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University of Minnesota Athletics
Blog: Gopher Travel News & Notes
10/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
News and notes from a Gopher travel Friday ...
Arrival Update
The Minnesota football team arrived in Columbus, Ohio around 3 p.m. ET Friday, finding the weather to be only slightly better than when the team left the Twin Cities. It was gloomy, gray and rainy in central Ohio. But at least the temperature was a balmy 62 degrees, nearly 30 degrees warmer than back home.
The Gophers hopped on buses from the airport and took a quick trip to Ohio Stadium. The Gophers didn’t go through their full walk-through routine, but they took enough time to get a look at the locker room, walk around on the field and check out the facility.
A New Ranking?
Many of you who read this blog probably also read the In-Game Blog on Saturdays. If you do, you know that we rank the press box food when we’re on the road. On the trip from the airport to the stadium, I was considering the need for a new ranking on road trips.
A handful of us on Bus #3 were discussing the best and worst police escorts the team has had. For those of you not familiar with the procedure, most cities we play in give us a police escort from the airport to the stadium, then to the hotel on Friday. That city’s finest will then escort us to the stadium and to the airport after the game on Saturday.
But the reason we started having the disucssion is also the reason I don’t need to do a ranking. I’m convinced that the police escort we receive here in Columbus is the best in the nation. If there was a poll for Top 25 Police Escorts, the Columbus Police Department would come in No. 1 on my ballot.
This is the second consecutive year we’ve visited Columbus and both times, our trips have been made much more smooth (and much more entertaining for those of us on the bus) by the Columbus Police and their escort. One of the officers today was so adamant about a couple of cars on either side of Bus #3 not cutting in front of us, that he was literally pointing at both cars to stay in their lanes at the same time. What’s so amazing about that, you ask? He was riding a motorcycle at the time!
Ohio State Ticket Scramble
When the 2009 Big Ten schedule was released, there was some discussion of Minnesota having to travel to Ohio State in back-to-back years. Playing one of the league favorites at their house in consecutive years can be a daunting task.
But there are a handful of Gopher players and their families who probably aren’t too upset about it. Junior offensive lineman Dom Alford, junior offensive lineman D.J. Burris, junior defensive back Ryan Collado and senior punter Blake Haudan all hail from the Buckeye state. That quartet will get to play in their home state for the third time in two seasons, after playing at Bowling Green and at Ohio State in 2008.
Burris was the big winner in the ticket scramble. He told us he was able to scrounge up 33 tickets for tomorrow’s game for family members and friends from the area. According to Burris, each Gopher from Ohio was able to secure at least 15 tickets or more for their friends and family as well.
Talk to you tomorrow morning from the stadium. Our in-game blog will be live by around 10:30 a.m. CT.
-Andy Seeley
Arrival Update
The Minnesota football team arrived in Columbus, Ohio around 3 p.m. ET Friday, finding the weather to be only slightly better than when the team left the Twin Cities. It was gloomy, gray and rainy in central Ohio. But at least the temperature was a balmy 62 degrees, nearly 30 degrees warmer than back home.
The Gophers hopped on buses from the airport and took a quick trip to Ohio Stadium. The Gophers didn’t go through their full walk-through routine, but they took enough time to get a look at the locker room, walk around on the field and check out the facility.
A New Ranking?
Many of you who read this blog probably also read the In-Game Blog on Saturdays. If you do, you know that we rank the press box food when we’re on the road. On the trip from the airport to the stadium, I was considering the need for a new ranking on road trips.
A handful of us on Bus #3 were discussing the best and worst police escorts the team has had. For those of you not familiar with the procedure, most cities we play in give us a police escort from the airport to the stadium, then to the hotel on Friday. That city’s finest will then escort us to the stadium and to the airport after the game on Saturday.
But the reason we started having the disucssion is also the reason I don’t need to do a ranking. I’m convinced that the police escort we receive here in Columbus is the best in the nation. If there was a poll for Top 25 Police Escorts, the Columbus Police Department would come in No. 1 on my ballot.
This is the second consecutive year we’ve visited Columbus and both times, our trips have been made much more smooth (and much more entertaining for those of us on the bus) by the Columbus Police and their escort. One of the officers today was so adamant about a couple of cars on either side of Bus #3 not cutting in front of us, that he was literally pointing at both cars to stay in their lanes at the same time. What’s so amazing about that, you ask? He was riding a motorcycle at the time!
Ohio State Ticket Scramble
When the 2009 Big Ten schedule was released, there was some discussion of Minnesota having to travel to Ohio State in back-to-back years. Playing one of the league favorites at their house in consecutive years can be a daunting task.
But there are a handful of Gopher players and their families who probably aren’t too upset about it. Junior offensive lineman Dom Alford, junior offensive lineman D.J. Burris, junior defensive back Ryan Collado and senior punter Blake Haudan all hail from the Buckeye state. That quartet will get to play in their home state for the third time in two seasons, after playing at Bowling Green and at Ohio State in 2008.
Burris was the big winner in the ticket scramble. He told us he was able to scrounge up 33 tickets for tomorrow’s game for family members and friends from the area. According to Burris, each Gopher from Ohio was able to secure at least 15 tickets or more for their friends and family as well.
Talk to you tomorrow morning from the stadium. Our in-game blog will be live by around 10:30 a.m. CT.
-Andy Seeley
Players Mentioned
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