Unverified Voracity Wears Silly Things Comment Count

Tim

I, for one, welcome our Nike overlords. After two straight years of using The Game to prove even Ohio State can look more ridiculous, Nike will strike again this fall, outfitting Michigan State in their Pro Combat line of jerseys for the October 15th tilt against the Wolverines. (Yeah yeah, those in glass houses and whatnot).

In fairness, going to Pro Combat might be an improvement from the OMG MODERN FONT look straight out of Any Given Sunday that Michigan State switched to last year:

MSU-ugly.jpg

...as opposed to going away from the classic look of Ohio State's traditional jerseys (/immediately feels dirty, showers).

We live in an age where the apparel companies are going to do what they do in search of the almighty dollar. Methinks it's best to just to just accept it and move along. It certainly doesn't hurt that I'm not nearly as "get off my lawn" about Michigan's night game jerseys as is Brian. We'll see if Adidas plans to make frequent use of cash-grab alternates, like Nike is doing.

[Ed-M: As Michigan fans, however many headaches we've had to suffer thanks to Adidas's neon-ish idea of "maize" is made worth it when we see our rivals come to school looking like their colorblind mothers got lost in the kids section at Target.

For those wondering why they don't just go with the classic 1960s thing, MSU's official site rules out the obvious Duffy-era look because they rocked that for ND in 2006 -- not that anyone noticed. You can't really do too much damage with MSU since they've had 9 significant uniform changes since 1993, but they already have a home alternate, so either they're scrapping that, or State will play just three games all year in their "home" jerseys. Oregon indeed.

Futzing with Ohio State's classic helmet disco ball covered in bird poop for Michigan week is the kind of thing that can make the football gods remove their favors.]

Speaking of ill-advised Spartan doings. Justin Abdelkader jokes that he wishes to bomb Michigan Stadium:

This is INCONTROVERTIBLE PROOF that all Spartans are terrorists. Look it up.

Barbecue snobs are certain to clarify this is merely a "cookout." As you've likely noticed, Wednesday Recruitin' has been a little calm over the past two weeks, after a whirlwind late spring/early summer parade of commitments to Ann Arbor. A slow period should transition immediately into another action-packed (though not necessarily commitment-packed) period coming up soon, with next weekend's "Barbecue at the Big House" recruiting event.

Much more about it in next week's Recruitin' post, but if you need your fix now, Tom has an ever-evolving list of visitors up in the Diary section. Those not already committed to Michigan are of the greatest interest to us because, you know, they could commit. All this and MUCH MORE next Wednesday (they call that a tease, kids).

Why would anyone want to leave that state? Also regarding the barbecue, Eleven Warriors calls Kyle Kalis and Tom Strobel "Ann Arbor's new favorite couple," but it is not supposed to be a gay joke - except there's no other way for it to realistically be intended. They could be Purdue commits for all I care, but what century are we living in where "hurr hurr u r gay" is still an OK insult?

If you Google "Kyle Kalis ACL," the first infinity results are of Ohio State message boarders wishing injury on a 16-17 year-old kid. Kalis has gone into (mostly) radio silence since his commitment, for fear of backlash. Ohio State fans bashing him for "poor morals" because he decommitted from a school that's about to get hammered for lying to the NCAA? Irony reading: high.

I'm not trying to pick a fight with Eleven Warriors here, but come on dudes, hold yourselves to a higher standard - which, to be fair, they usually do.

Godzillatron will be ours. Updates on the scoreboards? Updates on the scoreboards. Pictures can be seen at Michigan Stadium Aerials (also with updated photos of the hoops Player Development Center), and if you're into the "paint drying" thing, you can watch the assembly live on the internet at MGoBlue.  

OK, so it's not quite as impressive as the mega-boards at places like Texas and... Minnesota... but it's certainly an upgrade over the recent past.

The QB my friends, is blowin' in the wind. Tate Forcier was told "thanks but no thanks" by Hawaii, of all schools, because his transcript is really that bad. The official mgoblog position is "hope he gets his life in order," but uh, is anyone still second-guessing David Brandon's alleged refusal to schedule a meeting with QB5?:

"I needed a certain amount of credits. The incompletes, I took care of those. Dave Brandon still wouldn't let me stay. He refused to even meet with us."

If Hawaii isn't even going to meet with you, Dave Brandon proooooobably wasn't in the wrong here. It sounds like you have more than "a few incompletes" to take care of.

