The Hall take reminds me that Mike Hart is still probably going thru some stuff.
Really hope whatever it is, that he and his family are doing well. No matter what he's a true Michigan man. Mt Rushmore of Michigan Men has him on it, no doubt
Great piece, thanks Seth and Matt! Will never forget the 2002 MHSA state Division 1 finals, East Kentwood vs Detroit Catholic Central. East Kentwood ran what looked to me like the Wing T, but it seemed to share many of the same concepts. Their qb was a magician, he was a master at fake belly handoffs, pitches etc.Their jerseys were nearly the exact same hue of brown as the football, and even in the best seats you couldn't be sure who actually had the ball until the D flowed to them. I thought East Kentwood was going to score 50 points. Derrick Brooks of DCC had other ideas and almost single-handedly brought them back to victory, Fantastic championship but I walked away most impressed with the losers. Similar to a service academy, I have no idea how a team could get ready to face that with one week of preparation.
This is actually very helpful. So many young 'uns fueled by ESPN's clickbait machine think Mahomes is already the Goat. Um, no, he's not even in 2nd place. Montana's stats are superior in every way, and as you mentioned they came at a time when bump and run and kill shots by head hunting safeties were the norm
If I were only allowed to re-read one piece from this blog for the rest of my life, I choose this. Absolutely perfect. I hope your mom was watching The Game next to my mom this year.
How many days is the "special transfer portal" for players of teams that lost their coach? 30 days? Jim Harbaugh announced Jan 24th so there's 22 days left if that's accurate?
Should be be keeping a countdown clock on this? So far it appears that we've fended off Grant to Texas and Graham to Miami. At least I hope so. Wonder how this works, and can we all breathe a sigh of relief at some point?
Beautiful portrayal of Jim Harbaugh the man. Somehow I admire him even more after reading this. Thank you for the article Jordan and thank you for your service (can I call it that?) at UM. So damn proud of everyone on this site and at this University. But why is it so dusty in here? Been this way since for about 3 weeks now...
Beautifully written and so true. Jim MF Harbaugh took all those hits and taught Team 144 how to do the same. How to lift up your teammates no matter how you were feeling at the time.
And then on November 25th, when Zak Zinter took the hit and the entire team looked sad and out it, a new force came forth. The fans in the stadium. They were all so down, but they were all in it together. And the team heard them, rose up as one. Blake Corum grabbed the lead back. For 65. For Coach Moore. For Coach Harbaugh. For Michigan.
So O$U does what they do best and drops a bag for a kid. Urban's toy reporter Petey breathlessly reports on his heroes, ignoring the obvious real cheating going on and no one bats an eye.
When is someone going to write the book of how Thamel really "broke" his story that was spoon fed to him and leaked out one detail at a time to create media hysteria? I'd love to see the text chain between him, Urbz and Ryan Day.
And best of all, those 3 idiots sprung it at the wrong time! Imagine if the Stallions thing had only come out now and the 4 letter network was running daily video of him on the sidelines vs Bama and in the Natty.
As usual, Michigan gets arrested for jaywalking while the rest of the world commits armed robbery in broad daylight. Luckily for us, the bozos from Ohio did it all wrong.
Welcome back Ace! This is somehow perfect closure. And yes, definitely dusty in here; been that way for about a week now.
As mentioned above, this is like that last episode of Cheers. Somehow the 12 year old kid whose simulation we're all living in got it right. All of it.
I'm ashamed how bummed this makes me. I swore to myself if these guys really did The Thing, I wouldn't pout when they left. They absolutely deserve to earn a living.. Hell if I were their dads I'd tell every one of them to go pro, especially the guys who have a shot at that 2nd NFL contract. But I also told myself anything after Ohio was house money, and that was a lie too.
I guess it's just like when our kids leave us to go to college. We know they have to go, but we miss them dearly. The similarities to the Last Dance for the 90's Chicago Bulls are everywhere. I love CJH but can't blame him one bit if just like Phil Jackson, he goes too. That said, I can't wait to fall in love with Team 145, and perhaps their new coach Sherone Moore. Just like our kids, they won't be the same, but that won't stop us from loving them unconditionally.
I've had a very fractured relationship with my father as well. It no doubt shaped the kind of man I've become, for good and for bad. But every once in awhile a good father figure emerged for me. I asked one: what can I do ever thank you? We all know the answer: you pay it forward. Hopefully to your own children.
I suspect that you will be a fiance again, and then a husband. And then, hopefully, a parent. The best way to forgive your father (and yourself) is to be a great father. And the beauty of greatness in that arena is it only requires that you commit. The love I give and get back from my kids fills my heart in ways I could never imagine when I was a young bitter son. O.B., please keep writing and keep looking for love. I want to read about it when you have your Team 144 moment.
Welcome back Other Brian! I absolutely remember your writing and missed it! This was wonderful, and it's clear many commenters agree, cathartic. So many quotes of yours I wanted to cut and paste because they went right to my heart. But let's go with this one:
We knew that Michigan never operated like this. I'm sure our program was never as squeaky clean as we pretended it was; but we all knew that Michigan wasn't dropping huge stacks of cash to land recruits. And seeing other programs that we knew were getting away with these things succeed unchecked created this sense of morose dejection that we were stuck.
