Photo Credit: Patrick O'Leary, Regents of the University of Minnesota 2005
September 2, 2000 was a sunny Saturday at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis. Just after 10:30 AM that morning, I and 270 of my new best friends run-cadenced out of the Metrodome tunnel for the pregame show. It was my first time on the turf where my Minnesota Twins idols had played, and my first Gopher football game.
2000 was supposed to be the year Minnesota took the “next step” after going 8-4 the previous season, Minnesota’s most successful since 1967 and first bowl game since 1986. Talk of the Rose Bowl was in the air and even the pockets of Twin Cities media was starting to shrug off their cynicism and believe that maybe Glen Mason was going to finally do it.
