Two Games Left: A Senior Looks Back, then Forward

Submitted by Court Wenley on

http://roadgames07.blogspot.com/2008/10/concerning-unspeakable-acts.html

Hello, since the internets are burning with flame wars and talks of firings, I don’t want to waste your time. This post is a recap of my Michigan Football experiences in my life and my opinion about being a student the past four years. It contains ideas on what the future holds for our team. It is also long. If you don’t want to read about this, stop now. Therefore no one will waste their time, have to tell everyone they don’t care what I think, or tell everyone that Coach Rodriguez is not the answer. I am fine with the fact that most won’t care what I think and have to say or agree with me.

It started a really long time ago, before I can remember. Fall days in Saturday either meant waking up and driving to Ann Arbor to watch football or watching the Maize and Blue on TV because we were on the road or I couldn’t go that week. Mom and Dad both went to Michigan and had season tickets so it was natural for me to cheer for them. I grew to love the Wolverines and there were some great memories over the years. Some of these included a lifetime hatred for Kordell Stewart, attending the parade after we won the National Championship, getting my picture taken with Woodson, Griese, the Heisman, and the national championship trophy, knowing that Jeff Smoker did not spike the ball in time, burning plastic gators on our January trip to Florida,triple overtime, and the 100th game.

All of that happened and the next year was different. It was senior year of high school and I wasn’t sure if I’d get into Michigan. I had applications to a bunch of schools, but I was specifically hoping for one response. Well on November 20th, 2004 I got a call at about 11 AM that I needed to get home as soon as possible to open a large envelope. Sure enough, I got into Michigan just in time to watch our 7th rankedteam fall to the Buckeyes. I wore that Michigan shirt to school Monday with pride, I got ridiculed of course, but man it felt good, I was going to attend the University of Michigan.

That’s where the article above comes in. It describes the next four years as the most torturous for a fan base of any school in college football. It made me think, have my four years here been the worst four years for a University of Michigan football fan to be a student?

So I had to think back to my memories over the past four years.

Freshman Year

-       First game against MSU is at MSU, I go to the game, overtime win. Awesome.

-       #8 Penn State touchdown with 53 seconds left. Silence. 0 seconds left. Bedlam.

-       5losses. Wisconsin, scores TD with 24 ticks on the clock. Last second tie breaking field goal to Minnesota. 24 seconds left again, this time Ohio State.Nebraska debacle.

Sophomore

-       11 Straight wins, which included a visit to Notre Dame in my favorite away game. Hot Damn!

-       Seniors last home game, Balls out for Ball State (3-7), in which was the closest win of the year, unless you look solely at points (Penn State).

-       The loss of Bo. Honestly the eeriest feeling I’ve ever experienced was felt on campus that day. Candlelight vigil on the Diag.

-       1 vs. 2

-       A plundering in Pasadena

Junior

-       Watching the remake of the Longest Yard’s most infamous scene for Michigan Fans and Hot! Hot! Hot! several times. The horror. The statue of liberty.

-       8 wins, 2 more losses

-       Overcoming all the adversity, beating the speedy gators of the SEC, and watching Lloyd go out the way he deserved to go out.

-       The coaching fiasco, and excitement in a good coach, a good offense, a new sponsor, a new stadium, a new quarterback, and the departure of pretty much everything I ever knew about Michigan Football, just in time for senior year.

Senior

-       We don’t need a breakdown, as we all know what happened so far this year.

 Wisconsin was the best game I’ve ever experienced in the Big House, although the win will probably mean nothing by the end of the season. And now with two home games left in my college career, I wonder if this will be the only savior of the season. In my opinion we will win two more games. But the last three years have taught me that anything can happen. We could lose all six or we could win all six. If we don’t make a bowl and all of our streaks and records are broken, it will be a true restart for our team. 2008 will be the ultimate restart of a year. Our team that consists of mostly freshman; they will have a new coach, new offense, new defense, new sponsor, new stadium on the way, new recruiting style, new records to set, and a new outlook on Michigan Football. It is weird to be a senior right now. We could be the first class in 40 years to see a losing season and 33 years to not make it to a bowl. Plus we are the first class of only three that will have experienced the old and the new. A full system reboot will take longer than 6 games, but it will happen so everyone will have to be patient. I believe Coach Rodriguez can take us there, with the raw talent he has this year and with the upcoming recruits Coach Rod is building the kind of foundation that we will grow from. With patience in our coach and our players, Michigan will return. As you may have heard, those who stay will be champions.

So are the past four years the most torturous for any college fan base? Depends on how you look at it. For me, 3 wins over MSU so far, Mario in the Penn State game, winning 11 straight games, being on campus to say goodbye to Bo, the Florida win and what it meant for Lloyd, and watching the beginning of the new era with the Wisconsin win have been plenty of ups to the many number of downs that I have experienced. Am I setting my standards too low, you may think so, I don’t, although beating Ohio State would be nice. Being a part of the University of Michigan and optimistically supporting every aspect of their football team is enough for me. Do the same if you can, support Rich Rodriguez, support Nick Sheridan, support Morgan Trent.

PS. The last four years were not a picnic, so here are few favors (last wishes as a student) I ask,           

  1. Try the best you can to not sell your tickets to MSU fans. Be as loud as possible during this game. Wear maize.
  2. Don’t be a Negative Nancy. Don’t leave the game early. Don’t ever think like the guy that posted the above article. Asking if it is time to switch to soccer is not a joke, as that is not funny. Never give up on Michigan Football.
  3. Cut the student section a little slack. We got flamed for the wave last time because somehow a group of kids in the 30th row got it started. I hope we get to do it all the way through one last time for the seniors regardless of the score of the Northwestern game, plus the freshman still need to learn the correct thing all the way through. We will at least do it in the third quarter.
  4. I’d love to see someone organize something for the seniors. Whether it be the one time return of hot dog man, marshmallows, the 1,2,3 HIT HIM IN THE FACE on the kickoff cheer, etc. or something else. Ideas are appreciated.
Rich Rodriguez
Lloyd Carr
Bo Schembechler
Recap
History

Comments

Lordfoul

October 14th, 2008 at 7:44 AM ^

You certainly had a very different experience as a fan than I did (96-00) as a student. It is great that you can see through all of the negativity out there now and enjoy the experience. I can't understand how fans of the Maize n' Blue can give up on them, or stop enjoying the games regardless of how they are playing. I get upset of course when we play poorly, but I always enjoy watching the winged helmets fly around the field and always look forward to the next game with eager anticipation. The most depressing days of the year for me are the day after The Game and the day after the bowl game, not because we lost (which has been the case far too often), but because there is no Michigan Football to look forward to for a long stretch. Thanks for the the post.

Joined: 07/01/2008

MGoPoints: 1747

kenfizzle

October 14th, 2008 at 9:24 AM ^

Great post. I'm a junior and I bleed Michigan, our teams, and our pride. In fact, this is the only school I applied to because I've known I was going here since about 3rd grade. I have some small requests for the student section as well:

1. keep pace with Hail to the Victors. We always mess this up and go too fast then it sounds stupid when we say GO BLUE a second before the rest of the crowd. This would just improve the overall quality and intimidation of our beloved fight song.

2. Don't go along with key play on 3rd down. I don't think I am alone here. Forget about the keys and make as much noise as humanly possible. If you wake up Sunday morning with a voice, you suck.

3. Speaking of you suck, a lot of people don't like this chant but I think its pretty cool. On one condition; students actually say it right. It's not supposed to be a monotone repeat of "you-uu-u-u-u suckkkk", go along with the sound of the band. Hopefully you know what I am talking about.

4. Don't even think about booing. What if the players and coaches booed us as students? I think they deserve the right too. Sure the level of play isn't where its supposed to be, but WTF does booing do? Instead of booing, take it upon yourself to be that much louder because any small advantage this team can get, it needs.

all in all, I just want to see some more enthusiasm and less weird looks when I try to pump up the crowd. GO BLUE!

Joined: 07/11/2008

MGoPoints: 385

Anonymous Coward (not verified)

October 14th, 2008 at 10:31 AM ^

I am a senior at UM as well. I agree with the above poster about all the things the student section needs to do to get better. I also think if some under class man is reading this article they should start an organization. An organization of 50 people that are dispersed around the student section that people look to lead their section. They will have the cowbells, they will keep people on pace, and the organization and collectively design cheers for the section to do. It will be similar to the UCLA basketball student section. This organization can be the brain trust for the section. I almost did this is a student but the year I was going to do it, I studied abroad. I recommend you go to the athletic department and see what they think and try to get their support.

Joined: 12/12/2017

MGoPoints: 0

Anonymous Coward (not verified)

October 14th, 2008 at 11:47 AM ^

Michigan sports had a rough time while I was there, but there were still some good moments. The football team beat Alabama on a missed extra point my freshman year in the Orange bowl with Brady and Henson rotating at QB, but we lost to MSU that year. The next year we lost to Northwestern in heartbreaking fashion, in a game that lasted so long that I missed the first quarter of the hockey game that night. A game MSU beat us 1-0, with that lone goal being scored in the first period that I missed. At least we had Henson and David Terrell and Marquise Walker and they all had eligibility. I think that 2000-2001 team had 11 offensive players that ended up in the NFL, and I'm not sure if any other team ever did that. (need a fact check on this obviously). The of course Henson sold out, Terrell went to the NFL and the John Navarre era began. That was a VERY tough pill to swallow. The drop from Henne to TheetSherridammit has been immense, and unexpected because we all though we had Mallet, but man, it hurt to think we had Henson coming back only to end up with Navarre who wasn't ready. My senior year was kind of a blur and I graduated early but still stuck around campus. During all of this of course, the Michigan basketball team was on probation, was coached by Brian Ellerbe, and was basically as bad as could possibly be. The Hockey team was amazing, year in and year out and I had more fun at those games than any other time on campus, but, we kept losing in frozen four and Ryan Miller always seemed to have our number. Overall 99-02 was pretty painful and seriously lacked in glorious moments. The mens gymnastics team won it all though!

Joined: 12/12/2017

MGoPoints: 0

Dix

October 14th, 2008 at 11:52 AM ^

Michigan sports had a rough time while I was there, but there were still some good moments. The football team beat Alabama on a missed extra point my freshman year in the Orange bowl with Brady and Henson rotating at QB, but we lost to MSU that year. The next year we lost to Northwestern in heartbreaking fashion, in a game that lasted so long that I missed the first quarter of the hockey game that night. A game MSU beat us 1-0, with that lone goal being scored in the first period that I missed. At least we had Henson and David Terrell and Marquise Walker and they all had eligibility. I think that 2000-2001 team had 11 offensive players that ended up in the NFL, and I'm not sure if any other team ever did that. (need a fact check on this obviously). The of course Henson sold out, Terrell went to the NFL and the John Navarre era began. That was a VERY tough pill to swallow. The drop from Henne to TheetSherridammit has been immense, and unexpected because we all though we had Mallet, but man, it hurt to think we had Henson coming back only to end up with Navarre who wasn't ready. My senior year was kind of a blur and I graduated early but still stuck around campus.  That year, 2001 of course also had 9/11 and I remember the Illinois game that year, the first one after the attacks.  We had a moment of silence which was broken at the end by someone in the student section shouting "U.S.A!" immediately followed by another guy shouting "Let's go get 'em!" During all of this of course, the Michigan basketball team was on probation, was coached by Brian Ellerbe, ran Jamal Crawford out of town and was basically as bad as could possibly be. The Hockey team was amazing, year in and year out and I had more fun at those games than any other time on campus, but, we kept losing in frozen four and Ryan Miller always seemed to have our number. Overall 99-02 was pretty painful and seriously lacked in glorious moments. The mens gymnastics team won it all though!

Joined: 07/10/2008

MGoPoints: 2064