I think the Gallon comp is pretty much right on (so many examples in the film, esp around 2min mark), provided that Johnson becomes a plus blocker like Gallon did by his JR/SR years. Actually, with these similarly skilled smaller WRs, blocking could be the difference in terms of who gets that third banana spot.
Do not see the Golden Tate comparison though, Tate was a burner 4.4 type.
At no point did I say that this kid must not be any good, only that (1) it was super early and there was practially nothing out there on him and (2) the board cheerleading (from some) at that point in time was out of control.
Certain posters were essentially: JH offered this guy? Well HE MUST BE RICHARD SHERMAN 2.0 JIM HARBAUGH IS PERFECT FATHER MY CHILDREN JIM
If we can't have differences of opinion, or give our own views (respectfully), then what's the point in having a board at all? It's totall bullshit if it devolves into a series of devotionals to JH and his unerring perfection.
That said, happy for St-Juste and hope that he keeps up the good work and does become Richard Sherman 2.0. Hell, 3.0, even better!
Let's agree that we were all lucky that Spike happened to play the game of his life that night.
The point remains: the dude benched the National POY, who was on fire at the time, in the national title game! Brutal.
Maybe if Trey played the 5. But as a PG? Naw.
Beilein is a fantastic coach, but in my opinion Pitino clearly out-coached him in the NCAA title game. Which again, is no great sin, Pitino is one of the best out there.
But looking back at that game, I think Michigan had the better team in terms of talent (and the NBA draft agrees), and was really on a roll playing great basketball. But Beilein did his auto-bench thing on Burke, and Pitino game planned well and made several key adjustments down the stetch to stop the bleeding in the first half and then seize the lead.
I can think of games that Beilein proved his mettle - like against VCU and Shaka Smart, or the Darius Morris game against Duke and Coach K, but on that one night, Pitino got the best of him. So, in a 50/50 game, I gotta go with Slick Rick.
I think much will hinge on 4 and 5 play, and whether the new assistants can wrangle any skilled 4/5 spot recruits that do not have stone hands and have a better relationship with gravity.
With that open scholarship, M is now free to scour the hinterlands of Michigan for that elusive diamond in the rough, the prototypical 7 foot center who has problems dunking and lumbers around the court like Brian Dennehy. What's that, we already have one of those? Well nevermind then.
But seriously, M should use this scholarship on a Zach Novak type. The roster has enough long term projects. Just give us someone who is a 10/10 on the intense scale and is willing to take a charge from college version Blake Griffin. At least that way the fans can have some fun with the flawed (but possibly competitive) product on the court.
I for one, would buy the shit out of some kind of death to the NCAA t-shirt or something actually clever in the mgo style. These guys are a bunch of jabronis. I can't be alone on this.
I think his skills jump out, independent of competiton level. Also helps having the sparq #s to confirm what the film tells us (dude is fast, athletic).
Dude seems to ramble.
Doesn't show much grasp of the details (e.g. terms of proposed camp limit legislation).
Lacks messege discipline. (e.g. Red speculation)
Not a great start. At least I didn't see him use the phrase "Michigan Brand".
Hey I'm excited for JH too! Just want to keep us optimistic but not blindly so for two reasons:
(1) it makes the board more fun to have multiple view points other than "JH is always awesome at everything and can do no wrong"
(2) there will probably be setbacks on our path to kick ass football times, and that's OK.
I'm just trying to pump the breaks on the hype train here. I'm guessing JH probably thinks hundreds of players could be good CBs in a given year. He's good at making stuff work. That would explain his recruiting so far - he sees a good player and thinks "good enough" and pulls the trigger. That's fine. I don't think it's wise over the long run, but whatever, he's got a great track record, I get it. That doesn't mean we have to get geeked up over a total flyer of a recruit that we could have snagged in February of next year.
Harbaugh's passing out offers like crazy, and pulling these super obscure commits months and months before signing day. What's the rush dude? It's not like we had a lot of competition for this recruit. I'm guessing the French-Canadian will be there come February.
Sure, this 0* recruit with no other offers could = an all pro NFL player! I swear, Harbaugh could recruit a lampshade and people would be deeming it the next J.J. Watt. Absent more inputs (film, other offers, recruiting analysis, camps), this dude is nothing more than a lottery ticket.
Totally agree. Not enough time left to really shape this class. Just get the quality that is available.
2016...Top shelf QB, then a bunch of talented kids that play angry. Like Desmond said, we need more players that have an edge to them. 5* or 3*, all fine as long as they have that crazy Harbaugh blood-on-his-face edge to them.
