Brian--I'm not sure if you will read this, but I hope you do. This blog has meant so much to so many people, and all of the feelings of the journey over the last [x] years (23 for me since freshman year 2001) were largely captured by the voice you provided to us. This community has meant so much to me as a fan, ever since someone told me in 2007 to check "this blog who's written by an engineer but he totally doesn't write like he's one."
So much nostalgia. So many feelings. Such a journey. Thank you for steering the ship and capturing our heartbeat and influencing our perspective as a significant sliver of the Michigan fanbase. I was a better Michigan fan because of you and this website. I found community here.
This championship is as much yours and as much for everyone in this community as anyone else. The phrase we all quote so regularly has now come to life: Those Who Stay Will Be Champions.
I think if we beat Iowa, and Georgia beats Alabama, we get Cincinnati in the 2/3. If Alabama beats Georgia, we’ll get Georgia in the 2/3. I don’t think they’ll put us to #1 over a one loss SEC champ. Our best chance for the one spot was for Bama to lost the Iron Bowl and then beat Georgia.
But all irrelevant if we don’t win, so who cares. Just win the next three games!
Let’s hold off on the Schadenfreud discussions until (1) we beat Penn State, (2) we actually play for a Big Ten championship, (3) we beat Ohio State. The reason people give Michigan fans so much crap is because we literally say stuff like this, when we haven’t backed anything up on the field in almost two decades.
Look at who Clemson beat and how they lost when they did in those first three years. And then look at the end of year three, and you'll see that Dabo was squarely in the hot seat going into year 4. In year 4, he won the conference championship. Had he gone 6-6, 7-5 (with a loss the Carolina), or 8-4 (with a loss to Carolina) again, he would've been tossed.
If you're using Clemson's and Dabo's success, you have to be even handed. Harbaugh had a better record through 3ish years than Dabo did. But Clemson beat their biggest rival at least once, beat a top 10 team on the road, won some bowl games, and lost closely to the eventual national champion and their division champion in his crappy 2010 year.
The regular season does count. When you have two losses, it's a whole lot of ground to make up. You can do it, for example, by beating two number one teams in November to end the year (see Auburn).
College football seasons are unlike any other because losses matter so much. Lose one game, uh oh. Lose twice. See ya (probably). Kuddos to Ohio State for scheduling Oklahoma, and I guarantee that if they finished with one loss, they are certainly in. But the committee got it right.
I'm pretty sure SC has competed for their conference championship much more recently than Michigan has. Maybe we should wait until we're not relying on 20 year old successes for statements like that.
Goes without saying, and I know you know this already, but the reasonable people are not upset that it wasn't overturned. It's that there is a pretty clear line of sight from the line official to say that he's not there.
Surprised to hear that "most of the workplaces couldn't care less about sports."
Do you mind me asking, what do you do for a living? When did you graduate college? What type of organizations have you worked in?
Every single place I have worked or clients that I have represented has had some cultural artifact of sports in the office. It may not always be college football, but it was always there. In America, my man, this is an undeniable fact. It's the small talk you make at the cooler other than the weather and the where are you from script.
Whether you acknowledge it or not, you Mr. Engineering ranter, are also benefiting from the football teams' efforts. And not just in being able to drink beer and having an excuse to emotionally invest yourself in a game played, in part, by teenagers. You benefit from the disproportionate amount of capital you gain in the workplace for going to a school that has a rich sports tradition. Not sure of your age, but without fail every job interview and subsequent job I've had enabled conversations about Michigan football, good years and bad. This allows you to differentiate yourself from the other nerds out there and build the relationships needed to succeed in the business world. You think MIT or Cal Tech students have that advantage? Not saying there aren't other ways to build connections, but sports, in a American business, goes very far. And you are an heir to the work that these players and teams have put in over decades to claim that mantle.
I guess that I just don't see what was so terrible about The Decision. So many things this day and age are driven by media hype and to me that wasn't any different. When you boil it down, it was a segment where he was announcing where he was going, and then talking up his game like any alpha athlete does. People react to it as if he was the most terrible thing an athlete could ever do. If someone didn't care where he went, they didn't have to watch.
