RR + Maize Out

Submitted by pz on

During today's mgoblue countdown to kickoff (13), RR calls for maize out at every game right at the end of the segment.

This is particularly interesting to me because I was looking at the student tickets and only the Wisconsin game was specifically called out as a maize out game, so I was wondering what the level of support would be for continuing them.

Anyhow, his comments made me think that there might be a little more vocal / visible support coming from the program/coaches/AD to get fans involved in maize-outs / call for fans to support the team loudly during games, etc (thinking e-mails, pep rallies, whatever else).

Not sure if this will really happen, but it seems like the new regime could do a good job of getting the fans fired up (barwis at a pep rally???) - which could produce some positive fan behavior. Anyone else sense this?

Tacopants

August 18th, 2008 at 9:58 AM ^

Let's not kid ourselves here, the alumni base will never submit to wearing yellow t-shirts to the games.  If they handed out maize button downs at the entrances to the sections we might have a chance.

But really, the only way to achieve white outs, maize outs, etc is by having 70k shirts per game and handing them out to anybody that comes in who isn't wearing the correct color.  Multiplty that by 7 home games = 490k shirts (you know people won't ever wear them again/will donate them to third world children or something.)

I mean, you know how well the maize outs work outside of the student section.  While we're at it, let's not forget about the awesome 2005 season with blue student shirts and blue-outs.

esipp

August 18th, 2008 at 9:58 AM ^

I sense this too. With RR coming from West Virginia, I think he expects vocal crowd support and a Maize Out would be the beginning to that.

I'm more interested in his involvement in future night games at Michigan. Maybe it was a Big East/smaller school thing, but RR seemed to play in a lot of night games at WVU. They probably won't happen here within 5 or 10 years, but at least they're putting in the footings for light stantions as part of the skybox renovations.

esipp

August 18th, 2008 at 11:36 AM ^

were a Big East promo. I don't think we'd ever play on Thursday night, but I hope RR pushes Bill Martin to allow Saturday night games. We've had this argument each of the past few summers but I think it would greatly help national recruiting (it couldn't hurt, unless we lost...).

chitownblue (not verified)

August 18th, 2008 at 10:34 AM ^

I'm going to start a blog called "MGoProjectRunway.com", where everyone can go and write about uniforms, and the proper attire for football games.

pz

August 18th, 2008 at 1:13 PM ^

I'm actually going to start a blog where there are a group of commenters who are huge snobs and take time to complain about anything others want to discuss.

I like the idea of WLA and such, but please don't be a jerk about it. You're no better than anyone else (isn't that the idea of your blog... ?). 

turbo cool

August 18th, 2008 at 3:12 PM ^

chitown, i don't know why you completely bash the idea of a 'maize out'. what's wrong with the idea? just because other schools do that as well does not means its 'gay' as you previously posted. i think it would be pretty cool to see 100,000+ wearing Maize. it would look awesome in the stadium and on TV. actually, it would look really, really awesome to see the entire student section wear maize let alone the entire stadium.

 anyway, i just don't see why it's such a bad idea. if successful not only would it look cool but it would be fun for the entire M fan base to get together doing the same thing. and i'm not some old hack, i'm an alum, who graduated last year. 

Drill

August 18th, 2008 at 12:42 PM ^

I wear yellow shirts to every game, but a number of my friends don't.  I usually yell at them for it, but they never seem to change.

chitownblue (not verified)

August 18th, 2008 at 1:27 PM ^

pz,

I agree with your overall point (that it would be cool if the stadium was louder, and if the AD did something to accomplish that). I bristle more, actually, with the disgusted response that the "alumni base will never submit to wearing yellow t-shirts to the games". I see this as irrelevant because, personally:

1. I don't see a connection between shirt color and crowd noise/intimidation.

2. I'm sort of tired, as an alumni, of the "alumni suck!" vibe every time the conversation is held.

3. "Maize Out", IMO is sort of gay. Nebraska does the Sea of Red, PSU does the White Out. It's their schtick, let them have it. It pains me every time I see the tiny "Maize Rage" section at hoops game attempt to approximate the Cameron Crazies, and when we do the Tomohawk Chop after defensive stops. Let's get our own idea.

pz

August 18th, 2008 at 1:36 PM ^

Fair points, all.

