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Date	Title	Body
2 weeks 5 days ago	He certainly appears that way...	Reading between the lines of his bio, his achievements in life are: 1. Ran family business into the ground and closed it, despite what he indicates is his natural affinity for being a salesmen 2. Decided he wanted to leverage his natural affinity for sales and now sells houses instead A sparty success story if ever there were one.
5 weeks 6 days ago	Awesome	Great to see how you guys rep Michigan on and off/after the field. Proud to have had you as players, prouder still as alumni. Keep us posted on HOPE and where we can contribute.  Thanks.
8 weeks 3 days ago	damn.....	won't he go directly to NBA in all likelihood?
9 weeks 6 days ago	that's sweater vest, so.....	perhaps he has a Brazilian?
13 weeks 4 days ago	exactly...	First of all, I was anything but maudlin, rather I was optimistic about the future of the program and the progress thus far. That is the exact opposite of maudlin, which I think better describes your self-pitying, 'poor me, I didn't get what I wanted this year based on the pre-season ranking and now it will NEVER happen' diatribe. Look it up. I think this says it all: 'what I saw today really made me rethink if my expectations for this season were realistic to begin with' The #4 pre-season is just that and we all know just what those are worth. No one had any idea how tough the B1G would be top-to-bottom or no one would have made that prediction. If you hang your aspirations for any team on those rankings rather than a basic understanding of reality, I can tell you that you are in for a lot of disappointment. Not to mention if you haven't been questioning your expectations prior to the Wisconsin game, then you haven't been watching. The team had early success in part b/c they were essentially a very new look and I think early in the season fairly difficult to scout, but as the season wore on it became a lot easier to prepare for them as their weaknesses were revealed and became easily exploitable. As a program develops, they become more multi-dimensional with a better set of schemes and players with which to approach the various schemes/rosters they go up against. This team is young and pretty much bi-dimensional on offense (pick and roll standard and the Trey Burke makes it happen when that doesn't work), plus they just don't have any form of solid defense with that many young players on the floor. That is just the reality of it.
13 weeks 5 days ago	A SNAAAAKE A SNAAAAKE!	Oh It's biiiiiig...
13 weeks 5 days ago	damn......sack up people	We were nowhere just a few years ago and we just spent a considerable part of the season ranked in the top 5/10 and are going to the tournament as a 3-4 seed. Two years ago people would have been ecstatic at the thought of that result. Now.....? We are playing a very young team in the toughest conference in the country, by far. I actually think we did pretty well, all things considered........it could be far worse. This is not a team that is fully 'back' yet to be able to compete nationally and dominate teams like Indiana, MSU, OSU....and yes, Wisconsin. Wisconsin is a terrible team mathcup to our group and is able to consistently exploit a younger, less experienced/seasoned group with their style of play. Yes there are freshman across the country playing at a high level, but i would venture that they are playing within a well established system, amongst a group of players that has a good portion of sophomores, juniors and seniors, but not 4-5 freshman heavily being depended upon as key personnel being led by a sophomore. We are also developing new schemes that are based on a better level of talent on the roster (thanks coach B) and are no longer a desperate/quirky 3-point shot based offense with a 1-3-1 defenseive scheme. Everything is building toward what you want, but things don't happen overnight. There are steps, there is progress, there are setbacks and regression.  Stay behind the team no matter what. If you leave because you are not getting quite the number of wins you expect....then you are likely only recently back as a fan anyway and I join those in telling you "good riddance, don't come back...again.' I for one am extremely happy with the progress, have throroughly enjoyed the season thus far, even though at times it can be hard to watch. I'm happy we have a coach that has class, that recruits character players and develops them well and I see a great future in him thus far.  I have watched Michigan basketball ever since the days of Ricky Greene and Steve Grode and to the people thinking that there is any similarity between Belein and Frieder, I would beg to differ wholeheartedly. I doubt they could be more different.
13 weeks 5 days ago	wow, yeah.....that is certainly different than when I was on the	team. I grew up racing on my high school team and through C.U.S.S.A and such, so was training all the time and had a coach until I got to college and then the team was the only time I really got to go. We weren't at all competitive in those days, at least not at skiing, but parties....well, probably would have placed better...... Congrats on the result.