YES! For over two decades we've felt like lower class residents of Gotham City. Watching the corrupt fat cats get richer, knowing we had no choice but to accept it. Trying to learn to just accept our fate. And then, when our hero finally emerges, he gets stymied by dirty politicians at every turn, vilified by an army of yellow journalists, and mocked and derided by our enemies who somehow are all accepted into polite society. So when Robin (chose your favorite Robin, I'll go with JJ for his leadership in holding his class together in 2020 when he still in high school) joined the team, you felt that finally, maybe, we had a chance.
Thank you Team 144 for capitalizing on that chance. For finally vanquishing our enemies and those who laughed at us for 20+ years. For allowing us to look Bama fans, Ohio fans, Clemson fans directly in the eye and have them look away. This resident of Gotham may never stop smiling.
Wow! I will never sing Mr. Brightside again and not think of you guys coming back from a mission. My generation is in awe of you sir. Our fathers fought WWII and literally saved the world. Many younger men and women went to the middle east and risked their lives for the rest of us. My generation? We watched a lot of tv and hogged up all the real estate and good jobs. But I can still have my heroes. You and your brothers and sisters who served. And yes, Team 144. Thank you.
I really love that Seth talked Brian into the tour. In my mind, they're best buddies, Seth bringing that Happy Seth Energy and always trying to talk Brian into crazy the stuff that Brian, being the voice of reason, pooh pooh's but eventually gets cajoled into doing. Do they ever have disagreements? Issues? Work and stress related times where they can't stand to be around each other. Not in the sitcom that runs in my head!
And we all know when Brian recreated that Blake TD run the next day how he ran. Like he had nothing in his pockets. Nothing at all..
Thank you guys for a great year and some of the happiest tears of my life.
Love Roman's vlogs. Watching them you see that these are just kids, playing a kids game. As a great writer once said, "they run like there's nothing in their pockets. Nothing at all."
Didn't Moore bait MSU into a very similar game-clinching INT over the middle in 2022?
It looked like he had eyes on MHJ all the way, pretended to track Egbuka for a moment, and immediately broke on MHJ's route as McCord tried to step into the throw.
Next level safety play in my mind, but just seems like that's what Rod Moore does...
Love this and couldn't agree more. Fun fact, Trente is 3x Academic All B1G10. Imagine knowing how good you are bit not starting. Preparing every game, all season, for this moment. And then stepping up and delivering. True Michigan Man right there.
Downvote you? I want to be your best friend! I bet most of what you're saying is true and I'm having a hard time disagreeing. Everytime Thamel's "source" (that idiot couldn't find a story unless it was spoon fed to him) dripped another minute detail and he breathlessly "broke" it I felt guiltier and guiltier. Then I took a step back and realized what you and many Michigan Men and Women are saying. We're bowing and scraping for a weird guy who wanted to Take Over Michigan Football doing some extremely worthless yet apparently illegal jaywalking. Meanwhile the usual top 5 programs are taking a break from bank robbery and assault to attack us.
FK everyone, and honestly fk the playoffs. I just want to conquer Ohio. Yet again.
What they could do instead, however, was stress Manny Diaz's defense to its utter limits, put the Ferraris of his front seven in a monster truck derby, and have Corum probe for fuckups.
Thanks fellow South Quad Cafeteria employee! And yes, YES to the feelingsball this week. I was stunned how cathartic that win felt! For the last month, Michigan was Rocky early in the original movie. Picked on and derided by a supercilious yet completely uninformed media and randos who only seem to show up to ask "curious" questions when there's bad news about our program. So when Team 144 finally punched back, it was glorious.
I doubt you're as old as me, but I worked in the South Quad Cafeteria1980-84. My wife, a fellow quaddie, probably wished I worked someplace cooler. But in the early 80s I was just happy to have a job. Besides, those chocolate chip cookies were pretty dang good.
My fear is that Petitti hands down the suspension on Friday, which is a national holiday for courts so M cannot get an injunction/stay/whatever the legal phrase is to allow CJH to coach on Saturday. Hopefully someone in the legal profession can assuage this concern?
Absolutely love the pics, but the captions are the chef's kiss. And thanks for having the good grace not to mention the annoying fanboy who badgered you for intel when he sidled up to you in the end zone yesterday. :)
There must be onion slices in my pocket based on the allergic reaction I'm having. Such beautiful writing. Thank you JJ. Thank you Blake, Mike S, and Denard. Thank you Michigan.
I-right wiggle 34 switchblade, for the state championship. I love all y'all baby. I love all of ya.
I am 100% going now. Went to EL 2yrs ago and the vibe was fine, tons of M fans and no hostility or physicality in or around the stadium. Was in Columbus for the 2016 ref show too. The supposed violence of these "hardcore fans" is totally overrated.
The more of us that come, the less intimidating it will be. Let's show up and help negate whatever crap calls the refs would otherwise be intimidated into calling.
"Four-game suspension for Harbaugh? NCAA doesn’t understand that they can’t operate like it’s 1998 with one team the same week they’re letting a friend off for the biggest scandal since Pony Express."
