Patrick Reusse: Tree case plays to SEC transplants' biases

Donate To GopherHole


"As a further taste of this rivalry, the public defender assigned to Updyke asked off the case because he's an Auburn fan and, presumably, wouldn't have his heart in a defense."

Pathetic.
 

go4rob said:
Notice the last couple of paragraphs about how they cannot believe how people in MN simply don't care about college football!!
Click to expand...

Noticed that myself. Had the same comment made to me by a guy who has a lake cabin in Alex though he lives in, and is from Omaha. Made me realize it's just not Gopher football they don't care about, it is college football they don't care about.
 

go4rob said:
Notice the last couple of paragraphs about how they cannot believe how people in MN simply don't care about college football!!
Click to expand...

Good point go4rob. It will take many years to change this. Back in the 60's people cared, but after 50 years of less than exciting college football in MN it is not surprising. We need Coach Kill to have a great 10 year plus run and they will start caring again. At least in my opinion, that is what it will take.
 


As a general rule of thumb, the more a region cares about college football, the worse a place it is.
 

Dr. Lloyd Christmas said:
"As a further taste of this rivalry, the public defender assigned to Updyke asked off the case because he's an Auburn fan and, presumably, wouldn't have his heart in a defense."

Pathetic.
Click to expand...

That, unfortunately, is a mischaracterization. Shame on Reusse for being so imprecise. The public defender had taught at at Auburn, and that is very different from being a fan of the school. He was concerned (rightly) that his connection with the school could be construed as a source of prejudice.
 

MNHerb said:
Good point go4rob. It will take many years to change this. Back in the 60's people cared, but after 50 years of less than exciting college football in MN it is not surprising. We need Coach Kill to have a great 10 year plus run and they will start caring again. At least in my opinion, that is what it will take.
Click to expand...


You seem to be overlooking the fact that the MN Vikings have replaced people's interest in Gopher football. Everyone talks about the NFL. Few people talk about college football. I doubt if college football will ever again draw the interest level present in other places, unless either:
A) the Vikings go on a 10yr slide that coincides with a resurgence at the U.
B) the Vikings move.
 

WHB Brewer said:
You seem to be overlooking the fact that the MN Vikings have replaced people's interest in Gopher football. Everyone talks about the NFL. Few people talk about college football. I doubt if college football will ever again draw the interest level present in other places, unless either:
A) the Vikings go on a 10yr slide that coincides with a resurgence at the U.
B) the Vikings move.
Click to expand...

Oh great. This again. That horse is out of the barn and died of old age in the '80's. The Gophers need to win. Even if the Vikings move, the NFL will still be popular here and we will likely have another team inside of a decade. The fan base all had tickets to get on the bandwagon during the Michigan game in 2003. Then the bandwagon crashed and burned in horrific fashion. It's never been properly repaired.
 



howeda7 said:
Oh great. This again. That horse is out of the barn and died of old age in the '80's. The Gophers need to win. Even if the Vikings move, the NFL will still be popular here and we will likely have another team inside of a decade. The fan base all had tickets to get on the bandwagon during the Michigan game in 2003. Then the bandwagon crashed and burned in horrific fashion. It's never been properly repaired.
Click to expand...

Just because the argument pops up again doesn't mean the point isn't valid.

A bandwagon of a major conference college football team shouldn't "crash (your word)" after one loss. But it did. That's the one thing that the proponents of the "just win" mantra can't explain. We have history that suggests "just winning" isn't going to be good enough. It has to be perfection for sustained periods to get people's attention away from the area's main football attraction on fall weekends.
 

josh087 said:
Just because the argument pops up again doesn't mean the point isn't valid.

A bandwagon of a major conference college football team shouldn't "crash (your word)" after one loss. But it did. That's the one thing that the proponents of the "just win" mantra can't explain. We have history that suggests "just winning" isn't going to be good enough. It has to be perfection for sustained periods to get people's attention away from the area's main football attraction on fall weekends.
Click to expand...

