Giving MGoThanks 2017

Submitted by LSAClassOf2000 on

Even though we still have the Ohio State game to go, we are already sitting wherever we are and taking stock of 2017 and needless to say, there is measurable frustration. I definitely understand it, and I definitely share it with people, but even at all that, I still am thankful that we have Jim Harbaugh as a head coach and I still do believe that overall, the program is headed in the right direction despite a rather up and down sort of season this year and our most hated rival coming into town in just a few short days.

First and foremost, I want people to know that no matter how much I bitch about this place on Twitter and even on this site from time to time, I still strangely enjoy being one of your moderators and I still strangely enjoy being able to help keep some version of order in the MGoCommunity that exists here. It isn’t perfect, but I like to think I occasionally impart some of my level-headed nature onto the community. There are times, as some of you might know, where I have thought about giving up on it, but I am also thankful for the role I’ve taken on here and it is difficult to imagine not doing it in some capacity. Even knowing that I am not the most popular person around here in some circles (not that I really care about that, of course – I kind of revel in being bitched about honestly), I still like to think that I’ve been helpful in some capacity.

Those of us who will be in Ann Arbor on Saturday are going to walk into Michigan Stadium, thankful that we are fans of this great school and this team and we will cheer for them, come what may. If you are like me and you follow the advanced statistics and enjoy creating probability matrices, you know that it is entirely possible that it will not be a happy Saturday. That being said, we are a hopeful lot and all of us know football is weird and ultimately anything is possible even if all the numbers say it isn’t terribly likely. We will be there all the same. We will be united as fans in our love for Michigan and our wish that they should, all goes well, beat the living shit out of Ohio State every year.

As we sit with our families and friends over this holiday, we’ll be thankful that we are where we are and we will be thankful that we have the support system that we do, but we will also be thankful that there is booze and football and we can walk into a room somewhere out of the way and watch some football, even if it isn’t Michigan football necessarily. For many of us, things like football are refuge and we are definitely thankful for that. Of course, as we get comfortable, we’ll suddenly be reminded that something is either cold, missing, undercooked, or whatever. At least there is football on the TV and, if you’re like me, you’ve left instructions on what to do in the kitchen after you’ve taken yourself off duty over and above the wishes of others.

I like to think that most the blog regulars are thankful that they can interact with a highly engaged and tuned in group of Michigan fans who spend an unhealthy amount of time obsessing about the same program that they do and know the rosters and coaches and even individual games going back decades from end to end and era to era. It is difficult to find that on other Michigan blogs, and really, other Big Ten and even other conference blogs. One of the biggest indicators of passion, in my opinion, is how much you know about a program, and I don’t think you’ll find a more informed and educated segment of the Michigan fanbase on all things Michigan than you’ll find here.

We’ll survive Saturday either way, we will all be here for basketball, softball, baseball and the rest and even in the OT season, we’re all here for the latest on books and movies and anything else people want to discuss because it does get a bit thin in the May-July timeframe. That’s the part of this community that I have always enjoyed, that we do not disperse when there is not much in the way of sports going on. This is a community that is diverse enough that you can find an audience for just about anything. I realize that this isn’t popular with all of you, but it is one of the things that I believe makes the MGoCommunity a very special and endlessly entertaining place indeed.

So, Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I’ll be here throughout the holiday, but if I don’t respond to any crisis right away, it’s because my family inspires me to drink. That’s why they are only over here a few times a year, right?

-LSAClassOf2000

Comments

quercus99

November 22nd, 2017 at 11:38 AM ^

I am thankful for LSA's comments, and for this community.  The feeling here is often more negative than I would like, but that is Michigan Football in the 21st Century.

I am also very thankful for the rivalry, it was the formative feature in how I perceive sports and fandom.

There is one thing that I do not feel thankful for- the change to the 13 week season.  I remember the old days, when The Game was the week before Thanksgiving and wasn't impacted by the everything that the holiday entails.

I suspect that I am part of just a small sample in the community, but Thanksgiving Holiday has put a serious hurt on my Ohio State week tradition.  I find myself getting into trouble with well meaning but completely clueless in-laws and relatives.  They just don't get the sacrifice of not going to the game, or the intensity with which I watch it.  After last year, I immediately went outside and raked their leaves for 5 hours.  Nobody asked me to, and nobody came out to help, which is good, because I felt like beating them to death with the yard rake. 

