ESPN says our most important game is at Iowa

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dpodoll68 said:
Where did I say that?

Does anyone disagree that, of any given sample size on Earth, that University of Minnesota alumni are, by far, the most likely to be Gopher fans? Given how difficult it is to even get Gopher students to come to the games, let alone alumni, why would we expect random, non-alumni fans to suddenly become Gopher fans if the Vikings continue to play poorly?
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Because other people are football fans. The posters on this board are here because we are football fans and support the U of M. Even though I'm a U of M alum, I have never attended a single sporting event outside of men's football, basketball, and hockey. And I probably never will.

If the Gophers start hot and the Vikings are playing bad, will the Gophers get some additional attention? Absolutely. Will all of the Viking fans burn their purple jerseys en masse and start attending every Gopher game. Of course not. We learned an important lesson from the Michigan game in 2003. If the Gophers are good and have a chance to get to the Rose Bowl, people will show up and be loud. If we're 5-0, TCF Bank will be sold out and rocking on 10/13 when we play Northwestern. If we're 2-3, we'll probably have 45,000 tops. Minnnesota won't switch over from the Vikings to the Gophers because of a few games or even a few seasons. It will take a sustained period of winning from the Gophers and a long slide from the Vikings for a real transition to happen.
 

John Galt said:
Because other people are football fans. The posters on this board are here because we are football fans and support the U of M. Even though I'm a U of M alum, I have never attended a single sporting event outside of men's football, basketball, and hockey. And I probably never will.

If the Gophers start hot and the Vikings are playing bad, will the Gophers get some additional attention? Absolutely. Will all of the Viking fans burn their purple jerseys en masse and start attending every Gopher game. Of course not. We learned an important lesson from the Michigan game in 2003. If the Gophers are good and have a chance to get to the Rose Bowl, people will show up and be loud. If we're 5-0, TCF Bank will be sold out and rocking on 10/13 when we play Northwestern. If we're 2-3, we'll probably have 45,000 tops. Minnnesota won't switch over from the Vikings to the Gophers because of a few games or even a few seasons. It will take a sustained period of winning from the Gophers and a long slide from the Vikings for a real transition to happen.
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Yes, thank you. You agree with me. The point is that the Gophers must win, win big, and win consistently to become a hot ticket in this town. Whether the Vikings are winning or losing, or whether they exist here or not, is almost entirely irrelevant.
 

BleedGopher said:
Most important game: Sept. 29 at Iowa

Why it's important: We're not exactly in the midst of a golden age of Minnesota football, but the Gophers have done pretty well lately when it comes to the bronzed pig. They've won two straight Floyd of Rosedale trophies, including last year's 22-21 upset in Minneapolis. The Iowa rivalry is always going to be one of the most important games on the schedule, and this year I think it could have a big impact on how Jerry Kill's second season winds up. Here's why: Minnesota has four winnable games in the nonconference schedule, starting at UNLV and including home games against New Hampshire, Western Michigan and Syracuse. While those aren't guaranteed victories in any sense, if the Gophers improve on the progress they made late last season, they certainly could begin the season 4-0 or 3-1 at worst. Then comes the Big Ten opener at Iowa. Going to Kinnick Stadium will be no cakewalk, but the Gophers surely have confidence against the Hawkeyes after the past two years. If MarQueis Gray and Minnesota can manage to keep Floyd for a third straight year, then all of a sudden a bowl game looks like a real possibility in 2012. That would represent a huge step forward for Kill and this program. Throw in the fact that a Gophers win would send Iowa fans into an early-season panic, and it becomes that much sweeter -- and important.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/51061/most-important-game-minnesota

Go Gophers!!
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Gotta agree...the Gophers will be next step in developing so it will be an indicator game as to how far they have come...considering Iowa will probably be out for blood, a good test of their mettle as well.
 

Funny thing.. I'm a Minnesotan, therefore I am a Vikings, Gopher Football, Twins, Timberwolves, Wild, Gopher basketball, Gopher Hockey and even shall I say, Lynx fan. I've attended games of all the above. This sentiment that I'm a Vikings fan so I can't be a Gopher fan is bullsh*t
 



I think dpodoll's notion here is the amount of people who are season ticket holders of both the Gophers and the Vikings is miniscule.
 