Etc. The Big Ten goes in the wrong direction by going from 3 to zero teams on its preseason media ballot. Men's lacrosse picks up a top offensive coordinator - and tons of solid 2012 commits - including a football teammate of Erik Magnuson. Big Ten schools gettin' that paper, yo. Rest in peace, Jimmy Maddock.

Comments

panthera leo fututio

July 21st, 2011 at 3:40 PM ^

You could, but it would be a pretty odd phrasing if your goal wasn't to make any commentary on there underlying relationship. The 11Warriors phrasing is pretty clearly a jokingly derogatory reference to the underlying relationship of Kalis and Stroebel, who are widely recognized to be friends. No, it's not explicitly a dig at gay couples, but interpreting it as anything else (especially when delivered to a hostile crowd of Ohio football fans, for chrissakes) strikes me as willfully obtuse.

SirJack

July 21st, 2011 at 4:09 PM ^

Okay, referring to them as a "couple" does contain reference (though only peripherally) to homosexuality. This, of course, does not mean it's homophobic (which I don't think it is).

Like, when an elite politician or member of royalty and his/her wife/husband visits a foreign country, you always see headlines like "___ and ____ are LA's new favorite couple."

So, it's amusing to create an analogy between a country feting a couple of foreign dignitaries or othersuch bigshots, and a small Midwestern college town feting a couple of new football recruits. Sure, embedded within this is the idea of them as an actual "couple," but I think it's a little much to see "irrational fear of or aversion to homosexuals" (which is the definition of homophobia) in this. 

Blue in Seattle

July 21st, 2011 at 7:36 PM ^

the TV Show in the 70's that was titled, "The Odd Couple" was a wink wink, nudge nudge, joke about two gay guys?

From what I remember, they were just sharing an apartment, and despite their weird and opposite traits, both had ex wives, and dated heterosexually.

was I supposed to be reading between the lines on that one?

What became offensive was the portrayal on 3's Company, where it was pretty open mockery of gay stereotypes, with the whole premise that he wasn't really gay, but had to fake out the bigoted landlord.

Then they took it to a whole new level with the not out of the closet yet Don Knotts.

But I didn't read the 11 Warriors article, so I can't really even guess at any context.  Just that "a couple" means two people, or a pair of people.  They are a couple of Michigan commitments.

maybe "we" have the issues, and not 11 Warriors.

 

 

coastal blue

July 21st, 2011 at 3:04 PM ^

I mean if soccer were as big as football and a male and female recruit switched alliegences from OSU to Michigan and 11W were to make the same comment, would it be considered an insult? 

I think its only an insult if you believe the writer of the article holds some degree of homophobia. I haven't seen it from his past work, so I'm slow to think that that was his intention. 

M-Wolverine

July 21st, 2011 at 3:38 PM ^

And you describe them as a couple, it too takes on a negative connotation. And by acting like a male couple is a negative thing, what other root can it be from?

WolvinLA2

July 21st, 2011 at 4:47 PM ^

I don't know, count me as someone not too offended by the comment. They called them a couple, and there are two of them. They didn't call them lovers, or boyfriends, or butt-buddies. Would it have been offensive if they were called a pair? That essentially means the same thing.

I don't know, it seems like we're grasping at straws here.

coastal blue

July 21st, 2011 at 5:49 PM ^

If the owners of the site had had a history of snide homophobic content. But they have not. 

And in what way did they act as if a gay couple is a bad thing? In fact, I think it really comes down to this: Michigan fans are very excited about our recruits right now. And now we're winning battles with Ohio State again and really, fawning over these recruits plucked from enemy territory, in which Stroebel and Kalis are the main highlights. In fact, Kalis has stated Stroebel is one of the reasons he decided to come to Michigan. I think 11W remark was more a shot at many Michigan fans for acting as excited as a 17 year old girl would be about Prince William and Kate Middleton visiting her hometown.

I just think its a reach to call them out on something so vague on the front page.

Do we have any gay MGoBloggers? Itd be nice to get some perspective on the issue!

(Edit: Apologies in advance to the 17 year old girl portion of the fanbase.)

Tim

July 21st, 2011 at 5:50 PM ^

It's clearly intended as a "going to Michigan == gay"-type potshot (as in both == bad). If not, what's the intent of phrasing it that way?

To say that there's no negative connotation is giving way too much of the benefit of the doubt. Was malice intended? Probably not, but it was intended to be - at the very least - a light mocking.

coastal blue

July 25th, 2011 at 3:30 PM ^

but I would still like to answer this:

It is not a gay reference because the point is not about the actual couple. It's about people fawning over the couple. 

