Why/how YOU came to MGoBlog

Submitted by M-Wolverine on

Opened up "Why I came to MGoBlog", thinking it would be something completely different. And while it's a great thread, it wasn't what I was expecting...and even though a few people threw the concept in there, it's more a Bama discussion (interesting in it's own right).  But what interested me - how did you first hear about MGoBlog, and what made you come here and start reading and posting?

My cool story bro is actually Jim Carty started fairly regularly referencing the Blog, and it was far more interesting, and better written, than anything Carty or the Ann Arbor News (yes, it was  a paper at the time) was putting out.  So after clicking it more and more, I went back to the beginning, and started reading all the parts that interested me over any lunch hours I was staying in, reading the opinion and emotion pieces, and skipping over Miami of Ohio previews, or UFRs (because while interesting today, 3 year old UFRs lose a little something), etc.  And few months later, I was basically up to date, and kept reading. Then started reading the posts too, and that season came around, and I finally started posting too.

So that's how I found it and started reading...how did you? Who guided you, tipped you off, what search made you come across MGoBlog...then stick around?

(Those 4 or 5 who mentioned it in the other thread, feel free to cut and paste).

Tater

February 15th, 2012 at 10:12 AM ^

I don't know how much Brian even cared or cares about SEO, but I found this place on a simple search for Michigan sports blogs, IIRC.  

Since mgoblog is THE site for all things University of Michigan sports-related, I started hanging out here a lot.  Mgb sorta spoiled me for other teams, though.  I follow quite a few college teams, but haven't really been able to find other blogs close to this one in quality for any other team.  

Thanks to an earlier post from Roll Damn Tide, I did check out a couple of Bama blogs, and found one called the Capstone report that was really funny, complete with a philosophy that trolls should not be moderated, but annhilated by debate and numbers.  It was sorta like looking at RCMB, but with intellect and diabolical humor behind the rather "creative" usage of the English language instead of Sparty Shenanigans.

They have one called Bama Pride that is sorta like an auto-blog version of the mgo.licio.us widget here, and their SB nation one isn't bad, but so far, I haven't found anything close to what we have here at mgoblog anywhere.  

Suffice to say that, as Michigan fans, we are very fortunate to have mgoblog.  

Lionsfan

February 15th, 2012 at 10:14 AM ^

I listen to WTKA all the time and I heard Brian on there during on of the recaps in the afternoon, so I checked the blog out. I started right after the UCONN game because I remember reading some piece about combining Desmond Howards smile and legs with other body parts to create Denard, I was like what the hell is with this place? So I checked periodically during 2010, signed up under my real name, thought better of it, then made a username

rederik

February 15th, 2012 at 10:16 AM ^

It was 2006, my sophomore year, and during what was looking to be our golden season I couldn't get enough discussion, analysis, and other reading on all things Michigan Football. The 2007 season (the Horror and the Bill Martin/Les Miles drama) only cemented my obsession with MgoBlog, which has remained ever since... although it was only last year that I finally took the plunge and joined the MgoBoard.

Unrelated: my 'cool story bro' moment (re: the OP): I went to law school with Jim Carty. He's as bland as his writing style. Glad he at least steered you to the blog.

M-Wolverine

February 15th, 2012 at 10:37 AM ^

But he wrote outrageous things about the home team, so I had to read. 

Actually had an email convo with him and Rosenberg (before he was ROSENBERG!) about Beilein's hiring. Then he took an email I wrote him as just commentary on one of his articles, took just a part of it that completely changed the context of the email message, and printed it without asking in a "reacting to readers" type column.    Not too long after that he decided to go from annoying columnist to annoying lawyer.

mGrowOld

February 15th, 2012 at 10:22 AM ^

I used to frequent "MaizenBrew" quite a bit and there were links there to this site.  While I liked the content on MnB there wasn't much reader interaction and the updates could be a bit infrequent.  I came to this site a few times during the 2008, 2009 seasons but never felt compelled to post anything.  Then, in 2010 something happened (I don't remember what) that i wanted to talk about so I created a profile and joined.  And candidly have never gone back to the old site except when it's referenced here.

Moral of the story?  Links are not always the best thing to provide to your audience.  Sometimes they find places they'd rather be than your site and they stay there.

