It IS Great To Be A Michigan Wolverine
I usually drink Brian's fan-criticism kool aid, but not this time. Yes, students shouldn't be doing the wave when they need to be loud and support the team. Yes, the band should be the only source of music once they step on the field. But students, it's always great to be a Michigan Wolverine, no matter what the score of a football game is. After all, the chant doesn't go, "It's great. To be. A Michigan football fan."
The thing that sets Michigan apart from most other football programs is that it's great to be a Michigan Wolverine inside the Big House, at the bars, in the classroom, and in the real world with a Michigan diploma. If the only reason students should be proud to be Michigan Wolverines is the success of the football team... well, then we're just another student body that goes "WOOOOTT TRE$$ELL SUX!1!" when our team wins. And then boos them when they lose. We are - or should be - better than that. And that expectation is why it's great to be a Michigan Wolverine. As Bo said:
"When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing."
Cheer up. Rick's doesn't close when the team loses.
September 8th, 2008 at 3:39 PM ^
September 8th, 2008 at 4:42 PM ^
September 8th, 2008 at 5:41 PM ^
September 11th, 2008 at 10:41 PM ^
We literally did invent "Let's Go Blue." A hockey band member from the 1970s wrote the music.
September 8th, 2008 at 4:48 PM ^
September 8th, 2008 at 5:08 PM ^
September 8th, 2008 at 5:14 PM ^
also uses the "it's great to be a" chant. Oddly, they make it "great to be a Ten-nes-see Vol" rather than "Vol-un-teer." Seems to me it would sound better the other way.
One thing I think we can all agree on: the "it's great to be" chant is a victory chant, and should be used at the end of games only (or possibly during typhoons a la Central Michigan 2006).
September 8th, 2008 at 5:38 PM ^
September 8th, 2008 at 5:32 PM ^
September 8th, 2008 at 5:34 PM ^
September 8th, 2008 at 6:58 PM ^
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September 8th, 2008 at 9:17 PM ^
September 8th, 2008 at 10:14 PM ^
September 8th, 2008 at 10:21 PM ^
September 9th, 2008 at 11:00 AM ^
You know I personally dont have a problem with the student section with the "You Suck." It is a little arrogant but they have fun with it. I remember being in the student section when a group of students started doint that and it kept spreading each game. It was funny. As for the wave even if it was a bunch of freshman girls it has not been done at the right time at all during the last couple years. Do it during one of those long tv timeouts not just after a TV timeout ends.
Anyway the thing that did not go over with me the most was the booing when Sheridan came in at the end of the 1st half. There were a few guys that presented themselves as the best fans ever and then began booing after one play. Why are we booing a team that is trying to find its identity? Are we all of a sudden smarter than our coaching staff? I think Threet should be the starter but again I am not at practice everyday to know this for sure. Either way lets cut this team a little slack and try not booing for at least a while huh?
September 9th, 2008 at 6:44 PM ^
September 10th, 2008 at 3:05 PM ^
September 10th, 2008 at 7:15 PM ^
If you think our football chants are crass... I mean... seriously... have you ever been to a hockey game? Yes we are arrogant. We do see ourselves as haughty. Go to a Michigan hockey game. It is excellently amazingly awesome. The cheers that might offend the ass-stick you seem to contain that I can recall of the top of my head would be things like... hmm I recall 'Slutty Girlfriends, Ugly Parents' and the C-ya chant which I won't type in case people's workplaces frown on such things.
September 8th, 2008 at 11:18 PM ^
September 8th, 2008 at 11:32 PM ^
September 9th, 2008 at 9:52 AM ^
September 9th, 2008 at 3:02 PM ^
I'm a junior and I have pretty good seats, I give EVERYONE around me shit for doing it. My seating group pretty much abstains from that chant because it is flat out stupid. We also refused to do the wave, but for some reason it finally caught and the general mentality from most of the upperclassmen was "eh fuck it, this might be our only opportunity to do it all season".
Edit: I'd like to clarify that I am one of the rowdiest and most obnoxious fans there are (hooray beer?) and do like to have fun with it, but not when it is in bad taste. I usually don't get my voice back until the monday after home games.
September 9th, 2008 at 11:01 AM ^
September 10th, 2008 at 2:42 PM ^
its really just the timing that's a little off...it's not that the "it's great" chant or the wave are necessarily bad, or that we aren't proud. it's just that when you're beating a MAC school 16-6 it isn't strictly necessary to trumptet it quite so loudly. a different situation might require a different kind of response. we don't need to feel "unbridled joy" for beating a MAC team. think about one stereotype of OSU fans- their response to anything is always similar "yeah, but you suck" no matter what we say. they drink 20 beers whether they beat usc or ohio.
so of course we're pround of michigan, even if they lost to miami, or beat miami by 3, or 10, or 80. it's just that when we win by a small margin it's less necessary to bellow just then- doesn't matter what the cheer is.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:44 PM ^
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