Hokepoints: For the Final Act, a Soliloquy Comment Count

Seth

How did we get here? Enter Hamlet.

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To be, or not to be: that is the question.

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11/9: Michigan 100, Slippery Rock 62. 1-0

11/12: Michigan 91, IUPUI 54. 2-0

11/13: Michigan 77, Cleveland St 47. 3-0

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

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11/21: Michigan 67, Pitt 62. 4-0

11/23: Michigan 71, K-State 57. 5-0

11/27: Michigan 79, NC State 72. 6-0

12/1: Michigan 74, Bradley 66. 7-0

12/4: Michigan 73, WMU 41. 8-0

12/8: Michigan 80, Arkansas 67. 9-0

12/11: Michigan 67, Binghamton 39. 10-0

12/15: Michigan 81, West Virginia 66. 11-0

12/20: Michigan 93, EMU 54. 12-0

12/29: Michigan 88, CMU 73. 13-0

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them.

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1/3: Michigan 94, Northwestern 66. 14-0, 1-0

1/6: Michigan 95, Iowa 67. 15-0, 2-0

1/9: Michigan 62, Nebraska 47. 16-0, 3-0

To die; to sleep; no more;

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1/13: Ohio State 56, Michigan 53. 16-1, 3-1

And by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.

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1/17: Michigan 83, Minnesota 75. 17-1, 4-1

1/24: Michigan 68, Purdue 53. 18-1, 5-1

1/27: Michigan 74, Illinois 60. 19-1, 6-1

1/30: Michigan 68, Northwestern 46. 20-1, 7-1

’Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. To die. To sleep; To sleep? Perchance to dream! Ay, there’s the rub.

induuy

2/2: Indiana 81, Michigan 73. 20-2, 7-2

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause.

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2/5: Michigan 76, Ohio State 74 (OT). 21-2, 8-2

There’s the respect that makes calamity of so long life. For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, the oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely, the pangs of disprized love, the law’s delay,

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2/9: Wisconsin 65, Michigan 62 (OT). 21-3, 8-3

2/12: Michigan State 75, Michigan 52. 21-4, 8-4

2/17: Michigan 79, Penn State 71. 22-4, 9-4

2/24: Michigan 71, Illinois 58. 23-4, 10-4

2/27: Penn State 84, Michigan 78. 23-5, 10-5

The insolence of office and the spurns, that patient merit of the unworthy takes,

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3/3: Michigan 58, Michigan State 57. 24-5, 11-5

3/6: Michigan 80, Purdue 75. 25-5, 12-5

When he himself might his quietus make with a bare bodkin?

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3/10: Indiana 72, Michigan 71. 25-6, 12-6 EORS.

Who would fardels 12 bear, to grunt and sweat under a weary life but that the dread of something after death,

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3/14: Michigan 83, Penn State 66. 26-6

3/15: Wisconsin 68, Michigan 59. 26-7

The undiscovered country from whose boundary no traveler returns, puzzles the will and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of?

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3/21: Michigan 71, South Dakota State 56. 27-7

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; and thus the native hue of resolution is sicklied over with the pale cast of thought,

3/23: Michigan 78, Virginia Commonwealth 53. 28-7

And enterprises of great pith and moment with this regard their currents turn awry, and lose the name of action.

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xwuga

3/29: Michigan 87, Kansas 85. 29-7

Soft you now! The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons.

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3/31: Michigan 79, Florida 59. 30-7

4/6: Michigan 61, Syracuse 56. 31-7

Be all my sins remembered.

JiJYdQG

Comments

Swayze Howell Sheen

April 8th, 2013 at 5:18 PM ^

love the Hamlet but the contemplation of life/death/suffering/suicide may not be the best allegory for this basketball season... :) however, i sure was suffering during UM's free throw shooting at the end of the Syracuse game.

also, great pics and summary of the season.

go blue!

 

Seth

April 8th, 2013 at 5:46 PM ^

The point of the soliloquy is we live because the alternative is death.

I started writing it backwards, since Shakespeare put the playoff sentiment (is it better to accept the inescapable fate of death or to fight it tooth and nail?) at the beginning and ended with the "remember my sins" part.

But I didn't like going back in time and it fit forward as well so there ya go. Still, the binary nature of life and death..."To be or not to be" is I think a perfect description of playoff life, and the nature of a single-elimination championship game especially. Whatever happens tonight, remember, this season ends. It dies. It will not be. And yet the battle with that inevitabily has been its own sweetest justification. To find meaning in a doomed fight for survival is to allow all the great deeds accomplished by the living to have meaning. To explain to friends and family why your world balances on the outcome of a single basketball game requires a great feat of existential logic.