I see what you're getting at, but I think we're well past the tipping point in terms of frustration and the fanbase will not be able to pull back or settle for anything short of immediate regime change.
Unfortunately for Hoke, part of this anger really has nothing to do with him, but all of us are shaped in part by our circumstances. His failures happen to be combined with some pretty lousy circumstances (prior regime failures, MSU being good, Brandon creating the future) that are not his fault, but that ultimately fuel our anger.
I think back to that press conference and to the 2011 season in general (going for it on 4th down repeatedly, pushing for the win against ND, OSU performance) and I see an edge, and some bluster.
But for at least the last 2 years he seems much more tentative and increasingly like he is powerless in the face of events.
If you start with the premise that DB don't care about empty seats, I could see the merits in your view. I think it'd also be a good reason for the MGoStore to start stocking FIRE DAVE t-shirts that one could wear to games whilst still protesting DB and shouting Go-Blue.
I think reasonable minds can disagree on the empty seats issue.
I see it has a big problem because if done competently, it will be national news that DB will be forced to address, and that will prompt more flooded inboxes as a result. There really is no long term cost to this approach in my view. We've had bad attendance long ago, we'll have it at some point in the future. The real cost is short term bullshit and hurt feelings, but I think it's inevitable at this point, and I'm confident that we'll come together again, just as other programs do once the Ws start adding up.
Seth essentially says "hey you guys, let's become the Chicago Cubs of college football!"
Which is, as he admits, exactly what DB wants. All based on some theory that more fans equals more effort. Which is at best a very flawed theory.
You know what also brings out more effort? Being pissed off. Let's stop hand wringing about hurting the players' feelings and accept it - we're mad, we're going to make the players mad, DB's going to be mad at the empty seats, everyone's going to be mad, and that's OK. We'll all make up once this ordeal is over and DB is gone.
Incidently, pissing people off to get something accomplished and then making up was one of Bo's primary motivational tactics. See, e.g. the whole Andy Cannavino story.
My point is that sustained poor performances = empty seats, even at big time programs. I could just have easily pointed to M pre-Bo when like 25k people showed up, but I wanted to use a recent example.
As an aside, I don't see a comparison to USC as fatal. Both culturally unique, elite academically and athletically. Both command major media attention. Both have significant big dollar and blue collar fanbases. Surely cultural and geographical differences, but it's not a huge leap. I'm not pushing for Snoop to be our next HC, I'm just saying that it happens everywhere. It's unavoidable.
I get where you're coming from, and I think your heart is in the right place, but I disagree.
(1) Effect on the Players - I think the players can handle the empty seats. They have to know that it's an unavoidable consequence of losing and it happens everywhere (e.g. USC recently among others). They're tough enough to survive in D1 athletics, they can take it. Life will go on, and I think empty seats will register pretty low in terms of life priorities (e.g. school, dating, jobs, friends, family)
(2) Protest/Abandonment - Not-attending is not the same as abandoning. These are not small children we are leaving at the mall. Fans like us don't have many cards to play, and unfortunately, not attending is one of the few ways to get the message across that we're sick and tired of it.
(3) Will it accomplish anything? - I think a large enough no-show would accomplish something. It would be unprecedented in the last 20 or so years and will be a big story nationally and locally. It's also something that the Ross' and Brandons' of the world cannot really combat.
Head to head with money and we lose. But head to head with numbers, we win. Then we get rid of these guys, put in some new ones and let the healing begin.
Thank you for finally pushing towards actual action. It's been frustrating to see the clear dissatisfaction all over this blog but then see nothing come of it other than people debating the degrees of just how terrible things are. I think people will be surprised by just how much influence this blog can have.
I support the boycott and campaign 100% and will put my $ where my mouth is when you put together a funding campaign. I hope the others here, who have spent hundreds if not thousands of hours enjoying this site will consider doing the same. I think you've earned it.
As an aside, it's a shame that this is how Brady goes out. I think he really does care about the kids, really does get them to graduate etc. But he's lost control and there's no turning back. Brandon, on the other hand, I have no sympathy for.
Give me a good plan and I'll donate $5,000 for a Harbaugh to Michigan campaign. Fuck it. T-shirts, website, sit-ins? I don't care. I'm ready to throw money at it hard. Better than models and bottles at the club.