I also think that he's done some great things from a social outreach perspective. And shit, he even went back to the place where the only people had a plausible reason to hate, and they've welcomed him. I don't mind the trash talking at all. It's part of sports. It's similar to us calling State "Little Brother" despite our record since Mike Hart coined that.
Serious question-- unless you have a horse in the race, why are you rooting against Lebron? Is it bc of Cleveland? I've never understood why there's so much hate on him, even with The Decision. If it's an Ohio thing, I get it. Just wondering
Agreed, though had that pass been completed, this definitely would've been the worst loss ever, and it would not have even been close. Appalachian State was coming off back-to-back FCS national championships, and they won another national championship the year they beat us. Basically, they were the toughest FCS team (in years) that we could've played, and also they were probably better than/competitive with the bottom 1/3 of the FBS that year. Akron, on the other hand, has won 3 games in the last three seasons.
I'm in the same boat (considering driving down). My thinking is that three of the four teams in the Final Four are either (a) teams with a large enough fan base to support high secondary market ticket prices or (b) teams that are close enough to justify a drive down, even if it's just for the final game. I don't expect the prices to drop much below the $200 a ticket range, or $500-600 for all three (for the cheap seats). I also don't expect ticket prices to drop from the semis to the finals.
There should be a corrollary version to this for Engineering students. The many, many sleepless nights in the windowless EECS computer labs with VLSI or EECS 311 lab projects overrides most of the stuff on this list. 48 hour consecutive all-nighters were a staple my junior year of college.
You realize that resorting to the "our school is a better academic school" argument just makes us sound incredibly entitled and whiny? We lost, let's take our lumps, and move on. Don't be disrespectful.
By the way, I'm an EE grad from Michigan.
...first game of my sophomore year. Great game, and even greater day--my now wife and I met up at the game and then had our first real date later that day.
I agree with non-catch analysis, but your last point is not correct. The standard is "indisputable video evidence" after a call on the field is made. In other words, two parts: (1) What was the call on the field? (2) The call on the field stands unless there is indisputable video evidence to the contrary. The standard is not "was the call on the field correct?" It's not enough for the call to be incorrect, it has to be indisputable and there has to be video evidence. Rules have to have literal interpretations--that's why they are there in the first place.
Whatever, dude. I hope that every time you see video and news rolling in from Japan, you remember that idiotic comment you made. You can defend it all you want to me or the others on here, but you can't lie to yourself man.
ahh...the classic "I'm not BUT." Like the "I'm not racist BUT I'm about to make a racist comment."
You are an idiot. Imagine a loved one of yours dying in a car crash, and someone saying "that's entertaining." Or, if it's easier, just imagine someone saying that about 9-11. Grow the fuck up dude.
If I were you, I'd cut your losses. If you hate idea of being a lawyer while in law school, you probably will hate the idea even more after you graduate. Cut your losses now and look for work. It may not sound fancy to not finish law school, but it's better than being left with the weight of paying off student loans for the rest of your life, while stuck working a job you're admittedly not sure if you'll even somewhat like.
Not to be nitpicky, but the Michigan-OSU game had BCS title implications in 2003. OSU, I believe, was ranked number 2 in the BCS the week they played us. If they would've won, they would've stayed at number 2.
So, a rivalry where a birth to the BCS title game was decided in four out of the past ten years (even when our team has been down) doesn't make a list? Your original point is correct...complete B.S.
Not sure if it's just me, but I think the reason why crowd intensity isn't a big factor at the Big House is because there's a big drop off in the number of fans that sustain that level of intensity after they aren't students anymore.
Almost all of the group of friends that I used to watch the games with as a student (about 12 of us) either stopped caring or became pretty fair weather fans. And they were hardcore in college. The case is the same with other alumni friends I have made since graduation. I think it's seen more as a "college" thng at Michigan to be diehard, when compared to some other schools. Not saying that it's right or wrong, but just my two cents.