But they just did, and that's why we're all so frustrated. Even known hater Paul Finebaum said CJH was right here and good for him. UT by (NCAA so admittedly pretend) law was supposed to miss a bowl game for this. Nope.
Yet CJH gets slapped with a 4 gamer, and dang, I'm suddenly scared of both Eastern Carolina and Rutgers.
My only hope is this absolutely galvanizes the team in a UM vs the world mindset.
Read an interview with Wheatley where Moeller showed him the plaques outside the stadium of all the Rose Bowl MVP's. "Your name could be up there too Tyrone." Ty then went out and proved Mo right. I'm pretty sure the trap blocking was put in especially for Washington's aggressive D. They had blitzed us to no end the year before (The game i attended, ofc. smh) and Steve Emtman had destroyed us. I distinctly recall the Washington fans being very salty that day, shouting "run it up Huskies" after every td. So this game was extremely cathartic for all of Michigan Nation.
I loved Mo's offense. M ran no huddle, let Elvis sling it, and was great at keeping defenses off balance with well executed screen passes. Shocking that Mo punted so often from plus territory, given how ahead of the curve he was in other areas of offense.
Really surprised Craig had no memory of this game; Michigan executed a fantastic game plan on O and despite the score played inspired D as well. Most fans of our era savored this rare Rose Bowl win.
Thanks Alex! Looking forward to the next installment of this series. Suggestion: the '97 Iowa game? Terrifying and gets very little play vs the rest of that historic year.
100p agree on the footing. We saw the same thing when the Super Bowl was played here, that field is incredibly slippery. And somehow it seemed to effect M's players far more often than TCU's. It wasn't limited to offense of course; when Mazi Smith whiffed on that sack, most of the issue (to me) seemed to be lack of traction.
Maybe it's just my hyper-fandom and PTSD kicking in, but I feel like this happens to Michigan way more often than it should on away/bowl games, and I feel like I spend the entire game watching the opponent plant a foot in the ground and cut effectively while we slide around like we're on ice skates.
Yes, thank you for cleaning this up Seth, and sorry for the mean short guy comments. I probably still have some PTSD from my experience at the game in EL 2021. In fairness Ishbia's walk on origin story at MSU is pretty cool, but I still don't like Sparty.
I clicked on this expecting to see some trolling post a sad loss...and was thrilled to see none!
Perhaps it's the quality of the posts. A few very humorous, a few very poignant and all of them very pride worthy.
Perhaps it's the quality of the posters, good supportive Michigan men and women.
But probably it's these amazing kids. Evolution is a thing!
My oldest started a non profit organization when she was 16. It supports education for young orphaned girls in Peru. She's 33 now and still keeps it going while holding down a full time job and raising 2 children of her own.
Fun to read all these feel good stories from so many great people.
OP, first of all, this is very helpful, thanks! I'm in the investment business, and recently bought T-Bills for my personal account, it's easy and is literally the safest investment in the world. Due to some interesting shifts in the yield curve and equity appetite, it's also a pretty good place to park your money while you wait for stocks to cheapen.
Which may happen soon. The real significance of SIVB's failure to me is the possible end of the YOLO/Free money from the Fed/Gamestop/Stocks only go up investor mindset.
I believe Washington Mutual WAMU's failure in 2008 led to depositors who kept over $250,000 there receiving 50c on the dollar back (above the FDIC guaranteed 250k), as alluded to by MgoArchive above. Between that and Lehman, investor confidence was so eroded that the Fed took unprecedented emergency steps, including QE, (basically printing money). 15 years later the Fed has not drained more than a tiny fraction of that QE from the system, hence, inflation. Investors have been conditioned to believe "the Fed will save the day" for 15 years, and that may finally be ending. Friday's events may be the "black swan" investors fear that turns markets 180 degrees. Or the Fed may just change the market's diaper and give it some more free money. Wish I knew!
Just me, or does Brian have his joie de vivre back? These top 5's lately are silly, fun and interesting. Mgo has been kinda/sorta rebuilt, and it's humming again. Now let's make the tourney and (dare I say it?...why yes I shall!) shock the world!
Everyone puts in the work all year long. Georgia is the champion because they've been dropping bags for 2 decades and finally got the qb position right, which was the perfect blend with the bazillion 5 $tars they have.
BB, I feel like I'm losing my freshman roommate at South Quad right as we were becoming tight. I was late to the Best/Worst party but man, it was well written. I found myself needing your deeper observations for affirmation of Michigan's greatness in a big win, and more importantly for comfort after a devastating loss.
Seth, Brian, Alex and co do a fantastic job, and I felt like Best/Worst was right on a par with their work, and an integral part of my processing and savoring the game. After Saturday I really needed this, and suspect I wasn't alone.
So yeah, it hurts to lose you but we're gonna hold you to your promise; when there's an amazing cathartic win, and perhaps even more when there's not, we will anxiously await your thoughts to get us through till the next game.
And I don't even like the Fast Furious movies, but dang man...right in the feels. Just remember Paul--you created a whole nation of us Vin's... and we all love you man. Go Blue. Forever.
