Unverified Voracity KILL IT WITH FIRE
OR ACID OR COLD OR SOMETHING. So… uh… there was some mascot segment on Real Sports that featured this decidedly un-real Michigan mascot:
If you ever wondered why Michigan didn't have an anthropomorphic wolverine, wonder no longer. What is that thing? Who made it? And why hasn't it been drowned in acid? Answers: my idea of hell, Special K, and because society is falling apart.
Man up. This Notre Dame guy lost a bet, but owns it:
Your pathos is delicious, but respect for putting it on the internets.
Double pass in the sky what does it mean it means touchdown. A Wolverine Historian tribute to the transcontinental:
I don't think we'll see that at Michigan for a while since the play keys on people forgetting about the quarterback and what are the chances of that with Denard running around? Not so good.
Stapled together. A couple of commenters objected to the idea that "upcoming" Big Ten opponents feature freshman quarterbacks and stapled-together run games, and insofar as we know anything about Indiana after a I-AA game, bye, and the closest thing they could find to a I-AA game (WKU just transitioned to I-A last year) they are right that the first two offenses Michigan faces in the Big Ten look at least competent.
These are the stapled together folks:
Only 16 of those [203] rushing yards [against Ball State] came from a guy (Dan Dierking) who actually plays running back, although he's listed as a fullback on the team roster. The others came from two quarterbacks (Rob Henry and Robert Marve), a fullback (Jared Crank) and three receivers -- Antavian Edison, O.J. Ross and Justin Siller -- one of whom, Siller, used to play both quarterback and running back.
That's Purdue. Meanwhile, Iowa's down to Adam Robinson and whoever and Penn State's Evan Royster has 31 carries for 110 yards through three games, averaging just 3.5 YPC on 22 carries against Akron and Youngstown State. As a team, PSU is averaging just over 4 YPC despite playing two tomato cans to start. I'm sure they'll all exceed season averages against Michigan but that might not mean a ton.
Go wherever you want, cheer for whoever you want. In Rod We Trust makes the terrible confession that the author did not attend Michigan. Who cares? Michigan fans who didn't attend the university are paranoid about the depth of their fandom because they're in a situation faced by many schools in a Big Brother/Little Brother situation where there's a less prestigious school in state fewer care about because they're historically crap. The historically crap school gets all mad that people like to watch the football team that usually does something other than go .500 and asks everyone if they went to the school they root for. This has happened to me multiple times as I leave Michigan State, and the crestfallen look on the brah's face when I say "yes, I went to Michigan" never fails.
Fans who buy stuff and indoctrinate their kids who might turn out to be 6'8" maulers and fill up the largest stadium in the country are all assets to the program no matter where they went to school or if they, say, have multiple crayon-like tattoos akin to the ones all around me at the UMass game. The more the merrier.
The reason there are people unaffiliated with Michigan who root for it is because the football program has offered something other than pain and fleabag bowl games against Fresno State over the years.
Kicking in a sentence. Rodriguez:
"The guy from the parking lot has not been cleared yet so I don't know if he hasn't gotten his physical yet or if there's an issue with his eligibility."
HA HA HA I FEEL GREAT. Go for it, Rodriguez, go for it so hard. Third and six is a running down now.
Interesting bits. MGoUser sits next to Chargers scout and gets a largely positive take on the team, plus something we're seeing play out right now:
Robinson's defenses have always been a "bend don't break" style that simply count on the opposing offense to make enough mistakes for your offense to outscore them. He felt Robinson was very gifted at player development, even though his schemes are often too passive.
FWIW, before the season I got second-hand report from another NFL scout that was basically the polar opposite of the take linked above, stating that Michigan had nothing but Martin on defense and the immediate future is grim, but this was before the Denardening.
Etc.: Following up on the curl-flat discussion last week is a Football Defense post on defending it when you're in quarters. The answer is "you can't defend the flat." Pedobear invades Neyland. Soccer wins 3-2 in OT over Kentucky; should have gone last night, eh? Double rainbow Denard. MVictors interviews author of book on Michigan Stadium about… Michigan Stadium.
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:59 PM ^
Who's this Special K guy? Apparently he's the epitome of turrible, and his ipod sucks. Would appreciate it if someone could explain the reference.
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:11 PM ^
Michigan football is a public relations tool. Fielding Yost recognized this in the 20's as did Rockne at ND.
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<br>These schools WANT you to be interested in their teams because it is a vehicle to introduce their school to you.
