Is Molk Right About The Fans(Edited)?
I don't get to go to games very often. So I was curious if what David Mol said about people booing the players during RR tenure was true? I would tend to think that real fans would never boo. But if some felt really compelled to express their frustration I would hope that it would be directed at the coaching staff and never the players. Of course if you're a player on the sideline it's probably not easy to differentiate who the boo's are aimed at. Many of you are regular game attendees, what did you witness? Are some fans really that classless?
Edit: My apologies I meant to type David Molk but instead typed Mike Martin.
December 15th, 2011 at 11:18 AM ^
I was at every home game during the RR era, and the only booing I recall were a couple of give-up-and-end-the-half drives at the end of halftime.
Oh, and some idiots wanted to boo Obi Ezeh on senior day.
December 15th, 2011 at 11:27 AM ^
Isn't that the lead singer of a popular top 40s rock band?
/s
December 15th, 2011 at 11:45 AM ^
For some reason that picture reminds me of who I really am.
Are you having fun yet?
December 15th, 2011 at 11:59 AM ^
He looks a little down...into the bottom of every bottle.
December 15th, 2011 at 1:22 PM ^
Hey heyyyy, I wanna be a blog star...
December 15th, 2011 at 11:48 AM ^
Pop Evil?
December 15th, 2011 at 12:36 PM ^
Look at Brian's photograph.
Everytime I do it makes me laugh.
How did his get eyes get so red...
And what the hell is on Brian's head?
December 15th, 2011 at 1:46 PM ^
he was the lead singer of the band that played the halftime show at the Lions Thanksgiving game...
/s
December 15th, 2011 at 1:33 PM ^
It was Molk's speech at the Football Bust, not Martin's. And yes, I have heard scattered boos in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
And yes, I heard some rather forceful booing in 2009 and 2010 of a kind that Molk and his teammates would have clearly heard. I do think, as others have pointed out, that it was to a great extent motivated by some fans' antipathy toward Rodriguez; but it is also nuts to think that under those circusmtances, a player on the field, coming off the field at the half or the end of a game, wouldn't feel as if he were being booed.
I know for a fact that I had words with people in my section who were booing in 2009 and 2010. They were not people who customarily held the season tickets for those seats; I wish I could be assured of seeing them again, to remind them of Molk's words, but I doubt it.
December 15th, 2011 at 3:34 PM ^
I spent plenty of time booing RR from a seat at big house or home because of what he was doing to the program.
Ignorant comments like “We didn’t get stupid overnight and all that when we lost a few games.” or the complience problems with practice. Sure, booing doesnt help the cause, but giving the guy another year would've made things worse in the long run.
Molk has a right to be frustrated and has always been open about it wasnt the Michigan he was expecting to walk into... We may not understand what its like to be in the players shoes, but we too have experience hurt and frustration to a degree. The lack of confidence was spreading like a wild fire until we found the right man job and had leaders like Martin, Molk, and the rest of the seniors that brought this program back to what we all expect.
December 15th, 2011 at 4:09 PM ^
When Rosenberg and his editors decided to go after Rodriguez on something like "Compliance" (it's "complance" with an a, you should know), they were clever enough to know that they'd be getting people like you as a rapt audience. Plenty of former players too. Hitting Michigan where it would hurt most. A gut-punch in Michigan's "respectability." People like you must give people like Rosenberg and the Freep editors a great deal of satisfaction.
December 15th, 2011 at 4:21 PM ^
You're giving Rosenberg too much credit. Pretty clear that the story was conceived by a rat in the department who led MR to water.
December 16th, 2011 at 9:59 AM ^
Fans that weren't season ticket holders being the true problem and I'am some sort of Freep lover? Interesting assumptions... really, it sounds like opinions that would come from the mouth of a fan expressing his/her disapproval by booing.
December 15th, 2011 at 4:37 PM ^
what Molk is/was frustrated with was you and half-ass fans of your ilk. He has stated as much a few different times, wondering why people who call themselves 'back with the program' ever left to begin with.
Fortunately you are probably just as disgraceful and disloyal in other aspects of your life, so hopefully you will pay for it there.
December 16th, 2011 at 10:34 AM ^
Its idiots like mtzlblk and section1 who turn a comment from a college student into a personal attack on a chat room (of all places). Who are you to cast the first stone and label someone disgraceful or disloyal in all aspects of there life?