My wife has in recent years tried to allow me some form of quarantine, if only to keep her father from feeling so unwelcome as he tries to share something with me that he just will never understand.  The end result is that if we stay the whole weekend, I get pissed off about the hassle.  If we leave early so I can watch it in isolation, she feels cheated out of a full holiday, and if I go someplace else to watch it, her family feels marginalized.

LSAClassOf2000

November 23rd, 2017 at 11:48 AM ^

Yes indeed. To go to the game now, when it is here (forget in Columbus for a moment), are infinitely more complex because I basically have to explain to my wife's family, which is very much not a sports family, as well as other people how much this means to me and that I will either be there or it will be on the TV if I am not there. During last year's game, for example, I actually had to fend off requests to turn on movies from people because I had it on the big TV in the family room - I was pissed about that quite honestly.  In 2011, I left instructions on dinner because I had tickets and I had zero intention of giving them up just because people were coming over. 

Impact_Panda

November 21st, 2017 at 9:47 PM ^

Great stuff, LSA. I remember a few years ago when the quality of writing tailed off a bit on another Michigan blog (cough, MaizeNBrew, cough) and I just kinda wandered online for a while. Probably read a bunch of MLive or something. Then I found MGoBlog. Even though I don't post much, I'm thankful for all of my MGoBrethren with whom I can be disappointed with after losses and with whom I can be jubilant after wins. What makes me the proudest, though, is when we can all bond after a loss that's bigger than sports. If someone's having trouble in real life, this community will support you. It's a special place.

Oh, and beat Ohio State.

You Only Live Twice

November 21st, 2017 at 11:07 PM ^

Should stay in the top spot all this weekend.

So many good contributions today.  Larry Prout, John O'Korn. 

Harbaugh and staff, players, MGoBlog, writers, moderators, and the people here who you look forward to reading what they have to say.  

We're a diverse group.  We rally behind our team and our program.

We are in it for the long haul.  I've been watching for more decades than I'd like to admit to at the moment.... and hope to watch for some decades more.

Happy Thanksgiving!  GO BLUE!!!!!

UM Griff

November 21st, 2017 at 11:45 PM ^

For MGoBlog and the community here. We are so lucky to be around the best team and the greatest university in the world. Where else do rival fans go because their own blogs are so abysmal?

We have all been a little crabby lately, but looking at the larger picture we have much to be thankful for, and this is what I will think of as I sit down with family on Thursday.

ST3

November 22nd, 2017 at 12:07 AM ^

In my opinion, the mods do a great job. The quality of the blog would be improved with more mods. If more folks were sent to Bolivian for noise, objectifying women, ad hominem attacks (guilty, sorry Bando in case you didn't see my earlier apology,) political posts, religious posts, etc. they would think twice about repeating these actions. I wonder what the blog would be like if Brian hired someone to moderate the blog more strictly after games. 12 games a year, 8 hours of moderating, that's ~100 hours. At $10-20/hour, we are only talking about $1-2K. It would be nice to see as the blog grows, some of that ad revenue invested in improving the user experience (after the new site roll-out, of course.) But blog finances have always been a mystery, so I don't know if what I am asking makes financial sense.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
P.S. Employee health care >>> paid moderators

UMAmaizinBlue

November 22nd, 2017 at 9:23 AM ^

For winning seasons. Seriously folks, we aren't THAT far removed from 2008. Remember how shitty that was? Remember how shitty Hoke's last year was? Perspective. I'm thankful for perspective.

UMgradMSUdad

November 22nd, 2017 at 11:27 PM ^

LSAClassOf2000,

Thank you for all the work you and the other mods do.

I'm also thankful that we have Jim Harbaugh as head football coach for the foreseeable future. I don't envy one bit those fan bases (nor the ADs) going through the search for a new head coach.  There is going to be a lot of gnashing of teeth and rending of garments in the next several weeks.

JWG Wolverine

November 23rd, 2017 at 12:22 AM ^

After almost a year as a poster on this site, I feel very thankful.

I first came across MGoBlog in 2010, and besides occasional visits to this world of a site, I didn’t begin to appreciate it until I began visiting (and constantly refreshing) during Coaching Fiasco 2014. From then on, I read this site religiously almost every day, and absolutely loved the content. First the front page, then I began reading the board and diaries. It perfectly fed my addiction to Michigan Football, Hockey, Basketball, and Softball.

Well, last January I finally had the realization to make my own account. I couldn’t be more happy to have made that decision. Being a part of this crazy community has been an absolute blast, and no matter how annoyingly bipolar you all can sometimes be, I thank all of you other posters so much for the ride. Too many favorites to name, so I won’t name a single one of you as I fear leaving one of my favorite posters out.

