UM Ath. Dept Paid for Skywriting on Saturday
http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2013/09/university_of_michi…
Seems to be some varying stories on whether the "Go Blue" over East Lansing was supposed to be a target or not.
September 19th, 2013 at 5:04 PM ^
I'll disagree with you there. The chicken dance was meant to mock Notre Dame. Neither the players nor the ND fans had anything to do with the series being cancelled and they shouldn't have been subjected to listening to that as they were leaving the stadium or walking back to the tunnel after defeat. It was disrespectful, imo. At least the Go Blue message wasn't disrespectful.
September 19th, 2013 at 1:36 PM ^
Dave Bradon is trying too hard.
September 19th, 2013 at 1:55 PM ^
tripled it's admin/marketing staff since Brandon was hired?
This smacks of underlings throwing out il-conceived ideas to justify their jobs.
September 19th, 2013 at 1:39 PM ^
September 19th, 2013 at 1:41 PM ^
here seriously need to lighten the fuck up. It was a funny prank, and probably cost 2k. So Ticket prices have nothing to do with this and we didn't "lose" the moral high-ground - just take it for what it is, a fun prank with a rival and go about your day. Way too many panties getting into binds here
September 19th, 2013 at 1:49 PM ^
You are not right. Brandon has clearly been concerned about protecting the Michigan brand and he went (or someone under his control went) and did something that directly affects the brand in a negative way. It was stupid. Not fun. Not funny. And its embarrassing to fans like me who pride themselves on not being douchebags (or, like me, at least trying to not be douchebags).
September 19th, 2013 at 2:06 PM ^
to disagree. I just don't think it was that big of a deal. I think it was a lighthearted prank and people need to chill out.
September 19th, 2013 at 5:50 PM ^
Agree....Lighten up Francis!!!
September 19th, 2013 at 2:09 PM ^
September 19th, 2013 at 2:51 PM ^
Its not a game when stupid pranks like this are endorsed by the AD itself. Its fun when a former/current player does it, or coaches joke about it, or fans/alumni. But when a body that is supposed to be professional and removed from this kind of stuff does it, then I'm embarrassed about it. Its not about what was done, its about who did it. Like I said above, unprofessionalism is unprofessional.
But like he said above, agree to disagree. At the end of the day its a dumb little thing. I just don't like Michigan being associated with dumb things, big or small.
September 19th, 2013 at 3:08 PM ^
I'm not saying that I liked it. I'm just amazed by some of the posters here saying "Fire Brandon! I'm super embarrassed... etc etc". Just don't understand how something like this evokes that much of a response.
But hey, the good news is our friends in ND will make MSU forget about this pretty quick after they pound them into the ground this Saturday.
September 20th, 2013 at 3:00 AM ^
For someone who prides himself on noy being a douchbag, you are not doing a good job. This entire thead is much more of an embarassment to the university then skywriting go blue in E. Lansing ever could be. Oh my god they wrte GO BLUE in the sky...the shame.
September 19th, 2013 at 5:13 PM ^
If the cost of this is funded by ticket prices (which is what several people seem to allege and are very chapped about) it averages out to $.02 per seat, right?
September 19th, 2013 at 1:41 PM ^
It's not that big of a deal. $5,000 divided by the 115,000 people who attended the Michigan-ND game would amount to a little over 4 cents a ticket going towards this trolling.
Just this past weekend we were laughing at how epic this was. Now that it cost you a penny it's an outrage.
/grumblegrumblegrumble
September 19th, 2013 at 1:45 PM ^
But I think it was generally thought to be pretty stupid before it, but chalked off as fans being fans. We expect the Department to be better than our dumbest fans.
September 19th, 2013 at 1:46 PM ^
But if it was just the student section ticket price that got increased to pay for this stunt, people here would be saying "Student prices are so low, they need to pay an additional dollar to show their dedication to the program." When it's you paying, there's OUTRAGE.
