SI article about state of Michigan football with quick mention of MGOBLOG
http://www.si.com/college-football/2014/09/25/michigan-wolverines-brady…
More of the same that we've heard over and over and over, so read at your own risk. This was nice to see though.
But if Michigan football plans to stay mediocre, it can expect attendance to fall to a level commensurate with its recent success. It can expect leading maize-and-blue tastemakers like MGoBlog.com’s Brian Cook to keep trotting out Henri the Otter of Ennui. Henri is the perfect mascot for the 2014 Michigan Man -- esoteric enough that the unwashed won’t get the joke, but still devastatingly accurate.
September 25th, 2014 at 8:40 PM ^
Does a good job of tearing down the feelings of the fan base more succintly as opposed to the normal "Fan's aren't happy" stuff.
Ennui is precisely the problem at the moment. While Hoke should not concern himself with the interest level of the fan base, he should be quite concerned with the success of the team that makes that emotional thermometer rise and fall. It doesn’t help that when Hoke speaks publicly about his team, he rarely acknowledges any concrete problems or describes specific steps he and the staff are taking to fix them. He says stuff like this from Monday’s press conference: “What they do have is they have a great belief in each other. They have a great belief in the program. They come out and compete and challenge each other every day. This will be a good football team.”
The generalities offered in the first three sentences don’t inspire much confidence. The declarative statement in the fourth might if so much of the on-field evidence didn’t point to the contrary.
It also doesn’t help when Hoke makes statements like this one in his fourth year at the helm: “We’re building a program with a great foundation, and that’s important. From the academic side to the athletic side. That is important, the foundation that we have.” By now, the foundation had better be poured. Hoke should be putting in countertops and crown molding.
September 25th, 2014 at 8:46 PM ^
I think the last time I saw thread started and then immediately responded to by the OP RDT was being outed by OMG Shirtless.
I agree with the article FWIW.
September 25th, 2014 at 9:01 PM ^
September 25th, 2014 at 11:06 PM ^
September 25th, 2014 at 11:15 PM ^
I'm not 100% useless! Just about 95%.
September 25th, 2014 at 11:35 PM ^
Definitely one of my favorite MGoBlog moments. That and Jersey's selling like hotcakes.
September 25th, 2014 at 8:48 PM ^
and he even put in a plug for Henri the Otter of Ennui!
Staples might have missed how much turmoil surrounds Brandon himself as opposed to will-he-or-won't-he-fire-Hoke. Otherwise, I'd say that's a rather good encapsulation of the current state of affairs by an outsider.
September 25th, 2014 at 8:49 PM ^
For me, this year, the spirit animal I think of when I think about Michigan football is Spanky, the dead skunk of despondency.
September 25th, 2014 at 9:10 PM ^
September 25th, 2014 at 9:17 PM ^
September 25th, 2014 at 9:51 PM ^
Someone apparently had the same idea.
September 25th, 2014 at 10:03 PM ^
also, the truth is losing to MSU probably won't affect recruiting as long as Hoke is retained. Good players still want to come to Michigan, not to MSU. It is what it is
September 25th, 2014 at 9:31 PM ^
Good article. Agree totally.
September 25th, 2014 at 9:51 PM ^
Staples ignores that Brandon can't fix the problem because he's the problem.
Well, I guess he could resign, but not with his ego.
September 26th, 2014 at 12:12 AM ^
No way Brandon resigns. He probably thinks he's the best thing to happen to Michigan football ever.
September 25th, 2014 at 10:08 PM ^
First, yay me for my first successful youtube embed. I didn't put any comments in that because I was afraid I was going to mess it up. So how is Michigan football like that video? Let me count the ways.
1. The tempo is incredibly slow
2. There is nothing modern about it
3. The song makes me feel sad, but it is still hauntingly beautiful at the same time
I realize there is a hint of "Brady fiddles while Ann Arbor burns," to it, but that's not what I was going for. It's really just the sad, slow, anachronistic feel of it all.
September 25th, 2014 at 10:13 PM ^
This time, right now, makes or breaks his career.
September 25th, 2014 at 11:23 PM ^
I've ran into a lot of Michigan Alums who are quite upset with Hoke and can't wait for a change. I'm more of the opinion to let the season play out and see if there is some dramatic improvement by the end of the season. I doubt we can beat MSU but if we improve enough I think a win at OSU will be great if we can finish the season at 7-5 or 8-4. Anything less than 7 wins and then it will be time to say audios to coach Hoke.
September 25th, 2014 at 11:59 PM ^
September 26th, 2014 at 3:17 AM ^
September 26th, 2014 at 6:42 AM ^
I wonder what Michigan Football would be like with Nick or Urban running the show. Urban Meyer (UM) the headcoach at UM:) Can you imagine the excitement if we had won 24 straight games instead of being 15-11 the last two years?