football

I have a confession to make. It’s early afternoon on First Game Day’s Eve and I’m completely hammered. No worries though, both of the people on my floor who haven’t cut out early have no clue. No one does. All they see is the normal me, the guy that strives to be level-headed, logical, and mostly stoic except for when dramatic effect warrants a reaction…or when I’m really mad. So, yeah I guess I’m not stoic at all, whatever, forget that part. They see the kind of guy who writes longer-and-more-rigorous-than-any-report-he’s-ever-been-paid-to-write diaries explaining why, if you just look at the data, things just won’t be that bad and maybe even OK. What they can’t see is that the suppressed side of me, the Mr. Hyde Id that balances the Dr. Jekyll super-ego, is stammeringly, staggeringly, rockstaringly HAMMERED drunk on maize and blue kool-aid.

Since around the middle of the second quarter of Wisconsin v. Michigan 2008, my MGoPsyche has been in all out Sportscenter Y2K Emergency mode. You know yours has been, too. The lights go out, the back-up generator kicks in, a roid-raging Mr. Hyde Mark Macguire is bashing a hapless keyboard with a baseball bat as if it were a detractor who is wrong on the internet, and a crazed Dr. Jekyll Charlie Stein with a maize and blue tie cutting of circulation to his brain screaming “follow me, follow me to freedom!” yeah, that commercial precisely illustrates the mgoboard any time any news event has happened since 2008, probably sooner than that.

Well now, on this First Game Day’s Eve 2010, my inner Hyde will no longer be contained and he’s saying, “you’re dumb, Jekyll, Michigan’s winning 10 this year.”

Who’s coming with me?

That’s crazy, right? We have two quarterbacks therefore we don’t have one, we don’t have a running back, our linebackers run around the second level as if they were herding cats, and our secondary sucks. Look at the data, Hyde. When your team has a defensive outlook that bad and plays in a BCS conference, 6 or 7 games,8 if we’re lucky…that’s all we can expect. But, what about Missouri 2008, Tennessee 2007, UCLA 2005, and Wisconsin 2005? Here are some table points on each of those teams:

The common thread running between each one of those teas is the fact that they all had terrible secondaries, and it showed on the field. Despite that, despite getting unmercifully torched defensively, they all won 10 games in their respective seasons. In Wisconsin’s case, they got outgained in EVERY GAME and usually by way over 100 yards. Those are thourough ass kikcings, y’all. Yet, there they are with a 5-3 Big Ten record en route to 10 wins.

Teams outperform their statistics every year, tell me that Michigan can not. Go ‘head.

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Can I get a hell yeah?

Here’s the thing that makes life so interesting. The theory of evolution claims: only the strong will survive. Maybe so, maybe so. But the theory of competition says: just because they’re the strong doesn’t mean they can’t get their asses kicked. Thats right.

See, what every long-shot, come-from-beyond-underdog will tell ya is this: the other guy may in fact be the favorite, and the odds may be stacked against you; fair enough. But, what the odds don’t know is this isn’t a math test. This is a completely different kind of test. One where passion has a funny way of trumping logic.

So, before you step up to the starting line, before the whistle blows, and the clock starts just remember, out here, the results don’t always add up. No matter what the stats may say and the experts may think and commentators may have predicted, when the race is on, all bets are off.

Don’t be surprised if someone decides to flip the script and take a pass on yelling ‘uncle’. And then suddenly, as the old saying goes: we’ve got ourselves a game.

Effin’ A.

Follow Me. Follow Me to Freedom!

All of us—rivals, apologists, detractors, optimists, pessimists, and “realists” (pick a side, pansy—we all come to mgoblog because we have something in common: we’re obsessed with Michigan. We’ve spent nine months analyzing and rationalizing and consoling and infighting amongst ourselves as we descend upon the internet like thunderhead of locusts devouring every shred of any and every bit of information for insight into Michigan Football.