I'm serious, I will donate $5,000 for a Harbaugh to Michigan kickstarter. Make it t-shirts or an offer to pay him a signing bonus, I don't care. No joke, $5,000 today from one fan for a Harbaugh.
That everyone seems cool with multiple threads complaining about Brandon, but threads that are actually started to do something about it seem to be blocked. E.g. the kickstarter thread from last week.
I get that "let's do something" threads can be controversial, but we're all grown ups here, we can handle it. Let people propose things and debate them, and those of us that want to actually make our voice heard outside of an mgo-thread may do so.
I know you could argue that we should just take this kind of stuff somewhere else, but the fact is that Brian has created an excellent site that is extremely popular with M fans. There really is no better place.
Also, pretty sure that a FIRE DAVE shirt would sell out of the MGoStore in like 48 hours.
If the students and alumni make it absolutely clear that DB has to go, it's going to outweigh Ross and other big money and we'll come up with a suitable semi-corporate replacement.
This is where things get uncomfortable though, because we really need the grassroots stuff, fire DB petitions, fire DB t-shirts, and yes, even Lulz worthy fire DB sky writing if necessary. Whatever it takes.
I know the MODS seem hellbent on stamping out any grassroots protest against DB, but it's really our only option if we want him gone, especially given the counterbalance of the big money donors. I sincerely hope they rethink this stance.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Lincoln Memorial, brought to you by Rotel. Abe Lincoln, in case you didn't know, was once the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family President of the United States.
Entrance to Yellowstone? That'll be $500. Also, for your viewing pleasure, we've replaced all the bears with raccoons. And no camp seats because of terrorists or something.
Recent Comments
Too soon on substantive issues, though some things are definitely not very encouraging (e.g. barren wasteland home schedule problem not yet fixed).
In terms of communication skills, I rate him to be an A+ rambler, and look forward to many years of multi-paragraph answers that mean nothing at all.
I think the Gallon comp is pretty much right on (so many examples in the film, esp around 2min mark), provided that Johnson becomes a plus blocker like Gallon did by his JR/SR years. Actually, with these similarly skilled smaller WRs, blocking could be the difference in terms of who gets that third banana spot.
Do not see the Golden Tate comparison though, Tate was a burner 4.4 type.
Please report back on his comments. Also, rate his tendency to ramble on a scale of 1 (random aside now and then) to 5 (grandpa Simpson).
Thanks in advance.
If it goes anything like RichRod's prior trips to Columbus, it'll be over by the half-way mark.
This is a sort of troll job, IMO. Full troll would just have been hiring Josh Groban to peform. That would have been funny.
In any event, good for the rivalry, so I approve.
I was one of those "skeptics" in the hello post.
At no point did I say that this kid must not be any good, only that (1) it was super early and there was practially nothing out there on him and (2) the board cheerleading (from some) at that point in time was out of control.
Certain posters were essentially: JH offered this guy? Well HE MUST BE RICHARD SHERMAN 2.0 JIM HARBAUGH IS PERFECT FATHER MY CHILDREN JIM
If we can't have differences of opinion, or give our own views (respectfully), then what's the point in having a board at all? It's totall bullshit if it devolves into a series of devotionals to JH and his unerring perfection.
That said, happy for St-Juste and hope that he keeps up the good work and does become Richard Sherman 2.0. Hell, 3.0, even better!
Beilein is a fantastic coach, but in my opinion Pitino clearly out-coached him in the NCAA title game. Which again, is no great sin, Pitino is one of the best out there.
But looking back at that game, I think Michigan had the better team in terms of talent (and the NBA draft agrees), and was really on a roll playing great basketball. But Beilein did his auto-bench thing on Burke, and Pitino game planned well and made several key adjustments down the stetch to stop the bleeding in the first half and then seize the lead.
I can think of games that Beilein proved his mettle - like against VCU and Shaka Smart, or the Darius Morris game against Duke and Coach K, but on that one night, Pitino got the best of him. So, in a 50/50 game, I gotta go with Slick Rick.
IMO, rational Beilein hot-seat status:
2008-2011: room temperature
2012: cool
2013: Put it in the freezer!
2014: Frozen
2015: Thawing, still partially frozen
2016: thawed, approaching room temperature again
I think much will hinge on 4 and 5 play, and whether the new assistants can wrangle any skilled 4/5 spot recruits that do not have stone hands and have a better relationship with gravity.
With that open scholarship, M is now free to scour the hinterlands of Michigan for that elusive diamond in the rough, the prototypical 7 foot center who has problems dunking and lumbers around the court like Brian Dennehy. What's that, we already have one of those? Well nevermind then.
