More Mizzou than not, to my eye. I was never confused as to whether or not we were talking about Michigan with 3 or 4 variations on a theme. Insisting on one plain maize block M wins points with the HBR/MBA crowd, but decades of the other way didn't seem to dilute "the brand" as much as single icon proponents would have many people believe.
Actually, our favorite former ND coach frequently calls Tom Brady 'Tommy.' I think it's in the sentence right after the one containing "decided schematic advantage."
Who knew 'shews' was an old British variant of 'shows?' (So Ed Sullivan had it right after all!)
And how lame were the guns of the day that they only are listed before bells?
Born in Chile many decades ago, the go-to red is Carmenere.
Of course, there have been other wines and regions. A couple faves are nice Chianti Classico Riservas and a great cab from Flora Springs in Napa Valley.
Honeymooning in France, driving around Nice 36 years ago in a Peugeot 205, towards Cannes, and the James Bond theme comes on the radio. I kid you not.
On business in Germany 20 years ago in a company Diesel Golf. Sticker on the IP says something about 200 kph...I ask my German coworker... he says, winter tires (tyres?), max speed 200 kph. I think I may have exceeded that suggested limit.
On Long Lake, south of Traverse City. First day of a week-long vaca. Steaks on the grill tonight. Drinking Molson Dry and/or Alexander Keith's Pale Ale.
Picked up a pint for my daughter. Drank a couple Alexander Keith's Pale Ales watching the Wings game, went to the Union Woodshop for dinner here in Clarkston...had a couple Keweenaw Pick Axe blondes, then a couple Bollywood blondes with dinner.
Even if those guys could just go laterally, it still took months of LC begging other coaches to hire Mike Debord as an ASSISTANT Line Coach and Moeller as an ASSISTANT TE Coach for the Ravens. RR's subordinates got jobs (laterals) within weeks of January 2011...yes, even Gibson.
Coaches typically bring their own in, which is another reason LC, before he left, made sure Sailor Bill and the AD paid all the coaches an extra year salary prior to his announcing his retirement.
I recall someone posting during August that we couldn't/shouldn't look at the prices on SH at that time, that the prices would be far different during the week of the game....so, being a little OCD, I tracked prices...daily. (I said I was OCD)
Our tickets could be had for prices in the teens, mostly during the DAY of the game...except for the Coke game. I captured a screenshot of a pair of tickets for PSU for $4 each. Otherwise, every game was available for under $20 per ticket. This is probably earlier in the week than previous games this season.
To my mind, this exposes the flaw in the thinking of the season ticket buyer/defender...regardless of the appeal of having odd year MSU/OSU and the slightly improved OOC opponent (note I didn't say OOC opponents - plural)...there remains other B1G games against Indiana, Rutgers, Maryland, Purdue and Illinois that will appear on the schedule...for prices Blue in Lansing presented above. Seriously.
growing fan club!
Note, RR's teams gave up 35, 26 and 34 points to MSU...Just an awful coach...lousy human, etc.
Oh, and as you already know, RR didn't have upper classmen at QB and other skill positions, let alone a $4.1M salary and $600k coordinators.
Not ordering season tickets this year is now showing itself to be my most satisfying financial decision!
salaries. As WD joyously presented, we doubled the pay of Pepperdine's Men's Tennis Coach. Did we require that?
I get wanting to be leaders and best, but gold plated urinals don't add value to me as a fan/buyer of football, let alone fan of other U-M athletics.
And yeah, when the well starts slowing, what then for the overpaid tennis coach...or head football coach?
Very nice story, I remember it from the original posting. I have a maize "IN ROD WE TRUST" t-shirt and a blue one, too. He signed the maize one, always a classy guy in every encounter my son and I have had with him.
Ignore the lame attempts at snark, and just be the fan you are.
Actually started contemplating dumping tickets ~2 years ago, but pulled the trigger this year (so to speak). Hate that it looks like such a smart move now... But, hoping this season sets things in motion for a truly elite coaching hire.
We didn't renew this season, after 20+ years as season ticket holders, and you're absolutely right...the internal, personal obligation to make good on that investment by going to every game drops when you imagine you'll buy tickets on the open market on a game-by-game basis. DAB has screwed things up in massive fashion, and this year's empty seats and gimmick flash sales are only the beginning.
I thought for sure, in January, we'd have received personal calls at dinner time from "student-athletes" imploring our continued donations (not even a low- or mid-level marketing staffer, of which we now have dozens). Nope. Silence. But I WAS told my last chance via AD email, (kind of like a MLB Steve Howe last chance) the opportunity to renew my PSD was the day before the pre-sale of Man U v. Real Madrid tickets...3 months after the original due date.
