Spring Football Bits Loses Spring Game
Usually this time of year you get some kind of spring game recap. Michigan had a spring game, but this is all you get.
— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) April 12, 2021
Saturday was a great day to compete!#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/XeYvWF9kfs
What sticks out, other than the uniformz, is the pathetically small amount they’re willing to share with the public. The fanbase’s reaction to this has fallen into three camps:
- I would have liked to have seen a spring game.
- Call me when they win something.
- I don’t want to think about football.
All three are valid. The second and third camps are the BPONE, and were bound to continue regardless of football’s existence. For personal and professional reasons, I fall in the first. If you haven’t skipped to the comments to post something like 2 or 3, you’re probably there with me, and wondering if there’s an explanation.
Lately if you want anything from the football team you have to listen to the Jansen podcast, where Jansen said this regarding why fans and media were not allowed to attend:
The State of Michigan is utilizing the Big House as a vaccine site. So they didn’t want the parking lot to be full of cars. They didn’t want there to be a confusion about where to go for people scheduled to get their vaccine on that Saturday.
…and this on why they didn’t broadcast it:
As I understand it the Big Ten Network had set a certain time that all of the programs needed to say ‘Hey, this is when we’re going to have our last practice.’ And with the uncertainty of the pandemic, with the changing schedules, Michigan just wasn’t able to meet that deadline because they had to move some things around, and it just didn’t work out.
If they wanted to keep it small for the vaccine site—or you know, because last weekend was the peak of the pandemic—that’s fine. That’s not the reason media were expressly prohibited, including those with invites through other means. It’s still more responsible than Michigan State’s decision to invite 6,000 people to Spartan Stadium tomorrow, and one I can support.
[Hit THE JUMP]
But that’s not the reason it wasn’t broadcast. I was watching BTN that afternoon. It was Michigan-Maryland in softball, Penn State vs Indiana in the soccer championship, then Gymnastics in the evening. As much as I like our softball team, if Michigan football wanted that slot, do you really think BTN wouldn’t have accommodated? If they couldn’t, do you think they might have aired it another time?
If BTN really didn’t want Michigan Wolverines football in mid-April, Michigan still had video cameras there, and the power to release far more than one minute and twelve seconds of close-cropped film literally passed through a maize filter. They have an entire media company—IMG—under contract for this.
The truth is you didn’t get a spring game because they didn’t want to subject the players to your negativity. Jansen admits “there’s not a lot to brag about right now” after a 2-4 season, and that’s the truth. Also true is the fanbase is out of patience for Harbaugh’s regime going into a year that’s going to require quite a bit of it. There’s nothing you can do about that but win, and you can’t win a spring game.
There’s nothing to lose either. Spring games aren't for the media; they're for the fans. In safer times, most go to take in the sun as much as the other thing they've been deprived of all winter. They wash over you, at most show you a guy to get excited about because of one play.
I’ve been to and written about spring games for bad Michigan football teams, and still fall for them every year. I saw the 2008 offense slosh around a wet high school and appreciated the defensive continuity. I saw the 2009 and 2010 defenses torched and memorized fan videos of the young quarterbacks responsible. Two years ago I watched the edge of the defense come apart and called Gattis a genius. No matter how bad they were, my reaction to this was going to be clipping plays that show how it might work. In college football, you reckon with reality in November; in April even Hoke springs eternal. The only way to lose is not to play.
The fact that this program somehow found a way to take an L in their own spring game makes me less confident they can beat Western Michigan or anyone after that.
If they’re terrified of having stupid slappies like us get a look-see, their house must be in worse shape than mine after 13 months of pandemic. The various types of interceptions from their various types of freshman quarterbacks must be worse than the ones the transferred former starter opened and closed last season with. The defense’s confusion at a new system must be so recriminating you could make a slideshow of linebackers yelling at each other. Every fade down the sideline must be a replay of Ricky White Day, except the overthrown passes are coming down out of bounds.
But that’s your spring game recap. The only thing we've learned is the football program itself agrees they're unwatchable. They don’t have everything locked down, so I’ll have a final football bits for you next week. Happy commenting.
I think this article is probably partially right, but it seems like media hive mind frustration, to me. No broadcast is frustrating, and a fair critique, but this level of (or lack of) access is pretty typical of Harbaugh, isn't it? It's just that they're not winning like we want them to.