Butterfield

February 15th, 2012 at 10:25 AM ^

I came here (as a reader only) towards the very end of 2010 when it appeared almost certain RR would be replaced.  I used this site, amongst others, to sift through information about the coaching search that wasn't available in the MSM.  My first impression was awful - I was taken aback by the vitriol spewed towards Brandon, Hoke, and particularly Lloyd Carr, considering all the good that Carr  (and to a lesser extent in the past, Hoke) had done leading a clean, winning program with class and integrity.  But as I stuck around, there was comfort in seeing that the views of the loudest posters didn't represent the majority of posters on MGoBoard and there were actually ample opportunities to discuss the future of Michigan football without having to genuflect every time RR's name was mentioned.  As the 2011 season progressed, all but the most fervant members of the RR army faded away or at least softened, and the site became a beautiful place to discuss the rennaisance of Michigan football that we have to look forward to in the years to come. 

TrppWlbrnID

February 15th, 2012 at 10:25 AM ^

after i was done weeping, i created a login to tell him the actual definition of decimate and how it is not as bad as michigan's defense and instead of a bunch of snarky posts, several people chimed in and thought it was interesting.

both my low brow and high brow have been getting satisfied here ever since.

readyourguard

February 15th, 2012 at 10:26 AM ^

I needed a site I could visit frequently that would push the "_______" porn site further down my computer's history list.  Then I figured out how to delete the history but I continued to visit here.  Weird.

rtsannes62992

February 15th, 2012 at 10:28 AM ^

Freshman in college, best friend goes to Michigan and has read this site for a while. I've been a Michigan fan since birth but never heard about this place until he started sending me links to different stuff by Brian and Tim; then I became a seven-times-a-day reader.

macgoblue10

February 15th, 2012 at 10:33 AM ^

I came here because reading Scout after signing day up until fall practice starts is boring (spring practice not included). I actually would visit this site but it seemed like to much to read and a lot of inside jokes that I didn't get. But I read more and more, and discovered that the people posting on MGoBoard had similar interests and sense of humor. Then gradually started reading everything, then gradually posting, now I visit the site 30 times a day at work.

Every work day starts like this......Turn on computer, open work email, open personal email, open mgoblog....

I have tried to get all of my Michigan slappy friends to read the site as much as I do but I have had no success with this.

I also have an email thread daily with about 6 guys, 3 Mich fans/3 Spartan queers.... Spartan queers give the site no credibility when i link things from here and that really annoys me because it will be on scout within 15 minutes. They probably give it no credibility because they are Spartan queers.

Hail-Storm

February 15th, 2012 at 10:36 AM ^

and found the desimated defense and some of Mathlete's work and have been hooked ever since.  I feel bad for my pre MGoBlog days, when I was pining for Michigan news from Freep, ESPN, and SI.  Now I know what true quality sports analysis and writing is supposed to look like, it's hard to get information from other sources.

  

Socrates Johnson

February 15th, 2012 at 10:46 AM ^

but I stayed for the OMG Shirtless and TacoPants.

I have always been a huge Michigan fan and I stumbled onto this blog a couple years ago in my pursuit of all things MIchigan.  While the sports information is awesome, I find myself coming back for the inside jokes and sense of community.

You guys even make a lurker like me feel welcome!

medals

February 15th, 2012 at 10:49 AM ^

I think I found Deadspin years ago through ESPN (maybe Bill Simmons?)

Deadspin picked up on the M Zone wonderlic scandal.  Through M Zone, I think I found Mgoblog. 

A.wess86

February 15th, 2012 at 10:49 AM ^

I began following the blog I believe off of a google search as RR was being let go and the search was under way. Decided to create a user name a few days ago and this is post #1. In the last year I've paid very close attention to all of the recruiting news and must say the site is awesome for ton of different purposes.

mgordoblue

February 15th, 2012 at 10:49 AM ^

Last summer was when I first started following Michigan blogs and the first one I discovered was Maize n' Brew. After getting somewhat annoyed by the lack of content I branched out and clicked all the links to the related blogs and found mgoblog, which has become my hands-down favorite. 

I would also like to praise Magnus and TTB too. I love his player countdown before the season and I am definately looking forward to that feature again in the coming summer.

Don

February 15th, 2012 at 10:50 AM ^

who thought he was smarter than everybody else in the room, and was desperate to prove he was the Ann Arbor version of Woodward or Bernstein. He's one of the reasons I stopped reading the shambling, rotting corpse of the old Ann Arbor News.

