As we gear up to face Ohio State in a few short days and as many of us gear up to face our families tomorrow and over this long Thanksgiving weekend, I felt this might be a good time to give a little thanks for having this space called MGoBlog.

Particularly in a fall like this one, when the football season has been disappointing to say the least, it has been even more important for myself and hopefully others to have a place where we can express that frustration and talk about the direction we would like our football program to take moving forward after a season which, on paper, will likely not end in a bowl of any kind.

Personally, this site has provided catharsis as well as some therapy with a dash of perspective over the course of this fall, and I would like to thank everyone here for that. It has been a rough stretch, but we are probably the top end of engagement as Michigan fans go and we do seem to keep ourselves involved regardless, and we should be thankful that this community has that sort of glue, if you will. I am sure that, as football faces a future with some likely changes in its leadership, not to mention the changes which have already occurred in the athletic department, we all essentially want the same thing – the success of the department and football, but really all of our varsity sports as well. Leaders and best throughout.

I know that many of us have expressed a bit of hope as well, now that basketball is getting off the ground for what looks to be another competitive and exciting season, that we will be able to balance our feelings about football with the promise of basketball. Hopefully, we can indeed do that and through the trials and tribulations of that season, we’ll be here just the same – rejoicing in one thread, commiserating in another, but a community through all of it. That’s the idea anyway. Sometimes, the basketball threads get a little testy, particularly when there is a frustrating stretch of play or a close loss, but I think the value in having this space to express thoughts remains even in those cases.

We’ve seen many analyses, many threads about coaching candidates and the like in the last couple months, all of it an attempt to understand Michigan’s position in the world, but all of it also being an expression of how much passion there is around Michigan athletics here. Good or bad, insightful or not so much, it comes back to the collective desire to see Michigan succeed. I am definitely thankful to be part of a group which cares as deeply as I do about this very thing. It is one of the things which makes MGoBlog something special and – as we have seen, powerful – in the Michigan blogosphere.

I would also like to thank the University itself for the education and opportunities it has afforded me in my life, but also the many people that I knew growing up – from my mother and so on down the line – who took the time to impress upon me the culture of Michigan and to show me just how special and institution it is. This blog also recognizes that, which is why it is so easy for me to hang around here even if, in the role of moderator, I sometimes seem as if I am about to tear my hair out or indeed someone else’s hair. It is because I know that we want the same thing at the end of the day.

Many of us here will sit down with our families this weekend and give thanks for this, that and the other thing, hopefully this space is somewhere on that list of “other things”. It will be for me as a place which has made a painful fall much less painful on many levels. Even if we don’t like our chances on paper on Saturday, I am sure we’ll cheer on our Wolverines all the same and, win or lose, we’ll congregate her after the game to discuss and dissect, but also to be around – even if virtually – folks much like ourselves.

Have an excellent Thanksgiving holiday, MGoBlog.

-LSAClassOf2000