"Ann Arbor's (Michigan fans) new favorite couple". We are the excitable teens going nuts because of these recruits as if they are a pair of pop stars.

This is honestly a case of some of us being WAYYYY to sensitive to a non-issue. 

As for below, of course it is not anyone's business on whether or not someone is gay. HOWEVER, if a gay poster did not mind putting in his or her two cents, that's fine too, because there is nothing wrong with being gay and they would be the demographice who, in your world, should be directly offended by the comment. The way you phrased your post below could be interpreted as you believing there is something wrong with being gay and it should be kept secret. Perhaps you fear that you would be unable to identify them as anything other than the gay poster? Be careful!

M-Wolverine

July 21st, 2011 at 8:07 PM ^

Maybe they're closer, but if we get Wormley or Dunn, does it then go from duo to trio (both better words)?
<br>
<br>I mean, it it becomes a ménage a trois, then we know they're going for that.
<br>
<br>And there are probably gay readers/posters on here. And it's definitely none of our business.

Rasmus

July 21st, 2011 at 3:00 PM ^

On Forcier's grades, just read between the lines: "I needed a certain amount of credits. The incompletes, I took care of those. [The Fs, I couldn't do anything about them.] Dave Brandon still wouldn't let me stay. [There was nothing he could do.] He refused to even meet with us."

mackbru

July 21st, 2011 at 3:06 PM ^

Am I the only one who finds the whole combat/football uniform thing kind of offensive? It reminds me of Kellen Winslow Jr.'s idiotic rant about how the Miami (YTM) players were "soldiers going to war." Football is just a game. Combat is not.

 

WolvinLA2

July 21st, 2011 at 4:42 PM ^

I disagree. Sports, especially the more physical sports like football, are often compared to battle and the words associated with it. Schools have mascots that represent war or soldiers (Trojans, Spartans, Warriors, Fighting Illini, etc.). Schools have cheers or fight songs that elude to battle, or fighting. Bo and Woody were involved in the 10 Years War, but they never shot a gun at each other or tossed a grenade.

And I don't think Nike is comparing football players to actual military men, just like when Denard throws a bomb to Roundtree this fall, everyone will be OK.

markusr2007

July 21st, 2011 at 4:06 PM ^

Mixing 1966 single stripe with Darryl Rodgers' classice Spartan logo and basic jersey numerals and text was a wise choice.

Since then they've succeeded in ruining the MSU helmet and everything else.

Didn't take very long either.

I'm sure Nike's "improvements" will have us saying "gosh we are all really impressed down here I can tell you!" the moment they hit the field.

That's just my opinion.

BlockM

July 21st, 2011 at 4:56 PM ^

Can we let go of the whole "he said couple so it means gay and he's saying it like it's a bad thing, OMW!" thing? Probably could have chosen a better word, but to say it's bigoted and homophobic is taking it out of context and a bit too far, ime.

MGoViso

July 21st, 2011 at 5:17 PM ^

I don't know exactly what you meant by OMW instead of OMG, but it clearly was an attempt to marginalize the importance of my religion and commit sacrilege. I have chosen to be offended and think you really ought to pay greater attention to how others might construe your words.

/s

Michael

July 22nd, 2011 at 1:05 AM ^

The reality is that it never should have been said in the first place; I recognize you've agreed with that much.

The problem is that the majority of people on mgoblog and, I'm sure, who follow 11W are guys. And anyone who's ever hung out with a group of guys can accurately interpret what was meant by 11W's post, overt or otherwise. We all know (and hopefully cringe) when our friends say ignorant, homophobic shit. Hell, I'm sure none of us are model citizens in that respect.

However, to imply that something must be explicitly stated in order for it to qualify as immoral or unjust is dangerous. We're not idiots here. When your friend (insert bro here) is making fun of you, and says that you and (insert your bro-friend here) went out on a nice little trip to a restaurant together and shared a desert (they're expensive in DC!), he's probably not making a comment on your taste in cuisine.

The point is that it is more frequent for people to be subtle in their attacks against gay people than for them to be overt. In an odd sort of way, I guess that's progress. I'm just saying that you shouldn't continue to pretend that what 11W was anyhting less than a subtle, ignorant form of discrimination.

clarkiefromcanada

July 21st, 2011 at 5:07 PM ^

You're response to that bullshit from 11W was completely approprite. I was pleased to see you fcuk. shit. up. and despite Ramzy's song and dance it's clear that they needed someone (a Michigan man) to help them think in the modern era.

