Gooooo Gophers!

 Off to Minneapolis with the entire fam damily to watch the Huskers beat Minnesota (oops). The drive is between 5-6 hours from Omaha to the cities and seems like 5 of it is Iowa. 

The Mall of America is a giant hell hole. It's levels high, it's huge, it's full of people of all stripes, and it's hot as hell. But man, do you get your steps in. We killed off time before the hotel would let us check in without charging us $40 for being early. 

The game was at the Huntingdon Bank stadium on the campus of the U of M. The light rail (gawd I wish we had one here) is a quick and easy way to get around the cities. The stadium is newer, it does have steps, but it also has seat backs. Lots of Husker fans were there to watch our victory and bowl eligibility game. Whoops! Minnesota dominated the game from beginning to end. The Huskers got slapped around and it was pathetic to watch but Go Big Red always.

Notes from Game

There was an older Minnesota fan sitting across the aisle and whether he was all there or not is debatable. Every single play he would exclaim in the most Fargo like accent...."Gooooo Goooophers!  Yes, every play. I guess they heard him.

After the debacle was over, leaving the venue, here comes the drunken frat boys, decked out on Gopher hoodies and chanting "Fuck Nebraska"! Ok boys, but you've beat us 6 years in a row so act like ya been there. You're a better program than us and have been for years. But the frat boys needed to be de-escalated because they looked like they were lookin for a fight. High fiving the winners seems to work as they changed from "Fuck Nebraska" to "I like your sweatshirt" with a fist bump. Another band of drunks decided to give Max shit for wearing an old 15 jersey. "Hey man its Raiola, how many tampons you got in?" Max responded 8 (which at the time was the number of sacks he endured) and said "I can barely walk". Playing along and taking your lumps is always the best strategy. Not like me in 1976 when Iowa State fans got into it with us and we went to jail for a few hours. Those days are over.

The stadium has the greatest popcorn ever at a sporting event. It's movie theater like in many ways. Both in taste and price. 

Minnesota's band is solid. They have a top 5 fight song, the Rouser, and they have a great mascot, Goldy Gopher. I could easily become a Minnesota fan if I lived there. It's a fun atmosphere.