What would happen if the gophers got good?

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There have been a few random years the team has been good (99,03)
Other than those two gopher football has been nothing better than average since the mid 70s.


How would life in Minnesota change if Minnesota went on a 5-7 year streak of winning 8+ every year and averaging better than 9 in that period?
 


We'd get enough bandwagon jumpers to fill our (relatively tiny) stadium. They'd then leave at halftime of the first home game where the Gophers get down by more than 10, and I would get to hear about all the sports and entertainment options in the Twin Cities that make our huge student body and alumni base incapable of walking or driving 20 minutes to support their team.
 

What would happen if the gophers got good?


The GopherHole comment boards would be very quiet and the number of pissing contests would approach zero.
 

Tee09 said:
We'd get enough bandwagon jumpers to fill our (relatively tiny) stadium. They'd then leave at halftime of the first home game where the Gophers get down by more than 10, and I would get to hear about all the sports and entertainment options in the Twin Cities that make our huge student body and alumni base incapable of walking or driving 20 minutes to support their team.
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What a positive outlook. Look in the mirror.
 


Perhaps people would capitalize the name of the team?
 



The Gophers will be a good team under Kill, and it will be a ton of fun to have a good D-1 football team. Winning will take care of all of your "problems".
 



Honestly, people would still find stuff to bitch about. Do you think Alabama fans don't complain? Or Ohio State fans? We'd be much the same as we are now, except with more arrogance and confidence, and we'd be complaining about different things. Losses suck when you go 3-9 or when you go 9-3 (one could argue it's a different kind of suck though).
 

I would tell you I told you all along LOL.
 

Every Saturday would have an atmosphere similar to the inaugural game against Air Force...
 




Here's what would happen: Instead of seeing " Your Home for Viking Football" on all the electric reader boards at bars/resturants you would see " Your Home for Gopher Football" Instead of the Vikings getting 8 page coverage in the Strib on Saturday and Sunday and 4 page coverage during the week, you would see
the Gophers grabbing the front page. Dickwads like Souhan, Reusse,etc would be beside themselves because they couldn't bash Gopher football. You will see more cars/trucks with Gopher decals/Licience plate frames. You'll see moms and dads taking that f--king ugly purple and gold appearal and selling them at garage sales for .25 cents, or take all for 50 cents. The "talk" on the lakes, golf courses, churches, and other public venues will be: " How about them Gophs"
The kids in HS will start wearing Gopher jerseys instead of Viking jerseys on Friday. There will be "real" talk about expanding TCF Stadium. The ax and the pig will be a taking each fall. "Game Day" from ESPN will start to appear at TCF Stadium. After our first Rose Bowl win the Gov will proclaim the following day as:
"Golden Gopher Day" !!" Now you sons of bitches you know where I stand" ( Patton) Go Gophers.....
 



The "oops--wrong forum" thread would disappear FOREVER.
 

The state has been waiting for a reason to support the Gophers for years but it is going to take a few consecutive years of decent success to get people to really start believing. If this team ever shows signs of being a consistent winner the fan support will be there. Until that happens though there is just too much other competition out there to get the casual fan interested.
 


popeyoung5 said:
Until the other 85% of the stadium is full, the only people calling out the student section should only be other students.
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I disagree with that. The student section should be full. It's really more their team than it is our team. The stadium was built so they could roll out of bed, party for a little bit and go to the game. If you watch Gameday or any big college football game, it's really the students that get everything going. It's lame the rest of the stadium isn't filled too, but our student section isn't much better than the Metrodome days, and that's pathetic.
 

One thing you would see is ticket prices on the rise!
 

If they got good, the bandwagon would fill up.

For some weird reason, the two teams that I enjoy the most are Gopher football and the Timberwolves. So...needless to say, it's been a relatively slow couple of years. However, the Wolves are now the little glimmering source of hope and the bandwagon is getting crowded. I remember last season, I sent out a text to a bunch of friends with a free 4th row ticket, and people were honestly like "why would you go to that?". Now, it's hard to get those good tickets (can't sit on the lower section for 5 bucks anymore). However, those fans are fickle. When the Wolves lose in the first round of the playoffs two straight years they'll say, they're fine but if they can't win the whole thing, i'm bored. It was those fans who would repeatedly call in talk radio shows talking about how "KG can't win the big one".

That group of fans will matriculate into TCF Bank. They will be the MOST gung ho about the team and their prospects. They'll be talking Rose Bowl after week 5.

That group of fickle fans isn't important. However, they have kids who are raised going to Gopher games and the Gophers become a more integral part of our state's sport identity.
 

an unseen externality of reciprocity that I found while going to the "U" was that all the wisco kids that should have been gopher fans stayed BADger fans. Every axe battle there would be like 2-3 of my wisco friends that would wear red, and then proceed to lose the always more entertaining, less televised, gophers vs. badgers keg race. I gotta believe this also has something to do with our terrible student section attendance.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
Here's what would happen: Instead of seeing " Your Home for Viking Football" on all the electric reader boards at bars/resturants you would see " Your Home for Gopher Football" Instead of the Vikings getting 8 page coverage in the Strib on Saturday and Sunday and 4 page coverage during the week, you would see
the Gophers grabbing the front page. Dickwads like Souhan, Reusse,etc would be beside themselves because they couldn't bash Gopher football. You will see more cars/trucks with Gopher decals/Licience plate frames. You'll see moms and dads taking that f--king ugly purple and gold appearal and selling them at garage sales for .25 cents, or take all for 50 cents. The "talk" on the lakes, golf courses, churches, and other public venues will be: " How about them Gophs"
The kids in HS will start wearing Gopher jerseys instead of Viking jerseys on Friday. There will be "real" talk about expanding TCF Stadium. The ax and the pig will be a taking each fall. "Game Day" from ESPN will start to appear at TCF Stadium. After our first Rose Bowl win the Gov will proclaim the following day as:
"Golden Gopher Day" !!" Now you sons of bitches you know where I stand" ( Patton) Go Gophers.....
Click to expand...


