This is our chance to start a new tradition, a homefield "advantage"

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UptownMaroon&Gold

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This game on Saturday is our chance to start a new tradition, a home field advantage for the Gophers. Most people have heard that we have a new stadium, and some people in the country know we won our first home game. But 11am on Saturday we have a chance to make a name for ourselves and our "home field advantage".

The notion that some places are tough to play is mostly based on legend, and some truth. The 'shoe, The Swamp, Happy Valley, Autzen, Death Valley, Camp Randall, and others. If we want others (including big ten teams) to fear coming to play in our stadium, a huge upset on Saturday would go a long way into creating an "aura" for TCF.

We, as loyal members of the fan base need do what we can to inspire those around us to be as fired up or more, than we were last week. We need to force the ESPN announcers to continually talk about how loud and crazy the crowd is, and how the Bears are flustered by it, and how that is helping the Gophers pull the upset.

When the Gophers win 26-20 in OT, and the crowd storms the field. ESPN and Colllege Gameday will be forced to start talking about us...and hopefully we will start to get that psychological advantage that certain teams get when their playing on their own turf.
 


There would be nothing better than to have a fantastic atmosphere at TCF. There's nothing quite like being at a college football game with a loud and crazy crowd. The band, the weather, the cheerleaders, the pageantry and the crowd - that's why college football is my favorite sport. It would be so awesome for TCF to become a place that other teams hate to play!!!
 

I was debating whether a win over Cal would be a "stormable" feat. Yes, they are #8 in the country, but they're not a rival and they're not top 5. Granted, it would be the biggest win in TCF history. However, if we storm the field for Cal, are we obligated to storm the field vs WI, IA and any time we beat a top 10 big ten team? Seams like were setting ourselves up for a lot of storming.

That said, TCF does have collapsable goalposts for a reason....
 

IMO beating #8 Cal would be storm worthy, beating wisky or iowa or any big ten in a down year, would not be storm-worthy, only if they are highly ranked.
 



UptownMaroon&Gold said:
IMO beating #8 Cal would be storm worthy, beating wisky or iowa or any big ten in a down year, would not be storm-worthy, only if they are highly ranked.
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+1

If we win saturday and students DONT storm the field, I will seriously question our student section.
 

"The Bank"

So your stadium is beautiful. The news report on the top of the board was awesome. But, please forgive this sun-spoiled Californian for these perhaps naive questions. When will the snow start falling there? How will the snow affect Gopher fans and the attendance?
 

Fyght4Cal said:
So your stadium is beautiful. The news report on the top of the board was awesome. But, please forgive this sun-spoiled Californian for these perhaps naive questions. When will the snow start falling there? How will the snow affect Gopher fans and the attendance?
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Snow is only a possible factor for one of the games in November, so maybe one or two games per year...more likely to be none though. Our last games will most likely be clear, but in 30s. On saturday this week it looks like a nice Northern California day, so I dont think the weather will play a factor.
 



Fyght4Cal said:
When will the snow start falling there? How will the snow affect Gopher fans and the attendance?
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Provided your questions are serious and not some lame attempt at weather mockery:

Snow will likely start falling in late October, but nothing will stick until mid-November, barring a freak blizzard or something. I suspect the snow will affect attendance minimally. A significantly cold day, say, sub 30 degrees, could potentially keep people away, particularly the blue hairs; but temperatures don't typically get that cold until late December or January.

The people who have tickets now are mostly comprised of die hards, who would attend regardless of the weather situation. We're all pretty conditioned to it. To not go to a game because of snow or cold weather would be akin to a Bears fan not going to a game due to fear of an earthquake.
 

Snow will start falling some time between Halloween and Christmas. More than likely, a small ammount will fall in mid-November, melt, and then have the real heavy stuff start coming down a week or so into December.

Really though, the real extreme weather in Minnesota is January and February - the weather will probably affect us about the same as Wisconsin, Michigan, or Michigan State. That being said, chances are there will be at least one or two snow games every few years, but the snow won't deter fans if we are playing well. If it is a sub-par team though, then attendence could take a hit.
 

90% of the years, measurable snow doesn't begin to fall until after the last home game or usually it's after the regular season. The idea that Minneapolis is buried in snow from Nov. 1 until April 1 is a myth. We haven't had more than 2 inches of snow before Thanksgiving in the Twin Cities for a quite a few years. So...snow will have very little impact on attendance.
 

beating a top-ten team for the first time since 1977 is absolutely a stormable feat. I know I'll be on the field as soon as the game is over if we win.
 



Fyght4Cal said:
So your stadium is beautiful. The news report on the top of the board was awesome. But, please forgive this sun-spoiled Californian for these perhaps naive questions. When will the snow start falling there? How will the snow affect Gopher fans and the attendance?
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We're expecting 15 degrees and snow so you may want to just leave your tickets at the will call window.

On the other hand TCF is about 2100 miles from Oakland and the San Andres Fault and nobody has tried to set Stadium Village on fire lately....
 

