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That picture in the link says it all. They had a promotion at the end of the third quarter where they gave something away to a row in Section 208 or 209 and someone right by us had their binoculars and counted about 30 people in that entire SECTION and that was still in the third quarter.

One other thought, GL writes:

"If we are lucky enough to get The Bank near capacity, it will be because 20,000 tickets will be filled with the well traveled Hawkeye fans"

I have no doubt in my mind that there will be AT LEAST 20K Hawkeye fans. If TCF Bank is sold out that game it will be because there are at least 30K Iowa fans. I'd be surprised if there are 20K actual Gopher fans there. I hope I'm wrong of course, and our group will be there cheering and decked out in maroon and gold as we always are, but the promise of the administration made that the new stadium would keep Iowa/UW fans away goes un-fulfilled in year two.

Go Gophers!!
 

Great Article and Read!

Truer words were never previously written!

Happy Halloween and....BOOOO!!

TimBrewster.jpg
 

In the 4th quarter, there were more security guards in the upper deck of the student section than there were fans.

And there were 6 security guards.
 

This is exactly why Mike Leach needs to be the next coach. Bellotti, Sumlin, even Harbaugh are all better, more qualified candidates, but I don't think any of them have the power to rebuild the fanbase like Leach does. Selling tickets has to be a part of this process.
 


Nadine-"Hammer, meet nail". Your column was spot on and I can only hope that someone in the Admin or Athletic Department at the U is actually listening. Frankly, after so many years of ineptitude by this program, it never fails to surprise me how many fans there actually are DESPITE having our hopes and dreams crushed year after year after year.
 

Great blog post GL.

We moved down to the lower rows near the 40 yard line at the end of the third quarter, great view but it's sad that we could do that. There will be an insane amount of Hawkeye fans in the stadium when we play, the trash talking will be out in full force and all we can do is try to direct the dialogue towards basketball.
 

SlipperySlope said:
Great blog post GL.

We moved down to the lower rows near the 40 yard line at the end of the third quarter, great view but it's sad that we could do that. There will be an insane amount of Hawkeye fans in the stadium when we play, the trash talking will be out in full force and all we can do is try to direct the dialogue towards basketball.
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The caption of that picture should read "Thank You, Joel Maturi". Reusse's collumn says pretty much the same thing, and it's going to be like that for years to come, unless they hire somebody BIG. I was not encouraged by some of Maturi's comments at the GLC Lunch on Friday. The bar is being lowered already.
 

Gopherlady said it for all of "us"

Were tired as season ticket holders of being loyal, many of us for a long time and being taken for granted by the athletic department. Football is not a priority at the U and it has been a long time since it has been.
Look at the picture in the blog and it say's a thousand words. Mr. Maturi should take a long hard look at that picture, a lot of what that picture show's is his making, yet he still get's to keep his job and then hire the next football coach. Just does not seem right that such an important decision is left to him. Oh well, one can only hope he is motivated to fix this mess.

That was not a great Ohio State team far from it and it was still 52-10, it's a bad year no doubt for the Gophers but should still not have been a 52-10 game. This is not Rock bottom, wait until all of the guy's leave especially the good younger players that will transfer if they do not like the new coach. I would not be surprised at all to see Gray leave. A guy like that has options with his talent why would he stay on this ship especially when he was promised a shot at QB and they stuck him at WR. The next coach will have a hard time selling him to stay.
This is just the beginning of Rock bottom. The Gophers could put the Timberwolves to shame next year with empty seats.
 



Good post. Way to call out the U's marketing and treatment of season-ticket holders. It's unacceptable from a Big 10 school.
 


gopherdudepart2 said:
Were tired as season ticket holders of being loyal, many of us for a long time and being taken for granted by the athletic department. Football is not a priority at the U and it has been a long time since it has been.
Look at the picture in the blog and it say's a thousand words. Mr. Maturi should take a long hard look at that picture, a lot of what that picture show's is his making, yet he still get's to keep his job and then hire the next football coach. Just does not seem right that such an important decision is left to him. Oh well, one can only hope he is motivated to fix this mess.

