jokenjin

I'm tired of reading about recruits committing and decommitting whether or not we get them back. If they don't want to be here, then fine - good luck with your career somewhere else. Yes, it sucks to lose on (potentially) great players, especially to conference rivals, but I'd rather have the kids that want to be here and respect the winged helmet than those prima donnas. Would I have liked to see McNeal here? Absolutely. Did I want Fera here? Of course. Same goes for Newsome and Campbell. But if they don't want to be here, then fine, don't be here.

This is why I actually respect Pryor and what he did, He dragged out his recruiting because he really didn't know where he wanted to go. He had to do some soul searching and figure out where the best place was for him to go and then go there. I wish to God that it had been Michigan, but he chose Ohio State. I hope he does well there, just not against us. Even listening in his press conference, he apologized to Rich Rodriguez because he felt bad since he had built some rapport with him and the coaches. So do I hate that he's wearing Scarlet and Grey? Yes. Do I hate him as a person? No, I don't.

This is even an opportunity to same something positive about Notre Dame. Weis doesn't take "soft verbals" - you're either all in or not. I can't remember if Omar Hunter last year ever verbally committed to ND, but he's the only one that I've seen waver and when he left Weis washed his hands of the situation and looked for other players that wanted to play for Notre Dame.

While watching a pretty entertaining, albeit frustrating game between Colorado and West Virginia (Colorado pulled the upset, 17-14 in OT), I saw a hilarious Lowe's Coaching Award commercial that drew a lot of thought.

As I understand it, Lowe's has a regional coach of the year award that they give out to, uhh, regional coaches that do well. Lloyd Carr won one of these trophies during his last year here at Michigan. I think Mangino from Kansas won the national coach of the year award from Lowe's. Please correct me if I'm wrong. 

The tagline for this commercial was something along the lines of "this award goes out to the coaches that show character, integrity and strive for excellence on and off the field." I thought it was utterly hilarious that some of the coaches featured in the montage were the following:

Charlie Weis

Nick Saban

Joe Paterno

Gee, can we think of any three coaches who deserve this coaching award any LESS than these three? (Obviously, yes is the answer, but we can save that for another time, a.k.a. the end of this post). 

Weis absolutely berates his players when they don't do something well and then takes all the credit in the world when they do. It's as if he takes credit for them being fast, beacuse obviously, he's had experience with that in his life. Maybe at a buffet or something. I remember during the ND - SDSU game, they went to the sideline reporter after Tate missed a TD pass that was overthrown by The Emu and she said that Weis was quoted as saying "Tate, that's a great example of how you not running the correct route costs us points." If you watch the replay, Tate cuts and heads out to the corner of the endzone, causing his man to fall and he's open, but Emu overthrows him by a little bit. He had a shot and laid out for the ball, but it wasn't good enough for Weis. I hate defending Notre Dame in any way, shape or form, but that's horrible, especially to a young kid and then having it called out on national TV. I wish Tate had some more drops against us. 

Saban? That's obvious, too. We can start with the recruiting hijinks that he has made and somehow he got his huge clas to fit into NCAA guidelines by pretty much giving people the boot and helping them along, so to speak. Also, he has no sense of discipline, like removing someone's suspension IN THE MIDDLE OF A GAME BEACUSE THEY WERE LOSING. I get a lot of joy that they STILL lost to Lousiana-Monroe last year. At home. Also, let's not forgot his penchant of leaving teams, i.e. Michigan State, LSU, the Miami Dolphins. How long will it take for him to leave Alabama? I'd say, oh, within three or four years or so. For Auburn. 

As for Paterno, I can see why they used him in the commercial. He's a venerable old guy and finds a soft spot in your heart. A very small part, but nonetheless, he's in there. However, he's had SO much turmoil this offseason and even during the season with players getting in trouble with the law. Evans, who should be terrorizing quarterbacks right now is suspended until duly noted for some chronic problems. He's slowly losing control of his program, but I believe he's earned the right to go out on his own.

Seriously - why couldn't Lowe's used the coaches that won the damn award? Carr? Grobe? Mangino? Either they're not big enough names or they just wanted to go with the big name coach. Specifically, THREE coaches who represent the clear cut opposite of what that trophy represents. 

As for who DOESN'T deserve this trophy?

Bobby Petrino : sort of a Saban clone. 

Greg Robinson : how long until Kiffin coaches the Orange?

Phll Fulmer : because EVERYONE (except maybe UCLA fans) hates him

Thanks for reading.