Someone that serves their country overseas doesnt have the priveledge to get season tickets and attend every game. Someone serving their country overseas doesnt have the privilege to sit infront of Fox News all day and mutter opinions about other people. Disloyal is the last thing I'am... Its comments like these I would expect from the school down south.
December 16th, 2011 at 12:02 PM ^
I have no idea what you are even talking about with someone who is serving their country overseas or what that has to do with season tickets or sitting in front of Fox News.
Care to elaborate?
The bottom line is this, you were the one justifying the fact that you sat in the stands and boo-ed your coach and team and, quite frankly, it is reprehensible. It is not what a real fan does. When your team is down, that is when you cheer the hardest and let them know you are behind them no matter what. You sat on your ass in the stands and boo-ed a bunch of kids who were out on the field giving it their all....for you. If you think they heard it and said to themselves, "oh, that's just for the coach and not for me," and shrugged it off, then I would invite you to read Molk's comments again. They did not. Let me reiterate, you sat on your ass in the stands and boo-ed a bunch of 17-18-19 year old kids who play football for Michigan who were overmatched and playing their hearts out.....for you. Think about that and then tell me what kind of fan or person does that? My comments stand.
On the outside chance you are actually serving overseas right now or in the past (which I might surmise from your comments, but not sure), would you turn on your unit or your CO the moment things weren't going your way there? I think not, so I don't understand why you did it for a team that you profess to support?
Boo-ing while kids are on the field is the act of a feckless, chinless, spoiled fan. Plain and simple. Whatever your problems are with the coach, you support the players while they are on the field. End of story.
Please tell me you aren't putting forth watching Fox News as a privilege........
December 16th, 2011 at 12:45 PM ^
You mentioned "complience problems" [sic] as being a Rodriguez problem; such a severe problem, in fact, that you were one of the people booing the team/Rodriguez on game days.
And the reason that that brings Rosenberg and the Free Press directly into the mix is that such thinking, on the part of poorly-informed fans like you, is directly attributable to the malicious work at the Freep, as most followers of MGoBlog now understand.
December 16th, 2011 at 4:05 PM ^
I find this website to be the only place to obtain reliable information on the team, but its at the expense of loud mouth fans like yourself. The fact that your buddy goes off on his temper tantrum about being disgraceful, but then calls out someone he never meet before on an online chat room, is like the pot calling the kettle black. I honestly took his comment to heart, but after reading a history of both of your post on other threads, I realize that I have more self control then you may suggest.
Bottom line, my booing was directed at RR (im not sure where you're getting the kids from)and I also made the comment that it doesnt solve anything, however, I will not listen to a bunch of old loud mouths deny that they NEVER expressed frustration in public about where RR was taking the team (at the big house or not).
December 16th, 2011 at 4:08 PM ^
Was written for people like you. Actually, it may have been written for people like me; but it ought to be required reading for people like you.
For all of the people who suggest, "Section 1, we all got it a long time ago; the Free Press was inexcusable. You are beating a dead horse, because everybody already gets it..." I submit you, as evidence to the contrary. Some people -- like you -- really haven't gotten it.
December 16th, 2011 at 4:23 PM ^
I'll say this, I appreciate your "Three and Out" plug on the dear diary section and will most likely purchase the book this weekend. Sure I don't know all the details, but I know he wasn't good for the school anymore. I also think some of you "true" fans take it a bit far sometimes. I don't know or care to meet either of you, but if anyone wants to call me disloyal/disgraceful in all aspects of life, we are going to have problems.
December 16th, 2011 at 5:47 PM ^
I called you misinformed, and only because you made the absolutely risible claim that the Rodriguez/compliance issues had nothing to do with the Free Press. When in fact the Free Press was the sole proximate cause of the NCAA investigation. And the NCAA investigation was the leading element in the poisonous off-field atmosphere for most of Rodriguez's tenure in Ann Arbor. And the Free Press' motivations were so blatantly malicious. (No one can honestly claim that Michigan football players needed protection from a renegade coach, and no one can honestly say that Michigan's football program was dirty. But that is exactly what the Free Press claimed.)
