What the Gophers student section thinks of Bo Ryan

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GortonsFisherman011 said:
We also didn't exactly have a student section a few years ago until we got Tubby.
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I'm going to have to call you out on that...and I know you have only been around since Tubby, so let me just fill you in on The Barnyard before Tubby. During the 2004-05 season, the year we made a run to the NCAA tourney, we have 300 student ticket holders. Yes, 300 - with a school of about 50K people. It was small, but I think those 300 kids may have been louder and more passionate than the 2000 there are now. The next year (yes, still Monson) there were 1700. And I was on the board with ATTF, so I may be biased. But those student sections were amazing. Kids came with signs, faces painted, chants, and were die-hards. Coach Monson personally told me the Barnyard was the difference factors in the 3 top 25 teams we beat that year, IU, MSU, and IA.

The difference I see now, is that the students are fans of Tubby now and they go to the games because it's the cool thing to do, not because they are Gopher fans. . With that being said, I know that you are not one of them, and there are still passionate Gopher fans like you, Gorton's.

I don't try to knock the Barnyard, as they are are full everygame, but there is no way they have been as intimidating as it used to be, not even close.

P.S. That's when there was an organized student section - before that, at the end of the Clem and beginning of Monson years, the student section was incredible too.
 

nemosgold said:
Michelle Tafoya's Tweets from Thursday, I tend to agree with her and Rick Mon's. Keep up the energy, cut the swearing, you'll have little kids too someday.

bo Ryan gets t'd up. he's never seen a call he can't gripe about.
7:51 PM Feb 18th from API
student sections that incorporate profanity into their cheers, especially on national TV, need to realize they make their schools look lame!
7:43 PM Feb 18th from API

gophers students profane cheer against Bo Ryan is classless. this is not Madison, kids.
7:40 PM Feb 18th from API
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I agree with Michelle almost 100%. I cringed when I heard it on TV. Don't get me wrong, I agree with the student's statement but it just reflects poorly on the school, especially with it being on national TV. Something a bit more clever could have gotten the point across without crossing the line.

It's not offensive. It's just not the right thing to do. Offensive or unacceptable behavior would be Badger fans calling Adam Hauser a homo, which I was there to hear, or Maryland fans throwing batteries at Duke's bench and chanting that JJ Reddick likes to suck something in particular amoung many other chants. This was neither of those. It's just the wrong thing to say at the wrong time. Buck Fo Ryan would get the point across and still save face on national TV.

Badger and Terp students are well known for their classless behavior. The chant on Thursday was the first I've heard/can remember by Gopher students that crossed the line and that group of students aren't ones we want to associate ourselves with. I don't want this to be a staple like ES/FU is to Badger fans or slurs are to Terp fans. Not a good association. Hope it's a one time deal and not a trend.
 

GopherLady said:
I'm going to have to call you out on that...and I know you have only been around since Tubby, so let me just fill you in on The Barnyard before Tubby. During the 2004-05 season, the year we made a run to the NCAA tourney, we have 300 student ticket holders. Yes, 300 - with a school of about 50K people. It was small, but I think those 300 kids may have been louder and more passionate than the 2000 there are now. The next year (yes, still Monson) there were 1700. And I was on the board with ATTF, so I may be biased. But those student sections were amazing. Kids came with signs, faces painted, chants, and were die-hards. Coach Monson personally told me the Barnyard was the difference factors in the 3 top 25 teams we beat that year, IU, MSU, and IA.

The difference I see now, is that the students are fans of Tubby now and they go to the games because it's the cool thing to do, not because they are Gopher fans. . With that being said, I know that you are not one of them, and there are still passionate Gopher fans like you, Gorton's.

I don't try to knock the Barnyard, as they are are full everygame, but there is no way they have been as intimidating as it used to be, not even close.

P.S. That's when there was an organized student section - before that, at the end of the Clem and beginning of Monson years, the student section was incredible too.
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Agree with GL on this. I was a season ticket holder(split) from 1990-2002 and the student section was always awesome. There may have been a down turn during the last of Monson's tenure.

Sometime during the 90's(probably early 90's) there was a young guy from the band that always got up on the raised floor and played the cymbals when the band played. He always wore different hats or caps. Santa cap, chefs hat, etc. Seemed like he was there 5 or 6 years. Anyone remember him or know him. Very entertaining.
 

I've always loved that kind of crowd participation.

I also miss going to high school hockey games in the late 80s and chanting Bu!! $h!t all the time. So much fun. Especially at our rivalry Simley vs. So. St. Paul games. If I remember right, that chant was also popular at North Stars and Gophers hockey games.

This is uncharacteristic of how I live my life now, but it was so much fun as a teenager.
 

