Reusse: That buzz you hear? Must be mosquitoes, not interest in Gophers

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its hard to argue a word he wrote as much as it pains me. there is no buzz at all outside of our community here on gh. i have friends who are casual Gopher football fans, yet die-hard gopher basketball fans and they could care less about the season. I have co-workers who are big sports fans and no one is saying a word about the Gophers.

most of us will be happy with 7-5, we'll be going nuts for 8-4 but outside of those 8 wins coming against usc and ohio state and either uw/iowa, very few casual fans will raise an eyebrow until we have a breakthrough season which is 9 wins minimum before a bowl game.

800 people on gh is great for us die-hards but if you want to know the buzz factor look at tv ratings, newspaper online hits, attendance and so on. all signs point to no buzz.

breakthrough season or bust.
 

Pathetic

This is pathetic. Anyone that doesnt believe that this article isn't in direct response to the criticism found here and other pro-gopher websites is kidding themselves.

How thin-skinned is fatrick to write this article? Amazing that the strib employs people that use their entity to shovel his rediculous agenda.

What is gained by writting this article other than proving to the U that he has the power to write anything he wants to portray them in a bad light. It's a power move that only proves that the gopher following holds enough power to get to him.

What a *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#...

I've had a couple, somone tell me I'm way off base here.
 

Nothing wrong with this article at all. What buzz should there be? Bascially irrelevant for 40 years and according to the "experts" a 2 win season is being predict for this season. The football team needs to create their own buzz and not expect the local media to do it for them.
 


Agreed, but

If the team isnt creating their own buzz, why the article? If no one cares, what is he doing wasting "valuable" space in the strib?

Specifically written to be an @ss.
 

Go4 said:
its hard to argue a word he wrote as much as it pains me. there is no buzz at all outside of our community here on gh. i have friends who are casual Gopher football fans, yet die-hard gopher basketball fans and they could care less about the season. I have co-workers who are big sports fans and no one is saying a word about the Gophers.

most of us will be happy with 7-5, we'll be going nuts for 8-4 but outside of those 8 wins coming against usc and ohio state and either uw/iowa, very few casual fans will raise an eyebrow until we have a breakthrough season which is 9 wins minimum before a bowl game.

800 people on gh is great for us die-hards but if you want to know the buzz factor look at tv ratings, newspaper online hits, attendance and so on. all signs point to no buzz.

breakthrough season or bust.
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There must be enough online hits for him to write the article. This type of article must create hits, why else would he do it? Why does JG from KFAN come on here just to let us 800 people know they have/had Gopher related guests?
 

Any other questions on the Vikings effect on the Gopher Football program? A more than 4-1 ratio on hits about washed-up Javon walker than a Gopher feature story. When are the people of Gopherhole going to realize the obvious. The VIKINGS MUST GO.
 

josh087 said:
Any other questions on the Vikings effect on the Gopher Football program? A more than 4-1 ratio on hits about washed-up Javon walker than a Gopher feature story. When are the people of Gopherhole going to realize the obvious. The VIKINGS MUST GO.
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Let it go man. We know your stance. And its not happening. So just let it be.
 



It's true there isn't as much buzz as in past years. Nobody expects much from the Gophs and with the Twins playing well and the Vikings coming off a great year people have been focusing on them.
 


WannaCMyGophers said:
If the team isnt creating their own buzz, why the article? If no one cares, what is he doing wasting "valuable" space in the strib?

Specifically written to be an @ss.
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This is pretty much my position as well. There's no buzz, and yeah, we realize and accept that. So why waste the column space on talking about the lack of it.

No buzz about a team predicted to finish in the top 3 of the B-10 - that's worth a story.

Reusse just can't help himself and has to poke us diehards. Thanks for that Pat, we really appreciate it.
 

josh087 said:
I don't want to "let it be." I want my favorite team to win.
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So do I. But complaining over and over (and over) about the Vikes on a Gophers board contributes absolutely nothing to that. If you can find a way to make your never-ending "die Vikings die" schtick funny like Schnoods did with "Wisconsin Sucks" then ok. Otherwise just give it a rest for a while.
 



That's exactly the truth. Is Ruesse going to write an article about everything that doesn't create any buzz? Gopher soccer team? Gopher track and field?

