Michigan in the Wall Street Journal

Submitted by Undefeated dre… on

The Wall Street Journal has a pretty fair-minded article about the state of Michigan TAKE IT LIKE A MAN sports and this year's hockey team.

Not sure if it's paywalled or not. If it is, some relevant blockquotes below.

At a time when Michigan's athletic department in general, and its vaunted football program in particular, is enduring its most tumultuous period in decades, it's the hockey team that's providing the relief.

In many ways, Michigan hockey is what Michigan football used to be: a dependable winner, a national-championship contender (nine titles all-time, most for any school), a team led by a revered, 26-year-veteran coach whose roster is annually stocked with future professional players.

And from our pizza-loving, non-sailing new AD:

"We're just not good at losing, and I hope we never get good at it," says athletic director David Brandon. "We've been blessed to have programs that are always competitive, so as we go through this down cycle, we don't like it."

Now, if only Red and the boys make it and the women can come through in the WNIT, we won't have to endure any more "Hey, Michigan Finally Won Something" headlines...

samsoccer7

March 26th, 2010 at 1:40 PM ^

I love that picture. It basically sums up how I feel whenever we lose (or if I lose at something, I'm a competitive person). What makes it better is he's holding the "Outstanding Player" plaque. So the guy is considered the best player in his class, yes he hates losing. Sign him up! Oh, we did already. Sweet!

OHbornUMfan

March 26th, 2010 at 10:38 AM ^

seeing athletes cry after a loss. I think it shows a depth of emotional investment. If I kind of tried, when I lose I kind of care. Pouring my soul into my preparation ought to leave me gut-churningly, tears-gushingly distraught.

I'm not saying that those who don't cry don't care - I just love to see the evidence of complete investment in being the absolute best.

jmblue

March 26th, 2010 at 2:50 PM ^

Technically, "Citrus Bowl" was also a sponsorship, as the Florida Citrus grower's association backed the bowl for many years. But it was a classic, locally-appropriate name and lasted so long that most people hardly noticed. "Capital One" is more obviously commercial.

UMMAN83

March 26th, 2010 at 10:41 AM ^

What local or national media do you feel are more factual vs. opinionated than others. I'm looking for a media type (paper, web, radio) that provides actual factual information. I can't get locally ... maybe from 950 AM.

aaamichfan

March 26th, 2010 at 10:59 AM ^

"We're not fair-weather fans here," says Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman. "Of course winning is important to us, but we're confident that things will turn around."

BornInAA

March 26th, 2010 at 11:08 AM ^

in the article that coincides Bo's death as the start of the downward spiral.
Bo died on 2006 and we had a really good '07 team that put a beat down on Florida in the Citrus.
It was the huge turnover of Seniors and Juniors after the '07 season that was the biggest contributor to poor '08 and '09 seasons IMO.

Huntington Wolverine

March 26th, 2010 at 11:14 AM ^

I'm glad that you've managed to block The Horror and the Oregon curb stomp at the beginning of '07 and the losses to Wisconsin and OSU book-ending it. Any advice on how I can do the same?

Snark aside, I agree with you that the turnover of upper class men was a huge factor regarding the struggles of '08 and '09.

Re: the death of Bo. Coupled with the loss to OSU and the pounding at the hands of USC, then leading into 2007-2009, many have associated that as a time where we "lost our swagger."

Yostal

March 26th, 2010 at 11:20 AM ^

2007, when reviewed, will go down as one of the strangest seasons in Michigan history. Ignoring the Horror for a moment, you have a Duck Raid on Ann Arbor, brought about because we moved the return game to a year when we thought we had a better shot of winning, you have an absolute crushing of Notre Dame (Yackety Sacks), a hold on like Hell win over Penn State, night in Champaign (where Michigan wins, in part, on a trick play), the Purdue game (where the seemingly innocuous run to end the first half hurts Mike Hart for the rest of the year), the one in a million cortisone shot that hits a nerve in Henne, which kills his throwing arm, the longest play from scrimmage in Michigan history in a loss to Wisconsin which ended an 8 game winning streak, a soaking, in the wet misery of the rain against Ohio State in Lloyd's farewell at the Big House, and a open up the Playbook and show them everything and even then Adrian Arrington makes some stuff up win over Florida in Florida. It's utterly a maddening and strange season.

Ernis

March 26th, 2010 at 11:45 AM ^

Prologue: Bo's death was an immediate plunge to rock bottom. Where we were firmly entrenched for the next 4 games

--Loss to OSU in one of the biggest games of the rivalry
--After refusing to make any halftime adjustments from a first half in which we were barely holding on for a tie, we get decisively out-coached and slaughtered by USC
--The Horror. Need I say more?
--Oregon. Sure, no one could beat them when they had Dixon. Still, it wasn't even close.

After this, some ups and downs. Followed by lots of downs.

Epilogue: We have yet to recover.

Mattinboots

March 26th, 2010 at 11:12 AM ^

Not behind a paywall. Love WSJ's news articles, but the opinions are a bit one sided. Regardless of your stance, opinions from both side always make for more interesting reading.

JustGoBlue

March 26th, 2010 at 11:20 AM ^

NOT a paywall.

Next: I like how they refer to Shawn as "Mr. Hunwick", rather than just Hunwick, that's CLASSY.

I never realized quite how good I had it in high school, I heard the whole "put yourself in a position to be successful" thing for years, maybe (read: definitely) I just think way different than most people and was able to apply it differently...

I don't like how, despite all the positive facts, they kind of make it seem like this is the first year the hockey team has looked like the football teams of past years. This has been going on for 20ish years. It's not new. I'm probably (read: certainly) being too sensitive. Maybe they just didn't notice it before.

It's funny how noticeable "5'7''" Hunwick is, at least national media related. That's gotta be ironic on some level.

Michigasling

March 26th, 2010 at 1:52 PM ^

Actually, I thought they were pretty clear about the history of Michigan hockey-- the # of years and # of championships, and the aberration of this year after the expectations. Maybe the last line about Michigan "becoming a hockey school, at least until September" left the dissing taste in the mouth. My own sensitivity receptors activated when they said that at least Mr. Hunwick played "well enough" for them to get to the NCAA. I hope they were just going for understatement. But yeah, I'm sensitive too. On Mr. Hunwick's behalf, of course.

jmblue

March 26th, 2010 at 2:59 PM ^

The author of this piece knows his stuff. Did he go here?

My only disappointment is that we didn't get one of those classic WSJ dot-matrix portraits of Hunwick.