First of all, thanks Brian. We need the warm embrace of a fellow Michigan fan who cares as much as us. I refreshed the blog at least 200 times Saturday night looking for the game recap and I am very grateful that Alex took on that painful yet comforting task.
If I had to guess I think he disabled the comments, which, I kinda get. Alex soothed our broken hearts and yet someone immediately hijacked the thread in the comments section and it took us about 50 angry back and forth's to get back on point. I suspect most of us were as annoyed as I was by that.
Which is about 1/1 billionth as annoyed as we are by how M was coached Saturday night. Nobody messes with linebackers like the Joe Moore award winning OL and coach Jim and our OC's. Until they decided to just try and run into the teeth of a massive dose of mindless run blitzes.
I'm not crying at the beautiful introductory section to this piece, which somehow captures the joys of parenthood, the wonder of children, the pain we've all been through for the last 2 decades and the glorious heroic performance by the mighty men and women who represent Michigan football all in just a few words. You are.
I had heard much the same, and am really encouraged by the positive experiences posted here. I've long thought the intimidation of visiting fans led to poor road attendance there, which led to refs being influenced by howling hordes of bucknuts. So glad to hear that doesn't seem to be the case any more.
I plan to attend there more often, the win yesterday feels like a cathartic end to the misery I felt there in 2016! And, fwiw I felt like we had a much fairer whistle yesterday as well.
Username does indeed check out.
Personally I think Craig is the ref conspiracy guy, not Seth, and I laugh at Seth's jokes way more than he does. And if anything we don't get nearly enough ref conspiracy talk on these pods.
I am already triggered about getting a fair whistle in the hornet's nest in 8 days. Was in that toilet bowl in '16 and am still furious. Hopefully a lot more M fans show this year, which will hopefully mitigate the crowd's ability to intimidate the refs.
Did Seth just call JT Tuiimoloau the most expensive recruit in the history of recruiting? Why yes he did! Do we think Ohio did this legitimately, through true NIL, vs simply dropping bags of money on him? Of course not. Will any pundit ever point this out as our well coached 3 and 4 stars do battle with their assembly line of 5 star talent? Ha, we all know better. Everybody knows the dice are loaded. But every once in awhile the cheaters lose. Go Blue.
I found it interesting that Ohio had Stroud pull the ball several times on read options. Can't help but wonder if they wish they could have saved that for 3 weeks from now. Yes, our D knows Stroud can pull, but now we see it on tape. Agree, we look better and are clearly the more physical team.. Just hope the crowd doesn't intimidate the refs into more than a few crappy calls. Was in that shthole in 2016, forget JT being short, the PI's and phantom PI's were completely one sided and each call seemed higher leverage than the last. Brutal.
MGoCali, Our son had his first epileptic seizure at age 10, the night before the UM vs Washington game to kick off the 2002 season. He was a huge Michigan fan and we had tickets to the game. Shortly after he fell asleep, the seizure hit. As you so said, it's absolutely terrifying and my wife and I were convinced of the worst. We spend the night in Detroit Children's hospital downtown, and needless to say missed the game though we did watch Phil Brabbs split the uprights as time expired. Phil, as many of you know, lives in Ann Arbor and has courageously battled cancer for the last decade. Thankfully, our child has gone on to lead a fairly normal life, and in 2016, for the Hawaii season opener, we were lucky enough to meet the Brabbs family. It somehow felt like closure. You, your partner, and our family are all members of a club we never wanted to join. But the club is full of amazing people with amazing stories. God bless you for sharing this.
Great to catch up on all things M football a few weeks before The Team submerges for a month. NIL/PFP/potato/potahtoe. Call it what you will. Michigan's refusal to engage is infuriating.
Re: Brian Kelly, I think his actions directly led to the deaths of not one but 2 students. Our daughter was enrolled at ND that year and she knew both kids. Declan's Sullivan's death was of course extremely preventable, I recall vividly my wife calling me up at 1pm that day in Chicago and telling me how windy it was. She had never called before or since to discuss the wind. Everyone knew the weather was weird that day, and Kelly browbeat him to go up and film...a practice. Lizzy Seeberg was a student at St Mary's across the street from ND. She committed suicide after reporting she was raped by a ND football player. Apparently Lizzy received multiple threatening texts from ND football players after the accusation. She committed suicide a few days later. That will forever be Brian Kelly's legacy to me.
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Lifelong Bears fan #2 here. Can confirm all of the above
The Hall take reminds me that Mike Hart is still probably going thru some stuff.
Really hope whatever it is, that he and his family are doing well. No matter what he's a true Michigan man. Mt Rushmore of Michigan Men has him on it, no doubt
Saw that and immediately went down the internet rabbit hole, but near as I can tell, no relation to our Daydrion
Great piece, thanks Seth and Matt! Will never forget the 2002 MHSA state Division 1 finals, East Kentwood vs Detroit Catholic Central. East Kentwood ran what looked to me like the Wing T, but it seemed to share many of the same concepts. Their qb was a magician, he was a master at fake belly handoffs, pitches etc.Their jerseys were nearly the exact same hue of brown as the football, and even in the best seats you couldn't be sure who actually had the ball until the D flowed to them. I thought East Kentwood was going to score 50 points. Derrick Brooks of DCC had other ideas and almost single-handedly brought them back to victory, Fantastic championship but I walked away most impressed with the losers. Similar to a service academy, I have no idea how a team could get ready to face that with one week of preparation.
