Pain scale/thoughts on the overall impact of the game

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frozengopher

frozengopher

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I can't get over the feeling that this is our generation's 2003 jug game. I lived that game, but was still a little too young to have a major emotional investment in the program at that point. This game last night was the most soul crushing Gopher football game I have ever witnessed after all of the factors leading up to the game and our actual performance in it to the end.

Obviously, the 2003 game was a watershed moment for us. Mason's teams regressed to the point that he became an ineffective coach and recruiter, and we replaced him with Brew. Is it the depression that's still kicking me or was last night our watershed moment again? We have a solid team and a proven staff, the last two years have shown that. Going into the season I expected last night to be as competitive, as did most of us. But, based on the result, I can't help but get this feeling that we're destined for more middling bowls and disappointment, followed by a garbage coaching change much like in the 00s.

This isn't about me being upset with coaches or players or anything like that; I'm content who we have at this point and, if anything, my gripe is with people at the administrative level for letting the program flounder for this long. My real question is, are we a legitimately cursed program? Does it even matter who we have here? This light at the end of the tunnel only to get snuffed out at the last second bull**** is getting really old (be it losing Jerry at the macro level or these last second heartbreakers), but it happens every fxing time we're rolling. And I understand that I've only live through a quarter of what some here have.
 

This is the curse of Golden Gopher football. Every generation since 1965 has had a game that has broken the hearts of fans and smothered optimism.

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2003 was much worse, but this still really hurts. Between my hangover and thinking about last night's game, I think I need a good 10 minute cry before I can go on with my day.
 

2003 was much worse - blood vessel in my eyeball literally exploded.

This one is hands-down second place though. To review:

-packed stadium on Halloween
-prime-time nationally televised game
-our coach just had to step down due to health reasons
-tons of recruits at the game
-for the jug which would have given us back-to-back victories
-over that a-hole Harbaugh
-we freaking had it. I still can't believe we lost.
-and yes the WI game last year was huge, but I wanted this more than any other since '03 due to the past weeks events

My 8 year-old went to bed in tears. I blame myself. I didn't need to get him into Gopher football. He could have happily sorted his Halloween candy last night in peace. But no, I turned him into the Gophers and he got a great dose of them last night.

To answer your question though, yes I think this is what it will always be like. I quit watching the Vikes after 12 men in the huddle. I had missed a game in 20 years before that. Now my Sunday's are free and clear. I'll watch if they are on, but am no longer emotionally invested in them. I don't even know who they are playing today. Seriously contemplating making the same move with the gophers.

I mean, damnit Claeys. You should have known we could have handled an overtime loss. It wouldn't have crushed us. But if we mucked up the last 19 seconds like we did, you couldn't go for it as anything short of scoring would open up deep wounds.

Heck, even when we thought we won the game my son was too worried about Michigan returning the kickoff to celebrate. I wonder who the Pats play next week?
 

This is up there in terms of hurt. Could've been season saving win

I like going for it, I don't like first play and time it took..spike ball on 1st
 


salzie said:
This is up there in terms of hurt. Could've been season saving win

I like going for it, I don't like first play and time it took..spike ball on 1st
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It was a tough loss. Poor job in the last 19 seconds. Not even close to top 5 in terms of jaw dropping losses.
Win at ohio and move on...
 

Ewert86PC said:
This is the curse of Golden Gopher football. Every generation since 1965 has had a game that has broken the hearts of fans and smothered optimism.

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Click to expand...

Yes, and so do most other teams. This loss shouldn't be an worse for Gophers' fans than Michigan's loss to Michigan State was to their fans.
 

Compared with The Game That Shall Not Be Named, this doesn't even move the meter.
 

All teams have epic losses, this isn't unique to us. What makes it painful is that we haven't had a sustained period of excellence in a long time.

Win against OSU or Iowa and this can quickly be forgotten.
 



Here we are the next day and I still keep thinking about last night and can't get it out of my mind. What a tough loss. Can only hope that this gives this team a ton of confidence. That they carry this through from game to game. They should know how they can play now, and be pissed off.


