Leaving early

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MNSpaniel

MNSpaniel

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I couldn't believe how many people were leaving early. Your team is playing pretty well and it is still far from being a win. Even if it is a win ... stay and celebrate. It not as if we should be used to it. Section 142 was clearing out quickly shortly into the 4th quarter. So what if you save 15-20 minutes on your escape from the stadium. Stay and have fun .... support your team.
 

I've never understood that. What's the hurry? I guess I can see people not staying for the bitter end, but to walk out when we're winning? Aren't people there to see the Gophers win? Stay till the end, listen to the band, and there won't be any problem with traffic.
 

I stay to the end and go back and tailgate to let the traffic die down
 

Besides the traditional "beat the traffic" people you also got many Gopher Fans who have seen "defeat snatched from the jaws of victory" many, many times. Those people stay until the Gophers punt the ball away late. Then they leave. They'd rather leave feeling happy the Gophers won rather then take the chance that they'll have to witness another heart breaking loss.

Pretty bittersweet to say the least.
 

Could have used a few more people making noise at the end to bother the communication of West. Mich. Makes zero sense to me to leave early. We usually stay and watch the band after the game. They put on a good show.
 


I wonder if these same people go to a movie until the last 10 minutes and then get up and leave? I just don't get it.
 

What's the point of going if you don't stay to watch the end of a close game?
 

First, I'll say that I'm a life-long Minnesotan.

We have some of the worst fans in sports when it comes to end-game. Never seen anything like it anywhere else I've been. Pathetic. I can understand 44-7. Can't understand much else.

Seen it at tied Wild games, Gopher basketball, Twins games. Bizarre. Why do they even bother to come to the games?

I've left two games early in 15 years. One was the MSU game back in 1998. We won on two scores sandwiched by an onside-kick. I swore I'd never do it again.

The only other time was the last time we played aOSU. I said that if the Bugeyes blocked the punt I would leave. They did, I did.

I love Gopher football. 7 home games a year. I can fit it into my schedule.
 

Agree with everyone here. I have never understood the beating the traffic philosophy of Minnesota sports fans. My wife and I had 20-game packages to the Twins for several years. We saw a LOT of people leave early when the Twins were down 1 heading to the bottom of the 9th (why stay for the top when you're just going to leave for the bottom) and with the score tied heading to extra innings. And these were the good Twins teams of 2002-2004.
 



It drives me nuts. It is also the same core reason why things like gold outs never work. I agree my fellow Minnesotans are sub-par fans. For Minnesotans, beating the traffic is literally more important than the event they are at.

I posted this in another thread but last week I waited (as usual) for the band to complete Hail MN before I headed for the stairs. I then took a leisurely piss, and walked to my car in the Oak Street Ramp. As I drove on to the street I noticed I was AHEAD of my bro-in-law who had left and gone to his car in the same ramp less than half way through the fourth quarter. The difference? I was on campus by 9:00 am (parked low in the ramp) and he barely made the kick off and was parked on the top of the ramp. So many people left early there was actually a ramp jam in the middle of the 4th quarter.
 

People leave if it looks like the Gophers are going to lose. They leave if it looks like the Gophers are going to win. Why even show up if you're going to leave when the Gophers are winning? It's like going out to dinner, and not finishing a meal you were enjoying. You can't really beat the traffic anyway, you still have to fight your way out of the stadium with the other people who are leaving to beat the traffic. Then you're stuck in traffic behind all the other people beating the traffic. It's like it is ingrained in people that you have to leave early or you'll never get home. Just stick around for a while, and your drive will be much more relaxing.
 

MNSpaniel said:
I couldn't believe how many people were leaving early. Your team is playing pretty well and it is still far from being a win. Even if it is a win ... stay and celebrate. It not as if we should be used to it. Section 142 was clearing out quickly shortly into the 4th quarter. So what if you save 15-20 minutes on your escape from the stadium. Stay and have fun .... support your team.
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want the REAL answer? because most minnesota sports fans (pro or college) are lame arse, fargo-esque, scandihovian, overly cautious, worry-wort fools. it is like some kind of weird, lutheran mentality that gets ingrained into them from a young age by ELCA parents who have never had a drink of alcohol and have never had a fanatic emotion in their lives.

a number of them care more about getting home 15-20 minutes earlier to start cutting their stupid a$$ lawn than they do about staying until the end of a game and pulling for their teams. you won't see this kind of silly mentality in too many other places....even elsewhere in the midwest. i find it to be completely silly and very comical.
 

I did not leave early, but dammit, that light rail project cannot be finished soon enough.
 



MrC said:
I did not leave early, but dammit, that light rail project cannot be finished soon enough.
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i can appreciate that sentiment. and yes, it will be nice when it is finished. but again, i really don't get. people have already spent a few hours at a sporting event. so what is the difference if we spend 20 minutes more in the big picture of things?

i am not speaking directly to you. but i just think of it this way. say someone has spent 5 hours at a sporting event and other activities related to it. does it really matter if one spends 5 1/2 hours at that event and other activities instead of 5 hours? the whole leaving early from a game thing to "beat traffic" really is silly and makes our state look sad from a fan support perspective.
 


