Fanatics The Good, The Bad and The Reality
I once thought before message boards that Michigan fans were classy and better then most fan bases. They supported their teams though good years and bad. Then I started reading message boards and learned they are just like all the other fan bases. Some support the team good or bad because they love the school and program. Some just like to talk negative because they will never be happy and then their are the chunk who appear to want the team to win simply for bragging rights against the rivals. The braggers are the ones who work with Buckeye Fan or MSU fan who takes the games too serious. These kids must win so this guy doesn't have to go to work the next day and hear about it. The irony is these kids must win so this guy can run to work and trash the MSU fan. I love coming here and hearing how the basketball team sucks because they have been ranked in the top 10 all year after...what 10-15 years of barely sniffing the top 25?? Rome wasn't built in a day kids. Maybe enjoy sports and don't get hung up in it so emotionally...seeing as you don't even play in the game and all.
I remember my first MLive experience.
Ha! I never noticed it, but you're right. It must be the first two steps in dealing with sports grief. What's the third step, the next game, or official start of the offseason (draft, camp, etc.)?
I'm amazed at how many people are taking it seriously. Then again, I'm not.
/troll'd
I think it's also a matter of how we lost them.
@ OSU - We came out flat and got trucked for most of the first half. I think most feel like if we hadn't given up such a big lead, we could have come back.
@ Wisconsin - you're up by 3 with less than 10 seconds to go: foul the damn ball carrier before he gets a shot off. I think they still had a foul to give, so Wisc. would have had to inbound the ball again - then foul again; send them to the line for a 1 & 1.
@ PSU - 2nd half defense, please?
Yesterday - GRIII and Stauskas look like they're not interested in playing defense. It's hard to win playing 5 on 3 on one side of the floor.
The team is still young. Once they mature, they'll be monsters.
I'm afraid of monsters (sob)...
Wha...did the OP really mean it when saying we really aren't classier and better than other fan bases? Or did he just have a bad day and is being mean to us...(sob)?
I'm just gonna have to grab my teddy bear and blankie and curl up in the fetal position all day sucking my thumb until I get over this (sniff)...
The third step is to blame the officials...
The original post reminds me unpleasantly of "Go Blue Michigan Wolverine."
Are you eroc from gobluemichganwolverinegoteamgoblueteamgo.com?
Also, if you think Rome can't be built in a day then you've never seen Chuck Norris play with legos.
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.
I bought the set of tickets to all games. Naive, I was.
Nonetheless, I agree with the OP on several points. It is a good thing to be classy. But the meme that Michigan fans are classy is obv. an overgeneralization. I wonder if the fact that we've won so much in football over the years along with the general stature of UofM allows Michigan fans to be more patronizing, arrogant, and, in a sense, "classy." Probably. But the more you go to games and are around others, the more you realize there are good and bad apples in every fanbase, including Michigan's fans.
I do believe that Michigan will improve, even sans Burke. It does take some time to get defensive footwork and play down cold. I don't think it is a good thing that Michigan lost to Wisconsin, but I'm not surprised. When we didn't capitalize on their horrid shooting in the first half, I had a very, very bad sense of foreboding. We are going to struggle against a very disciplined, strong, defense oriented team. There aren't a ton of those in the country, but Wisconsin, Ohio, and MSU are three of them.
I also want to give a quick shout out to the Maize Rage. They were very visible in the UC, and had a much larger contingent than any other student section there. Boy, the Big 10 really gave the students the worst seats in the house, however. They had terrible seats.
