New Trophy Game vs. Wisconsin

[Scratchtown]

As a fan...you probably shouldn't care. I think it's more for the players involved, who walk by it every day and relive the win in their heads. I dunno. I never understood the point but I don't think it's for the fans as much as it is for the players who are actually playing the game.

ExactlY. Its for the players. Not grumpy dudes on a message board.

Err... no. Go talk to other fans in the Big 10 with these rivalry games. They get into Paul Bunyan's Axe & the Little Brown Jug. Across college football fans are into the Keg of Nails game, the Governor's Cup, the Bronze Boot... these are all part of college football lore, the kind of thing that makes college football better than the NFL. And the fans are very much involved, many more so than the players, since many of those fans have been concerned about those trophies since before those players were born.

I don't disagree with you Knapp. It's just that those trophies have been around a really long time and have been established back when that sort of thing was emotionally attachable. I'm talking about the newly fed stuff. Iowa/NU and now Wiscy/NU. It's just going to take time for the fans to care. Meanwhile the players right now are the ones that want to bring that trophy home. Once Iowa took that trophy away last year, I would like to think there was a little bit of bad taste left in the players mouths. I know the score already does that, but I think you understand my point.

 

[knapplc]

I don't disagree with you Knapp. It's just that those trophies have been around a really long time and have been established back when that sort of thing was emotionally attachable. I'm talking about the newly fed stuff. Iowa/NU and now Wiscy/NU. It's just going to take time for the fans to care. Meanwhile the players right now are the ones that want to bring that trophy home. Once Iowa took that trophy away last year, I would like to think there was a little bit of bad taste left in the players mouths. I know the score already does that, but I think you understand my point.

We're on the same page there. What I'm saying is, don't declare "team x vs. team y" a rivalry, establish a trophy, and expect everyone to be all "Rah!Rah!Rah!" about it. I don't know if it's the conference or the individual schools pushing these trophy games, but they need to chill out. We already have a trophy between Nebraska & Iowa, but what if Northwestern turns out to be the "rival" fans are burning to beat every year, the one team we HAVE TO beat, like Michigan/Ohio State? We'll have these "rivalries" that aren't, and a real one that is.

All of the rivalries I've talked about in this thread grew from the fans, not school administrations or conference front-offices.

Let's just play some football for a while and see what develops. We don't need to have a rivalry game. They just need to pump the brakes on this stuff for a while.

 

[sd'sker]

Let's just play some football for a while and see what develops. We don't need to have a rivalry game. They just need to pump the brakes on this stuff for a while.

i agree with knapp totally on this. it is almost confusing how persistent they are. i mean, we are going to be excited to play wiscy. we do not need a trophy to add to the game or build-up to said game. it is just totally unnecessary.

 

[Scratchtown]

I don't disagree with you Knapp. It's just that those trophies have been around a really long time and have been established back when that sort of thing was emotionally attachable. I'm talking about the newly fed stuff. Iowa/NU and now Wiscy/NU. It's just going to take time for the fans to care. Meanwhile the players right now are the ones that want to bring that trophy home. Once Iowa took that trophy away last year, I would like to think there was a little bit of bad taste left in the players mouths. I know the score already does that, but I think you understand my point.

We're on the same page there. What I'm saying is, don't declare "team x vs. team y" a rivalry, establish a trophy, and expect everyone to be all "Rah!Rah!Rah!" about it. I don't know if it's the conference or the individual schools pushing these trophy games, but they need to chill out. We already have a trophy between Nebraska & Iowa, but what if Northwestern turns out to be the "rival" fans are burning to beat every year, the one team we HAVE TO beat, like Michigan/Ohio State? We'll have these "rivalries" that aren't, and a real one that is.

All of the rivalries I've talked about in this thread grew from the fans, not school administrations or conference front-offices.

Let's just play some football for a while and see what develops. We don't need to have a rivalry game. They just need to pump the brakes on this stuff for a while.

I can get on board with that.

 

[Redux]

I feel like its beco.e an argument of who cares more fans or players. Not my intention. I also think you feel I want a fabricated rivalry just to have one. Also not the case. Im all for one developing naturally like the NW series has.

My point is that adding a trophy to a newly arranged yearly series does absolutely nothing to hurt a rivalry from starting or developing. But by all means tell me the history of any given series as proof that we shouldnt have a trophy for the players to celebrate a win around.

 

[sd'sker]

I feel like its beco.e an argument of who cares more fans or players. Not my intention. I also think you feel I want a fabricated rivalry just to have one. Also not the case. Im all for one developing naturally like the NW series has.