If you don't believe me and are a student...well...just wait and see.
It is stupid to go for 2 that early in the game. If you need the 2 to tie it up, then go for it when you are closer to determining whether it matters or not. See The Horror 2007.
My beef isn't with Brian not wanting to hear the "Fire DickRod" comments. The majority of the people on this site aren't those "Fire DickRod" people. My beef is that Brian is saying, he doesn't want to hear rational complaints from loyal readers simply because he's heard them before or because they have been said a million times. If those comments have been said a million times, shouldn't that give you a feel for how a significant portion of the blog feels?
The contributors to the MGoBoard are what keep most readers coming back every single day, multiple times a day. At least, that's the case for me. And Brian's commentary, in general, is awesome. But to tell us to stop commenting on a frustrating situation never seen before in Michigan football history and to just listen to his point of view? Seems a little draconian to me.
I'm not going to leave the site just yet, I'm just saying, Mgoblog's success is attributed just as much to the readers and commentators as it is to Brian, and it's certainly ok for us to say our opinion, even if it is for the millionth time.
Also, Brian, I don't think it's smart to say that you nor anyone else wants to hear our comments on one of the most important issues in recent Michigan football history. That's just wrong, and honestly, it's making me not want to come back to this site.
Great blog, Brian. But you shouldn't alienate your readers like you just did. Your tone is a little too condesending to people who read your blog religiously. Also, taking your point:
"You hire a coach for the long term. I think you fire a coach for the short term, though, and the point at which you boot the last guy is when you think the next year isn't going to meet a reasonable minimum threshold of progress. I completely understand people who have hit that point. You can save your comments about how he needs to go—neither I nor anyone else cares to hear it for the one millionth time in the last three days. It's an understandable position"
When Rodriguez was hired in 2008, what were his long term expectations? If I remember correctly, you yourself expect our team to be rebuilt by 2010, and later contracted that statement saying that we would be ready much later. Call me crazy, but I think three seasons is a reasonable amount of time to gauge long term expectations. I'm not accusing you of this, but I for one don't want my expecations to continuously shift based on our current performance. If we gave Rich Rod three years back in 2008 to show us some mojo, that expectation should not change three years down the line based on the current status of the team.
Again, great blog and keep up the good work. But you have to watch your tone with your core audience, I think.
Wow. Listen man, stop blaming the fans or the people on this board. We've won four freaking Big Ten games in 3 years, 2 against Indiana, 1 against Minnesota, and 1 lucky ass win against Wisconsin. Ironically, half of our Big Ten win total in the past 3 years has come from the 2008 season. We don't expect more b/c we're "entitled." We expect more because, frankly speaking, that's a shitty record after three years.
Most of the (former) Rich Rod supporters were not even calling for his head until this weekend. I'm in that group. I didn't call for his head after Toledo '08 or Purdue '08 or Illinois '09. The first time I've ever said that I hope Rich Rod gets fired in almost 3 freaking years was after this weekend.
Most of us thought and realized the following: two years, we'd have to be patient and put up with a shitty record, that in year 3, we would have to put up with being a middling Big Ten team, and that hopefully in year 4, we'd be competing for the Big Ten championship. The reality (if Rich Rod stays) is: for two years, we dealt with a shitty record, in year 3, we'll (likely) deal with a shitty record, in years 4 and 5 we'll be a middling Big Ten team, and that in year 6, we'll have a new coach.
Trust me, it hurts to say that. I defended Rich Rod at all costs against a lot of my friends. I kept on telling them that they'd see, that once we get it going, they'll jump back on board. It sucks to realize that you were wrong for 2.5 years, and that's where the frustration is coming from. But we were wrong, this Rich Rod experiment just isn't working, and even though the defense is mainly to blame, that falls on Rich Rod. I'm sorry.
The guy's point was that it is misguided to use parity as an excuse for not being able to have sustained success. He pointed to Texas, USC and Florida as teams that have been able to sustain success despite alleged increased parity. His point is absolutely right, and while it's true that they are down in the 2010 season, the fact that those teams have gone to multiple BCS championship games in recent years proves that it's possible to have long term consistent success and that "parity" doesn't prevent that. Also, see Michigan from 2001-2007.
