Blue Mind and Heart

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Date	Title	Body
1 year 36 weeks ago	I would cut Borges some slack	He or Hoke made a comment before the first game on how they have been charting DR's completion % in practice and it had improved to around 70%.  If this is accurate, then the scheme they had for the  ND game makes much more sense and we can hopefully chalk it up to a bad day at the passing offense.   I walked away from that game thrilled but worried that Denards reads consist of him thinking he can flip a coin and keep coming up heads.
1 year 36 weeks ago	and why wouldn't they play MSU under the lights?	makes for good TV and isn't that the driver.  Let's be realistic.
1 year 36 weeks ago	Didn't like the jersey when they were announced	But when the ran out of the tunnel, I didn't think they looked too bad on TV.  After the kick-off, I was too into the game to really care.  Would never buy one (sorry Dave B.) but in the end, it was a whole lot of MGOBLOG about nothing. However, everytime they had a close-up of an ND player, I kept thinking, "Man ND's throwbacks are awful, esp the helmets."
1 year 51 weeks ago	career stats vs a pitcher	"going by the book" based on 7 at bats.  Drives me crazy!!!
1 year 51 weeks ago	The Killers - Directed by John Woo	just don't get the dubbed version, which is done so poorly it distracts from the movie.  The subtitled version is one of the best, most influential "shoot em up" movies ever.
2 years 3 days ago	Tough life being a coach	Doesn't matter what sport.  I am not sure why anyone would want to do it.  Besides being brutal personally if things don't go well, it is incredibly difficult on your family no matter how things are going.
2 years 4 days ago	nice work M-Wolverine	I never understood the Brandon Graham as evidence as that Barwis was a S&C god.  What this board fell in love with was a bunch of YouTube videos of an intense sounding coach with a great coaching voice.  So that made him out to be the guy who would produce lions where others would produce kittens.  Never made sense and yet it didn't die off until the RR was finally shown the door.  Actually lasted a few weeks longer until Barwis finally quit.
2 years 6 days ago	11W - one quote stuck out	Barwis was the highest paid S&C coach in the nation?? One of the least sensical and often repeated pro-RR arguements was that the AD did not give RR enough money to hire a quality staff causing his downfall.  If true that Barwis was the highest paid S&C coach, maybe RR just didn't wisely allocate his resources.   I always felt that Barwis was a detriment to RR.  Not because the was a poor coach.  I believe he was a good coach.  But RR (and many within the administration) believed that he would be a difference maker.  Having Barwis would make up for other shortcomings and in the end RR did not effectively deal with those shortcomings.  I believe even this board has now accepted that the "Barwis Advatage" was zero.
2 years 6 days ago	a better explaination	RR was simply in over his head.  He just didn't understand what it took to run a major tradition-steeped program.  His players sensed it, the administration sensed it, the ex-players sensed it and the recruits and their families sensed it.  Too many of the quality ones stayed away. Also I don't think Sabin was worried about the disadvatage of recruiting against a midwest coach at Michigan.  Michigan was and is a better program so anyone at MSU will always have to work harder to level the field (excepting the past three years of course).  Going to a program that has the advatages of Michigan and pays better made leaving MSU easy.
2 years 1 week ago	nice work	I am surprised at the life of the "Mich didn't pay enough for RR's assistants" pro-RR red herring.  Funny how that wasn't considered an issue while Carr was a coach. Silly that Brian gave it credence but I think that was during his late season/coaching search blue period.  The tone here is far more rational, hopefully he continues to pull out of his funk.
2 years 2 weeks ago	Best Comment in Months!	Sums up my feeling completely
2 years 3 weeks ago	The tone and momentum	all seems so positive esp. compared to the last regime.  Now Hoke just has to translate that into wins in the fall.
2 years 6 weeks ago	entertaining read	fun thesis and certainly not deserving of the nitpicking of most of the commenters.  I get it and for yesterdays game, you are on to something.
2 years 7 weeks ago	its more simple than that	DB fired RR because RR did a horrible job of coaching while he was at The University of Michigan.
2 years 7 weeks ago	Ockham's Razor	favors that the main fault was with the head coach rather than the two different D coordinators.
2 years 8 weeks ago	now this is a great post	almost skipped it cuz I am lazy but well worth the read! thanks for the effort
2 years 8 weeks ago	the whining about the MSM	Brian and the last of pro-RR's are upset that the media has been pro-Michigan and have given Hoke a honeymoon period.  Yes, that strikes me as whining.  It also strikes me as strange since one of the arguements for support of RR was that he lost the support of the MSM, hence wasn't given a fair chance.  Enjoy the honeymoon period and understand it only lasts until the first loss.  Or maybe first lawsuit.
