Me too. I can't even remember the last time I logged in. But here I am to "second this" as well.
My favorite podcast segments have always been Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac. The best of those segments this year have been the ones where Brian left so that Jamie and Seth could actually talk about games without Brian constantly stopping them saying, "It doesn't matter, no one cares, let's move on."
Brian's attitude the entire season has seemed rather childish to me. "If we can't be first then nothing matters." It has been in just about everything he says and writes for some time. Football is pointless because Michigan can't finish first. Basketball is not pointless because the tournaments at the end mean losses during the season don't matter and we can still "finish" first. And I don't want to tell someone else how they should feel, but folks, this is supposed to be college sports we are talking about. College sports. Intercollegiate athletics. Interscholastic contests. This is not the pros. At least it's not supposed to be. The emphasis here is off. The individual games should matter more and the national standings or even conference standings should matter less. Every game matters because the team from my school is playing the team from another school. That's it. And it's enough. That's what has always made college and high school sports great. How many teams go into every season knowing they have no chance to finish first? Almost all of them? Should they all just not play the season then? There have been a lot of games to enjoy this season. Maybe we should just try to enjoy the games.
And now I will log back out for an unspecified number of years.
I was in elementary school. That Purdue loss shook me to the core. This game rattled my belief in all of reality. This Michigan team was wrecking everyone. How could they possibly lose to Purdue? It's just not possible. Something has gone fundamentally wrong with the universe.
I remember in the week afterward my older sister constantly trying to put a positive spin on it. "This is good. Now they won't be overconfident and they will win the rest of their games." I also remember thinking she was crazy and that I was completely irritated with her.
Thank you for this. I love "The Teams" feature in general, and I loved the 1976 team. I have often thought that this was the best Michigan team of my lifetime. It's debatable, of course, for multiple reasons. But when this team was right, they just destroyed their opponents. I favor 76 over 77 and 78 because this team still had Lytle and Smith. Thanks again.
Agreed. I do think that if Brooks could get back to what he was the first month of the season (as I mentioned below), that would help. I don't think it would make a huge difference, but I think it would help. An extra offensive weapon would help everyone, if even a little bit.
Several players on this team have had wild swings in their play throughout the year. Early on, Iggy looked like Freshman of the Year, but then he's had a few clunkers. Poole has been a bit of a rollercoaster. Matthews looked terrific with his midrange game early in the season and then went about a month where he couldn't hit a shot any more. Now he's been hitting again.
Practically everyone who plays a lot has swings in their play. That's not surprising. But one that baffles me is Brooks. I thought he looked good early in the season. He didn't score a lot, but he was hitting 3's pretty consistently, it seemed, and he looked good on the floor. Through Dec. 4th, Brooks was 9 for 21 on threes. He has made only one since (on Dec. 30). I don't know what has happened to him, but I would love to see a return to his early form very soon. The team could really use another 3 point shooter, preferably one who won't play "freshman level" defense.
I left the frozen north and came to Savannah because I hate the cold and snow. But after you mow your lawn a couple of times when it's 98 degrees and 90% humidity while you're in long pants and a long sleeve shirt to keep the gnats from tearing you apart, it does make one think about one's decisions.
Meanwhile in Savannah, my wife gets a dress down day and hot chocolate at school tomorrow because it's supposed to get down to 30 degrees. Everything is relative, I guess.
The "team" podcasts and now this--terrific. I am looking forward to the rest of these immensely. I am sure I will want to argue with some of your results, but the best part will be reading the "eulogies" anyway. Thanks for doing this.
1976 can fit right in with these two seasons--all three years featured one inexplicable loss during the season and a Rose Bowl loss to go 10-2, if I am remembering correctly. I'm partial to '76 because Rob Lytle and Jim Smith were still there. But all three years were eerily similar.
I LOVE that you are doing this. This is a contender for "favorite thing the blog has ever done," along with The Climb series and the all-time team draft and a couple of others. I will be happy to listen to as many of these as you can do. To misuse Bob Hope a little bit, "Thanks for the memories." I, for one, really appreciate it and eagerly look forward to more.
I lived in Western New York for years and now I live in Savannah. The pic is sunrise over the Atlantic but not at Savannah. It's at the Outer Banks of NC because I love it there. I also used to have a pic of my wife at the beach but changed to the ocean pic.
Can we please get rid of the OSU trolls that are flooding the board lately? They are obnoxious and they are out of control. I know it was already asked up above, but I have reached the point of desperation. I no longer want to read the board. When those fools are ruining the experience for the rest of us, I think they need to be removed.