This is actually very helpful. So many young 'uns fueled by ESPN's clickbait machine think Mahomes is already the Goat. Um, no, he's not even in 2nd place. Montana's stats are superior in every way, and as you mentioned they came at a time when bump and run and kill shots by head hunting safeties were the norm
If I were only allowed to re-read one piece from this blog for the rest of my life, I choose this. Absolutely perfect. I hope your mom was watching The Game next to my mom this year.
How many days is the "special transfer portal" for players of teams that lost their coach? 30 days? Jim Harbaugh announced Jan 24th so there's 22 days left if that's accurate?
Should be be keeping a countdown clock on this? So far it appears that we've fended off Grant to Texas and Graham to Miami. At least I hope so. Wonder how this works, and can we all breathe a sigh of relief at some point?
Beautiful portrayal of Jim Harbaugh the man. Somehow I admire him even more after reading this. Thank you for the article Jordan and thank you for your service (can I call it that?) at UM. So damn proud of everyone on this site and at this University. But why is it so dusty in here? Been this way since for about 3 weeks now...
Beautifully written and so true. Jim MF Harbaugh took all those hits and taught Team 144 how to do the same. How to lift up your teammates no matter how you were feeling at the time.
And then on November 25th, when Zak Zinter took the hit and the entire team looked sad and out it, a new force came forth. The fans in the stadium. They were all so down, but they were all in it together. And the team heard them, rose up as one. Blake Corum grabbed the lead back. For 65. For Coach Moore. For Coach Harbaugh. For Michigan.
"Let's Go Zak! Let's Go Zak!"
So O$U does what they do best and drops a bag for a kid. Urban's toy reporter Petey breathlessly reports on his heroes, ignoring the obvious real cheating going on and no one bats an eye.
When is someone going to write the book of how Thamel really "broke" his story that was spoon fed to him and leaked out one detail at a time to create media hysteria? I'd love to see the text chain between him, Urbz and Ryan Day.
And best of all, those 3 idiots sprung it at the wrong time! Imagine if the Stallions thing had only come out now and the 4 letter network was running daily video of him on the sidelines vs Bama and in the Natty.
As usual, Michigan gets arrested for jaywalking while the rest of the world commits armed robbery in broad daylight. Luckily for us, the bozos from Ohio did it all wrong.
Please JUB, write THAT book!
Welcome back Ace! This is somehow perfect closure. And yes, definitely dusty in here; been that way for about a week now.
As mentioned above, this is like that last episode of Cheers. Somehow the 12 year old kid whose simulation we're all living in got it right. All of it.
Go Blue Ace. Miss you.
I'm ashamed how bummed this makes me. I swore to myself if these guys really did The Thing, I wouldn't pout when they left. They absolutely deserve to earn a living.. Hell if I were their dads I'd tell every one of them to go pro, especially the guys who have a shot at that 2nd NFL contract. But I also told myself anything after Ohio was house money, and that was a lie too.
I guess it's just like when our kids leave us to go to college. We know they have to go, but we miss them dearly. The similarities to the Last Dance for the 90's Chicago Bulls are everywhere. I love CJH but can't blame him one bit if just like Phil Jackson, he goes too. That said, I can't wait to fall in love with Team 145, and perhaps their new coach Sherone Moore. Just like our kids, they won't be the same, but that won't stop us from loving them unconditionally.
This is the father's victory. It has been achieved by the son.
That last picture. Beautiful. 🥲
Go blue.
I've had a very fractured relationship with my father as well. It no doubt shaped the kind of man I've become, for good and for bad. But every once in awhile a good father figure emerged for me. I asked one: what can I do ever thank you? We all know the answer: you pay it forward. Hopefully to your own children.
I suspect that you will be a fiance again, and then a husband. And then, hopefully, a parent. The best way to forgive your father (and yourself) is to be a great father. And the beauty of greatness in that arena is it only requires that you commit. The love I give and get back from my kids fills my heart in ways I could never imagine when I was a young bitter son. O.B., please keep writing and keep looking for love. I want to read about it when you have your Team 144 moment.
Welcome back Other Brian! I absolutely remember your writing and missed it! This was wonderful, and it's clear many commenters agree, cathartic. So many quotes of yours I wanted to cut and paste because they went right to my heart. But let's go with this one:
We knew that Michigan never operated like this. I'm sure our program was never as squeaky clean as we pretended it was; but we all knew that Michigan wasn't dropping huge stacks of cash to land recruits. And seeing other programs that we knew were getting away with these things succeed unchecked created this sense of morose dejection that we were stuck.
