Go Gophers Rah
Section 238 Row 21
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2008
- Messages
- 2,373
- Reaction score
- 185
- Points
- 63
As someone who was a “lurker” here for a couple of years before I ever posted anything, I never thought I’d end up posting 1,000 times on the Gopherhole. But, here is #1,000. So, I thought I’d take this opportunity to write my own little manifesto about being a Gophers football fan.
First off, to some of the more positive posters out there (just a few who come to mind are GopherMartin, NormanDale, Goldmember, GrunkieJr), I say thanks for always carrying the torch. You guys are the ones who make it a pleasure to participate in this community. Your optimism is eternal and your criticism is always meant to be constructive. To those who are frequently (or always) negative, I think you should find some pleasure in your life. My guess is that you guys not only bitch about the Gophers, or Gopher fans, but also about your job, government, taxes, your family, the poor state of music and tv, etc. ad nauseum. I say to you people, take some time to think about why you like the Gophers and focus on that. If you are unable to do that perhaps you really aren’t a Gophers fan and just need to move on to other things.
Just a little bit about my (relatively short) history as a Gophers fan. While I was born in Minnesota, my family moved away when I was a kid. Over the years, though, I was able to attend a number of Colorado and Notre Dame home games. Finally, in October 1998, the opportunity came for my wife and I to move to Minneapolis. We then enrolled at the U. We received information about student tickets to Gopher football. $55 for a season ticket and a t-shirt to boot! Wow, that was less than the cost of a single Notre Dame ticket.
So, we started our Gophers fandom on September 4, 1999. That day was a victory over Ohio University (ho-hum). But that season Minnesota turned out to be the Cinderella of college football. Unfortunately all the key wins were on the road. I wouldn’t say that I was “hooked” immediately. I just looked at it as an opportunity to see Big Ten football; Minnesota just happened to be one of the competitors.
During the next few years we had children – making it hard to attend all of the games. Plus, I was always so angered by the numbers of Iowa and Wisconsin fans at those games, that I just did not attend them. I also found the 2000 loss to Ohio U to be particularly unbearable (and still do to this day). So, I was still the most casual of fans.
I think it was the bowl victory over Arkansas in 2002 that really started to spark some pride in me as a Gopher fan. That off-season I read all of the news (very little) that the local media reported and I was much more excited about the 2003 season than I had been about any previously. The game where I became a true Gophers fan, though, was one that most of the rest of you would like to forget; the 2003 Michigan game. The 62,000 Gopher fans that Friday night was the largest crowd of Minnesota fans I had seen before (or since) and the loudest college football fans I had ever heard. I felt like I was a part of something. Even though the night ended horribly, we were still a ranked team that had come within 3-points of beating the vaunted Wolverines. That night I became a 100% Gophers fan.
Unfortunately, though, we were no longer students and I had bought only single game tickets to 3 of our 4 conference games – not wanting to sit amongst 20,000 Badger fans for the Wisconsin game. So I watched that game on my sofa. That victory is my favorite Gopher victory that I’ve ever witnessed; I have the image of Rhys Lloyd hurdling the Wisconsin bench for the ax burned into my memory. I only wish it had been in-person. I vowed to never miss another home game (and have been to 31 of 32 home games since then – the one miss couldn’t be avoided).
Since that time, my wife got her BS and I my masters as non-traditional students (as my dad had several decades earlier). We have attended 3 bowl games and 2 road games. I purchased a 3rd car – known as my Gophermobile as it is a maroon convertible that gets adorned with magnets and flags on game day. We have ponied up a ton of $$ in Goal Line Club dues to get 4 pretty good seats. And, we are proud residents of 4 seats in section 238 of TCF Bank Stadium.
I know I have only been a 100% Gophers fan since October 2003 and just a casual fan for the 4 years prior to that – but I now bleed Maroon & Gold. I will always be a Gophers fan – forever and ever. I won’t always agree with hiring or coaching decisions, but once they are made, I will do my best to support them while it serves the football program’s best interests. I’ll admit that, on January 21, 2007 I was not happy with the coaching hire, but by the next day I was resolute to support it fully for at least 4 years. Now I am very happy with the energy that Brewster has put into the program and feel confident that wins will come as a result.
I have a lot of great memories from my ten years of attending Gophers games, but I prefer to focus on the memories to be made during my next 50 years as a Gophers fan. I look at 2009 as the beginning of a completely new era of Gophers football. We will see Big Ten championships and January bowls soon. We will also see the state of Minnesota embracing the Gophers as their team. And, most importantly to me, we will see our boys in Maroon & Gold regularly taking possession of Paul Bunyan’s Ax and Floyd of Rosedale with a full house of Gopher fans cheering them on.
