WolverineinDallas

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Date	Title	Body
13 weeks 4 days ago	I'm not sure how one can be a	I'm not sure how one can be a genuine fan of a team without getting emotionally involved in some way. If there is such a thing as emotionally-detached fandom, I don't really want anything to do with it. Sports are emotional. Athletes play with emotion and fans reciprocate that emotion. Also, following a team involves a sense of vicariousness, which I think is pretty natural. Fans identify with the teams that they follow. When our teams lose, we get upset or sad or whatever. I also think that the "bragging rights" thing that you mentioned is a part of being a sports fan as well. I couldn't really imagine sports without opposing fan bases. rivalries between fan bases is one of the things that makes following sports really fun. Of course, you can have all of these things and still be "classy" at the same time. Based on my experience, Michigan fans do tend to be a little classier than opposing fans. They also tend to be more articulate, which I appreciate. At the end of the day, fans are human, and they will act like it from time to time.
13 weeks 6 days ago	"being great on offense and	"being great on offense and not turning the ball over" actually require skill, which this team obviously has. Rebounding, on the other hand, doesn't really require skill. It is basically something that any given team can do. Identify your man, put a body on him, and box him out. You don't have to be an athletic freak to do this, even though we have some athletic freaks on the team. You don't even have to be taller than the player you are defending. If you box your opponent out, even if he is taller than you, it will be difficult for him to get a rebound over you without fouling. I don't expect this team to be "great" at rebounding, but I do think that it is reasonable to expect them to hold their own on the glass, which they have not been able to do against decent to good Big Ten teams. Because this is not really a matter of skill, there isn't much of an excuse for it. It would be unreasonable for me to expect an unskilled team to all of a sudden become skilled, but this is a totally different issue. This team has so much potential. It's simply frustrating to watch them lose games that they would win easily if only they could rebound--a thing that doesn't take much skill to do.
13 weeks 6 days ago	Not trying to be mean, but I	Not trying to be mean, but I don't really understand your logic here. fixating on missed free-throws at the end of a game is also a "what if" scenario. My point is that if we are going to play the "what if" game, then our focus should be on the rebounding rather than missed free-throws since the rebounding issue has basically been a common denominator in all of our losses this year. On the other hand, poor free-throw shooting hasn't been a huge problem in our losses. Focusing solely on the things that take place at the very end of a game is a pretty impulsive thing to do. If you look at the big picture, rebounding is the main problem, and it is going to continue to be the main problem going forward. When opposing teams consistently get 2-3 shot attemps on one offensive possession and you only get one shot attempt on most of your possessions, you are going to have an incredibly difficult time winning. We do a lot of things well, but the rebounding issue basically negates all of it.
14 weeks 4 hours ago	I disagree with both of you guys	It is easy to fixate on the things that take place at the very end of a game, but we simply would have never been in that situation had we rebounded better throughout the entire ballgame. Look at it this way: Had we kept up with Indiana on the boards, we probably would have won this game by 10-15 points. Those free throws at the end should have been meaningless potential points tagged on to a double digit victory. It's not poor free-throw shooting that's going to potentially kill us in the tournament, it's our inability to rebound the basketball with consistency. In my opinion, it's the primary thing that is preventing this team from being elite.
14 weeks 1 day ago	Well, not sure if this has	Well, not sure if this has anything to do with it, but one team (Florida) actually knows how to box out and rebound, while the other team (Michigan) can't quite figure it out. If you can't rebound, you definitely do not deserve to be ranked in the top five of any rating system since the inability to rebound negates everything that a team does well. A team that can't rebound is susceptible to losing to any given team at any given time. Sorry for the negativity. I am proud of this team, but they simply do not deserve a top five ranking from anybody.
14 weeks 1 day ago	A young Dirk Nowitski?	I'll take one of those.