YES! For over two decades we've felt like lower class residents of Gotham City. Watching the corrupt fat cats get richer, knowing we had no choice but to accept it. Trying to learn to just accept our fate. And then, when our hero finally emerges, he gets stymied by dirty politicians at every turn, vilified by an army of yellow journalists, and mocked and derided by our enemies who somehow are all accepted into polite society. So when Robin (chose your favorite Robin, I'll go with JJ for his leadership in holding his class together in 2020 when he still in high school) joined the team, you felt that finally, maybe, we had a chance.
Thank you Team 144 for capitalizing on that chance. For finally vanquishing our enemies and those who laughed at us for 20+ years. For allowing us to look Bama fans, Ohio fans, Clemson fans directly in the eye and have them look away. This resident of Gotham may never stop smiling.
Wow! I will never sing Mr. Brightside again and not think of you guys coming back from a mission. My generation is in awe of you sir. Our fathers fought WWII and literally saved the world. Many younger men and women went to the middle east and risked their lives for the rest of us. My generation? We watched a lot of tv and hogged up all the real estate and good jobs. But I can still have my heroes. You and your brothers and sisters who served. And yes, Team 144. Thank you.
I really love that Seth talked Brian into the tour. In my mind, they're best buddies, Seth bringing that Happy Seth Energy and always trying to talk Brian into crazy the stuff that Brian, being the voice of reason, pooh pooh's but eventually gets cajoled into doing. Do they ever have disagreements? Issues? Work and stress related times where they can't stand to be around each other. Not in the sitcom that runs in my head!
And we all know when Brian recreated that Blake TD run the next day how he ran. Like he had nothing in his pockets. Nothing at all..
Thank you guys for a great year and some of the happiest tears of my life.
Go Blue.
Edit: All 3 tickets sold to Michigan fans/alums. Thanks for running this site and Go Blue!!
I have 3 for sale for the Rose Bowl, on the Michigan side. Section 14-H Row C
seeing comparable tix (Michigan side, other corner row B for $465)
Will offer these for $425 each, no fees
please respond to [email protected] if interested! ty and Go Blue!
Love Roman's vlogs. Watching them you see that these are just kids, playing a kids game. As a great writer once said, "they run like there's nothing in their pockets. Nothing at all."
Thank you team 144.
Didn't Moore bait MSU into a very similar game-clinching INT over the middle in 2022?
It looked like he had eyes on MHJ all the way, pretended to track Egbuka for a moment, and immediately broke on MHJ's route as McCord tried to step into the throw.
Next level safety play in my mind, but just seems like that's what Rod Moore does...
Love this and couldn't agree more. Fun fact, Trente is 3x Academic All B1G10. Imagine knowing how good you are bit not starting. Preparing every game, all season, for this moment. And then stepping up and delivering. True Michigan Man right there.
Downvote you? I want to be your best friend! I bet most of what you're saying is true and I'm having a hard time disagreeing. Everytime Thamel's "source" (that idiot couldn't find a story unless it was spoon fed to him) dripped another minute detail and he breathlessly "broke" it I felt guiltier and guiltier. Then I took a step back and realized what you and many Michigan Men and Women are saying. We're bowing and scraping for a weird guy who wanted to Take Over Michigan Football doing some extremely worthless yet apparently illegal jaywalking. Meanwhile the usual top 5 programs are taking a break from bank robbery and assault to attack us.
FK everyone, and honestly fk the playoffs. I just want to conquer Ohio. Yet again.
Thanks fellow South Quad Cafeteria employee! And yes, YES to the feelingsball this week. I was stunned how cathartic that win felt! For the last month, Michigan was Rocky early in the original movie. Picked on and derided by a supercilious yet completely uninformed media and randos who only seem to show up to ask "curious" questions when there's bad news about our program. So when Team 144 finally punched back, it was glorious.
I doubt you're as old as me, but I worked in the South Quad Cafeteria1980-84. My wife, a fellow quaddie, probably wished I worked someplace cooler. But in the early 80s I was just happy to have a job. Besides, those chocolate chip cookies were pretty dang good.
sorry if this has already been addressed somewhere
My fear is that Petitti hands down the suspension on Friday, which is a national holiday for courts so M cannot get an injunction/stay/whatever the legal phrase is to allow CJH to coach on Saturday. Hopefully someone in the legal profession can assuage this concern?
Absolutely love the pics, but the captions are the chef's kiss. And thanks for having the good grace not to mention the annoying fanboy who badgered you for intel when he sidled up to you in the end zone yesterday. :)
There must be onion slices in my pocket based on the allergic reaction I'm having. Such beautiful writing. Thank you JJ. Thank you Blake, Mike S, and Denard. Thank you Michigan.
I-right wiggle 34 switchblade, for the state championship. I love all y'all baby. I love all of ya.
I am 100% going now. Went to EL 2yrs ago and the vibe was fine, tons of M fans and no hostility or physicality in or around the stadium. Was in Columbus for the 2016 ref show too. The supposed violence of these "hardcore fans" is totally overrated.
The more of us that come, the less intimidating it will be. Let's show up and help negate whatever crap calls the refs would otherwise be intimidated into calling.
GO BLUE!
"Four-game suspension for Harbaugh? NCAA doesn’t understand that they can’t operate like it’s 1998 with one team the same week they’re letting a friend off for the biggest scandal since Pony Express."
