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Recent Comments

Date Title Body
He used a VA loan and, as…

He used a VA loan and, as many do, likely put zero down and financed some/all closing costs because the mortgage amount was about $17K higher than the purchase price.

Based on when he bought, interest rates were at the tail end of their beautiful 3% run. So $500K at 3% for 30 years is roughly $2100/month. Add ~$600/mo for taxes and $100 for insurance and you get a payment of ~$2800. 

That's $33.6K/year, so pretty tight on a $55K salary unless the vacuum franchise was killing it, he had help from the parents, or he had a cash stash and was drawing down savings. Or some other soon-to-be-reported incredible factoid like he was a successful chinchilla farmer, crypto savant or male escort.

You both may be right. 95%…

You both may be right. 95% won't be getting D1 offers and playing high level college soccer.

But many will be getting hit up by Albion, Alma, Northwoods, etc. to play D3. It's how they fill each year's freshman class.

A friend's kid is going to a school like that where ~50% of entering freshman students play a sport. It's how the college stays in business. They offer financial aid that makes it about the same price as the in-state Michigan publics. The kid gets to say he's playing college hockey, even if it's glorified HS hockey talent level and the academics aren't much better.

He was driving a Dodge Ram…

He was driving a Dodge Ram so no trunk, and possibly no similar lockable compartment aside from the passenger compartment. Still not a smart move, but if you're transporting a gun and ammo you're not going to put it in an open pickup truck bed.

Fundamental correlation…

The idea that places with permit-less concealed carry are somehow "safer" is completely and utterly bogus.  As you can see 12 of the top 20 murder rates in the country are in permit-free concealed carry states.

 

Fundamental correlation/causation error here.

You assume permitless carry causes higher murder rates. One could also assume that the higher murder rate in these states caused their legislature to allow permitless carry to make it easier for law-abiding citizens to protect themselves.

All you've done is point out a correlation, not shown causation.

Nope, he sucked at hockey.

Nope, he sucked at hockey.

"Michigan Ice Arena" seems…

"Michigan Ice Arena" seems pablum enough.

Unless someone objects to the fact Michigan is derived from the Native American word "Michigama", thus it's emblematic of cultural appropriation combined with disrespectful bastardization of their language.

I propose "Building 37". Whilst keeping my fingers crossed (with apologies to either the Christian tradition or the pre-Christian pagan tradition from whence it comes, depending on who you believe) that no one objects on the basis of cultural appropriation of the Hindu-Arabic number system.

Pretty distorted take on…

Pretty distorted take on what Dakich and the academics actually said. Read this for a factual description of what was actually said by all parties involved.

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/2021/02/28/dan-dakich-investigated-espn-over-statements-twitter-radio-show/6862955002/

I'm really not seeing much of a problem with what Dakich said in response to the professors. OK, he could have been unobjectionably milquetoast, but that's for politicians and crisis management PR folks, Dan does sports talk. 

Accusations of sexism and misogyny on this seem to be the product of uninformed commenters going with their knee-jerk tried-and-true response to social issues rather than an honest take on what actually happened in this case.

No.

No.

If you bother to complain…

If you bother to complain that you're not getting called Dr., and you don't have a stethoscope around your neck, I really don't want to hear it.

The most pompous assholes I've encountered are relatively unaccomplished people with PhD's from third-rate colleges in the fluffier fields of study.

My UM/MIT engineering PhD friend with over 200 patents to his name asks to be called by his first name. Insisting on "Dr. Blah-blah" is for the insecure.

Maybe, maybe not. The ME…

Maybe, maybe not. The ME report said he had fatal amounts of fentanyl in his system combined with meth. And the effect of that level of those drugs was that his lungs, at autopsy, weighed 2x - 3x more than normal, interfering with his breathing.

He had a level of fentanyl of 11 ng/ml, higher than a chronic pain patient. If found dead at home with no other apparent cause it would be called an overdose death. OD deaths have been certified with less than 30% of the level of fentanyl George Floyd had in his system.

So, would he have lived if he'd been restrained for only two minutes? Perhaps. Perhaps he would have died a half hour later. A non-drugged person with unimpaired lung function may have easily survived the 9 minute restraint. It seems fair to say that the prolonged restraint contributed to his death. As did the level of fentanyl and meth he took. As did his lack of compliance while being arrested.

Tamir Rice weighed 195 lbs…

Tamir Rice weighed 195 lbs and stood 5' 7". He was pointing a replica gun at police. The gun was identical in shape, size and color to a real gun, and unlike toy guns it didn't have the orange tip. I wish he hadn't been killed, but it's unreasonable to think that the cops should have assumed that an adult-sized male pointing what looks exactly like a handgun at them was actually a very large child with a toy gun.