When the season ends, logos and pathos will have to cope with the exact same record. Your particular tact is merely a pre-coping mechanism. Well, Logos sucks. Logos tells you to consider the consequences before you have the time of your life. Logos tells you that the party wont be worth the hang-over. Logos tells you to make peace with never walking again. Fuck logos.  Gimme pathos. Heaps and heaps of pathos. It’s time to let Mr. Hyde out the box. It’s time to descend upon all these assholes mounted up on our maize-and-blue, rainbow-maned pegasuses pegasi flying unicorns, with blood shot eyes in a Zima induced psychosis. It’s time to lose our voices even if it means that we have to rip out our larynxes and throw them on the field*.

Blessed be the tie that binds us. Blessed be the Michigan Wolverines.

Go Blue.

*a bit much? nah.

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I had originally planned on unveiling a hype video that I’ve been working on for the last week and a half or so here but the swarm of MGoLocusts has already sniffed it out. Well done, MGoBlog. Aywho, at the risk of being accused of spamming the board, here it is in case you didn’t see it.

[Author EDIT: despammed]

I guarantee you that no one on our team is cowering in the corner, begging, hoping, pleading for 7 wins.

I have been telling everyone I talk football with about the Brock Mealer story, and how he will lead the team through the tunnel and on to the field. My only question is: Will he be televised for the world to see? I have told so many people about this, and I want them all to be able to experience such a powerful event. Sometimes the noon games run over and I would hate for anyone to miss it. Is there an alternative broadcast on the webz for them to view a dedicated Michigan stream? Will ESPN3 even start early enough to see it? Thank you for your help. I sincerely apologize if this is a redundant question. Go Brock and Go Blue!

Something has been bugging me for a while -- to wit, the fact that Denard Robinson always carries the ball in his left hand when running. Conventional wisdom would be to keep the ball in the "outside" hand to avoid getting stripped, but when a right-handed QB is running I'd imagine it would make sense to keep the ball in his right hand, to keep alive the possibility of throwing the ball before crossing the line of scrimmage.  I noticed on one play during the spring game that he dropped back to pass, began running towards the line of scrimmage with the ball in his left hand, then tried to switch it to his right hand after seeing a receiver break open. That act, having to switch hands, would slow down his throwing motion considerably and could lead to increased fumbles. Is it possible he's been coached to do this? Is it perhaps a product of track relays, when he may have developed a habit of holding a baton in his left hand? Anyway, given that he's likely starting, it's something to watch for this season.

Everything this guy puts out there is a wet blanket. It is like reading a column written by Droopy Dog, I am confused as to why he smiles in his picture. Big Ten alignment has flaws, MSU fans will be reaching for their spittoons (italics his), UM/OSU rematches make me sad cat

What a waste of a column. Thank God for Wojo.

http://detnews.com/article/20100903/OPINION03/9030430/1131/sports0201/Big-Ten-realignment-has-big-time-flaws

Disclaimer - this is not a religious post.  I need some super-serious advice.

So - I always wear one of my M jerseys all day on game days, no matter what.  Depending on what plans are before or after the game, this can get dicey.  Tomorrow is one of those times.

My fiancee has scheduled a meeting with our priest tomorrow morning to discuss our wedding (which is 11 months away, mind you) at 10:30 tomorrow morning (game is at 12:30 for me).  Is it poor form to wear my Cam Gordon jersey to a meeting with a priest, in a church?  And don't say "ask her" because I know that answer already.  Thanks for the help.

Also - the priest was born in Ireland, so if he's an American football fan, he's probably a Domer.  This makes me want to wear it more. 

Title pretty much says it all.  I will be at a wedding during the end of the fame and thought I was doomed till I realized I should be able to stream it to my wife's Blackberry.  I know there is probably a couple of options (iheartradio, aurora), but I want to know which one is easiest to set up and which stations participate.  I don't have the wifes phone to play with tonight, so I will have to figure it out in the morning.  Thanks for any help you can provide.