But they just did, and that's why we're all so frustrated. Even known hater Paul Finebaum said CJH was right here and good for him. UT by (NCAA so admittedly pretend) law was supposed to miss a bowl game for this. Nope.
Yet CJH gets slapped with a 4 gamer, and dang, I'm suddenly scared of both Eastern Carolina and Rutgers.
My only hope is this absolutely galvanizes the team in a UM vs the world mindset.
GO BLUE!!!
Read an interview with Wheatley where Moeller showed him the plaques outside the stadium of all the Rose Bowl MVP's. "Your name could be up there too Tyrone." Ty then went out and proved Mo right. I'm pretty sure the trap blocking was put in especially for Washington's aggressive D. They had blitzed us to no end the year before (The game i attended, ofc. smh) and Steve Emtman had destroyed us. I distinctly recall the Washington fans being very salty that day, shouting "run it up Huskies" after every td. So this game was extremely cathartic for all of Michigan Nation.
I loved Mo's offense. M ran no huddle, let Elvis sling it, and was great at keeping defenses off balance with well executed screen passes. Shocking that Mo punted so often from plus territory, given how ahead of the curve he was in other areas of offense.
Really surprised Craig had no memory of this game; Michigan executed a fantastic game plan on O and despite the score played inspired D as well. Most fans of our era savored this rare Rose Bowl win.
Thanks Alex! Looking forward to the next installment of this series. Suggestion: the '97 Iowa game? Terrifying and gets very little play vs the rest of that historic year.
100p agree on the footing. We saw the same thing when the Super Bowl was played here, that field is incredibly slippery. And somehow it seemed to effect M's players far more often than TCU's. It wasn't limited to offense of course; when Mazi Smith whiffed on that sack, most of the issue (to me) seemed to be lack of traction.
Maybe it's just my hyper-fandom and PTSD kicking in, but I feel like this happens to Michigan way more often than it should on away/bowl games, and I feel like I spend the entire game watching the opponent plant a foot in the ground and cut effectively while we slide around like we're on ice skates.
Yes, thank you for cleaning this up Seth, and sorry for the mean short guy comments. I probably still have some PTSD from my experience at the game in EL 2021. In fairness Ishbia's walk on origin story at MSU is pretty cool, but I still don't like Sparty.
I clicked on this expecting to see some trolling post a sad loss...and was thrilled to see none!
Perhaps it's the quality of the posts. A few very humorous, a few very poignant and all of them very pride worthy.
Perhaps it's the quality of the posters, good supportive Michigan men and women.
But probably it's these amazing kids. Evolution is a thing!
My oldest started a non profit organization when she was 16. It supports education for young orphaned girls in Peru. She's 33 now and still keeps it going while holding down a full time job and raising 2 children of her own.
Fun to read all these feel good stories from so many great people.
Go Blue!
OP, first of all, this is very helpful, thanks! I'm in the investment business, and recently bought T-Bills for my personal account, it's easy and is literally the safest investment in the world. Due to some interesting shifts in the yield curve and equity appetite, it's also a pretty good place to park your money while you wait for stocks to cheapen.
Which may happen soon. The real significance of SIVB's failure to me is the possible end of the YOLO/Free money from the Fed/Gamestop/Stocks only go up investor mindset.
I believe Washington Mutual WAMU's failure in 2008 led to depositors who kept over $250,000 there receiving 50c on the dollar back (above the FDIC guaranteed 250k), as alluded to by MgoArchive above. Between that and Lehman, investor confidence was so eroded that the Fed took unprecedented emergency steps, including QE, (basically printing money). 15 years later the Fed has not drained more than a tiny fraction of that QE from the system, hence, inflation. Investors have been conditioned to believe "the Fed will save the day" for 15 years, and that may finally be ending. Friday's events may be the "black swan" investors fear that turns markets 180 degrees. Or the Fed may just change the market's diaper and give it some more free money. Wish I knew!
Just me, or does Brian have his joie de vivre back? These top 5's lately are silly, fun and interesting. Mgo has been kinda/sorta rebuilt, and it's humming again. Now let's make the tourney and (dare I say it?...why yes I shall!) shock the world!
What all of us wouldn't give to see this from 1997...especially that fat azz Phil Fulmer's vote
The Warde/CJH/Todd Anson/Santa rumors are flaring up all over the place. What's really going on?
Has Anson gone rogue, or is he tweeting exactly what his friend CJH wants him to say?
Is Santa about to bless the Anson NIL and the much talked about/never actually seen Michigan Money cannon going to finally materialize?
Will a new contract for CJH be part of this package deal, and whywhywhy is Warde seemingly cockblocking all of this?
Everyone puts in the work all year long. Georgia is the champion because they've been dropping bags for 2 decades and finally got the qb position right, which was the perfect blend with the bazillion 5 $tars they have.
oh and that speech is from the LSU/UGA game
I wish he and Ward had just told the NCAA, "yeah, I did it, suk it you corrupt idiots!"