I also don't think that no spring game doesn't mean they can't beat Western. They can run the ball every play and probably beat Western. I think frustration with the program is coloring most of these takes that we must be so embarrassed that we can't possible air the game. It just doesn't seem very Harbaugh imo.
Maybe I'm wrong, but "ashamed to be seen" seems like a reach.
I agree. Sounds like the BPONE talking
I was being hyperbolic with that man. I don't care about no media access--I don't sit in the press box. I care that they wouldn't even show their spring game, that they hoard and disseminate all of their information like pravda. I wanted the morning where my seven year old puts on her maize and blue because there's a game today, and a summer of obsessing over it.
Looking forward to my copy of "Hail to the Ungrateful Killjoys" this summer.
April 23rd, 2021 at 10:07 PM ^
Oh okay. I guess I didn't pick up on the hyperbolic tone. I read it as a pretty even tone throughout. Anyway, love what you do. Don't stay in the comments here too long!
While I agree with Seth's interpretation of the Spring Game situation, this is probably the most fair take. It feels more like a straw that is breaking the camel's back. Harbaugh's tight lips & off-season "submarine" have been one of the noteable quirks of his program, and that program is kind of nose-diving right now. So I get the frustration with things that don't seem to be working as they should.
"Hoke springs eternal"!
That's brilliant.
In case there are any newcomers to MGoBlog here, BPONE is an acronym for the Black Pit of Negative Expectations, Brian’s term for the noxious cloud of pessimistic malaise among the football fandom (including himself).
Don't see Seth roast anyone very often. But that was pretty good.
"The only thing we've learned is the football program itself agrees they're unwatchable."
Pretty damning, but also kinda hard to argue
Hide-the-pain Harold is the embodiment of my feelings with recent performance. I don’t get it. More talent than needed to win vs anyone not named OSU and it’s a constant battle even with bottom feeders. We were ecstatic we beat Minnesota last year. Ugh.
Rutger, don't forget Rutger.
I thumbs all comments up as I am normally an optimist about football in pre-season (including the Lions), but I kind of like all the pessimism too. less for me to be let down by come fall
I remember driving a couple hours from Kalamazoo every year to watch the spring game back when I cared. Watched a kid named Jimmy Harbaugh complete a pass to John Kolesar.
They are sure making your job really hard Seth
Seems like the athletic department should say too bad to Harbaugh wanting to keep things closed and not let him dictate this.
Or maybe they think that the head coach of the football team knows what is best for said football team.
April 23rd, 2021 at 10:42 PM ^
Well he’s proven many times over that’s not true.
April 23rd, 2021 at 11:16 PM ^
But since they rehired him it appears they don’t agree with you.
April 25th, 2021 at 12:39 AM ^
Well he sure has not for the first 6 years of his tenure!
Michigan is in a no-win situation here. Either open up the spring game and listen to fans and the media (including this site) bitch about everything they see, or keep it closed and listen to fans and the media (including this site) bitch about everything they didn't see. This "WHY WASN'T THE SPRING GAME OPEN/TELEVISED" narrative is getting really old.
We'll know what kind of team we have in the fall. A hundred televised spring games wouldn't change that.
But our feelings are important. Or so say the fearless leaders of this blogging site.
Unless they want to bitch about feelings ball.
Have we completely given up on a third option? That is, looking promising and doing some good things in a spring game? Your point about knowing definitively is the fall is spot on, but it’s at least a theoretical possibility they could show some signs of improvement from last year’s sludgefart.
Welp.
I think I belong to an entirely different camp. I'm actually happy that the team is in full lock-down mode and I hope they do the same in the fall. It reminds me of Harbaugh's first fall camp when the team was completely submerged in the submarine.
With everything there is to work on, especially installing the new defense and trying to jumpstart the offense, it just seems to make sense to practice in a distraction-free environment. Let everyone focus on picking-up the new system, make mistakes and learn from them, without questions, criticism, and negativity from the fans and media.
And then hope they come out and surprise us in the first game.
April 23rd, 2021 at 11:18 PM ^
I am in the same camp.
At least we can be confident that the D will improve this year with the new coach. I mean we did scour the country to hire some dude who worked for Harbaugh’s brother as not a defensive coordinator.
I don't think anyone was under the illusion the team is anything but a hot mess right now.
But not having an opportunity to watch them do anything (even if it's just stretching) means they know that we know that they know they're a hot mess.