GopherLady said:
I'm going to have to call you out on that...and I know you have only been around since Tubby, so let me just fill you in on The Barnyard before Tubby. During the 2004-05 season, the year we made a run to the NCAA tourney, we have 300 student ticket holders. Yes, 300 - with a school of about 50K people. It was small, but I think those 300 kids may have been louder and more passionate than the 2000 there are now. The next year (yes, still Monson) there were 1700. And I was on the board with ATTF, so I may be biased. But those student sections were amazing. Kids came with signs, faces painted, chants, and were die-hards. Coach Monson personally told me the Barnyard was the difference factors in the 3 top 25 teams we beat that year, IU, MSU, and IA.

The difference I see now, is that the students are fans of Tubby now and they go to the games because it's the cool thing to do, not because they are Gopher fans. . With that being said, I know that you are not one of them, and there are still passionate Gopher fans like you, Gorton's.

I don't try to knock the Barnyard, as they are are full everygame, but there is no way they have been as intimidating as it used to be, not even close.

P.S. That's when there was an organized student section - before that, at the end of the Clem and beginning of Monson years, the student section was incredible too.
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GopherLady has preached the truth on a number of things. The year we started the official student group, there were only 300 tickets sold, and they were very passionate, because you really, REALLY wanted to be there if you were there, especially the year after the Humphries debacle. Then, of course, we made the NCAA tournament that year, and all of the sudden, it was cool to go to the games again.

I would also agree with GL, in that the fans in '05 and '06 were more passionate about the game itself than the student section now. Again, the signs, the face paint, etc. Not that there's none of it now, it's just there was more of it then.

Further, I would have to say this year's rendition of the Barnyard is pretty uncoordinated. Rarely is there a time when you will get the entire student section chanting anything...save for F*&% Bo Ryan, or F*&% the Badgers. Only once this year have I heard a decent "Let's Go Gophers" chant out of the lot. Maybe that's what irritated me about the chant the other night. They can get something as small as their chants at Wisconsin, but they can't get anything else going. It's relatively quiet on defense, and on offense, there's nothing.

Like it or not, we worked hard, and had to go through a lot of administrative hoops to build the Barnyard up to what it was, and for someone to claim that it wasn't anything until Tubby was there is not something that will sit well with any of us that helped it along in the beginning. Further, to see it deteriorate into what it is now is kind of sad as well.
 


We will never be as loud as we could because the "barnyard" only participates in cheers that they start. If a cheer comes from left side of the student section the "barnyard" just sits there silently.
 

While we're at it, can we get raid of the kill, maim, pillage, burn, eat babies chant? Seriously, it looks pretty terrible to say that we eat babies. That reflects poorly on the entire institution. Because if there's one thing I wouldn't want people to think our institution stands by, it would be baby-eating.

Or better yet, everybody should just stop overreacting to something that was completely spur-of-the-moment, and, frankly, pretty warranted. It's pretty sad that we beat our biggest rival and the only thing on this board about the game is complaints about a student chant and Westbrook's late dunk attempt.
 

GL, fair enough. I was mainly talking about numbers, but I can see your point that only the die hards came back then. I've been equally as frustrated with the people that show up just because it's popular now, but we have to go through this stage to develop a great section in the future. By having the numbers now we will develop life long fans, and add in team performance and maybe maybe we'll be able to get rid of the apathetic/bandwagon Minnesota fan stereotype. Maybe.

That being said, Bo and Wisconsin sports in general have owned us for many years before and we didn't exactly have the position to be saying anything like that to/about him.

Plus he stole Christmas.
 

station19 said:
Santa cap, chefs hat, etc. Seemed like he was there 5 or 6 years. Anyone remember him or know him. Very entertaining.
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Santa hats wouldn't be allowed these days, with political correctness at the forefront. Ask Dick Jonckowski.
 



station19 said:
Sometime during the 90's(probably early 90's) there was a young guy from the band that always got up on the raised floor and played the cymbals when the band played. He always wore different hats or caps. Santa cap, chefs hat, etc. Seemed like he was there 5 or 6 years. Anyone remember him or know him. Very entertaining.
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Yes. Short dark hair.

He was the highlight of the game when we sucked. Set the bar for all future cymbal players. Difference between him and most others is that he could actually play while dancing.

And he had a bit of a nasty edge...sometimes putting an exclamation on a crash by adding a pelvic thrust.
 

brucekaupa said:
Yes. Short dark hair.

He was the highlight of the game when we sucked. Set the bar for all future cymbal players. Difference between him and most others is that he could actually play while dancing.

And he had a bit of a nasty edge...sometimes putting an exclamation on a crash by adding a pelvic thrust.
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Yep, that's the guy. He really was entertaining.
 

As far as I can tell from reading all of these posts, people hate it when there aren't students, but hate that when there are a lot of students they aren't organized. They also want us to affect the game, but not without hurting the other teams' feelings. You also need to realize that this was just one game. The f bo ryan and f the badgers chants are only used for wisconsin games, every other game the worst chant is the b*** s*** chant, which is said by every college and high school student section.

