Gopher Memories

[Gopher Fitz]

I don't really know where to post this because it doesn't really match up with any specific topic but it is meaningful to me. Saturdays game vs Colorado was the first time Minnesota had shutout a team since 2006. At first I didn't think much of it but then I remembered that my Dad, my brother, and I had season tickets around that time. Then I found out the team they beat was temple. I was at that game with my dad and I said "I know why they can't score, they don't have hands" (on account of their mascot being an Owl I thought this was hilarious and my Dad was either being nice or actually thought my childish joke was actually funny). So I called my Dad after the game on Saturday and informed him that the last time Minnesota shutout a team was the 2006 game versus Temple and without missing a beat recites the joke I didn't think he would remember. All I could do was smile and laugh. Happy to know that the memories made all those years ago haven't been forgotten. Go Gophers!

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

NICE!

 

[BleedGopher]

I don't really know where to post this because it doesn't really match up with any specific topic but it is meaningful to me. Saturdays game vs Colorado was the first time Minnesota had shutout a team since 2006. At first I didn't think much of it but then I remembered that my Dad, my brother, and I had season tickets around that time. Then I found out the team they beat was temple. I was at that game with my dad and I said "I know why they can't score, they don't have hands" (on account of their mascot being an Owl I thought this was hilarious and my Dad was either being nice or actually thought my childish joke was actually funny). So I called my Dad after the game on Saturday and informed him that the last time Minnesota shutout a team was the 2006 game versus Temple and without missing a beat recites the joke I didn't think he would remember. All I could do was smile and laugh. Happy to know that the memories made all those years ago haven't been forgotten. Go Gophers!

Love this post. Creating and sharing memories at Gopher games with family and friends is absolutely the #1 reason why I continue to prioritize Gopher sports in my life. My Dad passed away 6 years ago, he was affectionately known as "Grandpa Gopher" by his grandkids...I went to hundreds of Gopher games with him and would love nothing more than to have made a call like you did to your Dad after the Colorado win.

Go Gopher Memories!!

 

[Nomellini]

Love this post. Creating and sharing memories at Gopher games with family and friends is absolutely the #1 reason why I continue to prioritize Gopher sports in my life. My Dad passed away 6 years ago, he was affectionately known as "Grandpa Gopher" by his grandkids...I went to hundreds of Gopher games with him and would love nothing more than to have made a call like you did to your Dad after the Colorado win.

Go Gopher Memories!!

Yup- watching the Gophers with my dad was the best thing we did together and specific games we saw or listened to on the radio still resonate with me. When I was 6 years old in 1956 we listened to the Gophers play a bad Wisconsin team and settle for a 13-13 tie in Madison. We felt better when my sister came in with fresh cinnamon rolls she had just baked. They were a little burned at the bottom but we didn't care!

 

[Fan of Ray Christensen]

Took my kids to the MSU game at the Dome in 2009. While I was coming back to our seats with ice cream, the Gophers scored.

As I walked down the steps, I saw my kids standing up for the Rouser. I still remember how pleased I was that they would stand for the Rouser even when I wasn't there.

Some of the simple memories are the best.

 

[FredCoxRocks]

My dad had virtually no interest in Gopher football and we were never at a game together. But he listened to WCCO radio All. The. Time...no matter what, where, or when so I have several memories of him, me, and Ray Christensen digging potatoes, butchering chickens, making horseradish, or just driving down the road in his pickup as I inhale second-hand cigarette smoke.

 

[Word]

My dad had virtually no interest in Gopher football and we were never at a game together. But he listened to WCCO radio All. The. Time...no matter what, where, or when so I have several memories of him, me, and Ray Christensen digging potatoes, butchering chickens, making horseradish, or just driving down the road in his pickup as I inhale second-hand cigarette smoke.

Lots of similarities for me! Except we didn't live on a farm.

 

[Schnauzer]

Love the stories. I hope people share more of these “one off” items for us to enjoy.