Ah, but now I know that you know that they know that we know that they know, though. No?
So which cup has the iocane poison.
Not a hot mess. We have a qb.
This lack of any spring game and no coverage just seems fitting given the low point of fan interest that we're seeing now. The program has done an impressive job of squashing loyal fans' enthusiasm of late. So, what better way to top that off than to allow no coverage or TV broadcast of the spring scrimmage. I definitely fall in camp #3 right now. I can't get enthusiastic about this team until I see the result on the field turn around.
The uniforms looked nice. That is all.
Enough bitching about the fan base.
99% of all programs would kill for the Michigan fan base.
I had the joy of watching Michigan during the glory years of the 80's and 90's, and quite frankly I'm stunned by how well the program is supported by people that only got to see it in the 2000's and 2010's.
As fans, the program has given you so little back yet you still stay with it.
I can hang in there and be patient because I've already seen a lifetime of glory to hold me over. But newer fans haven't gotten shit.
My hat is off to you guys.
Genuinely this, literally every blueblood in both basketball and football would absolutely love a fanbase like ours.
April 23rd, 2021 at 10:01 PM ^
Absolutely. Of course there are dumbass fans but that's certainly not unique to Michigan. There aren't that many schools that on the whole care as much as Michigan fans do (as opposed to USC) but also aren't looking to fire everyone at every moment (as opposed to the SEC, this is a relative scale).
It’s like in high school when you had a zit on your cheek. Then you try to pop it and it doesn’t pop, so it swells and becomes a huge boil. You got two choices. You can own it and go to class and ask that hot girl out because I’ll be damned if some cellulitis on my cheek is going to sap my mojo, OR, you can get into your moms makeup case, try to patch it up and cower from everyone until it goes away. Guess which one UM is?
Are you trying to tell us that you put on your mom's makeup
I like the that “The Fort” has returned. I don’t need any sunshine (or lack of it) blown up my ass.
I wish the program would embrace the Spring as a way to make it all about fan engagement. Family day, Spring game, be out in the community - Big House 5k or Chad Tough 5k (the baseball, ladies and mens BBall all show up and either participate or cheer on the participants, etc. It's an area other programs/teams, including at Michigan, do a MUCH better job at.
Don't take the one day so serious and make it fun for all. Pin Sam and Ira vs. Brian and Seth calling plays, have fans (kids from Mott's for instance) draft the teams, use it to raise funds for Motts, etc. So many ideas, and none of them have to be about how good/bad might possibly be, it's all about fan engagement.
Absolutely. If you don't want to showcase the team's play, fine. Showcase the team and the program. Make it about families and the kids. And make it fun.
Have some drills, have some races, interact with the kids. I love all of your ideas and would give you a bunch of upvotes if I had them. I hope you get a lot of them.
April 24th, 2021 at 11:51 AM ^
I totally agree. Going to the spring game helped make my kids fans. Meeting players, going on the field, seeing some plays being run just ignited their interest in the upcoming season. The fans are supporting this program and are enabling the resources and benefits the players receive. I don’t think giving up an afternoon in April to acknowledge that is such a big deal. The families that the program is showing little interest in now will reciprocate eventually with decreased sales and attendance. So sad to see what is happening.
If the football program is deliberately making it difficult to know what is going on in their practices, it doesn't mean the program is afraid of criticism from its fans.
It could be that the program doesn't want their opponents to have any film to break down of their new DC or how the offense might be shifting philosophically. It could be that they want to use a game like scrimmage to rep their full play sheet and not waste an opportunity to gain meaningful experience running vanilla plays they don't plan on calling in a real game. It could be a lot of things.
This is speculation, but I imagine that the program wants to do everything in their power to win as many games as possible.
Michigan's fan base looking for opportunities to dunk on their own coaches and players probably isn't going to encourage the program to be more transparent.
I am looking forward to seeing them play in the fall. I'm optimistic that the offense will look pretty good and the defense will be better than expected.
Hopefully they give us more access in the future, but for now I understand why they might want to do more and say less.
Has Michigan ever had something worth hiding in a spring game?
April 24th, 2021 at 11:31 AM ^
The one player I would say Michigan would've benefited from keeping off film would be Denard Robinson. That said, after the first two games the gig would've been up and everyone would know he was lethal on the keep.
No because they save it all for Ohio State.... oh wait that has never happened either
I’m stoked for this “do more” that you reference! I like your optimism.
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