I appreciate the mostly respectful dialogue on this forum about a complex and difficult topic. It is refreshing to see that people with differing views can engage in discussion without the all to common practice of shutting out ideas and reducing complicated human existence and society to simple labels and if/then equations. As to the Yost building, I am personally conflicted about the renaming prospect but favor keeping it. For me, the name and building represents the shared experience with other students and fans during my undergraduate days of UM sports fandom. That thread runs forward into later adulthood and continues to exist as part of this blog, as we are inheritors of Yost's legacy by celebrating Michigan athletic excellence. However, I recognize that we also inherit his legacy of participation in racist practices and further that his name may specifically remind others of some of the terrible manifestations of it in his time and still in ours. Isn't there a way to reconcile both? Many today would say no, but I disagree. Can't we keep the Yost name for the good parts it represents and still address the legacy of racism? That could happen by naming a new building for a minority hero, or erecting a new statue of a civil rights leader in front, or something else that shows love and reconciliation not anger and destruction. As others have written, we are all flawed humans-- each of us has only to review the last week of our personal lives to find examples of anger, impatience, unkindness, bias, rudeness, hostility, greed, pride, slander. I know I certainly don't deserve a statue or building name, based on my behavior at home even last night. I look to Yost and Michigan athletics for community and enjoyment and for aspiring to something greater than my individual shortcomings. Let's do that by having these discussions, by creating healthier society for all participants. I think it is more powerful for Yost in 2021 to represent a thread of community uniting us all-- in our difficult past moving toward our difficult future. Yost the man's time is gone, and now it is our responsibility to shape what it means to be a community of Michigan fans. Yost the building's time continues on: I would rather witness change in what that represents than attempting to lose touch with the past.
Thank you, Brian, for providing such consistently unique and entertaining content for this slice of the Michigan sports community. Like others on this thread, I have read consistently for many years without commenting but felt drawn to this post to express my gratitude for adding such color and insight into my experience as a Michigan sports fan. While I perused some of the other blogs referenced in this post when they were active, my attention to many of them waned before the life of the blog did. Not so, this blog. Like a good local bookstore with character and value in the time of Amazon, MGoBlog remains valuable in the time of Twitter. This is not to imply imagery of dust and cobwebs, but of a meaning for its denizens that transcends the vagaries of medium. Ah, fuck it, let's play some football!
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I appreciate the mostly respectful dialogue on this forum about a complex and difficult topic. It is refreshing to see that people with differing views can engage in discussion without the all to common practice of shutting out ideas and reducing complicated human existence and society to simple labels and if/then equations. As to the Yost building, I am personally conflicted about the renaming prospect but favor keeping it. For me, the name and building represents the shared experience with other students and fans during my undergraduate days of UM sports fandom. That thread runs forward into later adulthood and continues to exist as part of this blog, as we are inheritors of Yost's legacy by celebrating Michigan athletic excellence. However, I recognize that we also inherit his legacy of participation in racist practices and further that his name may specifically remind others of some of the terrible manifestations of it in his time and still in ours. Isn't there a way to reconcile both? Many today would say no, but I disagree. Can't we keep the Yost name for the good parts it represents and still address the legacy of racism? That could happen by naming a new building for a minority hero, or erecting a new statue of a civil rights leader in front, or something else that shows love and reconciliation not anger and destruction. As others have written, we are all flawed humans-- each of us has only to review the last week of our personal lives to find examples of anger, impatience, unkindness, bias, rudeness, hostility, greed, pride, slander. I know I certainly don't deserve a statue or building name, based on my behavior at home even last night. I look to Yost and Michigan athletics for community and enjoyment and for aspiring to something greater than my individual shortcomings. Let's do that by having these discussions, by creating healthier society for all participants. I think it is more powerful for Yost in 2021 to represent a thread of community uniting us all-- in our difficult past moving toward our difficult future. Yost the man's time is gone, and now it is our responsibility to shape what it means to be a community of Michigan fans. Yost the building's time continues on: I would rather witness change in what that represents than attempting to lose touch with the past.
Thank you, Brian, for providing such consistently unique and entertaining content for this slice of the Michigan sports community. Like others on this thread, I have read consistently for many years without commenting but felt drawn to this post to express my gratitude for adding such color and insight into my experience as a Michigan sports fan. While I perused some of the other blogs referenced in this post when they were active, my attention to many of them waned before the life of the blog did. Not so, this blog. Like a good local bookstore with character and value in the time of Amazon, MGoBlog remains valuable in the time of Twitter. This is not to imply imagery of dust and cobwebs, but of a meaning for its denizens that transcends the vagaries of medium. Ah, fuck it, let's play some football!