Ben Rider
Football
Mr. Ben Rider didn't like it when the Badgers captured Paul Bunyan's axe last year.
Well isn’t the internet an amazing thing? 24 hours ago I had no idea this site existed and now I am a columnist for it writing my debut article. For those of you who live outside the Twin Cities area, this will be a normal weekend of football. Those fortunate (or unfortunate depending on your opinion) to be in the greater Minneapolis-St.Paul area will be treated to an invasion of drunken Wisconsin football fans this weekend. Not only are the Vikings and Packers playing Monday night but the 119th “Border Battle” or “Battle for Paul Bunyan’s axe” meeting between the Golden Gophers and Badgers (the longest rivalry in college football) takes place Saturday at 11:00am when many of my fellow students will be fighting the Friday night hangover. Not me, though. I plan on getting in early to TCF Bank Stadium for the victory walk and getting prime lower level seats (student tickets are general admission, first come first serve).
What makes this game different for many long time (and long suffering) Gopher fans, is that #1, the game is back on campus and #2 (and much more importantly), there won’t be a sea of red at the game. Only 2 little sections of red in the nosebleeds. What was embarrassing for so many years for hardcore Gophers fans is that when we played at the Metrodump/Big Inflatable Toilet against Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and any other Big Ten team that was having a good year is that it almost felt like an away game. I remember going to one Ohio State game back in 2006 when I swear there were more Buckeye fans in the stands than there were Gophers fans. That is no more and why we are introducing our first (of what I’m sure will be many) “Gold Out” at TCF Bank Stadium on Satuday. In preparation, we even got hats back at our last game against Cal.
Despite the weather, which has been miserable the past two days, you can feel a certain air on the campus about Saturday’s game. I mean, even at our last home football game the mere mention of Wisconsin turned Gophers fans (well the student section at least) in to raving lunatics. Hell, I even started a “f*** the Badgers” chant that caught on for about 30 seconds and that was 2 freaking weeks before the game.
It really is amazing what this brand spanking new stadium (that I have already had the privilege of being in 4 times) can do for the program, fans, and most importantly the attitude on campus and in the city. The student section, 10,000 strong and hopefully will grow when the stadium expands, is psycho, which fits me perfectly. Watching a game over there with my fellow students is a literal workout: Standing, jumping around and dancing in the aisles (no I’m not kidding) and for once the other 40,000 fans are into it too. On 3rd downs the offensive and bench players on the Gophers sideline stand up on the benches and pump the crowd up. I have a blast at these games because it is like nothing I have ever experienced before in my life. A true college football atmosphere. Coach Brewster is a great ambassador for the program too. I knew the guy was special when he put together the #17 recruiting class in the country after a 1-11 season.
My prediction for the game is that the Gophers will win 35-14. It won’t be close. Wisconsin is 4-0 but they’ve had a really weak schedule and haven’t played a road game yet this year, the Gophers are 3-1 with the only loss against Cal who was ranked #6 in the country going into last weekend. The axe will be back home this year, I would talk more about it but that trophy deserves an article devoted solely to it. Go Gophers!
