Member for

12 years 6 months
Points
-6349.00

Recent Comments

Date Title Body
The Juwan experiment is…

The Juwan experiment is officially over.  Name me one former NBA star with tens of millions on the bank who ever came back to lead a top 5 CBB program.  

Give me a young, hungry, ruthless coach or an old genius (Beilein) over this please.

As usual though, Warde will do what he is best at, which is nothing.

I'll change all of the baby…

I'll change all of the baby's diapers today and take extra time with him so she has some freedom.  Best gift ever.

Awesome recap!  For the ages…

Awesome recap!  For the ages.  Love the closing remark that next year might be fine given the WR room.  Rock on Seth!

Why wouldn't he, when OSU is…

Why wouldn't he, when OSU is taking this shit and painting a recruiting and talent level Picasso with it as we speak?  No one is benefitting more right now than OSU.

MaizeBlueA2 for AD.

MaizeBlueA2 for AD.

I've had this conversation…

I've had this conversation with myself about as many times as I've had the "I'll never drink again" conversation with myself during a wretched hangover.  Thankfully "I'll never drink again" stuck about 8 months ago, not that I ever had a drinking problem, it just didn't do anything for me any more.

You'll be right back in that Maize & Blue saddle come August, and for the rest of your life.  The only thing you can control is your level of expectation, which will control your frustration or happiness. 

expectation/reality = frustration.

My expectation next year is like, 8-4 with losses to Texas, Oregon, OSU and one more, mainly due to lack of star power and experience at QB/WR and a fresh staff.  So if/when that happens, that's life.  But what will sting is the fact that we've triggered OSU so much that they are very likely to win it all next year.

Sorry to hear this.  Is…

Sorry to hear this.  Is there any GoFundMe for them?

This is what everyone said…

This is what everyone said about Dantonio.  Recruited poorly but developed well.  Then the inevitable bottom dropped out of his inability to recruit at a higher level.  Expecting us to sustain with our mediocre recruiting (relative to OSU), especially with the coaching turnstile, is illogical.

Ohio State is running a…

Ohio State is running a recruiting clinic right now.  With Saban retiring they have filled the vacuum.  I'd be surprised if OSU doesn't win at least 3 championships in the next ten years. 

If iron sharpens iron, the iron of Michigan's 3 year run has sharpened those mouth breathers down south into Optimus Prime with a Grecian formula subscription.

OSU just ruthlessly wants it more than anyone else. Ruthless enough to get investigators to blast on Stallions.  Now ruthless in setting any "family, do-it-right" Warde Manuel equivalent nonsense aside to raise tens of millions to get the best talent to likely go on a multi-year run.

Everyone's hope is that they'll go the way of Texas A&M but OSU is a different level of competence.  On our end we have an AD who appears good at doing nothing over second breakfast.  Not good Bob.

 

I thought it was Magnus Opus

I thought it was Magnus Opus

It's common knowledge that…

It's common knowledge that the Baltimore defense and its progeny (Michigan's defense) is considered an extremely effective and hot commodity right now.  Queueu Will Ferrell - Zoolander.  So hot right now.

No surprise that lots of teams are wanting a piece of that brain trust.

The current state of NIL is…

The current state of NIL is a joke.  In the pro's, players are paid by the very people who are enriched by their play.  But in college? The NCAA is enriched, media is enriched and universities are enriched, but somehow they are the very ones NOT allowed to pay the players, and it has to come from third party foundations paid for by third party fans, while NCAA, media and schools laugh all the way to the bank.

Joke.

Simple career advice = get…

Simple career advice = get up early, be polite and decent to be around, find a lucrative niche THAT YOU ENJOY and work your ass off to learn every last thing about that niche, ideally through a mentor who respects you enough to invest in you, don't cut corners, and be patient.

Something Moore/Smash…

Something Moore/Smash related.

I contributed $1,000 and…

I contributed $1,000 and still believe Warde's inability to adapt to the new way of things is going to set the program, and specifically poor Sherrone, back significantly over the coming years.

Our NC was THE outlier of outliers, in being the first team to win it with talent ranked outside the top 10 in like, forever.  Another outlier is how incredibly atrocious our recruiting class rankings have been recently relative to what they should be after going to 3 straight playoffs and winning it all this year, not to mention everything else Michigan has to offer.  We won in the portal but guess what?  Our competitors are increasingly leveraging NIL to take those best options in the portal away from us.

We'll bask in the glory of this year for a long time, but we'll see how long we enjoy it when we start getting our asses handed to us against teams like Oregon and OSU who have 100% embraced and adapted to the new way of NIL.

I feel bad for Sherrone.  We…

I feel bad for Sherrone.  We will witness a Hoke-like annual regression over the next 5 years that sees us consistently out of the top 15 in recruiting rankings, and get to 3-5 losses each year due entirely to Warde and Michigan's arrogant "NIL vs culture" posture.  

Ohio State is the clear favorite to win it all next year, not because of the "culture" they are preserving either.