The 911 caller told the operator that Tamir was waving the gun around and pointing it in people's faces. He said it might be fake. The 911 operator didn't relay that possibility to the dispatcher, who told responding officers that a man with a gun was threatening people.

It was tragic, but it's hard to fault cops who believed they were racing to prevent a man with a gun from harming people. When cops arrived Tamir stood up and went for the gun in his waistband, an unfortunate and dumbfounding move that resulted in his death. He made a mistake. The 911 operator made a mistake. The police made a mistake, but it's harder to see how it could have played out differently unless you take the position that they need to wait to be fired upon (and missed) before they can fire, and that's not reasonable.

Most protesters still think…

Most protesters still think Michael Brown had his hands up when he was shot, because a "witness" lied. Turns out the DOJ report confirmed that he punched the cop in the head through the window of his patrol car and tried to grab his gun.

Most protesters and internet commenters have a similar level of misconception regarding the facts of other cases, including Floyd and Blake. Juries that actually hear all the factual evidence come to a different, more just, conclusion than the mobs on the street or on social media.

Yes. Indefinitely…

Yes. Indefinitely. Permanently, even.

The unemployed bball players could train to become cops and show how it should be done, for $40K/year.

Your description aligns with…

Your description aligns with the videos I saw last that were livestreaming, and the more comprehensive ones that became available today.

Today is the day that I…

Today is the day that I changed from giving the coaches the benefit of a doubt, to assuming they're not up to the task and it's on them to disprove the assumption. Too much fail.

We face a similar challenge…

We face a similar challenge to what southern schools face in developing a dominant hockey program. Could they do it? Sure, but stacked up against the advantages of the Minnesota schools, the Northeast schools and the rest of the North, it's one hell of a challenge.

 

Our prestige as a university helps, but can you foresee Virginia or Duke becoming a hockey powerhouse?

Loved watching them sing The…

Loved watching them sing The Victors. "The Champions of the West" indeed!

Well, they made it a little…

Well, they made it a little more exciting than I needed it to be, but good game!

 

And my son says baseball is boring.

This is either cool or…

This is either cool or ridiculous. Or both.

I had great pad level too…

I had great pad level too when I was in 1st Grade. Good bend, low center of mass. Couldn't reach the darn microwave to get my mac-n-cheese though, so I was a bit underweight.

I probably disagree with…

I probably disagree with Brian more than I agree with him, but in this case he's on to something.

There's a tendency in matters like this to try to make up for the lack of previous action by acting immediately -- before a true understanding is obtained. That's not justice, it's impetuousness, and too often the underlying impetus has less to do with protecting others or righting wrongs, and more to do with positioning oneself on the moral high ground.

Courtesy of Eric Upchurch:

Courtesy of Eric Upchurch:

"Whooaaaa! He has trouble with the staff!"

The men of Charlie Company…

The men of Charlie Company had been in the field for two weeks wearing the same gear when the Sargent announces:

"I've got good news and bad news. 

First the good news. 

Today we are going to get to change our underwear."

The troops start cheering wildly.

"Now the bad news," continues the Sarge. 

"Smith, you change with Jones. Andrews, you change with Murphy..." 

Well stated.

Well stated.

Yes, that's what Harbaugh is…

Yes, that's what Harbaugh is, and what we hired. But we also hired him to win, and to succeed against the best competition. We didn't hire RichRod 2.0 who was determined to run his scheme whether his personnel fit it or not, and refuse to adapt if his team struggled to succeed in certain situations.

I like Harbaugh's approach when it works. Nothing better to me than running the ball down your opponent's throat Bo-style because you can and they can't stop you. But if you can't do that against say, OSU, if you're a good coach you better come up with a better plan. We already had a Johnny-one-note coach and he got broomed in large part because he couldn't adapt to reality (and ignored the D).

Well, crap.

Should be quite…

Well, crap.

Should be quite the test for Harbaugh to see how he reconstitutes his staff, and what changes are made to enhance the offense and tweak the defense. Need to figure out a more effective play-calling structure than what we had this season, and Don Brown needs to keep his machine going while at the same time changing it so that it deals more effectively with teams that exploit our tendencies.

Feels like the "shine" on the program is wearing thin. It's put up or shut up time.

Bo and Carr didnt have 3-4…

Bo and Carr didnt have 3-4 gimme games against Western Michigan, an academy and Rutgers and Maryland in conference. 

