You'll Fight and You'll Make It Through
Previously in this series: Business is Finished, by Ace Anbender
As you may be aware, Michigan won the national championship. Brian's said his bit on what this means to him, and now it's everyone else's turn. We're inviting everyone who's contributed to the blog over its existence to write whatever they want about the 2023 football team, and hope to roll out a series of these over the course of the next few months.
Next up is regular diarist/resident Michigan War Dad Desmond Was Tripped, who wrote a journal to accompany a many-drafted revision of the Better Son or Daughter 2009 Hype Video. Yes there are others, but by the powers invested in me in the name blog I name this one, which has an entire fool-hurdling sequence I might add, the official successor to the original. –Seth
The Video (link):
This entry will be a little bit of a departure from my normal content. Sure, I could do “Michigan Basketball at the Battle of Hattin” or “Juwan Howard and the Defense of Singapore”, but I wont. I want to pull the warmth of being National Champions one more time over my body, and say thank you the only way I know how to the man who made this blog. I’ll thank him by taking something he once made, and improving on it just a little bit. Brian thanked everyone in the marathon podcast (including me, I was touched), but I wanted to thank him.
So I convinced a friend of mine with far better technical skills and an enthusiasm unknown to mankind (who really took no convincing at all) to help me update Brian’s 2009 Magnum Opus. He has mentioned the 2009 hype video a lot, and how it opened with the disasters of 2008, but finishes with some optimism: a hope that maybe Michigan would pull itself out of the morass of mediocrity it found itself in.
[After THE JUMP: we will all go down together]
But it wouldn’t. It wouldn’t in 2009, or 2010, and despite a promising 2011, it would regress in 2012 again. We struggled, and endured, and prayed that, like the song says, our ship would come in. But long was our watch and long did we wait in seemingly unyielding vain, even through years of our Roland come home to rescue us, we waited. We suffered defeat after heart breaking defeat… until we didn’t.
Brian sat through it all. Continuing to generate content, continuing to not only watch the team he loved fail on game day, but watch it over and over throughout the week. No one deserves this more than Brian. He kept us involved, he helped our brains try to make sense of the disasters we were seeing, and he kept us feeling like it wasn’t just us, alone with a black pit of negative expectations.
I didn’t see much of the 2008 season. I had been in the stands for The Horror, but was in Iraq when the 2008 season began. Still, I listened to the Toledo game on the radio, and pushed a mission to listen to parts of the Ohio State game, but after 2008 the strain began to take its toll. I stopped feeling connected to most things I had once loved, and I no longer believed that there was any good left in the world. It was an incredibly dark time in my life, and with the war showing no signs of coming to a close, there was no light at the end of the tunnel. It is a difficult feeling to describe, being present and yet not. Being around the people you should love, and who love you, but not really being there at all. To watch the things you once loved go on without you, and not caring at all that they passed you by.
It was around this time that I found MGoBlog. I had been gifted a desk for a brief period, and spent entire days (sorry taxpayers) hitting refresh on the page to see if there was new content. It got so bad that MGoBlog appeared in a briefing on a list of unclassified sites “most visited by members of the organization”. One of the things you learn when you come face to face with the finite nature of life is that you don’t waste time on garbage. Almost every other source of college sports content was just that. Garbage. But not MGoBlog. It was content. Quality content. And I was there for it. I watched a few games on television, but could never bring myself to go back to a place that had brought me such unmitigated joy as a child and as a young man. I couldn’t let whatever was in me get in there.
In 2011, after another deployment, I forced myself to go back to a game. I thought “if that Brian dude can suffer through it, so can I”. So I went. Western Michigan. It was easy, and fun, and beautiful. A week later I was in Afghanistan again.
I missed the 2011 win against Ohio State, and caught the 2012 season opening loss to Alabama transiting through Bagram. But it didn’t matter. Adrift in a sea of sardonic fatalism, the one pillar of hope I had was Michigan Football. Even if I held out no optimism for myself, I held it for the forlorn hope that maybe, just maybe, we would be Champions again. Though I couldn’t always watch the game, I could eventually read about it on MGoBlog. MGoBlog was my connection to the world that I had let leave me behind.
After that deployment something changed. Despite still feeling detached from everyone and everything I once knew, some of my friends from the house on S Forest asked me to come to their tailgate. With their families there. Piece by piece, Michigan football, my one attachment to my former self was pulling me back into the folds. One tailgate turned into two, and then every home game, and before I knew it years had gone by and we were all watching Michigan get destroyed by Wisconsin huddled around my tablet in the lobby of some hotel on vacation in Croatia. Because we had become a family.
