Request: A Better Son/Daughter

My kid is great, but you can’t have him. 

Transfer portal for kids?

I was a huge Rilo Kiley fan and one of the things that made me fall in love with mgoblog was the better son / daughter video from before the 2009 season 

I remember when that first one popped. I was staying in the Michigan League Inn the night before the Western game in 2009 (the Denard first snap fumble TD) when I first watched it.

"Sometimes when you're on, you're really fuckin' on" has summed up these past three weeks perfectly.

I forgot exactly how hard Brandon Minor ran.  Very Haskins-esque.

I don't think the emotion of those videos makes sense for the Harbaugh era. If I remember correctly, when they were posted here the point was to demonstrate an optimism in Rich Rod's scheme and the program he was building after that disastrous beginning. From that perspective, they didn't age well. Harbaugh's road has been much more complicated than having a really bad season in a crazy transition year where almost everyone was lost to attrition and believing from a few, interspersed moments of competent football that we can return to competent football.

The other point I think the video tries to make, which seems to be an ongoing motif in Brian's writing, is pondering the emotional attachment we put into this game. At the time he seemed to just assume that this was a thing that made sense and was interesting. More recently he has outright questioned the sanity of placing so much emotional weight in a game you have no control over. From this perspective, the video can be seen as arguing that the highs justify the lows. That suffering is worth the exultation of victory—whether it be a championship, a single game, or even just a single play.

Even though the latter interpretation is more universal and can certainly be applied to the Harbaugh era, I don't think it would be easy to have the tight little narrative that makes sense in the way the original video did. Videos—even short little things like that—require a narrative structure imbued with meaning in order to be good. The original video is a perfect example of that. The story of that video won't make sense to someone who wasn't a Michigan football fan during that horrible time, but that's part of what makes it such a good story—it knows its audience and every shot means so much more to them than good play/bad play/fan reaction.

Doing the same thing with different football plays from a different era ignores the story the original video was telling. It would be like The Force Awakens. It has a whole lot in common with Star Wars but is nothing but a shallow recreation. A simulacrum.

RichRod went 6-18 in three B1G seasons - with two wins over Indy, one each over Purdue, UW, Minny, and Zookers Ill team

JimBO has won NINE this year alone, counting the B1G title game.

RR had a good idea on O but his insistence on running the 3-3-5 D only works if you have Aiden-Ojabo- B Graham on the line, LaMarr-David Harris-Bush Jr at LB, and Sir Charles, Ty Law, Dax, Marlin Jackson, and Ernest Shazor at DBs.

He wasn't helped (I get it) by the turmoil and backstabbing in the Athletic Dept (and Lloyd didn't help his cause) - but the guy is now HC at fricking Jack State

Wow.  Those raised the hair on my arms.

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.  Is not the lute that sooths your spirit the very wood that was hollowed with knives?  ~ Kahlil Gibran    

I sure don't miss that highlighter yellow though.

Anybody else click on this to see if their dad posted it? No, just me? Anybody?

All y'all that persevered through thick and thin, from the precipice of 2006 to the Horror, through the unbelievable lows and occasional highs, from UTLs and concussions ... I salute you.

Perfect song for 2021 Michigan Football is "Stronger" by The Score.

That was a long painful road. I am so happy about the present. When the game and trophy presentation was over I just stood there in the stadium just absorbing everything. It was a great moment. 

Whew, when I read the title, I thought you wanted to know if anyone had a kid he wanted to trade for one of yours.

I don't think even 2020 can compare to the absolute catastrophe of RR's first year...but have a go at it