Buckeye Douchebagery and Mgoblog
The board seems to be getting chipy, so this is just as good as anything to focus on the common enemy. It is a bit of a long walk so bear with me.
I am on vacation down at the San Diego Zoo (setting the stage that I am out of BigTen country) and finally sat down on a bench to get my daily mgoblog update (the kids were in a gift store with mom). I fire up the iphone and am digging the post from Brian on the new FSU line coach since I am stoked that we are still after mean lineman. I am hunched over my iphone and hear some random conversation that does not register. Some dude walks back to me and repeats was he had said.
"Excuse me mister, that big M stands for Mickey Mouse" (I am wearing my Michigan visor).
I do a half-glance up at this yokel and mutter
"yeah, I guess so" because I was doing something else like reading my damn daily candy! I was not staring down people looking for conversation.
The guy walks away and I hear from a little ways off
"Ohio State folks think so"
I finish reading the post, look over at this goof ball with this fat family in the distance and wonder WTF? Was I supposed to correct the dipshit on the fact I didn't have a double M on my hat for Mickey Mouse? Was I supposed to say "O-H-I-O because Y-M-C-A wasn't gay enough?" or "glad to see you are with your sister on vacation, how are the kids' webbed feet?" I would not walk up to some random bucknut who was doing something else to even bother engaging the fool. Thought it was so bizarre, maybe it is just me.
its not very uncommon. i live in georgia and i try to wear something michigan everyday and everyday it seems like i run into an osu fan that trys to start talking to me about how much better they are than us. its just typical behavior. i dont usually say anything to them but if i do i just tell them the overall record between us in which they're to slow to come up with a retort fast enough before im gone.
outside of the actual stadium is pretty lame. Seriously, walking up to some random person? That's pretty bad.
"glad to see you are with your sister on vacation, how are the kids' webbed feet?"
+1
I can't match that level of obnoxious (actually, I wore a Michigan shirt last time I was in Columbus, and a guy held a door open for me and told me he admired my courage), but this reminded me of an exchange I heard between a mother and her young child at the Columbus Zoo several years ago. They were standing near me in front of the wolverine area, and I heard this:
“What’s that?”
“That’s a wolverine.”
“Does it bite hard?”
“Yes, very hard.”
“How hard?”
“Hard enough that we won’t be getting one.”
for a few months and so far I've caught crap more often from transplanted Michigan State fans then SEC/Ohio State fans combined. The tide will probably change come football season.
it is if i don't ever talk to you or know you then don't give me a hard time about being a michigan fan. i work with a bunch of state grads and there are a couple that i go back forth with about michigan vs. michigan state and its all in good fun. then there is a couple of guys who i never talk to at work unless i have to, that came up to me after state beat michigan this past year and had something to say, and i looked at both of them and said that i wasn't talking about the game so move on. i've learned in the 4 years since i moved back to michigan that you're going to run into assholes all of the time that have to give you their 2 cents, so i just smile and nod and try to stay out an argument.
It's "douchebaggery."
MGoBlog is the greatest community ever.
I agree with the second part, and your title. Good day for you, sir.
I guess living in the Toledo area, it's hard for me to identify with that kind of stuff. People here are crazy about the rivalry, but polite and even friendly about opposing sides of it. You just run into too many on both sides. If we got angry about it, the city would burn to the ground before the war was over.
a polite convo w/ someone with whom you are standing in line or waiting around somewhere... if you are not interrupting. but yea... going out of your way to make an uncomfortable joke about M? lame.
you know he walked away thinking, "yea, I got him goooood...."
I was just at Cedar Point last weekend and almost everyone that was wearing OSU stuff had missing teeth, were rednecks, or were just plain fat and ugly.
Now I know this is not universal for their fanbase, but holy shit. I never had a stereotype confirmed like that before in my life.
I live in the 'burbs north of Dallas and there are several buckeyes that frequent the local watering hole that I find myself in more than not. All of them are respectful of the the rivalry and we really only ever talk trash during the week of the game except for one guy. This guy defines douchebaggery. This is the guy who tells me every time I see him that it's been one thousand how ever many days since Michigan last beat ohio state. He goes on to the Columbus Dispatch website every day just to check the counter they have there and update his number. I guess when you're married to your sister you have to brag when you get the chance!
Funny how a relevant statistic, that is happening right now, today, day number 2028 is useless and nonsensical. But ask any michigan fan to tell you ancient history, back to the 1800's, for pete's sake, and they can give you the all time OSU vs. mich series numbers like it means something. I hope you can enjoy, and revel in a 76-0 whooping of the Buckeyes in 1908 or something, while we continue to experience today's sweet victory after sweet victory.
what means something to me is what happens during my lifetime. During my lifetime, Michigan has a winning record still, despite the current Ohio State pendulum swing. Stuff before my lifetime is but a mere interesting history lesson.
P.S. I hope someone kills me if I go on an Ohio State blog when Michigan experiences a good streak of success.
IF that happens, and IF you climb out of that narrow minded box you live in, I'd be more than happy to oblige!
It will be to seek information.
