BilldGopher
Section 211
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Some thought put to the post-game scene on the field...
1. Hail Minnesota Formation. As we all know there's a "tradition" for the team to convene in front of the Band to mark/sing Hail Minnesota. That blew up yesterday as fully 3/4 of the team went straight to the tunnel as a small fraction started to line up in formation. Of course Coach was at mid-field doing the post-game interview and worked immediately to get the missing butts back in front of the Band ASAP. It was odd watching the players exit the tunnel to go over to the post-game song positions. As a psych major I think there's some deeper id-ego thing going on with this team evidenced by most wanting to go straight to the tunnel. Just like handing the ball to the officials after every play, the Hail Minnesota ritual should be hard-wired into every player. That fuse blew for a lot of them yesterday.
Meanwhile...
2. At The Axe Goalpost. Of course after the near brawl several years back both UM-UW agreed to end the "rush the opposing bench for The Axe" tradition and bequeath The Axe to the winning Visitors at the West End Zone goalposts. That happened yesterday with Bucky the Badger right there with the players to take possession for hopefully only one year. While the main Axe-bearing group moved to the goalpost, there was a contingent of 5-6 red-clad players making a bee-line for the East End Zone for the Sconnie fans there as the hapless Maroon-Gold team was trying to convene for Hail Minnesota. To Wisky's credit, there were red-cap wearing staff at midfield to direct the miscreants away from the Gophers end-of-game ceremony as they were sure to disrupt it. Can't say the same for the Sconnie fans next to the band but that's a different issue.
Finally...
3. Post-Hail Minnesota. Once the Gophers left the field it was all Sconnie's and they hung around for at least 10 minutes if not significantly longer. When the West Endies saw the Gophers were gone, they started their march to the East and the same 5-6 players from earlier were making a bee-line to the East goalpost. Funny thing was that the main group stopped midfield for some celebrations, so the miscreants turned around once again to go back to the main group. Eventually the main group took to chopping the remaining goalpost and the Axe was paraded around the perimeter of the field for all the Sconnie fans in attendance to high five the players walking by.
As noted in another post, winning this game is once again equally important to both sides. It is true that "absence makes the heart grow fonder." The Badgers missed The Axe the past two years. Hopefully our players only miss it for one year.
P.S. As founding members of The Bitter End Club we stayed in our seats and beheld the spectacle of the celebrating Eastern Hordes. It was a very fitting end to the regular season. Very bitter.
1. Hail Minnesota Formation. As we all know there's a "tradition" for the team to convene in front of the Band to mark/sing Hail Minnesota. That blew up yesterday as fully 3/4 of the team went straight to the tunnel as a small fraction started to line up in formation. Of course Coach was at mid-field doing the post-game interview and worked immediately to get the missing butts back in front of the Band ASAP. It was odd watching the players exit the tunnel to go over to the post-game song positions. As a psych major I think there's some deeper id-ego thing going on with this team evidenced by most wanting to go straight to the tunnel. Just like handing the ball to the officials after every play, the Hail Minnesota ritual should be hard-wired into every player. That fuse blew for a lot of them yesterday.
Meanwhile...
2. At The Axe Goalpost. Of course after the near brawl several years back both UM-UW agreed to end the "rush the opposing bench for The Axe" tradition and bequeath The Axe to the winning Visitors at the West End Zone goalposts. That happened yesterday with Bucky the Badger right there with the players to take possession for hopefully only one year. While the main Axe-bearing group moved to the goalpost, there was a contingent of 5-6 red-clad players making a bee-line for the East End Zone for the Sconnie fans there as the hapless Maroon-Gold team was trying to convene for Hail Minnesota. To Wisky's credit, there were red-cap wearing staff at midfield to direct the miscreants away from the Gophers end-of-game ceremony as they were sure to disrupt it. Can't say the same for the Sconnie fans next to the band but that's a different issue.
Finally...
3. Post-Hail Minnesota. Once the Gophers left the field it was all Sconnie's and they hung around for at least 10 minutes if not significantly longer. When the West Endies saw the Gophers were gone, they started their march to the East and the same 5-6 players from earlier were making a bee-line to the East goalpost. Funny thing was that the main group stopped midfield for some celebrations, so the miscreants turned around once again to go back to the main group. Eventually the main group took to chopping the remaining goalpost and the Axe was paraded around the perimeter of the field for all the Sconnie fans in attendance to high five the players walking by.
As noted in another post, winning this game is once again equally important to both sides. It is true that "absence makes the heart grow fonder." The Badgers missed The Axe the past two years. Hopefully our players only miss it for one year.
P.S. As founding members of The Bitter End Club we stayed in our seats and beheld the spectacle of the celebrating Eastern Hordes. It was a very fitting end to the regular season. Very bitter.
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