Soliciting Opinions re: Watching Michigan Football Games on DVR
Some of you may recall my posts last season about how I was able to increase my viewing pleasure during gamedays by fast-forwarding through all defensive series so as only to watch the offense. Last year, I found that was the easiest way to prevent cardiac arrest, teaching my toddler words that I would not want him repeating at school, and/or destruction of personal property.
This year, however, I am not sure how to proceed . . . Like most, I am looking forward to a new season, to seeing the new direction of the program, and most imporantly to watching Denard and the offense again. The question is: Will the defense be improved enough to warrant watching that side of the ball as well? In the short term, do I start out the season by watching the entire game? Or do I start out pessimistic (my default position) and go into the season thinking I'm going to continue the trend of skipping watching the defense?
Your thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.
you should be fast forwarding through on a DVR'd game are the commercials.
If a game is a real stinker, I will sometimes fast-forward through between snap commentary.
I always use DVR and watch games later. Occassionaly (like, when the weather won't support golf during the day), I'll start watching about 60 minutes after kickoff. This allows me to not have to listen to between snap commentary, commercials or halftime "experts" telling me what I already saw. Works great, for me, but I understand that some people like to watch live.
That said - I can't imagine not watching defense or part of the game. I love to watch the game, the entire game. I care about more than the final score.
My advice? Use the DVR, play some golf or hang with the family and watch the whole thing later. Works wonders for my blood pressure. I hardly ever find myself standing on the couch yelling at the TV anymore...:-)
Walk out to the concourse for half of it?
August 8th, 2011 at 11:47 AM ^
C'mon M-W, cut me some slack. Its hard as sh-t to watch games from home, 700 miles away, after being used to going to every game, year after year. I DVR the games so I can watch them withou interruption, and several times last year I found myself silently screaming at the TV in the middle of the night to vent but not wake up the kid. So I fast-fowarded to save my sanity. And I was wondering if people thought I would have to do the same this year, that's all.
I guess I should not have started such a silly discussion - that's on me.
August 8th, 2011 at 11:54 AM ^
Alls I can tell you for sure; If M wins it wil be much easier for you to watch the parts of the game that take you to the valley of doom. Of course, there will be some M fans who will gravitate to the poorly played parts of the game, if they feel it validates their feeling for the head coach.
August 8th, 2011 at 10:03 AM ^
Looks like there was a bit too much intensity among the late-night posters. If the Church Lady herself had started a discussion thread, the first half-dozen responses would have said, "It's not fucking special, bitch." Some people just need to relax. The sun will still come up tomorrow, even if profitgoblue doesn't want to watch the defense.
August 8th, 2011 at 10:15 AM ^
Watching on television is not that easy -- it's hard to really see what is going on, especially on defense. We live in Connecticut and only go to one or at most two games per year (family and friends in Ann Arbor) -- it's always more of a revelation to see the defense live, as opposed to the offense. Especially last year (we chose the Illinois game, so got lucky there).
The way I get through it when I'm watching (on television) the team get run over on defense is to basically to live in the here and now -- to have a short memory and focus on each play as it happens, like the players themselves should be doing.
That's harder to do when not watching live-ish, especially if you know the outcome of the game. I got the sense that you already know the score when you're watching -- if I'm right in that, I'd say you need to resist that knowledge, so you can watch it as if it were here and now.
The other thing I do when things are not going well is mute the sound. I wish it were possible to get a live feed of the stadium/on-field noise without the announcers via the internet (and that it were possible to control the delay in order to sync it with the television) -- that would be ideal.
August 8th, 2011 at 10:29 AM ^
I watch the whole games, no matter how painful they might be...but for you I would say ease yourself into it. OUr first game should give you a good indication of whether you are up to it or not beinng that Western isn't that good. If our defense performs well, try watching the ND game. That one should be very telling IMHE. They will have one of the better offenses we will play this year so if we do alright against them, you should be good to watch the rest.
August 8th, 2011 at 11:15 AM ^
I force myself to watch every minute of each game no matter how painful. My hope is that will no longer be punishment.
August 8th, 2011 at 11:26 AM ^
I used to watch every snap of every game on tv. With the advent of the DVR this has been easier to do. There are times when I do NOT go back and watch every play of every game, if I already know the result. I feel bad for the team when they play bad and sometimes I am just not up to watching it. I may come back in a few days and watch the game but then again I may not.
I don't feel the need to put myself through every shitty play in a blowout just to do it. I watch the games as a casual fan, always have always will, I don't try to critique the coaches/players, I don't particularly try to gain some grand insights on the game. I watch M football because I love M football. I love watching them compete and I love watching the team play well.
When M lost to Purdue that one year, blowing a huge lead, it was painful to watch the lead disintegrate. I was loving life in the first half and completely miserable in the 2nd half. I didn't question why Anthony Thomas could break off a seventy yard TD run on a simple hand off in the first half, and when M called the same play in the 2nd half about 40 times it got stoned. That was just the way it was and I accepted it for better or worse. But now with DVR's, I can skip the 2nd half heartache, if I choose. Either way I will be back the next week expecting things to go well.
This explains in large part why I can't read the UFRs. I will read the intro and conclusion but damn, you have to be a sicko, to want to read play by play insights of the shit that was put on the field the last 3 seasons. Here's hoping Brian's UFR experience become more enjoyable this season.
August 8th, 2011 at 11:43 AM ^
You spent all this time last December going on about how RR needed to be retained, and now it turns out you didn't even have the stomach to watch his team play half the game?
August 8th, 2011 at 11:50 AM ^
I never went on about keeping him. My fight was to stop the constant hashing and re-hasing of the exact same topic, day after day after day. People hammer double-posts but found it perfectly acceptable to discuss firing Rodriguez over and over. That was my "beef" in the CC discussion.
Sure, I wanted him to be retained for another year, just to see if he could turn it around. But I never went on about him being retained.
August 8th, 2011 at 11:57 AM ^
And nobody came close to making the same point over and over as jmblue, he would run from thread to thread posting the same thing in every post. I started to fear for his equilibrium, he was clearly overly disturbed on the subject. Thankfully good ole jmblue seems to have made a complete recovery.