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<br>It is hypocritical for Sparty to bash UM over this because MSU seeks their Sav-a-lot Spartans with as much alacrity as any school.
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:44 PM ^
I didn't go to Michigan. My mother did and my family had season tickets until I hit high school. I suffered through Chip Lohmiller's pooch kickoff in '86, the blown 30-14 lead against Miami, losing to OSU in Earl Bruce's last game and a multitude of other agonizing defeats. Now I live 10 minutes from the MSU campus and get called a Walverine constantly, despite the fact that I've been a UM fan longer than most of these douchers have been alive. There's more to fandom than a diploma.
September 24th, 2010 at 2:46 PM ^
Michigan is too awesome to be an exclusive fandom. I spend a good portion of my life working to indoctrinate my wife and kids, even though I have no idea how I could possibly afford out-of-state tuition should my efforts take hold. I look to the example of one of my good buddies who attended U of IL and spent the entire time a Michigan fan, despite growing up in Chicago, etc.
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:39 PM ^
Is a character from a teen movie staring Jennifer Love Hewitt. The character is played by Seth Green and he overcompensates for insecurity by trying pathetically to act cool. He uses tired urban slang, always wears headphones and is a doofus. Brian compared the guy playing the music over the pa at games to him.
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:42 PM ^
Thanks, being out of the loop on that inside joke was driving me nuts!
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:36 PM ^
Something about the transcontinental that seems so old school and right about college football. MISS YOU TRANSCONTINENTAL!!
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:37 PM ^
is fueling his inner Denard. How does he do that? Easy, Denard uses his dilithium to go back to the past and give some of it to Navarre on that double pass play against Minny. After all, both sport the same number.
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:39 PM ^
I love how he was the only one in that set of highlights to score.
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:47 PM ^
That's exactly what i was thinking. Also, how disappointing was it that Griese didn't score? If he does, Woodson would have been able to add a passing TD to his do everything heisman winning line.
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:39 PM ^
guy from the parking lot be competent
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:35 PM ^
I hope his jersey reads " guy from the parking lot"
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:42 PM ^
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:41 PM ^
I do have to offer up a criticism of the "Walmart Wolverine", or at least one of them. My tickets are painfully close to the section allotted to away teams, but UMass brought very few fans so most of that section ended up back in Michigan hands. One guy in particular was drunk and obnoxious. He spent the whole game booing the UMass fans, shouting "UMass sucks!" and "Go home!" whenever they started a cheer, and bragging about he didn't care if they threw him out. I'm all for cheering on Michigan, and I'm all for giving it to teams and fans that deserve it, but the UMass fans did absolutely nothing to deserve any kind of abuse.
It was obvious he hadn't been to many games, and he really didn't understand what supporting michigan is about. Frankly I would have rather had another UMass fan there rather than him. That is my definition of the Walmart Wolverine, and I can understand why people don't like us if that's the type of person they encounter.
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:12 PM ^
Spend some time in the student section. Everyone there attends the University, and this type of behavior is very common. Walmart Wolverine, Current Student, Crusty Alumni ... their drinks of choice might be different, but they all act the same once they've had too much.
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:34 PM ^
At the expense of sounding like a dick, what gives?
I get that Michigan is acknowledged to have very classy fans, and that includes the student section when compared to many other Big 10 student sections I've been in. That said, who cares if students, including me and all of my friends, decide be drunken and enthusiastic at the games? We aren't starting fights, most of the student drunks don't pass out, and all of them have the comittment to wake up in the dark and cold for noon November games and fire the grill at the risk of frostbite.
It might be uncouth to be drunk and loud where the "real" people sit, but I'll be damned if war is waged against drunkenness in the student section by anyone other than opposing fans.
September 23rd, 2010 at 2:00 PM ^
The fact that's it's "most" might undercut your argument right there.
The fact that being classier than MSU or OSU fans does not make one "classy".
The reason being, that there's a big difference between being "Enthusiastic" and "drunken ". I find that real enthusiasm rarely comes from booze...that's just usually loud obnoxiousness, not support. The same guy is as likely to be saying someone on our team "sucks". (And I find a lot of people who think "whoo, I was drunk, and soooo into it"...find out when sober, "yeah, I was kinda an ass, wasn't I?") And really, were you at the U-Mass game? Because I didn't see a lot of commitment from the student section to be there for a not so cold noon game. Maybe a 12:35 game.