Um, if I remember correctly, Denard was clear to come back in for both of those games where he missed multiple quarters. So he didn't miss them because of injury. Injury caused him to go out initially, but he was fine afterwards.
Not to nitpick, but the National Championship game was not on the line for OSU at the time we played them in '07. OSU had lost in the previous week, WVU was poised to get the second spot, not OSU.
'07 was huge, but at the time it was played, it was for a berth in the Rose Bowl and the Big Ten Championship.
Dude, you're an idiot. You're just trying to sound smart. Equating your douchey comment to....the failure of economists and financial experts to predict the Great Recession? Huh?
I bet you think your writing is highly intelligent. It's ridiculously clear that you are just using big words and fancy sentence structure to say something really simple. I bet you wrote that paragraph, re-read it a million times and thought, "wow, I am really smart; my douchey comments are completely legit."
The OP of this post is a gigantic douchebag for posting this. People with your mentality highlight what is wrong with our fanbase and our alumni.
As for your "Walmart Wolverines" comment--I'm assuming you have superpowers that allow you to guess whether someone is or is not an alum or family member of an alum, just by looking at them.
I bet you anything that OP is some college kid who thinks they'll have the world begging for him upon graduation, just because of their UM degree. If so, your attitude will hit a hard reality soon enough.
Simple. Root for ND just like you are rooting for UConn. If both of those teams have success early in the season, our hype (and the Shoelace hype) becomes more legit. Plus, an ND team having early success in the season is more likely to shoot up the rankings than MSU, which in turn, makes us look good.
Why is everyone being so lame about enjoying our success. Yes, it's early. Yes, I remember last year. Yes, we still haven't entered Big Ten play at all. But geez, I didn't wait the entire off season (and the past two years for that matter), to not get excited to see Denard's legend be born and to read sportswriters saying that we're back.
What, wait til we maybe lose until MSU before we experience any emotion. It's ok to be irrational and excited, just have some fun. Deep down, we're all taking it with some hesitancy, alright?
I wish Nebraska was away next year. As it stands, in odd numbered years, we get Nebraska, ND and Ohio State at home, but in even number years, we only get Iowa and Little Brother at home. It would've been nice to have a homefield advantag against either OSU or Nebraska every year.
Wow, Brian. This blog is an incredible venue for Michigan fans, but I gotta say, this post is pretty depressing. I think that you should save some of the sourness until at least after week 2 when it might be appropriate (hopefully much, much longer).
Counting down to kickoff Saturday is like counting down to Christmas. And on Christmas Eve, you just told us that Santa Claus isn't real.
Recent Comments
Brian--I'm not sure if you will read this, but I hope you do. This blog has meant so much to so many people, and all of the feelings of the journey over the last [x] years (23 for me since freshman year 2001) were largely captured by the voice you provided to us. This community has meant so much to me as a fan, ever since someone told me in 2007 to check "this blog who's written by an engineer but he totally doesn't write like he's one."
So much nostalgia. So many feelings. Such a journey. Thank you for steering the ship and capturing our heartbeat and influencing our perspective as a significant sliver of the Michigan fanbase. I was a better Michigan fan because of you and this website. I found community here.
This championship is as much yours and as much for everyone in this community as anyone else. The phrase we all quote so regularly has now come to life: Those Who Stay Will Be Champions.
Go blue.
I think if we beat Iowa, and Georgia beats Alabama, we get Cincinnati in the 2/3. If Alabama beats Georgia, we’ll get Georgia in the 2/3. I don’t think they’ll put us to #1 over a one loss SEC champ. Our best chance for the one spot was for Bama to lost the Iron Bowl and then beat Georgia.
But all irrelevant if we don’t win, so who cares. Just win the next three games!