Go Gophers. Rah!
First off, to some of the more positive posters out there (just a few who come to mind are GopherMartin, NormanDale, Goldmember, GrunkieJr), I say thanks for always carrying the torch. You guys are the ones who make it a pleasure to participate in this community. Your optimism is eternal and your criticism is always meant to be constructive. To those who are frequently (or always) negative, I think you should find some pleasure in your life. My guess is that you guys not only bitch about the Gophers, or Gopher fans, but also about your job, government, taxes, your family, the poor state of music and tv, etc. ad nauseum. I say to you people, take some time to think about why you like the Gophers and focus on that. If you are unable to do that perhaps you really aren’t a Gophers fan and just need to move on to other things.
Just a little bit about my (relatively short) history as a Gophers fan. While I was born in Minnesota, my family moved away when I was a kid. Over the years, though, I was able to attend a number of Colorado and Notre Dame home games. Finally, in October 1998, the opportunity came for my wife and I to move to Minneapolis. We then enrolled at the U. We received information about student tickets to Gopher football. $55 for a season ticket and a t-shirt to boot! Wow, that was less than the cost of a single Notre Dame ticket.
So, we started our Gophers fandom on September 4, 1999. That day was a victory over Ohio University (ho-hum). But that season Minnesota turned out to be the Cinderella of college football. Unfortunately all the key wins were on the road. I wouldn’t say that I was “hooked” immediately. I just looked at it as an opportunity to see Big Ten football; Minnesota just happened to be one of the competitors.
During the next few years we had children – making it hard to attend all of the games. Plus, I was always so angered by the numbers of Iowa and Wisconsin fans at those games, that I just did not attend them. I also found the 2000 loss to Ohio U to be particularly unbearable (and still do to this day). So, I was still the most casual of fans.
I think it was the bowl victory over Arkansas in 2002 that really started to spark some pride in me as a Gopher fan. That off-season I read all of the news (very little) that the local media reported and I was much more excited about the 2003 season than I had been about any previously. The game where I became a true Gophers fan, though, was one that most of the rest of you would like to forget; the 2003 Michigan game. The 62,000 Gopher fans that Friday night was the largest crowd of Minnesota fans I had seen before (or since) and the loudest college football fans I had ever heard. I felt like I was a part of something. Even though the night ended horribly, we were still a ranked team that had come within 3-points of beating the vaunted Wolverines. That night I became a 100% Gophers fan.
Unfortunately, though, we were no longer students and I had bought only single game tickets to 3 of our 4 conference games – not wanting to sit amongst 20,000 Badger fans for the Wisconsin game. So I watched that game on my sofa. That victory is my favorite Gopher victory that I’ve ever witnessed; I have the image of Rhys Lloyd hurdling the Wisconsin bench for the ax burned into my memory. I only wish it had been in-person. I vowed to never miss another home game (and have been to 31 of 32 home games since then – the one miss couldn’t be avoided).
Since that time, my wife got her BS and I my masters as non-traditional students (as my dad had several decades earlier). We have attended 3 bowl games and 2 road games. I purchased a 3rd car – known as my Gophermobile as it is a maroon convertible that gets adorned with magnets and flags on game day. We have ponied up a ton of $$ in Goal Line Club dues to get 4 pretty good seats. And, we are proud residents of 4 seats in section 238 of TCF Bank Stadium.
I know I have only been a 100% Gophers fan since October 2003 and just a casual fan for the 4 years prior to that – but I now bleed Maroon & Gold. I will always be a Gophers fan – forever and ever. I won’t always agree with hiring or coaching decisions, but once they are made, I will do my best to support them while it serves the football program’s best interests. I’ll admit that, on January 21, 2007 I was not happy with the coaching hire, but by the next day I was resolute to support it fully for at least 4 years. Now I am very happy with the energy that Brewster has put into the program and feel confident that wins will come as a result.
I have a lot of great memories from my ten years of attending Gophers games, but I prefer to focus on the memories to be made during my next 50 years as a Gophers fan. I look at 2009 as the beginning of a completely new era of Gophers football. We will see Big Ten championships and January bowls soon. We will also see the state of Minnesota embracing the Gophers as their team. And, most importantly to me, we will see our boys in Maroon & Gold regularly taking possession of Paul Bunyan’s Ax and Floyd of Rosedale with a full house of Gopher fans cheering them on.
Go Gophers. Rah!
