Reusse: A fan can't be sane and justify this Gophers loss

Donate To GopherHole
G

GameDay

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 17, 2013
Messages
2,592
Reaction score
309
Points
83
http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/237827011.html

Some typical jabs to the loyal Gopher fan base in this article about a reflection on this season and last. But... If you actually think about the point he is trying to convey, he isn't necessarily wrong.

It's an interesting, not pleasurable read. What do you guys think?
 

It was a bad loss. Pathetic effort, poor coaching, poor performance. I hope that everyone in that locker room is embarrassed by the garbage they put on the field, and that they feel bad that their fans actually paid money to watch that crap. There is no way to excuse that performance.

However, when I weigh one really ugly loss against the first .500 B1G season I have seen in a while, I'll wait until next year to see if we take another step forward.
 

I didn't know St. Thomas had a 30, 000 seat stadium?
 

The only thing I disagree with is his unnecessary gibes at Gopher fans. Fans are by nature biased and therefore excuse misbehavior and underachievement as would a parent. I make no apology for that. Nevertheless, this loss is a most troubling sign to me because of what looked to be lack of discipline, focus, and attention. These weaknesses were there Kill's first year but seemed to have been remedied this season. The team last night looked like the team of his year one. I'm plenty worried about further regression next year.
 

The truth hurts. How many Gopher fans on this site predicted a Gopher blowout?....many!
 


FanSinceTheFifties said:
The only thing I disagree with is his unnecessary gibes at Gopher fans. Fans are by nature biased and therefore excuse misbehavior and underachievement as would a parent. I make no apology for that. Nevertheless, this loss is a most troubling sign to me because of what looked to be lack of discipline, focus, and attention. These weaknesses were there Kill's first year but seemed to have been remedied this season. The team last night looked like the team of his year one. I'm plenty worried about further regression next year.
Click to expand...

Have you ever read Gopherhole?:cool02:
 

Reusse is right.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
 

Yeppers, coaches stunk this one up. Aren't pay raises in discussion? Seems like a bad time to underperform
 

Big Play said:
I didn't know St. Thomas had a 30, 000 seat stadium?
Click to expand...


The "stated" attendance for the game was around 37,000, however, most of that number included tickets in the Houston Texans season ticket package. The attendance at the game looked to be well under 10,000. Probably closer to 6000 people in attendance. I contend that the dismal attendance significantly affected the Gophers' ability to get fired up. It probably felt like a meaningless scrimmage to many of the guys. This team thrived on emotion and inspiration all season. Tough to get fired up in a morgue-like setting.
 



It's disappointing and upsetting to be upset by a foe who you think is inferior. I think we're all disappointed. I take issue with Reusse's premise, because I don't think an upset loss has to be justified. It's an upset loss, after all. However, I'm glad the Gophers won eight games this year, glad that they managed a .500 record in conference, and that they seem to be continuing to improve.
 

BreakTheGopherCurse said:
The "stated" attendance for the game was around 37,000, however, most of that number included tickets in the Houston Texans season ticket package. The attendance at the game looked to be well under 10,000. Probably closer to 6000 people in attendance. I contend that the dismal attendance significantly affected the Gophers' ability to get fired up. It probably felt like a meaningless scrimmage to many of the guys. This team thrived on emotion and inspiration all season. Tough to get fired up in a morgue-like setting.
Click to expand...

Why does the attendance affect Minnesota and not Syracuse?
 

everybody knows my name said:
It's disappointing and upsetting to be upset by a foe who you think is inferior. I think we're all disappointed. I take issue with Reusse's premise, because I don't think an upset loss has to be justified. It's an upset loss, after all. However, I'm glad the Gophers won eight games this year, glad that they managed a .500 record in conference, and that they seem to be continuing to improve.
Click to expand...


I don't think Syracuse was an inferior opponent by any means. A team is usually only as good as its quarterback, and Cuse's QB is at least a grade-level above either of our guys.
 

station19 said:
Why does the attendance affect Minnesota and not Syracuse?
Click to expand...

I hear what you're saying and perhaps you're exactly right. I just get the feeling that the Gophers were more bummed out about the setting and Cuse just wanted to prove that they were as good or better than Minnesota and wanted to redeem the last two losses to Minnesota.
 



I get the feeling many times that the MN media has never left the state. They continue to act like Gopher fans are the only fan base that are biased. Those that have lived around the country know that is not true at all.
 

Reusse and Souhan have proven all of us wrong enough times....
 

Even Reusse gets it right once in awhile.
 

BreakTheGopherCurse said:
The "stated" attendance for the game was around 37,000, however, most of that number included tickets in the Houston Texans season ticket package. The attendance at the game looked to be well under 10,000. Probably closer to 6000 people in attendance. I contend that the dismal attendance significantly affected the Gophers' ability to get fired up. It probably felt like a meaningless scrimmage to many of the guys. This team thrived on emotion and inspiration all season. Tough to get fired up in a morgue-like setting.
Click to expand...

Maybe the studio audience was small but the national audience wasn't.
There were over a million national viewers watching the Gophers on Friday.
The Texas Bowl was the only game in its time slot. The players knew they were going to get big coast to coast exposure.
 

BreakTheGopherCurse said:
I don't think Syracuse was an inferior opponent by any means. A team is usually only as good as its quarterback, and Cuse's QB is at least a grade-level above either of our guys.
Click to expand...

They had 6 wins coming into the game and only 3 of those came against decent teams (Maryland, BC, and I guess Tulane). Let's not try to go back and make it seem like we got beat by a good team because we didn't.
 