You are a bunch of cavemen, seriously. Your replies here mos def back that up. I'll see if Brian has figured out how to translate that into grunts yet, and get back w/ you.
I didn't say is was useless and nonsensical. The point was that it is douchebaggery. I don't bring up anything to him about College Football, Michigan/Ohio State, or even sometimes say anything at all. He's just doing it to be a prick. Not very rare amongst you folk...
It's how Buckeyes roll. The best response—pointing to a recent Michigan victory over OSU—is unfortunately out of our hands as fans.
I fervently hope that next November Ohio State is arrogant, undefeated and ranked #1 with a Heisman-guaranteed Pryor helming an unbeatable juggernaut that Michigan has absolutely no chance against. Ruining that would make up for a lot of frustration over the last several years.
Most of my T-shirts have something related to Michigan on them. I was at the gym a few days wearing such a shirt when a Stage 10 Bro entered the gym wearing an Ohio State homemade beater (the kind where you cut a big hole all the way down the side and subsequently expose your man breasts and gut to the public) and a backwards OSU hat, doing arm windmills and cracking his neck. He saw my shirt and almost sprinted over to me; I braced myself for a snide comment and general pomposity. To my pleasant surprise, he went off on this pro-Michigan tangent, saying how terrified he was of the season in the near future when we put all the pieces together and how the current OSU win streak is just the swinging pendulum of the Cooper Years. It was actually a really nice conversation. The only funny thing about it was his age; when he came in and started talking, I figured he was 23 or 24 and a recent graduate. He was Class of '99.
Io non capisco.
But yeah, that's a pleasant surprise. My father-in-law is a big Ohio State fan, and although he has his flaws he's never been anything but gracious to me.
Then again, I tried to be the same way during the Cooper years.
Che cosa non capite del bro? I suoi sensi sono semplici ed il suo odore 'e forte.
Capisco. Uh, I think.
My office is primarily all former Big 10 graduates (UM, OSU, MSU, Iowa, and Minn.). Everyone gives each other crap, but in a respectful manner. We all have matroshkas (Russian nesting dolls) with our school's players on our desks (yes, they will paint anything in Russia for the right price). It's not as gay as it sounds... Well, maybe it is.
Anyway, if anything, we're all united against the SEC crap we're beat over the head with down here. Same thing in my neighborhood, a couple of good guys from OSU.
The moral of this rambling post is that not all OSU fans are homeless wanderers at the San Diego Zoo. Some of them are moral, upright citizens of the community. Same thing with Michigan fans, we have our idiots too. Example; "Fire Rich Rod" after his first season.
We all have our idiots. It's just that OSU has more of these idiots than we do!
Oh man, my OSU matroshka was the best find I've ever had. Walking around Moscow, I out of the corner of my eye spied Scarlet and Grey at a vendor's stand. I was totally shocked to see someone selling nesting dolls with just about every major team available. A few rubles for T. Smith, Ted Ginn, Anthony Gonzales, Beanie and Antonio Pittman was well worth it. Among the best purchases I ever made!
That is probably the lamest insult I have ever heard. "M" stands for Mickey Mouse? Are we in first grade? Are you supposed to be offended? Couldn't he think of something lewd and obnoxious? Mickey Mouse?
That guy sounds freaky. He probably jerks off to Disney cartoons or something.
I'm sure some of you have seen posts where I talked about a Notre Dame fan roommate I used to have. Well, one night, he brings this Ohio State fan back to drink in our room. Now the ND fan obviously thinks he's going to get me in an argument with the OSU fan. Turns out, the OSU fan was a cool guy and me and him started, instead of talking about OSU or UM at all, bashing everything about ND. It was great. My roommate had nothing to say to either of us. That is, to this day, the only time I've ever been in a group of 3 people who were M, ND, and OSU respectively.
I think the rules might be a little different outside of Big Ten country. I'm a Buckeye fan, and have lived in Reno, NV for a number of years. When I see a person in a shirt from a Big Ten school, I always try to strike up a conversation that may or may not begin with a little friendly ribbing. I always want to talk to Big Ten fans because people here just don't understand what big-time CFB is all about. If a conversation starts with a comment like "You guys gonna show up in November this year?" . . . well, I see that as a fair introduction to a fellow fan. Every time I've met a UM fan, a fun exchange about our favorite game ensues.
Maybe the guy you met was being a douche, but I think you need to temper that with the fact that Buckeyes out west don't see many Michigan fans. Maybe they want to say something because taunting at the stadium will never happen for them. Anyway, I'd take it with a grain of salt. He was probably more excited to see another Big Ten fan than anything else.
The wife and I were flying to DTW from LAX to visit my in-laws in Saginasty. On take off there was a mishap and the port side engine caught on fire. It was pretty scary, but we ultimately made a safe emergency landing. As we were getting off the plane, the guy across the aisle from me said, "I'm a buckeye, but this sure puts the rivalry into perspective." To which I instinctively replied, "Nah...you guys still suck."
We're in SF now and I swear there must be thousands of UM alum here. If I have any Michigan gear on while I am out and about in The City, I get a "Go Blue" shouted out at me. It's nice.