Tubby!

Here’s what a sports fan does in the face of a disastrous year like the one our beloved Minnesota Vikings are experiencing!
by Charlie Leck

Sports fans – and I am one of them – are incredible! If they’re having a bad year with one part of their sports lives, they can metamorphose their sports loyalties faster than a speeding bullet. Up here, the Minnesota Vikings have imploded completely. The coach, an affrightful enigma to begin with, has lost his team and can no longer lead or inspire them. The quarterback, a legend in professional football, has lost his composure and credibility.

What can we do under such adverse conditions? Sublimate! [Divert the energy of one psychological or biological impulse to another more acceptable or aesthetic one!]

Go, Tubby!
Don’t you know we are the Gopher Nation; erhrr, that is the Gopher Basketball Nation; and the maroon and gold Minnesota Gophers struck real gold in Puerto Rico this weekend and won the Tip-Off Championship against some pretty classy teams (West Virginia, North Carolina and Western Kentucky). Now there’s something to roister in and be happy about. When the next ratings come out, the undefeated Gophers will be, at least, in the top 25 teams in the nation; and maybe a lot higher.

And Tubby Smith, the Gopher coach, is one of the classiest and finest men in the nation. He's more than a good coach! He’s a role model for young men to admire and emulate. And what a snappy dresser!

Up here in Minnesota, we are right now (meaning, for the moment) singing the fight song of the University of Minnesota – called the Minnesota Rouser. “Ski-U-Mah!”

Minnesota, hats off to thee!
To thy colors true we shall for ever be,
Firm and strong, united are we.
Rah, rah, rah, for Ski-U-Mah
Rah! Rah! Rah!
Rah, rah for the U of M.

M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A!
(thrust your fist and pump it in the air during the spelling!)
Minn-sota! Minn-sota! Minn-sota!

So, it’s not the greatest fight song in the world! It’s ours, and we love it! We could have had “On Wisconsin” but, a few generations ago, a committee up here rejected the tune, written by a Minnesotan, in a statewide contest to pick a fight song. Wasn’t good enough! (Now, it’s only one of the greatest fights songs in all of collegiate athletics!) Oh well, sublimate!

If you want to hear the Minnesota Rouser as it's done in real life, here it is...

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