Let’s hold off on the Schadenfreud discussions until (1) we beat Penn State, (2) we actually play for a Big Ten championship, (3) we beat Ohio State. The reason people give Michigan fans so much crap is because we literally say stuff like this, when we haven’t backed anything up on the field in almost two decades.
Yeah Irmo!
Look at who Clemson beat and how they lost when they did in those first three years. And then look at the end of year three, and you'll see that Dabo was squarely in the hot seat going into year 4. In year 4, he won the conference championship. Had he gone 6-6, 7-5 (with a loss the Carolina), or 8-4 (with a loss to Carolina) again, he would've been tossed.
If you're using Clemson's and Dabo's success, you have to be even handed. Harbaugh had a better record through 3ish years than Dabo did. But Clemson beat their biggest rival at least once, beat a top 10 team on the road, won some bowl games, and lost closely to the eventual national champion and their division champion in his crappy 2010 year.
The
It's not a coin flip.
The regular season does count. When you have two losses, it's a whole lot of ground to make up. You can do it, for example, by beating two number one teams in November to end the year (see Auburn).
College football seasons are unlike any other because losses matter so much. Lose one game, uh oh. Lose twice. See ya (probably). Kuddos to Ohio State for scheduling Oklahoma, and I guarantee that if they finished with one loss, they are certainly in. But the committee got it right.
I'm pretty sure SC has competed for their conference championship much more recently than Michigan has. Maybe we should wait until we're not relying on 20 year old successes for statements like that.
You would think that with the painful years between 2007 and 2014, including some terrible losses, we'd stop with this type of arrogant bravado.
Agreed, though had that pass been completed, this definitely would've been the worst loss ever, and it would not have even been close. Appalachian State was coming off back-to-back FCS national championships, and they won another national championship the year they beat us. Basically, they were the toughest FCS team (in years) that we could've played, and also they were probably better than/competitive with the bottom 1/3 of the FBS that year. Akron, on the other hand, has won 3 games in the last three seasons.
Michigan 79 Syracuse 71
I'm in the same boat (considering driving down). My thinking is that three of the four teams in the Final Four are either (a) teams with a large enough fan base to support high secondary market ticket prices or (b) teams that are close enough to justify a drive down, even if it's just for the final game. I don't expect the prices to drop much below the $200 a ticket range, or $500-600 for all three (for the cheap seats). I also don't expect ticket prices to drop from the semis to the finals.
73-64
There should be a corrollary version to this for Engineering students. The many, many sleepless nights in the windowless EECS computer labs with VLSI or EECS 311 lab projects overrides most of the stuff on this list. 48 hour consecutive all-nighters were a staple my junior year of college.
I think it's safe to say that Trey made up for the six turnovers against Penn State. Made up for it and entered Michigan lore.
...first game of my sophomore year. Great game, and even greater day--my now wife and I met up at the game and then had our first real date later that day.
I agree with non-catch analysis, but your last point is not correct. The standard is "indisputable video evidence" after a call on the field is made. In other words, two parts: (1) What was the call on the field? (2) The call on the field stands unless there is indisputable video evidence to the contrary. The standard is not "was the call on the field correct?" It's not enough for the call to be incorrect, it has to be indisputable and there has to be video evidence. Rules have to have literal interpretations--that's why they are there in the first place.
You left off South Carolina. Definitely a top 10 or 15 team.
Annoying to have so many Michigan-Ohio State games the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Whatever, dude. I hope that every time you see video and news rolling in from Japan, you remember that idiotic comment you made. You can defend it all you want to me or the others on here, but you can't lie to yourself man.
ahh...the classic "I'm not BUT ." Like the "I'm not racist BUT I'm about to make a racist comment."
You are an idiot. Imagine a loved one of yours dying in a car crash, and someone saying "that's entertaining." Or, if it's easier, just imagine someone saying that about 9-11. Grow the fuck up dude.
If I were you, I'd cut your losses. If you hate idea of being a lawyer while in law school, you probably will hate the idea even more after you graduate. Cut your losses now and look for work. It may not sound fancy to not finish law school, but it's better than being left with the weight of paying off student loans for the rest of your life, while stuck working a job you're admittedly not sure if you'll even somewhat like.