That was not a great Ohio State team far from it and it was still 52-10, it's a bad year no doubt for the Gophers but should still not have been a 52-10 game. This is not Rock bottom, wait until all of the guy's leave especially the good younger players that will transfer if they do not like the new coach. I would not be surprised at all to see Gray leave. A guy like that has options with his talent why would he stay on this ship especially when he was promised a shot at QB and they stuck him at WR. The next coach will have a hard time selling him to stay.
This is just the beginning of Rock bottom. The Gophers could put the Timberwolves to shame next year with empty seats.
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With Nebraska, NDSU, Iowa and Wisconsin on the schedule at home, there will be few empty seats. They'll just be filled with the opposing team's fans.
 

StubHub Neighbors

The four seats to our left have been on the open market for each game. There's a cluster of 8 four rows in front of us.

We've had USC, NU, and now tOSU fans next to us in what should be a purely Gopher section (212) in season 2.

I am 100% sure that Mrs. Billd and I will have to tolerate Iowans next to us that weekend.

We will be there, yelling long and loud as usual, but it will be a truly horrific site.

Let us hope these are truly the dark years for the program and better gamedays are yet to come.

3 more games.

Go Gophers! Beat Sparty!
 



well said...This is certainly the lowest this program has been even considering some Wacker years and Salem. We have been playing football for what, 100 years? Still, nobody at the University or the legislature has yet to figure out the business side of this whole thing. Losing=no revenue, winning=revenue. Many people will leave their season tickets behind after this year no matter who is hired to fix this wreck and if things aren't fixed, nobody will be there to back fill those lost season ticket holders. Its amazing what I hear from long time fans I have known for years...its the same theme I hear from those thinking about getting a divorce, the love is being questioned.
 

Nice of GL to take a break from creepily sniffing jocks and stalking high schoolers to talk about something different.
 

Heartfelt post from GL. Thanks. Put into words what many of us feel. I hope people think more than twice about dropping their season tickets. I think I'd feel a little better if Macturi came out with a personal and public apology for this disaster. So far I've heard nothing from him except to say that we WILL have a top head coach. Fool us once shame on you, fool us twice shame on us. Keep the heat on, all of you and let's not give up now. We can get a program-saving coach but we can't do it on the cheap. I think at least Prez. B understands that.
 

Very good piece. I paid $20 for $65 seats and when I made my way to the stadium within 10 minutes prior to game time and saw all the tickets still for sale, I felt like I got ripped off. When I walked out after the 3rd quarter, I knew I'd been had.

I still might go on Nov. 27th thinking Hawkeye fans could be worth the price of admission.
 

Great piece.

Really considering not going to the Iowa game. I'm not going to sell my tickets, but I have zero desire to watch our crap team get humiliated in Kinnick North.

I thought the losses to SDU and NIU were the lowest it could possibly go. Somehow, it just keeps getting worse and worse. This season will be used in ethics casebooks as an argument for euthanasia.
 

Tim Brewster and Jeff Horton to be hauled to Brussels to answer for crimes against humanity.
 

FrothyGopher said:
Great piece.

Really considering not going to the Iowa game. I'm not going to sell my tickets, but I have zero desire to watch our crap team get humiliated in Kinnick North.

I thought the losses to SDU and NIU were the lowest it could possibly go. Somehow, it just keeps getting worse and worse. This season will be used in ethics casebooks as an argument for euthanasia.
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I won't go to the Iowa game. And I won't sell my tickets to an Iowa fan either - which, of course, means I won't be selling my tickets.

I'll probably still go tailgate, but then I'll just go home. What a great season.
 

Maroon said:
I won't go to the Iowa game. And I won't sell my tickets to an Iowa fan either - which, of course, means I won't be selling my tickets.

I'll probably still go tailgate, but then I'll just go home. What a great season.
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Yeah, that's what we're thinking of doing too. Truthfully, I don't even want to watch the game. I might just stick my head in the sand and pretend it's not happening. That's what we've come to.
 



It's funny how the program is supposedly light years ahead of where it was when Mason got fired but I'm sorry Mason never had the program this bad or have our team a joke...

They can't blow it on this next hire...
 

It is an agony to get through this season - for the first time in 50 years, I don't even want to watch the Gophers - as you know exactly what the Weber offense will do and exactly what the defense will not do. It is like a nightmare you have over and over. The interim coaches have no imagination, no innovation, and follow Brewster dumbly down the chute to execution. Gray not getting ANY snaps has been a mystery to me since the Ohio State game last year when he looked more than competent.
 

