Have the past two years made you a bigger diehard?

I just don't believe for a second that the game passed Lloyd by.  He won a national championship and five big ten titles. Yeah, he had a few down years---years that most programs would consider fantastic. Its hard to win championships and even harder when you are the team EVERYONE wants to beat. 

Furthermore, don't you think it would be wise to treat those supposed michigan fans who are hating on the program just like you would treat fans of other teams?

I was a fan when Bo was losing all those bowl games, which was kind of embarrassing, but dang, it is just a game. I didn't need Dale Carnegie classes afterwards.

past 2 years, but the 2005 season and the first two games of 07 (which sold me on the deadliness of the well-executed spread forever) have helped me deal with losing and appreciate success much more. 

Also, becoming more well-informed, mainly due to this site, has given me a deeper understanding of the program and its structure/foundation/inner workings.  For instance, ask a casual September to November fan who only knows the names of the offensive skill players and wants a new coach if they understand the state of the roster when RR took over and how much its re-stocking and progression is correlated with our on-field success.  Ask them if they understand the importance of recruiting Florida (constantly growing young population, highest number of NFL players per-capita, etc.), and why the spread is not dead but typically makes up the top 10-15 offenses in the nation year in and year out.  People who get their information from MLive, the Freep, and 97.1 only get a cursory glimpse at the surface and really just don't grasp the underlying causes and effects that result in winning and losing.

Absolutely, prior to two years ago I was not a student. I am now and no matter how much we lose on the field it still feels really damn good. All my life I have wanted a degree from this fine University and by next summer I shall have one. I have fallen more in love with the school in the last two years than I could have even thought. The Big House is worth the price of admission. I have been to Crisler to see UM battle OSU. I went to "The Game" something I would have never thought possible. I will someday be a season ticket holder. This has been the greatest two years of my life.

the past two years and MGoBlog

So many people here are crediting Mgoblog for their mad fandom (which no doubt translates to money for the univ).  Think about that the next time press passes are handed out.

Mgoblog = good for Univ,

Detroit MSM (with the exception of Angelique but including AA news) = dickheads out to make a buck.

It is an absolute travesty that Brian (or Tim) will not be sitting in one of those Luxury Boxes (No doubt Fucking.shit.up among all the cigar smoking blue bloods there).

Why are we still die hard fans after two poor seasons?  This is why:

"True loyalty is that quality of service that grows under adversity and expands in defeat. Any street urchin can shout applause in victory, but it takes character to stand fast in defeat. One is noise --- the other, loyalty."
  ~Fielding Yost~

believable stupid comments.

potato salad

I have  been raised as a Michigan fan so I always followed the team and would watch on Saturday, but I never really paid attention to anything Michigan outside of that.  I have since began following Michigan in multiple sports and have been a lot more into football than ever before.  Most of that started with Carr's last year and it has only grown in intensity. 

I am sure my increased fandom is a combination of 24/7 Michigan access with this website, countdowns to kickoff, and other various football related outlets.  So whether its just a natural progression into a true sports fan or the last two years I don' know, but I do know that this will be the longest 9 days and 4 hours of my life.

I think he has handled a lot of bullshit admirably well. He comes to Michigan and the Athletic Department is an organizational nightmare, with an AD who has basically checked out after hiring him and securing the Stadium renovation. Some alumni at the local paper get a hard-on for him and do everything they can to get him fired, with 90% of it taken out of context or just flat-out wrong. The team loses in historic fashion after one key anchor (Boren) left behind by the previous regime turns out to be a spoiled brat, and a poor decision by Rodriguez himself with regard to hiring a defensive coordinator.

Through all of this, he's remained cheerful and philosophical in a sort of all-I-know-is-football sort of way.

I still rock my M gear allll the time and I find that when I see others in the same, we exchange this nod/smile that is far different than in years past--it's as if to say, "I'm with you. I know."

Wow.

It sounds kind of silly in retrospect, but I had grown accustomed to obsessively following the top of the BCS rankings to see who Michigan needed to leapfrog, bitching about any non-BCS bowl and blowing off joke games against such teams as "indiana" and "Illinois".   Seeing a talented coach try to build back a program like that from the ground up has made me realize how rare and complex that dynasty status is and how lucky we'll be to have one back in the future.  Unfortunately, I think most native Michiganders have grown uncomfortably accustomed to the current disappointment and defeatism before our cherished Wolverines also dipped into a rough streak.

