One Frame At A Time: Michigan State Comment Count

Ace

After plum forgetting to rank the gifs the last time out, that feature is back just in time to attempt to pick a top moment from Sunday's triumph against Michigan State. I'm sure that won't be hard at all. It's clearly that Burke steal that other Burke steal the floor slapping the other floor slapping Hardaway trolling Izzo McGary's magnificent pump fake oh god help me.

This is not the number one gif of the game—you'll have to hit the jump to find that out—but this totally unaltered look at the interaction between Tim Hardaway Jr. and Tom Izzo is, again, totally unaltered and completely true to life in every way:

Good to see that when Hardaway's shot isn't falling, he's finding other ways to help the team win. Or, at the very least, trolling Izzo on national TV.

[Hit THE JUMP for the top ten gifs from the game, plus several honorable mentions because I'm terrible at making difficult decisions.]

Click the still frames and/or links to open each gif in a lightbox.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

This isn't really a "top gif" in any way, but thanks to some poor coverage by CBS a lot of people missed what caused Nik Stauskas to start spurting more blood than an extra in a Tarantino flick. Here you go:

Ow.

This looks to me like it was a terrible, terrible call (alternate angles didn't capture the critical moment when the ball did/didn't hit the line), though it did elicit a pretty hilarious reaction from both McGary and a guy I presume is a student manager (also in still form):

OTHERS: Spartan Inbound Derp, Really Excited Band Guy, Burke Score/Steal Sequence, Hardaway-to-GRIII Oop, Burke Layup And Yell, Burke Backdoor Pass To LeVert (Who Gets Sent Flying By Nix Despite Barely Being Touched), McGary Reverse Layup, LeVert Up-And-Under To End Half, Beilein Chews Out Teddy V, Burke Oop To Hardaway + High Five, Morgan And Hardaway Play Catch.

10. Trey Burke Falling Layup

The pair of feet in the above frame belong to the same man responsible for putting the ball in the basket. I don't think anything else needs to be said here.

9. Trey Burke Pulls A Rondo/AI/White Chocolate Special

Trey Burke is not the first man to pull off this move, but that doesn't make it any less spectacular.

8. Hardaway Trolls Izzo

Original version. Calling all lip-readers—clearly the two Michigan fans behind Izzo found this exchange hilarious.

7. HUG AL GLICK

Damn you, CBS—they showed a replay of the full bench reaction that cut off just before the hug, which was by far the best part. This is still pretty great. For those that don't know, the man hugging Beilein is the athletic department's biggest donor (his name is on the football practice facility) and a pretty wonderful all-around guy.

6. Slap The Floor, Trey

After his midcourt swindle and go-ahead score, Burke slaps the deck and then lets it all out.

5. Most Successful Pump-Fake Ever?

Well played, Mitch.

4. So, Mr. Appling, How Was Your Sunday?

Oh.

(Before I'm accused of complete, blinding bias: yes, this is a blatant offensive foul on Burke—albeit a very crafty one—and also probably a moving screen on GRIII. The officiating in this game was horrible for both teams.)

3. Burke Seals It

Yeah, Tom Izzo was not enthused (still frame below, so no need to click):

2. Slap The Floor, Everybody

TROLLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.

FRAMES OF THE GAME: Yoink

Yeah, making this list was pretty difficult, but in the end was there really any doubt about the top spot? I guess we'll find out when you...

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Comments

Michigan Eaglet

March 6th, 2013 at 2:24 PM ^

My extreme exuberance turned to fear for a fraction of a second when he dunked it and hung for a half second because I immeadiately thought of the last time he did that, but at least the refs let it go this time. Keep up the awesome work on these gifs Ace! 

Shop Smart Sho…

March 6th, 2013 at 2:36 PM ^

Why not do the exact same feature with video?  They look just the same, but have sound and load in a timely fashion.  If I can pull HD quality video from Amazon over my wireless, than I know it isn't an issue with my connection or browser.  That leaves an issue on the mgoblog side.  Until you can fix that, please just use video.

Ace

March 6th, 2013 at 2:44 PM ^

I keep seeing complaints like this and I don't get it.

1. Every outlet—including us!—posts video highlights. They are not hard to find.

2. Using gifs allows people whose workplace blocks YouTube and the like to see these.

3. The gif format has its own merits—I can edit them (see: Hardaway's trollface), for one, much easier than I can with video. Also, the fact that they loop allows one to get repeated viewings of a play without having to reload a video over and over.

I'm sure there are more reasons, but I guess my main point is that if you don't like gifs, don't click on a gifs post.

Shop Smart Sho…

March 6th, 2013 at 4:17 PM ^

You keep seeing these complaints because the gif serves very little purpose.  You do realize that you can cut and loop a video, right?  I'm sure Thorin would either be willing to do it for you, or at least write a quick set of instructions.  