I'm going to slightly disagree on the Viking -Gopher cross-over. Personally I am both and go to and tailgate to at least 2-3 Vikings games a year and probably 4-5 Gopher games a year. On one hand, we love football, but we also love winners. If the Gophers get respectable to good, fans will come.

That said, as a tailgater for both, the experience is about 180 degrees apart and I would say a good chunk of each fan base would not cross over, but a very good chunk would.

I would also like to add that after the Vikings use the Bank for X amount of games, the U better have a good supply of disinfectant.
 

ski-u-mah said:
I would also like to add that after the Vikings use the Bank for X amount of games, the U better have a good supply of disinfectant.
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No worries. The Bank has already hosted NDSU and Iowa twice.:cool:
 

dpodoll68 said:
I don't know when people will get it through their heads. This mythical crossover Gophers/Vikings fan is almost non-existent. People who are huge fans of both (huge enough to potentially buy tickets and attend games) are almost non-existent. I know dozens, if not hundreds, of people my age who are U alums and huge football fans. Almost all are enormous Vikings fans, watch every second of every game, and attend anywhere from 1-3 Vikings games per season. I can count on one hand (with myself taking up one finger) the number of those people (who are all, once again, U alums) who have attended even one Gopher football game in the past 10 years.

Worry about the Gophers winning some f'ing games. Don't pretend that the Vikings sucking (or the now-extinct dream of them leaving town) is going to be the magical elixir for the Gophers gaining relevance.
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Silly me! I thought when someone said "the Purple" being 0-4, they were referring to Northwestern. Northwestern is our next opponent at the Bank and it is homecoming.

Since I brought up Northwestern, an undefeated Northwestern vs a 5-0 Gopher team playing homecoming/ BigTen home opener could be a very good draw.

Just the thought gets me pumped!
 



It is Pantherhawk

GopherInPittsburgh said:
Don't waste your time on him.
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You do know that is Pantherhawk don't you? He always starts of friendly and then he slowly begins to change into a troll. I had him thrown off the Strib site three times and I think it is about time that he is banned here.
 

I thought this was a thread about the Gophers/Iowa and the development of Gophers FB, not Gophers/Vikings???
 

Killjoy said:
You do know that is Pantherhawk don't you? He always starts of friendly and then he slowly begins to change into a troll. I had him thrown off the Strib site three times and I think it is about time that he is banned here.
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Darth Pantherhawk is now banned.
 

Killjoy said:
You do know that is Pantherhawk don't you? He always starts of friendly and then he slowly begins to change into a troll. I had him thrown off the Strib site three times and I think it is about time that he is banned here.
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It wasn't Pantherhawk. He said so. If we can't take a man for his word on a messageboard, our society is going to hell in a handbasket.
 



10/20 against our most hated rival wisky. especially since we've lost 8 in a row to them. michigan state is a bigger rival to them than us. so sad...
 

When the Vikings do poorly, it barely affects Vikings attendance. If poor Vikings attendance caused Gopher attendance to increase, we surely would have seen some evidence, we would see greater attendance at Gophers games than the Gophers performance would indicate.

To gain attendance at games, the Gophers don't have to convert Vikings fans. The Gophers need to get people off the couch and into TCF. Focusing on the Vikings distracts from what the University can do to improve attendance and performace.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Wrong. I've related this personal experience multiple times before, and many have agreed with me and said their experience is the same. If anyone out there is a U alum and has a group of friends/acquaintances (all U alums) with a larger following of Gopher fans than Viking fans contained therein, I invite them to post it here.

*crickets*
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Posting.
 

In terms of having enormous numbers of die-hard Gopher football fans/ticket holders in their circle of friends? Where are they?[/QUOTE]

I have a core group of about 10-12 that I spend the majority of my time with. 8 of us have Gopher season tickets. We all go to about 1 Vikings game a year. And I know many others who went to the U that would get season tickets if there was a better product on the field. I don't recall anyone talking about getting Vikings season tickets.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Yes, thank you. You agree with me. The point is that the Gophers must win, win big, and win consistently to become a hot ticket in this town. Whether the Vikings are winning or losing, or whether they exist here or not, is almost entirely irrelevant.
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Wrong. If the Vikings are losing, that is more reason for the casual fan to switch their attention to the Gophers if they are doing well. Not sure how you don't get this.
 