I have found that when people are being immoral or unethical, they like to claim that other people are immoral and unethical so it doesn't matter. What's happening here is that Al Capone is being investigated for tax fraud and OSU fans are here constantly claiming that, technically by the letter of the law, his tax forms are in order and all of us who want him in jail just don't like the fact that he's a more successful businessman than we are and we should wait for more facts of his tax returns to come out. I'm pretty tired of OSU fans claiming that they are no different than me while they do this. I want Al Capone in jail and you don't and it has nothing to do with Al's successful business; it has everything to do with wanting some justice for once. Just because you don't care about morals and ethics doesn't mean no one does.
You can't really be this dumb; you must just be trying to be a pain. Assistant football coaches fail to get renewed all over the country every year. Do you honestly think that every assistant must have his contract renewed unless the college can prove he has been charged with a criminal offense? There were multiple opportunities to let him go. Stop with this nonsense.
My old age cynicism makes me predict he stays. My heartfelt hope is that he is fired. I don't hope he is fired because he is successful; I hope he is fired because I think he is a horrible person and I want a horrible person taken down. I have always thought he is a phony snake and this incident has just brought who he is into the light. He lied repeatedly at media days. He then claimed he did not mean to be "inaccurate". Of course he did! That's exactly what he meant to do. That's who he is. Do horrible things, lie if caught, get away with it. If caught in lie, claim you didn't mean to be "inaccurate", act sorry, back to business as usual. I am so tired of people like this being rewarded for being horrible. For once, I want horribleness exposed and removed.
Your last sentence is the problem. You don't care what anyone thinks. All that matters is that you win a game. Terrific. I have news for you: most of us don't hate you because you win; we hate you because you are horrible.
"My intention was not to say anything inaccurate or misleading." Uh, that was exactly his intention. He flat out lied with the exact purpose being to be inaccurate and mislead. This stuff is exactly why I have always hated this guy. He is a complete slimeball. And no one has ever cared because if you win enough, it doesn't matter if you are a garbage human being.
The Sand Gnats are no more. They moved to Columbia, SC, I believe. What we have now are the Savannah Bananas. Yes...the Savannah Bananas. I think they are a collegiate summer league team, as opposed to the regular minor league that the Sand Gnats were in.
Pros: no snow, the weather most of the year is great, skies are generally clear and beautiful.
Cons: this entire area is swamp--92 degrees with 90% humidity is brutal every day in the summer. The bugs are horrible. Also, people here don't seem to know how to drive. And traffic is more annoying than it should be in a city this size because of the layout of the roads.
I had to log in to agree with this. The big money in college football has made them lose their minds. Conference championship games are about money and nothing more. The Big 12 actually did have everyone play everyone in conference but still decided they needed a conference championship. Meanwhile, we have giant conferences where Alabama has played Middle Tennessee State more times during Saban's tenure than they have played Georgia. West Virginia is in the same conference as Texas Tech. Morgantown, WV and Lubbock, TX. Rutgers is in the same conference as Nebraska. Piscataway, NJ and Lincoln, NE. Insane. And why? Money. This is supposed to be interscholastic athletics. But it's not. It's money.
Michigan lost that game because they missed so many 3's and free throws. But modern officiating drives me nuts. The first few trips for Villanova with Brunson lowering his shoulder and knocking the stationary defender back had me screaming at the TV. There was no thought of an offensive foul call. That's what the game has "evolved" to. The announcers even raved over how "strong" Brunson was. How has basketball turned into this? It started years ago with NBA guys "backing down" in the post. Knock the defender back, knock him back some more, score. It's ridiculous. It is not how the game is supposed to be.
I'll stop the rant now. It's tough to be an old man in a changed world.
Regardless of the disappointment of last night, the Michigan team had a great season. Last night, Michigan could not shoot and was not going to win that game shooting like that. But what a great season overall! I was saying it a couple of years ago and I'll say it again: John Beilein could go 0-30 and I would still want him as coach of this team. College basketball is dirty, dirty business. People may be finally waking up to this after this year. But Beilein has found success while staying out of the cesspool. I am so proud of him and this team. Thanks for the great run. Thanks for a team we can be proud of.
What drives me nuts about recruiting is that you can't win consistently unless you consistently get great recruits. But you can't get great recruits unless you win consistently. But you can't, etc.
You have to somehow beat the system and win without a bunch of great recruits in order to get a bunch of great recruits. But if you can consistently win without a bunch of great recruits, then why do you need great recruits? Because you can't consistently win without a bunch of great recruits...
It's like some Mobius strip of hopelessness. Or Abbott and Costello's Who's On First. I'm not sure which. But I sure miss the days of Michigan winning the conference.
