Minnesota football traditions



Nothing like "The Minnesota Rouser"

I'm old so the rubber chicken dangling from the upper deck in old Mariucci. Throwing snowballs at Wisconsin cheerleaders in Memorial Stadium.
I remember those snowball games against Sconnie.
 

When the tackle is made by many players, Jamie will use the proper animal group nomenclature:
"He was tackled by a murray of gophers"
I also enjoy that description, but I don't think that's the reason he says it.
 

When the tackle is made by many players, Jamie will use the proper animal group nomenclature:
"He was tackled by a murray of gophers"
Are a group of gophers a murray? I've tried to look up where the provenance of the phrase "murray of" comes from and I've never found anything.
 


Are a group of gophers a murray? I've tried to look up where the provenance of the phrase "murray of" comes from and I've never found anything.
No, there is no such thing as a "murray of gophers." As I recall, the history of this is that announcer guy one time attributed the tackle on a play to "a flurry of Gophers" to connote that it was a gang tackle and there was not just one or two players to credit with the stop. The close captioning on the scoreboard described it as a "murray of gophers." It was a somewhat humorous mistake and he's repeated the phrase on occasion ever since.
 

Could a "murray of gohpers" be an older reference to the Murray Warmath days?
 

My favorite as a kid was the band marching up University to Memorial Stadium. I wish that would come back
 

No, there is no such thing as a "murray of gophers." As I recall, the history of this is that announcer guy one time attributed the tackle on a play to "a flurry of Gophers" to connote that it was a gang tackle and there was not just one or two players to credit with the stop. The close captioning on the scoreboard described it as a "murray of gophers." It was a somewhat humorous mistake and he's repeated the phrase on occasion ever since.
Kinda like "Win a Pie for it!"
 



My favorite as a kid was the band marching up University to Memorial Stadium. I wish that would come back
Blame MPD, when the stadium was brought back to campus the band floated the idea of bringing that back, but MPD didn't want to close the street (even temporarily) because it would disrupt the traffic flow.

When OSU brought their band and visited they did it, but only because they went rouge and didn't get local law enforcement permission. They got in trouble for it, but didn't care since it was an away game.
 


That was a great pregame performance!!
When I was in band we obviously played at every Gopher home game, but we'd play at one Vikings game each year. For the Vikings game, when we did the expending M prior to the Rouser, the crowd went nuts. Much more of a reaction than we ever got from Gopher fans. I think Gopher fans have become a little desensitized to how cool that actually is.
 

I don't know when this started or when it ended, but during my time in band we would play Minnesota March between the 3rd and 4th quarters and have a guest conductor. For the Wisconsin - Minnesota game in 1993, it was Gov. Arne Carlson. I thought that was a really cool thing to do, but I don't know what ever happened to it. You can see this a couple times in this clip:

 



When I was in band we obviously played at every Gopher home game, but we'd play at one Vikings game each year. For the Vikings game, when we did the expending M prior to the Rouser, the crowd went nuts. Much more of a reaction than we ever got from Gopher fans. I think Gopher fans have become a little desensitized to how cool that actually is.
I don't think it continued, but my last year in band we played a Vikings Halftime: http://www.ummbvideo.com/newummbvideo/20161120Vikings.html
 


Announcer's "Rah" after the Rouser...

Or of course with our running and passing offense again intact..."And that's another Minnesota Golden Gopher first down"...
That "RAH" at the end of the MINNESOTA cheer, which follows the Rouser, was actually part of the cheer back in the 60's and 70's. For some reason it began to fade in the 80's I believe but I don't know the reason.
 

I don't know when this started or when it ended, but during my time in band we would play Minnesota March between the 3rd and 4th quarters and have a guest conductor. For the Wisconsin - Minnesota game in 1993, it was Gov. Arne Carlson. I thought that was a really cool thing to do, but I don't know what ever happened to it. You can see this a couple times in this clip:

A bit OT, but wonderful memory - the 1993 MN-WI game was also the night of my wedding (a huge upset win for the gophs). When it came time for the bridal party dance, someone had to fetch the ushers and groomsmen who were watching the game in hotel lobby bar (as well as watching Joe Carter's infamous World Series home run).
 

It's an obvious choice but it's a classic - the rouser.

Also wanted to mention how much better the pregame lead-up has gotten in the last 5 years. Student section has really stepped up with that too.
Point of pride for me (although I may be completely wrong in claiming this) I was in the small section of students who first started doing the arms around each other, rock back and forth thing as the team walks out to the tunnel. Want to say it was sometime early in the 2018 season but don’t remember for sure. 2019 was the year it really blew up.

Pregame has definitely become my favorite part of the atmosphere.
 

That "RAH" at the end of the MINNESOTA cheer, which follows the Rouser, was actually part of the cheer back in the 60's and 70's. For some reason it began to fade in the 80's I believe but I don't know the reason.
If you're anywhere near me in 139, I definitely do the RAH with enthusiasm. I always have to beat Jamie lol!
 



I’ve written it before, and I’ll post it again.

New tradition:

Get the original Bronko Nagurski plow (I read a while ago that the family still has it), or at least a replica, and have the starting line, or some special honorees lead the team out of the tunnel pushing it on rails, or a sled or whatever the engineering students figure works best.
 




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