We can agree that the crowd needs to be louder as a whole. I'm also sick of constant ragging on the alumni - people should take it into their own hands to make change. My main thought was that if the new regime takes a few steps to encourage better fan participation, whatever that may entail, I approve, and hope that it has an impact.

I'm not sure what effect shirt color has on intimidation other than looking good on tv / in pictures, but anything that amplifies the atmosphere is a good thing in my opinion. (Calling it a maize-out is strange to me - at football games elsewhere, your team's predominant/"loudest" color is just "what you wear to the game.")

My appreciation for RR's call for maize outs is more that he and the new regime may continue to bring attention to fan involvement and its importance, thus exciting people to make noise during games rather than sitting down tea-party style. 

Go blue - lets get the season going - and lets do it loudly. 

esipp

August 18th, 2008 at 1:41 PM ^

1. Obviously, wearing a maize shirt won't make the stadium louder but it does show support, and another way of showing support is yelling/making noise on defense. People might be more apt to yell if everyone else around them in maize is yelling too.

2. It's more like "the alumni who pay their seat licensing and season ticket fees to go to the game and then expect to watch it in peace and quiet like they're at home, suck!"

3. I agree it's lame that we're copying the "___ Out" trend (and ours doesn't even make literal sense like a whiteout or blackout), but it's the cheap promotion nowadays. Would you rather have thundersticks? (Those do piss me off at hockey games) And we don't do the Tomahawk Chop, it's "The Claw" as in that of a wolverine. It's equally as gay, and I believe it and the "You suuuuuck" chant were the ideas of the Daily awhile back.

CrankThatDonovan

August 18th, 2008 at 2:16 PM ^

I don't really understand why you and others have a problem with the Maize Rage. The section is tiny because the team absolutely sucked last year. We had home losses to Iowa, Northwestern, and Central Michigan for god's sake. There are also no buses to Crysler on Saturdays, days in which about half of the home games are played. You can't expect a lot of students to pay $130 to see a team lose a majority of it's games while having to make a half-hour walk to Crysler in the cold for every other game.

As far as not copying the Cameron Crazies goes, what do you expect the Maize Rage to do, exactly? Almost every college basketball crowd in the country is in some way a copy of the Duke crowd. The Izzone, all the bullshit that every other school does, it's no different. You cheer, you yell some profanities, and you try to have some fun while watching your school lose to mid-level MAC teams.

Tacopants

August 18th, 2008 at 2:50 PM ^

I think we agree more than we disagree, but you wouldn't know it from the responses you post.I think the lack of participation in the Maize Outs directly relates to the crowd noise.  Wearing yellow will not make you cheer louder than if you were wearing blue, but at the same time, it doesn’t hurt either.  Here’s how I see it:

1.     It looks cooler.  It looks a lot better than an amorphous blob of blue/white/yellow.

2.     People are buying in.  Showing solidarity sound familiar?  People are caring enough to gasp! Put on a yellow shirt!  People are caring about the team more than “Well I really would enjoy wearing my 1997 National Championship Sweater”

3.     It costs everybody next to nothing.  I would say that in general, season ticket holders are not on welfare.  If you can afford the seat, you can probably afford the $10 official shirt, not that most of them won’t have at least  5 maize shirts from when they were students.

4.     Its blatantly obvious.  It’s not like it’s a gigantic conspiracy to make the student section look different.  Once again, its stated again and again to season ticket holders.  No, you make a conscious choice: “Well I really would enjoy wearing my 1997 National Championship Sweater.”  Even the drunk sorority girls who pass out by halftime remember to do this.