16 weeks 4 days ago	Thanks	I actually did not know that that option existed. So that was a misunderstanding on my part. Nevertheless, I do think that people often get negged unjustifiably here. Overall, I think that people are simply too liberal with the downvote button. The fact that my last post got negged is a perfect example. I didn't say anything neg worthy in that post. I was simply voicing my subjective opinion, and someone decided to subjectively neg my subjective opinion. Just because you disagree with someone's opinion, does not mean that you should neg their comment. For instance, I personally disagree with you in terms of posts not getting negged unjustifiably here, but I have no desire and no reason to neg you.
16 weeks 4 days ago	That is not necessarily true	That is not necessarily true though. If you get negged, your comment basically gets wiped out from the thread and people have to go out of their way to see it. Hence, getting negged renders you incapable of actually contributing to the community in a meaningful way. Plus, this board is extremely peer pressure-oriented, to the extent that getting negged invariably influences the opinions of others. When someone gets negged once, they are usually negged a 2nd and 3rd time by default. So, on this particular site, it does matter. Anyways, I'm not trying to get into an argument. So I will let it go.
16 weeks 4 days ago	Sorry	it is simply my biggest pet peeve with this board. Not that people can neg, but the various reasons why people neg, which are often highly subjective. It is the main reason why I don't post here very often; it is a huge detractor, even for a person who has been following this site for over four years--like me.
16 weeks 4 days ago	List of 15-25 recruits that we have a decent chance with	I believe the "M Block" has a list like this, as well as Steve from 247. Also, if you go to the 2014 recruiting thread at 247, a bunch of people have posted the kind of lists that you are looking for. Finally, had I, or anyone who is not a regular poster here, created this thread, I would have been negged -100.
17 weeks 3 days ago	Here is the problem:	It seems like everyone is having the game of their lives against us these days. OSU played out of their minds against us and so did MSU. There seems to be a trend here. The reason why teams are playing so well against us is because our defense is bad--plain and simple. Teams seem to play their best games offensively against us because we can't guard the perimeter, we let people freely drive down the lane all day, and we don't contest shots very well, giving players open looks again and again.
18 weeks 20 hours ago	I couldn't imagine this game	I couldn't imagine this game being a positive for Drake Harris. If I were coach Hoke, I would be extremely embarrassed right now. I am extremely embarrassed right now!
18 weeks 1 day ago	Fuck yes! We needed this.	Fuck yes! We needed this. Suck on that, Urban!!
26 weeks 3 days ago	Wow	If true, what a horrible way for Floyd to end his career at Michigan.
26 weeks 5 days ago	Don't Get It	I don't get it. Why not slot receiver or running back? It seems like a waste. We have pretty good depth at corner, and our starters are both really young (Blake and Raymon).
30 weeks 1 day ago	Yes	I don't really get it. WR is the one area that we have not recruited well. I don't mean any disrespect to the receivers that have been recruited in the last few classes, but we have not been able to reel in any bue chip players at this position. We are loaded everywhere else, but dynamic wideouts are lacking. More often than not, if you want to be an elite team, you need to be able to strecth the field vertically. This is Michigan. Why can't we garner interest from 4 and 5 star receivers? Honest question.
33 weeks 3 days ago	Ignore	....