No, but Bo had plenty of "Big 2, Little 8" games where the game was essentially over at halftime (and in the 70's you could walk in for free at halftime -- the ticket takers left at halftime for all but the OSU or MSU games).  We didn't have Rutgers and Maryland but we had their equivalents several times over. Maybe one or two of the Little 8 were decent, the rest were punching bags for UM and OSU.

In Bo's 70's typically 0 or 1 of the Little 8 would be ranked in the Top 20. In the 80's 1 or 2 would be. 

By the early 90's it was more like 4-5 ranked teams, and as high as 7 Big 10 teams in the Top 20 (in 1999).

The 2000's averaged 4 ranked Big 10 teams and in this decade it's been 3-6, of course with more than ten teams in the conference.

Bo enjoyed a softer overall schedule than subsequent coaches. Not that he wasn't a very good coach, but let's not revise history.

I don't really care if Brian…

I don't really care if Brian writes another article for this site or not. If he's burnt out then he should be smart enough to find his replacement, from a writing perspective. If he can't provide compelling commentary on a regular basis, himself or via proxy, then why not move the forum to reddit or something and close the site down.

Top-3 compensation, at a Top…

Yippee, double post.

Top-3 compensation, at a Top…

Top-3 compensation, at a Top-10 reputation football school shouldn't yield merely Top-15 performance. Something's out of whack here.

It takes a special (bad) coach to be average here, and an average coach to be good. With what we're paying for coaching and with the advantages we have with facilities, tradition and reputation we ought to be consistently excellent. And we're not. The finger has to point at the coaches, starting with Harbaugh.

Well, with the aggregate…

Well, with the aggregate performance over the last four seasons and particularly the last two games, it seems Harbaugh's coaching, game time management, offensive scheme and play input, and defensive adjustments (yes, I know, D Brown, but the buck stops with Jim) haven't been worth the $30 million he's been compensated. Underperforming/overpaid, take your choice, but I'm not impressed.

Michigan is still clearly not in the top tier of performance despite being in the top tier of compensation.

Vanderbilt has gone to more…

Vanderbilt has gone to more bowl games than Tennessee since 2008. Accomplish something, then talk.

Good thing no NFL games are…

Good thing no NFL games are ever played in cold weather.

Is that really paranoia?…

Is that really paranoia? Seems more like extreme partisanship to me. Like folks who'll not patronize some mega-billion company because their CEO supports the wrong party or cause. They don't have an irrational fear that someone/something means to do them harm, they just have an extreme reaction to something they oppose.

Way to go Sparty shopping…

Way to go Sparty shopping cart stealer. You stole Sears' only cart and forced them to declare bankruptcy.

Michigan Rushing Yards: 290

Michigan Rushing Yards: 290

 

For the LAST 4 GAMES COMBINED!!!

Wisc 58

OSU 100

SC 74

ND 58

 

Yeah, that'll win you a lot of games. Ave 72.5 yds rushing per game. Good Lord.

O-line? What O-line?

O-line? What O-line?

This is what an 8-figure…

This is what an 8-figure coaching staff looks like?

Contrast this:

I came of…

Contrast this:

I came of football cognizant age (7) in 1969. Hail Bo. 3 losses.

Starting in '70, from 3rd grade through 12th grade I experience 0, 1 and 2 loss seasons only (except for 4-loss 1979, but I kinda discovered weed that year, so, pain was dulled). 21 total losses in 11 seasons.

---------

My son becomes M football cognizant in '08. Rich Rod baby!

9 losses

7 losses

6 losses

2 losses

5 losses

6 losses

7 losses

3 losses

3 losses

5 losses

53 total losses in just 10 years, compared to 21 losses in my 11 years.

Poor kid has watched 32 more losses than I did and he still has a season to go. It took me another 11 years after HS to witness that many losses. Sometimes I'm surprised he's still a M fan.

The background info in the…

The background info in the new ESPN article comes from numerous current and former players and former staff members and essentially says it's Durkin's culture, and he and the strength coach were like peas in a pod. Obligatory IF this is all true, it's really, really bad.

Which makes me wonder how things were in his area of operations when he was here. I don't recall hearing about things like this, but these are the kind of things that absent something extreme happening, players and staff are just going to keep their mouths shut about.

And Don Brown (2015 BC) is…

And Don Brown (2015 BC) is tied with Don Brown (2016 Michigan) at #3 for fewest points in a season, 183.

https://twitter.com/TomFornelli/status/1027957793058435073

[How do you embed tweets?]