Just what the doctor ordered
Forgive me for my MGoIgnorance, bur did Gardner get a medical redshirt?
Not to be nitpicky, but the Michigan-OSU game had BCS title implications in 2003. OSU, I believe, was ranked number 2 in the BCS the week they played us. If they would've won, they would've stayed at number 2.
So, a rivalry where a birth to the BCS title game was decided in four out of the past ten years (even when our team has been down) doesn't make a list? Your original point is correct...complete B.S.
Not sure if it's just me, but I think the reason why crowd intensity isn't a big factor at the Big House is because there's a big drop off in the number of fans that sustain that level of intensity after they aren't students anymore.
Almost all of the group of friends that I used to watch the games with as a student (about 12 of us) either stopped caring or became pretty fair weather fans. And they were hardcore in college. The case is the same with other alumni friends I have made since graduation. I think it's seen more as a "college" thng at Michigan to be diehard, when compared to some other schools. Not saying that it's right or wrong, but just my two cents.
If you don't believe me and are a student...well...just wait and see.
It is stupid to go for 2 that early in the game. If you need the 2 to tie it up, then go for it when you are closer to determining whether it matters or not. See The Horror 2007.
My beef isn't with Brian not wanting to hear the "Fire DickRod" comments. The majority of the people on this site aren't those "Fire DickRod" people. My beef is that Brian is saying, he doesn't want to hear rational complaints from loyal readers simply because he's heard them before or because they have been said a million times. If those comments have been said a million times, shouldn't that give you a feel for how a significant portion of the blog feels?
The contributors to the MGoBoard are what keep most readers coming back every single day, multiple times a day. At least, that's the case for me. And Brian's commentary, in general, is awesome. But to tell us to stop commenting on a frustrating situation never seen before in Michigan football history and to just listen to his point of view? Seems a little draconian to me.
I'm not going to leave the site just yet, I'm just saying, Mgoblog's success is attributed just as much to the readers and commentators as it is to Brian, and it's certainly ok for us to say our opinion, even if it is for the millionth time.
Also, Brian, I don't think it's smart to say that you nor anyone else wants to hear our comments on one of the most important issues in recent Michigan football history. That's just wrong, and honestly, it's making me not want to come back to this site.
Great blog, Brian. But you shouldn't alienate your readers like you just did. Your tone is a little too condesending to people who read your blog religiously. Also, taking your point:
"You hire a coach for the long term. I think you fire a coach for the short term, though, and the point at which you boot the last guy is when you think the next year isn't going to meet a reasonable minimum threshold of progress. I completely understand people who have hit that point. You can save your comments about how he needs to go—neither I nor anyone else cares to hear it for the one millionth time in the last three days. It's an understandable position"
When Rodriguez was hired in 2008, what were his long term expectations? If I remember correctly, you yourself expect our team to be rebuilt by 2010, and later contracted that statement saying that we would be ready much later. Call me crazy, but I think three seasons is a reasonable amount of time to gauge long term expectations. I'm not accusing you of this, but I for one don't want my expecations to continuously shift based on our current performance. If we gave Rich Rod three years back in 2008 to show us some mojo, that expectation should not change three years down the line based on the current status of the team.
Again, great blog and keep up the good work. But you have to watch your tone with your core audience, I think.
Wow. Listen man, stop blaming the fans or the people on this board. We've won four freaking Big Ten games in 3 years, 2 against Indiana, 1 against Minnesota, and 1 lucky ass win against Wisconsin. Ironically, half of our Big Ten win total in the past 3 years has come from the 2008 season. We don't expect more b/c we're "entitled." We expect more because, frankly speaking, that's a shitty record after three years.
Most of the (former) Rich Rod supporters were not even calling for his head until this weekend. I'm in that group. I didn't call for his head after Toledo '08 or Purdue '08 or Illinois '09. The first time I've ever said that I hope Rich Rod gets fired in almost 3 freaking years was after this weekend.
