Rittenberg Fail in today's Big Ten lunch links
Usually a fan of the blog, but Rittenberg should not be linking hackjobs like:
"More than 1,000 days have passed since Michigan State lost to archrival Michigan, Tony Paul writes in The Detroit News. "
A.K.A. they've beaten us TWICE in a row. Why link this garbage? They cite two sports -- football and basketball. Our basketball team has been largely irrelevent for 15 years, thats not news.
In terms of football, they beat the worst michigan team ever in Ann Arbor, and then needed overtime in East Lansing to beat a Michigan team with a freshman QB that finished last in the Big Ten. 2 wins over two of our worst teams in the past 40 years is not worth such a ridiculous write-up. I guess counting by the days makes a 2 game streak seem worthwhile.
Fail on you Rittenberg for linking this garbage. I know you check Mgoblog sometimes so hopefully you see this thread and avoid similar failures in the future.
EDIT: Concerning people who say since the article is factual it isnt fail, here are my main two problems:
1) It measures only two sports, one of which we haven't been considered the favorite in for 15 years. This is extremely misleading and Michigan has had big wins in other sports against MSU (like in hockey).
2) In the one sport where we do have a superior program, it uses a measurement for time that is completely absurd. Why would you measure an annual football game in days? Thats trying to make a non-noteworthy streak into something bigger than it is. To me, that's akin to saying something like "I make 6,000,000 pennies a year in salary" to impress a girl when you make $60,000. It's ridiculous and not an appropriate way to measure this streak.
August 2nd, 2010 at 12:52 PM ^
Calm down. He linked to something you don't like. Big deal
August 2nd, 2010 at 12:58 PM ^
My issue is that if you're going to write a "quality" blog, you should probably not link to utter crap. The article is a complete embellishment of non-news in order to create news. If he linked to an article that simply said "MSU hopes to continue 2-game win streak over UM" then I'd be fine. I don't like conjuring news out of nothing by counting days between once-a-year events. Why not say that its been over 24000 hours or 1,440,000 minutes? Those are also irrelevent and large numbers that are not appropriate for measuring football streaks.
August 2nd, 2010 at 12:53 PM ^
But it's still factual garbage
August 2nd, 2010 at 12:56 PM ^
Seeing as Lyndon Johnson was president the last time State had a longer winning streak over Michigan in football, it is probably worth noting.
August 2nd, 2010 at 12:58 PM ^
When we beat them this year, his post will become irrelevant.
Patience, my friend, patience.
and then wondered, who this tool Tony Paul was, and agreed, he used flimsy math and flimsier logic (2 sports only, as the OP presented) to generate the 1000 days of post-Mike Hart quotables.
I agree that it's hackneyed, lazy writing at it's finest, which our local lolmsm abounds. (I refuse to call it journalism, out of respect for mgoposting journos as well as those writers with integrity and ethics.)
Hard to see how facts = fail.
and couldnt help but thinking .... we beat them in hockey, in their house (that we took over) that allowed us to be ccha champs, and for us and not them to go to the tourny
and yes i realize i am grasping for reasons to be happy
Forgetting about hockey are we? I would say that is hugely relevant when discussing a total winning streak. I am sure we could come up with a much longer streak across two sports.
I am still revelling over our dominance over sparty in their own barn. I don't care if it was MSU's spring break, if that series was in Yost during our spring break, the entire weekend would be sold out. I cannot wait to dominate MSU again in hockey this season.
it really pisses me off how no one gives a shit about hockey. us kicking their ass in hockey makes football loses less painful. especially when stevie kampfer was playing.
and the circumstances do not matter at all. MSU beat UM will be the drum that is beaten until it's not true. When it isn't there are no drums to beat.
That greatest story plot in sports is "David beats Goliath". Michigan will never be David, there is nothing you can do to change that.
Just ignore all the noise and remember this key fact which drives the passion;
Q - What do MSU and Michigan Alumni have in common?
A - They were both accepted to Michigan State University.
this one always makes me smile.