BB, I feel like I'm losing my freshman roommate at South Quad right as we were becoming tight. I was late to the Best/Worst party but man, it was well written. I found myself needing your deeper observations for affirmation of Michigan's greatness in a big win, and more importantly for comfort after a devastating loss.
Seth, Brian, Alex and co do a fantastic job, and I felt like Best/Worst was right on a par with their work, and an integral part of my processing and savoring the game. After Saturday I really needed this, and suspect I wasn't alone.
So yeah, it hurts to lose you but we're gonna hold you to your promise; when there's an amazing cathartic win, and perhaps even more when there's not, we will anxiously await your thoughts to get us through till the next game.
And I don't even like the Fast Furious movies, but dang man...right in the feels. Just remember Paul--you created a whole nation of us Vin's... and we all love you man. Go Blue. Forever.
First of all, thanks Brian. We need the warm embrace of a fellow Michigan fan who cares as much as us. I refreshed the blog at least 200 times Saturday night looking for the game recap and I am very grateful that Alex took on that painful yet comforting task.
If I had to guess I think he disabled the comments, which, I kinda get. Alex soothed our broken hearts and yet someone immediately hijacked the thread in the comments section and it took us about 50 angry back and forth's to get back on point. I suspect most of us were as annoyed as I was by that.
Which is about 1/1 billionth as annoyed as we are by how M was coached Saturday night. Nobody messes with linebackers like the Joe Moore award winning OL and coach Jim and our OC's. Until they decided to just try and run into the teeth of a massive dose of mindless run blitzes.
Go Blue forever
but...sigh.
I'm not crying at the beautiful introductory section to this piece, which somehow captures the joys of parenthood, the wonder of children, the pain we've all been through for the last 2 decades and the glorious heroic performance by the mighty men and women who represent Michigan football all in just a few words. You are.
I had heard much the same, and am really encouraged by the positive experiences posted here. I've long thought the intimidation of visiting fans led to poor road attendance there, which led to refs being influenced by howling hordes of bucknuts. So glad to hear that doesn't seem to be the case any more.
I plan to attend there more often, the win yesterday feels like a cathartic end to the misery I felt there in 2016! And, fwiw I felt like we had a much fairer whistle yesterday as well.
GO BLUE!
Username does indeed check out.
Personally I think Craig is the ref conspiracy guy, not Seth, and I laugh at Seth's jokes way more than he does. And if anything we don't get nearly enough ref conspiracy talk on these pods.
I am already triggered about getting a fair whistle in the hornet's nest in 8 days. Was in that toilet bowl in '16 and am still furious. Hopefully a lot more M fans show this year, which will hopefully mitigate the crowd's ability to intimidate the refs.
Did Seth just call JT Tuiimoloau the most expensive recruit in the history of recruiting? Why yes he did! Do we think Ohio did this legitimately, through true NIL, vs simply dropping bags of money on him? Of course not. Will any pundit ever point this out as our well coached 3 and 4 stars do battle with their assembly line of 5 star talent? Ha, we all know better. Everybody knows the dice are loaded. But every once in awhile the cheaters lose. Go Blue.
I found it interesting that Ohio had Stroud pull the ball several times on read options. Can't help but wonder if they wish they could have saved that for 3 weeks from now. Yes, our D knows Stroud can pull, but now we see it on tape. Agree, we look better and are clearly the more physical team.. Just hope the crowd doesn't intimidate the refs into more than a few crappy calls. Was in that shthole in 2016, forget JT being short, the PI's and phantom PI's were completely one sided and each call seemed higher leverage than the last. Brutal.
MGoCali, Our son had his first epileptic seizure at age 10, the night before the UM vs Washington game to kick off the 2002 season. He was a huge Michigan fan and we had tickets to the game. Shortly after he fell asleep, the seizure hit. As you so said, it's absolutely terrifying and my wife and I were convinced of the worst. We spend the night in Detroit Children's hospital downtown, and needless to say missed the game though we did watch Phil Brabbs split the uprights as time expired. Phil, as many of you know, lives in Ann Arbor and has courageously battled cancer for the last decade. Thankfully, our child has gone on to lead a fairly normal life, and in 2016, for the Hawaii season opener, we were lucky enough to meet the Brabbs family. It somehow felt like closure. You, your partner, and our family are all members of a club we never wanted to join. But the club is full of amazing people with amazing stories. God bless you for sharing this.
Great to catch up on all things M football a few weeks before The Team submerges for a month. NIL/PFP/potato/potahtoe. Call it what you will. Michigan's refusal to engage is infuriating.
Re: Brian Kelly, I think his actions directly led to the deaths of not one but 2 students. Our daughter was enrolled at ND that year and she knew both kids. Declan's Sullivan's death was of course extremely preventable, I recall vividly my wife calling me up at 1pm that day in Chicago and telling me how windy it was. She had never called before or since to discuss the wind. Everyone knew the weather was weird that day, and Kelly browbeat him to go up and film...a practice. Lizzy Seeberg was a student at St Mary's across the street from ND. She committed suicide after reporting she was raped by a ND football player. Apparently Lizzy received multiple threatening texts from ND football players after the accusation. She committed suicide a few days later. That will forever be Brian Kelly's legacy to me.