33 weeks 3 days ago	WTF?	I am sorry, but this post is fucking moronic! The loss last night had absolutely nothing to do with Borges. The people on this board who have perpetuated this nonsensical idea are insane. We were first and ten inside the fifteen when Denard got injured. I have no reason to believe that we were not going to score a touchdown had he been in the game to finish that drive. Nebraska then turned the ball over in their own zone with about a minute left before halftime. Again, had Denard been healthy, I am quite confident we would have been able to put some more points on the board in that situation. Thus, with a healthy Denard, we go into the half up 13-7. We were moving the ball pretty consistently in the first half. If anything, we were controlling time of possession and were in a possition to steadily wear down their defense in the second half. Outside of one possession, our defensive was playing extremely well and, with Denard in the game, we were winning the battle up front on both sides of the ball. Also, contrary to popular opinion on this board, our gameplan was NOT hyper-conservative in the first half; I thought we were doing a pretty good job mixing things up. It is not Borges' fault that our receivers dropped 500 passes in this game! That first bomb to Roundtree should have been caught, and the second bomb to Roundtree should have been caught as well. If Denard did not get hurt, I honestly believe that this would have been a 10-17 point victory for us. We would have worn down their defense and our defense would have stayed fresh. We also would not have had the turnovers in the second half. WE DID NOT LOSE THIS GAME BECAUSE OF BORGES, WE LOST IT BECAUSE DENARD GOT INJURED AND OUR RECEIVERS DON'T HAVE HANDS. You can bitch all you want about Hoke and Borges not playing Gardner instead of Bellomy in the second half. Fine. But when was the last time you attended practice? For all we know, Bellomy might be the better quarterback right now. Bellomy might be throwing the ball really well in practice. Also, maybe our receivers really suck, and we need all the help that we can get at that position. Even though Gardner isn't very good at receiver, maybe the coaches felt that it would be too detrimental to the receiving core to move Gardner to quarterback. *sorry for typos and misspellings . I don't have spell-check.*
34 weeks 3 days ago	OSU Game	If we beat Nebraska, the OSU game may not have any impact on our Big Ten championship aspirations. I wonder if this will have any affect on the game from a psychological standpoint.
40 weeks 3 days ago	Reply	"I doubt that they even really game-planned for WKU" Do you seriously believe this? There are only 12-13 games in their season. You really think that they didn't bother to game-plan for WKU? Does Saban take you as a coach who would come into a game unprepared? I doubt it. Yes, I am sure these stats are not as alarming as they may imply. However, I think they might give us at least some glimpse into the fact that our defensive line is shaky at best.
40 weeks 3 days ago	Disagree	I really doubt that this is how coaches think. The media and fans buy into the hype, coaches usually don't. There are only a few games in a college football season. Thus, coaches take EVERY game seriously, specially a guy like Saban.
40 weeks 3 days ago	I Agree	Absolutely! I am not suggesting that we are going to end up losing the rest of our games this year. I still think we have a shot at winning the Big Ten, which, as you alluded to, sucks this year. Both of our lines are what concerns me, but every Big Ten team seems to have major concerns somewhere. Yeah, the future is extremely bright. We just need to keep the recruiting momentum going.
40 weeks 3 days ago	Reply	This CAN be true but not always. Consistency plays a big role in determining these kinds of things. In other words, the fact that our defensive line got gashed in two straight games may mean that there is at least some connection between Alabama's poor rushing performance today and our extremely poor defensive line play in general. Let me say it like this: in 2010, if our offense continued to play poory throughout the year and EMU's offense continued to play decent throughout the year, then the conclusion that "EMU's offense was more potent than ours" would probably be true. The fact that we ended up averaging 33 ppg that year is the only thing that makes your example an abberation. Because our front played so poorly today, the stats that I cited become much more relevant. Of course, it has only been two games. So we will see if anything changes in the next couple weeks....
40 weeks 3 days ago	Also...	Also, we also sacked McCarron a few times, and Alabama also played their backups against us. So how are these stats relevant?
40 weeks 3 days ago	Not Freaking Out	I am not freaking out actually. I just thought that this was a very interesting and pertinent stat. I fully expected our defensive line to be the weakness of our team coming into the year. Although, I will admit that I am somewhat surprised that we gave up around three times the amount of rushing yards to Alabama that Western Kentucky did. Also, your justification for why Alabama ran significantly worse against Western Kentucky is incoherent. You note that all of their backs averaged 4 yards a carry. Didn't they average around 6 yards a carry against us? This is Western Kentucky we are talking about... The other stats that you note don't change the fact that they only averaged 3.3 yards a carry when they ran the football, starters or not.