I saw Brian’s 2008 video for the first time this year, and it brought me back to all of those days I had pushed back into the darkest recesses of my mind. It reminded me that my life, like the life of so many others, could always be redeemed. It reminded me of a time that I honestly thought there was nothing tying me to this world that I was likely destined to leave soon anyway. I don’t recognize that person anymore. Just like I don’t recognize that Michigan team anymore. They, like myself have evolved into something better.
But never alone. I couldn’t have done it without the great people here, and my tailgate (and my regular) family. We could have all given up and done something more productive with our Saturdays. But we stayed and I was with a few of them in Houston, finally Champions. We had endured the highs and the lows and we had come through to the other side together… where we saw that our ship had finally come in. I got to experience all of that, I got to go and sit back in the season tickets my grandfather secured us nearly forty years ago and become friends with the people around us who knew him. More importantly I got to bring my daughter to her first Michigan tailgate (Indiana week, rain in October, do not recommend).
I got to do all of this because MGoBlog kept my love of Michigan Football burning, and Michigan Football kept me going. There aren’t enough thank you’s in the world, but I’ll just say that I’m glad we all waited for that ship to come in together.
Go Blue!
January 21st, 2024 at 12:30 PM ^
Great post, thank you.
January 21st, 2024 at 12:44 PM ^
I love this.
January 21st, 2024 at 12:48 PM ^
Thank you for your service.
January 21st, 2024 at 1:01 PM ^
Relatable content. And a reminder that mgoblog is not just a website producing high-quality content, but a community of fans who also produce thoughtful, meaningful, high-quality content. Thank you for the post, it’s good enough for government work!
January 21st, 2024 at 1:13 PM ^
Forget the jokes about dusty drafts or cutting onions. I'm f**king weeping right now. Tremendous tremendous stuff
January 21st, 2024 at 1:15 PM ^
uh, yeah.
thank you for your service.
I cannot stop my tears.
:)
January 21st, 2024 at 1:37 PM ^
Very touching. Fucking Niagara Falls over here.
January 21st, 2024 at 2:07 PM ^
Damn good stuff War Dad
January 21st, 2024 at 2:14 PM ^
Fantastic read.
Mgoblog has been a constant for me, but nothing close to what you have experienced. Happy that this blog and the community of Michigan fans were able to provide you with a constant source of light during your service.
January 21st, 2024 at 2:16 PM ^
😭😭😭 has this site not brought me to tears enough in the past few weeks. Beautifully written and what a fitting tribute. Go Blue!
January 21st, 2024 at 2:18 PM ^
It’s dusty in here again
January 21st, 2024 at 2:29 PM ^
Thank you for your service and Go Blue!
January 21st, 2024 at 3:53 PM ^
I had no idea the Better Son or Daughter meant so much to everyone. It still gets me every time. This community is amazing, and you all have got me through so very much. Bless all of you.
January 21st, 2024 at 4:15 PM ^
Marvelous post. Where is my ability to give it a +1million?
January 21st, 2024 at 6:33 PM ^
Thanks for persevering.
Thanks for your service including this video.
IT IS AN AWESOME Retrsospective.
Wolverine football is BAAAAAACK!
”Don’t talk about. BE about it.
January 21st, 2024 at 6:45 PM ^
My God, that was the very best hype video I have ever seen.
I hardly ever tear up, but damn that one got me.
Going to color with Mikey's PBU was brilliant.
The whole fucking thing is brilliant.
January 21st, 2024 at 7:46 PM ^
This is so cool. Fandom, this site, the community and the power of them all. Bravo! And, I was at the game, and right there, about 40 rows up, and Desmond was totally, 100% tripped.
January 21st, 2024 at 11:04 PM ^
You old, but you right
January 21st, 2024 at 8:19 PM ^
We are all very lucky to have witnessed Team 144 and to have a unique community, MGoBlog, led by Brian et al. There is no other sports site remotely similar.
Thanks, Desmond-was-tripped, for your service to this country and your service to the Michigan fan community. And thanks for reminding us how awesome it is to have a place like this to get through the hard times and celebrate the fucking GREAT times.
〽️ Go Blue!
January 21st, 2024 at 10:02 PM ^
Thank you for this. Thank you for the diary content!
January 21st, 2024 at 11:20 PM ^
Beautifully written. And it touched all the good nerves and emotions and buttons.
Thank you good sir.
January 22nd, 2024 at 7:40 AM ^
Thank you, Sir. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your message of positivity. At a time where there seems to be no bottom and you keep falling, you look for something to grab on to. Something concrete, caring, and quirky like all of us. Brian created quite the community through this blog, eh? I, too, am thankful for finding this place.
