if your team just lost a big game, and then when you decide to forget the game and go have a beer, you find that every bar within a one mile radius of the stadium is packed with people wearing the opposing teams colors. It’s actually quite nightmarish. It’s a miracle to think this has been going on for so long and that not a single Hawkeye or Badger fan has been shot by an irate Gopher fan on a shooting rampage. It actually speaks quite well of the calmness, resiliency, and patience of a Gopher fan. That is something a fan from Iowa or Wisconsin will never ever experience, for the reasons our friend so bitterly mentioned above.

But I’ll take a slightly more level-headed (and haughty, because I’m pretty damn smart) look at those reasons.

To say there’s absolutely no post-grad opportunity in these smaller college towns is false. When you have a huge public university in your community, that’s going to be the anchor of your economy and give you a stable host of jobs in education and healthcare. And if your state’s flagship university is also located in your capital city (like Madison), then you have a large sector of government jobs, too. However, you’re going to find a whole lot more government, healthcare, eduaction, and everything else if you move to a bigger city like Minneapolis or Chicago. So yes, I do assume there are more Iowa grads in the Twin Cities than there are Minnesota grads in Iowa City. But don’t you think there would also be a lot more Minnesota grads in the Twin Cities, too?

Is there more to do in the Twin Cities than in Iowa or Madison? Probably. But how often is your weekly schedule different from a Iowa, Wisconsin, or any rural resident? How often to take in a show at the Gutherie or Ordway? Are you hanging out at the First Ave every weekend? Do you catch the Wild or Timberwolves every time they are in town? How many art galleries or museums have you visited this month? We probably all follow the similar routine of going to work every day, coming home at night, and saving our fun for the weekend. We may have a few more options than rural or smaller city residents, but for the most part we probably end up doing the same things (going out to dinner, hitting up a local pub, lying around the house, watching TV, or enjoying the great outdoors by hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, etc.).

So it’s not that there’s nothing to do in Iowa. But the event of traveling to the Twin Cities (or Chicago) is another thing that people in smaller towns look forward to doing. I grew up in rural North Dakota, and I always looked forward to making an annual trip to Minneapolis. We’d often make an extended weekend out of it. We’d get to stay in a hotel, go see a game or concert, eat a restaurant we’ve never been to before, and shop at the Mall of America. It was a blast. So even if some fans don’t have tickets reserved, they can still come to town, catch the game at a local sports bar, and enjoy doing other things that weekend.

On the flipside, Twin Cities residents probably do not feel any other reason to go to Iowa City or Madison except for the game, and that usually isn’t a good enough reason to take a five-hour road trip. If the U of M was located in St. Cloud or Rochester, I’m sure there would be a lot fewer visiting fans, too. Not just because of lack of extracuricular activities outside the game, but also because there wouldn’t be enough hotel rooms to accommodate 20,000 visiting fans on top of the home team alumni who also travel from out of town and stay there on gamedays.

Look, my blood boils every time we play these border rivalry games at the Dome, but it’s mostly because of the vocal minority of drunken jerks from both schools. I can’t stand being in the bars, the concourse, or the bathrooms because there’s a bunch of gutless pansies walking around shouting and getting in peoples’ faces when they probably couldn’t even look a stranger in the eye if they were sober. It just makes it horribly uncomfortable for all the good fans who are just there to cheer on their team and enjoy some football.

When I get to my seat and the game starts, I actually enjoy having the rival fans presence there. It adds more energy to the Metrodome than you see on a Vikings game day (except for maybe games against the Packers, for similar reasons). The first quarter was just rocking last Saturday. It was so loud because no matter the situation, people were cheering (except for in the case of a blowout, which really sucked the life out of the building in the second half). Would I rather see our home stadium filled with only Gophers fans? Of course! But until that happens, we might as well sell the rest of those seats to someone. The only color I find more offensive than black and gold or red and white is that ugly bright blue that represents empty seats.