I have been reading this blog for nigh on 6 years and I simply cannot believe the downward spiral Brian has taken. His writing was THE beacon for positivity and hope during the three long years of Rodriguez's tenure and it seems as if he cannot handle the hand we have been dealt as a program.
Rodriguez did some fantastic and inspiring things that could have kept improving, but failed significantly in a number of ways. He lost his job, and we have a new coach. What good could possibly come from fomenting angst, fear and self-perpetuating hostility in a man who very well may be our coach for a long time? It seems as if Brian and many others have adopted the *EXACT SAME* determination to find potential fault and hand-wringing potential in Hoke that so many knuckle draggers did when Rodriguez the "outsider" was hired...
If we run a lot of plays from under-center at the spring game, gallons of ink will be spilt declaring the ruination of Denard's career and the inevitable transfer that awaits when he realizes how horrible and old-fashioned Hoke is. We will hear again and again that Borges is fat and incapable of comprehending the time-bending genius of Rodriguez's offensive masterwyrx, that our slots will be rendered ineffective, and that we are doomed to nothing but a shell of Wisconsin's slovenly ancient bore-fest. We will be treated to paranoid "worries" from fool after fool who simply cannot look to the obvious positives of this coaching change.
I choose to focus on the fact that SDSU had 2(!) 1000yd receivers and a 1400yd back last year. I also rely on common sense enough to expect our new staff to be well aware of their prececessors' failure to minimize the transitional pains and also be wise enough to extract/assimilate any value that Rodriguez's quantum-mind left behind.
There is no fawking way that Hoke/Borges do not want to replicate the offensive successes this team has had in the past. If anything, we will finally see a hybrid of Michigan football as it has been traditionally with the stat-producing philosophies of the modern spread game.
Fear is for fools and those burned by their support of Rodriguez. I suppose I can understand Brian feeling punked after so many years of fighting the good fight, but we need to all realize as a fanbase that things are looking up for the program- despite what the fearful voice in the back of your head may tell you.
We will win ball games this year and hopefully the old Brian will come back to delight us all with rational optimism instead of parasitic spartybuck-level whinings.
that Mallett and Arrington were 100% gone regardless of RR's hiring. I knew Arrington first-hand and he was planning on leaving for the NFL after that year anyway- all of his friends were in that class and he had no plans of catching balls from Threet/Sheridan...
... which he knew was going to be the case because Ryan Mallett was already set to transfer regardless of the circumstances. He grew up a Razorbacks fanatic, living in Texarkana- a town right near the border of Texas/Arkansas. The only reason he came to Michigan was that Mitch Mustain seemed entrenched as the starter and he had a good relationship with our QB coach.
When Mitch Mustain transferred to USC and Lloyd retired, the door was open for Ryan to move back home and take the job he always wanted. Also, he was quite immature at the time and had not made too many friends on the team. Michigan just wasn't the school for him and he has recently talked about this in an interview.
I DO agree, however, with your argument that good coaches do well with the players they have. RR is a good coach, in my opinion, but he definitely could have done a better job of working with what he had. Unfortunately that never would have included Mallett or Arrington under any circumstances.
I wonder if Dave Brandon is considering the implications of pissing away his #1 most marketable, household-name product in Denard Robinson by firing Rodriguez.
Denard will follow him wherever he goes, and we will be left to win "with cruelty", as Harbaugh likes to say.
I will probably never be able to follow college football again, as watching Denard go on to win the Heisman at another school would essentially mean that Michigan Football is dead.
and it is ABSURD to say otherwise. I am 5'10 on a short day, and I see Denard on campus all the time- he is much taller than me and a pretty big dude in general. Don't let his size relative to monsters like Lewan and Dorrestein fool you.
have given up on Simpkins' comments. Quite frankly, he is known as an ultra-conservative jackass when it comes to UM football and is about as far to that side of spectrum as one can possibly be. His comments are to be given respect and a fair shake, but they are certainly not gospel- his understanding of football is very much rooted in the "old ways" that simply do not apply any more.
For instance, he and MANY Michigan fans simply do not understand that the 120-scholarship years allowed us to stockpile talent at every position. Our roster situation is SO far removed from that era that Simpkins' perspective on things is very skewed.</p>
He simply does not (or literally cannot) understand that Michigan's overall depth/experience/talent levels are at an all-time low and we are seeing that on the football field.
Now I will wait for the inevitable "this is MICHIGAN, there are NO EXCUSES, we DESERVE to win, UNACCEPTABLE, the roster SHOULD be loaded, SIMPKINS IS SPOT ON FUCK THAT HICK FROM WEST VERJINYA *RUINING* MY TEAM RABBLE RABBLE" post...
