Fleck on KFAN with PA

[Pompous Elitist]

KFAN and it's hosts know where their bread is buttered. The Vikings would have to switch stations or markets or the University of Minnesota would have to provide more value than the Vikings for KFAN to treat them the way they treat the Vikings.

It's kind of a self fulfilling prophecy. The more KFAN talks about the Gophers the more popular they are, but they have to be popular for KFAN to talk about them.

PJ has been more visible than any coach I can recall, yet season tix are flat to down. It isn’t a media problem. They will cover a successful team and fans will pay to see one.

 

[Dano564]

I’m a lifelong Viking fan (and Gopher fan; don’t see why many people can’t be both), but I’m embarrassed that PA is the voice of the Vikings. He’s barely listenable during a game and completely unlistenable in a talk show format. Way too pompous for me. Doesn’t matter if I want to hear from one of his guests if I can’t stomach the host.

I'm old school in that I expect the home team announcer and the road team announcer to call plays similarly. (Not be such a homer).
Ray Christensen was a golden. Called a game straight up, but if you listened to him long enough, you would know in his voice if we were winning or losing, but he wasn't a cheerleader.

 

[Dano564]

PJ has been more visible than any coach I can recall, yet season tix are flat to down. It isn’t a media problem. They will cover a successful team and fans will pay to see one.

I'm not saying the media isn't the reason tickets are flat.
But they certainly don't do the Gophers many favors and I think it's because we're a what.... 9 sport town? Vikings, Twins, Lynx, Timberwolves, Wild, MNUFC, Gopher FB, Gopher Hockey, Gopher BB.

This is where being major metro area doesn't help. I'm guessing in other cities, there's a lot more college FB talk because it's the main thing, or second main thing happening in those areas.

Also, in this town, people take winning a division to be the same as winning the Big Ten. Well, Gophers conference 14 teams, the Vikings you win every 4 years because there are only three other teams to be better than. That's why so many view the Vikings as being so successful and the Gophers not.

 

[FredCoxRocks]

I'd love to hear PJ, but can't handle PA's apathy for anything but Vikings, so thanks for taking the hit for the rest of us and providing notes

At times I get lost and confused when I listen to him. It may be that I am getting old but his hipster slang and jargon goes right over my head. (Is he is trying to outdo the ESPN Sportscenter anchors circa late 90's?). Also, have you ever had the game on the radio while doing something like yard work, and then you hear him yelling and getting all excited and start thinking that something great has happened only to find out that the Vikings gained 4 yards on a buttonhook? Painful...just painful.

He does call a good horse race though. One of the best there is right now.

 

[PMWinSTP]

He is hard to listen to many times. Seems like he does little to no prep most of the time. Gaard is hard to as well when filling in for Barreiro...definitely a much better side-kick that host.

 

[GophersInIowa]

I'm a die-hard fan of both, favoring Gophs overall tho.

I fall into this category as well.

 

[Gophers_4life]

Minnesota is a very rare occurrence of having a large public flagship university right in the heart of a metro that has an NFL team. There are very few exactly like that, with the only obvious other one in my head being Washington/Seattle Seahawks. There are others that are similar, but not quite the same. Pitt/Pittsburgh Steelers would be another seemingly easy one, but Pitt is not a fully public university (nor are Temple or Penn St, as a fatter of fact) ... though for this argument it might as well be considered close enough.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

At times I get lost and confused when I listen to him. It may be that I am getting old but his hipster slang and jargon goes right over my head. (Is he is trying to outdo the ESPN Sportscenter anchors circa late 90's?). Also, have you ever had the game on the radio while doing something like yard work, and then you hear him yelling and getting all excited and start thinking that something great has happened only to find out that the Vikings gained 4 yards on a buttonhook? Painful...just painful.

He does call a good horse race though. One of the best there is right now.

Yeah he really pushes the hype envelope into randomness and irrelevance.... I guess it keeps him in the job, but it also is kinda inane after a while.

I think maybe you touched on something there, calling a race is all about hyping up a fairly simple event, but it is short so it really works and PA does a great job at it. PA over the long term... less works / gets inane.

