Spokesman-Recorder: Glimpse of a rarity—a Black Gopher fan; Contrary to some people’s belief, Blacks do like Gopher football

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College football, whether at PWIs or HBCUs, is an experience that begins outside the stadium with tailgating. “It goes beyond the game,” noted Wright. “Gopher fans are very friendly fans.”

But also, mostly White.
 

His other articles
"Great expectations for Black men teaching"
"Few second chances for Black coaches"
"Black coach wants to win because ‘everybody is watching’"
"Black head coaches living the dream"
"Meet Minnesota’s only Black college hockey players"

CONNECT WITH THE MSR
[email protected]
(612) 827-4021
 

What's weird about this article is that when we enter a sports stadium/arena or even a bar to watch a game, we almost always feel we are connected to others who are wearing maroon and gold, purple and gold, or iron range red, forest green, harvest gold, Minnesota wheat, and white. When I go to a game, the color I'm wearing or you're wearing means more then skin color ever will. The same reason I love cheering for American teams in the olympics or international competition.

While the article may be driving awareness or trying to drive more fans to the games, its also dividing what is already there. A fan base that is almost always united in one thing. We want to see our teams win. Period.
 


fmlizard said:
From the article: "Wright, who also hosts his own sports podcast, guesstimates “maybe 10 to 15%” of those who attend Gopher football look like him. His simple advice to school officials: “You have got to do a better job of marketing to the Black community in terms of making tickets available, making sure that you can develop an interest in your product.”

So what he's saying is that Black fans attend Gopher football games roughly in proportion with their share of the population nationally and in the Twin Cities.
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I’ve never bought a ticket that wasn’t available to any race.
 



What confused me the most was the author. At first I thought it was long time PiPress columnist and founder of Twin Tone records Charley Hallman. Which would have been interesting since he died like six years ago.
 




Flecknation said:
His other articles
"Great expectations for Black men teaching"
"Few second chances for Black coaches"
"Black coach wants to win because ‘everybody is watching’"
"Black head coaches living the dream"
"Meet Minnesota’s only Black college hockey players"

CONNECT WITH THE MSR
[email protected]
(612) 827-4021
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Well, the S-R is the traditional black newspaper in the Twin Cities, so it would stand to reason that they would cover things from that perspective.
 

Iceland12 said:
Going back to Clem Haskins days, there have been complaints about how Coaches at the University of Minnesota have ignored local black athletes. The Spokesman-Recorder and some of the local leaders, were long term advocates of having the best athletes to go elsewhere to "punish" the U". Never sure how they thought that would work. Seemed more self-serving of them than anything else.

Guessing that now that Ben Johnson is a Head Coach, they are grudgingly backing off from that. Though haven't read any praise for Johnson's effort. The article though indicates that it doesn't apply across the board anyway.

As for the need for the University to do more?

Not offended by that at all. As a longtime reader of Gopher Hole have gotten use to "marketing" to mean "lower prices or give us more free stuff!", a long time ago.
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So the spokesman reporter isn't just a pop-up blog? Could have fooled me.
 





stocker08 said:
So the spokesman reporter isn't just a pop-up blog? Could have fooled me.
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"On August 10, 2021, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (MSR) began its 87th year of publishing and serving the community.​


But much like any "advocate" newspaper, blog, internet poster or radio show, the conclusion comes first, whether the rest of the story leads to it or not.;)
 

Iceland12 said:

"On August 10, 2021, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (MSR) began its 87th year of publishing and serving the community.​


But much like any "advocate" newspaper, blog, internet poster or radio show, the conclusion comes first, whether the rest of the story leads to it or not.;)
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This article was a real service. Didn't have to read any further than the title.
 


UpAndUnder43 said:
As a part of this underrepresented group—I am sickened that you would so causally bring us up.
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Underrepresented? Don't think so as 100% of those commenting on this thread about their dominant side have claimed to be left handed. At least up until my post here.
 




discochris said:
Well, the S-R is the traditional black newspaper in the Twin Cities, so it would stand to reason that they would cover things from that perspective.
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Thank you.
 
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I feel like we have a few black fans around us at games, though I can't say how many. I find it interesting that the article didn't give any suggestions about what the U can do to encourage more African Americans at games. No discussion about the barriers (cost was mentioned, but that applies to everyone) or solutions.
 


JFC you guys are priceless. How man of you even read the article?

First, it's an article written for a newspaper written for black people. That's the audience. It wasn't written for the GopherHole, yet every piece of nonsense gets posted here regardless.

Second, race baiting? Again did you even read it? It was more light hearted than anything. It was simply pointing out that most people at Gopher games are white. Which is definitely true.

So in an article written for black people in a publication that is targeted for black people, he is trying to get more black people to attend games.

What a scandal. Big fucking deal.


**Now, if you want a real example of ridiculousness by this publication, Larry Fitzgerald once wrote (after Clem was fired) that Clem shouldn't have been fired and that we actually should have been thanking him simply because he got Joel Pryzbilla to sign here. That outweighed the entire academic scandal. How do I know that? Because it was posted on the good old GopherHole.
 


BleedGopher said:
Our very own @leftyslefty can confirm this is correct! He’s a proud left handed GH poster.

Go Gophers!!
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Fellow left-hander too, all left-handers are ambidextrous by necessity. That means both sides of our brains are more developed than righties.
 

I have never even thought about how many black fans are watching the Gophers. I think GH just jumped the shark, with this thread.
 

WilliamsArenaGuy said:
JFC you guys are priceless. How man of you even read the article?

First, it's an article written for a newspaper written for black people. That's the audience. It wasn't written for the GopherHole, yet every piece of nonsense gets posted here regardless.

Second, race baiting? Again did you even read it? It was more light hearted than anything. It was simply pointing out that most people at Gopher games are white. Which is definitely true.

So in an article written for black people in a publication that is targeted for black people, he is trying to get more black people to attend games.

What a scandal. Big fucking deal.


**Now, if you want a real example of ridiculousness by this publication, Larry Fitzgerald once wrote (after Clem was fired) that Clem shouldn't have been fired and that we actually should have been thanking him simply because he got Joel Pryzbilla to sign here. That outweighed the entire academic scandal. How do I know that? Because it was posted on the good old GopherHole.
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Certainly the people who are whining about race baiting are just looking for anything to be outraged about.

My personal issue with the article is that the author makes the assumption that the Gophers don't have black fans...which is patently false. And then the author goes on to say that the University is doing a bad job of marketing to black people. That's such an outrageously stupid take that it seems like a joke. Either you like sports or not. Exactly how does the University go about marketing specifically to the black community? It makes no sense.
 

My personal issue with the article is that the author makes the assumption that the Gophers don't have black fans...which is patently false. And then the author goes on to say that the University is doing a bad job of marketing to black people. That's such an outrageously stupid take that it seems like a joke. Either you like sports or not. Exactly how does the University go about marketing specifically to the black community? It makes no sense. To me this appears to be nothing more than a race-baiting article.
 

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