Can one of the coaches on the blog or someone else who knows what they're talking about help me out with something? Why does Michigan never run quick slant passes? Can the players not run them or do the coaches not want to? Your pass protection stinks, seemingly even if you leave 9 guys in to block, so why not go shotgun some and throw quick stuff? Maybe they've tried it in practice and they realize they can't. If they just don't want to, why not? What am I missing?
Yup. This is probably my "favorite Michigan game". The whole "judgement day" thing. The total domination. The win over OSU at the end of the season was wonderful, of course, but in a different way. This one was so much fun. Thanks again to Dr Sap for doing these and to the blog for making this series a part of things here.
While we're on the topic of what we do and do not want to hear...
We spent the last nine months or more making fun of how awful MIchigan State is. We made fun of their 3 and 9 record. Then we made fun of them for losing out on 2 star recruits to the Sun Belt and Northwestern's walk on program. Then we made fun of them for guys quitting the team and transferring. Then we made fun of them for kicking a bunch of guys off the team. Then when one of us predecited five wins for them in the season preview podcast, we made fun of that guy, because there's no way they're going to even win three again. I mean, they've got a walk on playing defensive end! Then we made fun of how Dantonio will retire when they go 2 and 10 this year.
Maybe we shouldn't do that anymore.
"But Michigan State is trash. They didn't win because they were good." No. They won because Michigan was worse. Let that sink in a minute. So, I, for one, would like to see this blog spend a lot less time trying to make fun of MSU. It's not necessary when Michigan is beating them and it's downright pathological when Michigan is losing to them.
I said "...such divided opinion on this matter..." As in people have a wide range of differing opinions. Yes, Speight is the QB. People seem to vary wildly in how they feel about that. We're two games into the season and there have been about 50 threads on the topic. In each one, the range of opinions is vast. I certainly hope everyone wants the team to succeed regardless.
As I said in a reply above, I think the reason there is such divided opinion on this matter in the fanbase is because some people are naturally optimists and some are naturally pessimists.
The optimist sees the Florida game and points to the pass to Eubanks. The pessimist sees the Florida game and points the the throw to the wide open receiver (after the audible) out of bounds.
The optimist says, "Harbaugh has chosen Speight; he's the best option; what's wrong with you people who are whining?" The pessimist says, "We're whining because Speight is the best option and he keeps screwing up and it's going to cost Michigan wins." The optimist says, "He'll improve and he will also get Michigan wins." And on and on.
It gets debated so much because people have different personalities, but also because this is a sports blog and people like to talk about such things. It doesn't mean everyone thinks they're smarter than the coaches. It's just something interesting to talk about.
Unfortunately, I think you have a point here. Harbaugh said in the press conference that they have been telling Speight for ages not to do handoffs the way he has been doing them. Speight has kept doing them wrong anyway. This is straight from Harbaugh, not fan speculation. I don't think it's a foregone conclusion that Speight's flaws will be corrected.
I'll agree and add more. Michigan has huge receivers and even "huger" TE's that should be deadly in the red zone. If you go up high to Gentry or Wheatly or Bunting or even Black or DPJ, there isn't much a defender can do about it. I remember seeing Funchess catch a pass in the end zone with an OSU defensive back right there and exasperated because he was right there and still coudn't stop it. But with Speight, Michigan doesn't do this. Do they not trust any of those receivers/TEs to make the catch? Or do they not trust Speight to make the throw. Someone recently said that fades are basically out of the playbook with Speight at QB. I don't know if that's true, but it's unfortunate if it is.
I was sitting here in a bit of a malaise reading this during lunch and your last paragraph made me laugh uproariously for at least five minutes straight. I thank you. It's a day later so you probably won't even see this, but I thank you.
If I had to choose one or the other, I would rather lose clean than win dirty. So it's easy for me to love Beilein. He wins an awful lot considering how clean he is and how not clean much of his competition is. I know some people think "the championship is all that matters and everyone else is an irrelevant loser," but I have just never felt that way. I am glad Michigan can play clean and still win a lot of games. I am so glad that Beilein is Michigan's coach. Championships may be rare, but they will be very sweet.
It looks to me like Mason Cole is the most "irreplaceable" guy on that list. Kinnel and McCray would be right behind. I mean no offense to anyone's "backups", of course. And here's to hoping everyone stays healthy so NO ONE has to be replaced.
I'll chime in to agree with this. To paraphrase a famous quote, ESPN is the worst sports network--except for all the others. There are things about ESPN that irritate me, but I still find them to be head and shoulders above anyone else.
