Patch Talks With Nadine Babu, AKA The ‘GopherLady’

TWIN CITIES, MN — If Nadine Babu isn’t on your list of go-to media personalities for news and opinion on Gopher football and basketball, she should be. The University of Minnesota graduate and superfan is co-owner of GopherHole, a website devoted to covering the Maroon and Gold since the late 90s.

You may know Babu as the "GopherLady" if you're one of the thousand users who frequent GopherHole's popular (and sometimes very rowdy) message board.

She also keeps a lively and entertaining Twitter feed that documents the highs and lows of life as a devoted Gopher fan. And if that's not enough, you can even follow her dog, Goldie, on Twitter as well.

When not cheering on the Gophers, Babu is busy running her own company, Babu Social Networks, providing clients expert advice on all things social media.

This month, Babu answered a few questions from Patch about GopherHole and life as a Gopher fan:

When did your passion for Gopher sports begin?

I would say that it was right when I came to college. The very first Gopher basketball game, I absolutely just fell in love with it.

I loved the Barn. I loved the atmosphere. I loved the old building. It was just amazing.

I would say it took a little bit longer with football, playing in the Metrodome and taking the bus there. But that came probably by my sophomore or junior year at the U.

Who is your favorite Gopher player of all time?

My favorite Gopher player of all time is Dusty Rychart. I have always been a fan of the benchwarmers and the walk-ons...[players] that came in as good guys that work hard. Dusty is exactly that person.

He ended up being one of the best players in the Big Ten and one of our greatest players and was just so humble in doing it.

I don't think there is a person that ever met Dusty that didn't like him.

Which Gopher sports stadium has the best fan atmosphere?

I am very biased towards Williams Arena. The Barn is just so special to me. It's probably my favorite place in the world. I mean if I was getting married, I'd want to get married there.

I don't like the new arenas that are very stale, like the Kohl Center. I really like the character that the Barn has.

How did GopherHole start?

It started in the late 90s because of a passionate Gopher fan, Jason Groth.

He started it up, and in the early stages it was predominantly a message board and has grown every year for more than 20 consecutive years.

Our bread and butter is still the message board...it's where people can share information. It's where people can argue. But we've also taken it to a different level where obviously now we're credentialed media members, we cover games, we cover press conferences. We do interviews with recruits and everything like that. We kind of want to be a one-stop shop for the Gopher fans.

I am a co-owner and also do some writing and covering of games.

We've hired on a couple other really talented people. Daniel House has the House Report. He does a fantastic job after games. He also does a lot of great film breakdown. He's also made an entire Gopher football guide....he actually has given the proceeds to the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.

I know a lot of people, like higher-ups, have looked [his guide] as a great reference for the Gopher football team.

Jared Hines is another one of our writers that we brought on this year and he has done just about everything and he has brought so much to our team...he's been an absolutely fantastic addition as well.

The 2018 Gopher football season featured very high highs and very low lows. Do you expect another rocky season for 2019?

It's always hard to predict what the next season will be. I do think that, just the way we ended the last four games and when we switched defensive coordinators...I think that we definitely were on the upswing so I think that fans can expect a few more wins next year.

I would say by Fleck's year four we should be competing for the Big Ten West championship

I think it’s fair to say that P.J. Fleck is a polarizing coach among fans and the media. Some love him, others want him gone already. Why is that the case?

I think that anyone that is themselves, is genuine, is different....is going to have that. I'm personally like that. You either love me or you hate me, and I think P.J. is one of those guys...he is not unapologetic. He is just who he is every day.

And I honestly think that because we had Tim Brewster before, that's made it harder for P.J. Because Tim Brewster was the same as P.J. as far as talking and being really excited and setting goals and whatnot. But obviously [Brewster] did not have the background to back it up or the coaching skills, to be quite honest.

P.J. has obviously proved that he does have that. If you look at his practices, they are so well run. He's turned around a program [at Western Michigan]. He has a track record and so that combined with his energy and enthusiasm and optimism...I think it scares some people because they think he could be Tim Brewster 2.0, but he certainly is not in my book.

How much of a factor do you believe ticket prices play in poor fan attendance at Gopher games? Is the "ticket price issue" overblown?

Our tickets are quite fairly priced...in comparison to other Big Ten schools. However, this is a game of supply and demand.

So, what [former athletic director] Norwood Teague did, when he came in when we weren't excelling and we weren't doing well, he still had his plan and he wanted to raise prices and have the licensing fees and all of that and it was just poor timing.

I say you do that after you have some winning years and after your venues are already packed. Otherwise you put that plan on hold.

There are so many ways to, first of all appreciate season ticket holders, and secondly make it affordable to go to games. If you even look at a school like, say Nebraska, for basketball they have been selling out their arena for years now...it's not a basketball school but their ticket prices are really cheap. So what gets you wins on your home court? It's your fans and having a home court advantage or home field advantage, so you have to definitely adjust.

It seems to me that Gopher fans and the Twin Cities sports media have an especially adversarial relationship. Do you agree with that assessment?

I actually do not agree with that assessment. I think there are a few people like, a Patrick [Reusse] that speaks out a lot about the Gophers and criticizes [them] a lot.

He is a columnist. And that's what he's paid to do.

But I don't think people focus as much on our beat writers that are there every single day, covering these sports.

I think everybody wants these teams to do well. You obviously can't have maroon-colored sunglasses on.

These guys are journalists. They are pros and they write on facts. And I think that because the few columnists speak out, and they may be the loudest, [some fans] think the Twin Cities media is against these teams. But I do not see that in any way, shape, or form.

Being a Gopher fan isn't easy, as I've known from my own experience. But there any plenty of positives to keep us going. What's your favorite part about being a Gopher fan?

Honestly, I always say that I think the journey is the best part.

We do struggle a lot as fans, and it's really hard, and you spend a lot of money and you spend a lot of time and that doesn't always equate to wins. It actually often doesn't.

But then you look at something like when we went to the Citrus Bowl. That was still one of the best trips I've had as a fan. It just felt so good.

Two years ago when we went to the NCAA basketball tournament, [coach Rich] Pitino had the biggest turnaround in college basketball...that was so incredible to see and so special.

I would say those kind of highlights...you have to focus on those and focus on the journey instead of just the end result...and enjoy the journey along the way.

This year....when we played against Purdue [in football]...that felt great. We had just lost [three] games in a row and it was a hard season and you just were like, man how are we going to get through this. And then you have that turning point. And then you beat Wisconsin and you have the axe.

It's those kind of things that you really need to focus on instead of focusing on the negatives and the other games you didn't win.

And I just think that that's really how you need to operate in life as well.