14 weeks 3 days ago	say 10 Hail Victors	And give to Mott's and you are forgiven
15 weeks 1 day ago	i feel for you man...	this is exactly why I just don't post or respond on the board anymore...well, except for this post talking about how I don't post here any more.... /i - does that work for implied irony the same way /s does for sarcasm? BTW - thanks for the trailer, much enjoyed
16 weeks 4 days ago	Came from two parent alumnae	Came from two parent alumnae that had fallen in love with Michigan and Ann Arbor before me, both were (actually still are) considered traitorous for their decision to attend the U of M. My Grandfather on my Dad's side was a huge ND fan and threatened to not pay for school and my Mom grew up just outside Columbus in Upper Arlington with rabid OSU fans that are still bitter about her going to Michigan. Needless to say they met in school, my Dad got a degree in Aeronautical Engineer and went to law school there as well.  My entire childhood was filled with going to M home games as far back as I can remember. I loved going to them, from the build up to gametime watching the band, to the after parties at my Dad's fraternities where I played football on the lawn with other sons until it was time to go home (always too early). Eating at Blimpy Burgers, Zingermanns and some times The Drake when my Mom chose (ahe loved that place). Always ran down with friend to the area behind the bench and talkd with players and got autographs and chin straps and such from player like Rick Leach, Harlan Huckleby, Russel Davis and tons of players whose names escape me now. Away game Saturdays were invariable spent outside in the yard raking leaves listening to Bob Ufer blaring on the radio and the smell of burning leaves still makes me recall those days.  My older sister went to Michigan a few years before me and when i visted her I got a whole new perspective on campus life and saw the whole party side of the University which only served to highten my esteeem for attending there. I remember at 16 years old entering the stadium carrying a poorly concealed case of beer and nobody caring much. I left Sunday evening still extremely hung over, but ever more convinced that I wanted to go to M. A few years later when I was a sophomore, I returned the favor for my younger brother who also later attended M for undergran and grad school for Public Policy. I grew up a devoted Michigan fan in Spartan country and went to high school about 2 miles east of Sparty stadium. Spirit Day at school before the UM/MSU game involved the entire school wearing green and white and me and about 5 other kids in maize and blue and receiving a lot of not-so-well intentioned abuse. We also received a large scarlet and gray sheet cake decorated with roses and the words 'Eat Me' on from the Columbus family any time we lost that game (they also sent us a large, custom-made gray flag with a scarlet M in the middle, which I thought was pretty funny.  When it came time to apply to schools, I applied at UM and took a flyer on applying to Berkeley (where I had little-to-no chance that I would get in), but I only realistically thought about going to Michigan. This was risky as it was not really a lock that I would get into M at all. Somehow I got early acceptance (maybe becuase I sent in my app on the first day it was humanly possible), but I will never forget how nervous I was looking at the envelope for about 10 minutes before building up the nerve to open it and the feeling of elation that lasted for months after I read it and discosvered I was in. I loved, loved, loved my time in Ann Arbor. I have seen a lot of schools across the country and around the world and never have I waivered in my belief that Michigan was the place for me. I have lived in worked in a few countries in Europe and my girlfriend when I lived in London went to King's College (ranked as the 6th most difficult in the UK for undergrad admissons and generally top 20 in the UK overall) and we had a long running debate over who went to the better school and since I still communicate with her, it was with great pleasure that I sent her a link to the 2011 ranking of world universities in the Financial Times where Michigan came in 13th (up to 12th on 2012) and King's somewhere down in the 60's. She was pissed to be sure. I also lived/traveled throughout South America for almost two years and lived/worked in Bolivia (YTB) for a good portion of that and where I met my now ex-wife. I worked out a scheme there where I bribed a local internet cafe/phone center employee to stay open late and allow me to get on a phone or chat with friends watching the games in the U.S. and I brought along all her nieces and nephews and bought them treats and by the end of that season they were all die-hard Michigan fans, one of those nieces has chosen about as rigorous an academic path as you can there with the goal of attending M one day, though that is a huge longshot. I live in Northen California now and have an 8 year old son who has been succesfully inculcated into the fold even from here. He bleeds maize and blue and got to go the Big House last season for the first time with my Dad, my brother, myself and a few of his cousins to attend the Northwestern game, which was awesome. As fans streamed toward the exits in the waning seconds, he turns to me on the verge of tears and says 'we probably aren't going to win, but I'm not giving up.' The rest, as they say, is history. After the game we did all the same stuff that I used to when i was a kid and had a blast, but sadly did not get to eat at Blimpy's and I am regretting that giving the current ?? as to the future of that fine establishment. It would be my fondest wish that he attend U of M and I have him in private school to be sure he will have the best chance in applying from out of state, but there is a lot of time between now and then. I actually will guide him to choose what will make him happiest and will guide him through that process, but with a clear bias for M.
