Gophers with P.J. Fleck do not justify enthusiasm

(image from The Daily Gopher)

We love the University of Minnesota but how much interest should we feel in football? I would argue we need to retreat from the sport. But to the extent that happens at all - and it's questionable - it looks to be a slow process. It is depressing because we judge all those players and coaches based on their ability to "win." And then we feel a rush if they do, as if we are vicariously participating in the success. Maybe it's an elixir that helps us crawl into each new week of our pedestrian lives with a somewhat more upbeat air.
There is no rational grounds for feeling this way, obviously. We fall for the hype or marketing too much. So, the Gophers were just one win away from a bowl last year? One more win might have vaulted us into a bowl, I suppose, but it would be a non-prestige bowl. And, bowls have proliferated to the point where losing teams are going to start to crawl in, if they haven't already. Didn't Tracy Claeys win a bottom-tier bowl game at the end of his tenure here?
Claeys was arguably a good coach but was bumbling on a discipline matter. Coaches are a highly disposable commodity, so the fans here said "happy trails" to Mr. Claeys and then welcomed the pure PR variety of coach, this Fleck fellow. Fleck had a total honeymoon campaign in 2017. I am amazed at how our fandom in our far north state has fallen for the hype of late. "One win away from a bowl game." Technically true of course.
Are people clueless of how we have padded our schedule to get some absolutely guaranteed wins against non-conference opponents? In fact, didn't we pay off North Carolina a couple years ago - to the tune of $800,000, was it? - to get them off our schedule because maybe it would not be a guaranteed win? North Carolina football is not to be confused with North Carolina basketball. It was Tim Brewster who orchestrated getting North Carolina on our schedule. Jerry Kill would have none of that.
I feel sorry for Brewster because he was not ready for a Big 10 head coaching job. Wasn't he previously the tight ends coach for the Denver Broncos? A former UMM coach (i.e. small-time in the scheme of things) was tight ends coach for the Seattle Seahawks. Nothing against these guys, but it's a jungle out there. Division I college football is more Darwinian than ever. Look at what is playing out at Ohio State University now. Urban Meyer, the quintessential contemporary Division I coach, is under siege there in circumstances that are being well-reported. Perhaps the assistant coach who is believed to have beaten his wife has brain issues due to his background in football. The same has been suggested in connection to the notorious Sandusky thing at Penn State.
Anyone with a lengthy background in big-time football is to be viewed as a potentially dangerous person, especially as they get older.

Urban Meyer of Ohio State

Swarms of fans are actually supporting Urban Meyer at Ohio State. Upon hearing about this imbroglio, I immediately remember when this coach clearly showed character issues when in Florida. Those issues can mount to the point where no one can ignore them. But on the other side of the coin, Meyer's mastery of the tools of simply winning - because winning after all is a product unto itself - lifts him up in the eyes of many. There have been pro-Meyer demonstrations.
 
What are we seeking?
Is there some sort of release of endorphins when your team wins? Do you really need this as an antidote for the troubling aspects of your life, the ennui and boredom? Try to fight that impulse. Worse yet, otherwise intelligent adults allow their own sons to go out and play football, as if they are ignorant of what those players are feeling - pain - out on the field. It's a pain that kids tolerate because they hear cheers. In what other phase of their lives do they get that kind of feedback?
Maybe the insurance industry will ultimately shut down youth football. Determining accountability is one thing the insurance industry can most reliably be counted on to do.
In my mind, the U of M Gophers had just one legitimate win in 2017 - one. Even that one win could be presented as far less than scintillating. It was over Nebraska, a once mighty program that is now showing it can be an also-ran. Parity has dragged the Cornhuskers down. They fired their coach at the end of last season. They were below .500. The Gophers under PR man Fleck beat them 54-21.
Even considering Nebraska's pedestrian status now, scoring 54 points was pretty good. So, one impressive win. And for that, P.J. Fleck appeared to get adoration for the most part from Minnesota's football boosters. Nice work if you can find it. You're a household name in the state by virtue of having one impressive day at work for the whole year. Wish I could have enjoyed that kind of arrangement in my journalism career.
The Gophers had only one other conference win, over lowly Illinois and by just seven points. After that we're looking at those three totally worthless non-conference wins over obscure schools. We started the season with wins over the Buffalo Bulls, Oregon State Beavers and Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders. There's three wins that create the illusion we were a respectable team.
Now we're on the threshold of 2018. The illusion of respectability helps ensure we'll get a fair number of fans in the seats. That is, unless I'm pleasantly surprised to see a further erosion of support for this dangerous Neanderthal sport. I have read that it's a challenge to get students to come to the games. Good for the students if they're finding better ways to spend this time. Less reason for them to paint their faces and consume alcohol to excess. Maybe Saturday can become more of a standard day of the week for campus life with students attending more to their constructive endeavors - the reason they're there.
 
Football and "manhood"
Football pumps up the anachronistic masculine pride. It makes men think they can be excused for various kinds of misbehavior. To shrug when hearing of wife-beating?
I have written time and again about how our society must retreat from football for a variety of reasons. It may be a losing argument from me, so go ahead with your skeptical reaction and your proclivity to make personal insults toward me, not related to the merits of the arguments. I have dealt with that all my life. I would just like to suggest that, for the sake of our kids, do not go out to Big Cat Field here in Morris MN for any reason.
Will our Darwinian ethos in football finally fail to protect the likes of Urban Meyer at Ohio State? How many of you remember when Ohio State fired coach Woody Hayes because the old coach punched an opposing player along the sidelines after an interception? The interception was of a pass thrown by Art Schlichter, whose career and life spiraled downward after college to where he's in prison and having health issues like Parkinson's and dementia. Schlichter had 17 documented concussions in his football career. Mercy. Go ahead and insult me, I'll continue asserting my views about football.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com