Agree with Great Plains, I can't understand why they can't get some snaps for gray, even if they just call it a wildcat formation here and there. Wonder if Weber has his sights set on the big ten record for passing yards. Thats got to be the only thing thats keeping him in or the current coaches just plane don't give a f^@k about the future of this program. Although I found it telling that Weber wants to have input on the new gopher coach even though he will never play for him. Remember when the Basketball team wanted to hire JB Bickerstaff's dad or supposedly they were all going to transfer, when Tubby was hired none of them did!
 

Thanks for all of your comments, I really didn't want to come off as being too negative, as a Gopher fan has come to expect many losses. I also am not the knee-jerk reactor after games. Quite honestly, it's so sad, but I don't feel phased after losses anymore...but I was phased at the thought of losing the few fans we have left.

go4rob said:
The caption of that picture should read "Thank You, Joel Maturi". Reusse's collumn says pretty much the same thing, and it's going to be like that for years to come, unless they hire somebody BIG. I was not encouraged by some of Maturi's comments at the GLC Lunch on Friday. The bar is being lowered already.
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I missed that, what did he say?

The Brewmaster said:
Nice of GL to take a break from creepily sniffing jocks and stalking high schoolers to talk about something different.
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Why thank you for the back-handed compliment. I can see that we've never met.

strokemonster said:
Heartfelt post from GL. Thanks. Put into words what many of us feel. I hope people think more than twice about dropping their season tickets. I think I'd feel a little better if Macturi came out with a personal and public apology for this disaster. So far I've heard nothing from him except to say that we WILL have a top head coach. Fool us once shame on you, fool us twice shame on us. Keep the heat on, all of you and let's not give up now. We can get a program-saving coach but we can't do it on the cheap. I think at least Prez. B understands that.
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Personally, I don't need an apology, I need change. I'm not a baseball fan in the least - but after going to two Twins games this year, I was like - they get it. Season ticket holders are appreciated, I was amazed that their season tickets are discounted, and that they have the benefits of the Metropolitan Club. We have the DQ club, why don't we open that up to season ticket holders. I know there are a lot more people, maybe have 1 or 2 games a season for certain sections, and let them check it out...oh, and the benefit there is - people will probably spend more money too! Renewal rates are going to be very bad if they don't do something. And unfortunately, even when I worked with hoops, he didn't listen. People always ask why I think Maturi is incompetent - because I've seen this stuff for years, and we'll never be winners with him as our AD.

akgopher said:
Very good piece. I paid $20 for $65 seats and when I made my way to the stadium within 10 minutes prior to game time and saw all the tickets still for sale, I felt like I got ripped off. When I walked out after the 3rd quarter, I knew I'd been had.

I still might go on Nov. 27th thinking Hawkeye fans could be worth the price of admission.
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Funny - one of the guys next to me paid $20 for tickets, and felt ripped off too...how ripped off do all of us feel for paying $60+???

Maroon said:
I won't go to the Iowa game. And I won't sell my tickets to an Iowa fan either - which, of course, means I won't be selling my tickets.

I'll probably still go tailgate, but then I'll just go home. What a great season.
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SickAndTiredOfLosingToWI said:
Some people were upset that the stadium wouldn't seat 80,000.
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That's another issue that didn't make it into my blog...all the people that have no desire to even go into the game. Trust me, I'm tempted to not go in, but I do, for the entire game - but I know that it would have been more fun had I stayed in the tailgate lot.
 

GL, you should send a link to Maturi. Excellent job.
 

GophersInIowa said:
GL, you should send a link to Maturi. Excellent job.
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Thanks, but honestly - I don't have the desire to get another canned response:

Thank you for your dedication to Gopher Football. I can assure you, I am doing everything in my power to bring back a winning tradition to the University of Minnesota.

Sincerely,
Badger Joel
 

GopherLady said:
Thanks, but honestly - I don't have the desire to get another canned response:

Thank you for your dedication to Gopher Football. I can assure you, I am doing everything in my power to bring back a winning tradition to the University of Minnesota.

Sincerely,
Badger Joel
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Joel is awesome. He takes time to answer every email he gets. Who cares about the football program. Joel is a nice guy. Thanks Joel.
 

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