Packer fans in Minnesota. They. Are. Everywhere.
Badger fans in Minnesota. Way. Too. Many. Of. Them.
Nebraska fans in Minnesota? Sure, but they’re not as numerous as the above invaders.
For Gophers football coach Jerry Kill, seeing any of those fans sporting their team’s gear “makes me mad,” he said Tuesday during his preseason press conference, via the Pioneer Press.
After telling a story about taking his daily walk and crossing paths with a young man wearing a Nebraska Cornhuskers shirt, Kill said: “But anyway, there ought to be a ban. The Governor is always banning. We need to ban any other shirts but the University of Minnesota and the Vikings. That’s it. The secretary likes the Packers. We’re in Minnesota, aren’t we? Right? All right. I’m off that soapbox.”
Kill was joking, of course, but it goes to show how passionate he is about the Gophers and the state that adopted him into the sporting community and has since watched him transform the Gophers from a laughing stock to a Big Ten contender.
But was he really joking or was he actually frustrated? The Star Tribune’s Michael Rand thought Kill was “clearly annoyed.”
Kill might be able to relax a bit if he can beat the Badgers. Minnesota hasn’t done that since 2003. They came close last year before losing in a game that decided the Big Ten West division championship.
“I mean, you know, everybody in our state is getting tired of it (losing to Wisconsin),” Kill said, per the Gophers website. “The number one question I get in the state when I go out and talk is we’ve got three trophies but where is the axe. It’s not, hey, Coach, so happy to have three trophies; it’s where’s the axe. Where’s the axe? We’ve got to get that done. Sooner or later I always keep saying, sooner or later it’s got to happen. I’d like it to be sooner.”
Minnesota and Wisconsin play Nov. 28 at TCF Bank Stadium in the regular season finale.
The Gophers begin preseason practices this week and the season/home opener is Sept. 3 against No. 2-ranked TCU.
