It's time for Something Good
After last night and a lot of time to reflect, I've realized that as fans, being a Michigan/Detroit fan has really sucked really the last 7-10 years. You're probably thinking at this point, at least we aren't Iowa or Northwestern fans and we should be happy with what we have, but I'm absolutely sick of it. I mean think about it. Just in the last 10 years, we have had to watch Michigan football alone lose to Ohio seven times in a row, Sparty four in a row, endure the Rich Rod era, Appy State, uniformz (kind of irrelevant but humorous), Ohio going undefeated playing a soft schedule, and finally Notre Dame in the national championship. It's an exhausting list that could go on even further. I could go on with how disappointing it has been watching the Lions, U of M basketball, and the Tigers (mainly before Leyland) within the last ten years, but I don't want to deter you guys even more.
So what I'm getting at is that last night's loss really put me over the edge... It MUST be time for something better. 2013 has to be a year of something better. And maybe it's just me overreacting about a loss to a crap Big Ten team in basketball, but as fans this has been just a tough stretch. Maybe I'm just spoiled, too, to be a fan of such a wonderful university, but as fans, we have to be due for something great. Whether that be the Men's Basketball team, or the Lions, or the Tigers, or most of all The Team, The Team, The Team, we are due for greatness. Hopefully my optimism, which is surprisingly high now, can speak for itself, and something fantastic can happen.
So I'm going to leave this to you now. Leave your thoughts, and give yourselves a pat on the back for staying true to Michigan and Detroit through this stretch but for most of all reading my entire tirade. Thanks for the read. Go Blue/Lions/Tigers.
Edit: Hopefully this is better for those whining about the spacing.
2nd Edit: Sorry for those who are misinterpreting this. I didn't make this to sound whiny... I made it to point out that things are going to begin to look up for us at some point soon. And I know a lot of people still have pent up feelings about last night so, maybe this wasn't the best time to post this.
Sorry guys, this obviously wasn't a great post and definitely not a great time to post it... Mods feel free to delete. Yikes.
You. Must. Chill. Seriously, your team is about to become a 1/2 seed in the NCAA tourney. All your rant proves is that you are spoiled.
1/2 seed? Where have you been the last three weeks?
I clicked on this thread expecting something good to cheer up the board. This is not a Kate Upton .gif
Football specifically, we had the unbelievable loss to ND, fumbled away our chance to beat Ohio on the road, and missed the sack to win the game in our bowl. Then Ohio and ND went on to have two of the luckiest seasons that I've ever seen. The Lions found a way to lose every game and the Tigers somehow didn't win the World Series despite being the better team. Very tough year.
Have they won the last two of three World Series ? I missed it if they did. There are a lot of us alumni out here in Nor Cal, and though I root for the Tigers too, the better team SWEPT that series.
not sure how, but the OP missed out that this will be the first time in 23 years UM Hockey misses the NCAA tourney.....
Ohio State went undefeated in a year where they couldn't go to a bowl game and would have been in the national championship. Seems like poetic justice for their light sentencing. Notre Dame got destroyed in the national championship game. Great years sure, but they could have easily been a lot worse in the eyes of a Michigan fan.
I don't think people are even frustrated about actually losing to Penn State, because really you should only barely care as far as it relates to the tournament, as they are realizing we aren't as good as we thought we were earlier in the year and that loss being confirmation of it.
As Detroit/Michigan fans we are very spoiled even if we have also experienced some big time heartbreaks recently. Red Wings winning the Stanley Cup followed by a second straight finals appearance where we had 2 games to win one for a repeat. Pistons championship in 2004 followed by a second straight finals appearance where we were tied at the start of the fourth quarter of game 7 not to mention Horry's three pointer. Lions first team ever to go 0-16. Lions finally made it back to the playoffs. Calvin Johnson set the all time NFL receiving yards record. The Detroit Tigers, recently competing for the worst record ever in professional baseball, made two World Series appearances in the last few years. Cabrera just won the triple crown and we had two straight MVP's on the Tigers. Michigan basketball won the Big Ten Championship last year and suffered a first round upset loss in the NCAA tournament. Michigan football was 4 points away from playing for a national championship in 2006. Jake Long #1 NFL Draft pick. Our 1997 national championship although not in the last ten years was really not that long ago. Rich Rodriguez era. Denard Robinson era. 2011-11 win season and a BCS bowl win.
