Thoughts on the submarine?
So I am wondering what everyone around here thinks about the submarine. No countdown to kickoff. Almost no news and updates - and very little corroboration with what little we do get.
Is the B1G ten going there like they are every other school? Or are they too not allowed in the submaring?
I, for one, think it has added a layer of mysteriousness to the season. I kind of like not knowing. It might be building suspense for the season more than having numerous public updates.
Thoughts?
August 17th, 2015 at 1:25 PM ^
I seriously doubt this considering the continental divide, but is there a direct water route from Ann Arbor to SLC because arriving in a submarine for his first game as coach would be so Harbaugh!
August 17th, 2015 at 2:04 PM ^
Looks like the closest they could get is near the border of Utah/Wyoming at the continental divide, where there's only about a mile difference between two creeks just starting out. Could always just blast a tunnel through the rock and create a mile long canal.
August 17th, 2015 at 2:24 PM ^
you just have to use the panama canal ... no biggy
August 17th, 2015 at 2:51 PM ^
Salt Lake City is in the Great Basin, there's no waterways connecting it to the Atlanic or Pacific.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:26 PM ^
I don't like it. I understand that a football team needs to come together on their own, which is very critical to success. But making fans feel included or welcomed is also important. That's the whole point of college sports, to have shared experiences with your fellow students and athletes. It's why we love it. Ohio State does big fan appreciating stuff; they have fans out on the field kicking field goals with the team and the like. Alabama has open practices. So seclusion and seperation from the 'outside world' is not necessary to success.
That said, I'll grit my teeth and say 'whatever' as long as they win and don't make me feel like a chump cash register while doing it.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:41 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 1:51 PM ^
I'm not advocating for an 'all access pass'; I think that would be detrimental. But I do think it's good to acknowledge that your fans are a part of any spectator sport, and in the case of UM, many are students or former students. They want to like the players and team. I think finding some way to make them feel like they're having fun watching the team is important. Personally, I don't care about press conferences and media fluff pieces from them, but things like an open practice is good stuff. I think Harbaugh is already an improvement by having an actual spring game instead of glorified dirlls and punting anytime the media or fans get to watch the team. And I won't say just because Harbaugh wants to lock down the first few weeks of fall camp that he doesn't care about fans. And if that's the best way for them to win, well then I'll take it as long as it isn't accompiend with a Brandon era "shut up and give me your money" attitude.
August 17th, 2015 at 6:25 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 1:44 PM ^
The whole point of Michigan Football is Michigan Football.
It would be stupid to have media and who knows who snooping around practices in Harbaugh's first year when none of us really know what to expect this season.
At least give it time. Even then, Harbaugh learned from the best, so it's probably going to stay business as usual.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:58 PM ^
There's a difference between appreciating your fans and having media crawl over practice. Honestly, I couldn't care less about media fluff pieces and press conferences. We never learn anything usefull anyway 90% of the time. But at the same time, you can't run the athletic department and team like you could 30 years ago if you want to keep up fervent fan devotion. We live in a different world now. It's like that Hoke post-mortem column; if you act like a statue, you'll erode. The goodwill and fan devotion UM experiences did not happen by accident. It was built over decades. And there's a huge cache of it, but if you never continue to cultivate, eventually it will erode away.
But again, I'm not saying Harbaugh/whoever the AD is will do this. It's too early to draw big conclusions. And yes, winning will alter how much crap people are willing to deal with.
August 17th, 2015 at 2:06 PM ^
They just had a fan day where it was a huge emphasis on kids.
So much so that there were several young children asking Harbaugh questions at his press conference.
August 17th, 2015 at 2:08 PM ^
coaching and AD staff that indicate that they don't appreciate us fans. I'm not sure if you're getting a different vibe. But, running fall camp in a submarine or whatever they want to call it makes no difference to me. It's not like they're attempting to exclude all the Michigan supporters from what's going on. It's just a way to minimize all the distractions and maximize their focus. It seem to fit with Harbaugh's intense nature.
August 17th, 2015 at 2:57 PM ^
I don't get that vibe quite yet either. And I'm not going to condemn Harbaugh because he wants to close down the first few weeks of fall camp. I'll deal with it. But I am in favor generally of things like an open practice or two sometime during camp to let fans watch the team and get excited by it. I personally don't care so much about press conferences, but I know a lot people care about them. I'm glad they kept the fan appreciation day stuff and media availability at the beginning of camp as well. And if a locked down fall camp is just what Harbaugh does and they find ways to feed fan excitement leading up to the season other ways, then whatever I suppose. Every coach is different, but I don't think being 'Fort Schembechler' is a neccesity to winning; many programs are very succesfull being much more open with fans.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:43 PM ^
I'm all for it, and besides, who am I to question Harbaugh's methods in running his first fall practice leading up to his much anticipated and nationally televised debut as Michigan's head coach? To me this is his way of getting the team extremely focused and prepared for Utah. One advantage we have over Utah is uncertainty. What do they gameplan for? I know the final couple of weeks until the season begins is excruciating, but as fans what substantive information would we expect to receive anyway? For me hearing second hand reports of who is getting more reps where doesn't make the time pass any faster, even if it does make coming to the MGoBoard more fun. The proof will be in the pudding. Just be patient and think how excited you'll be that Thursday night to see Maize and Blue (and white) storm onto the field in Utah led by a crazed and blood thirsty Jim Harbaugh.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:26 PM ^
I'm all for it. I think it's a message to the players that they need to just keep their head down and just keep working to get ready for the season, don't worry about the commenters/pundits just work on your game.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:27 PM ^
This feels like it has a genuine purpose. Hoke half-assedly did The Fort thing because that's the way they used to do it, but information still leaked out all the time. I feel like Harbaugh is committed to this and it's for a very specific reason, not just as window dressing or some stupid idea that it will somehow give you an edge in your first game.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:54 PM ^
This gives you a good sense of the level of command and respect of the people around them between Harbaugh and Hoke too. With Hoke, we still got tons of leaks and almost daily recaps from people on what was happening at practice. With Harbaugh, they've been underground for 10 days or so, and all that has leaked is some major injury news which is damn near impossible to keep under wraps.
