What lazy sports narratives are you tired of hearing?
This is the time of year where we all consume more content than usual, and some like myself try to be a full on college football fan instead of only following Michigan-specific content. Across the various channels, podcasts, shows, etc it seems like we keep hearing the same lazy-ass takes with absolutely no research or common sense applied.
What are the sports-related phrases that make you cringe every time they are uttered?
November 7th, 2019 at 12:41 PM ^
...they are staving off elimination...
November 7th, 2019 at 12:42 PM ^
"Coach X is on the hot seat" despite zero evidence of this from the athletic department itself.
November 7th, 2019 at 12:48 PM ^
To be fair, usually the more emphatically the AD defends a coach, the hotter the seat.
November 7th, 2019 at 12:43 PM ^
Ohio State, Alabama, and Clemson AIN'T PLAYED NOBODY, PAWL.
November 7th, 2019 at 12:51 PM ^
This especially. Great teams only get a chance to play somebody their caliber only a few times a season. And if a good team that they beat goes on to lose two more games, then that team is dismissed as being bad.
November 7th, 2019 at 1:41 PM ^
Clemson schedules Wofford. Alabama plays SE Alabama St.
They can do better than that...
November 7th, 2019 at 2:08 PM ^
But is Middle Tennessee State good enough for you?
November 7th, 2019 at 2:20 PM ^
We played ND...
November 7th, 2019 at 2:31 PM ^
they're at least FBS...and nearly won their conference last year.
November 7th, 2019 at 12:54 PM ^
This. Nobody is any good anymore
November 7th, 2019 at 12:44 PM ^
PHYSICALITY!
November 7th, 2019 at 3:03 PM ^
Physicalness (Hoke 2013)
November 7th, 2019 at 12:44 PM ^
Harbaugh to the NFL. Every... single... casual ... fan... thinks... this!!!
November 7th, 2019 at 1:52 PM ^
Came for this
November 7th, 2019 at 3:25 PM ^
Excited, huh?
November 7th, 2019 at 2:03 PM ^
I love the people who say Harbaugh sucks who also say he is leaving Michigan to go to the NFL. LOL. With the exception of Kliff Kingsbury, I don't think this i a litmus test for getting into the NFL.
November 7th, 2019 at 4:48 PM ^
I hate this, too. How can he suck but still be good enough for the NFL? It's either he's good or not. And if he's not good, then he wouldn't be able to get back to the NFL at all.
November 7th, 2019 at 12:44 PM ^
“McCaffery needs to start”
November 7th, 2019 at 1:24 PM ^
Some guy in my section at the Maryland game just kept screaming "Dilly Dilly! Put in Dilly Dilly!" over and over to make it known he wanted McCaffery to play.
November 7th, 2019 at 1:40 PM ^
You have to wonder how many Dilly Dilly’s he consumed before the game to embarrass himself that bad.
November 7th, 2019 at 2:58 PM ^
How many of those do you have to drink to get drunk, like 12? I would think you'd run out of room, or at least sober up from scaling the stairs to the bathroom every 20 minutes.
November 7th, 2019 at 12:45 PM ^
"Holding the ball like a loaf of bread"
How do these announcers carry a loaf of bread in real life?!?
November 7th, 2019 at 12:46 PM ^
Not a narrative but annoying nonetheless.
November 7th, 2019 at 12:49 PM ^
They should specify. I wouldn't hold just any loaf of bread that way, but for a baguette I might.
November 7th, 2019 at 1:27 PM ^
I always thought that had to do with the pressure with which you squeeze the ball.
You wouldn't squeeze and hold on tight to a loaf of bread as you would crush it. But a football you should hold as tight as you can.
Edit: It doesn't have to do with the orientation of the football.
November 7th, 2019 at 2:12 PM ^
November 7th, 2019 at 12:46 PM ^
Mgoblog's Annual "We're Saving Looks on Offense for the Ohio State Game"
November 7th, 2019 at 12:49 PM ^
Or, conversely, "We're putting things on tape for team X to have to spend practice time learning to defend."
November 7th, 2019 at 12:55 PM ^
We did two years ago. That was a really good gameplan.
We also busted out bubble screens for PSU this year. In fact, the narrative that we don't do anything new for big games itself is a bit lazy.
November 7th, 2019 at 1:26 PM ^
Really it seems like it was only under Carr that we did absolutely nothing different against Ohio State. I remember Tressel trotting out formations on offense we hadn't seen all season, particularly on the first possession. Then when we'd get the ball: zone run to the left, just like every game we played all season.
November 7th, 2019 at 5:53 PM ^
"Our guys will be ready for OSU"......