You get the picture. It's easy to focus on the bad because it sticks with you but we have been luckier than a lot of places.
#tl;dr
#'FWP
#butIhavetogotoTashiStationtopickupsomepowerconverters
Damn, I thought you were going to tell me about some new recruit that committed
Damn, I thought you were going to tell me about some new recruit that committed
Talk about the glass being half empty. In the past decade the Tigers have been to 2 World Series, the Red Wings have won a Stanley Cup, and the Pistons won an NBA Championship. Most cities don't even get anything close to that.
As for Michigan, football has struggled only in comparison to Ohio. And by struggling, we're talking about 3 trips to the Rose Bowl and a Sugar Bowl victory in 10 years. Men's hoops has risen from the ashes and despite recent hiccups is poised to make its deepest run it the NCAA tournament in 20 years. The women's basketball program is as strong as it's been ever. The hockey team has been to 4 Frozen Fours, won 4 CCHA titles, and 5 CCHA tourney titles. Women's softball won the National Championship in 2005 and are competitive nationally every season. Men's gymnastics won the National Championship in 2010. Men's soccer won the Big 10 tournament in 2010 and made the College Cup. It goes on and on.
This habit some have of lamenting "hard times" simply because their team doesn't win it all is tiresome. Your team can come up a little short and you're still allowed to hold your head high and be proud, despite what the rival trolls would tell you. Losing to Penn State on Wednesday SUCKS, but this team is still in the hunt for a conference title...in March. That's pretty awesome given where we were 10 years ago. Coming up short against Nebraska and Ohio on the football field SUCKS, but this program is poised to be the most competitive it's been in 15 years over the next few season.
It's always great to be a Michigan Wolverine. Start acting like it.
Every team in every sport wants to win, part of being Michigan is wearing the target that comes with the prestige of all opponents beating Michigan at anything. Does anyone circle the game with MSU on their calendar? Buck up and man up sports are cyclical and Michigan is trending upward across the board, hockey will bounce back quickly.
We are fans of the greatest University in the world, but sports is sports and we can't win every single game every time. How boring would it be if we did!!!
In the past ten years we had the Wings, who are well, the Wings, The Tigers have won two American League Pennants, The Pistons went to seven straight Eastern Conference Finals, including a championship. Yea Michigan was down this decade, but it's not like its been all that bad, I mean a few years ago we were ranked as the number 1 sports town in the US!
Life is all about perspective. You watch an MLB pitcher go ape-shit in the dug out after a rough start, then pause to think that 99.9999% of the population on this planet would kill to have the opportunity to make $Millions like he does to throw a damn ball and play a game. Yet there he is throwing a tyrade in the dug out oblivious to how insanely lucky he really is to be there.
Same thing here. As bad as the last 12 months have been, pause and consider how many major sports national championships the state of Michigan has brought in over the last 35 years say, relative to the state of Ohio?
Michigan: Pistons 3, Red Wings 4, Tigers 1, Wolverines 2, Spartans 2
Ohio: Buckeyes 1
My math might be slightly off but who cares, point is, we can always say "at least I'm not an Ohio sports fan." It is incredible with all of thethe Browns, Bengals, Blue Jackets, Indians, Reds, Cavaliers, Buckeyes and Bearcat teams the state of Ohio has put up in their respective leagues, just one lousy NC and that was the bullshit Buckey 2003 NC thnx refs fail pass interference call vs Miami.
Boy, I feel better about being a Michigan sports fan already.
and born after the Jim Brown teams, you would have witnessed ZERO championships in your lifetime.