McFeely: Fleck rows his boat into Bison territory

[BleedGopher]

per McFeely:


P.J. Fleck is self-aware enough to know he's not everybody's cup of Gatorade. The University of Minnesota football coach acknowledged as much Thursday, July 16, when he brought his gonzo-energetic routine up I-94 from Minneapolis to the sparkling new Lights on Sheyenne 32 plaza in West Fargo.

Presumably, Fleck has hundreds of requests to speak. Presumably, and understandably, he limits them greatly out of necessity, even if they come with a paycheck. So for a Gophers coach to willfully step directly into the territory of North Dakota State's dominant Football Championship Subdivision program — even though Fleck's team plays in the higher-level Big Ten — showed a certain amount of chutzpah.

"Thanks for letting me in," Fleck quipped. "It's good to see some maroon and gold in the crowd."

The crowd, numbering about 500, was actually mostly maroon and gold, with Bison green and yellow very lightly mixed in. Fleck joked that he figured fans in this area wanted to know whether he was going to schedule a game against the Bison. He didn't reply to his faux question, and emcee Brian Shawn of Midco Sports Network didn't push, but everybody knows the answer is no. NDSU beat the Gophers in 2007 and 2011.

McFeely: Fleck rows his boat into Bison territory

University of Minnesota football coach makes sales pitch to Red River Valley Gophers fans

www.inforum.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[MplsGopher]

I see, so this is the development: https://www.thelightswf.com/

Interesting concept, I'm sure it looks exciting to the average ND kid who grew up rural then moved to Fargo or GF for school.

I hope they don't possibly expect to attract young professionals to move there from outside the state/region. To .... West ... Fargo??? Double barf.

 

[MRJ]

Lol.

Have to laugh at a columnist in freaking Fargo sneering at Fleck while simultaneously fluffing the awesomeness of NDSU, SDSU and Trey Lance.

What did this guy expect? Did he honestly think Fleck was going to come in and talk about how great NDSU is? Did he think he was going to randomly bring up Trey Lance, a kid that doesn't even play for his program? if so, here's a hint: The event wasn't for NDSU or SDSU fans. It was to promote his program.

Hilarious. Talk about living in your own little bubble.

But I honestly am curious about how Fleck is somehow "keeping score on those in the media who criticize him, but there's really no reason to be so thin-skinned."

Thin-skinned? With whom? A columnist from Fargo? Some rep from Mid-Co? I would better understand such a sentiment if this was from someone like Patrick Reusse. After all, Reusse has gone out of his way to be an ass as it pertains to Fleck.

But some small newspaper columnist in Fargo suddenly has an axe to grind? Wow.

It's all just one big Lol.

 

[Herd]

McF’s axe is probably more related to the historic Comments about Ndsu during the Brewster era, where he turned his nose up to Ndsu. I certainly thought kill was respectful to the program, as is Fleck.

 

[Biggsohnasty]

What's up with people ripping on Fargo? It's a pretty great town. Good size, not too big, not too small. Plenty to do. Lots of solid bars. Nice places to eat. Decent enough looking gals.

Feel free to rip on McFeeley - though the Forum is hardly so ho-dum paper even if it isn't the Strib - and the radical nature of some Bison fans, but why are we making Fargo seem like a third-world city?