I know the picture, and have had conversations with people about how it will be invoked forever in making the "OmG DENARD WAS DESTINED FOR THE HYZMIN!!!!" meme...
and their isn't a bigger, more arrogrant a-hole in the history of the universe. If today's social media zeitgeist had been around when JH played at UM, I can pretty much guarantee he would have been kicked off the team and expelled for the stuff he did to women on a regular basis.
you are being sarcastic, because only a troll or pathological-sky-is-falling-let's-displace-my-personal-issues-onto-college-football-to-justify-my-lack-of-self-worth asshat thinks that BG is going to score 8 TD's against our defense.
It's one thing to be disappointed in the product on the field and demand improvement, it's another to become consumed by a lack of self-confidence that manifests itself in laughably childish end-of-days scenarios.
Anyone who plays organized sports knows that emotion plays a big part in winning, and our guys obviously came out with a lack of intensity/focus last week. I talked to Craig Roh after the UMass game and he was very upset and disappointed at what happened. Our defense may not be great, but they are a bunch of intelligent, motivated athletes who want to represent UM as best they can.
Assuming that UMass was not only the norm, but the first in a step of cascade of weekly collapse to the point that BG scores 8 TDs displays the following:
- A lack of 'big picture' perspective on the nature of high-level competitive athletics
- A lack of understanding re: the roles emotion/mindset play in determining an outcome
- Belligerent belief that our defensive players, coaches & scheme patently 'suck' and are incapable of playing any defense, making any improvements or making any adjustments
- No understanding of BG's team and current personnel issues and how they present an undeniably more favorable matchup for our young defense
- An apparent fixation/desire to 'hedge one's bets' and assume the worst, rather than hope for the best and potentially feel disappointment
- No real emotional investment, faith or excitement about a team of young men working 40+ hours a week to improve other than a desire to 'bask in the reflected glory' of their success and cut them down when they fail
If you were being sarcastic, or just being a 'Dix' for the sake of being 'Dix', disregard this post and apply it to the real asshats who DO feel this way.
If this is your actual opinion, even though you select UM to win, I think most people would prefer you go root for another team rather than assuage your craving for reflected glory as a piss-in-the-punchbowl negative fan.
With all the love of the Universe, even when we disagree-
Recent Comments
I have been reading this blog for nigh on 6 years and I simply cannot believe the downward spiral Brian has taken. His writing was THE beacon for positivity and hope during the three long years of Rodriguez's tenure and it seems as if he cannot handle the hand we have been dealt as a program.
Rodriguez did some fantastic and inspiring things that could have kept improving, but failed significantly in a number of ways. He lost his job, and we have a new coach. What good could possibly come from fomenting angst, fear and self-perpetuating hostility in a man who very well may be our coach for a long time? It seems as if Brian and many others have adopted the *EXACT SAME* determination to find potential fault and hand-wringing potential in Hoke that so many knuckle draggers did when Rodriguez the "outsider" was hired...
If we run a lot of plays from under-center at the spring game, gallons of ink will be spilt declaring the ruination of Denard's career and the inevitable transfer that awaits when he realizes how horrible and old-fashioned Hoke is. We will hear again and again that Borges is fat and incapable of comprehending the time-bending genius of Rodriguez's offensive masterwyrx, that our slots will be rendered ineffective, and that we are doomed to nothing but a shell of Wisconsin's slovenly ancient bore-fest. We will be treated to paranoid "worries" from fool after fool who simply cannot look to the obvious positives of this coaching change.
I choose to focus on the fact that SDSU had 2(!) 1000yd receivers and a 1400yd back last year. I also rely on common sense enough to expect our new staff to be well aware of their prececessors' failure to minimize the transitional pains and also be wise enough to extract/assimilate any value that Rodriguez's quantum-mind left behind.
There is no fawking way that Hoke/Borges do not want to replicate the offensive successes this team has had in the past. If anything, we will finally see a hybrid of Michigan football as it has been traditionally with the stat-producing philosophies of the modern spread game.
Fear is for fools and those burned by their support of Rodriguez. I suppose I can understand Brian feeling punked after so many years of fighting the good fight, but we need to all realize as a fanbase that things are looking up for the program- despite what the fearful voice in the back of your head may tell you.
We will win ball games this year and hopefully the old Brian will come back to delight us all with rational optimism instead of parasitic spartybuck-level whinings.
Do you really think Harbaugh would be able to keep Denard? If so, for what reasons?
I do not ask this with animosity- I just can't believe that the odds are more than 50/50 we keep him.
that Mallett and Arrington were 100% gone regardless of RR's hiring. I knew Arrington first-hand and he was planning on leaving for the NFL after that year anyway- all of his friends were in that class and he had no plans of catching balls from Threet/Sheridan...
... which he knew was going to be the case because Ryan Mallett was already set to transfer regardless of the circumstances. He grew up a Razorbacks fanatic, living in Texarkana- a town right near the border of Texas/Arkansas. The only reason he came to Michigan was that Mitch Mustain seemed entrenched as the starter and he had a good relationship with our QB coach.
