RandBall: You and 3 million others will watch the Gophers bowl game

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Rand:

3) So you can laugh. You can grumble. You can poke fun at the Gophers. But there’s this: there’s also a decent chance you’re going to watch this game. It’s not because you are enthralled by the matchup against Central Michigan or dying to see if the Gophers can snap a seven-game bowl losing streak.

It’s because it’s at the perfect time, and these bowl folks know it. It’s at 4 p.m. Monday, Dec. 28. If you’re back at work after a holiday break, it’s a great happy hour opportunity. If you’re still at home flipping through channels, it’s on ESPN2 and easy to find. If you’re home from work at 6 p.m., you can watch the second half. This kind of game just kind of happens to find its way onto your TV.

This year’s Quick Lane Bowl is the very definition of what the bowl season has become. You can try to fight it or you can just admit that like it or not, you’re bound to watch it.

http://www.startribune.com/you-and-3-million-others-will-watch-the-gophers-bowl-game/360807671/

Go Gophers!!
 



True enough, this is not a bad time slot. No other game on at that time (only other game that day starts at 1:30 in the afternoon).
 

Makes sense.

Only ones complaining about it are Patrick and some of the other media types.

They're also the only ones declaring it a 'reward game'.

It's another Gopher game....let's watch it and see how it goes.
 



station19 said:
Makes sense.

Only ones complaining about it are Patrick and some of the other media types.

They're also the only ones declaring it a 'reward game'.

It's another Gopher game....let's watch it and see how it goes.
Click to expand...

Well let's be realistic, this just gives Pat Reusse another reason to have a fit of massive melodrama regarding just how 'humiliating' and 'embarrassing' and 'shameful' all this is, haha. :)

I don't really even mind the guy all that much (usually), but he has about become a major, major drama-queen as he's gotten older. I think it's kind of funny, really.
 

Because of being chosen for academic reasons, I'm more proud of this bowl selection than if we had played a creampuff week one and got in at 6-6 (don't get me wrong, I'm still not beaming with pride but I'm certainly not embarrassed).
 

station19 said:
Makes sense.

Only ones complaining about it are Patrick and some of the other media types.

They're also the only ones declaring it a 'reward game'.

It's another Gopher game....let's watch it and see how it goes.
Click to expand...

This sums it up perfectly. No one is treating it like the CFP, but if you listen to Pat or Dan you would think the whole team/city is. What bothers me more are the folks who have probably watched 1/2 a game this year that go right along with that. The worst are the fans - those not even on the team - who are "embarrassed". WTF? Get over yourself already.

I just don't get it - as a Gopher fan I am very happy to get to watch another game this year. Is it the game I wanted at the start of the year? No. But it is what it is and I'll enjoy cheering.
 



I'm not in the least bit embarrassed by this. The Gophers are a competitive team. They didn't win as many games as they would've liked, but they hung around in several games against highly ranked opponents who turned out to be very good. The team laid several eggs as well, but if 5-win teams were needed anyway, I'm glad UM is one. I love bowl season, and it's WAY more fun when the Gophers are part of it.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk
 

More than 10 million viewers watched the 3-7 Ravens face the 2-8 Browns on Monday Night Football last week. Anyone who tuned into that game (or any number of awful NFL games this season, including last night's abomination) has no room to complain about the Gophers playing in a bowl game.
 

GoUgophers said:
A rupert post mentioning Wisconsin.

If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it.
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There is a lot of mentioning of Iowa and Wisconsin on this board. They're the two biggest rivalries
junior. If you don't like it,shut your pie hole.
 

Spoofin said:
This sums it up perfectly. No one is treating it like the CFP, but if you listen to Pat or Dan you would think the whole team/city is. What bothers me more are the folks who have probably watched 1/2 a game this year that go right along with that. The worst are the fans - those not even on the team - who are "embarrassed". WTF? Get over yourself already.

I just don't get it - as a Gopher fan I am very happy to get to watch another game this year. Is it the game I wanted at the start of the year? No. But it is what it is and I'll enjoy cheering.
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Exactly. I don't get it either. I get people not wanting to go because:

1. It's in Detroit.
2. It's right after Christmas but during the week.
3. It's in Detroit.
4. The Gophers didn't have a great season and with coaching changes it's doubtful the offense will be real competent.
5. It's in Detroit - in DECEMBER!
6. Gave up the idea of going to a bowl game when they lost to MI.
7. Have I mentioned IT'S IN DETROIT!!!

But I don't get why people would act like it's shameful for the Gophers to go. As others have said, if they play SE Louisiana Tech A&M State instead of TCU they get 6 wins and while a few people might throw out the "creampuff" card (which may be false when Ohio is 8-4 and CSU is 7-5), but no one acts like they should be ashamed to go. If they had next year's schedule and beat Maryland and Rutgers (not a given but 2 B1G wins combined say likely) and end up 7-5, no one complains at all, yet they still just beat some awful teams instead of losing in close games to some REALLY good ones.
 



Hey - Detroit's not the worst place in the world.

I went through Detroit one time with a buddy of mine who was a truck driver. he picked up a load at a liquor warehouse, and scammed a free bottle of scotch from the guy at the loading dock. So, that night we got a hotel room, drank free scotch, and watched the North Stars in the Stanley cup Finals (1991 vs. the Penguins). That's my Detroit story.
 

Ornery, I would NOT go to Detoilet for a free bottle of scotch. I don't like scotch.
 