Special thanks to the mods who take so much time to tame this dysfunctional MGoCommunity (especially you LSA, thanks for writing this post!) It is a thankless job as many have reiterated. Thank you for all that you do, and you deserve infinite upvotes on this post. Couldn’t agree more with it, and you deserve it for all your hard work.

And of course, thanks to those who keep this machine rolling. Thanks to all of you on the front page, including Seth, Adam, Ace, and last but certainly not least-thank you Brian Cook for all that you do for the Michigan family! Thank you for all of the MGoPosts you guys make. Your previews, postgame write ups, FFFFs, UFRs, GIFs, Unverified Voracities, Press Conference Transcripts, Interviews, Ticket Watches, This week in CFBs, This Week’s Obsessions, Looks ahead into the schedule, UM Hockey Corsi Numbers, Basketbullets, Hellos, Exits, HTTV Books, fricken awesome t-shirts, MUPPETS, everything. I absolutely can’t wait to read the incoming book, and be able to reread it!

This beautiful place deserves a miraculous Michigan victory on Saturday, and plenty more in a bright future. I can’t wait for that time, and all the muppet-mania that will surround it! I already feel grateful to be a Michigan Wolverine (and an MGoBlog Wolverine), and I can’t wait to see how grateful I feel WHEN this day comes.

Of course, on a bigger level. Thank you to Red Berenson, John Beilein, Carol Hutchins for all you do for Michigan Althletics and this great university as a whole off the ice, court, or field. Finally, thank you Fielding Yost, Bob Ufer, and of course, one James Joseph Harbaugh. Thank you for giving us times of joy seeing our teams on the field, and enriching all of our lives with your lessons off of it.

Thank you to every Michigan player and team that worked so hard for something as broad as the concept of this Michigan of ours. No matter how annoying we can be with our criticism, do not listen to Paul Finebaum and ESPN, who consistently misread our whining. Understand that no matter what we say, we still support and cheer for you guys no matter what. I am not very confident, but hopeful you guys can go out and crush ohio state on Saturday. However, I am completely confident and certain that you guys will represent the University of Michigan well. Go out and do what you gotta do, you’ve got 60 minutes of football to play, and a lifetime to remember it. You have the opportunity to grant a man who will be one of Michigan’s greatest head coaches his first win over OSU, and the world’s biggest and most simple opportunity to prove yourselves as Michigan legends. Instantly.

Don’t worry, I didn’t forget him! Thank you Bo Schembechler for all you have done (and continue to do) for this university, this program, and all of the lives you have touched, we still miss you very much.

Of course I am personally thankful for my family and life that God has blessed me with (And I am thankful for him)!

Before I sign off, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes ever:

“But do let me reiterate the spirit of Michigan. It is based upon a deathless loyalty to Michigan and all her ways; an enthusiasm that makes it second nature for Michigan men to spread the gospel of their university to the world's distant outposts; a conviction that nowhere is there a better university, in any way, than this Michigan of ours.” - Fielding H. Yost

Happy Thanksgiving, God Bless all of you and your loved ones, and as always and forever, Go Blue!!

Sincerely yours in football,

JWG Wolverine

P.S. - Yes, come to the open-air cathedral to see The Game on Saturday. And, whether you are at the stadium on Saturday or not, I hope to see all of you wearing the maize and blue, on your feet, screaming your asses off, and cheering this team on. Don’t worry, it’s not weird, just keep in mind 100,000+ of your Michigan friends will be doing it too!

mi93

November 23rd, 2017 at 11:57 PM ^

Full disclosure, I nearly posted a new forum topic until I noticed LSAClassof2000's diary.  Whew!  Oh, the negs...

For me, the usual applies: health, family, work, etc.  And I hope you all have all those things to be thankful for too.  In the challenge category, we all have our things - for me it's a number of family members going through some stuff - but it doesn't stop me for being thankful for the time I have with them or the laughs we use to power through.  Again, I hope you all have that strength and power as well.

On top of it all, I have this board - which helps with the downtime, which is similarly engaged in fandom, and which improves my grammar and vocabulary on the weekly.  While few things are as irritating as the power of anonymity that drives people to think it's okay to insult and harass others, so many here and elsewhere on the interwebs make me think, make me laugh (at times to tears), and make me nod my head in agreement.  I'm thankful for this oasis and the community around it.  Cheers to you!  And especially to the mods and those that do their best to keep this place sane.

I hope you all had a great day.  I hope you've got thankful things to share.  And of course, Go Blue!