I also watch a lot of college football games that I would not if I had to pay for them all individually. I'd never be able to justify the cost in my head for that Nevada/Wyoming game, so I can't believe I'd pay for it on its own. But I love being able to see it with the current system. It may not be logical if the money evens out, but...
Forgive my ignorance, but how do you only have TV "a few months a year" if you have satellite? I thought the satellite services required contracts of two years or more. Am I behind the times on that or do you have a way around this?
It continually amazes me how some people on this blog (one in particular all over this thread) think this is a video game. It is so easy to think of reasons why Michigan would not go hard after a player that others would. Suppose a high schooler says publicly, "We aint here to play school. Classes are stupid," do you think Harbaugh would have any interest in him? Do you think other schools would if he was a good enough player? That's just one example. I could list many more, but do I really have to?
"But other top teams are going after him so Michigan must be wrong." That is silly. We all know there are players that some schools will bring in that others will not. We all know that there are schools that will do things that Michigan will not do. There are people involved in this. It is not a video game.
I am so tired of hearing, "Michigan should get that guy," or "Michigan should get this guy." Michigan has different standards and different ethics than many other top teams. This is a big reason I love Michigan so much. Yes, that means Cam Newton's father is not going to let his son go to Michigan. I'm perfectly okay with that. I wish the rest of you were too.
I think everyone is pretty much correct here. Yes, those were mostly just "jump balls" last year, and yes, I believe it was in integral part of their offense. Why wouldn't it be? It was clearly their best chance for success. And it kept working quite a bit. There aren't too many college defensive backs that can stop that without getting a pass interference call. Last year, Michigan had a terrific defensive line but also Lewis and Stribling were not going to get repeatedly burned by that stuff. We really don't know yet if this year's CB's can make those plays. I expect that PSU will try to throw long (or as long as they can before the QB gets drilled) repeatedly this year against Michigan because it will again be their best chance at success, even without Godwin. The main reasons I am nervous about that game are that it's on the road (where Michigan offen lays in inexplicable egg) and the young defensive backs.
This thread is a mistake, but I'll contribute anyway. The 1975 OSU game made young me sob uncontrollably. My poor mother tried to console me, but I was unconsolable. That was the beginning of a hatred of OSU that has only gotten worse over the years. So I guess it's not the low point, if it has gotten worse, but it was the beginning. I have never gotten over my irrational hatred of them and I know I will never get over it. Michigan could win every OSU game for the rest of my life and I still won't get over it.
The first MLB game I saw in person had Staub and Thompson go back to back to beat the Yankees. When I first read your post I thought you were talking about this game, but I think mine was 1976. Then again, I can't trust my memory on details like that any more.
One thing I find amusing about my first "in person" game at Tiger Stadium: it was also the first game I saw in color. We had a black and white TV. I still remember how awestruck I was at how colorful the field and stadium were.
I know that purists preferred others but Moore was always my favorite Bond. I thought he was great as The Saint too, and in The Persuaders. He was pretty much the epitome of cool for me in the seventies. Alas.
You have already read two of my favorites: Seabiscuit and Moneyball. I would also recommend Season on the Brink.
Our own Jamie Mac (James Macmillan), who is featured on the podcasts during football season wrote an interesting book about the 1906 Cubs and White Sox. That Cubs team could have an argument for greatest team of all time, but they get dismissed because they lost that series.
Jerry Izenberg's Greatest Game Ever Played is also great. It's about the last game of the 1986 Mets-Astros playoff series. I was younger when I read that one but I found it riveting.
I actually teach at a college now. That may be part of the problem. The vast majority of my students don't want to do anything and they don't want to have to. I'm trying to get people to learn and they don't want to. I also probably shouldn't post anything late at night when I'm tired lest I sound overdramatic. But I used to get thanked on a regular basis. Now I almost never do. More students just resent having to do anything now. Maybe it's better at other schools. I hope!
When I was young, I wanted to be Ernie Harwell and/or Paul Carey. Now I'd like to run a radio station. Anyone of you out there have a radio station you'd like to let me program?
Teaching will break your heart. I used to teach and parents and students were grateful for it. Now, instead of teaching, it seems I try to get people to do things they don't want to do, and I often feel resented for it. Times have changed.
Recent Comments
Me too. I can't even remember the last time I logged in. But here I am to "second this" as well.
My favorite podcast segments have always been Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac. The best of those segments this year have been the ones where Brian left so that Jamie and Seth could actually talk about games without Brian constantly stopping them saying, "It doesn't matter, no one cares, let's move on."
