Former Michigan Player Intros

Submitted by MichTits on

 

I'm watching Sunday Night Football, and as most people know all of the starters for each team have an opportunity to introduce themselves and listed their alma mater.  I have noticed that several of Michigan's former players list their high school or another school instead of Michigan.  David Harris did this a couple weeks ago, and Mario Manningham/Jason Avant did it again tonight.  However, I noticed that David Baas mentioned Michigan in his intro.  

Is there some sort of hidden meaning to this that I'm missing?  I know a lot of these guys have been in the league long enough that they've probably had a bunch of chances at this, and maybe they have already given credit to UM, and are just changing it up.  

Just wondering if anybody is noticing this, and if there is some kind of explanation.

[Also, I tried to search for this on the site, but must be doing something wrong since I don't get any results on my searches... If anyone has an answer for that, I would appreciate it.  Thanks]

aaamichfan

November 20th, 2011 at 9:03 PM ^

It's because these players all hate Michigan, and clearly want to disassociate themselves from the program.

michgoblue

November 20th, 2011 at 9:07 PM ^

I just started a thread on this (right after you apparently, so I assume it will be taken down momentarily) and I totally agree that the number of M players doing this seems disproportionately high? I would have figured that since these guys wanted rr gone, they would be happy to say our schools name with Hoke at the helm.

MichTits

November 20th, 2011 at 9:09 PM ^

During the RR era, it was easy to say that they were players that didn't support RR's program.  However, with all of the support for Hoke from former players (some of who played when Hoke was an assistant coach), I would be surprised if they are still unhappy with the direction the program is headed or how things are currently being handled...

iawolve

November 20th, 2011 at 9:26 PM ^

Great that they are honoring their high school, but their college program put them in the pros, no direct jumps from HS. The old guard is back, you can stop the protest.

004

November 20th, 2011 at 9:28 PM ^

This drives me crazy. The buck-nutz got three proper introductions and we get a bunch of high schools.

After yesterday, every Michigan man should be crowing.

Mitch Cumstein

November 20th, 2011 at 10:21 PM ^

Actually, I've always wondered if they do these the week of, or before the season and use the same recording.  The reason I would think they're done well in advance is b/c the Troy Polamalu one is so distinct and sounds the same every time.  Although maybe thats just the way he does it every time. 

maineandblue

November 20th, 2011 at 11:39 PM ^

I'm pretty sure you're right. Most of them haven't seemed to change in years, and I wouldn't be surprised if for players still on the same team these are a year or more old. Why reshoot everyone on a team when you could just do the couple of players who weren't there the last time the team played Sunday Night...

As for conspiracy theorizing, I think it's pretty clear that in recent years there were disproportionate numbers of Michigan players shouting out their high school. Yes, everyone does it, but I'd be willing to bet there was a significant difference compared to the average school. Yes, players have a right to should out their high school, but I still find it disrespectful and attribute it to frustration with the program/RR at the time. I haven't heard any other explanations that make sense.

kurpit

November 20th, 2011 at 9:58 PM ^

even the thought of anybody putting jason avant's character into question just blows my mind. he always came across as totally classy, nice, and well-spoken. he's still one of my all-time favorite michigan players. i'm sure that none of these guys mean it as any disrespect at all.

Mitch Cumstein

November 20th, 2011 at 10:12 PM ^

I think this clearly means that former players aren't supporting Hoke, and if he doesn't win games it will be their fault. /s

I don't know why people think this is such a big deal. I didn't care when Braylon pulled the Lloyd Carr one, and I don't care about this.   Maybe they think their high schools need the press more than Michigan b/c Michigan is having a good season. 

bluuadams

November 20th, 2011 at 10:54 PM ^

it's stupid and needs to end.  dave brandon needs to send out a memo.

 

the absolute worst, imo, was braylon edwards' "lloyd carr's michigan" during the rr era.  ryan van bergen said it best wrt that bunch.

Mr. Yost

November 20th, 2011 at 11:43 PM ^

I don't get why it matters so much. You guys sound like a bunch of Ohio fans..."if you were born in Ohio you need to be an OSU fan/go to OSU"

All of these guys didn't have the best experience at Michigan. And maybe they want to rep their high school or be different or whatever the case.

 

Why does it have to be disrespect to Michigan...I've always seen it as respect to whatever high school they went to over disrespect to Michigan. I bet those high school students LOVE IT. I can't be mad at that one bit. No one said you have to say your college. No one said if you don't say you're college, it's disrespectful.

 

I dunno, I feel like a lot of you make it a bigger deal than it is...it's a player intro. At the end of the day...who cares?

afternoondelight

November 21st, 2011 at 12:25 AM ^

I dunno, my best friends are still the guys I went to high school with. I bet a lot of these guy's best buddies/teammates/childhood friends get a huge kick out of it.

A few of my friends who went on to play college sports all say that high school sports was way more fun, was actually the last time they had REAL fun playing.