November 7th, 2019 at 12:47 PM ^
"You need to move out of your mother's basement and get a job"
November 7th, 2019 at 2:19 PM ^
Does that one hit a little too close to home?
November 7th, 2019 at 2:30 PM ^
his parents' home, thank you
November 7th, 2019 at 12:47 PM ^
ESS EEE SEE SPEED
November 7th, 2019 at 12:47 PM ^
That Tom Izzo is a great guy. Or Coach K. Or Bill Self. Or any of these cheatin'-ass college basketball coaches.
I guess its not really a 'narrative' because it's more like something that goes unsaid but: the dirty side of college sports recruiting among the big programs. And to a lesser extent, the fact that the top teams are clean and PED-free. I'm convinced Clemson and Alabama are pumped full of chemicals. They've actually been caught but haven't suffered any penalty and no one even talks about it.
November 7th, 2019 at 12:51 PM ^
Yea this mentality has partially been what's turned me off of Dick Vitale. I'm sure these coaches have done good for his charities in the past but he's blind and sounds ignorant claiming the blue bloods are what make the sport great and that they can do no wrong.
November 8th, 2019 at 7:53 AM ^
Yep, I feel the same about Vitale. He follows recruiting closely, and has for a long time. He damn well knows who’s dirty, but he doesn’t have the balls to speak up and say so. He’s not the only one, of course, but he pretends harder than anyone that everything with the bluebloods is Awesome Baby.
November 7th, 2019 at 3:06 PM ^
If I could, I'd give you a 1000 thumbs up for this one
November 7th, 2019 at 7:19 PM ^
I get your point...but can't they be great-ish guys even if they cheat?
November 7th, 2019 at 11:46 PM ^
Of course but the playing oblivious to it all that the talking heads do is pathetic...yet the same jackasses talk down on poorer teams/teams they think SHOULD be more equal to the best but are clearly in a steep uphill battle.
November 7th, 2019 at 12:48 PM ^
"That guy is a freak athlete." Hate, hate, HATE that term, because its said so much its lost all meaning. Commentators and recruiting analysts will say it about almost anyone now, and in very few cases is it actually true. Just because a guy is a good athlete does not mean he's a freak athlete.
I reserve that term for guys like Adrian Petersen in his prime, Deion Sanders, LeBron, etc.
November 7th, 2019 at 12:58 PM ^
Conversely, I argue that commentators should stop saying it precisely because pretty much all D1 and pro athletes should be considered "freak" athletes since they are the top ~0.1% athletic talent in the country. Since they are all freak athletes, commentators should just stop saying it.
November 7th, 2019 at 1:02 PM ^
In a similar vein, I feel like the term "great" or "elite" is thrown around a lot in regards to teams and players. To me, great is legendary, not someone who dominates a week 7 news cycle. Rick Neuheisel said last week that Joe Burrow was the next Tom Brady because he played great vs someone. SMH...
November 7th, 2019 at 12:48 PM ^
announcers constantly confusing RPOs with crystal clear 3-4 receiver play actions. almost like they do zero prep work, outside of some 90 min production meeting
November 7th, 2019 at 2:51 PM ^
This. About 70% of the time when the announcers say RPO I'm sitting there thinking "This was simple play action ya dummy". Same plays I've watched for 40 years, just different formations now.
November 7th, 2019 at 12:49 PM ^
Beilein's mixing it up by not running his 1-3-1!!!
November 7th, 2019 at 12:49 PM ^
Oakland is still in play.
November 7th, 2019 at 12:49 PM ^
I am really tired of the "tanking" conversation, and that any team who may only be a marginal playoff team should intentionally lose the rest of their games. It is a very lazy train of thought. Intentionally "tanking" works like 1 out of every 10 times it is attempted and is very dependent on drafting well, developing well, and getting a lot of good fortune.
I am also tired of people thinking they have to issue a disclaimer before criticizing the refs that "that is not the reason they lost." Sometimes the refs are just the proximate cause of a team losing by way of bad calls and missed calls and it should not be taboo to say that when it is the case.
Michigan lost to Louisville in the '13 title game because of the refs. No disclaimer needed or offered.
November 7th, 2019 at 2:13 PM ^
Alternatively, blaming losses on the refs and advocating that your team is just a tweak and several role players becoming stars (any day now!) from winning a title.
Refs can impact a game, but very rarely do they steal a win away from one team and give it to another.
Winning a championship is quite rare, especially if we are talking about basketball. Championships are much lower odds than 1 in 10, so for a lot of teams tanking is kind of a high opportunity strategy compared to hoping you break out of mediocrity. Fans, on the flip side, tend to fall in love with role players and borderline guys who connect with fans leading to said fans over-inflating the purpose, talent, or impact of those players over time.