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This really doesn't even move the needle on the pain scale for me. We're in the middle of a meaningless season. Claey's can say he'd make that same decision again but if we're in the division hunt he kicks the dang field goal every time.

That was a "what do we have to lose" play call and I'm okay with it.
 

This one hurt but it was nowhere near the 2003 monster. In 2003 there were legit Rose Bowl hopes, people were starting to come around, and the Gophers had some star players on that team. This year is a mess (admin wise) and the Gophers are just trying to turn a potential lost season into a mediocre season. Also, the 19 seconds wasted tells me that they deserved to lose.
It still hurts but 2003 was the gut punch of all gut punches. It was a perfect disaster.
 

Even though this season has been a huge disappointment so far, it still really stings just because we haven't beaten Michigan at home in 38 years. Would have been awesome to get to celebrate this at home, especially after the Kill news.
 



Worst = 2003 Michigan game
2nd Worst = 2005 Wisconsin game
3rd Worst = 2006 Insight Bowl (Texas Tech)
4th Worst = Northwestern game (someone remind me of the season?)

I say the above were worse because the outcome would have made a huge difference. This victory would likely have made a difference between 6-6 and 5-7.
 

The 2003 and 2005 games left me feeling terrible. I left this game feeling good about the gophers. That near touchdown pass was football Nirvana. Yes the screwed up game management. But they were in the game at the last snap against the best defense in the country.
 


2003 much, much worse for the reasons stated above.

Post ticket merry-go-round upper 212 now has lots of visitors present. Some Michigan fans in front of us at the end were not marveling on the win but were astounded...yes astounded...by the end-of-game stats. They couldn't believe their eyes and were truly impressed with the Gophers' game itself.

So yep, the coaches wet their pants at the end. But overall a hell-of-a-football game. Lots of losses worse than this.
 

Replacement Gopher- Your post resonates with me in a personal way. I am 65 years old and my introduction to this world of pain came in 1956. The Gophers won at Michigan that year. My dad and I watched on tv, or maybe I watched my dad watch the game and exhibit great emotion. He took me to the airport to see the players come home. I was struck by how many had teeth missing. The Gophers had Iowa at home with the Rose Bowl at stake that year. Minnesota pushed Iowa all over Memorial Stadium but lost 7-0 due to a flurry of turnovers and penalties. The gloom in the house was palpable and yet, somehow, I guess wanted to be part of this. My dad has been gone for many years, of course, but I still sometimes in a wry way "thank" him for my initiation/indoctrination. For all these years, the Gophers have been part of my identity. I have lived in California most of my life and have always felt like an immigrant out here. No one "gets" my devotion, least of all my wife, who is from Wisconsin. Thank God she doesn't giver a damn about sports. Anyway, I can't just walk away from who I am. I'm in it for the duration and am resigned to more anguish in the future. Kind of pathetic on days like this oe
 

What makes this one bad for me is the range of emotions at the end. Pure joy and excitement to anger and disappointment within minutes.
 

I'm on board with Go Gophers Rah; although, like the Wisconsin 2005 game, this one also featured fans screaming "WTF are you doing" on the fateful play.


Go Gophers Rah said:
Worst = 2003 Michigan game
2nd Worst = 2005 Wisconsin game
3rd Worst = 2006 Insight Bowl (Texas Tech)
4th Worst = Northwestern game (someone remind me of the season?)

I say the above were worse because the outcome would have made a huge difference. This victory would likely have made a difference between 6
Click to expand...
 

Ewert86PC said:
This is the curse of Golden Gopher football. Every generation since 1965 has had a game that has broken the hearts of fans and smothered optimism.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Stop this "curse" self pity. We don't have any more heartbreaks than the typical middle of the pack program. Life is much better with optimism and hope instead of expected doom and gloom.

This game doesn't bother me that much, the 2003 game crushed me. In general, the team played a great game and it was nice to see a refreshing "play to win" style. Of course, there are places that we could have done this or that, but this team went through a lot of turmoil and changes in just the last few days so we have to cut them some slack.