18 weeks 2 days ago	I hear you and certainly agree...	but you should understand that probably 90% of any manufactured items you buy are made under the same conditions that are so deplorable in the Adidas and Nike factories. That is the norm for almost anything made abroad, be it China, Bangalore, wherever.
19 weeks 6 days ago	first death 'at' X games, yes...	But there are lots of them for people who are trying to acquire the skills to actually compete in them or events like it, along with scores of serious injuries also. If you go back through the medical history of most of the competitors they are all sporting various forms of surgeries, bone repairs, shoulder/collarbone, neck and head injuries and many at the age of 25 are held together with wire and steel in more than one part of their body. The injuries/deaths aren't directly attributable to the X Games per se, but to extreme sports in general. It is the nature of the business/sport/whatever.  I say this having done my time doing a lot of backcountry snowboarding that some would consider extreme, i.e. avalanche zones, steeps and drop-offs and there is always a risk, hence the term X/extreme. My condolences to the family friends and fans of Caleb, going that young always sucks.
28 weeks 6 days ago	one thing to remember though,	in looking at Gardner's stats for those games, is that none of those defenses (with the possible exception of OSU) had much of a chance to scout Gardner or prepare for him and whatever the offensive scheme would be with him as the only/primary QB. I would expect that as the season progresses next year there will be less mystery about his capabilities and weaknesses, as well as an increasing body of work to review when determining scheme and such that might make his stats trend downward. That said, he will also be improving and gaining on the field experience and be working in a scheme more specifically designed around what he does best, so perhaps they offset?   EDIT: someone beat me to that comment above, carry on....
29 weeks 2 days ago	also with the...	...'let Mallet transfer' thing. I think it has been well established that he was transferring no matter what....Carr loathed him and had already encouraged him to leave and RR had tried calling him when he came on to at least get the story and Mallet never called him back.  He was 100% out the door....so try to have your facts down before you spout.
29 weeks 2 days ago	I'm not sure we should be assuming we can get anybody we want	see coaching search... Also, the M fan base has not really been one that seems to be accepting of innovation or anything that resembles a modern scheme, so I wouldn't blame an up and coming OC for not necessarily jumping at the chance to come to Ann Arbor.
29 weeks 2 days ago	I am as unhappy with the result as any of you, but....	If we learned anything from the RR years, it would be to not do this...... This staff is in their second year and has hardly had a chance to do their best work and implement any kind of system with 'their' players on the field.  In most cases it takes time to swich an entire team from one scheme/philosophy to another and we are still within that timeframe with Hoke and Co.
29 weeks 2 days ago	I think more importantly, it should be asked..	what Meyer did all year to get them through their season undefeated and into the game with effective schemes and to be in a position to win it despite a lot of mistakes, penalties and miscues from a young team. You have to hand it to him, in his first year with a somewhat mass exodus of talent and experience, a young QB and no possibility of a post-season, and somehow he turns in an undefeated season anyway. Not bad. I have to say I am more than a little daunted by what that portends over the next several years as he gets more of his players and system in place. As for Saturday, I think it was mentioned that there was signal calling, headset, involvement......and charts. So there is all that, right? Not just charts.
29 weeks 2 days ago	'Collage football' sounds about right for Saturday	glue and paper and cut outs from old magazines. Chased away.....are you at all familiar with what actually happened?