And it wasn't just Stretchgate, of course. There was Boren, whose true story was never told, and instead the Freep reported the basically made-up story that Rodriguez was too tough, or his language was too foul, or something else. Instead of the fact that Mike Boren expected a legacy scholarship for Zach, when Rodriguez had no need of any fullbacks.
And there was the death by a thousand cuts -- cuts against Rodriguez that were almost exclusively concocted by Snyder and/or Rosenberg: the "Katrina" reference at the '09 Bust; the Demar Dorsey witchhunt, the (basically failed and/or overblown) reporting on extraneous Rodriguez "scandals" like the failed real estate deal and the West Virginia buyout litigation.
All of this, is why you should buy the book, read it, and instead of lending it to your friends, tell them all to buy their own copies so that all of you can go over the details together and compare your respective memories and impressions, and make certain that you understand it all.
December 15th, 2011 at 8:46 PM ^
Anyone know how much he got paid to be the lead singer in the new FreeCreditReport.com ad?
When I first saw it, I took it as a call to ramp up our donations.
December 15th, 2011 at 1:01 PM ^
there was most definitely booing just before halftime of the '08 wisconsin game. loud booing. i didn't make it back for many games during the RR era, but i have to imagine there were more as well.
December 15th, 2011 at 1:34 PM ^
I'm pretty sure I remember the boos that day too. That first half was pretty awful football. Molk didn't play in 2009 so even though he would still obviously hear and feel the boos I don't know if he would be talking about that year as much.
December 15th, 2011 at 2:08 PM ^
This is the only time I remember hearing booing and thinking that it was directed towards the players. I also remember late in the 3rd quarter, Michigan completed a pass that brought our passing numbers out of the negatives (this was how bad the first half was) and that got a sarcastic cheer from the crowd that even the announcers on TV commented on.
The fact that those same players came back out and played the most exciting half of football I had ever witnessed just makes it that much more embarassing that there were so many boos at the end of the first half.
December 15th, 2011 at 9:35 PM ^
i remember the sarcastic cheer as well, though i recall the reason being that we hadn't gotten a first down in basically forever and finally did. i participated in the sarcastic cheer. not the booing though. that has no place in college football, even if your boos were "directed at the coaches" as some people claimed.
December 15th, 2011 at 8:08 PM ^
Section 18, where seldom was heard a discouraging word. Molk might have been boo'd around campus but I pity the fool who would have tried it. I never heard a word against the players.
December 15th, 2011 at 11:20 AM ^
I remember some boes from the fans. I don't believe I ever personally boed (at our team), but plenty did. Some games under RR were extremely frustrating, so I understood where they were coming from, but at the same time these guys are working hard out there.
December 15th, 2011 at 11:48 AM ^
I do not understand where the fans are coming from for ever booing the maize and blue. "Go Blue" is unconditional and Molk, Martin, Van Bergen, and Tate wore the same winged helmet that Desmond, Woodson, and Hutchinson wore. Completely unfair to the players from 08-09 to boo them in any case.
December 15th, 2011 at 11:54 AM ^
The one time that I booed was when we decided to punt with 6 minutes left, down 14, I believe, against Iowa. That wasn't for the players, but for the coaches.
December 15th, 2011 at 2:59 PM ^
I highly doubt the boos are ever directed at the players on the college level. If the coaches don't have the players prepared, that is on the coaches. I would really hope everyone understands that these are 18-22 year old players, not professionals. The guys getting paid are the guys that get the boos (which means the players at Ohio are getting booed too, but that's beside the point).
December 15th, 2011 at 3:45 PM ^
It was against Michigan State in 2010. That and going into halftime of the wisconsin game in 2010 were probably the only two times I was so furious at the coaches that I voiced my opinion.
2008 Wisconsin I was too stunned to boo.
December 15th, 2011 at 11:20 AM ^
2008 Wisconsin game at half time jumped right to mind for me.
December 15th, 2011 at 11:27 AM ^
I seem to remember boos before halftime-multiple turnovers in a row. It was the ugliest half of football I have ever watched..
December 15th, 2011 at 11:36 AM ^
I don't remember who was calling that game, but as the team was going in for halftime, he said, "To call Michigan's offense inept would be an insult to inept offenses everywhere." Amazing we ended up pulling that one out.
December 15th, 2011 at 11:39 AM ^
Gotta be Sean McDonough. He made a similar comment about OSU earlier this season.