As far as a workplace blocking youtube, I honestly don't think that is a valid reason for using an inferior product.  I'm guessing the majority of users don't have the issue, so why should they have to deal with it.

I understand that you can edit with a gif to do something funny, but you don't do that with even a majority of them that are posted.

And finally we come back to part that you ignored.  They load either terribly slowly or not at all for quite a few people.  I think the complaints about that have died down because the majority of people that had that issue stopped clicking.  

Now, I'm not 100% sure, but I think not clicking is something that is generally viewed as a negative on the internet.  I click on everything I can here that puts more money in your pockets because I love mgoblog.  But if you really don't want my clicks I can put my browser into full privacy mode so that you don't get any revenue from me, and I can stop clicking on Beveled Guilt and Kickstarter when you fire that back up.  I don't want to do that, because I think you guys put out a generally great product and I want to support it as I am able to.  But when you get bitchy because someone has what seems to be a relatively valid complaint/suggestion, you aren't endearing yourself.

Ace

March 6th, 2013 at 4:45 PM ^

I'll skip the part where you completely ignored most of my initial post and say a few things:

  • Yes, I'm aware of what can be done with video. I happen to have made a few myself.
  • These posts are actually quite popular—we've had a ton of good feedback on these. I'm pretty sure you're very much in the minority.
  • Workplaces blocking YouTube is an extremely common occurrence and therefore, yes, a rather big issue. I'm glad it's not a problem for you, though.
  • I'm fully aware that these load slowly for some people. I've made a very concerted effort to cut down on the size of the files, including recently changing my gifs to 64 colors, which significantly decreases size and loading time. Unfortunately, not every post is for everyone. People who are only here to read about football will skip our basketball coverage. People with slow internet connections should probably skip these. This is why we try to post a lot of content.

I think I answered your initial post with some very valid points, most of which you ignored. Answering with a threat to remove your support for the blog—you know, the one that I rely upon for my very modest living, and the one that provides its content entirely for free—is something I don't appreciate. I think my record of being very civil and reasonable in my interactions with readers speaks for itself.

Shop Smart Sho…

March 6th, 2013 at 5:13 PM ^

Think what you will.  I wasn't intending it as a threat, but I was absolutely shocked that someone who makes a living off of people clicking on their website would tell a loyal reader to simply "don't click".  I didn't appreciate that.  That was why I brought up my support for the website.  You were directly telling me to not support it.  That doesn't seem "very civil and reasonable" to me.  It also doesn't seem rational.



The only part of your original reply I ignored was you saying that mgoblog already puts up video.  As I never argued that you didn't, I saw no reason to reply directly to it.  I will now though, since you seem to think that is important.  Clipping out the highlights and making them available to users in video form instead of, or alongside, a gif seems more reasonable than simply putting up the gif.  

"These posts are actually quite popular—we've had a ton of good feedback on these. I'm pretty sure you're very much in the minority."  

If this is the case, then why did you first say, "I keep seeing complaints like this and I don't get it." when replying to me?

The only other way I know to answer that question you probably won't take well, but you've obviously decided how you want to interact with me, so I'll be blunt.  People don't like gifs because they appear to be lazy and intended solely to garner hits.  From conversations I have had with others, they rank only ahead of slide shows in the pantheon of gimmicks that are hated on websites.  While they can be used to emphasize a point or to help illustrate the way a play works in basketball or football, they lose something when the entire post exists simply to showcase them.  I also know a lot of people assume that you get more "credit" from your advertisers because we have to click on each one individually after clicking into the article.  I personally don't think that is how it works because it isn't reloading the page, but I have seen that argument against them.

 

I'm not attacking you personally Ace, but I am voicing my displeasure at this type of post.  It feels like the same slippery slope that the blog worries that Brandon is putting Michigan on with his WOW!!!1!!!1 GAMEDAY experience.

Ace

March 6th, 2013 at 7:53 PM ^

"These posts are actually quite popular—we've had a ton of good feedback on these. I'm pretty sure you're very much in the minority."  

 

If this is the case, then why did you first say, "I keep seeing complaints like this and I don't get it." when replying to me?

http://mgoblog.com/users/shop-smart-shop-s-mart

I figured it out. All the complaints I saw were yours.

DowntownLJB

March 6th, 2013 at 5:48 PM ^

maybe it's a short attention span thing, but I really enjoy the gifs and am happy to click on every single one of them independently for the few seconds of greatness, but will almost never watch (or even click on to watch a few seconds of) a video of highlights that are several minutes long.

UMaD

March 6th, 2013 at 2:45 PM ^

Maybe someone can explain the internet to me, but there seems to be no value to these sort of straight-replay GIFs. 

If you're messing with the image for effect (e.g, the first one with Hardaway/Izzo) , great, but I don't get the point vs a straight replay? 

