This feature highlights some of the more famous personalities here at MGoBlogand beyond. Without pulling back the infamous veil of blog anonymity, we’ll get to know some of your favorite posters better and possibly shed some light on their definition of why it’s so darn Great, To Be, A Michigan Wolverine.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF MGOPROFILE
(Scroll down to the MGoProfile section of the User-Curated HOF).

SIX QUESTIONS WITH JUSTINGOBLUE

When the time came for a changing of the guard at the mod positions, there wasn’t really any more logical choice than justingoblue.  Quietly in the background, but also ever-present, he has a way to make a point without arguing a point that makes it hard to disagree even if you disagree.  Which is pretty much perfect material for a mod. He had already proved his worth as a poster, and he took up the call, carrying on the tradition of mods being “somethinggoblue” (or “geaux”). But as I put this together, as much as we seem to know about the guy, I was amazed by how much I didn’t really know about him. Luckily with the return of the MGoProfiles Six Zero created, we have a chance to look behind the curtain:

1.            I know Six Zero usually asks this towards the end (SEE?! The power has already gone to my head....) but I thought it would serve as a good starting point to other questions....the "What do you do for a living?" question; or in this case, tell us a little more about your schooling/background/what you're currently doing. Because while we know you better than most posters, I'm not sure we know what your life is like right now.

Well, life is fairly boring at this exact moment; I’m working part time, working out and that’s about it, although I will be starting a class up in a few weeks. As far as history goes, I grew up in Illinois the son of two Michigander parents. After high school, despite the wishes of some family members that wanted me in Ann Arbor, I took an academic scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh to study Philosophy, where I loved absolutely everything except my course work, so I returned home for a year to take classes, run competitively and figure out where I wanted to go from there. Around the middle of the year I was pretty sold on studying public policy and was extremely disappointed to find that Ford doesn’t accept external transfers, but I took my talents to Indiana and have absolutely loved everything about my educational experience. I will graduate next semester with a BSPA with concentrations in Policy Analysis and Public Management, and I’m currently doing some graduate work in Fort Wayne. Academically, my goal is to someday graduate from Ross, most likely either an MBA or their MS in Supply Chain Management, depending on how I can best serve my (still strictly hypothetical) military career.

2.         Once you get Michigan in your blood, you can’t get it out, no matter where life’s path takes you.  You've mentioned before your desire for a military career, your desire to get commissioned, and working on a package for OCC; I think there's people like MGoShoe who gives us insight into what's going on at the other end of the spectrum in military service, but what is it like to get your start in that area? Most of us worked hard in school, and maybe even had a job, but didn't have that on our plate too, so it's a look into a different kind of experience. 

Yes, my goal is to attend and graduate from Marine Corps Officer Candidate School and begin a career as a Marine Officer. The particular program I’m working towards is called OCC and is designed for college graduates that the USMC believes might be officer material. There’s a fairly extensive application process that is heavily weighted towards physical and academic performance, and if accepted results in ten weeks in Quantico, VA. That ten week period is basically a try-out, candidates are free to leave and the Marine Corps can dismiss a candidate as well. Assuming a candidate makes it through graduation, the USMC offers a commission and the candidate has the choice to become a Second Lieutenant and go on to professional schooling or walk away without further obligation. In terms of training, I don’t spend nearly the time that a college athlete does; I’d say I’m usually comparable to a college student that’s more active than most, although right now I’m coming back from knee surgery and not in the shape I want to be in. Well, that, and unlike a lot of my friends, there’s no way you’re going to find me around, um…illicit substances.

3.            Illicit substances?  I have no idea what you would mean by that…in college? Perish the thought. You can speak as someone who knows what the time constraints of a college athlete are, since you are well known (or "infamous" with some of our more....out there population of the board) for dating a softball player at another school. You even let us in on one of your dates. Without getting into the who and where's which you have tried to protect, what's the general experience in dating a college athlete? Does it give you any more insight into what your average college athlete goes through, and do you take that into consideration when "Player X" blows the game or such? And do you feel like you know what athletes go through, how athletic departments work, and what's really on a coaches plate having a close up view of what goes on behind closed doors?

