Columbus Post Dispatch: Before pro sports arrived, Gophers ruled Minnesota

[BleedGopher]

per columnist Bob Hunter:

Minnesota used to be one of college football’s traditional powers.

Seriously.

It is a topic that always makes for good conversation the week of the Minnesota-Ohio State game because the game itself rarely does. The Buckeyes have won the last eight times, 24 of the last 25 and 36 of the last 38.

No matter how good the Buckeyes have been during that span, which began in 1969, those results do more than simply hint at trouble for the Golden Gophers. Traditional powers don’t lose 36 of 38 to anybody. If they do, they’re out of the club.

The Minnesota Vikings joined the NFL in 1961, and baseball’s Washington Senators moved to the Minneapolis area and became the Minnesota Twins that year. It is hardly a coincidence.

Until 1961, the Gophers enjoyed the same kind of status in the Twin Cities that the Buckeyes have here. The Minneapolis and St. Paul minor-league baseball teams played in the American Association with the Columbus Senators and Red Birds for many years, but they couldn’t rival the Gophers for fans’ affection.

But the cities kept growing, and when major league sports arrived, the Gophers no longer commanded the same interest.

http://buckeyextra.dispatch.com/content/stories/2014/11/14/gameday/gd-hunter-column.html

Go Gophers!!

 

[BleedGopher]

Columbus Post Dispatch: Gophers were once a national power

The snarky nickname — Golden O-fers — is as cold as the ground under which the school’s rodent mascot lives. If only Minnesota could manage a return to the golden age of its football program, then maybe the jokes would stop.

By the looks of things, however, that is easier said than done. The fact that Minnesota is incredibly pumped by its 7-2 record, which includes last week’s “huge” victory over unranked Iowa, reveals how far the formerly dominant program has plummeted over the past 50 years.

The Gophers, with four national titles since the recognized poll championships began in 1936, have not won a Big Ten title since sharing one with Indiana and Purdue in 1967. Their streak of 53 seasons without a New Year’s Day bowl appearance tops the Big Ten.

http://buckeyextra.dispatch.com/content/stories/2014/11/14/gameday/history.html

Go Gophers!!

 

[Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0]

We're due to shut these effers up.

 

[killme]

per columnist Bob Hunter

Bob thinks pro sports arriving in Minneapolis is the reason the Gophers haven't been to the Rose Bowl in decades? There sure are a bunch of pompous attitudes in Columbus: fans, players, coaches, media. This will be a fun win for us.

 

[Mulligan]

My first reaction was to think that I've actually got to start hating Ohio State, but it isn't fair to Iowa or Wisconsin if I spread my hate too thinly. Looking at this with the clearest possible logic, I've got to think, "Good. I hope the media and talk down in Columbus has a whole lot more stuff like this. Just going to make the Buckeyes take us for granted and not really expect a game. They show up not really ready to play, and then the Gophers absolutely smack them." Sort of like when Paul Newman kicked the big guy in the nuts in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and left him rolling in the dirt.

 

[Ski U Master]

To think the introduction of the Vikings to the area isn't a factor in the decline of Gopher football is foolish, however it is only one of many reasons for the collapse of a once powerful program.

 

[dlw4gophers]

Mulligan. You are spot on. That made me laugh. But, Who Hates Ohio State? That was a chant before the one from last week was popular.