But seriously, M should use this scholarship on a Zach Novak type. The roster has enough long term projects. Just give us someone who is a 10/10 on the intense scale and is willing to take a charge from college version Blake Griffin. At least that way the fans can have some fun with the flawed (but possibly competitive) product on the court.
Brian,
I for one, would buy the shit out of some kind of death to the NCAA t-shirt or something actually clever in the mgo style. These guys are a bunch of jabronis. I can't be alone on this.
Should you be so inclined, you can reach your friendly NCAA representative here:
National Collegiate Athletic Association
700 W. Washington Street
P.O. Box 6222
Indianapolis, Indiana 46206-6222
Phone: 317-917-6222
Fax: 317-917-6888
Don Remy - VP of Law, Policy and Governance: [email protected]
Delise S. O'Meally, Director of Governance: [email protected]
Mark Emmert, Shameless Corporate Shill: [email protected]
Welcome to another edition of Warde Manuel - Ramblin' Man.
I'm just trying to pump the breaks on the hype train here. I'm guessing JH probably thinks hundreds of players could be good CBs in a given year. He's good at making stuff work. That would explain his recruiting so far - he sees a good player and thinks "good enough" and pulls the trigger. That's fine. I don't think it's wise over the long run, but whatever, he's got a great track record, I get it. That doesn't mean we have to get geeked up over a total flyer of a recruit that we could have snagged in February of next year.
Harbaugh's passing out offers like crazy, and pulling these super obscure commits months and months before signing day. What's the rush dude? It's not like we had a lot of competition for this recruit. I'm guessing the French-Canadian will be there come February.
Sure, this 0* recruit with no other offers could = an all pro NFL player! I swear, Harbaugh could recruit a lampshade and people would be deeming it the next J.J. Watt. Absent more inputs (film, other offers, recruiting analysis, camps), this dude is nothing more than a lottery ticket.
Haha, no. I'm referring to the 'fire him now' vs. 'fire him at end of season' debate.
I see what you're getting at, but I think we're well past the tipping point in terms of frustration and the fanbase will not be able to pull back or settle for anything short of immediate regime change.
Unfortunately for Hoke, part of this anger really has nothing to do with him, but all of us are shaped in part by our circumstances. His failures happen to be combined with some pretty lousy circumstances (prior regime failures, MSU being good, Brandon creating the future) that are not his fault, but that ultimately fuel our anger.
I think back to that press conference and to the 2011 season in general (going for it on 4th down repeatedly, pushing for the win against ND, OSU performance) and I see an edge, and some bluster.
But for at least the last 2 years he seems much more tentative and increasingly like he is powerless in the face of events.
This guy is a fucking joke. Enough already. Add me to the fire this guy now camp.
Oh yes, purposefully missing a single kickoff, what a capital crime!
If you start with the premise that DB don't care about empty seats, I could see the merits in your view. I think it'd also be a good reason for the MGoStore to start stocking FIRE DAVE t-shirts that one could wear to games whilst still protesting DB and shouting Go-Blue.
I think reasonable minds can disagree on the empty seats issue.
I see it has a big problem because if done competently, it will be national news that DB will be forced to address, and that will prompt more flooded inboxes as a result. There really is no long term cost to this approach in my view. We've had bad attendance long ago, we'll have it at some point in the future. The real cost is short term bullshit and hurt feelings, but I think it's inevitable at this point, and I'm confident that we'll come together again, just as other programs do once the Ws start adding up.
I think it's got a better chance of success than clapping constantly.
Seth essentially says "hey you guys, let's become the Chicago Cubs of college football!"
Which is, as he admits, exactly what DB wants. All based on some theory that more fans equals more effort. Which is at best a very flawed theory.
You know what also brings out more effort? Being pissed off. Let's stop hand wringing about hurting the players' feelings and accept it - we're mad, we're going to make the players mad, DB's going to be mad at the empty seats, everyone's going to be mad, and that's OK. We'll all make up once this ordeal is over and DB is gone.
Incidently, pissing people off to get something accomplished and then making up was one of Bo's primary motivational tactics. See, e.g. the whole Andy Cannavino story.
A list of suggestions:
#Brandgazi - Really more for the media firestorm of last week, but I thought it was funny when I saw it. It is clever so could catch on.
