META: We need an Eleven Swans redux
Well, here we are again at the doorstep. Each time Michigan has reached this point (2016, 2018, now), I’ve gone back and re-read Eleven Swans, the piece that branded the 2006 iteration of The Game “Football Armageddon” and cemented my love for MGoBlog. If you haven’t had the privilege of reading it, here it is:
https://mgoblog.com/content/eleven-swans
Admittedly, those were different times, and while the blog has undoubtedly matured to the point where it has possibly the best team-specific content of any sports blog in existence, I’ll always have a soft spot for posts like this that remind me why I keep coming back to this team, year after year, OSU loss after OSU loss. What would a 2021 version look like? Only Brian could say. But I wouldn’t mind reading something like this before I get out of the car to go scream my lungs out for 3 hours:
“It occurs that at some point the Michigan program acquired the traits you hold dear -- loyalty, honesty, tradition, victory. And you wonder: if you were a different person who valued other things would you care so much? It occurs that at some point the Michigan program acquired other traits you share but do not hold particularly dear -- cantankerousness, stubbornness, an inability to suffer fools gladly. And you wonder: do I like Michigan because of the way I am, or am I the way I am because I like Michigan?”
So what say you, Brian?
November 20th, 2021 at 9:00 PM ^
I don't get it, did Bo die again?
November 20th, 2021 at 9:08 PM ^
In a way
November 20th, 2021 at 9:09 PM ^
I mean you're not wrong.
November 20th, 2021 at 9:11 PM ^
Play Fight Win Please.
Gotta love young Brian was posting at 1am back in the day.
November 20th, 2021 at 9:12 PM ^
I was too young in 2006. Dayenu by Seth on the eve of the 2018 National Championship game is my favorite MGoArticle.
November 20th, 2021 at 9:36 PM ^
If you were too young in 2006 , you don't know when Michigan actually had talent on their roster to compete with the elite in college football. I feel bad for those who think Michigan is able to compete with the best.
November 20th, 2021 at 11:02 PM ^
I remember when a recruit from Ohio was as likely to go to UM as OSU.
November 21st, 2021 at 2:01 PM ^
I mean I was 12 so I still had an idea of what was going on but just didn’t have unfettered internet Access from my parents lol
November 20th, 2021 at 9:19 PM ^
To clarify - I understand that Bo’s death was central to this piece and that doesn’t look the same in hindsight. But the similarities are there, at least spiritually, as the crumbling of the lore around Bo has produced a sort of “second death” (for some - not going to go down that rabbit hole as it isn’t the point here). Much has changed, and I realize that, though the same questions this article raises persist - why do we do this? Why is it significant? - but the answers are no longer the same. For me, this piece defined an era. Now it’s time to write new history, starting next Saturday.
November 20th, 2021 at 9:23 PM ^
Brian has already said he's not going to kick the football over and over (and frankly I don't blame him). How in the world would he write something even close to Eleven Swans with that frame of mind?
November 20th, 2021 at 9:54 PM ^
Not at all and I'm not sure you got the point of it as is.
November 20th, 2021 at 10:36 PM ^
If you disagree, that’s cool, but no need to act like it was cryptic scripture that sailed over my head or something. That article was a snapshot of a moment in time when it felt like all was lost and everything was there to be had, all at the same time. If you don’t see the parallels, maybe you’re the one who didn’t get it.
We are 10-1 and the general sentiment - both here and elsewhere - is that all of this is just window dressing to Lucy pulling the football. The hero of our folklore and defining icon of the program has had significant doubt cast on his legacy. No one here even remembers a time when The Game was competitive and when the outcome was truly unpredictable regardless of records. “Rudderless” might be hyperbole, but not by much.
We need a new defining moment for a new generation, the beginning of a new legacy. And I’d love to read a piece that expresses that more eloquently than what I was just able to do. BPONE cannot define us forever. We aren’t the damn Detroit Lions.
November 20th, 2021 at 11:23 PM ^
How do you know? The Detroit Lions fans of 1957 didn't know.
November 20th, 2021 at 11:32 PM ^
Haha, touché
November 21st, 2021 at 7:50 AM ^
The Game was competitive in 2016 and 2017. Heck, all the games under Harbaugh were competitive at the half. It’s the second half that has killed UM.
November 21st, 2021 at 8:37 AM ^
I have managed to stay out of BPONE this season with the exception of the 4th quarter of the MSU game. My goal has been to find the fun in this season rather than judge every play against the yardstick of "does this mean we can beat OSU." And I have managed to find the fun - this has been a good season even if it has not been particularly shiny: 10 wins, meaningful victories over Wisconsin and Penn State, no real let-down games, program feels on an upward trajectory with young and exciting players and coaching staff. Several extremely fun players to watch every week starting with Haskins and Hutchinson, and others popping up throughout the season like Ojabo, Anthony, Turner, Wilson.
All of that said, I am not running full speed ahead and trying to kick that football. Rationally I see that Michigan is just a one touchdown underdog at home, on paper has a 30-40% win probability, looks to have well more than a puncher's chance. But the notion of getting my hopes up that we actually take down the Big Bad this year only to have those crushed utterly - whether through getting bombed to smithereens from the drop, falling a yard short late, getting hosed on some unbelievable call, or whatever else the 11 year old Ohio State fan whose NCAA 14 dynasty we are living in has cooked up - feels too emotionally perilous. This feels very silly to write as a grown man, but letting myself care too much and then losing probably means I'm just done with caring about football. And I am dealing with infinitely less than Brian Cook is this year. I am actually doing fine.
I say this to say, I can not expect Brian or anybody else to dig deep and find something so meaningful in the fan zeitgeist to tap into as he managed in 2006.
For my part, I will be watching and cheering and hoping for a win, but not setting any emotional expectation for one. It's like putting a bet on 00 on a roulette wheel. Let's enjoy the spin, and get excited about the chips if we win them, but I'm not going to mentally start counting my winnings.
On a deeper level, the only thing I will really invest in seeing is some fight. Show some creativity, show that our guys can hang with their guys, make them earn it, let us walk away thinking "maybe next year when McCarthy is ready." Statistically, if we get close enough it has to happen eventually. The vibe is the last sentence in the Great Gatsby. OSU and Alabama as football programs are on another level from everyone else for institutional reasons we won't, and probably shouldn't, ever overcome. But we beat on, boats against the current. Maybe next year.
November 21st, 2021 at 7:36 AM ^
That piece was Brian's opus. I'm not sure you just decide to write something that special because somebody thought it would be a cool idea. On the other hand, if he does it, great suggestion.
November 21st, 2021 at 12:56 PM ^
Good idea. I have a title: "Rebirth of a Football Program"
And with it, an inspirational quote from Man of Steel, perhaps said to our Steel-spined Coach:
"They will race behind you, they will stumble, they will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun. In time you will help them accomplish wonders."