I saw something like this in motown sports message board. The first guy posted a link to the article and bragged how it had been over 1,000 days. He also states that nobody gets more mileage padding their resume with pre 1940's wins. My Response:
I really hate when Michigan State fans try to use this argument. As if Michigans football program only did winning in the stone ages. Lets go back in the year 1953 when Michigan State Joined the Big Ten.
Since 1953 Michigan leads the all time series 35-21-2 for a .603 winning percentage against Michigan State.
Since 1953 Michigan is 452-178-12 for a winning percentage of .704.
Since 1953 Michigan State is 334-277-13 for a winning percentage of .535.
Since 1953 Michigan has appeared in 36 bowl games.
Since 1953 Michigan State has appeared in 19 Bowl Games.
Since 1953 Michigan has won 22 Big Ten Championships
1964,1969,1971,1972,1973,1974,1976,1977,1978,1980, 1982,1986,1988,1989,1990,1991,1992, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004)
Since 1953 Michigan State has won 6 Big Ten Championships1953,1965,1966,1978,1987, and 1990)
Michigan has more Big Ten titles(7) since Michigan States last title(1990), then Michigan State has since 1953(6).
It has been 1,002 days or 2 years 8 months 29 days since Michigan last beat Michigan State on November 3rd, 2007.
It was 2,548 days or 6 years 11 months 22 days between Michigan States win on November 3rd, 2001 and October 25th, 2008.
I'm not trying to say Michigan State is a bad program. I think they have a very respectable program. I just hate when MSU fans try to act like, their program is on equal footing with Michigan if you eliminate Michigans passed before 1950 or 1940. Or that without Michigans wins before the 40's Michigan isnt really that elite of a program. It simply isnt true. Michigan has had a good program before the 1950's and after.
I won't care MSU until they beat us more than 35% of the time.
Yeah, Fact != Fail.
However, here's some more facts - Michigan vs. MSU in head-to-head sports:
- Baseball: 0-1
- M Basketball 0-2
- Football: 0-1
- Hockey: 3-2
- M Soccer: 0-1
- M Tennis: 1-0
- Wrestling: 0-1
- W Basketball: 0-2
- Field Hockey: 0-1
- W Gymnastics: 1-0
- W Soccer: 0-0-1
- Softball: 2-0
- W Tennis: 1-0
- Volleyball: 2-0
That's an overall record of 9-12-1. Thank you Michigan Ladies and Icers for saving us face. It's been a rough, rough year.
... before this 1000 days we beat them 6 times in a row?
ill put it this way. from November 4, 2001 to October 24, 2008, the fighting bobbywilliams/johnLsmiths/dantonios got precisely 0 wins on the gridiron against us. That was 2546 days (timeanddate.com is awesome).
Was the Michigan fanbase counting the days as they went by?
NO OF COURSE NOT!
It's because we don't have a massive inferiority complex about the rivalry. Sparty does. Mike Hart's comment, about them being little brother, while slightly lacking in class, was very very true. The MSU fanbase is so insecure about their footbal program, especially in comparison to Michigan, that they feel this compelling urge to rub it in our faces whenever they do better than us (which is thankfully a rare occurrence). It's just the type of thing which we'll have to endure until we put them back in their place.
...but we're getting apoplectic over a silly offseason article about MSU's two-year winning streak. It may not be an inferiority complex, but it's certainly some sort of complex.
Sometimes facts upset me too.
Facts are simple and facts are straight
Facts are lazy and facts are late
Facts all come with points of view
Facts don't do what I want them to
Facts just twist the truth around
Facts are living turned inside out
Facts are getting the best of them
Facts are nothing on the face of things--Talking Heads, "Crosseyed and Painless"
Chill, Mr. OP. Articles like this are written all the time in regards to many different rivalries. No need to get offended. Just add it to the reasons that you want the streak to end this year.
(but it seems like he's trying to copy the osu tagline "xx days since . . .")
It has been 2,445 days since Michigan last beat Ohio State in football.
As pointed out here:
http://www.theonlycolors.com/2010/7/30/1594960/aint-it-a-grand#comments
We unfortunately haven't accomplished the same in 30 years.
Mgoblog gets quite a bit of comments at the end of the article. In fact Brian actually gets some love from some of the commentors.