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University of Minnesota Athletics
Blog: Gophers Thinking Pig, Not Pink
11/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
The University of Minnesota football team made its way south to Iowa City Friday, pulling into Kinnick Stadium early this afternoon. The Gophers filed into the stadium and headed into the much-publicized, all-pink visitors' locker room.
But pink wasn't the only thing on the Gophers' minds as they rolled into Kinnick Stadium. The Minnesota coaches and players are also thinking about a pig - Floyd of Rosedale. The Gophers haven't had possession of Floyd since 2006, when they defeated Iowa 34-24.
But first, let's get back to the pink locker room. Hayden Fry was a psychology major at Baylor University. When he was hired as the head coach at Iowa in 1978, he ordered the visitors' locker room painted pink because he remembered from his psychology classes that rooms with pink walls were thought to calm people. In fact, pink walls and pink rooms have been used in jails and mental institutions to relax and pacify the residents, and Fry claimed that it might have the same effect on the visiting team. Moreso, though, Fry hoped that the unusual color would distract and fluster the opposing players and coaches.
The locker room has been pink ever since. It was certainly a topic of conversation earlier this week with the Gophers.
"I don't buy into the concept that the color pink makes you maybe ‑‑ I don't know -- it's supposed to make you passive, that type of thing," Minnesota head coach Tim Brewster said earlier this week. "I swear, I don't think the color of the locker room is going to determine our performance."
The Minnesota student-athletes aren't exactly buying into the theory either.
"I don't think it really does anything," junior defensive back Kim Royston said in the powdery-pink locker room before Friday's walk-through.
"It's funny," senior tight end Nick Tow-Arnett said. "We went there last time and I wasn't sure about it. It's light-pink everything - bathrooms, sinks, stalls, everything. So you just walk in and you just kind of have to laugh about it. I don't know if it plays games with any other guys. But for me, I just think it's pretty funny."
What's not funny to the Gopher seniors is that they are the last class to hoist one of the trophies Minnesota plays for each year. As we mentioned, the Gophers won Floyd of Rosedale in 2006 and they have not seen the pig, Paul Bunyan's Axe, the Little Brown Jug or the Victory Bell since. That will definitely serve as motivation for Minnesota on Saturday.
"It's a chance for us to get a trophy," senior linebacker Nate Triplett said earlier this week. "We haven't won one for a while, so that's something I'm looking forward to - going down there and fighting for the pig."
"It's just motivation," senior cornerback Traye Simmons said. "Those games are hard-fought. This is my last trophy game and I want that pig."
After hearing the words pink and pig a lot this week, you can bet the Gophers will be much more concentrated on the latter when Saturday's game kicks off at Kinnick Stadium. The contest is slated for 11 a.m. and it will air on ESPN.
-Andy Seeley
