The Minnesota and Nebraska game was the only Big Ten Heartland game without a trophy – until the Internet helped create one a few days before Saturday’s tilt.
Behold, the “Bits of Wooden Chair” trophy:
Detailed looks at the #BitsOfWoodenChairTrophy with @FauxPelini. Complete with 2 $5 bills #IsThisAnApprovedCarryOn pic.twitter.com/YdqpcWIWNR
— Goldy the Gopher (official) (@GoldytheGopher) November 21, 2014
Here’s the play-by-play of how the unofficial trophy came to be – a story of 21st century folklore many Twitter users hope to be telling for years to come.
https://twitter.com/themattbecker/status/535842853876813824
It started with a friendly wager on Twitter between @GoldytheGopher and @FauxPelini (a fake Nebraska Twitter account), according to SB Nation.
Hey @FauxPelini, how about a friendly wager for this weekend's game? Team that gets the most points gets a conference win? Seem fair?
— Goldy the Gopher (official) (@GoldytheGopher) November 20, 2014
@GoldytheGopher OK how about if we win you give me $5, if you win I get to smash a wooden chair over your back
— Faux Pelini (@FauxPelini) November 20, 2014
.@FauxPelini just as long as we can turn that $5 or bits of broken chair into a trophy for next year's game
— Goldy the Gopher (official) (@GoldytheGopher) November 20, 2014
Then Goldy the Gopher reached out to Reddit users to design the $5-Bits-of-Broken-Chair-Trophy. That escalated into Minnesota creating the real thing.
The #BitsOfWoodenChairTrophy is up for grabs tomorrow. The team who scores more points will win it @GoldytheGopher pic.twitter.com/kPFQksfYsd
— Peter Mortell (@PMortell1) November 21, 2014
And then winning it and carrying it off the field.
Bringing the #BitsOfWoodenChairTrophy back to Dinkytown!!! Amazing win, @GopherFootball… Gophers, it's #AxeWeek now pic.twitter.com/j6O848bV2E
— Goldy the Gopher (official) (@GoldytheGopher) November 22, 2014
Gophers picture of the year? @PMortell37 with the #BitsOfWoodenChairTrophy. pic.twitter.com/x8o2Ync6Fm
— Ben Dawson (@BenjaminJDawson) November 23, 2014
SB Nation notes the Bits of Wooden Chair Trophy was well received by both Nebraska and Minnesota fans, unlike some official trophies in the Big Ten, noting 94 percent of voters on The Daily Gopher blog say the trophy should exist.
And many on Twitter agree the Bits of Wooden Chair Trophy should stick around for awhile:
https://twitter.com/RevDJEsq/status/536531791419822081
Gophers spotted raising up the #BitsOfWoodenChairTrophy as they headed to the locker room: https://t.co/MMzwgxsyQr pic.twitter.com/1et6J3FcGs
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) November 23, 2014
https://twitter.com/wondroushippo/status/536570567122382849https://twitter.com/AlanHoffmann/status/536581397377712129
Some Twitter users have also reached out to University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler, hoping he’ll officially endorse the Bits of Wooden Chair Trophy. He hasn’t tweeted about the unofficial trophy yet, but he’s looking forward to the Gophers bringing home a different piece of hardware:
https://twitter.com/PrezKaler/status/536268455373447168
