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National President: Tales From the Road
3/10/2003

There is no better way to appreciate the caliber of your alumni association’s outreach talents than to travel to a Gopher football road game or, even better, a bowl game. The University of Minnesota contingent makes quite an impression on the cities it visits. I saw this firsthand this past season in both Columbus, Ohio, and Nashville, Tennessee.

Visiting the Ohio State campus in November offered the full Big Ten experience. The UMAA, the Goal Line Club, the Gopher Football Parents Club, and the Athletics Department join forces to make the events surrounding the game bigger and more exciting for everyone. They even got all the hotel staff, ardent Buckeye fans, to wear maroon and gold the entire weekend—and to smile about it. (I think it improved their tips too!)

The night before each away game, the UMAA co-sponsors a ’Sota Social, held at the team hotel and featuring Athletics Director Joel Maturi, Goldy Gopher, and the Gopher Spirit Squad, who entertain the Gopher travelers. Maturi even teaches everyone his signature “We Are—Minnesota!” cheer. This year, a minor mishap around the bonfire left Goldy’s jersey melted to his chest. An emergency jersey-ectomy had to be performed, but he was good as new by game time.

It’s a special treat to experience on-campus tailgating again, even if it’s at an opposing team’s school. At Ohio State, the 105,000 game-goers covered the entire campus, visiting campus buildings, mingling, and converging in the parking lots, where they fired up grills and filled the autumn air with the aromas of football fare. Roads leading to the stadium were blocked, creating a street-fair atmosphere. The maroon-and-gold contingent circled our wagons amid the sea of red and white, but our Buckeye hosts were amused by our revelry and polite enough not to rain our on parade—until the actual game, that is (when the Buckeyes won 34–3).

The Music City Bowl on December 30 took the away-game experience to a new level. The city of Nashville opened its arms to the Gopher fans, eager to see their conference rival Arkansas Razorbacks bested. The ’Sota Social was hosted by KARE-TV’s Tim McNiff and filled the hotel ballroom and hallways to overflowing with more than 1,000 people, so many that it practically left Gopher football head coach Glen Mason speechless. University President Bob Bruininks, Athletics Director Maturi, and Coach Mason rallied the fans. The University Marching Band, Gopher Spirit Squad, and national championship dance line performed, and then the rally was capped off by a march into downtown Nashville for the traditional pre–bowl game battle of the bands.

The Minnesota and Arkansas bands marched from opposite ends of the main street, meeting at the central intersection where they faced off to the cheers of thousands of fans from both schools as well as from Nashville. They battled song for song until the judge declared the contest a draw—in the interest of intercollegiate harmony. The locals in the crowd, as knowledgeable about music as you’d find anywhere, sent up great moans of disapproval. And all night, the Gopher fans, who had dispersed to the many music clubs, were assured that it had been no draw—that the Minnesota band was a spectacular standout.

Game day brought warm weather and mostly blue skies. The game was played in the Tennessee Titans stadium, a new NFL facility that looked very much like a larger version of what we all imagined building on campus for the Gophers. WCCO-TV’s Mark Rosen and Margaret Carlson, executive director of the UMAA, co-hosted the pregame pep fest attended by hundreds of fans. It was a day filled with promise. Razorback colors dominated the stands, but the Gopher group made up for its smaller numbers with overwhelming enthusiasm—as well as victory on the field, winning 29–14.

In all of the cities the Gopher football team traveled to during the regular season, the Minnesota fans who followed said they had the most fun on these road trips since their college days. About 3,000 Gopher fans made the trip to the bowl game this year, and each of us vowed to invite 10 others to join us next year to support the football Gophers. Watch Minnesota magazine in the months ahead for details on how you can take your Gopher pride on the road.

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