The first thing I have to say is that putting a die-hard sports fan in a relationship with an athlete puts the fan in me on steroids, to the point that I’d rather watch her pitch than Devin Gardner pass. I think about it like this: I get up in the morning and hop on MGoBlog to read about teams I follow, but the time of day I wake up is usually determined by softball, as is my eating schedule and it also determines the boring nights of the week or the going out nights. That should segue nicely into saying that there are a lot of nights where we’re in bed early after catching a quick documentary on Netflix, mostly because of how long and difficult her days can be. Megan is studying Mechanical Engineering in addition to being invaluable to her team, and the discipline, drive and endurance she has is something I truly admire; it certainly gives me a profound respect for guys like Mark Huyge or Jordan Morgan. Behind closed doors, I’ve learned that dealing with a team of competitive college females isn’t a task you could pay me enough to do, as much as I like them individually.  As far as “player x blew the game” I would say the biggest change has been to look beyond “how many hits did the pitcher give up” because that’s only like 20% of the story. Seeing her coaches grade them, seeing how she feels about her coaches/catchers calls, how the defense played, etc., all have to be taken into account, and that’s true for any athlete.  On-field criticism is something that comes with the territory; it’s more than fair to criticize a bad read or throw or whatever, but I do have a few Mike Gundy quotes for anyone going personal on an athlete, especially at the college level. Those are some of my least favorite comments to see on the board, and I’ve banned people for going personal in the past.

4.            So you’re saying a team full of competitive women isn’t like a Penthouse Forum letter? I’m both shocked and disappointed. (Though one wonders if you are a big sports fan AND dating Devin Gardner, does your mind aspolde?) You actually had a pretty good  run of diaries going when you first started here; has modding taken over that free time, or could we see more when inspiration strikes? You had a wide variety of topics and angles you looked at things, and couldn't be pigeon-holed as "chart boy" or "history guy" or whatever.

I actually think not being “a guy” is what keeps me out of the diary section on a regular basis. I feel like I do a lot of things pretty well, but I’m not the statistician LSA is, the football strategist Space Coyote is, I can’t make pretty things like Six Zero or monuMental and I don’t flawlessly execute a great idea like ST3. I’ll still publish something if I feel like there’s something original I can look at or that MGoBlog might be interested in, but it’s not any kind of a priority. I did author a sticky thread recently, although that’s obviously not a diary. /shameless plug

5.            You took can make pretty things like Six Zero. You just have to copy and paste them like I did for this diary. A little birdie told me you had an additional angle on what it's like to be a mod that wasn't covered in the LSAClassof2000 profile last time. What else do you think goes into being a mod that hasn’t been covered?

On moderating, the biggest thing for me is the camaraderie among the few of us who are around. When I first started in December, profitgoblue was absolutely amazing as a teacher while I got my footing, and when he was still on the board full time he and I would exchange an awful lot of emails. LSA and I talk daily, although I believe we have only emailed when I tried to send him a crash course in moderating, so it’s interesting that the same guy who might reach 140 commas in a diary is a fan of 140 character PM’s. Everyone’s favorite everything, BiSB, has also been very willing to help us out when we can’t get to a computer (or he starts a flamebait/political thread, haha). The job gets a bad rap, and while a lot of the bad things you see or hear are definitely true, it definitely has its moments that make it worthwhile, at least to me. When the time comes for a new moderator, I certainly hope that is clear to the top choices.

6.            Sure, that’s what they all say to begin with; before they’re in the fetal position, sucking their thumb, mumbling “why do we have to debate Rich Rod again, WHY?!?” So, I'm not sure if it was covered in one of the Avatar defining threads or not, but for the newer posters...where'd you get your Avatar and why'd you pick it? It's quite distinct and makes you easy to spot, so it's effective to be sure.

Somebody posted the large picture on a thread, I liked the picture, and as you say it is very unique, so I saved it and made it my own. There are more than a few avatars that need to stay as-is, and from what I’ve gathered that cheerleader is one of them. I’m not sure what the source is, if we can find the thread there might be more info, but it looks like prewar program art to me.