December 15th, 2011 at 12:06 PM ^
It was Nessler
December 15th, 2011 at 12:17 PM ^
Yup, that was the one. I was at every game during RR's tenure and at halftime the boo birds could be heard loud and clear. Of course, the place was rocking when we came back in the second half and stuck it to the Badgers.
Other than the Wiscy game, I remember some groaning on occasion, but not anything more than that.
December 15th, 2011 at 11:21 AM ^
The defense was the usual recipient of the boos, usually as they left the field at half time. It wasn't often, but it did occur.
December 15th, 2011 at 11:21 AM ^
I think they're generally booing the coaches. But since they're all on the same sideline, it's probably best not to boo. I mean, I could see booing lack of effort, if they come out sloppy and lackadaisical...but how can you ever really tell? Not sure it's constructive. If you want to let a coach know how much you hate him, apparently that's what message boards are for.
Though if someone runs out the clock with 2 minutes left in the half, or runs 3 times up the middle, rather than trying to score, I think our players are smart enough to figure fans are booing the playcalling and not them.
December 15th, 2011 at 11:26 AM ^
The booing was definitely not intended for the players but it's understandable that they would take it a directed at them...overall Im against booing ones own team unless it is a rare case, like a Suh-ism ( stomping someone)
December 15th, 2011 at 11:52 AM ^
Booing is booing. (They do say that, right?)
December 15th, 2011 at 3:31 PM ^
They were saying "Boo-urns."
December 15th, 2011 at 11:25 AM ^
My experience in the past few years of games is that the boo's generally are at the product, with no differentiation between coaches/players/whatever. However, I have heard over the past few years (and is probably more prevalent due to the losing) some downright embarassing and awful things yelled at Denard, Lewan, Stevie Brown and various other players while sitting in the crowd. These were things that wouldn't fit in with the crowds in Ohio Stadium fergodsakes. Its certainly dispelled the belief in my mind that we as Michigan fans are "better" than some of the tactics and things said at other venues in college football.
December 15th, 2011 at 11:24 AM ^
Fans boo'd Carr all the time. Like if he took a knee before the half. That shit goes on. I realize that this senior class in particular went through a hell of a lot compared to other Michigan football classes, but the whole "us against the world" is waaaay overblown. Booing was not a constant occurrence by the majority of fans. Did the booing increase a bit under RR? Perhaps, but so did the losing. To pretend like the Michigan fan base as a whole was constantly booing the players is grossly disingenuous.
December 15th, 2011 at 12:06 PM ^
Yes, I remember some booing during the later Carr years for his playcalling. Like Braylonfest, which I went to. The fans were going crazy, and rightfully so, for us not attempting to throw the ball until the 4th quarter. And there were boos when Navarre took a knee against Penn State in 02 to go to overtime instead of trying for a hail mary. There's been boos for as far back as I can remember to not try for points just before halftime.
I can't speak for games during the RichRod years since I only went to a couple of those. But whenever it came to booing, I was always under the impression that it was for the playcalling, not the players. Even when Navarre was QB, I don't remember hearing booing for as unpopular as he was. I remember moans and groans but never booing. The only player I have heard that actually got booed from fans was Steve Smith in the early 80's.
December 15th, 2011 at 1:58 PM ^
The 08 Wisconsin game, we were down 19-0 at half time. I remember being able to hear the boos on TV, which is usually kind of hard to do.
December 15th, 2011 at 12:11 PM ^
I'm embarassed to admit that I booed the Michigan team once...when I was at the Oregon game. That was as frustrated as I'd ever been at a Michigan football game. After "The Horror" I'd have thought that they'd come out with fire in their eyes. It looked to me like the team was ill-prepared and had quit on Lloyd.
My then 6 year old son was with me, and told me that I wasn't being a good fan (I'd told him many times that good fans don't boo). He was right...I was ashamed of myself.
It's bad form, but I can understand how frustration can boil over at times. Having said that, I won't be doing it again...
December 15th, 2011 at 12:37 PM ^
+1 for teaching your son what it means to be a good fan.
I'm willing to overlook the fact your son needed to remind you what is means to be a good fan. I was at that game, and that was about the ugliest first half of football I have ever witnessed. That said, I heard the boos and was disappointed in my fellow M fans; amateur athletes do not deserved to be booed for lack of results.