Aspyr

March 6th, 2013 at 2:48 PM ^

Looks like Appling starts to smile at the end of that gif. Damn, going to miss Trey next year not just from the talent but he is really starting to embrace his sparty hate. 

JohnnyV123

March 6th, 2013 at 2:56 PM ^

That Teddy V clip is hilarious. Lots of great moments in this one it's a shame the Morgan and Hardaway play catch didn't  have room in the top 10.

I admit to being a fair weather basketball fan but I love watching these two teams play when they seem to despise each other.

MGoBender

March 6th, 2013 at 3:10 PM ^

(Before I'm accused of complete, blinding bias: yes, this is a blatant offensive foul on Burke—albeit a very crafty one—and also probably a moving screen on GRIII. The officiating in this game was horrible for both teams.

It wouldn't be a post on MGoBlog without bitching about officials.

A foul could be called on Appling. He puts his forearm to Burke's hip, which is considered an "automatic" foul. Of course, it's not always called, but Burke was fouled first. They let that go, so they let Burke's kinda push-off go. It's hard to tell from a grainy gif how much he really pushed off before the screen caused more of the contact.

(People may think I'm trolling with the officials comments. I'm not saying there aren't missed calls. However, as somone who knows the intricacies of the rules and officiating mechanics, I try to provide an added insight to the board. Hopefully that effort - even if you don't agree - is appreciated.)

 

Naked Bootlegger

March 6th, 2013 at 3:31 PM ^

Appling probably did foul first on this play, but you have to admit that Trey has mastered the art of absorbing contact while dribbling, lifting his shoulders as he "fights" his way through the contact, yet somehow is able to use his forearm to ward off the defender ever so subtly (sometimes not so subtly).   My eyes are always attracted to his upper body shrugging motion first, so I often don't catch the forearm action.   It's a subtle, yet smart, move.    And it usually is in response to initial contact by the defender.

 

MI Expat NY

March 6th, 2013 at 3:33 PM ^

I agree with you.  MSU and Ohio State play an aggressive form of on the ball defense.  Officials can end that early by calling a couple of what Bill Rafferty would term a "nickel-dimer."  But if they let it go, both the offensive and defensive player is given more leeway the rest of the game.  Typically you'll only get an offensive fould call when the defensive player is clearly set or there's a full arm extension push-off.  Those little half arm push-offs generally won't be called when the the officials allow the defender  to ride your hip all over the court.  

MGoWestCoast

March 6th, 2013 at 3:47 PM ^

I didn't catch this live, but Timmy clearly dunks with two hands, travels 5 feet or so on the way down, and then catches the ball in the breadbasket before it bounces.  Are we sure he should have only received 2 points for that manuever?  I don't have a rulebook handy.

Blue in Seattle

March 6th, 2013 at 5:00 PM ^

damned if you don't.

I enjoy this GIF content.  When it loaded automatically before I didn't have a problem and kind of liked that eventually they all loaded and I just had to scroll up and down to watch each one, kind of like, "hey there's a little wait to get it going, but then it's all pretty cool".  Since the "One Frame at a Time" let's you know it's a Gif a Palooza there was control as an end user.

Reading a few of the comments about making them video clips doesn't make much sense to me, they are too short to really need sound, or be an adequate "sit back and watch the highlights" which of course are in multiple places also.

Having them in the shadow boxes gives even more control, that I don't think was necessary, but does provide control so I understood that.

Guess Haters gonna Hate.

And also, I pronounce GIF with a hard G since using the soft J sounds makes it sound like I'm watching a crappy peanut butter.  And yes I understand Bob Berry wanted people to pronounce it JIF, LINK Hard sounds are easier to hear, which is probably why it is J-Peg and not J-Pheg.  Anyway, I guess I don't agree with Strong Bad either on this issue.

lighten up people, it's a free digital newspaper fergodsakes!

MGoRossGrad

March 6th, 2013 at 5:26 PM ^

Anything Burke-related wins this week.

But the "So, Mr. Appling, How Was Your Sunday?"  was my favorite.  Yes, it's not a very clean pick or drive, but it's so representative of how we stepped it up and were the aggressors.  Wanna guard Trey Burke?  Have fun with that, Appling.  BOOM.

Blue and Joe

March 6th, 2013 at 5:31 PM ^

I keep watching #4 and I don't see the foul. I mean, I see the foul, but I don't see a foul that ever gets called. Even with a good officiating crew. This is not even close to some of the other stuff he gets away with.

champswest

March 6th, 2013 at 5:48 PM ^

I was thinking at the time, shouldn't that be 3 fouls and 3 one-and-one free throw attempts?  I mean, to get one guy up in the air is one thing, but Mitch had 60% of all available Spartys flying in the air.  What would have been even funnier would have been if Mitch had ducked down low and all three Spartys crash into each other and bounce away.  I think I saw that once in a Three Stooges flick.