7.            There’s nothing more enjoyable than an MGoChallenge. So who’s the poster who can find that thread first? (Trust me, we’re not lazy, we looked. We’re just not as good as you. IF you can find it).  So now we return to Six Zero’s equivalent of his Inside the Actor’s Studio Questions: What do you like to do for fun?

I like working out, especially running and especially not being a stand-in catcher. I enjoy watching movies and TV shows, I’ve always liked watching documentaries, and I have a serious need to watch (or read) anything profiling Muhammad Ali. Lately I’ve been catching up on Arrested Development since I missed it when it was actually on. In addition, as you can probably guess from my field of study, I’m very big into policy, especially economic policies and competing economic theories. I have a bit of a peculiar leaning that isn’t very big, but it produces a lot of high quality content from some really bright minds. I can get lost in their published papers, usually about the intersection of legal and economic theory, or in the more timely blog posts and articles written daily. I also love going to parties and going out to the bar with friends, especially when the guest list is the softball team and just a few others (some of the girl/guy ratios are just crazy).

8.            So where are these parties at….? Nevermind. Describe the perfect meal.

Depends on the situation. Megan makes a spicy chicken salad that is just phenomenal, and I love a meal of pulled pork, potato salad and baked beans. For more of a dinner course, I love tortellini or any kind of seafood (salmon is the exception to prove the rule); mussels and lobster are my favorites. If we’re planning out a perfect meal the bottom line is that it needs to end in carrot cake and maybe a Hendricks martini or a neat Irish whiskey.

9.            Can you explain why you are a Michigan fan?

Aside from the stories that are normal around here- mine being that my earliest memory is my grandfather bouncing me on his knee teaching me The Victors- my biggest influence to Michigan fandom is my family. The entire ethos surrounding the Wolverines is something that was always shown to me as an example of excellence achieved the right way, and I guess that’s my thought every time I see that “M”. My conversion from a more casual fan growing up to however you would describe me now hasn’t shaken that at all. The constant Webber debates are beyond frustrating, but I’d rather participate in that discussion twenty years after the fact than be caught dead giving a standing ovation to Jim Tressel in 2012. Now, there are other programs with similar aspirations, but do any include the winged helmets, The Victors, and ambassadors like Desmond Howard, Charles Woodson, Denard Robinson, Red Berenson and Carol Hutchins? To answer a bit more directly, I am and I don’t know if I can explain it, but I’m fine just knowing I am.

10.          Who’s your all-time favorite Wolverine?

I have an actual answer that’s a bit of a cop out, so I’ll go ahead and put one name out there, and it’s Denard Robinson. There is pretty much nothing more you can ask out of an athlete, from the ridiculous ability he has on the football field to his off field persona, he just might be the easiest person to root for this side of Steve Yzerman. My actual answer is “those who stood” from the recruiting class of 2007. I’ve said it a few times in person, but I don’t know if I’ve said it on the board: to deal with the change in expectations that those guys did, to stick through the insane amount of scrutiny and criticism that their predecessors did not have to deal with and doing all of that so the classes behind them wouldn’t go through the same is an incredibly powerful statement about the kind of men they are.

Well said. So at this point I’d like to thank Six Zero for creating the MGoProfile, which not only is a fun read, but I like to think brings us together a bit more as a community, and more than the sum of our posts. I hope I just managed to do his creativity justice. And if nothing else has gotten him inspired to do more himself, so we’ve got that going for us, which is nice. In the future we’ll have some more of the rank and file (this was never intended to be just a “who creates/controls MGoBlog profile"), but I don’t think we’d even have these back without justingoblue’s encouragement and facilitation, and while the reason I wanted to see it come back is that there are a multitude of deserving candidates, he made it possible for us to get more of Six Zero’s great creation.  So thanks to both of them.  And we’ll see you back here in a couple(?) of weeks for another one of these profiles. (Slight change of plan since next Friday is the day after a holiday, I thought we’d put this out today, and take a break next week rather than this one.  Though you never know.)