September 19th, 2013 at 2:25 PM ^
No one is complaining about the cost, it's the misuse of funds. Whether it be season ticket seat license increases OR student ticket price increases the money no matter how little or big should be spent on something better than this. Take my .03 cents or whatever it is; just don't waste it.
September 19th, 2013 at 2:01 PM ^
For me it's not the cost (although I think it's a terribly wasteful use of funds) it's the fact our Athletic Department thought this was a good idea and sanctioned it. If State did this to us (had somebody write Go Green) over the stadium and we found their AD did it we'd have an absolute field day mocking them for it.
I didnt think it was all that funny then and I certainly don't think it's all that funny now. We're better than this.
September 19th, 2013 at 2:20 PM ^
And it would cost, what, $50,000 to send the band to Dallas but Brandon thought the AD couldn't afford it. "Oh, that's only $.50 extra per ticket for one game." This guy knows NOTHING of the Michigan brand. I hope he gets booed next week as he glad hands around the field and tries to get himself on tv like a six year old boy.
September 19th, 2013 at 1:47 PM ^
This is a sad day for me. A Michigan Alum who's passion since he was 5 years old has been Michigan Football. Seems pretty clear the athletic department targeted East Lansing. What a lame thing to do and a complete waste of money. I will never forget this Dave Brandon. You betrayed me.
September 19th, 2013 at 1:50 PM ^
This is what you get when you hire a dolt like Brandon to be your athletic director. Unbelievably amateur and immature. Other than his superb people skills and local connections, I don't know how he made it to the top of the Domino's chain. Guy's just not that bright.
September 19th, 2013 at 2:16 PM ^
He may be shrewd, driven, obsessed with the bottom line, and arrogant, but one thing he is NOT is dumb.
September 19th, 2013 at 2:33 PM ^
September 19th, 2013 at 4:04 PM ^
So what you're saying is, if you spend time on this blog, you can't be making millions? Talk about illogical. I know of at least three millionaires (not pro athletes) who spend time, and/or post, on this blog.
Also, what does your first "point" have to do with your second "point." I submit: absolutely nothing. Ergo, to repeat myself, your post is illogical.
September 19th, 2013 at 5:12 PM ^
Ergo, your are most likely a huge douche.
September 19th, 2013 at 6:45 PM ^
Calling someone on the Internet a huge douche...just like every 12 year old with an Internet connection.
September 19th, 2013 at 8:19 PM ^
September 19th, 2013 at 1:55 PM ^
September 19th, 2013 at 2:06 PM ^
I've never been more embarrassed as a Michigan fan. The ridiculously crass halftime band performances were embarrassing enough (last year's show that had the Horseshoe as a toilet, or that craptastic Bond show from the CMU game). I've always thought we're above shit like this, but not only are we not above it, we've become the leaders in it.
September 19th, 2013 at 1:59 PM ^
September 19th, 2013 at 4:02 PM ^
Comparing Michigan to Blackberry???
September 19th, 2013 at 5:03 PM ^
September 19th, 2013 at 2:09 PM ^
I don't 'like' that we did it...I just really don't care. It's a sibling rivalry after all.
September 19th, 2013 at 2:20 PM ^
Personally I'm not embarrassed. Just annoyed that Mr. We Don't Have The Money To Send The Band To Dallas has the money for skywriting. Hyper-aggressive revenue generation only to spend the money on a stunt like this is obnoxious.
September 19th, 2013 at 3:47 PM ^
September 19th, 2013 at 4:22 PM ^
As was discussed around the time of the band, Dave Brandon, when creating the athletic department budget for the year did it with the agreement that the band would be busing down to the game. When the band refused that, it required additional funds to fly them down, additional funds that did not exist because they were already allocated elsewhere in the budget, flying the band down would have meant taking money away from somewhere else in the AD it had already been promised. Is dave brandon blameless? no he and the band director didn;t communicate well but I don't believe the AD just has some slush fund of money lying around, chances are that brandon when creating the budget built in a cost for sky writing because it went over well last year and since we were already hiring them to fly all over south east michigan thought it would be fun to do it over east lansing too. Dave Brandon isn't perfect but the vitriol for him on this blog is unwarranted as he has responded to fan criticism in the past and is never entirely to blame for what many people on this blog pin on him.
