Semi OT: "________ vs. Everybody"
I really enjoyed Ryan Day's tough guy melt down where he said "Ohio vs. Everybody." I just saw a Chicago Bears post on Facebook about how "tough" Justin Fields is (?) and it was tagged "Chicago vs. Everybody." I'm pretty sure the phrase is "Detroit vs Everybody." I don't know the whole story, but it resonates because Detroit's been through some stuff. Like, get your own thing man.
October 15th, 2023 at 3:47 PM ^
Ryan Day's team is #3 in the country and his teams are always ranked highly. They made the playoff's last year despite losing to Michigan and could potentially do the same this year. No one is dogging Ohio State except for Lou Holtz. Stay tough Ryan.
Regarding Detroit vs. Everybody, Detroit's biggest problem has always been Detroit. The slogan is definitely good for selling merchandise but hasn't really affected much else.
October 15th, 2023 at 3:48 PM ^
Pretty sure my home town had that saying in 1988.
October 15th, 2023 at 4:06 PM ^
I was always fond of this slogan...
October 15th, 2023 at 5:29 PM ^
Slight correction: “they made the playoffs despite getting manhandled by Michigan last year.”
October 15th, 2023 at 5:37 PM ^
Us vs. everybody, including us.
October 15th, 2023 at 4:06 PM ^
I think it's "Ohio vs the world" but yes, I believe Detroit vs Everybody was the original. People have swiped their own versions since
October 15th, 2023 at 4:06 PM ^
The explosion in popularity came from copycats of the Detroit vs Everybody guy, who started it at the tail end of the Kwame Kilpatrick saga, although there are plenty of people who will claim they saw it before then.
Mostly it's a handy low-brow way to play on tribalism, which is still a thing among people. There are lots of t-shirt companies that print this kind of stuff to sell cheap shirts on the street at a high markup around sports fans, and some of them aren't small, and that was a vector for expanding the "brand."
I find the whole idea wrong and stupid, so much that I thought of making an "Ann Arbor With Everybody" shirt that became the "Love Wins" shirt.
October 15th, 2023 at 4:14 PM ^
Is everyone aggrieved?
I ask that as a historical question. It seems as if every segment of US society feels they're getting stiffed or scorned or insulted, increasing tribalism. But I don't know if that's a modern manifestation or simply how people are.
October 15th, 2023 at 4:28 PM ^
There’s a lot of evidence to support a genetically driven cognitive bias at play here. Call it a predisposition to view your tribe in an arbitrarily positive light and all other tribes in a negative light. Made going over the hill to club other tribe’s men and steal their woman easier to digest as a lifestyle.
October 15th, 2023 at 6:18 PM ^
You're right, and I totally get that.
Still, I do wonder if our current state of cultural agitation, exacerbated by social media, has increased the habit of being aggrieved.
Or even increased the urge to WANT to be aggrieved.
October 15th, 2023 at 7:21 PM ^
Yes, because people are "discovering" new things to be aggrieved about, thanks to social media and its use by politicians and pundits. The world of slights has been ripped wide open and now everyone knows the thousands of reasons why they should be pissed that were previously unknown.
October 15th, 2023 at 9:36 PM ^
To that, I will add that, with the weakening of underlying community bonds in an increasingly isolated society, there is also less consequence for being “aggrieved”. People get away with being diaper babies a lot more than they would if they had to answer to a community of actual relationships.
October 15th, 2023 at 5:29 PM ^
In the immortal words of Costanza:
October 15th, 2023 at 4:29 PM ^
Not to be pedantic, but if you do a search you can quickly find the phrase "against the world" predating some company in Detroit seizing on the idea, though the commercialization in this context, on t-shirts and stuff, is where I first saw it, too. People feel disconnected and sports is one of the few things that connects them. . .
Sports have certainly saved me. I would even admit to feeling drawn to the idea when I first saw the Detroit t's. I was born in Henry Ford Hospital and my dad taught at Wayne State, after attending Michigan like his dad did; I am super-proud of that and my Michigan connections. So my wife pokes a little fun at me. . . My social media motto said 'Against Tribalism' for years until an Ojibwe friend objected, but it's good to have some damned thing where you can feel like you're part of a crowd and shout your guts out.
October 15th, 2023 at 4:39 PM ^
Mostly it's a handy low-brow way to play on tribalism, which is still a thing among people. There are lots of t-shirt companies that print this kind of stuff to sell cheap shirts on the street at a high markup around sports fans
October 15th, 2023 at 4:44 PM ^
I mean that’s just a truism.
October 15th, 2023 at 7:09 PM ^
Ohio. The wasteland between Ann Arbor and Pittsburgh.
October 15th, 2023 at 6:25 PM ^
MGoBlog vs. Everybody
October 15th, 2023 at 6:53 PM ^
I disagree with Seth’s take. I don’t think the Detroit vs Everybody clothing was just a ploy to capitalize on tribalism. If anything was a ploy, it was the Eminem/Royce/Big Sean song that lifted the trademarked clothing name.
Detroit has been the most maligned city in the country for the better part of 40 years. Those shirts (from a Black-owned business, no less) were a nod to this degree of maligning and became a point of pride for many people, particularly city residents. That’s not a ploy—that’s just someone making lemonade out of lemons.