Barreiro isn't ripping the gophers for accepting the bowl invitation, he's ripping the idea that this is some sort of earned reward for a good season. From what I caught of the program he singled out this @gophergridiron tweet:

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


I think the #goldstandard rubbed him the wrong way. But in @GopherGridiron's defense, what are they supposed to say about the bowl? Sorry we made a bowl game at 5-7?

Looking at the replies to that tweet it doesn't look like Barreiro is alone in his thinking.
 

But Barriero also spent a good amount last week saying how embarrassing it is that the Gophers even consider accepting a bowl bid. Also said they should decline it and went on a rant about how pathetic it is for them to accept. He has become unlistenable.
 

Cold day in hell i ever care what some guy in front of microphone says or thinks.
 

Gopher recruiting twitter account attempts to appeal to 15-17 year old kids. Breaking it down next on bumper to bumper.
 

It's a fricking recruiting account for crying out loud. The people controlling the account are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing. Like Maximus said, it is meant to appeal to 15-17 year old recruits. Why does the media get so bent out of shape over such little things? Maybe they need to come up with better stuff to talk about.

How about this: say the Redskins make the playoffs this year with a 7-9 record (very much possible) and say they had been to the playoffs the past three seasons as well. Would people be getting bent out of shape if their twitter account said something about them going to the playoffs four years in a row? Going to the playoffs with an under .500 record is way more pathetic than playing in a meaningless bowl game.
 

GopherHomer said:
Because of being chosen for academic reasons, I'm more proud of this bowl selection than if we had played a creampuff week one and got in at 6-6 (don't get me wrong, I'm still not beaming with pride but I'm certainly not embarrassed).
Click to expand...
Ditto.
 

It would be so terrible for the program to have a bunch of extra practice time and an extra game of experience under a coach we're just transitioning to
 

GophersInIowa said:
It's a fricking recruiting account for crying out loud. The people controlling the account are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing. Like Maximus said, it is meant to appeal to 15-17 year old recruits. Why does the media get so bent out of shape over such little things? Maybe they need to come up with better stuff to talk about.

How about this: say the Redskins make the playoffs this year with a 7-9 record (very much possible) and say they had been to the playoffs the past three seasons as well. Would people be getting bent out of shape if their twitter account said something about them going to the playoffs four years in a row? Going to the playoffs with an under .500 record is way more pathetic than playing in a meaningless bowl game.
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This was basically my take. Gopher Gridiron is basically a marketing account that targets Gopher FB recruiting targets. So marketing a bowl game is exactly what it should do. #goldstandard is kind of lame in the general sense but if you look at it from the marketing and sales perspective it sums up an idea in an easy to digest statement and that is it. So mission accomplished. Getting bent out of shape about that is kind of silly.

On the other hand, if this kind of stuff is coming out from the university or the athletic Department, then there might be some discussion about what is trying to be accomplished.
 

lexicalNinja said:
This was basically my take. Gopher Gridiron is basically a marketing account that targets Gopher FB recruiting targets. So marketing a bowl game is exactly what it should do. #goldstandard is kind of lame in the general sense but if you look at it from the marketing and sales perspective it sums up an idea in an easy to digest statement and that is it. So mission accomplished. Getting bent out of shape about that is kind of silly.

On the other hand, if this kind of stuff is coming out from the university or the athletic Department, then there might be some discussion about what is trying to be accomplished.
Click to expand...

Even then, I wouldn't be too worried about it. It's not like the AD or coaches are posting this stuff. They pay marketing people to do this. They're always going to stay positive just like most business accounts would be doing.
 


GophersInIowa said:
Even then, I wouldn't be too worried about it. It's not like the AD or coaches are posting this stuff. They pay marketing people to do this. They're always going to stay positive just like most business accounts would be doing.
Click to expand...

True, but that puts this in the same category as the NDSU graphics pointing out that only Alabama had won more D1 football games than they had over the last three years, and I sure as heck mocked that graphic.
 

Funny, haven't heard any of the locals blasting the other 5-7 schools. There are so many bowls, surprised this doesn't happen more. At least there is an established criteria on how the selections work. Let's be honest, we watch more crappy bowls than we want to, even without a team in the game because it's college football and it goes away again until late August
 

DLguy said:
But Barriero also spent a good amount last week saying how embarrassing it is that the Gophers even consider accepting a bowl bid. Also said they should decline it and went on a rant about how pathetic it is for them to accept. He has become unlistenable.
Click to expand...

Remember how embarrassing Barriero thought it was that wisconsin accepted the opportunity to play in the Big10 championship game after finishing in 3rd place but OSU and PSU were ineligible? Yeah, I don't either...
 

Normally, I may not be so proud, but this wasn't your run-of-the-mill 5-7 season.

Kill retiring on a dime? 20+ injuries and 100+ starts lost? Murderer's Row for a sked?

Yet we still came within a foot of beating Michigan, a TD of Iowa and made Ohio State soil themselves until the mid-4th. I'm pretty happy for the team. As a fan, glad I get to see another game because August is a long ways away. Next year, if they change the bowl procedure and we don't make it somehow, then it's on us.
 

GopherHomer said:
Remember how embarrassing Barriero thought it was that wisconsin accepted the opportunity to play in the Big10 championship game after finishing in 3rd place but OSU and PSU were ineligible? Yeah, I don't either...
Click to expand...

Don't remember if Barriero said it or not (obviously) but there were plenty of people in the media and on internet boards who blasted the idea that the Badgers were going to the Rose Bowl with a 8-5 overall and a 4-4 Conference record. Even after they destroyed Nebraska in the B1G Championship game, there were voices pointing out how sad it was that they got there in the first place.

Probably could have even found some people here who thought it was a bad idea..
 

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