Stewart Mandel: Michigan has the "saddest fan base" right now
Well I normally hate offseason filler like this, but Nick from Austin posed an interesting question...the author posits that due to the past 2 years with us, MSU and Ohio, we are the saddest. Though I disagree, much of the negativity on the board over the past 6 months probably means he's on to something. I also take issue with the reasoning he gave for not picking Florida when our experience is not too dissimilar to theirs over the past 3 years and he seems to conveniently forget MSU's 2012 season.
Thoughts? Anyone got suggestions for another fanbase that is sadder right now?
Regardless, can't wait for the fall so we have the chance to turn this narrative on its head.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20140402/northwe…
(our question is the first on page 2)
Yup. Pretty much sums up how I feel.
Make sme happy!
I'm being sad in advance. It's not hard to predict what's coming.
In the 2014 football season we will be beaten convincingly by OSU and MSU on the road; we will lose a close one to a PSU team energized by a new coach; we will lose to ND in a Why Can't We Show Up On The Road Game; and we will be upset by Some Other Team.
We'll also lose the We Don't Really Want To Be Here Bowl.
7-6 again. Hoke will be relieved of his position.
In late January, weeks after the bowl loss and following a few embarrassing public rejections from coaches we the fanbase might actually covet, a new coach will be introduced and we'll all say, "WTF?"
In April we'll all be intoxicated by the toughness and changes the new coach is touting, and delude ourselves into believing that Brandon is a coaching search genius.
Then Fall, 2015, will roll around, and the Cycle Of Tears will begin anew.
Get lost, bluehills. Take it back to RCMB or wherever you came from
I'll guess that you didn't notice the satirical approach to my post.
What's RCMB?
If you are assuming that past history (i.e., last season) is prologue, our program history suggests we'll have a good season, because we historically have when we've had an experienced senior at QB. That's actually been one of our problems; we've rarely gotten to have a senior starter there.
I wish I shared your optimism. It's not the senior QB I'm worried about. It's the offensive line.
My simple answer is a starting lineup of talented seniors who've played together for 4-5 years. And team depth being secondary.
And, I think you will see that in 2 years.
If we don't form a mob and level the big house for my aforementioned spring water bottling plant, it could theoretically continue as future generations of underclassmen get to that level.
Climbing out of the hole sucks. Its dirty and sometimes you fall back.
Fanbases want instant success. Football doesn't work that way. The pipeline got drained. Two senior classes are missing in action somewhere.
If there's enough noise, I feel certain we can have a new head coach. And start the process all over again.....i ask the rhetorical question: do you want to lose to Toledo again, at home...
The offseason is long, and can be filled with whatever, the media can continue to stir up unfulfilled expectations, or it can be the polar opposite = unmitigated hype. I don't think either is good.
Enjoy this upcoming nice weather, we've earned it after a 100year winter. Don't take the spring game/practice as any needle on anything measurable. Its just an exhibition. There's no good answer to what you want to see out of it. Its just good to go out and learn the players numbers and see the team again, sort of a booster-shot until fall.
And don't be sad. Save that emotion for when you find out you owe on your tax return.
Hazell might do good work there, but yeah, that has to be tough (I do know quite a few purdue people)
Hazell might do good work there, but yeah, that has to be tough (I do know quite a few purdue people)
'Cause we're #1!
Our fans are absolutely pathetic at times. Really no reason to be sad. BB had a really good year. Football season was fine, no matter what people will claim on this site (we were competitive in that MSU game, for the most part).
I will concede that bball had a great year, but I would hardly consider 7-6 (3-5 in a pretty weak Big Ten) "fine" as far as football goes, unless that's our new normal. I'd like to think it isn't.
Still, I don't think things are quite as sad as 2008. Our bball team was coming off a school-record 22 loss season and football went 3-9. How quickly people forget.
We lost more games in an 8-game Big Ten football schedule than we did in an 18-game Big Ten basketball schedule (21 games, if you count the Big Ten Tourney). The mind reels.
Penn State right now
I feel we need to just support our athletes better and denounce many of the Debbie downers we have.
Can't you see? This is exactly what Stewart Mandel wants!
I'd say I'm doing fine. So there's two.
There are a few of us.
I'm sad about a lot of things, but this does not include Michigan athletics. I am a bit sad that I'm contributing to a thread started because some jackoff is trolling the Michigan fanbase with his ranking.
Jebus, this place really is sad. MSU and OSU are not unbeatable by any stretch of the imagination. They have both had good runs recently. So what? All teams lose some players from last year and will have to replace them with others. OSU and MSU lost a lot from last year. Let's see how they do replacing all of that experience, and let's see how we do the same. 2014 is a different year. There is still plenty of talent on our team if the staff can manage to get the team playing as a team. Hopefully everybody is really hungry and ready to play aggressive football. I am not asking the team to be dirty like Gholston, but I would like to see them develop a bit of a mean streak and a desire to punish other teams for taking so much enjoyment from our down years.
Hopefully Nuss will be the catalyst that we need to really take advantage of all of the untapped potential on this team. For all of the negativity and the struggles of last year, we were one 2-pt. conversion away from beating OSU. MSU could take a step back defensively, and it remains to be seen as to whether or not Cook can carry the team if the defense is not dominating in the same manner as the last few years. While the Borges experiment was terrible, the upside is that having a competent OC could mean that our young guys could improve a lot as the season progresses.
While it is difficult to see our team struggle, the fact is that we were (and still remain) very young, and so we are not anywhere near our ceiling. Have some faith; show your support, and GO BLUE!
has turned into an emo whine thread. OPs used to get nuked for this back in the RichRod days.
No one can change the past, so whining about it does nothing. As fans, we can only look to the future and gauge our expectations for the team accordingly. The basketball team's future looks very bright, and the past two seasons were the most pleasing to watch in recent memory. The football team had a terrible year last season, but a lot can change in a single offseason as Hoke's recruits mature. Given the roster, Michigan still has a very good shot at 9-3 in 2014, with 2015 being the first year Hoke's recruits become seniors.
Last year.
Going to football & basketball games in the 80s.
Every year...
And I'm also a Cubs fan.