Brian's attitude the entire season has seemed rather childish to me. "If we can't be first then nothing matters." It has been in just about everything he says and writes for some time. Football is pointless because Michigan can't finish first. Basketball is not pointless because the tournaments at the end mean losses during the season don't matter and we can still "finish" first. And I don't want to tell someone else how they should feel, but folks, this is supposed to be college sports we are talking about. College sports. Intercollegiate athletics. Interscholastic contests. This is not the pros. At least it's not supposed to be. The emphasis here is off. The individual games should matter more and the national standings or even conference standings should matter less. Every game matters because the team from my school is playing the team from another school. That's it. And it's enough. That's what has always made college and high school sports great. How many teams go into every season knowing they have no chance to finish first? Almost all of them? Should they all just not play the season then? There have been a lot of games to enjoy this season. Maybe we should just try to enjoy the games.
And now I will log back out for an unspecified number of years.
Thank you for posting this. Kaline was such a solid ballplayer and it was wonderful that he was "ours".
I was in elementary school. That Purdue loss shook me to the core. This game rattled my belief in all of reality. This Michigan team was wrecking everyone. How could they possibly lose to Purdue? It's just not possible. Something has gone fundamentally wrong with the universe.
I remember in the week afterward my older sister constantly trying to put a positive spin on it. "This is good. Now they won't be overconfident and they will win the rest of their games." I also remember thinking she was crazy and that I was completely irritated with her.
Same here. I've "loved" many other players since--Anthony Carter made me giddy, even. But Lytle is still my all-time favorite.
Thank you for this. I love "The Teams" feature in general, and I loved the 1976 team. I have often thought that this was the best Michigan team of my lifetime. It's debatable, of course, for multiple reasons. But when this team was right, they just destroyed their opponents. I favor 76 over 77 and 78 because this team still had Lytle and Smith. Thanks again.
Agreed. I do think that if Brooks could get back to what he was the first month of the season (as I mentioned below), that would help. I don't think it would make a huge difference, but I think it would help. An extra offensive weapon would help everyone, if even a little bit.
Several players on this team have had wild swings in their play throughout the year. Early on, Iggy looked like Freshman of the Year, but then he's had a few clunkers. Poole has been a bit of a rollercoaster. Matthews looked terrific with his midrange game early in the season and then went about a month where he couldn't hit a shot any more. Now he's been hitting again.
Practically everyone who plays a lot has swings in their play. That's not surprising. But one that baffles me is Brooks. I thought he looked good early in the season. He didn't score a lot, but he was hitting 3's pretty consistently, it seemed, and he looked good on the floor. Through Dec. 4th, Brooks was 9 for 21 on threes. He has made only one since (on Dec. 30). I don't know what has happened to him, but I would love to see a return to his early form very soon. The team could really use another 3 point shooter, preferably one who won't play "freshman level" defense.
I left the frozen north and came to Savannah because I hate the cold and snow. But after you mow your lawn a couple of times when it's 98 degrees and 90% humidity while you're in long pants and a long sleeve shirt to keep the gnats from tearing you apart, it does make one think about one's decisions.
Meanwhile in Savannah, my wife gets a dress down day and hot chocolate at school tomorrow because it's supposed to get down to 30 degrees. Everything is relative, I guess.
The "team" podcasts and now this--terrific. I am looking forward to the rest of these immensely. I am sure I will want to argue with some of your results, but the best part will be reading the "eulogies" anyway. Thanks for doing this.
1976 can fit right in with these two seasons--all three years featured one inexplicable loss during the season and a Rose Bowl loss to go 10-2, if I am remembering correctly. I'm partial to '76 because Rob Lytle and Jim Smith were still there. But all three years were eerily similar.
I LOVE that you are doing this. This is a contender for "favorite thing the blog has ever done," along with The Climb series and the all-time team draft and a couple of others. I will be happy to listen to as many of these as you can do. To misuse Bob Hope a little bit, "Thanks for the memories." I, for one, really appreciate it and eagerly look forward to more.
I lived in Western New York for years and now I live in Savannah. The pic is sunrise over the Atlantic but not at Savannah. It's at the Outer Banks of NC because I love it there. I also used to have a pic of my wife at the beach but changed to the ocean pic.
Amen and amen. I'm replying too late for you to see it, probably, but I'm right there with you (except for the part about being on the team).
Can we please get rid of the OSU trolls that are flooding the board lately? They are obnoxious and they are out of control. I know it was already asked up above, but I have reached the point of desperation. I no longer want to read the board. When those fools are ruining the experience for the rest of us, I think they need to be removed.
