RandBall: With market dominance in their grasp, Gophers fumble ball back to Vikings

[BleedGopher]

per RandBall:

The Gophers, coming off an 11-win season and suddenly granted a chance to build on that with a nine-game Big Ten fall season, were set to open on Oct. 24 against Michigan. Both teams were ranked at the time, and the matchup was good enough that College Gameday again visited campus (albeit with far less fanfare this time).

To preview that game and the entire Minnesota season, I hosted a video with Star Tribune columnist Chip Scoggins. We talked about question marks (defense), strong points (offense) and the uncertainty surrounding the entirety of this college football season.

But one observer was far more certain about what was to come. In response to a tweet promoting that video, a reader named Jeff replied: “Whenever Gopher football shows promise, they fall on their faces. It’s like Charlie Brown believing Lucy that, this time, she won’t move the ball when he kicks it. And every time she moves it and he falls on his (butt). It’s a sure thing, but Charlie believes her every time.”

This is not a new metaphor, nor is it going on a far-flung limb to suggest the Gophers might not live up to expectations in a given season.

With market dominance in their grasp, Gophers fumble ball back to Vikings

The Gophers football team was in prime position to hold the featured position in the local sports market. But an 0-2 start coupled with the Vikings' victory on Sunday has hurt its standing.

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[Some guy]

Lucy pulling the football is a pretty lazy analogy for this year.
Are we saying charlie didn’t connect on the ball last year?


Do we have to finish top 9 to consider it striking the ball in the Charlie Brown analogy?

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Any sea change in terms of picking up mass fans has less to do with the Vikings and more to do with just doing well period.

Games like Penn St last year and Auburn, etc.

It's more of a "just do well and everything else will work itself out".

 

[Some guy]

Any sea change in terms of picking up mass fans has less to do with the Vikings and more to do with just doing well period.

Games like Penn St last year and Auburn, etc.

It's more of a "just do well and everything else will work itself out".

Correct
And the gophers will never crowd the Vikings out of the market. The Vikings would have to be bad for sustained period of time. Like years

 

[Grant]

Does any other city or state do this market dominance discussion?

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Does any other city or state do this market dominance discussion?

I'm sure they do, whenever a sportswriter doesn't have something to complain about ... and even when they do.

 

[nitramnaed]

Does any other city or state do this market dominance discussion?

I doubt it. Except for Northwestern there are no other urban campuses like Minnesota. I think it's always been a struggle since the arrival of pro sports on the scene.

 

[PMWinSTP]

I doubt it. Except for Northwestern there are no other urban campuses like Minnesota. I think it's always been a struggle since the arrival of pro sports on the scene.

Probably true on the discussion, but there are other urban campuses like here.

 

[Mulligan]

Correct
And the gophers will never crowd the Vikings out of the market. The Vikings would have to be bad for sustained period of time. Like years

Well, hopefully they can be successful enough so they at least get the same respect grammatically some day.

 

[GopherDog1]

Correct
And the gophers will never crowd the Vikings out of the market. The Vikings would have to be bad for sustained period of time. Like years

I propose they have been bad for a long time. The number of Super Bowls, please?

 

[46Gophers]

I doubt it. Except for Northwestern there are no other urban campuses like Minnesota. I think it's always been a struggle since the arrival of pro sports on the scene.

In Big10 country or the US? .......Miami, Pitt, BC, UCLA, Washington to name a few. Heck College Park is close to Baltimore just like NW (Evanston) is to Chicago.

 

[Some guy]

I propose they have been bad for a long time. The number of Super Bowls, please?

They have the 7th best regular season winning percentage among the 32 nfl franchises


While I do think they are a little overrated they definitely haven’t been bad enough to lose their fan base

 

[short ornery norwegian]

I agree with Randball on this one.

The Gophers had a real opportunity to at least grab a bigger piece of the sports pie in the Twin cities market.

and now that opportunity is probably gone. Maybe if the Gophers somehow come back and post wins over Iowa and Wisconsin, they can regain some of the lost momentum.

But the Gophers lost a game where they were 20-point favorites - the same weekend the Vikes beat Green Bay at Lambeau.

that is an awfully big swing and miss for the Gopher program, in terms of gaining more prominence in the TC sports scene.

 

[Plato]

The biggest miss was not going to the Rose Bowl by losing to IA.
WI went to two Rose bowls in a short period of time after a very long drought and that was the start of a wait list for season tickets and the expansion of the stadium.
WI FB became imbedded in WI culture.
Not to the same extent as the Packers but close.