Posts Tagged ‘sports rivalry’
Brown Jug
Yesterday, the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers football team offered up a serving of entertainment that I haven’t been able to enjoy from them in 49 years. I was a senior in high school the last time the Gophers won the Little Brown Jug at home by beating the Michigan Wolverines.
That trophy is the most regularly exchanged rivalry trophy in college football. “Little Brown Jug” is one of those phrases that I became familiar with at a very young age, long before ever understanding what it was or what it represented. I just knew it was a thing.
Most people in the world were oblivious to what was happening in Huntington Bank Stadium in the middle of the day yesterday. College football fans might have been peripherally aware that the matchup was occurring. Those who specifically follow Gopher football, in addition to the thousands in attendance at the game, were imbued with a sense of accomplishment for achieving a rare feat.
Students rushed the field at game’s end, and the head coach, P.J. Fleck, exclaimed, “Besides my marriage, my kids being born, this might be the best day of my life.”
Sports competition can do that to a person. In the moments after the game, while watching all the on-field celebrating happening on TV, I had that familiar feeling of wanting to exclaim that it was the best day of my life. It obviously wasn’t, if we are going to factor in more significant events I’ve experienced, as the coach smartly referenced.
But, wow! That was a lot of fun. We won the Little Brown Jug for 2026.
Go Gophers!
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