It seems odd to waste a day's worth of work on something that you deem unbuzzworthy.
 


josh087 said:
No.
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I hope you enjoy your permanent role as King of the Shrill Viking Haters on GopherHole. Maybe someone here can scrounge up a neat purple and gold crown/scepter set for you to play with.
 

josh087 said:
Any other questions on the Vikings effect on the Gopher Football program? A more than 4-1 ratio on hits about washed-up Javon walker than a Gopher feature story. When are the people of Gopherhole going to realize the obvious. The VIKINGS MUST GO.
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The Vikings may impact the amount of buzz or press the Gophers get or it may be the fact that the Gophers are not winning. However you cannot blame the Gophers on the field struggles on the Vikings
 

josh087 said:
Any other questions on the Vikings effect on the Gopher Football program? A more than 4-1 ratio on hits about washed-up Javon walker than a Gopher feature story. When are the people of Gopherhole going to realize the obvious. The VIKINGS MUST GO.
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its that kind of loser attitude we don't need as fans of this program. Do you think that Badger fans sit around and say "the pacers must go"?
 

Ruesse seems to have created a Buzzz on Gopher Hole.
 

Josh all the Gophs need to do is win and people will come. The Vikes play Sundays and the Gophs play Saturdays, if the Gophers get better and stay that way on a consistent basis the fan base and buzz will expand. People want to spend their freetime being entertained and if the Gophers improve there is nothing the common fan enjoys more than getting behind a winning team and being part of the shared community that winning team creates. People go to work on Monday and talk about the Vikings and I have no doubt that they would want to talk about Gopher games as well because it creates a shared community interest that the latest movie just can't match. Loyalty to the Vikings or Gopher football is not mutually exclusive and if the Gophers improve and become consistently good you will see more than enough people interested in backing both teams. This is not Omaha, Nebraska where there are two football teams competing for a small market...there are more than enough people here to get great support for both football teams.
 

josh087 said:
Any other questions on the Vikings effect on the Gopher Football program? A more than 4-1 ratio on hits about washed-up Javon walker than a Gopher feature story. When are the people of Gopherhole going to realize the obvious. The VIKINGS MUST GO.
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This is so incredibly dumb.

Lets follow your logic out. The Vikes move to LA and there's more press about the Gophers. So what? That doesn't make them better on the field. Most people are bandwagon fans. There will be interest when they are winning. And the Vikings leaving has no impact on the Gophers ability to win. Unfortunately, no winning tradition and built in recruiting disadvantages will make it hard for the U to ever build a sustained competitive team.
 

josh087 said:
Any other questions on the Vikings effect on the Gopher Football program? A more than 4-1 ratio on hits about washed-up Javon walker than a Gopher feature story. When are the people of Gopherhole going to realize the obvious. The VIKINGS MUST GO.
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The Vikings aren't going anywhere. The Vikings are just part of the reality we have to deal with.
 

The scribes have minimal effect on tickets sold. Its all about tradition and success on the field. The Queens are not sold out and Sid wrote that they had a 94% renewal rate on season tickets. I believe the Gophers had 93%.

A full stadium does not guarantee a good team.
 

Honestly, I didn't have a problem with what he wrote, other than the required dig he had to get in towards the end of the article regarding Dasher & the MTSU game......

It's almost like he was finished, & it was proofed, and then somebody said "there isn't a shot at the Gophers about how lousy they've been," so it was tossed in just before print.
 

I REALLY doubt that Reusse is in touch with how much or little buzz the Gophers have. This is a smack piece, nothing more. If you believe Reusse, the Star Tribune and Pioneer Press have been utterly wasting their time by covering the Gophers at all. The reality seems to be that they simply cover the Gophers more than Reusse would like. 50,000 people at the game isn't exactly nothing. There are 37 radio stations in the state that carry Gophers football vs. 25 for hockey and basketball. Are those stations that carry Gophers football making a mistake? Does anyone have any data on ratings for Gopher football games on BTN?

We've been told that support for Gophers football is "miniscule". The attendance isn't at the top of the Big Ten, but it isn't miniscule. 50,000 isn't small, it's just that the Big Ten has some of the largest stadiums not just in the country, but on the planet. And if support is miniscule, then those 37 radio stations are making a mistake. But we are told that it is miniscule compared to hockey, which just isn't true: more people attend Gopher football than attend Gophers hockey.