#FireDave - Short, simple
#FireDaveBrandon - avoids causing unncessary anxiety to others named Dave
#FirePizzaBoy - juvenile, deserved
#createthefuture combined with #FireDaveBrandon
Anyone want 100,000 un-worn Fire Brandon t-shirts? Premium cotton. . No, no that's a lie, it's the cheap kind.
My point is that sustained poor performances = empty seats, even at big time programs. I could just have easily pointed to M pre-Bo when like 25k people showed up, but I wanted to use a recent example.
As an aside, I don't see a comparison to USC as fatal. Both culturally unique, elite academically and athletically. Both command major media attention. Both have significant big dollar and blue collar fanbases. Surely cultural and geographical differences, but it's not a huge leap. I'm not pushing for Snoop to be our next HC, I'm just saying that it happens everywhere. It's unavoidable.
I get where you're coming from, and I think your heart is in the right place, but I disagree.
(1) Effect on the Players - I think the players can handle the empty seats. They have to know that it's an unavoidable consequence of losing and it happens everywhere (e.g. USC recently among others). They're tough enough to survive in D1 athletics, they can take it. Life will go on, and I think empty seats will register pretty low in terms of life priorities (e.g. school, dating, jobs, friends, family)
(2) Protest/Abandonment - Not-attending is not the same as abandoning. These are not small children we are leaving at the mall. Fans like us don't have many cards to play, and unfortunately, not attending is one of the few ways to get the message across that we're sick and tired of it.
(3) Will it accomplish anything? - I think a large enough no-show would accomplish something. It would be unprecedented in the last 20 or so years and will be a big story nationally and locally. It's also something that the Ross' and Brandons' of the world cannot really combat.
Head to head with money and we lose. But head to head with numbers, we win. Then we get rid of these guys, put in some new ones and let the healing begin.
Everyone loves a good turnaround story.
Brian,
Thank you for finally pushing towards actual action. It's been frustrating to see the clear dissatisfaction all over this blog but then see nothing come of it other than people debating the degrees of just how terrible things are. I think people will be surprised by just how much influence this blog can have.
I support the boycott and campaign 100% and will put my $ where my mouth is when you put together a funding campaign. I hope the others here, who have spent hundreds if not thousands of hours enjoying this site will consider doing the same. I think you've earned it.
As an aside, it's a shame that this is how Brady goes out. I think he really does care about the kids, really does get them to graduate etc. But he's lost control and there's no turning back. Brandon, on the other hand, I have no sympathy for.
Good luck!
Give me a good plan and I'll donate $5,000 for a Harbaugh to Michigan campaign. Fuck it. T-shirts, website, sit-ins? I don't care. I'm ready to throw money at it hard. Better than models and bottles at the club.
Seriously. Sell me on a plan and I will fund it.
I'm serious, I will donate $5,000 for a Harbaugh to Michigan kickstarter. Make it t-shirts or an offer to pay him a signing bonus, I don't care. No joke, $5,000 today from one fan for a Harbaugh.
That everyone seems cool with multiple threads complaining about Brandon, but threads that are actually started to do something about it seem to be blocked. E.g. the kickstarter thread from last week.
I get that "let's do something" threads can be controversial, but we're all grown ups here, we can handle it. Let people propose things and debate them, and those of us that want to actually make our voice heard outside of an mgo-thread may do so.
I know you could argue that we should just take this kind of stuff somewhere else, but the fact is that Brian has created an excellent site that is extremely popular with M fans. There really is no better place.
Also, pretty sure that a FIRE DAVE shirt would sell out of the MGoStore in like 48 hours.
Pretty damn depressing . . . but you make good points.
If the students and alumni make it absolutely clear that DB has to go, it's going to outweigh Ross and other big money and we'll come up with a suitable semi-corporate replacement.
This is where things get uncomfortable though, because we really need the grassroots stuff, fire DB petitions, fire DB t-shirts, and yes, even Lulz worthy fire DB sky writing if necessary. Whatever it takes.
I know the MODS seem hellbent on stamping out any grassroots protest against DB, but it's really our only option if we want him gone, especially given the counterbalance of the big money donors. I sincerely hope they rethink this stance.
Here here! Time and time again Hoke has demonstrated a tenuous graps on the Nash Equilibrium.
Forget the Harbaughs, John von Neumann for H.C.
A.B.C. Bro. Always be consuming.
#CreatingTheFuture
Also hope he sprang for the noise cancelling variety. Don't want to hear those pesky fans (or as DB calls them, sentient line items) booing.
How about a free lifetime supply of Dominos, including cheesy bread?