My point is that adding a trophy to a newly arranged yearly series does absolutely nothing to hurt a rivalry from starting or developing. But by all means tell me the history of any given series as proof that we shouldnt have a trophy for the players to celebrate a win around.

your threshold for developing a rivalry is staggeringly low.

but the point is that forcing a rivalry most likely will be counterproductive as people will resist. like we did with cu, even though they probably were a pretty good rival.

 

[Redux]

Sorry NW isnt the team you wanted a rivalry with. Im sure in time they too will become our whipping boy. But for the moment no other team has played us as close the last three years.

You really dont have to argue with me for the sake of arguing.

 

[MR Red]

I really hope they dont try to take the naming of the trophy too seriously like the heros trophy. these trophies are supposed to be cheeky and fun. I really like the idea of a chamionship belt.

 

[sd'sker]

Sorry NW isnt the team you wanted a rivalry with. Im sure in time they too will become our whipping boy. But for the moment no other team has played us as close the last three years.

You really dont have to argue with me for the sake of arguing.

i think iowa, msu, and minny could all be rivalries then. maybe even psu, there is actually history there and they play us close.

 

[sd'sker]

I really hope they dont try to take the naming of the trophy too seriously like the heros trophy. these trophies are supposed to be cheeky and fun. I really like the idea of a chamionship belt.

you can't beat the egg bowl.

 

[NUpolo8]

Sorry NW isnt the team you wanted a rivalry with. Im sure in time they too will become our whipping boy. But for the moment no other team has played us as close the last three years.

You really dont have to argue with me for the sake of arguing.

i think iowa, msu, and minny could all be rivalries then. maybe even psu, there is actually history there and they play us close.

Don't forget that blossoming Wyoming rivalry

 

[Redux]

Sorry NW isnt the team you wanted a rivalry with. Im sure in time they too will become our whipping boy. But for the moment no other team has played us as close the last three years.

You really dont have to argue with me for the sake of arguing.

i think iowa, msu, and minny could all be rivalries then. maybe even psu, there is actually history there and they play us close.

I really liked the idea of PSU becoming our main rival. Geograohy hurt the series alot but you cant tell me a channel surfing football fan wont stop to watch NU vs PSU. And, in three years PSU was the only other team besides NW to play us close every time, minus beating us.

 

[sd'sker]

I really liked the idea of PSU becoming our main rival. Geograohy hurt the series alot but you cant tell me a channel surfing football fan wont stop to watch NU vs PSU. And, in three years PSU was the only other team besides NW to play us close every time, minus beating us.

i agree with that. we had history, we were on opposite sides of the conference geographically (which means something, i think), and we were both outsiders in the big 10 (again, figuratively as well as literally). i thought that could have been a good one.

 

[Thanks_Tom RR]

I am sure the first 5 years those were introduced people didnt care.. takes time for these things to become meaningful... if the trophy is something unique ala the axe) eventually people might care.

The Governor's Cup rivalry has roots to the 1800s, so those fans were invested in it from the beginning. Paul Bunyan's Axe dates to the 1940s, replacing the old "slab of bacon" (not kidding) trophy, so there's another the fans have been invested in since the inception.

Basically what I'm saying is, don't say, "Here's a rivalry and here's the trophy you're going to play for, so start caring.... NOW!" Let it grow, let the trophy have some kind of meaning, let the rivalry actually matter before starting up these trophy games. It makes more sense and feels more natural.

Within the 3 yrs since being in the B1G, we have played Wisky 3X and two of those games resulted in an introductory slap in the face to the B1G and prolonging our drought of conference championships. For me, I am looking for a little payback this year, and with the Nebraska vs Wisky game coming at the end of the year, both being in this three-horse race for the West, this game could have division title implications.

Looking beyond this year, Nebraska and Wisky look primed to be the top two teams in the B1G West each year. We will see them every year now, and that game will most likely have defacto B1G West Champion implications for nearly every year. Rivals are built in this pressure cooker-type situation.

I like that the game now has a trophy. It will only fuel the rivalry during the off-season when teams see it on campus, or don't.

 

[Junior]

I appreciate the games that have trophies that were started a long time ago, but manufacturing these trophy games is silly. If Nebraska and Wisconsin are playing for the Big Ten West crown, the game is going to mean something.

Yep, the Old Oaken Bucket or the Paul Bunyan Trophy are kind of cool, because of historic reasons.

The Heroes trophy is just dumb.