As a fan that is craving any sort of info, its frustrating, but damn impressive. Especially in this day and age of social media.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:28 PM ^
God I hope we have a competent QB.
August 17th, 2015 at 8:57 PM ^
Not good enough.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:30 PM ^
I long for news and information, can live without it, but wish there was more. Obviously winning will make us forget the blackout, and it appears many believe this team needed a mass spectrum overhaul. I think the attitude adjustments will pay major dividends.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:30 PM ^
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August 17th, 2015 at 1:32 PM ^
But it makes sense. The team needs an overhaul so one less distraction for them is fine by me, they need to focus on foosball for now.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:32 PM ^
Allows me to focus on the last remnants of honeydo before football season begins and my Saturdays are spent on the couch. If it prevents me hearing how good they practiced at the Monday presser it's even better.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:33 PM ^
I like the idea. Hopefully it takes a lot of the distractions away for a little while and they can begin to gel as a group and get better. If anything, hopefully it creates a sense of community between everyone. The only people they have to rely on are themselves.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:39 PM ^
Do we know whether Harbaugh did this at Stanford? If so, did he do it every year?
On my part, I'm trusting Harbaugh that this is best for the team. And it allows us to focus on important things, like what the new stickers might look like.
August 17th, 2015 at 2:54 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 3:51 PM ^
In 2011 Harbaugh did something similar at Stanford. Instead of the submarine they were in "The Fort' and information was hard to come by. I'll take Stanford's 2011 results.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:42 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 1:42 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 1:42 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 2:01 PM ^
I would agree with that - this may be the cynical half of me speaking, but if we had not gotten The Guy, if you will, then the lack of information would probably be precipitating into not only "Rumor" threads but threads which clarified previous rumor threads with further rumors. By this point in August, up would be down, left would be right and the board would turn at the "No Turn" sign only to be creamed by oncoming traffic.
That being said, I like the submarine approach - it gives Harbaugh maximal time to introduce the style and culture he wants for this team, as well as to learn positions and plays.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:44 PM ^
Seems to me there is a lot to the idea of getting everyone together and ignoreing all of the outside distractions (including fans) while you prepare to do your best at that first kickoff.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:46 PM ^
Technically, there is a countdown to kickoff on their Facebook page (link). It's not as cool as the videos from the past, but still fun to see who's chosen each day :-)
August 17th, 2015 at 2:03 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 2:13 PM ^
Yeah, I think 16 and 4 are locked up... 1 might be interesting... 7 too!
August 17th, 2015 at 4:55 PM ^
2 as well
August 17th, 2015 at 1:46 PM ^
I don't miss the Countdown to Kickoffs where they interview players, because I don't care about interviews, but I do miss the Michigan drill day and micro-analyzing the technique of every OL and DL even though it doesn't have any correlation to gameday performance. I used to watch that video over and over again. It was just fun to do.
It's going to make UFRs highly important because we have no idea who's doing what ahead of time. I'm sure there will be a lot of surprises when that first depth chart comes out.
August 17th, 2015 at 2:01 PM ^
Agree. Don't care so much about fluff interviews, but I'll take too zoomed in film of anything going on in practice because it makes me excited for the team.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:50 PM ^
The term "Fort Schembechler" was coined to describe the lack of information coming out of practices to the media.
Harbaugh is simply recreating what he watched first hand with Bo. Sort of like the white pants in a way.
August 17th, 2015 at 3:39 PM ^
this exactly. And it probably helps the players not to have the distractions of fans critiquing the countdown footage obsessively.
If they would just put out a video on mgoblue.com explaining the goal post color change ...
August 17th, 2015 at 5:12 PM ^
Bo had white pants for one year out of twenty; they are not a Bo tradition.
Otherwise, I agree.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:49 PM ^
so not something I haven't experienced before. However, with BTN coming to town on Wed., they'll have to open the water tight doors a bit for a peek inside. Then they'll close the doors and resume silent running. We will have been teased and will gnash our teeth for 2 more weeks.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:55 PM ^
that the U.S.S. Harbaugh is a Virginia Class attack submarine. The newest and most bad ass attack subs in the U.S. Navy.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:50 PM ^
a correlation between the people claiming to like the submarine, and posters that complain about OT threads?
August 17th, 2015 at 1:51 PM ^
Did anyone hear Sam Webb this morning? I tuned in late, heard him talking about Peppers playing more CB. Hill and Wilson playing great at safety, with Lyons able to play over there too. Trying Canteen and Demario Jones at CB. It sounded a little bit like a rehash of spring, but he said this was happening in this (Fall) camp.
August 17th, 2015 at 1:52 PM ^
I always wondered how much the past "allowed" little videos were edited (censored). When it comes right down to it, we never did see much actual scrimmaging. Yet, I still miss it. But as others have said, if submarine warfare produces a better result, I'm all for it. GO BLUE!
August 17th, 2015 at 1:53 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 1:58 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 2:00 PM ^