BreakTheGopherCurse said:
I don't think Syracuse was an inferior opponent by any means. A team is usually only as good as its quarterback, and Cuse's QB is at least a grade-level above either of our guys.
Click to expand...

I don't understand how players , coaches, or fans can really think of any team as inferior to us at this point. Until we prove that we can dominate an opponent on a regular basis we haven't risen to the level of a superior opponent to anyone.
 

It's going to hurt come next bowling season. How will the U ever get picked ahead of the Nebraskas and Michigans with a similar record if they can't win the same crap bowl game in two years?
 

MN4ever said:
It's going to hurt come next bowling season. How will the U ever get picked ahead of the Nebraskas and Michigans with a similar record if they can't win the same crap bowl game in two years?
Click to expand...

They don't look at bowl game records do they?
 

That article strikes me as being written by the Grinch:

Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot, but the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville - did not. The Grinch hated Christmas - the whole Christmas season. Now, please don't ask why; no one quite knows the reason. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. Or it could be that his head wasn't screwed on just right. But I think that the most likely reason of all... may have been that his heart was two sizes too small. But, whatever the reason, his heart or his shoes, he stood there on Christmas Eve hating the Whos. Staring down from his cave, with a sour grinchy frown, at the warm, lighted windows below in their town. For he knew that every Who down in Whoville beneath was busy now, hanging a holly who wreath.

Happy New Year!
 

gopherfannnn is right.

gopherfannnn said:
That article strikes me as being written by the Grinch:

Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot, but the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville - did not. The Grinch hated Christmas - the whole Christmas season. Now, please don't ask why; no one quite knows the reason. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. Or it could be that his head wasn't screwed on just right. But I think that the most likely reason of all... may have been that his heart was two sizes too small. But, whatever the reason, his heart or his shoes, he stood there on Christmas Eve hating the Whos. Staring down from his cave, with a sour grinchy frown, at the warm, lighted windows below in their town. For he knew that every Who down in Whoville beneath was busy now, hanging a holly who wreath.

Happy New Year!
Click to expand...
 

Hi new to Gopherhole. Can somebody please tell me why Reusse hates Gopher football and Gopher football fans so much? Did something happen in his past?
 

MNSportsguy said:
Hi new to Gopherhole. Can somebody please tell me why Reusse hates Gopher football and Gopher football fans so much? Did something happen in his past?
Click to expand...

Some writers get internet clicks by writing interesting articles. Reusse gets attention by trolling fan bases and stirring the pot.
 


drinks at Northpoint said:
Some writers get internet clicks by writing interesting articles. Reusse gets attention by trolling fan bases and stirring the pot.
Click to expand...

This is correct. He only wants to stir the pot. IMHO it is more than acceptable for a columnist to blast the team, the athletic director and the coaches. But who the he!! writes an article that ridicules the fans? He is just stirring the pot, don't fall for it.
 

I'm a sane Gopher fan and old enough (60) to where I don't allow myself to get riled up about stuff anymore. When I was younger, I used to, so I don't hold it against younger fans who go batsh*t crazy about games and what is written afterward.

It was a disappointing game. No question. I don't know if we were out-coached on this particular night, but I think Syracuse schemed well, especially on defense. They used their speed to great advantage and we couldn't counter-punch. Coaches or players? Probably a bit of both.

I don't know if it's Kill, Limegrover, or other assistants, but we have to do something about our passing game. Nelson and Leidner have been woefully inconsistent throwing the ball, but I wonder if scheme contributes to that. I saw the same thing in the NIU game where Utah State shut them down. If you put pressure on the QB and have guys stay in their lanes, it shuts down the run option that Nelson and Leidner seem to go to almost automatically instead of checking down to other receivers. Is that the QB, the WRs not getting open, or the design of the passing game? Just something to think about. Kill and staff know a ton more than I do, but after watching NIU and us falling prey to pretty much the same defensive strategy, it made me wonder.

As per Reusse. Best sportswriter in town. Has historical context and understands what he's writing about. Not a beat writer so he doesn't have to suck up to anybody. A tad too acerbic at times, but (and this doesn't seem to dawn on anyone anymore even in the era of Fox News and MSNBC) he's trying to generate buzz and vanilla doesn't do that.
 

On the bright side, the Gophers didn't look as bad as Michigan did against K-State.

Two dreadful performances by the Big Ten so far.

Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Iowa need to carry the flag for the Big Ten this season. Those are the 4 bowl games that truly matter for the conference. Winning 3 of those 4 would be a signiciant accomplishment for the Big Ten.

Georgia-Nebraska is pretty much a battle of disappointing, beat-up teams & fan bases, so I'm not going to put much stock in that one, even though it's Big Ten vs. SEC.
 

SelectionSunday said:
On the bright side, the Gophers didn't look as bad as Michigan did against K-State.

Two dreadful performances by the Big Ten so far.

Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Iowa need to carry the flag for the Big Ten this season. Those are the 4 bowl games that truly matter for the conference. Winning 3 of those 4 would be a signiciant accomplishment for the Big Ten.

Georgia-Nebraska is pretty much a battle of disappointing, beat-up teams & fan bases, so I'm not going to put much stock in that one, even though it's Big Ten vs. SEC.
Click to expand...

Have not really dug into the remaining matchups but based on the lines the Big Ten team is the underdog in 4 of the 5 games left so the prospects of the Big Ten turning in a good bowl season are looking worse and worse all the time.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom