MichiganManOf1961

July 23rd, 2012 at 8:59 PM ^

I am going to have a damn seizure!  This is not "fun" anymore, this is not "hip" anymore, this is not "game-changing" anymore.  I am sick and tired of this absolute garbage the Athletic Department continually pulls to "revolutionize" Michigan football.  I have news for you, Michigan football has never been about "revolutionizing" anything!  Michigan football is tradition, stoicism, and most of all, CLASS.  If Dave Brandon is so intent on making money, he might as well throw some damn Hooter shirts on the cheerleaders while he's at it, if, that is, he will even fork over the money to fly them to the GAME!  We have had how many jerseys in the past twelve months?  I bet most of you don't even know because you've LOST COUNT.  GODDAMN IT. 

Michigan football has never been about trying to look like the best, because we knew our jerseys were the best.  Every red-blooded American knew Michigan's jersey and helmet; a fact which helped Michigan to become the brand it is.  I don't know about you, but I don't want to follow OREGON'S lead.  Oregon for God's sake, who probably played rugby until 1990 for all I know.  I don't want to see Michigan players prancing out into the Big House a few years down the line looking like a bunch of hipsty nancy boys with musical gloves and glitter on their helmets.

Stop buying these jerseys, send the Athletic Department some mail, and let us band together to stop this madness!  Just like Dave Brandon's failure to send the MARCHING BAND TO THE SECOND BIGGEST GAME OF THE SEASON, a concerted effort by the fanbase can and will discourage any further denigration of the Michigan brand. 

For all of you who are new fans, I hope that you will look back at the HISTORY of Michigan football and remember that is what made the program what it is today.  Please, do not support this ridiculous money grab and stand by tradition.  As we have seen in the past year, one supposedly "slight" change or alteration quickly emboldens those who care more about the almighty dollar than the success, tradition, and pride of this great program.

~Herm

TheJoker

July 23rd, 2012 at 9:37 PM ^

We should ALWAYS respect tradition and always respect those who came before us. We have to adapt to changing trends. And the biggest changing trend is that of being flashy for the TV and most importantly RECRUITS. Recruits eat this type of stuff up and therefore we must do what makes us appealing. Even if it means dressing up in less than desriable uniforms for ONE game. 

MichiganManOf1961

July 23rd, 2012 at 9:42 PM ^

Really?  USC, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, etc.  They don't seem to be having trouble recruiting at all and I haven't seen them with gimmicky uniforms.  If you are the Oregons, Arizona States, and Marylands of the world, the B-level teams, possibly.  But NOT MICHIGAN.

~Herm

TheJoker

July 23rd, 2012 at 11:23 PM ^

As much as we would like to think Michigan is godsend and every recruit should come here regardless of who they are, we are not the entire package.



We are a tough school with hard majors, bipolar weather and no sandy beaches. Needless to say, people at Michigan have other passions without football in their lives. We becomes successful in many professions. 

Sure what I said about education applies to a lot of those schools but lets be honest. Can you really pair USC women with ours? 17 year olds look at that I'm told. 

Can you ask Michigan where our Coaches' trophies are and compare us to Alabama?

Michigan is not what it used to be. Once we accept that we can move on to fix our flaws and make ourselves marketable. 

Therefore we need gimmicks like jerseys to peak interest in people unfamiliar with the tradition and excellence Michigan has had in the past century. 

Lionsfan

July 24th, 2012 at 11:02 AM ^

In the 90's people looked at USC and saw a bad place to be. It was right near South Central, and nobody wanted to be part of the Gangsta scene and risk getting mugged/murdered. Combine that with an inconsistent on the field performance, (starting in 1990) 8-4-1, 6-5-1, 8-5, 8-3-1, 9-2-1, 6-6, 6-5, 8-5, 6-6, 5-7. This also included an 8 year losing streak to UCLA and they fared poor against Notre Dame too. In Pete Carrol's first year they ended up going 6-6. They were hardly the dominant program we know today.

Alabama may not have had crime, but their football team was a joke for the better part of this decade too. Starting with 2000, here is their records: 3-8, 7-5, 10-3, 4-9, 6-6. They had a 10 win season in 2005, that was vacated for violations. In 2006 they went 6-6, and vacated those 6 wins. Hell in Saban's first year they went 6-6. All of that included losses to Auburn for 6 years in a row.

But then something changed for both programs. I'll give you a hint, it's a 7 letter word that starts with a W.

Winning.

In the end most recruits don't give a shit about jerseys, stadiums, education, etc. etc. They only want to go somewhere that wins a lot. USC and Alabama still had Coaches trophies and beautiful woman, but weren't destination schools.

You're right, Michigan isn't/hasn't been what it used to be. But that's because we haven't won a Big Ten championsip in almost a decade, because we had 1 win against OSU in the 2000's, and because we've lost more Big Stage games than we've won. USC, and Alabama didn't need gimmicks to turn themselves around, they just started winning again, and that's all Michigan needs to do (which we're on the road to accomplishing)

Lionsfan

July 24th, 2012 at 10:38 AM ^

USC has thought about it, and may have changed their helmet colors, but has never busted out the Alternate jerseys.

Alabama has technically worn Pro-Combat uniforms, but here they are compared to regular:

basically all they did was add a camouflage design on the numbers and add an A patch

 

Oklahoma changed their helmet color for one game, and took Sooners off the jersey...for one game.



 

That's all the experimentation these schools have done with "Pro Combat Uniforms" and they really were just one time appearances. They haven't been busted out since and the schools aren't designing new jerseys every time the school does something special, which in Dave Brandon's eyes includes going to a Bowl

MichiganManOf1961

July 23rd, 2012 at 10:34 PM ^

This is not about me young man.  This is about the continuation of traditions and a team which I hold dear to my heart.  I say "young" because your words appear to be quite similar to what I would expect to come from my 14 year granddaughter during an argument when she lacks a proper response, "Whatever".  If you cannot approach a reasonable argument with a reasonable response, please hold your childish repudiations to yourself.

~Herm

HermosaBlue

July 23rd, 2012 at 10:32 PM ^

I don't think we need all this jersey foofaraw and argle bargle.

But I respectfully beg to differ that Michigan has never been about revolutionizing the game of football.  Fielding H Yost's point-a-minute teams and Fritz Crisler's Mad Magicians were as revolutionary as anything in football history.

It wasn't until Bo that Michigan football became synonymous with 3 yards and a cloud of dust.  And even Bo was an about face from the laxity of Bump Elliott.  "Those who stay" was a response to the attrition suffered as Bo upset the apple cart in the football program.

Respect for traditions is important, but not at the cost of becoming stale and inflexible.

MichiganManOf1961

July 23rd, 2012 at 10:39 PM ^

Thank you for your thoughtful and reasonable response.  Excuse me, I should have differentiated between on-the-field changes and marketing gimmicks (granted, some of the commercial changes in the 1960-1970s proved to be fruitful, though those changes were made in the midst of an overall downturn in the prominence of Michigan football, not as the program was again approaching a pinnacle of its prowess).

~Herm

Leonhall

July 24th, 2012 at 10:27 AM ^

But this is 2012, most of the players could give two shits about Michigan football 30 years ago. This is about the kids, kids don't come to Michigan because of tradition, some may but most fall in love with the new facilities, coaches, campus, big house, etc. in this day and age in college football, kids don't care about Tom Harmon winning the heisman, hell, half were under 5 when Woodson won the heisman! Kids like shit like this...just have to deal with it, as long as they put a great team on the field with great character, I'm fine with stuff like this.

snarling wolverine

July 23rd, 2012 at 7:11 PM ^

From the front it's OK (I do like the non-outlined numbers), but the sides and back . . . ugh.  The maize strip is awful.

We've got to stop doing this.  Pick a road uniform and stick with it.

trumpetgirl

July 23rd, 2012 at 9:24 PM ^

Yeah, there is something just horribly awkward about it, particularly from the back.  Maybe my femaleness is making me notice it, but it really makes his ass look huge.  Perhaps it is the virtual model making it look weird.  But it really has that "mom jean" look from the back.  New trend, perhaps?  Also, that huge maize strip looks like trying to edge closer and closer to a full out maize design.  Make it stop!

 

Section 1

July 24th, 2012 at 3:18 PM ^

...that it was a leftover concept after Nike got done designing last year's Spartan uniforms:

We could do the shoulder patches, get some helmet sitckers and with the American flags we'd go "full Sparty."  Oh, wait...

WolvinLA2

July 23rd, 2012 at 7:11 PM ^

OK, I really don't like that we do this, but this is better than all of the alternative ones we did last year (ND, Sparty, Sugar Bowl).  The block M on the shoulders is cool.