So while reading ESPN at work today, the theme of the day seems to be hate. Some really good and interesting stuff. One team that seems to be Number 1 on everyone's hit list is Ohio State. At first, I thought this was kind of funny, but then I got to thinking if that's really fair. Sure, there are some good reasons and all, but as a die hard Michigan fan, I wouldn't put Ohio State at the top of that list. (Just for reference, in the ESPN article, Notre Dame is third, while Michigan is sixth).

One of the funnier quotes was "Michigan fans think Ohio State fans are classless. Ohio State fans think Michigan fans are arrogant," (Technically, this quote is from an article that talks about the biggest rivalries in the Big 10, but I still feel it fits well)

Anyways, I am going to compile a list of teams that I think I hate personally, as a Michigan fan and obviously, this is meant to spark some debate and probably everyone won't agree with me - that's fine. That's what's great about having freedom of speech.

** This is not meant as me spewing hatred and I'm trying to be objective as possible. The key word here, of course, is trying. **

1. Notre Dame: discounting the Ivy League schools, if anyone is more arrogant about their school, it's Notre Dame. The history of this school cannot be undermined, although Charlie Weis is doing a fine job of trying. I still think they are the number one most hated school, period, because of how many people jumped on the "Ha Ha - Look at ND" band wagon last year when they fell so far from grace. It's amazing that Weis can still draw in the talent that he is drawing and still not perform up to expectations. Yes, they are all young, but if there isn't vast improvement this year (let's say .500), Weiss is going to find that seat starting to heat up. Side note: Weis got booed out of Wrigley Field this weekend in Chicago. That's pretty telling, I think.

Side note: why is Jimmy Clausen on the O' Brien Watch List?

2. Michigan State: ah yes, the other school in Michigan. I hate all their "just wait 'til next year talk" and the fact that they try to rile us with "Appalachian" chants. We beat you. At your place. After you had a 10 point lead. Please don't bring up how "classless" Michigan is. Using an example from Brian, Jehuu talks about us being classless and yet it's him planting the Spartan flag at ND. At least, I'm pretty sure that's him.

3. Tennessee: I don't know why, I just dislike Philip Fulmer and Rocky Top. Probably because he "allegedly" voted us fourth in the rankings and caused us to have a split NC with Nebraska instead of having it outright (pardon me if I'm incorrect here, as 1997 was the first year I really started following college football and even then, I was still a kid, so this is all running on memory). Oh well, at least Woodson won the Heisman. Sorry, Peyton. At least you still have your Sprint commercials.

4. USC: I HATE USC's fight song. It's like the only thing they can play - no variations. I know people hate Michigan's fight song, but at least our marching band can play other songs as well. I also hate USC from taking two potential game changing recruits from Michigan - Ronald Johnson and Nick Perry, although from what I heard, Perry hasn't qualified. Ronald Johnson, however, would have been a game changer on either side of the ball. Can you imagine if we had him and Donovan Warren as a cornerback tandem? Absolute studs.

5. Ohio State: should they be this low? Shouldn't they automatically be the first on this list for any "true" Michigan fan? Probably, and in all likelihood, yes. I just don't know why - my gut tells me otherwise. It's weird - I want them to go 11-0 every year and then lose to us - 2006 was THE dream match up with us as the top two teams in the nation. I would take that every year in a heart beat. I can't remember who said it, but someone (a player) said that the Michigan - OSU game is the best game of the year because it's the cleanest game (really?) of the year. Both teams have such a respect and healthy hatred of one another, that they don't want to do anything to tarnish the reputation of this rivalry. Fans, on the other hand, will say differently. Yes, there are some chidings that go both ways and yes, both schools have those fans that cross that boundary, but for the most part, most fans, when you talk to them one on one, you see the love of the game. I'm not trying to paint a pretty picture here - there is mad animosity between the fan bases, but overall, I just don't hate them as much as the four above them.

Yes, I'm probably a hyprocrite. Oh well.

Honorable Mention:

Oregon: First of, I will say this - I LOVE Oregon's jerseys and I'm probably the only person outside of Eugene that will openly admit that. However, we are 0-2 against them and while this past year's thrashing hurt (especially with that Oregon dude who took a sledgehammer to the Michigan logo), the one that pains me more is the one at Autzen after we had demolished ND at home 38-0 the first time. I thought after we returned that blocked FG for a touchdown after Oregon had drove the ball on us that we were good and boy was I wrong. That game was a harbinger of our doom as a not-as-unmobile as you might think Kellen Clemens danced all over our defense and would soon show how much trouble we would have with a mobile quarterback. I think it's awesome that Phil Knight loves Oregon and they get all this crazy cool gear, but I'd really wish we schedule another home and home against them or meet them in the Rose Bowl sometime for some payback.

That's it for now - please comment away. I'd love to hear what people think.