I think your guesstimate is pretty accurate for the 2014 renewal period. Don't forget, the AD had PLENTY of tickets in hand prior to the 2013 season, and couldn't GIVE them away for that game against Akron last year, even with a healthy cut in prices to buy a 4 pack, get programs, hot dogs/drinks and a 3-D poster (at least one poster, possibly 4).
No worries, mate. Cue the humble brag bras to ride to the rescue in mere moments, telling us how they'll increase their ticket purchases THIS year, with THIS slate of games.
Took a vacation this year already with the PSD money, and we may still look for opportunities for a Wings ticket package. And we'll still go to games, just via Stub Hub.
People, please note: During the 2013 season, the mgoblue dynamic ticket model had between hundreds and THOUSANDS** of seats available on the Thursday/Friday before the game, EVERY game. This means that not only were plenty of seats available to add to your haul last year, but you'd have had better games to enjoy with your upgrade/increase. Don't increase this year, because there are now even MORE tickets available, with this lousy slate. Buy next year.
**Akron announced attendance was below 109,000, including the Ath Dept counting of every hanger on, recruit, player, band member, media member (which usually takes our tallies up over 113k). And that was WITH the $200 for 4 seats, programs, 3D poster and hot dog inducement.
The AD will change their tune either when DAB is gone, or when they've had a few years of having to work to make the stadium appear full, due to declining sales of season ticket packages.
The 2013 Akron game showed us that. $200 for 4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 programs and, as an added bonus/late addition, a 3D poster, too (possibly 4 posters, not sure). And with all that, the announced/inflated attendance was 107k. Meaning we were still short by 5000 buyers of selling out.
2014 will be worse. In many, MANY ways.
Read a rumor here that "recent grads" would get an invite to buy via lower cost PSD...but it's not necessarily the PSD that makes it such a lousy deal, it's the whole cost added together...with the lousy opponents factored in.
I scoff at those who made money selling tickets as well (per other post)...these people probably never lose in Vegas, either. Like you posited, you'd have to sell ND, OSU well before the season or before the losses accumulate.
I also discount those who will now suddenly buy extra seats THIS YEAR. There were plenty of seats available to add to your season ticket order last year...this with a schedule worth paying some money for. Why pay this year? Those extra seats will still be available next year, too!
Paying for Dave Brandon's folly is not the same as buying tickets in the open market and attending. You can still go to all the games you want, just pay less, same experience all the way around. And you may even find a view or two that are unique that you'd never have tried otherwise!
Had 2 tickets for 20+ years, added a second pair for the "kid plus other" about 15 years ago, combined 'em 12 years ago. And have been taking a bath on either #4 or #3 and #4 for years.
This is where DB's strategization to wring every dime out of the paying customer pockets, including students: Many of the posters on this board, many, if not most of the fans sitting in the other 85k seats, are alums...alums who went to as many home games as they could. Who developed the love of the game, love of the team, love for Bo, Yost, the stadium, etc.
Today's students, pushed to the fringe, won't have those memories, won't have nearly the positive glow burning within, to share this with their own kids, to establish a dream of not waiting until fall rolls around, so we can go to 6-7-8 home games again.
Today, DB thinks selling off dynamically priced Akron game packages to some family from Okemos will make lifelong fans. Dream on...
NP. Pricey stuff, and you hit the nail on the head originally. Been doing this with the family (son, his friends, my friends, my brother, my wife)...son is a Jr in HS, so unless he's in AA, we can slide by on StubHub for 2014.
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Read this
http://mgoblog.com/category/tags/lloyd-carr-illuminati
Even if those guys could just go laterally, it still took months of LC begging other coaches to hire Mike Debord as an ASSISTANT Line Coach and Moeller as an ASSISTANT TE Coach for the Ravens. RR's subordinates got jobs (laterals) within weeks of January 2011...yes, even Gibson.
Coaches typically bring their own in, which is another reason LC, before he left, made sure Sailor Bill and the AD paid all the coaches an extra year salary prior to his announcing his retirement.
Wrong butterfly...
I recall someone posting during August that we couldn't/shouldn't look at the prices on SH at that time, that the prices would be far different during the week of the game....so, being a little OCD, I tracked prices...daily. (I said I was OCD)
Our tickets could be had for prices in the teens, mostly during the DAY of the game...except for the Coke game. I captured a screenshot of a pair of tickets for PSU for $4 each. Otherwise, every game was available for under $20 per ticket. This is probably earlier in the week than previous games this season.
To my mind, this exposes the flaw in the thinking of the season ticket buyer/defender...regardless of the appeal of having odd year MSU/OSU and the slightly improved OOC opponent (note I didn't say OOC opponents - plural)...there remains other B1G games against Indiana, Rutgers, Maryland, Purdue and Illinois that will appear on the schedule...for prices Blue in Lansing presented above. Seriously.
The new Cradle of Coaches...or of CC Threads!
