton Rouge. Sellouts were expected. The addition of the third deck was a matter of when rather than if. People with bleacher seats claimed there'd be no need to buy seat cushions because everyone was going to stand anyway. It wasn't everyone or even a majority, but you didn't have to look too hard to see expectations that were out of touch with the actual situation.

Reality set in quickly, but the divide between what the atmosphere is, what people want it to be, and how to bridge that gap remain. It will take a long time, continuous winning seasons, and significant wins to create a big time college football atmosphere at Gopher games. Too much damage was done by the mediocrity and poor seasons that largely occurred between the late 1960s and late 1990s, not to mention the Mason era topping out short of the hoped for peak and the Tim Brewster disaster. It's clearly is better than it once was at the Metrodome. New traditions and fan habits are forming. It has a chance to continue to get better, but too many years of the team being bad or falling short (cue sighs of "same old Gophers" from casual fans) makes it a rugged mountain to climb.
 

Sports_Realist said:
The addition of the third deck was a matter of when rather than if. People with bleacher seats claimed there'd be no need to buy seat cushions because everyone was going to stand anyway.
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Neither of these things happened.
 

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