I have found that when people are being immoral or unethical, they like to claim that other people are immoral and unethical so it doesn't matter. What's happening here is that Al Capone is being investigated for tax fraud and OSU fans are here constantly claiming that, technically by the letter of the law, his tax forms are in order and all of us who want him in jail just don't like the fact that he's a more successful businessman than we are and we should wait for more facts of his tax returns to come out. I'm pretty tired of OSU fans claiming that they are no different than me while they do this. I want Al Capone in jail and you don't and it has nothing to do with Al's successful business; it has everything to do with wanting some justice for once. Just because you don't care about morals and ethics doesn't mean no one does.
You can't really be this dumb; you must just be trying to be a pain. Assistant football coaches fail to get renewed all over the country every year. Do you honestly think that every assistant must have his contract renewed unless the college can prove he has been charged with a criminal offense? There were multiple opportunities to let him go. Stop with this nonsense.
My old age cynicism makes me predict he stays. My heartfelt hope is that he is fired. I don't hope he is fired because he is successful; I hope he is fired because I think he is a horrible person and I want a horrible person taken down. I have always thought he is a phony snake and this incident has just brought who he is into the light. He lied repeatedly at media days. He then claimed he did not mean to be "inaccurate". Of course he did! That's exactly what he meant to do. That's who he is. Do horrible things, lie if caught, get away with it. If caught in lie, claim you didn't mean to be "inaccurate", act sorry, back to business as usual. I am so tired of people like this being rewarded for being horrible. For once, I want horribleness exposed and removed.
Your last sentence is the problem. You don't care what anyone thinks. All that matters is that you win a game. Terrific. I have news for you: most of us don't hate you because you win; we hate you because you are horrible.
"My intention was not to say anything inaccurate or misleading." Uh, that was exactly his intention. He flat out lied with the exact purpose being to be inaccurate and mislead. This stuff is exactly why I have always hated this guy. He is a complete slimeball. And no one has ever cared because if you win enough, it doesn't matter if you are a garbage human being.
The Sand Gnats are no more. They moved to Columbia, SC, I believe. What we have now are the Savannah Bananas. Yes...the Savannah Bananas. I think they are a collegiate summer league team, as opposed to the regular minor league that the Sand Gnats were in.
Savannah, as the name suggests.
Pros: no snow, the weather most of the year is great, skies are generally clear and beautiful.
Cons: this entire area is swamp--92 degrees with 90% humidity is brutal every day in the summer. The bugs are horrible. Also, people here don't seem to know how to drive. And traffic is more annoying than it should be in a city this size because of the layout of the roads.
I had to log in to agree with this. The big money in college football has made them lose their minds. Conference championship games are about money and nothing more. The Big 12 actually did have everyone play everyone in conference but still decided they needed a conference championship. Meanwhile, we have giant conferences where Alabama has played Middle Tennessee State more times during Saban's tenure than they have played Georgia. West Virginia is in the same conference as Texas Tech. Morgantown, WV and Lubbock, TX. Rutgers is in the same conference as Nebraska. Piscataway, NJ and Lincoln, NE. Insane. And why? Money. This is supposed to be interscholastic athletics. But it's not. It's money.
Sigh...
Michigan lost that game because they missed so many 3's and free throws. But modern officiating drives me nuts. The first few trips for Villanova with Brunson lowering his shoulder and knocking the stationary defender back had me screaming at the TV. There was no thought of an offensive foul call. That's what the game has "evolved" to. The announcers even raved over how "strong" Brunson was. How has basketball turned into this? It started years ago with NBA guys "backing down" in the post. Knock the defender back, knock him back some more, score. It's ridiculous. It is not how the game is supposed to be.
I'll stop the rant now. It's tough to be an old man in a changed world.
Regardless of the disappointment of last night, the Michigan team had a great season. Last night, Michigan could not shoot and was not going to win that game shooting like that. But what a great season overall! I was saying it a couple of years ago and I'll say it again: John Beilein could go 0-30 and I would still want him as coach of this team. College basketball is dirty, dirty business. People may be finally waking up to this after this year. But Beilein has found success while staying out of the cesspool. I am so proud of him and this team. Thanks for the great run. Thanks for a team we can be proud of.
Switch Rice and Rudy T's positions and somehow give me both Grant and Rickey Green at point and I'm with you.
What drives me nuts about recruiting is that you can't win consistently unless you consistently get great recruits. But you can't get great recruits unless you win consistently. But you can't, etc.
You have to somehow beat the system and win without a bunch of great recruits in order to get a bunch of great recruits. But if you can consistently win without a bunch of great recruits, then why do you need great recruits? Because you can't consistently win without a bunch of great recruits...
It's like some Mobius strip of hopelessness. Or Abbott and Costello's Who's On First. I'm not sure which. But I sure miss the days of Michigan winning the conference.