29 weeks 2 days ago	yeah...	tell him to come to Ann Arbor with some new/modern ideas for an offensive scheme and see what happens?  I would love to see some Air Raid, but you better give him a extra Brinks truck just for the buyout if it doesn't pan out in the first year.
30 weeks 1 day ago	weird, it takes all types i guess	I live in California now, but my whole family went to Michigan (parents met there) and my Mom grew up just outside of Columbus (in Herbie's old hood, 50 years later they still refer to her as a traitor) and that entire side of the family and all her old friends down there are rabid OSU fans. Rivalry chatter has been heating up over the last few weeks and I get an almost totally different vibe from them.  All they talk about is how Saint Meyer is going to lay waste to the Big 10 (16?) in the coming years, given what he has done in just his first year, with one of my uncles continually joking that OSU should leave and join the ESS EE SEE to get better competition. They think Meyer will only continue to improve the program and field a modern scheme/team that will compete on a national basis and for BCS bowl games/national titles.  Most of them were ecstatic when RR was let go and still laugh endlessly that Mattison or someone like him wasn't budgeted for and brought in earlier to shore up the defensive side of things.  Their predicitons for this game are for a close OSU win, overcoming some Braxton Miller mistakes to win by 7 or 10, depending on which one you talk to, but they all talk as if we had better win this one or we won't be getting another one for a long time due to the Meyer Effect. We shall see. Personally, I am praying that we drop 35 points on them with a Gardner/Robinson combo   bag of tricks and that Mattison can get to Miller enough to hold them to 10 points for a BIG win. All I keep saying right now is, 'We shall see', but if we win this one I am gpoing to give it to them good.
33 weeks 1 day ago	there is a LOT of contextual data not being represented here	1. Scott has long been famous for throwing up quite often, during sprints, at hot practices, etc., so when he explains that he threw up because of his workload in the game (see stats, he was performing at an uncommenly high level), perhaps we should just take a 21 year old QB and the medical staff there as knowing something we don't. He says he was fine, he was checked.....and was/is fine. 2. RR never displayed any kind of disregard for player safety at any time during his tenure at UM, in fact on several occasions he demonstrated very high regard to player welfare with regard to concussions or any other type of injury, nor am I aware of any such thing occuring while he was at WV. One would think that given the number of rocks turned over and crevices sniffed in order to discredit him over the last 5 years, this would surely have been brought to light were it any kind of trend. People did knock him over his 'use' of Denard and the seemingly common dings he sustained, but I think that can safely be regarded as not limited to RR at this point. He was arguably in a worse situation career-wise when on the hot seat at UM and would have had as much or more reason to roll the dice on a player's welfare as he currently does at AZ and as far as I can remember he never did. The guy is building something very cool at AZ right now and we should just wish him luck and stop trying to tar him from a distance. I do believe he will have AZ playing on an entirely new level within the next 3-5 years, assuming he doesn't end up going back to Auburn should that job open up.
33 weeks 2 days ago	if that be the case	then when his arm.....and knee (they hit at the same time)...hit the ground......he is down. period. The rule is that the ground can't cause a fumble, so in this case he either did not have possession, in which case it is incomplete, or he had possession of a complete pass and when he hits the ground, he is down.....period. Why wasn't that play reviewed? Can't Hoke request a review on that?
39 weeks 6 hours ago	question for OP on Nicaragua	Planning a family vacation there this spring break, specifically looking at a house in La Boquita.    Is that a good surfing area in spring? Are the beached nixce?   We are looking at the week after Semana Santa, is that a bad time to go?