I also agree with SOTV, we beat wisconsin and all you do is complain about college students using vulgar language on their own campus
 

Barnyard Barnacle said:
As far as I can tell from reading all of these posts, people hate it when there aren't students, but hate that when there are a lot of students they aren't organized. They also want us to affect the game, but not without hurting the other teams' feelings. You also need to realize that this was just one game. The f bo ryan and f the badgers chants are only used for wisconsin games, every other game the worst chant is the b*** s*** chant, which is said by every college and high school student section.

I also agree with SOTV, we beat wisconsin and all you do is complain about college students using vulgar language on their own campus
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There are better alternatives. I like the energy and the idea but just not the execution. It's not an all-or-nothing proposition. There are other options. Be a little more creative. There are ways of getting your point across without having parents (which I'm not one) having to cover their kid's ears or having to explain what was said. F Bo Ryan is easy and lazy.

I'm not offended but once I heard it I knew it would be an issue. It made me cringe as a result. I curse all of the time but I know there's a time and a place for it. It's not a huge deal but just realize that it can be counterproductive. Get your point across (which I agree with BTW) without looking immature. It's possible, believe it or not.
 



Pewterschmidt said:
There are better alternatives. I like the energy and the idea but just not the execution. It's not an all-or-nothing proposition. There are other options. Be a little more creative. There are ways of getting your point across without having parents (which I'm not one) having to cover their kid's ears of having to explain what was said. F Bo Ryan is easy and lazy.

I'm not offended and once I heard it I knew it would be an issue. It made me cringe as a result. I curse all of the time but I know there's a time and a place for it. It's not a huge deal but just realize that it can be couterproductive. Get your point across (which I agree with BTW) without looking immature. It's possible, believe it or not.
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Well put - I agree. I'm a bit surprised how many folks 'liked' the chant.
 

Let's get to real life, my friends. I have a very good friend in Alexandria, MN, that if we took the F-word out of the English Language, he'd be a mute. IMO, "It's No Big Deal." (Bill Murray in Caddyshack)
 

Dr.Don said:
Let's get to real life, my friends. I have a very good friend in Alexandria, MN, that if we took the F-word out of the English Language, he'd be a mute. IMO, "It's No Big Deal." (Bill Murray in Caddyshack)
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Believe it or not, it's OK to have standards. Should we put the students out to pasture? Of course not but would you fell comfortable around your friend if he/she were cursing around 5 yo's?

What should not be praised (which many on this board are doing) is cursing on national TV. It's really as simple as that. I'm not embarrassed as I don't think it's a trend but I'm certainly not going to say "good job students!!!" I'm going to say to them there are other ways to get your point across given the forum. It's not a big deal but to just accept it is without question the wrong way to go about it.

We can be better than this.
 

OK, truce here on both sides of the aisle.

Let's just have students hold up signs and yell..."Expletive Deleted Bo Ryan."
 

Dr.Don said:
Let's get to real life, my friends. I have a very good friend in Alexandria, MN, that if we took the F-word out of the English Language, he'd be a mute. IMO, "It's No Big Deal." (Bill Murray in Caddyshack)
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I'm guessing most good parents would not take their kids out on a field trip and pay money to spend time with your very good friend in Alexandria.

I couldn't care less personally about kids yelling profanities at Bo Ryan, but I recognize in the context it's bad news. I can't imagine having a little kid with me at a game and the crowd chanting that "f***ing sh**". There is a time and place for nearly everything, but chanting 'F***' anyone in unison at a college basketball game is not a good match of time and place. Distasteful, rude and disrespectful of your own 'fellow fans'.
 

Dr.Don said:
OK, truce here on both sides of the aisle.

Let's just have students hold up signs and yell..."Expletive Deleted Bo Ryan."
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I'm with you, Dr. Don! Way to make peace. We beat freakin' WI - that's all that matters!!! :)
 

As far as I can tell from reading all of these posts, people hate it when there aren't students, but hate that when there are a lot of students they aren't organized.
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You are correct...having lots of students is good, but it would be better if more organized...it can be done, because it has been done.

They also want us to affect the game, but not without hurting the other teams' feelings.
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You can affect the game without going after the other team...it can be done, because it has been done.

You also need to realize that this was just one game.
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It only takes once to create a trend.

The f bo ryan and f the badgers chants are only used for wisconsin games, every other game the worst chant is the b*** s*** chant, which is said by every college and high school student section.
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A. Oh, it's only for the Wisconsin game...well, that makes it all better then. Why didn't you say so?!?

B. If you don't like the B*** S*** chant due to it's lack of creativity, figure out something else to chant and get the rest of the section to chant it...that's what we always did.