43 weeks 8 hours ago	Interpretation help	Can someone please help me interpret this quote: "Return game? Norfleet? 'This is a guy that has a specific skill when you look at a return guy. He’s a good hand-eye coordination guy. He’s not afraid, which you have to -- can’t be afraid when you’re doing that job. It’s like playing corner. If you get beat, you better learn from it but forget about it. I think it’s the same thing as the return guy.”' Does this mean that Norfleet is indeed going to be the main return guy this year? Or, is Hoke simply making some general comments concerning the characteristics of a good return man? Honestly, I would like to see Justice Hayes as the main kick/punt return guy this year. True freshmen scare me at that position. Does anyone remember De' Anthony Thomas' (I think this is how he spells his name) first game with Oregon last season? I think he fumbled two-three times in their opener against LSU.
43 weeks 6 days ago	Maybe not,	but they may appreciate the fact that it could potentially add hits to their website.
43 weeks 6 days ago	Insider Info	Here is some practice information from the much maligned GoBlueMichiganWolverine staff. You do not have to pay for this info, simply register for free online: "Michigan Football Tidbits: Some more interesting Tidbits coming from Fall Camp The Fort? Really people keep saying they are hard pressed to get information from Michigan practices? Guess they aren't as connected as they thought! We haven't noticed any difference from this year to last year or for that matter the last five years or so, but oh well. We have been told that the players were instructed to not talk with the media at all besides the media press conferences.  Several things that wasn't pointed out in chat the other night or lightly touched on. Rawls has been doing quite well, but people are still worried when "the lights come on" how he will react. Personally we think he will be fine, but the bigger worry is who will help handle the load besides giving more carries to Denard if Fitz isn't back for the Alabama game or afterwards. Still no indication either way on Clark or Fitz, but have to figure with them missing a entire week of practice if the coaches are not only sending a message to those players, but others as well on what might happen if you mess up.  A few tidbits on practices:  The offensive line is really coming together and getting as one with each other.  Counting on Roundtree to be back the week of the Bama game if not sooner, but will he be ready to play or coaches trust he is healthy enough along with being prepared for a Bama defense. Lewan has really stepped up his game this season and seems to be taking the scoldings he took this spring how they were meant to be and that was putting the joke-ster side away for after practice and being more serious when the helmet goes on the practice field. Schofield has been doing quite well at the right tackle position as well as Omameh at right guard.  We are expecting big things for these two big tackles at Michigan. Big question is still left guard and probably will be for awhile or possible even into the season barring injuries. Nobody has taken control of that position at this time and we believe this will continue to be a battle into the season. If injuries happen look for Mealer to be "Schofield-like" last year and be moving around to all positions of the line. He is likely going to be either the left guard or the first linemen into the game if needed. Kalis is a very good and could see the field some time in the year if needed. Pipkins is very good and will be a very good player and we believe he will see playing time before Kalis. Practices have really picked up this year and we are told they are very physical practices which is kind of scary with depth issues on both lines as we have seen already that Wormley is out for the year which in all reality is probably a good thing for him to get the extra year of weight training and being just a football player at Michigan. Does hurt with that injury though since he won't gain as much as most red-shirts do that are healthy. More later." (GBMWolverine Staff)
1 year 5 weeks ago	Overly Optimistic	I appreciate your optimism, but I would be shocked if they don't win by more than ten. In fact, I will be very happy if we lose by ten points. We simply do not have the talent nor the depth at key positions yet. In two years, I will be much more confident about games like these, but right now we just don't have the talent and depth to compete with teams like Alabama for the entire duration of a football game. Our wide receivers are mediocre at best. We are an injury or two away from being a disaster on the o-line, and our defesive line is down three starters from last year--with no proven commodities. Also, did you watch our game against Virginia Tech last year? Our offense could not do anything against them. Do you really think we will do any better against Bama's defense?
1 year 30 weeks ago	Fitz Comparisons	I don't really understand the Mike Hart comparisions--totally different running styles in my opinion. Fitz reminds me a lot of Chris Perry, which is fine by me. In the twenty-four years that I have been watching Michigan football, Perry was probably my favorite tailback to watch. Hopefully Fitz can stay healthy over the next couple years and steadily develop into one of the better backs in the country.

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