I think its all about the atmosphere you want to create.  If you want to treat this like a quiet Saturday picnic, that’s the amount of noise you will generate.

If I offended alumni that do stand up, cheer, make noise, and weare maize to maize outs, then I’m sorry for generalizing and stereotyping.  I meant to offend the alumni that do none of those things and occasionally think about jangling their keys on a “key play”

As for maize outs being gay and creating a new idea: I’m all ears.  As for now, I’d rather have a maize out rather than nothing.  It’s not the first time we stole something from another school, or would you prefer that we gave back our helmets, coaches, a bunch of the 08 recruiting class, etc.?  Just because some other school thought of it first doesn't make it a completely shitty idea.

Lastly, it pains you that students at Michigan are passionate and give a crap about our basketball team?  I wouldn't care if they called themselves the Bizzone and started quoting the 300.  Yes, they could be more original (The Beezone, everybody wears antennae and wings!  No?) but at least they're trying.

chitownblue (not verified)

August 18th, 2008 at 1:46 PM ^

Still, those people are at every game out there. I've been to games at Auburn, LSU, Tennessee, Nebraska, Washington, Oregon, and Texas - and there are down-in-fronters at every stadium.

And whenever I go to Michigan games, it seems like 95% of the people are in Maize or Blue. That's fine, right?

chitownblue (not verified)

August 18th, 2008 at 1:48 PM ^

And yes - completely agree that if we came up with a name for everyone wearing the same color that actually made literal sense, it would bother me less. This name just screams "We are copying Penn State". Next thing, people will want to pipe "Jump Around" into the stadium.

ameed

August 19th, 2008 at 1:16 PM ^

Blue-out was dumb to quite dumb...its not a color that catches the eye at all.  If the point of one color is to show solidarity, intimidate opponents, and look cool on TV  - the blue out has been called out by many people as pointless on 2 of those 3 metrics.

Michigan Arrogance

August 18th, 2008 at 2:56 PM ^

i think the AD should tell everyone that the hockey team plays at crisler whenever they hoops team plays. then, the yost crowd would go to crisler, a basketball game would be played, ????, profit. problem solved.

i wear whatever i want to the games. usually a jersey (i'm that guy who probably shouldn't be wearing a jersey for any reason anymore, but does so anyway) and the jerseys are blue. i bought a jersey to wear to the games and on saturdays in general, so i'm not tossing that aside to wear a cheap, scratchy, almost moderly clever maize-out t-shirt that I most certainly wouldn't wear on my worst day otherwise.

finally, when it comes to alumni making noise: i don't ever tell people to shut up or sit, but i'm not always the maniac whose screaming at the top of my lungs on a 1&5 at the 45 mid way thru the 2nd qtr when we're up 17 on EMU. it depends on my mood, i guess. sometimes i'm into making noise, sometimes i have the kid w/ me, sometimes i want to see what the D line is doing against a zone blocking scheme and i don't want to hear some 19 y/o moron (read: drunken fratboy who needs to forget his initiation experience of having a broomstick shoved... i'll stop there) yell at me for not yelling and looking at me like i'm not a real fan. i could recite The Victors chorus by age 7, could recite the WHOLE freaking thing now, know how to spell crisler, etc etc... the handle speaks for itself. IOW, i paid my dues 10x over, so don't give me shit, you young whippersnappers.

chitownblue (not verified)

August 18th, 2008 at 3:37 PM ^

To me, what's awesome about college football (aside from the fact that football is awesome) is the awesome traditions unique to every school - the Tiger Walk at Auburn, the War Chants and serenading the upper deck at Texas A&M, the full dress uniforms at Army, the early morning walk around town of UGA, even the script "Ohio State" with the tuba player dotting the "i", and the Tennessee players coming out the Block-T. Etc., etc., etc. I see the "Red Sea" and the "White Out" as part of this - it's part of their tradition. Just like the Cameron Crazies to Duke. To me, the super co-ordinated wave, the "Go Blue" chant, the Rocky and & Bullwinkle theme, and the M-Club banner all qualifyl.