C. Any chant with F*** is probably trademarked by Wisconsin anyways, so that's not all that original either...in fact, you're trying to be like them...is that what you really want?

I also agree with SOTV, we beat wisconsin and all you do is complain about college students using vulgar language on their own campus
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I apologize, as an alumnus of the U of M, for trying to live up to a higher standard than the school to the East. I was happy about the win, but disappointed in the student section...that's all. Sorry.
 

While I personally was not offended, if I'd been watching that game with my 5 year-old nephew, I would have been. (And for all I know he was watching it.) Since it was a one-time occurance reservered for the hated rivals, I don't think any over-blown response is necessary.

However, it doesn't take that much creativity to get the point across. I know at least one school that always has blown up Bulls Jersey sign. When it's time for the 'bull s*it chant, they instead chant 'Bull's Shirt' while pointing to the sign. I'm sure 'Buck Bo Ryan' or something similar would have gotten the point accross.
 


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Here's my question:

A lot of people are saying we should be more creative. Exactly how creative can you be in that situation? Think about it. How can you get 2,000 kids to chant some complex, well-thought-out, clever dig at Bo Ryan in the spur-of-the-moment situation like that? It's close to impossible.

Alright, everybody chant on three: Bo Ryan is the John McEnroe of college basketball! One, two, three!
 

alltimetwinsfan, if you were such a great leader, what should the student section do to be as influential in the game without going after the other team, and it has to be creative because thats all i read on here.

Don't try to bring up duke because all they do is dig up dirt and information on the opposing players and heckle them from 4 feet away
 

SonOfTheVarsity said:
Here's my question:

A lot of people are saying we should be more creative. Exactly how creative can you be in that situation? Think about it. How can you get 2,000 kids to chant some complex, well-thought-out, clever dig at Bo Ryan in the spur-of-the-moment situation like that? It's close to impossible.

Alright, everybody chant on three: Bo Ryan is the John McEnroe of college basketball! One, two, three!
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They didn't show up for the game and find out that night that we were playing Wisconsin, did they? Plan ahead! If I were a student that attended the games, I would already be thinking of what to do next time we played Wisconsin. Really easy to pass the word through the section and get something going.
 

Did plenty of enemy research against Wisconsin. Not a single DWI, possession charge, misdemeanor, nothing. Pretty squeaky clean roster. Nobody beats their girlfriend or gets caught with a bong. Unfortunately that's only us that makes it easy on the opposing teams. Closest Wisconsin has come to "controversy" is one of their wayyyy down the rotation (as in like...end of the bench) players from last year, a walk on, Kevin Gullickson, had a couple of underage drinking charges. He's not on the team anymore. Oooo boy.
 

alltimetwinsfan, if you were such a great leader, what should the student section do to be as influential in the game without going after the other team, and it has to be creative because thats all i read on here.
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First off, I'm more than flattered in your compliments as to my leadership skills! Alas, I can't take much credit for it...We had a great leadership GROUP that combined our skills to do some great things, including GopherLady.

As long as you're asking for my opinion, though, I'd give you a few basic points that you might be able to do to help become more coordinated. First off, you make your information sheet (which we started the tradition of), and you do a nice job with it...however, when we made it, we printed certain cheers on the sheet, so when the students would come in, they would read the cheers in advance, so they knew what to look for. And you had to do that every game, so people would catch on to the same cheers every game. Further, you now have the advantage of e-mail lists, Facebook groups, and other means of social networking to spread the word about both basic and game-specific cheers you'd like to do for a particular game.

As far as creativity...if you go back to my previous posts, I didn't mention being more creative as being a problem, so I'm not going to comment on it...that's for you to figure out and come up with, if you so choose. I think if you can organize a solid chant, such as "DE-FENSE" or "LET'S GO GOPHERS", that can be intimidating, because it's organized and solidified. And if you're really organized, the old people may actually join you...it's amazing...

Don't try to bring up duke because all they do is dig up dirt and information on the opposing players and heckle them from 4 feet away
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I didn't, but you did, so as long as we're on the subject, we were not above figuring out little nuances of specific players or coaches and using it to our advantage from, say, eight feet away. My favorite is still printing out 2,000 photos of Brian Butch wearing a bra...my issue was the F-bomb. If you can find these type of things, use them; just try and keep it somewhat appropriate...
 

i agree that the information sheet could be better, and i am not part of the group that makes them. I am a freshman but ive had season tix my whole life and i feel that most people are romanticizing the past far too much. the barnyard was not good 5 years ago, there werent that many people that would go because the team wasnt very good. So i take more offense to everyone saying that the student section is worse than it was before tubby came. I appreciate you actually giving examples instead of just saying "its been done". I hope the head group uses some of these ideas because i get the feeling that those that lead the barnyard dont want to lead the whole student section
 

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