Can one of the coaches on the blog or someone else who knows what they're talking about help me out with something? Why does Michigan never run quick slant passes? Can the players not run them or do the coaches not want to? Your pass protection stinks, seemingly even if you leave 9 guys in to block, so why not go shotgun some and throw quick stuff? Maybe they've tried it in practice and they realize they can't. If they just don't want to, why not? What am I missing?
Yup. This is probably my "favorite Michigan game". The whole "judgement day" thing. The total domination. The win over OSU at the end of the season was wonderful, of course, but in a different way. This one was so much fun. Thanks again to Dr Sap for doing these and to the blog for making this series a part of things here.
While we're on the topic of what we do and do not want to hear...
We spent the last nine months or more making fun of how awful MIchigan State is. We made fun of their 3 and 9 record. Then we made fun of them for losing out on 2 star recruits to the Sun Belt and Northwestern's walk on program. Then we made fun of them for guys quitting the team and transferring. Then we made fun of them for kicking a bunch of guys off the team. Then when one of us predecited five wins for them in the season preview podcast, we made fun of that guy, because there's no way they're going to even win three again. I mean, they've got a walk on playing defensive end! Then we made fun of how Dantonio will retire when they go 2 and 10 this year.
Maybe we shouldn't do that anymore.
"But Michigan State is trash. They didn't win because they were good." No. They won because Michigan was worse. Let that sink in a minute. So, I, for one, would like to see this blog spend a lot less time trying to make fun of MSU. It's not necessary when Michigan is beating them and it's downright pathological when Michigan is losing to them.
I was around in 1976 when one of the best Michigan teams of my lifetime lost to Purdue. I have never again taken a win over Purdue for granted.
I said "...such divided opinion on this matter..." As in people have a wide range of differing opinions. Yes, Speight is the QB. People seem to vary wildly in how they feel about that. We're two games into the season and there have been about 50 threads on the topic. In each one, the range of opinions is vast. I certainly hope everyone wants the team to succeed regardless.
As I said in a reply above, I think the reason there is such divided opinion on this matter in the fanbase is because some people are naturally optimists and some are naturally pessimists.
The optimist sees the Florida game and points to the pass to Eubanks. The pessimist sees the Florida game and points the the throw to the wide open receiver (after the audible) out of bounds.
The optimist says, "Harbaugh has chosen Speight; he's the best option; what's wrong with you people who are whining?" The pessimist says, "We're whining because Speight is the best option and he keeps screwing up and it's going to cost Michigan wins." The optimist says, "He'll improve and he will also get Michigan wins." And on and on.
It gets debated so much because people have different personalities, but also because this is a sports blog and people like to talk about such things. It doesn't mean everyone thinks they're smarter than the coaches. It's just something interesting to talk about.
I honestly think it's more of a "personality of the observer" thing. Optimists are seeing things one way and pessimists are seeing things another way.
As my father said, "The optimist believes we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears that this is true."
Unfortunately, I think you have a point here. Harbaugh said in the press conference that they have been telling Speight for ages not to do handoffs the way he has been doing them. Speight has kept doing them wrong anyway. This is straight from Harbaugh, not fan speculation. I don't think it's a foregone conclusion that Speight's flaws will be corrected.
I'll agree and add more. Michigan has huge receivers and even "huger" TE's that should be deadly in the red zone. If you go up high to Gentry or Wheatly or Bunting or even Black or DPJ, there isn't much a defender can do about it. I remember seeing Funchess catch a pass in the end zone with an OSU defensive back right there and exasperated because he was right there and still coudn't stop it. But with Speight, Michigan doesn't do this. Do they not trust any of those receivers/TEs to make the catch? Or do they not trust Speight to make the throw. Someone recently said that fades are basically out of the playbook with Speight at QB. I don't know if that's true, but it's unfortunate if it is.
I was sitting here in a bit of a malaise reading this during lunch and your last paragraph made me laugh uproariously for at least five minutes straight. I thank you. It's a day later so you probably won't even see this, but I thank you.
If I had to choose one or the other, I would rather lose clean than win dirty. So it's easy for me to love Beilein. He wins an awful lot considering how clean he is and how not clean much of his competition is. I know some people think "the championship is all that matters and everyone else is an irrelevant loser," but I have just never felt that way. I am glad Michigan can play clean and still win a lot of games. I am so glad that Beilein is Michigan's coach. Championships may be rare, but they will be very sweet.
It looks to me like Mason Cole is the most "irreplaceable" guy on that list. Kinnel and McCray would be right behind. I mean no offense to anyone's "backups", of course. And here's to hoping everyone stays healthy so NO ONE has to be replaced.