There is more of a buzz for Gophers football than Reusse would like to admit. That doesn't mean there is a huge buzz, but any buzz at all seems to offend Reusse. I know some people will say "Ignore him and he'll go away." It doesn't work that way, that only works if our criticism of him represented the majority of his media coverage. He's right there on the front of the sports section, whether or not we criticize him. And I know someone will say "we don't want the media to be cheerleaders", but no one is asking the media to cheerlead. We're just asking the media not to be PantherHawk, which Reusse may as well be.
 

FishingMN said:
This is so incredibly dumb.
Most people are bandwagon fans.
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This is what I never got about Minnesotans. I was raised an Illinois fan in Wisconsin, mostly cause my folks went to Illinois. They were fans because it was their school and where they were from. It wasn't conditional based on how the team did, nor should it be.

I went to the U, and now I bleed maroon and gold; it's how it works nearly everywhere but here. For the life of me, I have no idea how a school as big as the U, located in the middle of the metro, has such a small base of alumni/fans who support the team year-in and year-out. Instead we get nice crowds when the Gophs win, and an increasingly empty stadium after each loss.

This "buy my love" attitude pisses me off for pro sports, but I really don't get it for college football. If you are a fan, you are a fan. Otherwise, you are a bandwagon-jumper, a frontrunner, a fairweather "fan." Some people have no problem with that, I just don't get it.

I apologize to the few people who support our team regardless. Just tired of the whining and excuses.
 

FireDaveLee said:
Honestly, I didn't have a problem with what he wrote, other than the required dig he had to get in towards the end of the article regarding Dasher & the MTSU game......

It's almost like he was finished, & it was proofed, and then somebody said "there isn't a shot at the Gophers about how lousy they've been," so it was tossed in just before print.
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This.

The article seemed accurate to me and honestly, being underdogs to a Sun Belt team is "unique" to say the least. Not taking that shot would have killed him.

Gopher fans have been complaining about lack of coverage for years, but Ruesse's right, there's been a LOT of coverage this year. There is no buzz, probably because all casual fans, national publications, even some season ticket holders and people on this board expect them to have a lousy year.

Nobody jumps on a bandwagon heading of a cliff.

They need to win some games. If they don't confirmed Brewster hater Patrick will get his chance to really tee-off.
 

How much buzz would there be with the Vikings if Farve wasn't here? There was a lot of buzz when people were speculating about whether he was coming back or not, and when he actually came back up here. Other than that, I can only go by my own experiences, I don't hear people at work talking about the Vikings all that much. Oh, they might talk about the game when they come back to work on Monday, and if it is a game about the Packers, it will get talked about the Friday before the game. I do see a lot of people who wear their Gopher shirts to work.

I'm not trying to say that support for the Gophers is as large as support for the Vikings. It's just nowhere near as small as Reusse would have us believe. Part of the problem is that people believe the crap that comes from the media. I gave up on KFAN when people would call in wanting to talk about the Gophers, and they would just insult the caller for wanted to talk about the Gophers. Or just yesterday on 1500, a good interview with Rittenberg, and then as soon as he's gone, they start talking smack against the Gophers.

This media is far worse than the Gophers. If only they were on the hotseat too. Winning will be good for the team, but will not fix what is broken in the media.
 

There wasn’t a whole lot you could argue about in Reusse’s article, but fan apathy in MN isn’t something new. I believe it was commonplace in the early ‘90s for General Mills or other companies to buy out whole sections at the dome so the Vikings games wouldn’t be blacked out. Winning games sells tickets, period. This year the Vols had a tough time selling out season tickets and had to resort to some pretty interesting marketing techniques. Granted, their stadium seats twice as many as TCF, but it was only 2 years ago that they were SEC East champs. Nevertheless, I am appalled that there is not more support for the boys in maroon & gold. As an alum, I’ve followed them from 3 continents and check developments every day. The Gophers should be able to round up more support.
 

Different experiences Rodent. I've had to many friends and co-workers, including some Season Ticket Holders, tell me they expect the Gophers to have a very bad year or they turn their head and look down or change the subject when the Gophers come up. Last year those same people were going out of their way to talk about the Gophers. Now, they'll stop me in the hall and ask "do they have a chance at all?"

It's frustrating to be sure.

On this: This media is far worse than the Gophers. If only they were on the hot seat too.

They are worse but they are on a big hot seat. That's the only reason that guys like Justin Gaard and c'monman are over here at all. Not that they're helping their case.:)
 

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