 

[WindyCityGopher]

Minnesota is a very rare occurrence of having a large public flagship university right in the heart of a metro that has an NFL team. There are very few exactly like that, with the only obvious other one in my head being Washington/Seattle Seahawks. There are others that are similar, but not quite the same. Pitt/Pittsburgh Steelers would be another seemingly easy one, but Pitt is not a fully public university (nor are Temple or Penn St, as a fatter of fact) ... though for this argument it might as well be considered close enough.

UCLA/LA Rams
Cal Berkeley/Raiders
ASU/Cardinals
Georgia Tech/Falcons
University of Houston/Texans

Other public schools like Colorado (located 30 miles outside Denver), Michigan (40 miles outside Detroit), Maryland (30 miles outside Baltimore) and Kansas (40 miles outside Kansas City) are basically in exurbs of major metro areas with NFL teams.

 

[Gophers_4life]

UCLA/LA Rams
Cal Berkeley/Raiders
ASU/Cardinals
Georgia Tech/Falcons
University of Houston/Texans

Other public schools like Colorado (located 30 miles outside Denver), Michigan (40 miles outside Detroit), Maryland (30 miles outside Baltimore) and Kansas (40 miles outside Kansas City) are basically in exurbs of major metro areas with NFL teams.

Yes, all of those are similar in some respects. I think they're not exactly the same, but similar.

 

[TonkaFloyd]

Yes, all of those are similar in some respects. I think they're not exactly the same, but similar.

You can add Seahawks/Huskies to that list and Dolphins/Hurricanes.

PA is a Vikings guy all in, no doubt. But that's one of the big hurdles PJ has with this program...getting the right kind of positive media support for the program.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

I'm not saying the media isn't the reason tickets are flat.
But they certainly don't do the Gophers many favors and I think it's because we're a what.... 9 sport town? Vikings, Twins, Lynx, Timberwolves, Wild, MNUFC, Gopher FB, Gopher Hockey, Gopher BB.

This is where being major metro area doesn't help. I'm guessing in other cities, there's a lot more college FB talk because it's the main thing, or second main thing happening in those areas.

Also, in this town, people take winning a division to be the same as winning the Big Ten. Well, Gophers conference 14 teams, the Vikings you win every 4 years because there are only three other teams to be better than. That's why so many view the Vikings as being so successful and the Gophers not.

I guess I don’t buy the argument that they wouldn’t cover them if they were successful and/or popular. It’s not some conspiracy, most Minnesotans don’t have a reason to care. This is why they need to get butts (families) in the seats and field a good team. Create a self-perptuating fanbase.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

MN fans are band-wagon jumpers. I can remember back in the North Stars days. when the team was going good, people would stand in line to get standing-room only tickets for big games. Then, a few years later, the team fell on hard times and they couldn't give tickets away. The Twins were the 1st American league Team to draw over 3-million fans in a year (in '88- year after winning the World Series). By the 2000 season, they barely drew 1-million fans.

Even the Vikings went through a stretch where they were being blacked out on local TV on a regular basis because the games weren't sold out.

Granted, the Gophers have been through a fairly long 'down' cycle, with occasional blips of better attendance.

But, if the right dominoes fell in place, the Gophers could become a hot ticket again. What will it take - winning! They have to win more games, and win big games. Win enough games, and the media coverage will follow, and the fans will follow.

 

[hungan1]

I have yet to meet a Vikings fan that was a die hard Gopher fan. Plus, still haven’t found a season ticket holder to both teams. Now I realize that my “friends” is a rather limited sample space. But nevertheless, still looking for the fan/s that can afford to lock in each team’s schedule. Hopefully they exist, just haven’t found such fans in either my tailgate spot or seating section - obviously from past years.

I would venture to think that we have a lot of Vikings fans in Iowa, the Dakotas, eastern Nebraska, and western Wisconsin. Lots of these folks may also live and work in the Twin Cities. So, if you are from MN you pick the Vikings over the Gophers if you had to pick. That may change if the Gophers fortune turns for the best.

 

[Word]

I'm old school in that I expect the home team announcer and the road team announcer to call plays similarly. (Not be such a homer).
Ray Christensen was a golden. Called a game straight up, but if you listened to him long enough, you would know in his voice if we were winning or losing, but he wasn't a cheerleader.

Ray was amazing. Really miss him. Grimm does a great job too, but Ray is hall of fame material.

I can tolerate (don't like, but can tolerate) PA doing Vikings games but don't like his 9-12 show.

I'm all for homer announcers, but I also like it when they can be honest in their criticism. I think Bremer/Blyleven are too afraid to criticize the Twins, but generally like what they do.

 

[Breakin' The Plane]

Ray was amazing. Really miss him. Grimm does a great job too, but Ray is hall of fame material.

I can tolerate (don't like, but can tolerate) PA doing Vikings games but don't like his 9-12 show.

I'm all for homer announcers, but I also like it when they can be honest in their criticism. I think Bremer/Blyleven are too afraid to criticize the Twins, but generally like what they do.

I don't think it will happen, but with Bert looking more and more likely to retire sooner rather than later, I'd love for Dan Gladden to sit in that chair. He's fantastic on the radio and not afraid to call out the team when need be.

 

[GophersInIowa]

MN fans are band-wagon jumpers. I can remember back in the North Stars days. when the team was going good, people would stand in line to get standing-room only tickets for big games. Then, a few years later, the team fell on hard times and they couldn't give tickets away. The Twins were the 1st American league Team to draw over 3-million fans in a year (in '88- year after winning the World Series). By the 2000 season, they barely drew 1-million fans.

Even the Vikings went through a stretch where they were being blacked out on local TV on a regular basis because the games weren't sold out.

Granted, the Gophers have been through a fairly long 'down' cycle, with occasional blips of better attendance.

But, if the right dominoes fell in place, the Gophers could become a hot ticket again. What will it take - winning! They have to win more games, and win big games. Win enough games, and the media coverage will follow, and the fans will follow.

I think that's the case most places.

 

[Mulligan]

MN fans are band-wagon jumpers. I can remember back in the North Stars days. when the team was going good, people would stand in line to get standing-room only tickets for big games. Then, a few years later, the team fell on hard times and they couldn't give tickets away. The Twins were the 1st American league Team to draw over 3-million fans in a year (in '88- year after winning the World Series). By the 2000 season, they barely drew 1-million fans.

Even the Vikings went through a stretch where they were being blacked out on local TV on a regular basis because the games weren't sold out.

Granted, the Gophers have been through a fairly long 'down' cycle, with occasional blips of better attendance.

But, if the right dominoes fell in place, the Gophers could become a hot ticket again. What will it take - winning! They have to win more games, and win big games. Win enough games, and the media coverage will follow, and the fans will follow.

Totally agree: look at the basketball season that never was; the excitement the women's BB team generated in the Final Four year; hell, even the bowl game in Orlando. There is still an awful lot of pride and support for the U. People got fired up but the problem is sustaining it.

 

[goldengophers]

Ditto, I know many.


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I'm a huge fan of both, it's why with two little ones I devote very little time to watching CFB or NFL outside the Gophers and Vikes.

 

[Dano564]

Ray was amazing. Really miss him. Grimm does a great job too, but Ray is hall of fame material.

I can tolerate (don't like, but can tolerate) PA doing Vikings games but don't like his 9-12 show.

I'm all for homer announcers, but I also like it when they can be honest in their criticism. I think Bremer/Blyleven are too afraid to criticize the Twins, but generally like what they do.

True.
FSN sickens me with their lack of ability to criticize the team and the countless "balls hit hard right to the defense" whereas of course, the other team never happens to do that.
FSN just feeds that whole mentality of "we'd be really good if it weren't for just the one or two breaks that went against us".

 

[Dano564]

MN sports fans have 7-10 sports menu options to choose from. Each year they need about two or three to stay well fed.

If you're looking at the buffet, and some of the dishes don't look appetizing, there are some better options available.