Ruppert, I'm with you!!!!
 

This thread is semi depressing because it just points out what we dont have and where we are... but dont get me wrong, I still love to day dream about what could be.
 

t-docious said:
an unseen externality of reciprocity that I found while going to the "U" was that all the wisco kids that should have been gopher fans stayed BADger fans. Every axe battle there would be like 2-3 of my wisco friends that would wear red, and then proceed to lose the always more entertaining, less televised, gophers vs. badgers keg race. I gotta believe this also has something to do with our terrible student section attendance.
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Still happens
 

ruppertflywheel said:
Here's what would happen: Instead of seeing " Your Home for Viking Football" on all the electric reader boards at bars/resturants you would see " Your Home for Gopher Football" Instead of the Vikings getting 8 page coverage in the Strib on Saturday and Sunday and 4 page coverage during the week, you would see
the Gophers grabbing the front page. Dickwads like Souhan, Reusse,etc would be beside themselves because they couldn't bash Gopher football. You will see more cars/trucks with Gopher decals/Licience plate frames. You'll see moms and dads taking that f--king ugly purple and gold appearal and selling them at garage sales for .25 cents, or take all for 50 cents. The "talk" on the lakes, golf courses, churches, and other public venues will be: " How about them Gophs"
The kids in HS will start wearing Gopher jerseys instead of Viking jerseys on Friday. There will be "real" talk about expanding TCF Stadium. The ax and the pig will be a taking each fall. "Game Day" from ESPN will start to appear at TCF Stadium. After our first Rose Bowl win the Gov will proclaim the following day as:
"Golden Gopher Day" !!" Now you sons of bitches you know where I stand" ( Patton) Go Gophers.....
Click to expand...

Sorry - but none of this will still happen as long as the NFL is still in town. Do you realize how big and popular the NFL machine is?
 

If the Gophers get good (I'm confident that they're on the right track) people in Minnesota, mainly the younger fans, would finally understand what college football is supposed to be. I feel that I am in age range (29-years-old) that is most crucial, with the exception of the students, in Gopher Nation. I am at the age that has limited me to sub-par Gopher football; I am at the age where I have soaked in everything that TCF Bank has to offer. Many Gopher fans, not limited to this age range, have no idea what B1G football is supposed to be like and the potential of what it could be. The Metrodome wasn't a platform for real College football; it wasn't on campus and there was hardly any atmosphere, with the exception of a few games, in the dome and it really hurt the fan base, specifically the younger fans.

I will never forget when I walked into Camp Randall in '08 and I was absolutely blown away by the atmosphere. That experience alone has made me a bigger fan. I wish that every student at the U of M could take a road trip to a B1G road game to realize what real college football is all about. By the looks of our student section, particularly the Illinois game, our students don't realize what Gopher Football could turn into. I understand that the product on the field is the straw that stirs the drink but in order to get to the next level, we NEED support from the younger fans. Our older fans are there, and we sometimes complain about their lack of enthusiasm. The fact is that every college football stadium has the gray hairs in the stands but their "lack" of enthusiasm is made by the younger fans that are avid and hungry.

If the Gophers get good, Dinkytown will be one big party and Minnesotans (besides the diehards) will finally realize that College Football can literally change a Minneapolis atmosphere that is currently hungry for a winning team. The thought of students camping out for big games brings chills; the thought of a packed student section is something that I hope returns to the Bank. To this day, the best atmosphere I've seen at any game in Minnesota is the California game in '09. The bank was absolutely electric. The energy in the crowd that day makes me realize that Gopher Nation is capable of turning the ship and I hope to witness it sooner than later.

RAAA!
 

Agree with savagerube. Went to Iowa City in 1999 and I truly learned what college football should be. People just don't get the phenomenal atmosphere that should surround college football. The Dome wasn't the only thing wrong with Gopher football, but it sure didn't help. I didn't go to the U, but one of my favorite things in life right now is having a few too many beers on a sunny Saturday afternoon down by the river and walking through campus on the way to TCF.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I disagree with that. The student section should be full. It's really more their team than it is our team. The stadium was built so they could roll out of bed, party for a little bit and go to the game. If you watch Gameday or any big college football game, it's really the students that get everything going. It's lame the rest of the stadium isn't filled too, but our student section isn't much better than the Metrodome days, and that's pathetic.
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If college gameday was at TCF it would be due to a big game and winning, of course it would be full. As to the Illinois game, I was there and flew from So. Cal. to be there. Where were all the locals? The students had a 4 day weekend, like all other big ten home games that Saturday, student attendance was and always will be way down for the 4 day weekend break.
 

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