I like this analogy. Ryan Day strikes me as the kind of guy who would take the tiniest perceived slight and hold onto it to the point that he'd go to the trouble of stacking a bunch of bricks in a moldy catacomb *just* on the off chance that he *might* get to kill you with them someday.

"The thousand injuries of Harbaugh I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured upon pointing out that my team was clearly breaking the rules during the COVID shutdown I vowed revenge."

And, to be real, if someone promised me a bottle of Blanton's, I'd probably follow them down there.

+1, would go +10 if i could.

It's the MGoBlog Curse. The writers latch onto a bit and then beat it into the ground.

The only reason we're all having so much fun this season is because the OSU game is looming every bit as large as it should be.  If it wasn't this important, how much fun would we have had?

Anyone that thinks last year, or the last 47 years, has something to do with Saturday's game is a moron.  Yeah, pressure has a way of building itself up.  It also has a way of over-burdening itself - this game has been lost so often, where's the pressure to win it anymore?

I am still somewhat bummed about the 9-0-3 year. We were so good and had no business not winning those three ties outright. 

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.

Yep, this season has been a lot of fun. Frustrating at times, but its been really fun to watch this team get better and better. That was the predominant "positive" outlook on the season for a lot of people. Most said they would win maybe 6-7 games at the most and even the positive people said they just wanted to see the team improve and play hard each week. Now they are sitting with 1 loss and people are still upset. This place is going to be brutal if OSU beats them bad again this year, which almost every person would have expected pre-season. 

I mean, compared to a loss, no, but essentially every positive statement ended with "but of course none of this is going to matter against Ohio State." The entire theme was "we can't ever enjoy a season because the last game is a guaranteed loss to Ohio State". If that's not a downer, what is?

I mean, this is from the damn write-up:

Michigan is #4 in SP+, and yet are 8.3 points behind Ohio State, which is huge. Hard to be happy about being #4 because we have a Sword of Damocles. 

So because OSU is one of the top 3 teams in the country one shouldn't be excited that UM is #4 and finishing last year (checks notes) 65th.

I mean, I'm inclined to cut Seth and Brian a ton of slack and love what they do here but I stopped listening to these when I went on my morning runs because I'd inevitably just be scaring others when I blurted out "oh for fuck's sake" a half-dozen times a listen.

I like that attitude. I mean I get it - Ohio State is a juggernaut and they have our number. I'm keenly aware of the situation and part of me can't stand to watch another meltdown, so I'd rather invest my money than my emotions at this point.  But, I think this sad attitude and 'doom' talk is weak. 

And you're right: these punks aren't unbeatable. They lost to a pretty meh Oregon team.  A beat-up Penn State team and a hard-luck Nebraska team both kept it close and were potentially within striking distance. So, if they can do it, why can't Michigan do it and go a step further? ( I would also like to thank our Spartan friends for essentially lying down on the field against Ohio State last week, giving them the opportunity to rest all of their key players! Do you really hate Michigan that much, you couldn't even ding up the Buckeyes a little for us?  While we're on the topic of ancient Greece: that performance was very un-Spartan-like).

If we're gonna go down, go down swinging. Go for the glory and if you don't get it, go down with some guts and pride. Just play your ass off.

Ceterum autem censeo Columbium esse Denardam