Most of us thought and realized the following: two years, we'd have to be patient and put up with a shitty record, that in year 3, we would have to put up with being a middling Big Ten team, and that hopefully in year 4, we'd be competing for the Big Ten championship. The reality (if Rich Rod stays) is: for two years, we dealt with a shitty record, in year 3, we'll (likely) deal with a shitty record, in years 4 and 5 we'll be a middling Big Ten team, and that in year 6, we'll have a new coach.
Trust me, it hurts to say that. I defended Rich Rod at all costs against a lot of my friends. I kept on telling them that they'd see, that once we get it going, they'll jump back on board. It sucks to realize that you were wrong for 2.5 years, and that's where the frustration is coming from. But we were wrong, this Rich Rod experiment just isn't working, and even though the defense is mainly to blame, that falls on Rich Rod. I'm sorry.
The guy's point was that it is misguided to use parity as an excuse for not being able to have sustained success. He pointed to Texas, USC and Florida as teams that have been able to sustain success despite alleged increased parity. His point is absolutely right, and while it's true that they are down in the 2010 season, the fact that those teams have gone to multiple BCS championship games in recent years proves that it's possible to have long term consistent success and that "parity" doesn't prevent that. Also, see Michigan from 2001-2007.
Fact: Texas, USC and Florida have played in multiple national championship games since 2004.
Um, if I remember correctly, Denard was clear to come back in for both of those games where he missed multiple quarters. So he didn't miss them because of injury. Injury caused him to go out initially, but he was fine afterwards.
Not to nitpick, but the National Championship game was not on the line for OSU at the time we played them in '07. OSU had lost in the previous week, WVU was poised to get the second spot, not OSU.
'07 was huge, but at the time it was played, it was for a berth in the Rose Bowl and the Big Ten Championship.
Dude, you're an idiot. You're just trying to sound smart. Equating your douchey comment to....the failure of economists and financial experts to predict the Great Recession? Huh?
I bet you think your writing is highly intelligent. It's ridiculously clear that you are just using big words and fancy sentence structure to say something really simple. I bet you wrote that paragraph, re-read it a million times and thought, "wow, I am really smart; my douchey comments are completely legit."
The OP of this post is a gigantic douchebag for posting this. People with your mentality highlight what is wrong with our fanbase and our alumni.
As for your "Walmart Wolverines" comment--I'm assuming you have superpowers that allow you to guess whether someone is or is not an alum or family member of an alum, just by looking at them.
I bet you anything that OP is some college kid who thinks they'll have the world begging for him upon graduation, just because of their UM degree. If so, your attitude will hit a hard reality soon enough.
-2005 Michigan alum
Simple. Root for ND just like you are rooting for UConn. If both of those teams have success early in the season, our hype (and the Shoelace hype) becomes more legit. Plus, an ND team having early success in the season is more likely to shoot up the rankings than MSU, which in turn, makes us look good.
Why is everyone being so lame about enjoying our success. Yes, it's early. Yes, I remember last year. Yes, we still haven't entered Big Ten play at all. But geez, I didn't wait the entire off season (and the past two years for that matter), to not get excited to see Denard's legend be born and to read sportswriters saying that we're back.
What, wait til we maybe lose until MSU before we experience any emotion. It's ok to be irrational and excited, just have some fun. Deep down, we're all taking it with some hesitancy, alright?
Let's go blue!
I wish Nebraska was away next year. As it stands, in odd numbered years, we get Nebraska, ND and Ohio State at home, but in even number years, we only get Iowa and Little Brother at home. It would've been nice to have a homefield advantag against either OSU or Nebraska every year.
They do. We'll see him in the Rose Bowl.
Wow, Brian. This blog is an incredible venue for Michigan fans, but I gotta say, this post is pretty depressing. I think that you should save some of the sourness until at least after week 2 when it might be appropriate (hopefully much, much longer).
Counting down to kickoff Saturday is like counting down to Christmas. And on Christmas Eve, you just told us that Santa Claus isn't real.