The idea is that we want to root for our team loudly, maybe lightly jab and spar with an opposing fan, win the game, but still have the visitors saying that "damn, that was the loudest place I've ever been" (unlikely), and "but those were the nicest fans at any stadium I've been too...not like all the dicks at the other ones" (well within our grasp, and has been done before). This is of course even more so if it's a fanbase outside the Big Ten that doesn't come regularly, or from some far off place (say, Oregon), and tenfold when the opposition is say, U-MASS (or any other team that signed up for a payday, some fun in the big time, and some memories and experiences). Being a dick to a U-Mass fan isn't being enthusiastic. It's just being a dick.
To the OP, I'd say that you have to say something. I have, usually chastising them and telling them not to treat fans like that, we're not Buckeyes. And if you think the person is a threat, or a danger, (This guy saying "I don't care if they throw me out"), get security and have the dude thrown out. You don't even have to miss the game, or make it look like it was you. You can text security at the Stadium now (surprised they haven't announced that yet this season), and they'll come, you can look like anyone else texting a friend, and never miss a play. I've only had to use it once, but I think it saved a fight in our section with kids around.
September 23rd, 2010 at 2:33 PM ^
No, it doesn't undermine anything, and you haven't given me the reason that it does. As far as class goes, I don't know where I mentioned OSU or MSU as the benchmarks, but just about every visiting OOC fan and enough of the visiting conference fans remark on here, to the Daily, or elsewhere that we provide a classy welcome. This is more or less unrelated to behavior or drunkenness in the student section because I highly doubt very many alumni from visiting schools are sitting in our student section.
Second, I wasn't commenting on the UMass game in particular because the guy I was responding to made a blanket statement about student section actions that was far broader than the UMass game, nor did I condone being a dick anywhere. The line between loud and obnoxious support and being a dick is in the mind of whoever is listening...clearly people who don't like loud and obnoxious don't belong in the student section.
And I wasn't at the UMass game because I graduated last year, but having spent the better part of the last 5 years in the student section, I feel plenty qualified to offer commentary on the goings on.
Good day, sir.
September 23rd, 2010 at 2:36 PM ^
Second, I wasn't commenting on the UMass game in particular because the guy I was responding too made a blanket statement about student section actions
If you reread the post you originally responded to I think you'll find the other poster is pushing back on the generalization about "Walmart Wolverines" being classless by citing it's not just fans that didn't go to U of M, it can be current students as well as alumni. I don't think the other poster was intending it to be taken as a shot at all students.
September 23rd, 2010 at 2:57 PM ^
That could certainly be the case, and more than likely was. My gripe is with student section=loud and drunk, and the implication that that loud and drunk in the student section=bad.
I don't really have an opinion on the in stadium tendencies of Wal Mart Wolverines one way or the other as 100% of my games have been attended in the student section.
September 23rd, 2010 at 4:38 PM ^
drunkenness undermines the classy treatment of opposing fans, I don't know what to tell you. You've been to enough football games to see that the drunks are the ones who usually get the most belligerent with everyone...home and away fans alike. (And if you disagree with that, I can only guess you haven't attended many games sober). The simple matter of it is, it's usually the student sections at ALL stadiums that are bigger douchenozzles to other fans, and alcohol is usually the reason. (Except for Ohio State, where 80 year old women are drunken frat boys).
And "dickishness" may be in the mind of the beholder....but I think most people can reasonably see a line drawn. People should have to put up with loud anywhere in the Stadium. They should have to put up with obnoxiousness no where in the Stadium.
And we don't have to speak of the U-Mass game in particular. If you've been to 5 years worth of Michigan games (or more, it's not really new) it's no shock to you that students aren't all getting up early to put on their gear to hit the Stadium to cheer at kick-off. They're hanging around drinking an extra 30 minutes to show up to the game late leaving a half empty student section that doesn't completely fill till the 2nd quarter. You may be one of the yellow shirts there early, but don't act like the Student Section is some bastion of fandom. It has it's problems, just like other sections do. They may be different problems, but they all exist nonetheless.
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:45 PM ^
So, what number will Guy F. T. Parkinglot be wearing?
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:45 PM ^
That picture of you as a 1.5 year old draped in an ND jersey? Tantamount to child abuse. You should blame your parents.
P.S. Why don't you have any copies of the "We Are ND" video playing in your room? Shouldn't you be proud of that too?
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:41 PM ^
This is a video of a young-ish ND fan who a) lost a bet involving the UM-ND game, b) taped himself paying up, and c) said absolutely nothing derogatory about UM in the process of paying it off. (He actually carried the tune fairly well, given that he clearly wasn't into it. I can't say I'd do the same with the ND fight song .... honestly I don't know the words but I'm sure they're easy to find.)