What you say is true, there…

What you say is true, there's been a relative shift from state support to tuition. There's also been an overwhelming level of growth in non-instructional staff and in the physical plant. 

From a Forbes article discussing Michigan professor Mark Perry's analysis of one category of staffers:

Mark Perry, an economics professor at the University of Michigan at Flint and a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, recently calculated that his university has nearly 100 diversity administrators, more than 25 of them earning over $100,000 a year (see chart below). Collectively, they cost the University of Michigan, with fringe benefits, about $11 million annually. Adding in other costs such as travel and office space expenses, the total cost rises to perhaps $14 million, or $300 for every enrolled student at the U of M in the fall semester 2017.

https://www.aei.org/publication/diversity-and-other-administrative-monstrosities-in-higher-education/

Gotta disagree with you on…

Gotta disagree with you on the pay of K-12 teachers and of professors. Professors have to rise through a very competitive landscape to get to where they are. They're usually pretty competent and expert in their fields (discounting the occasional whack-job that gets press for their stupid political ideas). The ones that make the big bucks tend to be in top level business or medical schools. Your assistant profs or lecturers in say, English, aren't making bank.

In the state of Michigan however, K-12 teachers generally are doing pretty well. Despite our educational results plummeting toward the bottom of the list of 50 states, our teachers have the 11th highest pay in the nation. More importantly, the 10 states above us have much higher costs-of-living, e.g. California, NY, Mass, NJ, etc. When adjusted for cost-of-living, Michigan teacher salaries are #1 in the nation. #1. And our results, frankly, suck.

That "underpaid teacher" meme has been promoted for decades and isn't true in Michigan except in the worst districts. And having known a few of those teachers, they're probably paid on par with their ability, but they just suck. It's circular, of course, the lowest-paying districts tend to have to settle for some well-below-average performers.

Did you get a loan?

Did you get a loan?

I was surprised as well when…

I was surprised as well when the new site was revealed. I cringed a little for the Brian since he surely wrote a sizable check, and what he got was at least to many outside MGo, disappointing.

I don't have a web or IT background and like most things, I'm sure it's ten or one hundred times harder and more complicated than someone like I would think, but there are so many decent looking, functional forums out there that it seems it would almost be hard to develop a sub-par one in 2018.

There are over 50 forums in my bookmarks, for work-related things, hobbies, car and house fixing -- some with enormous user bases, and some ultra niche. Yet all strike me as more aesthetically pleasing and more functional than MGo. I'm left wondering "Why?"

PRO TIP ^^^^^

 

You're not…

PRO TIP ^^^^^

 

You're not the only one. I check directly for his comments a few times a week since I'm not spending as much time on the boards anymore.

Yes.

Because:

Look and…

Yes.

Because:

  • Look and feel of the site
  • Various annoying endemic bugs
  • Seeming lackadaisical attitude toward site design, bugs, user feedback
  • "Do as I say not as I do" political postings from Brian

All of which seem to display a certain lack of consideration for the visitor which is rarely found on other successful internet sites.

I come here for info, entertainment and enjoyment. The long-running site inadequacies, the apparent indifference or incompetence displayed in getting them fixed or improved, and the crystal clear attitude conveyed that this is less a customer-focused fan website and more a personality-driven "vanity" project all combine to make me less apt to come here than ever.

A boutique craft store opened up near me a few years back. An affluent local housewife/artist wanted a store that expressed her personality and taste. A minor portion of what she had was pretty nice, but most was simply a collection of what she liked, customer desires be damned. I guess she ran through her capital because she's out of business now. This site reminds me in some ways to that craft store. Some good, even great content, but not professionally run, and too subject to the whimsies of the proprietor.

It takes some effort to drive someone like me away, someone with maize and blue blood running through their veins. Well, MGo was up to the challenge. I've gone from several times a day to a few times a week. And my formerly strong loyalty is shot. If someone else starts a better M fan website, I'm there without missing a beat. Sorry, but when you run a site like you would a personal blog where you don't care what the reader thinks, well, don't be surprised if someone creates a better mousetrap and takes over.

I'm still seeing randomly…

I'm still seeing randomly blued-in thumbs on random posts that I haven't voted on, much less even seen before.

"Rutgers coach Chris Ash did…

"Rutgers coach Chris Ash did not respond to NJ.com when they reached out for a comment."

He was trying to think of something more eloquent than "Oh, shit".

Sorry, I guess the image…

Sorry, I guess the image that showed up in my preview didn't make it over to the actual post. A minor detail that I'm sure will be fixed promptly.

No matter, we'd rather talk (read) politics anyway.