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Replacement Gopher said:
2003 was much worse - blood vessel in my eyeball literally exploded.

This one is hands-down second place though. To review:

-packed stadium on Halloween
-prime-time nationally televised game
-our coach just had to step down due to health reasons
-tons of recruits at the game
-for the jug which would have given us back-to-back victories
-over that a-hole Harbaugh
-we freaking had it. I still can't believe we lost.
-and yes the WI game last year was huge, but I wanted this more than any other since '03 due to the past weeks events

My 8 year-old went to bed in tears. I blame myself. I didn't need to get him into Gopher football. He could have happily sorted his Halloween candy last night in peace. But no, I turned him into the Gophers and he got a great dose of them last night.

To answer your question though, yes I think this is what it will always be like. I quit watching the Vikes after 12 men in the huddle. I had missed a game in 20 years before that. Now my Sunday's are free and clear. I'll watch if they are on, but am no longer emotionally invested in them. I don't even know who they are playing today. Seriously contemplating making the same move with the gophers.

I mean, damnit Claeys. You should have known we could have handled an overtime loss. It wouldn't have crushed us. But if we mucked up the last 19 seconds like we did, you couldn't go for it as anything short of scoring would open up deep wounds.

Heck, even when we thought we won the game my son was too worried about Michigan returning the kickoff to celebrate. I wonder who the Pats play next week?
Click to expand...

Haha. You threatened physical violence against me over a post here, but now you're quitting as a fan. You're low energy. Do you quit your job if something doesn't go well? Poser.
 

Of all the problems this program has right now, at least we are better off than University of Texas. Go Gophers!
 

2003 Michigan was the worst. Looking back it marked the decline and end of the Mason era. I hope last night doesn't mark the decline of the team again but I fear it will. 2001 Purdue was the second worst for me. 2005 Wisconsin third worst. Last night would be 4 and 5 would be the Northwestern pass for a TD to end the game. I can't remember the year but regardless it sucked. I've witnessed all of these in person. It's sad we have to have this conversation. Maybe I'm a fool but I'll keep going and rooting for the team. Go Gophers!


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Go Gophers Rah said:
Worst = 2003 Michigan game
2nd Worst = 2005 Wisconsin game
3rd Worst = 2006 Insight Bowl (Texas Tech)
4th Worst = Northwestern game (someone remind me of the season?)

I say the above were worse because the outcome would have made a huge difference. This victory would likely have made a difference between 6-6 and 5-7.
Click to expand...

That would be Northwestern 2008.

http://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?id=283060135
 

alchemy2u said:
Stop this "curse" self pity. We don't have any more heartbreaks than the typical middle of the pack program. Life is much better with optimism and hope instead of expected doom and gloom.

This game doesn't bother me that much, the 2003 game crushed me. In general, the team played a great game and it was nice to see a refreshing "play to win" style. Of course, there are places that we could have done this or that, but this team went through a lot of turmoil and changes in just the last few days so we have to cut them some slack.


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Click to expand...
Guess I'll have to sell the goat that I was going to sacrifice to a cheese head as a mail order bride. (That's a joke. Everyone know NoDaks marry goats and Cheese heads sherp.)

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Tim Riggins said:
Pretty sure it was 2001 or so when we lost in a Hail Mary. Either that or there are multiple crushing losses to Northwestern b
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Multiple...sadly. 2000 was the Hail Mary, iirc. That was heartbreaking. 2008 was the pick 6. Also heartbreaking. 2008 probably meant more, because the team was 7-1 and nationally ranked at that point. Decker got hurt, the pick 6 happened, and the team lost all their remaining games. Sweet life as a Gophers fan.
 

kellyleeks said:
Haha. You threatened physical violence against me over a post here, but now you're quitting as a fan. You're low energy. Do you quit your job if something doesn't go well? Poser.
Click to expand...

You faked your death on a message board - and I'm the poser?
 

Last night's game was so bad, I couldn't watch any college football recaps on ESPN because I didn't want to see our game recapped.

I am over it now though, I just wanted to hear Claeys admit he made a mistake by not having the QB spike the ball.
 

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