Good stuff but yes it will…

Good stuff but yes it will get old eventually.  If OSU wins 5 NC's before we win the next one, this one will be great, but will only offer so much juice.

If we proceed to observe a…

If we proceed to observe a steady program decline with consistent #20 ranked recruiting classes and 5 loss seasons, we'll all be able to point to this comment by this man as the official turning point.

I was 86-90 too!  The good…

I was 86-90 too!  The good days.

What is shitty is you making…

What is shitty is you making an ass out of u and me by assuming that it is JH's fault for being difficult in a way that cannot be worked with.  I'd say you're being the Pete Thamel, here dragging JH like you are.  Just because it is common knowledge that someone is unorthodox to work with doesn't mean ways can't be found to work with that individual. 

Exhibit A: Pippin/Jordan/Jackson finding a way to work with their most despised arch-enemy Dennis Rodman for 3 years, culminating in 3 championships.  Countless other examples.  With your logic, the league should have just spit Rodman out. Instead, the Bulls did this thing called "adapt" and everyone benefitted.

A buddy who joined me at the…

A huge Michigan fan buddy of mine mentioned that he played golf this week with someone very close to John Beilein.  This individual was highly, highly critical of Warde and said Beilein would still be coaching here if not for Warde.  They overlapped for 3 years.

He provided specifics I won't get into as they'd be too inflammatory, and hardly anything I could corroborate beyond hearsay.

Needless to say, while friction might have been understandable between Warde and JH during the early tumultuous years and culminating in the 2-4 season, once JH turned this program around, Warde should have done everything in his power to mend those fences, understanding that Jim is 100X more important to the University of Michigan than he is. But apparently he did not do so.

There is a universe where Warde likely thinks JH should be grateful to him for keeping him on and allowing JH to go on this run... 

I'd be pleased to see Warde go after what I have learned.

Dan Penos was offered a job…

Dan Penos was offered a job with us about a decade ago and he chose to go elsewhere.  He is Sparty through and through.  Hell no.

Beautifully written piece of…

Beautifully written piece of which I am 1,000% in agreement across all takes, specifically:

"If you are trying to retain Jim Harbaugh and he is asking for something in his contract and you do not want to give it to him and then you end up giving it to him at the last second, what was the point of denying him the thing in the first place?"

As a contracts lawyer who has negotiated hundreds of deals, this is failure at Negotiation 101.  You measure the attractiveness of the potential customer (best coach in America) against the flight risk to another service provider (NFL), and from there you land somewhere on the "hard ball spectrum" relative to the bare bones minimum you are willing to demand, and bare bones maximum you are willing to offer, to obtain that customer.

Regardless if it would have mattered or not, you put your best foot forward. Given the fact that Michigan caved 11th hour anyway, they genuinely fumbled at Negotiation 101.  But at least Warde gave us these 3 years of JH culminating in our greatest gift as Michigan fans ever, so there's that.

Onwards to Sherrone.  LFG.

Yep I will root for JH for…

Yep I will root for JH for life, wherever he goes, because I know that, while the NFL is his truest love, he bleeds Blue for life and will do anything he can to help us out in the future.

"Jim could have been asking…

"Jim could have been asking for a fully guaranteed contract with full immunity for everything:  historical and future, which the university simply should not agree to."

This is where you lost me. According to the Detroit News, Warde and gang caved in the 11th hour on the Stallions concessions after months of playing hard ball on those very concessions.

As a contracts lawyer in a past life, I can tell you this is inexcusable.  I've negotiated hundreds of deals, and one of the first factors considered in any negotiation is the flight risk of the potential customer to another service provider.  The higher the flight risk, the less advisable it is to play hard ball on virtually anything.  Instead, you get right to the fade - the bare bones minimum that you are willing to accept to get this customer on board.  Bird in the hand vs 2 in the bush.

JH is the best coach Michigan has ever had, if not the best coach in the country.  In contractual terms, this is a "must get" customer.  In such a circumstance, you cut out the bullshit, and fade right into the bottom line of what you can offer to get that customer on board.

The fact that UM caved last hour after months of stonewalling on the Stallions concessions, shows they did not in fact fade right into that bottom line like they should have.

Call it arrogance, call it lawyers inflating their presence, call it whatever you want, but the buck stops with Warde.  While there is no guarantee that JH would have been retained had UM capitulated early, bottom line is UM did not put its best foot forward in the negotiation, and that's on Warde.

I don't think Warde needs to go.  He does get credit for keeping JH over the last 3 years, which gifted us our greatest sporting moment as Michigan fans.  But what he does need to do is realize he fumbled this ball, and can make up for it by cleaning up NIL and fixing whatever he thinks is going on with Juwan.

The OC and HC jobs are…

The OC and HC jobs are apples and oranges.  RichRod was a great OC but shit HC.  Hopefully Sherrone has learned a lot from JH to cover the job well and doesn’t pull a Gary Moeller incident on us.

Hope we retain most staff and players.

Not a chance.  He is going…

Not a chance.  He is going with JH.

This was a given that he…

This was a given that he would do that.  Not news.