Amen brother, very well said.

it starts with the victory walk Saturday morning!!
 

ESPN announcers just said during the Miami/GT game tonight, "we'll see if Cal can come away with a win vs. the Gophers in their new house."
 

If the Gophers win on Saturday...........storm the field, don't ask, don't look around, just do it!
Students, you must lead the way.
 


"storm worthy"--hilarious--reminds me of sponge worthy--

i also will be pissed if we don't storm the field--top ten is storm worthy, the jug, the axe, the pig--all are storm worthy even in down years

actually i was a little upset we didn't storm on the first win at the bank--how often with that happen again?
 

Thanks to:

Hill_Murray
swmngo4
UptownMaroon&Gold
MBAGuy

and lol@Iceland12 for your responses. All I know about Minn comes from "A Prairie Home Companion" and my memories of watching my LA Rams struggle in Metropolitan Stadium against the Vikes, and how those fans used to revel in in the snowfall.

Watching the coverage of the opening of "The Bank" I was struck by A) A game outside in Minn and B) seeing everyone in shirt sleeves and it triggered the weather questions.

All I can say about the stadium is WOW! How long was it in the planning? How much did it cost? How many does it seat/hold?
 

What I don't understand about the whole weather ignorance( not using 'ignorance' as an insult...just using it for the definition of not knowing about something) situation is that it only seems to apply to the state of Minnesota. We pretty much have the same weather patterns as the entire upper midwest and northern east coast. I doubt a Californian would seem so clueless if his team was playing in New York or Boston...not a big deal, I've just always found it strange that MN is considered some wacky outlier when it comes to weather in the United States.
 

I noticed them taking down the goal posts after the game and then putting them back up. Were they practicing for a storming the field situation? It just seemed like an odd thing to do, to take them down and then put them right back up.

As far as the weather goes, I hear it's really hot in Death Valley, how do you deal with that heat in Berkeley? Seriously though, just like the weather in Death Valley isn't the weather in Berkeley, the weather in International Falls isn't the weather in Minneapolis. It's really pretty much like it is in any other Big Ten school. We probably won't have any snow cover for our November games. And if it is a bit cool, people will just drink coffee and hot chocolate at the game, which concessions will run out of.
 

Fyght4Cal said:
All I can say about the stadium is WOW! How long was it in the planning? How much did it cost? How many does it seat/hold?
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Formal planning started once the stadium bill was approved in May 2006. Populous (formerly HOK) was selected as the designer and the first public plans were unveiled in Jan 2007.

It cost $288 million dollars.

It seats approx 50,805 and includes 39 suites, 59 loge boxes, and 300 indoor club seats. There are also outdoor club seats. The stadium is built so that it can be expanded to 80,000 seats in 10,000 seat increments (if desired). The expansions will look seamless to the current exterior thanks to this planning (no erector set look).
 

RodentRampage said:
I noticed them taking down the goal posts after the game and then putting them back up. Were they practicing for a storming the field situation? It just seemed like an odd thing to do, to take them down and then put them right back up.

As far as the weather goes, I hear it's really hot in Death Valley, how do you deal with that heat in Berkeley? Seriously though, just like the weather in Death Valley isn't the weather in Berkeley, the weather in International Falls isn't the weather in Minneapolis. It's really pretty much like it is in any other Big Ten school. We probably won't have any snow cover for our November games. And if it is a bit cool, people will just drink coffee and hot chocolate at the game, which concessions will run out of.
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+1
 


Yeah, I remember that Halloween blizzard. Unreal. That's a complete rarity though lol. If I recall, we've been wondering about having "Brown Christmas" the last few years as it hasn't snowed a whole lot prior to New Years it seems. I would doubt there will be anything beyond some sparse flakes for any of our games this year. But, as just noted, there can be exceptions....lol
 

Not to be wet blanket, but I sat in the first row for the first game and there are security guard up the wahzoo on the field. The first few who jump will be swept up pretty quickly , which will most likely discourage anyone else from risking a disorderly conduct ticket.

The only way the field will be taken is if a large number of people rush it all at once and overwhelm the guards. I believe the Germans call it a blitzkrieg.
 

I think they took them down in case the students were going to do it.

I think if we win tomorrow it is a stormable game.

I cannot wait for the game tomorrow!!!
 

gophmeister said:
Not to be wet blanket, but I sat in the first row for the first game and there are security guard up the wahzoo on the field. The first few who jump will be swept up pretty quickly , which will most likely discourage anyone else from risking a disorderly conduct ticket.

The only way the field will be taken is if a large number of people rush it all at once and overwhelm the guards. I believe the Germans call it a blitzkrieg.
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You see it far too often, I don't think security is a factor in this. They will undoubtedly be overwhelmed by the number doing it if it just gets started.
 

gophmeister said:
I believe the Germans call it a blitzkrieg.
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Nicely done. Just FYI though, people get mad if you speak in other languages here. They might hurl bizarre insults like "puple monkey dishwasher". Just a heads up.
 

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