I don't understand it either. I think supadupafly hit the nail on the head...it's largely a cultural thing around here. Since the 1996 season I've been to every home game except 2 (2002 vs Buffalo and 2008 vs Montana State). I think I left early once...and that was against Murray State when we were up something ridiculous like 62-10 and the 5th stringers were in.
 

We were in 244 and could see the people flooding down the street between the barn and Mariucci, I don't get it.
 

I understand people being so frustrated that we're losing by alot. I understand that. I'm guilty of it at times. But to leave when you're team is winning. Why are you coming to the game? Pathetic really.
 

I think some of it is because other people aren't as invested in the team as we are. They just go to the game because a football game is a fun environment, sort of like going to a concert by a band you don't really listen to just because concerts are generally fun regardless of who is performing. People see us punting with over 2:00 left in the game and a lead of less than a touchdown and they just "know" the outcome, because they haven't seen enough Gopher football, or football in general, to know that the game is far from over at that point. For people who aren't invested in the team, they probably don't see any reason to stay and sing the rouser and Hail Minnesota afterward, probably don't know the words. And why do that when the slight possibility of getting home 20 minutes earlier exists?
 

Their hotdish is in the oven and they dont want to overcook it. Mystery solved.
 

It is a cultural thing. People are in a hurry to go nowhere to do nothing.
 

On the light rail ride to the Fort Snelling lot we were standing next to a couple of guys from Iowa who left the Twins game early. They heard from someone that the Twins loaded the bases with no outs (a good chance to win the game) but didn't hear what happened after that. They were asking us if we knew. They said they were going to be so bummed out if they left early and then the Twins made a great comeback. It is not just the Gophers fans I guess.
 

supadupafly said:
want the REAL answer? because most minnesota sports fans (pro or college) are lame arse, fargo-esque, scandihovian, overly cautious, worry-wort fools. it is like some kind of weird, lutheran mentality that gets ingrained into them from a young age by ELCA parents who have never had a drink of alcohol and have never had a fanatic emotion in their lives.

a number of them care more about getting home 15-20 minutes earlier to start cutting their stupid a$$ lawn than they do about staying until the end of a game and pulling for their teams. you won't see this kind of silly mentality in too many other places....even elsewhere in the midwest. i find it to be completely silly and very comical.
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Then there must be a hell of a lot of Lutherans in L.A.! That place is famous for throngs heading-out early. Went to Dodger games and thousands were heading out in the 7th and 8th inning. The Angels, UCLA and the Kings weren't immune to it either. Much worse traffic out there to be sure, but LA and the Twin Cities do have another thing in common though, they're both large, Metropolitan areas full of people from somewhere else. People, as mentioned before, who go to games for entertainment, without any rooting interest for the "Home Team". Big chunk of them who actually have ties with the local team's rivals.

Oh, and the "true fans" constantly complain about it out there too! :eek:
 

They paid money for that seat....its their every right to go whenever they want. Im sure where the surprise is coming from. Happens at any sporting event.
 

Get a job, own a house and start paying taxes....then post again bud. Most peoples lives do not revolve around sports.

supadupafly said:
want the REAL answer? because most minnesota sports fans (pro or college) are lame arse, fargo-esque, scandihovian, overly cautious, worry-wort fools. it is like some kind of weird, lutheran mentality that gets ingrained into them from a young age by ELCA parents who have never had a drink of alcohol and have never had a fanatic emotion in their lives.

a number of them care more about getting home 15-20 minutes earlier to start cutting their stupid a$$ lawn than they do about staying until the end of a game and pulling for their teams. you won't see this kind of silly mentality in too many other places....even elsewhere in the midwest. i find it to be completely silly and very comical.
Click to expand...
 

I am one of the people who left early yesterday. I have been going to to Gopher football games since 1956 when Bobby Cox was the QB. My two favorite players of all time are Sandy Stephens and Bobby Bell. Have had season tickets for many years, never leave a game prior to end. Yesterday I took my son and two grandsons (4 & 5 years old), I wanted to see the game with them as well as the presentation to Bobby Bell. I also had a 50th year high school class reunion 175 miles SW of TCF Bank stadium. I had to decide between not attending the game or leaving no later than 2:00 to not get caught in the Oak Street ramp backup. Call me pathetic or any of the other names that you have in this thread, or maybe selfish for thinking of myself in wanting to attend both the game and class reunion. Due to traffic backup for the Renessance?? festival on 169 I was still 30 minutes late for the reunion.
I think the student section yesterday was the best I have seen in years, but of the people leaving when I did 90% of the people on the street were students walking to student housing. The Oak Street parking ramp had very few cars moving.
 

Dr.Don said:
It is a cultural thing. People are in a hurry to go nowhere to do nothing.
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I'm one of those people who leave early almost any event and always thought it was to beat the traffic, but in retrospect this is probably spot on.
 

Can we stop pretending that Minnesota is the only place this happens?
 


I can understand people leaving a weeknight Twins game at 10:30 or 11:00pm when the game isn't close. I don't agree with it, but I understand.

What I'd really like to know is where the people leaving a gopher game at 2:30pm on Saturday afternoon are going? What do they have to get home for?
 

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