MGoJen,
Very nice story, I remember it from the original posting. I have a maize "IN ROD WE TRUST" t-shirt and a blue one, too. He signed the maize one, always a classy guy in every encounter my son and I have had with him.
Ignore the lame attempts at snark, and just be the fan you are.
Albeit in an ongoing practice squad/injured reserve type role, zero career games in the NFL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Boren
Call Mr. Plow, that's my name, that name again is Mr. Plow!
I thought for sure, in January, we'd have received personal calls at dinner time from "student-athletes" imploring our continued donations (not even a low- or mid-level marketing staffer, of which we now have dozens). Nope. Silence. But I WAS told my last chance via AD email, (kind of like a MLB Steve Howe last chance) the opportunity to renew my PSD was the day before the pre-sale of Man U v. Real Madrid tickets...3 months after the original due date.
I think your guesstimate is pretty accurate for the 2014 renewal period. Don't forget, the AD had PLENTY of tickets in hand prior to the 2013 season, and couldn't GIVE them away for that game against Akron last year, even with a healthy cut in prices to buy a 4 pack, get programs, hot dogs/drinks and a 3-D poster (at least one poster, possibly 4).
No worries, mate. Cue the humble brag bras to ride to the rescue in mere moments, telling us how they'll increase their ticket purchases THIS year, with THIS slate of games.
Took a vacation this year already with the PSD money, and we may still look for opportunities for a Wings ticket package. And we'll still go to games, just via Stub Hub.
Should have been the very first thing they thought of when this team was scheduled to play this slate of lousy games at home.
Leave it to Dave Brandon to ignore that little fact.
Alum
25 years
0
4
No it did not
Going the StubHub route this year. Will save $$$.
People, please note: During the 2013 season, the mgoblue dynamic ticket model had between hundreds and THOUSANDS** of seats available on the Thursday/Friday before the game, EVERY game. This means that not only were plenty of seats available to add to your haul last year, but you'd have had better games to enjoy with your upgrade/increase. Don't increase this year, because there are now even MORE tickets available, with this lousy slate. Buy next year.
**Akron announced attendance was below 109,000, including the Ath Dept counting of every hanger on, recruit, player, band member, media member (which usually takes our tallies up over 113k). And that was WITH the $200 for 4 seats, programs, 3D poster and hot dog inducement.
YMMV
The AD will change their tune either when DAB is gone, or when they've had a few years of having to work to make the stadium appear full, due to declining sales of season ticket packages.
The 2013 Akron game showed us that. $200 for 4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 programs and, as an added bonus/late addition, a 3D poster, too (possibly 4 posters, not sure). And with all that, the announced/inflated attendance was 107k. Meaning we were still short by 5000 buyers of selling out.
2014 will be worse. In many, MANY ways.
Read a rumor here that "recent grads" would get an invite to buy via lower cost PSD...but it's not necessarily the PSD that makes it such a lousy deal, it's the whole cost added together...with the lousy opponents factored in.
I scoff at those who made money selling tickets as well (per other post)...these people probably never lose in Vegas, either. Like you posited, you'd have to sell ND, OSU well before the season or before the losses accumulate.
I also discount those who will now suddenly buy extra seats THIS YEAR. There were plenty of seats available to add to your season ticket order last year...this with a schedule worth paying some money for. Why pay this year? Those extra seats will still be available next year, too!
Paying for Dave Brandon's folly is not the same as buying tickets in the open market and attending. You can still go to all the games you want, just pay less, same experience all the way around. And you may even find a view or two that are unique that you'd never have tried otherwise!
Stupid not to
We're out. 4 tickets, purchased for far too much money, for too many years, for product and event/activities no longer commensurate with that price.
Had 2 tickets for 20+ years, added a second pair for the "kid plus other" about 15 years ago, combined 'em 12 years ago. And have been taking a bath on either #4 or #3 and #4 for years.
We aren't buying via the AD this year.
This is where DB's strategization to wring every dime out of the paying customer pockets, including students: Many of the posters on this board, many, if not most of the fans sitting in the other 85k seats, are alums...alums who went to as many home games as they could. Who developed the love of the game, love of the team, love for Bo, Yost, the stadium, etc.
Today's students, pushed to the fringe, won't have those memories, won't have nearly the positive glow burning within, to share this with their own kids, to establish a dream of not waiting until fall rolls around, so we can go to 6-7-8 home games again.
Today, DB thinks selling off dynamically priced Akron game packages to some family from Okemos will make lifelong fans. Dream on...
My grand idea was for DB to come up with a "Loyalty Rebate" on the PSD to those of us who've held season tickets for over X years. Didn't happen.
Agreed on the kernel of this article, nice way to present the issue.
NP. Pricey stuff, and you hit the nail on the head originally. Been doing this with the family (son, his friends, my friends, my brother, my wife)...son is a Jr in HS, so unless he's in AA, we can slide by on StubHub for 2014.