January 22nd, 2024 at 8:07 AM ^
That video had no business making me tear up
January 22nd, 2024 at 8:41 AM ^
Thank you for your service. Great story!
January 22nd, 2024 at 9:17 AM ^
This touched me deep. Bless you, go blue
January 22nd, 2024 at 9:47 AM ^
I gotta stop watching these style of videos because I've successfully forgotten most of the plays they show haha.
January 22nd, 2024 at 10:03 AM ^
The genius of that hype video in it's various iterations is that it hits such a broader range of emotions than the typical "get jacked up" hype video goes for.
Part of getting "hyped" for your team is recognizing your scars and your pain and anguish. Marking time spent in the lows and recognizing the whole journey is so much more gratifying and emotionally impactful than just the video equivalent of "lets do some speed and run through a wall."
The pain makes the glory sweeter.
January 22nd, 2024 at 11:01 AM ^
Great write-up my man!
You know, I've always felt weird saying "Thank you for your service" to army vets because I really have no idea about the scope of what I'm thankful for. I own a CrossFit gym where we do Hero workouts on occasions, and I'd rather suffer through Murph or Badger or Michael any day that leave everything I have here and go to a foreign country to fight (and, as pathetic as it is, miss watching Michigan football games on Saturdays). I'll never know the bravery you guys have, and I'm grateful you took time to share some of that here with us.
January 22nd, 2024 at 11:43 AM ^
Thanks for the perspective today. Keep churning and Go Blue!
January 22nd, 2024 at 12:01 PM ^
I was at a Lions watch party here in MD... Dude is a lifelong fan and he's from Bethesda freakin' Maryland. I still marvel that the dude CHOSE this life... Anyways, I wore my 2024 Rose Bowl shirt and got a lot of great commments.
But what amazed me is that there MI fans out there that don't live and breath this site. Whole room full of dudes and none were aware of MGoBlog.
Stunning. This site breaths live into the sport for me. Thank you to the OP and to Brian and to everyone that makes this place so special. I'm getting old and really didn't think this was ever going to happen.
I've been randomly smiling like a crazy person since we beat PSU way back when. What a ride.
January 22nd, 2024 at 5:42 PM ^
Trust you converted them to the site
January 22nd, 2024 at 12:24 PM ^
Tear-jerkingly beautiful.
January 22nd, 2024 at 12:33 PM ^
We need an MGoBlog Hall of Fame. This post needs to be in it. Simply wonderful. So glad you are doing better.
January 22nd, 2024 at 12:56 PM ^
Thank you for your service
January 22nd, 2024 at 12:57 PM ^
I can watch that every single day for eternity and never get tired of it.
Good shit.
January 22nd, 2024 at 1:12 PM ^
Thank you for you service, and I'm heartened to know you've made it back home.
January 22nd, 2024 at 1:13 PM ^
The Haskins hurdling fools supercut actually got me emotional.
January 22nd, 2024 at 1:16 PM ^
This is an excellent piece that resonates with me. Keeping it brief, I have struggled with depression several times in my life, and the struggles of Michigan football have periodically made it worse. But through it all, MGoBlog has helped in my life. Even if I didn't feel like watching a game live, I would come to MGoBlog and get my Michigan fix that way.
I can't thank Brian, Seth, Alex, and the other contributors enough. MGoBlog has been a bright spot in my life for a long time.
So +1000 to you all and I hope this site rolls on for a long time.
January 22nd, 2024 at 1:17 PM ^
Thank you for this, I really appreciate your perspective.
Go Blue!
January 22nd, 2024 at 1:32 PM ^
What a wonderful post, Des.
January 22nd, 2024 at 3:42 PM ^
I watched the video. I cried. I'm a 44 year old man. Nice work.
January 22nd, 2024 at 5:43 PM ^
Same.... Just not 44
January 22nd, 2024 at 5:09 PM ^
Beautiful, thank you for sharing
January 22nd, 2024 at 7:39 PM ^
I see my days of tearing up reading/watching stuff coming out of this season are coming to a middle.
January 22nd, 2024 at 8:05 PM ^
Thanks for a great read and fantastic video!!!
January 22nd, 2024 at 8:56 PM ^
Magnificent. Beautiful. Moving.
The updated video is soso so good.
Most importantly: Thank you for your service, sir!
January 22nd, 2024 at 8:56 PM ^
Magnificent. Beautiful. Moving.
The updated video is so so so good.
Most importantly: Thank you for your service, sir!
January 23rd, 2024 at 11:23 PM ^
Well said.
January 26th, 2024 at 11:14 PM ^
I've never commented on here much, but I just reset my password so I could say 'thank you'. What a journey...
Sometimes when you're on...
Go Blue
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