If you want to give me a C in Shakespearean referencing for this, I accept.

MichiganTeacher

April 8th, 2013 at 6:29 PM ^

This day is call’d the feast of Subs.

He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,

Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,

And rouse him at the name of Subs.

He that shall live this day, and see old age,

Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,

And say “To-morrow is the day we had subs."

Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,

And say “It was crazy.”

Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,

But he’ll remember, with advantages,

What feats he did that day. Then shall their names,

Familiar in his mouth as household words-

Young Trey Burke, Morgan and Hardaway,

Stauskas and McGary, Robinson and Spike-

Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.

This story shall the good man teach his son;

And the Feast of Subs shall ne’er go by,

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remembered-

We few, we happy few, we fans of brothers;

For those to-day that #eat together

Shall always be brothers; be he ne’er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition;

And gentlemen in Columbus now-a-bed

Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That cheered with us upon the Subs day.

(Original, from Henry V)

Blueroller

April 8th, 2013 at 5:21 PM ^

It's probably safe to say that that is the first time – and that Mgoblog is the only place – ever to compare Shakespeare's Ophelia to the Florida Gator mascot.

IncrediblySTIFF

April 8th, 2013 at 5:29 PM ^

This is perhaps one of the more obscure pieces you have done, and yet, it is hard not to see the comparisons.  The outcome of tonights game will forever cement this teams legacy, however, it is difficult to believe that we will ever remember this team as a "tragedy."

Do we seek this "new world" of greatness with such blind ambition that we are willing to sacrifice the old in order to crawl on top of our thrones?  Is this a cumilation of everything that has happened since that woefully called timeout?

Is this past suffering justified by our rise to the top, this year, or was some of the past success, success that some of the younger of us never got to experience first hand, justified by the repeated dissapointment across that very same time frame that we began to experience pitfalls?

Is this merely reperations for deeds done past that, while perhaps not morally corrupt or completely unexpected, these deeds were certainly against the expectations set forth by the University of Michigan and its peers?

Regardless of how this ends, we should remember these wise words spoken by Hamlet to Rosencrantz (Act 2, Scene 2) as well:

"...There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking it makes it so..."

snoopblue

April 8th, 2013 at 5:47 PM ^

I liked this a lot. 

Jalen Rose is really annoying. His transition to a complete to ESPN Sith Lord. He just wants attention. I hope Chris Webber slaps him. Desmond is clearly of stronger mind and has held on to Jedi status. You don't see him seeking out attention.

M-Dog

April 8th, 2013 at 6:00 PM ^

I like this one:

The month of the government of Canada's fiscal year end (March 31), when departments traditionally rush to spend the remainder of their budgets in order that they not experience budget reductions the next year.

Those nutty Canadians.  May all their three's be nothing but net.

 

 

Goblueman

April 8th, 2013 at 6:02 PM ^

If you were my English teacher in HS I would have understood why I needed to memorize Hamlets soliloquy.First time in 45 years it's been useful in my life.

Boom Goes the …

April 8th, 2013 at 6:06 PM ^

I have seen quite a few angles of the Trey Burke shot, but I want THAT one.  Especially if Michigan wins it all tonight, a framed picture of the team celebrating and that picture need to be added to my collection.  The Mgoblue photo store doesn't have that angle, so if anyone has seen that photo available for purchase, I would really appreciate it. Go Blue!

crossvilliage

April 8th, 2013 at 6:29 PM ^

For all the assholic central Ohio morons who wish death on the Wolverines... I apologize.

They are ignorant and know not-eh what they doeth....

Michigan winning does nothing but enhance the BIG whatever they call themselves.... and 3Burke  (as in TreyMaster) is loved here in CBus by all who ever watched him play at Northland.   I will bet my car that all the Sullingers are pulsing all their energy into a Michigan victory and all those here who are not.... just take your asshat off for a night.

 

GO BLUE   (if just for tonight)

crossvilliage

April 8th, 2013 at 6:30 PM ^

For all the assholic central Ohio morons who wish death on the Wolverines... I apologize.

They are ignorant and know not-eh what they doeth....

Michigan winning does nothing but enhance the BIG whatever they call themselves.... and 3Burke  (as in TreyMaster) is loved here in CBus by all who ever watched him play at Northland.   I will bet my car that all the Sullingers are pulsing all their energy into a Michigan victory and all those here who are not.... just take your asshat off for a night.

 

GO BLUE   (if just for tonight)