Black urban trends tend to catch on with broader audiences, in part because those trends often speak to deep universal sentiments. Detroit vs Everybody was no exception.
October 15th, 2023 at 8:33 PM ^
This is what I recall too. I remember moving out east before I came back to the Detroit area and had to defend Detroit against everyone. It was very much a "you're from that shithole?" perspective.
And if you think it hasn't improved, you clearly haven't been there lately. The riverfront parks, the food scene, the shows, the sports...fantastic. I also work downtown and it's a great place to work, what with all the good lunch spots, Campus Martius events, etc.
October 15th, 2023 at 9:22 PM ^
It made some sense for Detroit. The Ann Arbor vs Everybody shirts...that's pure junk.
October 15th, 2023 at 7:24 PM ^
I think the Helen Reddy song predates the Detroit thing. I posted this last week, too. Can never have enough super cheesy 70's songs.
October 15th, 2023 at 4:42 PM ^
Ryan Day didn't make it up.
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ohio-vs-the-world
Ohio vs. The World refers to a series of memes which speculate on an unknown danger centered around the state of Ohio, and Ohio scheming to take over the world. Gaining initial traction thanks to viral images such as "Ohio Will Be Eliminated," "Danger Presented by Ohio," "Time to Nuke Ohio" and most notably Wait, It's All Ohio?, the trend gained a pronounced presence online in early February 2020 following a series of viral deep-fried memes.
October 15th, 2023 at 4:45 PM ^
Putin vs. Everybody
October 15th, 2023 at 5:48 PM ^
Nah you got Belarus, China, Iran, Syria, and North Korea.
A regular who’s who of fine world citizens.
October 15th, 2023 at 4:59 PM ^
Can everyone agree there's nothing worse than everyone copying "_____ Nation" from the Steelers?
You got teams like Iowa State that try to say "Cyclone Nation", even my alma mater Toledo has a "Rocket Nation" banner at the Glass Bowl. Neither of those plus so many others have national fanbases.
October 15th, 2023 at 5:20 PM ^
Using the word “Strong” after a city name is annoying as well.
”Boston Strong”
However, nothing annoys me as much as putting the word “Gate” after every potential scandal in the world.
October 15th, 2023 at 7:19 PM ^
Yes, we can. Agreed.
After the steel industry collapsed we had the Burgh/Steeler fan diaspora. Given Burgh expats live in every state of the union, we became the Steeler Nation.
I'll never forget going to a Steeler-Redskins game years back at Fedex field. I took the middle son with me to the game. There were scattered Steeler fans around us. I started a loud, "Here we go Steelers, here we go" chant. My son (then 15 or so) was completely mortified until...
The chant spread to those around us and to the adjoining sections and around the stadium. Middle son was amazed. The next day was the best listening to local sports radio and everybody was complaining the game at Fedex was like a road game for the Redskins.
October 15th, 2023 at 5:02 PM ^
I believe it's DE2ROIT, but whatever.
October 15th, 2023 at 5:02 PM ^
F*CK ohio
October 15th, 2023 at 6:26 PM ^
Nearly every sports team in the country thinks nobody believes in them. It's the easiest motivator in the world for a coach to use. Judging by his players' comments after the national championship last year, even Kirby Smart somehow got Georgia to think the media was picking them to go 7-5.
October 15th, 2023 at 8:07 PM ^
Rolder vs Everybody
October 15th, 2023 at 9:12 PM ^
Clarence Boddicker vs. Everybody.
October 15th, 2023 at 10:16 PM ^
Yeah, the shameless pilfering of your arch rival's regional battle cry is lame as hell. Day's a weirdo. I think I like him.
October 16th, 2023 at 6:57 AM ^
The _____ vs everybody schtick is a little eye-rolly in the same way people claming their fanbase is 'Spartan Nation' or something is eye-rolly. It presumes a certain level of self importance that is usually overinflated
October 16th, 2023 at 10:27 AM ^
A granfalloon, in the fictional religion of Bokononism (created by Kurt Vonnegut in his 1963 novel Cat's Cradle), is defined as a "false karass". That is, it is a group of people who affect a shared identity or purpose, but whose mutual association is meaningless.
It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine, but other teams have silly granfalloons.
October 16th, 2023 at 8:04 AM ^
When I was in Toronto a couple months ago, I saw. "Sarnia vs. everybody" shirt.
October 16th, 2023 at 9:54 AM ^
One day Canada will take over the world. Then you'll all be sorry!
October 16th, 2023 at 10:06 AM ^
*Almost everyone (asterisk because I'm not sure it's a literal 100%) is biased to notice the slights against them and ignore the favorable things. It's just human nature. Barring Job or Frano Selak, most fortunes come out pretty even over a long enough period of time.
October 16th, 2023 at 10:33 AM ^
I think your point is spiritually right, but not actually right. Fortune and misfortune are not evenly distributed. Northwestern's fortunes in sportball are not equivalent to Duke's or Michigan's. A child born into poverty does not have the fortunes of a middle class kid or an upper class kid. But like to like things regress to the mean.