 

MGoViso

July 21st, 2011 at 5:14 PM ^

I have to respectfully disagree with the DB/Hawaii comment; an institution saying they're not interested due to a history that came to be elsewhere and an individual refusing to meet with a young man with a preetablished relationship--even if that meeting is just to say sorry you screwed up kid, here's some advice--are wholly different. As a teacher, I'd kick a kid out of my class/program when warranted, but that's for everybody else, so that standards remain high and universal. I would not give up my connection to the student nor my role in their lives in any unofficial manner. 

I realize it's not DB's job description to guide players towards being better humans, but that's ultimately the raison d'etre of the athletic department, and in such a transitory time between coaches, responsibility fell to Brandon to set a good example.

WolvinLA2

July 21st, 2011 at 5:33 PM ^

We don't know how many meetings they had before this meeting was requested.  It could be that they had met recently and a decision was made, and Tate and his father wanted another chance to plea.  Or it would be that Tate didn't behave in a previous meeting and DB didn't want to go down that road again.  Point is, there are plenty of good reasons for DB not to meet with him, and since Tate (who is a pretty talented and now rather experienced college QB) can't seem to find anyone who will take him, DB's actions seem a lot more justified at this point.

Feat of Clay

July 22nd, 2011 at 8:58 AM ^

The scuttlebutt from academic quarters is that Tate had been given an awful lot of "second" chances, with which he did very little.  Given that, I think anyone in the AD (especially the top guy in command) is more than justified in feeling lke the last word had already been said. 

Randy Marsh

July 21st, 2011 at 5:16 PM ^

People are getting wayyy too sensitive. Could calling them a "couple" refer to them dating or something? Sure. But in no way did 11W imply that a gay couple is a bad thing. The only bad thing (in their opinion) is that they're coming to Michigan.

They simply meant "there is a couple of football players that Michigan is excited about". Like blockM said, saying it's bigoted is taking it out of context.

M-Wolverine

July 21st, 2011 at 8:17 PM ^

We're excited about. That's an orgy.
<br>
<br>If you refer to your favorite nephew and his finance as a "couple", the insinuation is the adjective "nice". If you refer to two dudes you hate as a "couple", it has a whole different connotation. And if you think they were making some post-homophobia commentary on how it's perfectly alright for two guys to be a couple, even though most of our readers hope THIS couple blows out their ACL, I think you're giving them too much credit.

Tater

July 21st, 2011 at 5:43 PM ^

It sucks that anyone would make homophobic jokes about high school kids in a public forum.  It's even more stupid than it is ignorant, too.  Why on earth would a fanbase risk alienating any recruit before signing day?

There is always a chance that a kid can change his mind before signing day.  We've seen it happen a lot, both for our team and against it.  Now, though, I can't imagine any of the kids Buckeye "fans" are denigrating on public forums to change their minds.  It goes to show ya: there's nothing like Buckeye class.

Drbogue

July 22nd, 2011 at 10:10 AM ^

I think Abdelkader needs to learn how not to pick up a major penalty in a playoff game with < 5 minutes to play. Then we can talk about his terrorist plans.

BigHouseBlue18

July 24th, 2011 at 1:38 PM ^

I have seen how the Buckeyes react to situations and if they are saying anything about Michigan they generally mean it in the worst possible way.

It is a very rare occurance when I have came across a Buckeye that actually had a geniune rational statement when it comes to Michigan.

I grew up in Michigan and I bleed blue but now live in Ohio. I have had people yell stuff at me for wearing Michigan clothing. Of course they done this riding by in their cars because they are cowards.

I have said this once and I will say it a hundred times. There is no hatred greater that the hatred a Buckeye has for a Wolverine. They hate us when they screw up. They hate us when we playing the SEC. They hate us when are doing well and they hate us we are doing poorly. Hell they hate us when they beat us. Cant count the times they say that Michigan is irrelevant and they dont care about what Wolverine fans talk about but yet you say anyhing good about Michigan they jump on you even if it had nothing to do with Liar State.

To answer your question they meant it to try and call them gay and cut them and Michigan down. By doing so just made them look like what the rest of the world already knows about them. They have the worst fan base known to man. They are arrogant though they say thats what they hate about Michigan. Makes no sense.

I didnt hate Liar State until I moved to Ohio. Thank you Buckeye fans for showing me what you are all about. I no longer give them the benefit of the doubt.