DLguy said:
Wrong. If the Vikings are losing, that is more reason for the casual fan to switch their attention to the Gophers if they are doing well. Not sure how you don't get this.
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Is there any evidence that the casual fan switches to the Gophers when the Vikings are losing?
 

station19 said:
Ruppert; How much signage/promotional Gopher material do you see in the Brainerd/Nisswa area.

Here in the Alex area I see a few Gopher hats or sweatshirts, but that's it.
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Mills Fleet Farm as quite a few items as does Kohl's. JC Penny's also is carrying clothing items.
 

RodentRampage said:
Is there any evidence that the casual fan switches to the Gophers when the Vikings are losing?
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It's like this. Say the Gophers go 9-3 this year. The attention the Gophers get would be VASTLY different if the Vikings win the Super Bowl than if the Vikings go 3-13. It doesn't change that the Gophers need to win in the first place, but to say that the Vikings have no affect seems silly.
 

FreakyDeke said:
It's like this. Say the Gophers go 9-3 this year. The attention the Gophers get would be VASTLY different if the Vikings win the Super Bowl than if the Vikings go 3-13. It doesn't change that the Gophers need to win in the first place, but to say that the Vikings have no affect seems silly.
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Again, where's the evidence? I'm not saying the Vikings have no effect. But what IS being claimed is that if the Vikings do poorly that the Gophers attendance will rise. No evidence is presented for this. When the Vikings do well, do we see a corresponding decrease in Gophers attendance that couldn't be predicted from the Gophers performance? When the Vikings do poorly, do we see a corresponding increase in Gophers attendance that couldn't be predicted from the Gophers performance? The Vikings have had good seasons and the Vikings have had bad seasons. What seems to impact the Gophers attendance is what is going on with the Gophers, not what is going on with the Vikings.

The "casual fan" isn't deciding between Vikings tickets and Gophers tickets. The casual fan is sitting on the couch. If the Gophers are to fill TCF, it won't be by converting Vikings fans, but getting people from the couch to Gophers games?
 

DLguy said:
And I know many others who went to the U that would get season tickets if there was a better product on the field.
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Thank you for agreeing with me. The Gophers winning is the only thing that will move the needle.

DLguy said:
Wrong. If the Vikings are losing, that is more reason for the casual fan to switch their attention to the Gophers if they are doing well.
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What do you mean "wrong"? Once again, you're making my point for me. If the Gophers aren't winning, everything else is irrelevant.

DLguy said:
Not sure how you don't get this
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I don't "get it" because it's wrong. The Vikings were historically bad last year. They tied for the 2nd-worst record in franchise history, and the worst in almost 3 decades. The Gophers were playing the 3rd season in a beautiful new stadium with the most attractive home schedule in decades (if not all-time), and how many sell-outs were there? The answer, as you know, is zero. There's my evidence that when the Vikings are bad, it doesn't affect the Gophers attendance in any meaningful way. Where is your evidence for the opposite?

I know many of you want to scapegoat and not face the facts, but here they are. If the Gophers win, the fan and media attention will come. Everything else is irrelevant. It doesn't matter how the Vikings, Timberwolves, Wild, Lynx, Swarm, Vixen, or Twins are doing. If the Gophers don't win, they won't get the media and fan attention regardless of how everyone else is doing. It's really quite simple.


P.S. When is the next "Meet Your Seat" event for current season ticket holders going to be held? You told me there would be one last summer, and there wasn't. Surely, there must be one this summer, right? I mean, we all know that the high rollers in the ticket office couldn't be talking out of their ass.
 

People in my age group are at a point in their lives where they are deciding on where to spend their entertainment dollars. The ones who are fans of the Vikings and Gophers have a decision to make. Do I buy Gopher season tickets or do I buy Vikings season tickets. Many factors play into that decision. 1 big factor is the success, or potential success of the team. 1 example I will give you that is a real life example, and not just one's opinion. My roommate moved up from Florida over the winter. Huge Vikings fan, and also a pretty big Gopher fan. He had a choice to make. Gophers or Vikings. He was going to get one or the other. He chose the Gophers, and a big reason is because he knows the Vikings are gonna be terrible and I convinced him that Kill had the program moving in the right direction and the Gophers would be fun to watch this year. 2 new Gopher season tickets. So Fact, success of the Vikings DOES have an impact on the Gophers.
 