When Mitch Mustain transferred to USC and Lloyd retired, the door was open for Ryan to move back home and take the job he always wanted. Also, he was quite immature at the time and had not made too many friends on the team. Michigan just wasn't the school for him and he has recently talked about this in an interview.
I DO agree, however, with your argument that good coaches do well with the players they have. RR is a good coach, in my opinion, but he definitely could have done a better job of working with what he had. Unfortunately that never would have included Mallett or Arrington under any circumstances.
I have one major question though...
would Harbaugh be able to keep Denard?
I say no.
I wonder if Dave Brandon is considering the implications of pissing away his #1 most marketable, household-name product in Denard Robinson by firing Rodriguez.
Denard will follow him wherever he goes, and we will be left to win "with cruelty", as Harbaugh likes to say.
I will probably never be able to follow college football again, as watching Denard go on to win the Heisman at another school would essentially mean that Michigan Football is dead.
and it is ABSURD to say otherwise. I am 5'10 on a short day, and I see Denard on campus all the time- he is much taller than me and a pretty big dude in general. Don't let his size relative to monsters like Lewan and Dorrestein fool you.
OOPS double post
I see I didn't have to wait very long...
have given up on Simpkins' comments. Quite frankly, he is known as an ultra-conservative jackass when it comes to UM football and is about as far to that side of spectrum as one can possibly be. His comments are to be given respect and a fair shake, but they are certainly not gospel- his understanding of football is very much rooted in the "old ways" that simply do not apply any more.
For instance, he and MANY Michigan fans simply do not understand that the 120-scholarship years allowed us to stockpile talent at every position. Our roster situation is SO far removed from that era that Simpkins' perspective on things is very skewed.</p>
He simply does not (or literally cannot) understand that Michigan's overall depth/experience/talent levels are at an all-time low and we are seeing that on the football field.
Now I will wait for the inevitable "this is MICHIGAN, there are NO EXCUSES, we DESERVE to win, UNACCEPTABLE, the roster SHOULD be loaded, SIMPKINS IS SPOT ON FUCK THAT HICK FROM WEST VERJINYA *RUINING* MY TEAM RABBLE RABBLE" post...
I know the picture, and have had conversations with people about how it will be invoked forever in making the "OmG DENARD WAS DESTINED FOR THE HYZMIN!!!!" meme...
however I do not know where to find it. Sorry! :(
still doubt the potency of our offense.
35 points would be a pretty bad game for our guys, IMO.
Akron was able to shred them, we should expect the same.
and their isn't a bigger, more arrogrant a-hole in the history of the universe. If today's social media zeitgeist had been around when JH played at UM, I can pretty much guarantee he would have been kicked off the team and expelled for the stuff he did to women on a regular basis.
Oh how times have changed...
you are being sarcastic, because only a troll or pathological-sky-is-falling-let's-displace-my-personal-issues-onto-college-football-to-justify-my-lack-of-self-worth asshat thinks that BG is going to score 8 TD's against our defense.
It's one thing to be disappointed in the product on the field and demand improvement, it's another to become consumed by a lack of self-confidence that manifests itself in laughably childish end-of-days scenarios.
Anyone who plays organized sports knows that emotion plays a big part in winning, and our guys obviously came out with a lack of intensity/focus last week. I talked to Craig Roh after the UMass game and he was very upset and disappointed at what happened. Our defense may not be great, but they are a bunch of intelligent, motivated athletes who want to represent UM as best they can.
Assuming that UMass was not only the norm, but the first in a step of cascade of weekly collapse to the point that BG scores 8 TDs displays the following:
- A lack of 'big picture' perspective on the nature of high-level competitive athletics
- A lack of understanding re: the roles emotion/mindset play in determining an outcome
- Belligerent belief that our defensive players, coaches & scheme patently 'suck' and are incapable of playing any defense, making any improvements or making any adjustments
- No understanding of BG's team and current personnel issues and how they present an undeniably more favorable matchup for our young defense
- An apparent fixation/desire to 'hedge one's bets' and assume the worst, rather than hope for the best and potentially feel disappointment
- No real emotional investment, faith or excitement about a team of young men working 40+ hours a week to improve other than a desire to 'bask in the reflected glory' of their success and cut them down when they fail
If you were being sarcastic, or just being a 'Dix' for the sake of being 'Dix', disregard this post and apply it to the real asshats who DO feel this way.
If this is your actual opinion, even though you select UM to win, I think most people would prefer you go root for another team rather than assuage your craving for reflected glory as a piss-in-the-punchbowl negative fan.
With all the love of the Universe, even when we disagree-
.M.etaphysics
49 - 20 Michigan.