2 years 8 weeks ago	nice work Magnus	I am sorry that Brian just can't seem to get over that fact that he said Hoke had zero chance of being the Michigan coach.   MGoBlog still remains a fantastic site but Brian's editorials post-OSU when he started to come to grip with the fact that RR was dead coach coaching, just come across as petulant.
2 years 8 weeks ago	homesick & playing time	I took two points from the original announcement - he was homesick - he looked around the field and felt that the new regime was going to emphasize a scheme that would require more speed/strength/athleticism than as a 1*/2* surprise recruit, he could provide.  Since I am trying to be positive about the D in '11, I take this as another sign that we will be better, much better.   His new comments seem to reinforce this view.  Probably more emphasis on the second point.
2 years 8 weeks ago	3rd and Rod	I will use that in the future but promise to footnote you
2 years 9 weeks ago	a more interesting thread	would be why RR failed? besides the MGOBLOG stand-bys of  1) the freep 2) the lack of support for RR on internet and talk radio 3) and the new hot topic, Michigan was too cheap with assistants what could it be? Wait, now I see the reason for your fanatical devotion, with those impossible road blocks, only the offensive genius of RR could allow Michigan to outperform and win any football games.
2 years 9 weeks ago	of course with a better coach	who could win big 10 games at home, you would have thrilling moments more often, no?
2 years 9 weeks ago	actions back up words	While we will never have the transcript of what RR said, the player turnover and the repeated comments about the transition time necessary to bring in a new system (and players) support what Don has posted.  RR treatment of the Carr era players is one of the main reasons for his failure.  Oh yeah, and the fact that he doesn't care too much for D.
2 years 10 weeks ago	yeah I was stunned	yeah I was stunned that DB was still going on about the Barwis effect after all the issues they had at that point.
2 years 10 weeks ago	gains from debunking Barwis myth	While I don't doubt that Barwis was an excellent S&C guy, the whole cult around him was counterproductive.  That a S&C guy was a difference maker always seemed dubious on the face.  However, I think that the Kool-aid was consumed throughout the football program.  RR called Barwis his most important hire (At least that is how I remember it).  I had various members of the Athletic Dept., including DB,  tell me that various players were going to be world beaters once Barwis got a hold of them.  This misplaced belief that a S&C guy could make up for coaching, recruiting and Xs and Os was one of the factors in RR's failure at Michgan.  I look forward to a program that has its focus on areas where they can gain an advantage over other teams.
2 years 11 weeks ago	Brady got skewered	on snarky website.  The Superficial kills Brady after a video captured him dancing at the Mardi Gras http://www.thesuperficial.com/tom-brady-is-an-incredible-dancer-03-2011#more-682581   I love Brady but this was funny.  Very funny.     btw the website is mildly NSFW.  sorry forgot to include that at first.
2 years 14 weeks ago	you can take it a step further	many on the board often moan about how it would have been great if DB only forced RR to hire a great DC.   The only issue with that is that no quality DC would have accepted the job.  This would have been clearly RR's last shot and no top notch DC would want to take what would have been a one year job.  The talent did not appear to be on that side of the ball and RR's culture of offense over defense will make this year a tough job for any DC.  Hopefully the talent was just badly misused or poorly coached and Mattison can make huge strides.  Either way, he knows he has years not one year to put in his system.
2 years 14 weeks ago	your comments are right on the money	I struggled to figure out why the '10 Mich running backs looked so poor.  I too kept coming back to RR's decision to feature Sam McG over Minor.  Was there a solution in front of RR that he refused to play or couldn't see?  I almost hope so because what we had in the 2010 backfield wasn't working.
2 years 15 weeks ago	Terry Richardson - Photographer	care with his stuff.  some of it is seriously NSFW.   crazy dude.
2 years 15 weeks ago	I think that is a bad idea for Tate	For the main reason I wasn't too worried about Denard transferring, there is no guarantee for a starting position waiting for him.  He has to sit out a year and then compete for his starting job.  While I am not that familiar with the Miami QB situation, I do know that the Rutgers kid just transferred there.  Also who is to say that Miami doesn't recruit the next big thing at QB.  As a junior transfer, who has sat out a year, if you don't hit the ground running when you are finally eligible to play, your window quickly slams shut.  An injury or a bad week of practice (or poor grades in Tate's case!!) and the program is on to the next thing.  He is better off at Montana, playing right away.   I hope he makes it cuz he is nothing if not exciting.  I look forward to watching him play.

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