September 19th, 2013 at 4:49 PM ^
But if you're doing the budget and are doing the line items and you say "fly band to big bought for tv game = no money; skywriting over MSU's Stadium = money" you're doing it wrong.
September 19th, 2013 at 4:58 PM ^
How is that what I said? That clearly wasn't his decision, in the budget last year he had the band at the game, just at the cost of busing down, not flying.
Clearly they believed the cost of sky writing was worth it given the thousands of people who look up at the sky and see it, it has a pretty big reach on a nice day.
September 19th, 2013 at 5:17 PM ^
What probably happened is as we near the end of Q3, they were probably under budget. If any of you are actually in business, you understand the phrase "use it or lose it". With that in mind, I am a-ok with this.
September 20th, 2013 at 9:15 AM ^
The entire University utilizes a budget year that spans from July 1 to June 30, so it's actually the end of Q1. Then again, Athletics earns enough from revenue sports to return 1-5M annually to the University, being one of the few such departments around the country that doesn't operate at a deficit. It just makes Dave Brandon look like Shooter McGavin, which is how I will recognize him forevermore. It was cool when the skywriting was local and repped UM- nothing wrong with 'building your brand', as the suits say. Writing a message like that in EL is a different thing entirely. UM would like to pretend that MSU is not a 'real' rival like OSU, but a stunt like this, underwritten by Athletics, makes it a lie, and cedes the moral high ground to State.
For what it's worth, I'm staff here and work with budgets a lot, in an auxiliary just like Athletics. If I had greenlit a 3-5K expense for something like this, I would have been fired before even having an opportunity to reconcile the charges. I say that to give an idea who might've authorized this.
=
You're welcome for that, btw.
September 19th, 2013 at 5:01 PM ^
Again though, here's the point: Regardless of the behind-the-scenes process with the band, you have a decision made entirely based on money and with zero thought to fan experience. That's not how the department should operate. Nor should it be as hyper-aggressive as it is in revenue generation (again, at some point you're just alienating people) if they're getting to the point where they have money to spend on out-there frills like this.
Regardless of how well the sky writing goes over, I think most fans would trade it for not having the experience peppered with revenue generating things like giant noodles and Arby's stuff.
September 19th, 2013 at 2:17 PM ^
September 19th, 2013 at 2:56 PM ^
Right on. THAT is how a professional business person should respond. In the corporate world - Brandon treats the AD like a corporation - THAT is how an AD should act. And State looks great at the end of the day. Good for them!
September 19th, 2013 at 3:40 PM ^
You all cry so much. I don't know if they really paid for it... but if they did, maybe someone has a sense of humor.
September 19th, 2013 at 4:24 PM ^
Right, because its SO funny.
My issue is not even with respect to paying for it. It was just a dumb idea sanctioned by someone/thing that should be above that stupid stuff. I'm sure there are a lot of people with great senses of humor in the AD. Maybe just don't use your sense of humor on things like this, eh?
September 19th, 2013 at 5:07 PM ^
September 19th, 2013 at 2:19 PM ^
It's simply a reaction to Izzo mentioning the "putrid yellow that reminds me of Michigan".
September 19th, 2013 at 2:21 PM ^
September 19th, 2013 at 2:55 PM ^
Probably the funniest thing that came out of it was the Sparty in the original thread about the skywriting who came in and said "55-17, bitches." (Or whatever their score was on Saturday.) Sincerely bragging about your Youngstown State score is one of the most quintessential LB things I can think of.
September 19th, 2013 at 4:35 PM ^