The first item would be rather common the last couple of years. The second one, quite rare, and the third, well, given what you'd expect we might consider the average ND fan to do, I'd say almost unique.
We should be encouraging this kind of behavior from our rivals. A good loser is much, much better than a sore loser.
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:47 PM ^
I think they could still run it, once they bring Tate or Gardner in. That looks like how Lloyd played it with Henson, after Brady stepped out. Usually the first play for a new QB is a hand-off or a little shovel pass, so the defense could still be caught by surprise.
That said, I doubt it will happen. RRod seems to have the offense ticking along just nicely without it.
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:47 PM ^
Man, we've sent people to the moon, you can photoshop just about anything and yet, I have never seen a good likeness of a wolverine (except the actual stuffed wolverine).
It just ain't right!
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:48 PM ^
Supporting Michigan (or any huge school) is a form of geo-piety. It is much the same as being proud of being from the state of Michigan, or of being an American, or a rabid fan of frozen chocolate-covered bananas. That last one is a given, of course.
A decent definition from geodz: "a specific sense of human territoriality in which a people (or nation) develops an almost mystical, organic bond of attachment to its homeland (best expressed by the German term Heimat), giving rise to powerful and sometimes violent nationalist sentiments (Blut und Boden). More generally, geopiety can refer to sentiments of human attachment to elemental spaces . . . [Ed: Ann Arbor, The Big House]. . . The various expressions of geopiety are summarized and discussed by Bishop (1994), who seeks to divorce them from metaphysical considerations and root them in a psychoanalytic theory which dissolves a priori boundaries between self and world in the construction of human Identity."
In other words, people like to believe that they belong to something larger than themselves. It's normal, and there is no shame in it.
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:24 PM ^
I agree somewhat with this sentiment, as I did not attend the University of Michigan, but I have been a U-M football/basketball fan my entire life (never got into the other college sports really).
Mainly, what bothers me about my favorite sports team being from my alma mater's rival is that people (dumb, angry, fans) always assume I root for Michigan because it is trendy, or because they are good. I sat through the ASU loss, and the 3 win season, and while my fanhood isn't questioned too much anymore, the first question is always "Why didn't you go to Michigan?"
Well first and foremost, I didn't have a 4.0 so I probably would not have gotten in, but just because you like a sports team doesn't mean you should base your education on it. So I didn't even apply. Although, in this case it wouldn't be a bad choice. In any event, I'm still a Michigan fan despite years of awkwardness. You know what's not fun? Choosing between missing your favorite team's game either in person or on TV, and missing out on tailgating with all of your friends because you don't root for the school you went to. Moreover, said friends get really angry during rivalry week (inferiority complex) and it gets really frustrating.
That's why I enjoy reading and posting here, because for the most part, we have a group of smart fans who don't generalize. It's enough having to hear from friends and former classmates about how great the team that wears green is -- so I like coming here and not having to hear about how I should be working at Arby's because I didn't graduate from U-M.
Of course those jokes are just as baseless as the State fans who say all Michigan girls are ugly, and U-M is Art Fag U, just are the assumptions that all State girls are whores. (Most does not equal all).
So hooray for not rooting for the school you went for and in turn not being called dumb, a whore, or a snow plow driver, or even worse - a bandwagon fan.
September 23rd, 2010 at 2:16 PM ^
Well, when I went to Michigan, all the girls were ugly. Remember the joke: The good news is that 9 out of 10 girls in the Big Ten are beautiful. The bad news is that the tenth one goes to Michigan...?
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:52 PM ^
I'll have you know, we'd practice that QB throw back play EVERY Thursday. Only, we ran it as a pitch sweep to the right and throw back to the left. The QB? Bo, himself.
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:54 PM ^
just made my day
"WHOA....IT'S A DOUBLE RAINBOW ALL THE WAY!" XD
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:55 PM ^
Envision a speed/agility contest between Drew Henson, Jermaine Gonzales, Brian Griese, and John Navarre. Who finished last? The big guy, probably by a mile. Maybe that's why it worked so well, the defense paid even less attention to him because of his stereotype-reinforcing ways.
I loathed Griese as a starter before 1997. One buttressing memory was him catching the transcontinental and falling down with 30+ yards of open grass in front of him, I think against Alabama in the bowl game. He pulled it together. His scramble for 40+ yards against Penn State in 1997 was epic.
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:57 PM ^
never have I been so excited for the guy from the parking lot to deliver the goods. except that one time...