When other schools start co-opting the tradition of other schools, it waters them down (yes, I include the "Izzone" and the "Maize Rage" as part of this) and homogenizes the game. The second that Boise St. starts doing a "Blorange Out" or what have you, we've gotten to the point where everyone is piping "Who Let the Dogs Out" over the PA, and Michigan Stadium will be trying to break the record for "Biggest Macarena Ever".

Tacopants

August 18th, 2008 at 8:51 PM ^

Once again, I think we're all open to suggestions.  Personally I would like to see the return of the wolverine on the sidelines.  I'd like to see the cheerleaders do that "Let's all lie down and roll around to spell Michigan!" activity with a live wolverine next to them.

Kal

August 18th, 2008 at 4:49 PM ^

Last season whenever the "M-I-C-H-I-G-A-N" chant around the crowd was started the section of the crowd that had to say C was all alumni so you could never hear it. It sounded pretty god damn stupid. I'm not saying all alumni are down in fronters, but sometimes the lack of enthusiasm kind of blows.

HenneManCrush

August 18th, 2008 at 7:09 PM ^

I have to agree with the points made about the Maize Out.  Does the name sound gay?  Abso-freaking-lutely!  But the idea is the solidarity that it shows.  Holy crap, I care enough about my team to show some unity with the other fans.  It pisses me off when I go to Illinois games and they're freaking louder than Michigan fans.  When I was going to school there and they were winning 2 games a year they were still louder than freaking Michigan fans at the Big House.  I was reading an article in ESPN the Mag today about student sections across the country and it just made me mad because Michigan couldn't hold a candle to any of them.  All this tradition but I don't see people camping out to get into games or coordinating cheers or chants for next week's opponent.  Do you SERIOUSLY not think that when an opposing team walks into any color-out that they don't get the feeling that "Holy shit, this place is going to eat us alive" feeling?  When you come walking into Neyland Stadium and you see 100,000+ orange-clad fans or you come onto the field in Happy Valley and the entire place is white, do you not get the feeling that you are in enemy territory right away?  That every one of those 100,000+ wants nothing more than for their team to destroy you and will jump all over you the first time you make a mistake?

After The Horror last year, an App State player was quoted as saying the Big House wasn't loud at all.  He plays in a glorified high school field on an average week and he's saying 100,000+ wasn't loud.  That's freaking ridiculous.  Just like it was ridiculous to have the sweater-vest wearing senior 2 rows behind me to tell me "down in front."  We were freaking losing to a DI-AA team!  Get up and make some noise for Pete's sake!

As a die-hard fan, the biggest thing you'd want to do for your team is to help them out if possible.  Even if you very very slightly have the smallest impact on a game, it helps.  Is there any reason certain stadiums are tougher than others to handle? 

Case-in-point, last year's App State game...it was pathetic until about the fourth quarter.  Then there was a collective "Holy shit we could actually lose this game" moment and the place lit up.  I would say that the Illinois crowd at both the Penn State and Wisconsin games blew any of the three Michigan crowds I was a part of last year.  And they painted the place orange.  Why?  Because it shows unity...it shows that the one thing they care about is a W...and if people are willing to do something small like wear a shirt the same color, they're probably willing to make some freaking noise and add to the intimidation factor.  And if that means wearing an orange (or maize) shirt instead of a blue one, then by God let's do it.

The ESPN article mentioned some coach quotes about how their student section really affected games and that they purposely tried to situate it behind the opponent benches, etc.

So let me ask you this: when I go to make the 4 hour drive home after the Horror, am I going to be thinking "well, at least I got to wear my 1997 Championship sweater."  Or am I thinking, "Seriously?  The guy from Boone, NC wasn't the slightest bit intimidated by the Big House crowd?  What the hell were we doing?"