I don't think I knew that was an option. Thanks for the reply. You continue to be the most interesting man in the world!
I'll chime in to agree with this. To paraphrase a famous quote, ESPN is the worst sports network--except for all the others. There are things about ESPN that irritate me, but I still find them to be head and shoulders above anyone else.
I also watch a lot of college football games that I would not if I had to pay for them all individually. I'd never be able to justify the cost in my head for that Nevada/Wyoming game, so I can't believe I'd pay for it on its own. But I love being able to see it with the current system. It may not be logical if the money evens out, but...
Forgive my ignorance, but how do you only have TV "a few months a year" if you have satellite? I thought the satellite services required contracts of two years or more. Am I behind the times on that or do you have a way around this?
It continually amazes me how some people on this blog (one in particular all over this thread) think this is a video game. It is so easy to think of reasons why Michigan would not go hard after a player that others would. Suppose a high schooler says publicly, "We aint here to play school. Classes are stupid," do you think Harbaugh would have any interest in him? Do you think other schools would if he was a good enough player? That's just one example. I could list many more, but do I really have to?
"But other top teams are going after him so Michigan must be wrong." That is silly. We all know there are players that some schools will bring in that others will not. We all know that there are schools that will do things that Michigan will not do. There are people involved in this. It is not a video game.
I am so tired of hearing, "Michigan should get that guy," or "Michigan should get this guy." Michigan has different standards and different ethics than many other top teams. This is a big reason I love Michigan so much. Yes, that means Cam Newton's father is not going to let his son go to Michigan. I'm perfectly okay with that. I wish the rest of you were too.
I think everyone is pretty much correct here. Yes, those were mostly just "jump balls" last year, and yes, I believe it was in integral part of their offense. Why wouldn't it be? It was clearly their best chance for success. And it kept working quite a bit. There aren't too many college defensive backs that can stop that without getting a pass interference call. Last year, Michigan had a terrific defensive line but also Lewis and Stribling were not going to get repeatedly burned by that stuff. We really don't know yet if this year's CB's can make those plays. I expect that PSU will try to throw long (or as long as they can before the QB gets drilled) repeatedly this year against Michigan because it will again be their best chance at success, even without Godwin. The main reasons I am nervous about that game are that it's on the road (where Michigan offen lays in inexplicable egg) and the young defensive backs.
This thread is a mistake, but I'll contribute anyway. The 1975 OSU game made young me sob uncontrollably. My poor mother tried to console me, but I was unconsolable. That was the beginning of a hatred of OSU that has only gotten worse over the years. So I guess it's not the low point, if it has gotten worse, but it was the beginning. I have never gotten over my irrational hatred of them and I know I will never get over it. Michigan could win every OSU game for the rest of my life and I still won't get over it.
Yes, I have a problem.
The first MLB game I saw in person had Staub and Thompson go back to back to beat the Yankees. When I first read your post I thought you were talking about this game, but I think mine was 1976. Then again, I can't trust my memory on details like that any more.
One thing I find amusing about my first "in person" game at Tiger Stadium: it was also the first game I saw in color. We had a black and white TV. I still remember how awestruck I was at how colorful the field and stadium were.
I know that purists preferred others but Moore was always my favorite Bond. I thought he was great as The Saint too, and in The Persuaders. He was pretty much the epitome of cool for me in the seventies. Alas.
You have already read two of my favorites: Seabiscuit and Moneyball. I would also recommend Season on the Brink.
Our own Jamie Mac (James Macmillan), who is featured on the podcasts during football season wrote an interesting book about the 1906 Cubs and White Sox. That Cubs team could have an argument for greatest team of all time, but they get dismissed because they lost that series.
Jerry Izenberg's Greatest Game Ever Played is also great. It's about the last game of the 1986 Mets-Astros playoff series. I was younger when I read that one but I found it riveting.
I actually teach at a college now. That may be part of the problem. The vast majority of my students don't want to do anything and they don't want to have to. I'm trying to get people to learn and they don't want to. I also probably shouldn't post anything late at night when I'm tired lest I sound overdramatic. But I used to get thanked on a regular basis. Now I almost never do. More students just resent having to do anything now. Maybe it's better at other schools. I hope!
When I was young, I wanted to be Ernie Harwell and/or Paul Carey. Now I'd like to run a radio station. Anyone of you out there have a radio station you'd like to let me program?
Teaching will break your heart. I used to teach and parents and students were grateful for it. Now, instead of teaching, it seems I try to get people to do things they don't want to do, and I often feel resented for it. Times have changed.