...Today's PR debacle from the Gopher football office seems to fit into this pasted rant just perfectly:
"If the Gopher program is going to sell themselves as a big time program (whether to donors, recruits, fans, or whoever) then we should set expectations accordingly. There's nothing wrong with having high expectations of the way things are handled. We can't just say we're big time, we have to act like it."
Would ANY bigtime program (think OSU, Penn State, Texas, USC, etc.) ever go down the path that the Gophers went down today with KFAN? No chance. Even if it was a simple miscommunication, it's a mistake the big-timers don't make. Instead those programs have someone on staff busting their butt to be included on the local sports radio stations - to be a part of any publicity rather than just play victim to it. And let's be honest - do you think the sports talk radio in the Detroit area, Happy Valley, Lincoln or Baton Rouge go easy on the local team? Again, no chance. (Maybe we can blame 'CCO for constantly giving the Gophers the knee-pad treatment.
And I don't want to hear anything about Iowa City or Madison - as long as we continue to use them as our point of comparison we're aiming way too low.
The good news is that this, like most things, shall pass. It sure did make for a good talker today though!