Have some damn pride, suck it up, and take one for the team.  There has to be something to this thing where every other college football stadium is at least 70% one color.  Maybe we should take note and try to make the biggest stadium in the country the MOST INTIMIDATING.  Or are we just content with saying our dick is bigger than yours?

Just think about this when you're ready to blast everything I just said: Duke seats no more than a big high school gym, but Value City Arena seats a ridiculous amount.  If you're an opposing team, are you more intimidated when you walk into Cameron Indoor or Value City.  Is it the size of the stadium or is it the intensity that you're walking into?  Packing a stadium with 100,000+ doesn't mean a thing if they all sit there like bums.  Case-in-point: Autzen.  Say what you want about the way it's constructed...those fans get up for the games.  And it's deafening.  If Michigan had half the intensity of Autzen, it would be a terrifying place to play.

 

Anyway, flame away; I'm done.

ts

August 19th, 2008 at 5:21 AM ^

The crowd noise/intimidation factor is vastly overrated. Did UM looked scared when they played at OSU in 2006? Is USC afraid to play at Autzen? The blackout atmosphere at Iowa vs. OSU last year was awesome right up until kickoff. Maize shirts have exactly the same effect on the outcome of the game as lucky blue jerseys: none. App State wasn't intimidated because they were scoring at will on our D. The only way Michigan Stadium will ever be intimidating is if the football team is kicking ass every Saturday.

chitownblue (not verified)

August 19th, 2008 at 9:44 AM ^

The crowd noise/intimidation factor is vastly overrated. Did UM looked scared when they played at OSU in 2006? Is USC afraid to play at Autzen? The blackout atmosphere at Iowa vs. OSU last year was awesome right up until kickoff. Maize shirts have exactly the same effect on the outcome of the game as lucky blue jerseys: none. App State wasn't intimidated because they were scoring at will on our D. The only way Michigan Stadium will ever be intimidating is if the football team is kicking ass every Saturday.

Quoted for Truth.

HenneManCrush

August 19th, 2008 at 10:26 AM ^

Is everyone going to be intimidated every time?  Hell, no.  What about freshman?  Do you think that the freshmen that will be playing for us this year won't be pissing themselves when they walk into the 'Shoe?  Vince Young couldn't hear his damn center at the 'Shoe.  THAT is impressive.  THAT is adding a home-field advantage.

Sure, you won't intimidate everyone.  But it could all come down to rattling the right player at the right time and forcing him to not hear an audible.  He runs an incorrect route and causes an INT.  The simple fact that he couldn't hear his QB has now shifted the game dramatically.  How do you not see that?

Again, I don't claim we'll intimidate everyone.  But why not at least try?

And the shirt thing goes back to unity and solidarity.  If you're not willing to wear a maize shirt because you're too stubborn to change it, then you probably won't get on board with other things.  It's just the crowd's mentality we're talking about here.  If everyone is wearing the same color, then they're probably going to be much more apt to do other things all at once.  Like...I don't know...make some noise!

Blue Durham

August 19th, 2008 at 11:22 AM ^

Why not have everyone wear the same shirt to every game and not launder it so as not wash the luck off.  That way, after a few seasons, Michigan Stadium would indeed become a very intimidating place.

I can say this as I only watch the games on TV.

Maize4Blue

August 19th, 2008 at 12:40 PM ^

Why stop at just Maize tshirts? Let's tape corn to our chests, bike reflectors to our heads, and paint our arms with road paint. It's called being creative people. Let's win the National Championship in Creativity.

dex

August 19th, 2008 at 12:52 PM ^

I'm not sure if Maize is a preferred color for buyers. Currently, our curb appeal is way down because of the ongoing renovations. I think we should stick to neutral colors on the inside - although the bathroom renovations should add a lot of value.

As for staging, I was thinking we could move the student section in a little tighter and add a breakfast nook behind the endzone. Then we can turn the sections underneath the pressbox into a master suite, since the current arrangement with the master and guest room next to each other and only one hallway to the field might be unattractive for larger families.