Brian Cook could not have been a more starkly refreshing and intelligent alternative, and I'm still here.

meals69

February 15th, 2012 at 10:52 AM ^

My family is all Michigan fans traped in the Worst State Ever. We have little pockets of Michigan fans here and there, but my younger brother and I stumbled onto this blog (the best blog EVER IMHO) around 5 years ago. I love being able to come here and talk/read about anything and everything michigan w/o the usual tOSU fan that's sitting in the room throwing in their $.01 (most tOSU fans I'm around don't have the spare change as far as common sense goes)

 

Also, the Posbangs are tremendous :-P

chunkums

February 15th, 2012 at 11:02 AM ^

One of my good friends and a one time prominent poster used to talk about this place a lot back in the day while my fandom was growing to unhealthy levels.  I lurked for a while in the haloscan days, and  I became a .gif-making fool when someone said, "that wasn't very effective" during 2009 Illinois, reminding me of Pokemon.  Ultimately, what made me come here way more often than I previously had done was the 2007 coaching search coverage.

Surveillance Doe

February 15th, 2012 at 11:01 AM ^

During the summer of 2006, I was watching a Tigers game with a guy I had lived with while we were undergrads at Michigan.  He asked if I had ever read this blog (I hadn't), and he started explaining UFRs.  When I got home that night, I checked it out.  I was a casual reader until the rumors of Lloyd retiring started heating up.  Then I became a regular haloscan junkie.  The Search 1.0 was a very entertaining time on haloscan with all the handle-jacking and "reliable" rumor sources.

sarto1g

February 15th, 2012 at 11:01 AM ^

It was the 2007 coaching search and I was reading something by Rittenburg on ESPN.  I looked in the corner of the page and Mgoblog was listed as a relevant team blog.  Still remember the "Profiles in Cronyism" post about Hoke coming to Michigan after Lloyd left.

Cville-Blue

February 15th, 2012 at 11:01 AM ^

Like a lot of other posters, I was pissed off during the RR years. I couldn't believe he'd try to run his offense with the talent we had on that roster. But, I still had so much hope that he'd lift Michigan out of the doldrums of offensive mediocrity, bland playcalling and risk aversion. So, I went looking for some other angry and passionate Michigan fans. I felt like Mgoblog gave me a fix... something to soothe my ache... so, I kept visiting. Eventually decided to put in my oar and as you can see by my point total... that occurs ever so rarely! This is the only site I check on a daily basis and since some days are slow, I find myself pouring through everyone's comments on OT stuff like this!

addiction

BlueMars24

February 15th, 2012 at 11:03 AM ^

I also came near the end of the RR era. I wonder if Brian/other can make a chart of number of registered users versus time or numbe of newly registered users vs time. Might make an interesting chart.

Moleskyn

February 15th, 2012 at 11:07 AM ^

A professor told me about the site sometime in the Spring of '08. I remember checking it out a little bit then, but I had never followed recruiting closely, so I felt lost. But I ended up getting an internship that summer, and this helped pass the time. I've been hooked since.

SchrodingersCat

February 15th, 2012 at 11:08 AM ^

In 2006 my freshman roomate showed me the blog. I'm 4th generation Blue so I instantly fell in love with the content and Brian's witty and irreverent style kept my attention. I've been lurking ever since. In 2010 when T. Woolf  broke his ankle I wanted to share some of my knowledge regarding his potential for recovery and was forced to make an account and enter into the fray. When the posbang happened I made my avatar and decided it should stick around. Love this site, and I hope to help it in anyway I can. Thanks Brian, long live unverified voracity! 

burtcomma

February 15th, 2012 at 11:12 AM ^

Was reading one of my favorite blogs called MotownSportsRevival because I had taken a job earlier that fall in southern Indiana where no one knew anything about Detroit sports, when I saw a link for Michigan football entitled MgoBlog.  Finally, some people who actually analyzed Michigan sports and had opinions based on some analysis instead of the seat of their pants!

Been massively hooked ever since!

bluebrow

February 15th, 2012 at 11:15 AM ^

First started following the site during the coaching search after RR firing.  My friend said don't post because there would always be a few jackasses telling you about how it's been posted before.  This was defninately true.  I guess it keeps things from getting redundant. 

I keep coming back because of the content and the Upton pictures.  Love the cult figures that are created.

BTW, would love to see you photoshoppers design a T with Kate Upton.  I don't know, maybe something like "Man Ball... let it all hang out"

Elise

February 15th, 2012 at 11:21 AM ^

I think it was 2006 when a friend of mine in the band was talking up mgoblog during breaks in practice, saying how "this guy goes through and dissects every play for you," and I thought it was pretty cool to read.  I was fully hooked by the time the first "Yakety Sax" was born after that wonderful ND game, and I've been an addict ever since.