40 weeks 3 days ago	yeah, except now we are dropping $650K on a DC	and we are still seeing similar results on the field.  The basic fact of the matter is that no matter who the coach is, it will take time to establish and mature any system or scheme so that it is being tweaked each year for personnel and is not driven by what players are on hand. This is especially true when the scheme being implemented is vastly different than the one it replaces. It was true for R.R. when he came in and is true for Hoke now. He does not have a set of players that can support his scheme effectively. Right now, the scheme is really just trying to make the best out of the current players, their lack of experience, and what are still massive holes in the lineup on both sides of the ball. This isn't anyone's fault, it is just a fact of life transitioning coaches/schemes. This is a young team....it will be a young team for at least the next three years.  I hope the more volatile fans out there realize this and don't start jumping all over the coaches again because there is no quick fix. It was a mistake to do it the first time and would be a bigger one to do it again. What the program needs more than anything right now is consistency and stability over the next 5-7 years.  Having 1-2 great recuiting classes come in will be awesome, but you will still be dealing with a lack of playing experience and a size/strength disparity that no amount of coaching could overcome. Freshman/sophomores vs. Juniors/Seniors is always going to be tough sledding.  Having 2 more great recruiting classes to follow will back up the initial ones as they go on to be juniors and seniors, providing depth where required and giving playing time only to freshman that really warrant it based on ability, not out of necessity.  Go ahead 1-2 more recruting classes where a set of players have been playing in the same system for their entire career, with seniors that possesses on-field experience in applying it that they can pass down to the younger players.....then you have a system in place. Don't underestimate the value of a senior leader that has run in a particular scheme for 2-3 years and their ability to convey to younger players the nuances of working within the system as a team, nor the opportunity for a younger player to actually see and learn that for 2 years before stepping on the field. Hoke/Mattison/Borges should have at least 5 years to get their thing going before anyone begins to even think of judging them.
41 weeks 1 day ago	I'm not indicting the whole fan base	I'm just references comments that point to some disparity in academics as rationale for the loss.
41 weeks 1 day ago	no....hardly	Look, Michigan tends toward the better end of the spectrum in terms of how they apply the rules of NCAA eligibility and academics, but don't be naive about whether or not we make exceptions for footballs players in terms of entry into the university and have means by which to shepherd them through the system to graduate........we do.  Most people here call BS when Notre Dame or Stanford or Northwestern employ the academic standard argument, I would do the same in our case.  Agreed it makes us sound like whiny bitches.
45 weeks 3 days ago	i have been a couple of times,	once while a student at UM, once long after. I generally had a pretty good time the first time, we wore our M gear and went out that night I didn't think it was all that bad then...I remember being in a bar that was 3-4 stories where the upper floors were circular balconies over the main/ground floor. They served beer in big plastic buckets and we were doused from above as soon as we entered and thought it was pretty funny and subsequently headed upstairs and proceeded to douse OSU fans, it was all pretty good humored and for the most part everyone just got drenched and laughed. We left that bar and went to another bar that was really long and had bars along eacj side with people standing on the bar and as we walkd dopwn the middle, already drenched, we were again showered in beer. Most peope on both sides were soaked so nobody really cared, I had a blast. that was in '87 or '88, though and IMHO the rivalry has taken an ugly turn since then.  My second trip was in the late '90s and it was waaaay different, OSU fans were not at all friendly or humerous about the rivalry and there was just a ton of trash talking and a lot of people that literally were trying to get into some kind of physical altercation with you if you even looked at them cross-eyed. I met about 500 pricks who were instant 'tough guys' when they had you outnumbered 15:3 with really big mouths or who did things like step out in front of you to make you walk around them......like 7th grade stuff.   I recently went to the Mets/Giants game here in San Francisco with a guy who grew up on the east coast but went to Texas and now lives in Austin. I was joking with him that if the ?Giants won I was going to get to give some Long Island friends from school a batch of grief (I lived in Alice Lloyd the year Da'Mets won the series and thusly suffered immensely) . When he found out I went to Michigan he admitted his wife was a Buckeye and told me how after Texas fans returned from their visit to Columbus for the series they all had stories of how awful the people were there and how poorly they were treated and in general just how low class the OSU fans were. I told him to take that experience and multiply by about 5-10 for the Michigan game. One night at dinner when a few Texas fans were relating to them their Columbus experience, his wife can't take it anymore and just blurts out 'Texas fans are just pussies,' which is pretty much the reaction I get when I tell any OSU fan about how other fans perceive them.
1 year 4 weeks ago	shit	floats
1 year 8 weeks ago	effing HATE those things......	and i own one.........

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