DLguy said:
People in my age group are at a point in their lives where they are deciding on where to spend their entertainment dollars. The ones who are fans of the Vikings and Gophers have a decision to make. Do I buy Gopher season tickets or do I buy Vikings season tickets. Many factors play into that decision. 1 big factor is the success, or potential success of the team. 1 example I will give you that is a real life example, and not just one's opinion. My roommate moved up from Florida over the winter. Huge Vikings fan, and also a pretty big Gopher fan. He had a choice to make. Gophers or Vikings. He was going to get one or the other. He chose the Gophers, and a big reason is because he knows the Vikings are gonna be terrible and I convinced him that Kill had the program moving in the right direction and the Gophers would be fun to watch this year. 2 new Gopher season tickets. So Fact, success of the Vikings DOES have an impact on the Gophers.
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Wow a sample size of 1, talk about statistically significant.
 

DLguy said:
He chose the Gophers, and a big reason is because he knows the Vikings are gonna be terrible and I convinced him that Kill had the program moving in the right direction and the Gophers would be fun to watch this year. 2 new Gopher season tickets. So Fact, success of the Vikings DOES have an impact on the Gophers.
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You're not even keeping your own arguments straight. The reason he bought Gophers tickets is because you've convinced him they will be good and fun to watch. The Vikings projecting to be terrible is why he didn't buy Vikings tickets, not why he did buy Gophers tickets. If you told him the Gophers are never going anywhere and Limegrover's offense is boring, you think he would've bought season tickets?
 


dpodoll68 said:
You're not even keeping your own arguments straight. The reason he bought Gophers tickets is because you've convinced him they will be good and fun to watch. The Vikings projecting to be terrible is why he didn't buy Vikings tickets, not why he did buy Gophers tickets. If you told him the Gophers are never going anywhere and Limegrover's offense is boring, you think he would've bought season tickets?
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Did you read it all? He had a choice. One or the other. Do you think that if the Vikings were projected to go 14-2 and go deep in the playoffs that he would have still gotten the Gopher season tickets? You can't answer that for him, but I will. He would have gotten Vikings season tickets. Now I know this wont sink in at all, because Dpo is always right. But just trying to give an actual example. Not sure how you can honestly argue against a person's actual decision that lead to 2 more season tickets for the Gophers.
 


DLguy said:
Did you read it all? He had a choice. One or the other. Do you think that if the Vikings were projected to go 14-2 and go deep in the playoffs that he would have still gotten the Gopher season tickets? You can't answer that for him, but I will. He would have gotten Vikings season tickets. Now I know this wont sink in at all, because Dpo is always right. But just trying to give an actual example. Not sure how you can honestly argue against a person's actual decision that lead to 2 more season tickets for the Gophers.
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I don't believe that he was necessarily going to buy one or the other. That may be what he told you, but I don't believe it. If one has the choice between what they think are two terrible options, and neither are mandatory, why do they "have to" choose one or the other? He wasn't choosing between two terrible options in his mind. If he thought both options were terrible, he wouldn't have bought either. He wasn't going to buy Vikings tickets if you didn't convince him to buy Gophers tickets. He was choosing between what he felt was a terrible option and one that he felt was a promising option - getting to see what he feels is an exciting and improving product, and the opportunity to hang out with other season-ticket-holding friends before, during, and after the game. The problem is that an overwhelming majority of the sports fan public in Minnesota doesn't agree with that take. They think that the Gophers are terrible, and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. When they feel that the Gophers are no longer terrible, and have a chance at continuing to be not terrible for a reasonable length of time, they will buy tickets and maybe even buy season tickets. How the Vikings are doing is, once again, irrelevant.

P.S. I am not always right. Far from it. But I am certainly undefeated in arguments with you. And I truly love how much it annoys you to constantly be so very wrong when you're attempting to be contrarian with me.
 

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