Great topic.

Yes. No question it has. I value winning and all the things that go into this program winning games now. Not just expecting wins every Saturday.   I guess because I am seeing first-hand a ground-up rebuild in many ways.   It isn't Goldie Hawn in "Wildcats" level, but it is still a rebuild whether we like to admit it or not. It demands that I keep my eye out on so many things on and off the field to measure improvement beyond the scoreboard. 

It has made me a better more observant and loyal fan. I think it has done the same for a lot of Michigan fans too. I hope anyways.

Bobby Bowden was on ESPN this morning and he was talking about how when they would lose two games after their insane run in the 90s, the fan base would immediately start saying "oh well maybe we'll be in the hunt next year".  I hope we never get like that when we start having success. I hope we'll really savor the dominant teams and the very good or just good ones too.

I'm just more like Henri now.

That coupled with the fact that I'm surrounded by buckeye fans. It's also helped me to mature, I've noticed, for example, that rather than maxing out everybody on my sports games and simply blowing out opponents, I find it more fun to play through a challenge.

The only good thing about these last 2 years is that it has exposed a lot of people I know who claim to be big M fans as frauds. It was hard to sort them out in the 90's.  The word "diehard" assumes a lot of adversity in order to define it.  These times don't build diehard fans, they expose them.  But  I don't hate them or anything , I sort of pity them because they won't feel the true joy I will feel when we rise again.  I just take note and spend more time on this site  because I take comfort in being around fellow diehards.

That's an emphatic yes. These past two seasons has pushed my love/obsession for the University of Michigan into the stratosphere. It has also made me appreciate the good times. When the good times return, I will probably go mad with glee.

What doesn't kill you ,makes you stronger.... and stronger we will be.

just Michigan since the late 60's.

but when you support the winningest program in college football, it's rare you have to get defensive and staunch about them. You really have to tread the line between supporting them with what folks from 'other sides' think of as 'arrogant', which I am not. The last two years however have been tough and given me reason to be more supportive of the team; I've always been a diehard, but the past couple years have only made me realize just how much of a diehard I truly am.

Seeing the program come under attack from the local media and even it's own 'fanbase' from the more fair weather inclined M followers/bandwagoners, has certainly galvanized my fanaticism ,ore than anything else.

Seriously, my Mom's side of the family are all ardent Buckeyes and I grew up in East Lansing an M fan (both parents went to M and later myself and brother and sister) so I have tons of friends that are heavy-duty Sparties and NONE of them have as irrational a viewpoint as the anti-RR faction.  Opposing fans I have discussed this with, including my uncles who are diehard Buck fans, look at practicegate as a giant circus and while they certainly laugh at M's expense, they also concede that it is a BS set of trumped up nothingness. They can't get over that a local media outlet would go after their own team that way. Same with Sparty friends, they definitely enjoy the distraction and bad PR that M is getting, but for the most part realize that if the Free Press had gone digging at MSU instead, they could likely have smeared them the same way.

The past three years for me have been a killer for college football season.  The worst was 2008:

Lions: 0-16

Michigan: 3-9

Syracuse: 3-9

A grand total of 6-34.  ugh.

it's also made me hate ohio state even more than I already did, which I thought was impossible but whatever

The last 16 for me as an ND fan have.  Payoff is here.

Heck ya.  The past two seasons, and in fact I'd include the past decade, really, have made me more hardcore.  With the internet boards and now Michigan's struggles, people who really couldn't talk smack have gone nuts on U-M.  It's only steeled my resolve and dedication, and success in the future (starting with UConn) will be that much sweeter.

I've been nothing but a MI fan since I was a kid.  The past couple of years have only weeded out the pretenders.  I don't think I can be any more of a fan today than I was a few years ago but with the interwebs and BTN I definately get a lot more info and games than I used to be able to get.  I've been excited about Coach Rodriguez taking the helm and in 8 days MI will serve notice.  GO BLUE!

I'm not sure if it's made me a bigger diehard, but the intensity of my fandom hasn't died down any.