Wisconsin and Nebraska to play for the "Freedom Trophy"

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Go Gophers!!
 

Can we scrap the Penn State trophy and start one with Nebraska?
 

Makes sense.

Memorial Stadium was named to honor Veterans and Camp Randall was a training ground during the Civil war.
 





god i hate these made up rivalry trophies. They should play for the used tampon or something to see who wears red better.
They seem so synthetic.
 





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Heavy, heavy sigh. Why don't we just set up trophy games for all 91 matchups and call it a day?
 


t-docious said:
god i hate these made up rivalry trophies. They should play for the used tampon or something to see who wears red better.
They seem so synthetic.
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A bit crude, but my sentiments exactly. Should involve a bet made a long time ago or some jug somebody refused to return. Having typed that, I thought, "Wait, what about the Axe?" Was happy to learn it came about because the d*ckheads to the east refused to give back the original trophy, The Slab of Bacon. Nice to know they haven't changed in over half a century. I sort of think at one time I might have known about The Slab of Bacon but forgot it. Sure as hell hope I never get to the point where I'm watching replays of games I went to and getting all tense because I forgot the Gophers won.
 



So is Nebraska just supposed to not create any rivalries in this conference? Lighten up folks. Good for Nebraska. Wisconsin seems to be one of their bigger foes since they've joined the conference.
 

Mulligan said:
A bit crude, but my sentiments exactly. Should involve a bet made a long time ago or some jug somebody refused to return. Having typed that, I thought, "Wait, what about the Axe?" Was happy to learn it came about because the d*ckheads to the east refused to give back the original trophy, The Slab of Bacon. Nice to know they haven't changed in over half a century. I sort of think at one time I might have known about The Slab of Bacon but forgot it. Sure as hell hope I never get to the point where I'm watching replays of games I went to and getting all tense because I forgot the Gophers won.
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I'm sure Beth Mowins will tell us the history of the ax and why we battle Nebraska for it.
 



supadupafly said:
Never. Would be stupid. Imo, Penn State series is more important.
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How so? We play them twice before the end of the decade. I'd much rather have a trophy game with Nebraska than Penn State. We'll play at home for the bell like once every 8 years from now on. We'll probably play New Mexico State more often. We'll be lucky if we even remember their school colors.
 

afurry91 said:
Can we scrap the Penn State trophy and start one with Nebraska?
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Absolutely agree 100%. The only time I really care about the Bell is when we play Penn State, which feels like only once every decade. Plus we have way more history with Nebraska than we do with Penn State.
 

afurry91 said:
So is Nebraska just supposed to not create any rivalries in this conference? Lighten up folks. Good for Nebraska. Wisconsin seems to be one of their bigger foes since they've joined the conference.
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No they aren't suppose to just "create" err force a rivalry. It takes decades to develop a natural rivalry and you have to just let it happen on its own. Plenty of P5 teams don't even have a true rival or play for a trophy. Its not something you should automatically get just because you joined the conference that has like 12 trophy games.
 

Mulligan said:
A bit crude, but my sentiments exactly. Should involve a bet made a long time ago or some jug somebody refused to return. Having typed that, I thought, "Wait, what about the Axe?" Was happy to learn it came about because the d*ckheads to the east refused to give back the original trophy, The Slab of Bacon. Nice to know they haven't changed in over half a century. I sort of think at one time I might have known about The Slab of Bacon but forgot it. Sure as hell hope I never get to the point where I'm watching replays of games I went to and getting all tense because I forgot the Gophers won.
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The Axe is infinitely better than the Slab.
 

die hard gopher said:
No they aren't suppose to just "create" err force a rivalry. It takes decades to develop a natural rivalry and you have to just let it happen on its own. Plenty of P5 teams don't even have a true rival or play for a trophy. Its not something you should automatically get just because you joined the conference that has like 12 trophy games.
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The Jug was created after 6 games, so that forced rivalry seemed to work out as I'm sure many would claim it is the 2nd (possibly even 1st in some circles) best trophy.

Wisconsin and Nebraska have faced off 8 times, so they got the Jug beat :)
 

So Wisky and Nebby decide to make a trophy for their game, and we bitch about it on a Gopher fan board.

Uh, OK. :banghead:
 

afurry91 said:
The Jug was created after 6 games, so that forced rivalry seemed to work out as I'm sure many would claim it is the 2nd (possibly even 1st in some circles) best trophy.

Wisconsin and Nebraska have faced off 8 times, so they got the Jug beat :)
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Yes and Michigan left the jug behind, wanted it back and we told them your going to have to win it back. It's not like some guys in their athletic department just decided to all of a sudden decided to manufacture a trophy to get people interested. Same goes for the pig. The Iowa governor actually wagered a live pig on the game. They were both created because of actual events.
 



die hard gopher said:
Yes and Michigan left the jug behind, wanted it back and we told them your going to have to win it back. It's not like some guys in their athletic department just decided to all of a sudden decided to manufacture a trophy to get people interested. Same goes for the pig. The Iowa governor actually wagered a live pig on the game. They were both created because of actual events.
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We don't know that Michigan wanted it back. That's a guess. It was a $0.30 jug to hold water (about $10 today). I doubt Michigan gave two ****s. What we do know is that our head of the athletic department made a big deal about it and told Yost he left his jug behind. We then proceeded to paint the Jug, and decided it would be a good idea to make this a thing that we would play for. We proposed this offer to Michigan and they agreed. Rivalry started.

So in short, Michigan left the Jug behind and Minnesota created a rivalry out of thin air that Michigan agreed to.
 

afurry91 said:
We don't know that Michigan wanted it back. That's a guess. It was a $0.30 jug to hold water (about $10 today). I doubt Michigan gave two ****s. What we do know is that our head of the athletic department made a big deal about it and told Yost he left his jug behind. We then proceeded to paint the Jug, and decided it would be a good idea to make this a thing that we would play for. We proposed this offer to Michigan and they agreed. Rivalry started.

So in short, Michigan left the Jug behind and Minnesota created a rivalry out of thin air that Michigan agreed to.
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Having the jug in general was an insult to MN because Yost didn't trust our water. There is a huge difference between the origin of the Jug and this hunk of junk they will play for.
 

"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose."

Not sure why - but the trophy made me think of this lyric from "Me and Bobby McGee"
 

Trophies should be rooted in theft (Little Brown Jug), violence (Floyd), or controversy (Slab / Ax).

They should not simply be made up by two friendly governors, administrations, etc - that is not only not the point of a travelling trophy - it is the opposite of the point!!
 

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