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:03 PM ^
Michigan has a good punter, really, in Hagerup. He's very talented, but admittedly brand new.
I'm sure Gibbons will step up eventually, but perhaps Denard or Gardner could pull off holding duties for a change, and give opponents something more to practice for and worry about?
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:04 PM ^
I've been a Michigan fan since I was 12, it wouldn't matter where I went to school, I'd be one all my life. Put differently, did anyone choose their fandom at age 18 when they attended college? Are they greater or lesser fans than those who've been rooting all their lives
Also, Lions fans didn't attend Detroit Lions University. They're fans because it's the team of our area. Just as Michigan is the team of the whole gd state
Also II, do ya think all those 'Bama/Longhorn/Gator fans went to that school? nah...
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:50 PM ^
where I confess that I grew up a de facto Spartan because of my parents and didn't realize until high school that A) MSU would be a poor choice for aerospace engineering, B) MSU would be an equally poor choice if I wanted to march in the Rose Parade with a Big Ten band, and C) football is actually pretty damn cool?
Because ... yeah. Attending the school did make me a fan (as well as force my father to stop cursing anything maize and blue), but it's far from the only path.
September 23rd, 2010 at 2:06 PM ^
many paths to the Truth... all of them lead to Michigan football
September 23rd, 2010 at 2:09 PM ^
I was an Army brat raised to love West Point football (where multiple generations of my family graduated and where I later taught). My Dad went to grad school at Southern Cal so I was raised a Black Knights-Trojan fan. Well, I don't know if one has to attend UM to be a Wolverine fan, but I can sure tell you that attending UM obliterates any love for USC! The Charles White Rose Bowl fumble took place my sophmore year (yes, do the math) and when we came back for school in January, Moe's had a store-wide photo of White crossing the goal line with the ball on the three yard line. To this day I have an absolute loathing of USC, my soul remains scarred by that Rose Bowl, and I miss having a more-or-less annual blood bath with the Trojans.
September 23rd, 2010 at 7:20 PM ^
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:15 PM ^
an alumni. Come over here and try to take my love of Michigan away from me.
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:15 PM ^
"One and a half month year old".
Classic.
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:15 PM ^
My Michigan fandom comes from a maternal grandmother who didn't attend Michigan but loved Michigan football, who in turn, raised a daughter who didn't go to Michigan but loved Michigan football, who in turn raised a son, who fell so in love with Michigan football that when he was eight years old, he swore to himself that he would do whatever he could to go to Michigan*. My son, when he is born early next year, will have painting of Desmond Howard's "Hello Heisman" moment above his crib because his father loves Michigan football and married a woman who loves Michigan football, even if she went to Eastern because she wanted to be a teacher. Michigan football fans are not born, they are bred, and in as much as you hold true, in good times and in bad, you are part of the family.
* - The counter to this was that I was apparently so obnoxious about loving Michigan football that my younger brother and sister decided to root for Michigan State just because they came to hate Michigan.
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:23 PM ^
You will make a great dad.
Also, no offense, but your brother and sister sound sort of not so smart.
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:55 PM ^
No, my siblings are smart, we each have different gifts. My sister was an all-American soccer goalkeeper in college and my brother has an emotional intelligence I would kill for in the sense that he is so easy going with people, it's ridiculous. Mostly, like any siblings, they decided it was more fun to annoy me when they didn't care. And I will admit, I was pretty damn obnoxious about believing that Michigan was the greatest school in the history of forever.
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:17 PM ^
Shouldn't Woodson have some passing statistics?
If not, who is yardage attributed to in "the transcontinental"?
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:21 PM ^
I didn't look at it closely but if second pass was backwards it would not be considered a pass. A couple of those plays looked like two backward passes.
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:27 PM ^
That mascot is a fake created by Sparty - only comes out for MSU-UM games at MSU.
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:03 PM ^
Yeah. That's what I thought as soon as I saw it.
That costume was created by MSU students so the Sparty mascot could have something to tackle to the ground to fire up the crowd when we played in East Lansing. And I think the person wearing that thing was also an MSU fan.
Last I heard, MSU was told they were no longer allowed to bring that "mascot" out anymore. I guess now we know where they sent it.
September 23rd, 2010 at 4:03 PM ^
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:28 PM ^
I saw this segment the other night on Real Sports.
It was late, and I didn't trust my eyes. Also, I was too scared to rewind the DVR to find out for sure. Seeing it now is even a little frightening.
Not that it's important...but why is it royal blue, and what is that shirt-thingy it's wearing?
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