Then why isn't Gopher basketball harmed by the T-wolves? (yes I know they suck, but even when they were good it never impacted them). The Gophers and Wolves frequently play home games at the exact same time. It's direct competition for ticket sales. The Gophers and Vikings have never played a home game at the same time (at least not in 30 years.) Gopher basketball for most of the Wolves existence has been good, not great. But attendence and tv ratings have always been solid. The only time they slipped was when Monson went into the ditch. Not because of anything the Wolves did.

When you've sucked for 50 years, the bandwagon is indeed that fickle. If they'd won that game and the subsequent hang-over game against MSU, they very well might have gone to the Rose Bowl. The bandwagon would have been full and stayed that way for a while. The Gophers need to get back to where they were in 2003 and this time, win the freaking game, and the ones that follow. It's that simple.
 

howeda7 said:
Then why isn't Gopher basketball harmed by the T-wolves? (yes I know they suck, but even when they were good it never impacted them). The Gophers and Wolves frequently play home games at the exact same time. It's direct competition for ticket sales. The Gophers and Vikings have never played a home game at the same time (at least not in 30 years.) Gopher basketball for most of the Wolves existence has been good, not great. But attendence and tv ratings have always been solid. The only time they slipped was when Monson went into the ditch. Not because of anything the Wolves did.
Click to expand...

That comparison is so flawed I don't know where to begin. The popularity of pro football is vastly different than the NBA, for one - not only here, but nationally. Sunday night Football on NBC was the #1 rated show all fall. It is also far newer than pro football in this area. Additionally, Williams arena doesn't seat 50,000 - Gopher basketball needs fewer fans.

Should I go on...?
 

josh087 said:
That comparison is so flawed I don't know where to begin. The popularity of pro football is vastly different than the NBA, for one - not only here, but nationally. Sunday night Football on NBC was the #1 rated show all fall. It is also far newer than pro football in this area. Additionally, Williams arena doesn't seat 50,000 - Gopher basketball needs fewer fans.

Should I go on...?
Click to expand...

I understand all of that. But it is also direct competition. Even people who are inclined to may not have season tickets to both the Wolves and Gophers due to the # of times they play at the exact same time. There are many people who have season tickets to the Gophers and Vikings.

How does the fact that Sunday Night Football is very popular affect how the Gophers do on Saturday? It doesn't. How does the fact that the T-Wolves are playing the Heat accross town affect the Gophers? Maybe a few hundred of thier fans don't show up because they're accross town. Which has at least the potential to impact winning and losing?

Especially now that it's only 50,000 seats instead of 65,000, the Vikings are not the issue. If the Gophers win, even at Mason levels, they will sell out. If they don't, they won't Vikings or not. Just as it has been for Gopher hoops.
 



howeda7 said:
I understand all of that. But it is also direct competition. Even people who are inclined to may not have season tickets to both the Wolves and Gophers due to the # of times they play at the exact same time. There are many people who have season tickets to the Gophers and Vikings.

How does the fact that Sunday Night Football is very popular affect how the Gophers do on Saturday? It doesn't. How does the fact that the T-Wolves are playing the Heat accross town affect the Gophers? Maybe a few hundred of thier fans don't show up because they're accross town. Which has at least the potential to impact winning and losing?

Especially now that it's only 50,000 seats instead of 65,000, the Vikings are not the issue. If the Gophers win, even at Mason levels, they will sell out. If they don't, they won't Vikings or not. Just as it has been for Gopher hoops.
Click to expand...

NFL is more popular because 12 teams make a single elimination tournament with a championship game. NCAA Basketball is more popular because of March Madness. Also the NBA is a completely different game from college basketball. As someone that has never been able to skate and played basketball my whole life, very few would miss the NBA in this market.

I really can't see the Gophers filling more than 65,000 seats, even if they are a power, with the NFL in this town. I would be one of the 65,000 though.
 

WHB Brewer said:
You seem to be overlooking the fact that the MN Vikings have replaced people's interest in Gopher football. Everyone talks about the NFL. Few people talk about college football. I doubt if college football will ever again draw the interest level present in other places, unless either:
A) the Vikings go on a 10yr slide that coincides with a resurgence at the U.
B) the Vikings move.
Click to expand...

Are you saying that if MN had Ohio State or Michigan success over that time period we would have the same current interest in college football? I don't think so.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom