Thoughts on Entitlement

extremely well said sir. Agree 100%

He's a great older brother, and a good enough father that he doesn't have time to post as much as I wish he could.

Agreed, very well said.  We must learn to have high expectations while at the same time appreciating every victory -- even over the worst of the conference.  Basketball games are all losses until they've been won.

Kansas has been good at basketball since as long as I can remember and they've got their syndrome where every win is just expected, with a dash of satisfaction, but losses are soul-crushingly devastating.  It's taken us less than a year to get to that point (IMO) and I think as fans, we do need to keep some perspective:  this is the best bball season we've seen since the early 90s and 60-80% of our players on the floor at any given time are true freshman.  That's pretty marvelous.  And while Wednesday night was disappointing, and upsetting, the fact remains that this is very much a talented group of student-athletes that we have the pleasure (admittedly sometimes mispleasure *shrugs*) of watching.

We can absolutely beat State Sunday.  What should we all do?  We should watch the game, and cheer for our team.  There's really nothing else to it.  I hope everyone else is getting excited for a wild March, perhaps the wildest we've seen if the post-season continues to be as crazy as the regular season has been.

Yes it seems that in sports the joy is distributed as a zero sum game.  Their joy equals our misery.  Yet, joy leans to the positive overall due to our appreciation of the beauty of the game.  Mgoblog adds to my joy by helping me to have a deeper understanding and appreciation of the sports that I follow here with my fellow M fans.  

PS  I still would rather win.

Nicely put. My disgust at that loss was tempered by thinking of the Penn State players, coaches and fans: the players played harder and savvier, the coaches had them better prepared, and fans who showed up for a game that was a likely blowout all deserved that experience. I'm sorry it was at Michigan's expense but hey, hats off to the Nittanys.

I'll save unmitigated misery for a loss on Saturday – and hopefully won't need it at all.

Whether I'm watching Michigan football or Michigan basketball, or the Detroit Tigers, I don't ever get angry with the players and coaches, seeking to blame someone for the loss. On the contrary, I always feel bad for the players and coaches after the loss. Never anger. I've never watched sports that way. This doesn't mean I am a pleasant person to be around after a tough loss. I'm not. My frustration is channeled into the loss not the players and coaches who participated in the loss. In my eyes Bo Schembechler was never an idiot for losing the Rose Bowl, but Bo and Michigan losing the Rose Bowl was very very disappointing for me. I was with Bo, I was with the team, and I took the losses poorly. Thankfully fatherhood has lessened my frustration somewhat, but a game like the one in Wisconsin will cause impatient, rude, snarky Gordie to come out in full force. When impatient, rude, snarky Gordie rears his ugly head, the worst place to come for relief is Mgoblog.

I was admittedly furious after that loss. I've cooled down since. I'd rather have a ridiculous upset loss right now, before it's win or go home season. The loss can be a wake up call rather than an ugly end to the season. Let's hope it turns out that way.

excusing the officiating when you did not watch the game.

I relaxes when we were up by 15, looking for a 20 plus point blowout.  I think Penn State is used to trailing by 15 or more, so it had no effect on them.  They kept playing hard.

We did not.

This Michigan team is a very good but not a great team.  They have the physical tools to be great but not the confidence or mental ability, and much of that is based on (lack of) experience.  Teams that overachieve are often full of juniors and seniors who have played together for 3 or 4 years and been through a lot of adversity together through those years.  The cinderella teams are most often led by a core of senior players. They don't get too high when things go well, nor too low or panicky when the going gets difficult. They continue to play as a team through it all and don't have players standing around waiting for someone else to make a play, nor players taking it upon themselves to win games playing one-on-one ball. They also as often win games by playing great team defense as they do by scoring a lot of points. I will cheer this team on no matter what the results, but it is amazing how expectations by most (myslef included) on this board have fallen in the past few weeks.  Perhaps our expectations were too high with such a young team, and yet I think most of us do believe that if this team plays to its potential it can beat any team in the nation.

The one point that starts to get muddy after MSU crushed us and lowly PSU nipped us is any unerring "In Beilein We Trust." He deserves credit for rebuilding the program and guiding us to a good season, but the real measure is finishing the conf strong and advancing to Sweet 16 or better.

Both losses were characterized by low energy and low competitiveness - which doom teams on the road in the B1G if the opposition is full of energy. Everyone wants to beat our young, talented, hyped team. We cannot play "soft" and expect the older home teams to play finesse Bball.

The low energy falls directly on the coaches' plate. If you want a contrast to KU, Self readily benches kids if they lack fire - particularly on D and rebounding. He rips kids on the sideline and even the team in the media if theyre "soft". Further, Self intentionally took a T in the 1st half of the OkSt game on the road to energize his team as he knows visiting teams need to show a combative nature.

We have enough depth to yank anyone for apathy. Beilein cannot accept "soft" play and must stoke the fire even if it means tough love.

thank you for sharing your thoughts here - great perspective and much appreciated.

Good post. Except for the part where you tried to say the refs called a good game. If you didn't actually watch the game, then you can't have an opinion on the refs.

The officiating was horrendous. Not because they had it out for Michigan...they were just poor. Officials that get caught up in the moment and the hype are just so amateurish to me.

Be a grown up and call what you see. If you're a ref, your heart shouldn't factor into anything during a game.