I’ll share one that would not really “fit” anywhere else too.

we had our 4 season tickets dating back to the dome. In the last game with Ohio State at the dome (2007, I think), my brother and his wife from Seattle were in town so we brought them to the game. The gophers were awful that year so as you might expect, the game was out of reach early.

so, we left early. We were at a stop light on 7th street, heading out of town when a Ohio State couple entered the cross walk in front of us. The woman looked disgusted and raced ahead of her partner to the curb. He appeared to be challenged in some way because he was walking in a way that is consistent with brain damage or nervous system disease. I was immediately disgusted with this woman for not having empathy for the guy she was leading away from the dome.

Just as I was thinking that, I realized our entire impression of the situation was incorrect. The dude reached the corner, turned, and it was obvious on the front of his khaki pants that he had peed himself. He wasn’t challenged, he was wasted and just happened to walk that way in that condition.

from that day forward, in any college football conversation I have with my brother, we never use “OSU” or “Ohio State” or “buckeyes” to describe them. It has been “pants pissers” ever since.

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

Going to games with my dad in old Memorial Stadium is the reason I became a lifelong fan: Paul Giel single-handedly beating Michigan, 1953; Bob McNamara's great game against Iowa, 1954; losing one game in 1956, Bobby Cox at QB; surprise national championship in 1960, with the chant at the end of the Iowa game, rolling across the stadium, "We're number one, we're number one." Can't beat those memories - with your dad.

 

[highwayman]

One of our favorite stories was my Dad taking my sister to the 1977 Michigan game. I couldn’t go because I had to work, and at the time my sister was not at all a football fan. She went grudgingly.

As the final gun went off, he’s yelling and jumping for joy. He turns to my only mildly impressed sister and, meaning well, says to her “I can’t believe I wasted a ticket on you!!!” I know what he meant, but geez…!

FYI he shows up twice in the official Gophers 1977 highlight film. Wearing a ridiculous gold tam with the pompon on top, his old Navy binoculars, and the big 70s glasses.

 

[BleedGopher]

One of our favorite stories was my Dad taking my sister to the 1977 Michigan game. I couldn’t go because I had to work, and at the time my sister was not at all a football fan. She went grudgingly.

As the final gun went off, he’s yelling and jumping for joy. He turns to my only mildly impressed sister and, meaning well, says to her “I can’t believe I wasted a ticket on you!!!” I know what he meant, but geez…!

FYI he shows up twice in the official Gophers 1977 highlight film. Wearing a ridiculous gold tam with the pompon on top, his old Navy binoculars, and the big 70s glasses.

This is amazing!!! Absolutely love.

Go Gophers!!

 

[Nomellini]

Going to games with my dad in old Memorial Stadium is the reason I became a lifelong fan: Paul Giel single-handedly beating Michigan, 1953; Bob McNamara's great game against Iowa, 1954; losing one game in 1956, Bobby Cox at QB; surprise national championship in 1960, with the chant at the end of the Iowa game, rolling across the stadium, "We're number one, we're number one." Can't beat those memories - with your dad.

1956 was my intro to Gopher fandom as a 6-year old. There was a lot of hubbub going on about something called "The Rose Bowl". Evidently the Gophers had a chance to go there and they had never been previously. Even the nuns at school talked about the Gophers (sturdy German ladies from the St. Cloud area). The Gophers won at Michigan that year. Dad and I watched it on tv and later met the team at Wold Chamberlain. The team trouped right past us and a bunch of other fans. I was impressed by the wide smiles on all the players and the occassional gaps where teeth should have been. Now the drama built for a showdown with Iowa at home. Dad was not in the habit of spending money to see the Gophers live (we did go to see the Millers sometimes) but he got tickets and we went. What a spectacle! The band, the colors, the crowd. It was heady stuff for a little guy like me. The Gophers lost, 7-0, and there was an obvious emotional let-down at our house and at school. I had thought that Bobby Cox was invincible and was crushed. Yet I was hooked on this thing called "Gopher love" from that 1956 season and it has never abated, even through a move to California. Years later I read the game box score and apparently the Gophers had moved the ball up and down the field but fumbled away numerous chances. I had no idea that this would be a recurring theme and that much heartache would ensue through the years!