Hate to go there but Jim may…

Hate to go there but Jim may have a bit of "little brother" going on.  Losing that Super Bowl to his older brother likely left some familial scar tissue that only a competitive younger brother can understand.

If John wins it all again this year (Ravens are favored to) that only adds fuel to the fire given Jim knows he has the goods to do it too.

It's all good.  I'll bask in this NC for years,  no matter how many NC's Ohio State proceeds to buy itself through the portal with Third Base at the helm.

Agreed.  15 years ago I…

Agreed.  15 years ago I married at 40 and my wife was 26. 
Advantages:
1. I understood the depth of connection and commonalities required to make a relationship last decades beyond the blind infatuation that drove countless younger relationships that would have ended in disaster.
2. She thinks I'm old and doesn't want me to die (yet) so she focuses on health and nutrition.
3. Not that her input and wisdom are not major factors, but our age disparity provides me a level of executive deference on key life decisions that I likely would not have with a spouse of commensurate age.
Disadvantage:
1. Had I had him in my 20's, my son would have had 3 more decades with his dad relative to my current life expectancy.
2. I try my best, but I don't have the same energy to play with my son and do things with him were I younger.

Costs/benefits to younger or older.  I wish JJ the best.  Legend forever.

He shares several common…

He shares several common features with the the kings of the jungle!  Lovely mane.

I'm a huge Michigan fan but…

I'm a huge Michigan fan but a friend of mine named his daughter Haily Victoria so I cede the crown to him.

Initials guilt.

Initials guilt.

If OSU doesn't win the NC…

If OSU doesn't win the NC next year with how much they have gone all in, it will be extra glorious.  

It was before the two recent…

It was before the two recent Bama 5 stars.  Ohio is spending $20M+ this year.  On our end we're haggling an arbitration panel against a coach with pristine integrity and character and have shown zero capacity to cash in on the last 3 years in terms of improving talent acquisition.  I'll stay on Cloud 9 until August then hopefully this will be a different take by then.

Cathartic win, driven by a…

Cathartic win, driven by a legendary effort by Minter and our defense when the special teams were romper room bad in this one.  Offense woke up just at the right time down the stretch.  I'll rewatch this one at least 20 times in my lifetime.


Great effort Seth!  It was a pleasure meeting you in Houston.  I felt quite intimidated like I was meeting a celebrity which you are!

Watched this last night and…

Watched this last night and loved it, but it could have been improved with more talking head karmic aggrandizement of Ohio State and put downs of Michigan because dear God there was a lot of it.

blue and white blood.

blue and white blood.

Ped State, Georgia and…

Ped State, Georgia and Florida State would be knocking on this door.

Why are you looking at next…

Why are you looking at next season?  Paint is still wet off 2023 National Champion Michigan Wolverines, who also happened to break a 0-6 streak by Michigan in national championship games across the 4 major sports.

Not going to look at next year for another 5 months while I enjoy the perch up here on Cloud 9.

Great words Ace!  Always…

Great words Ace!  Always love your thoughts and updates.

again dude, not following…

again dude, not following your logic. give me a scenario? NCAA bans JH a few more games or kills a few scholarships or has UM remove some wins.  what does any of that have to do with Michigan protecting itself from JH going forward?  if anything, your point is 100% about trust, and thus, apparently a bad point.

what does that mean?  if…

what does that mean?  if harbaugh is banned from playing a few more games, what does that have to do with keeping him as the anchor of the program, as has been battle tested this year?

not following your logic.  it implies that Warde fears more dirt to surface which would mean he doesn't trust JH's character, which is absurd.  JH is human, but he is a man of integrity and honesty.

Yeah this is silly. 
JH has…

Yeah this is silly. 
JH has proven himself a man of integrity, character, honesty and honor. 
So the chance that he goes the way of Tugger or Urban or Petrino is slim to none.

Get this done Warde.  Give the guy whatever he wants. He is 100x more important to the university as a symbol of excellence in all things Michigan than anyone else on campus.  Set egos aside.

Was thinking about how we…

Was thinking about how we just went 15-0 and won the national championship, as well as won the last ever Pac 10/12 game, as well as won Nick Saban's last game, as well as beat his successor, as well as beat OSU/PSU/MSU and everyone else.

How did Ohio State's season end again? =) =)

My first thought was Jared…

My first thought was Jared Wangler was going pro. 

Not outdated.  Presented…

Not outdated.  Presented this week at an event at at the downtown Houston Hilton which Ono and Warde both spoke at, where they reiterated the need for NIL to step up.

It was shocking to be honest.  The chance that it was presented falsely as a marketing ploy is slim as well.  If it was false why would they lie?

There was a fellow sitting at one of the tables with a Huskies jacket and hat on, so it didn't appear to me like this was meant to be kept in house.

Assuming makes an ass out of…

Assuming makes an ass out of u and ming mang.  You assume this slide is false.  It could be, in which case  your point makes sense, but it could very well be true.

recent

recent

They are going all out for…

They are going all out for next year.  Fuggum.