Lack of chatter.

Submitted by theWritist on

A recent (yesterday or the day before?) post noted the deafening lack of offseason football chatter. It even seemed to the poster that the Board has avoided talking about football and has kept to posting on other more light-hearted—or flatly benign—subjects. 

The reason is probably superstition. No one wants to say/ask what many MGoBoarders are thinking. And although not superstitious myself, I am a little stitious, to quote Michael Scott, so I won’t say/ask it either. But...We have all been watching, and what we’ve seen has led simultaneously to Notre Dame-like levels of expectation and Kansas-like levels of silence:

1. Drevno and his lawyer-speak convolution of blocking schemes hit the bricks, and the O-line Whisperer was brought in.

2. Any QB that could be described as a lumbering gulumpus is gone, and more athletic QBs, including a highly-touted SEC gunslinger, moved in.

3. The “strength” coach who got ahold of, and apparently took seriously, a copy of the fake schedule that included opponents like C.E. Williams Middle School, Little Sisters of the Blind Convent, Maizen’s Fortnite crew, and Rutgers, was fired. Some guy from Game of Thrones replaced him.

4. Don Brown is still down to clown. And the D is reloaded. 

5. And Jimmy. The coach who, at first, seemed just happy to be home, climbing trees, playing frisbee, sleeping over, starring in commercials, trolling D-bag coaches deep in D-bag territory, playing around on Twitter, has been different. He does not any longer seem happy just be home. He is quieter, he is calmer... He even put the meritocracy to the test by dismissing a close friend who has been at his side for quite some time. He seems determined and poised to accomplish what most of us expected in Jabrill’s 3rd year.

Yes, there is radio silence, because no one wants to jinx anything. So I’ll just quote Grant Newsome’s tweet from New Year’s day:

“Everyone take your shots at us now. We deserve it. But I promise this time next year you won’t be doing the same. Believe that.”

 

Less than 5 weeks...Hail.

 

 

 

ldevon1

July 30th, 2018 at 4:56 PM ^

There is no chatter because the fort is back. The only thing that gets out, is what the coaches are putting out. I'm fine with it, because at this point, talk is cheap. They have to show and prove, and I think they realize that now. 

stephenrjking

July 30th, 2018 at 5:06 PM ^

Apparently? I didn't comment on the last thread because I didn't get a chance before it shuffled off, but it's not like we used to be all loaded with football talk in July on the old site. June and July is the deadest of the dead times. Sure, there's a little less board traffic, but that means that there are fewer comments on the car and food threads, not a sudden disappearance of football content.

The fact is, there's not a lot of football to talk yet. When the coaches say something, it's stuff that's basically been true since spring practice finished. Other than nugget from Warriner that feature details about workouts that have happened since (e.g. JBB and Steuber) there is nothing to report because nothing has happened.

The rumors will start trickling through in camp. We'll hear about some surprise starter at tackle that we weren't expecting that turns out to be nothing, and someone will suggest that Peters has been passed or has taken snaps from Shea, and there will be video of one crazy catch made by Oliver Martin that we'll go ga-ga over, and some mysterious DL will be missing reps due to an unidentified injury. 

And that will be like the first three days. It'll grow from there. 

But we're a week from that yet. It's still July. Football is coming, but right now we have cookouts and fishing trips and mowing to do.

evenyoubrutus

July 30th, 2018 at 5:24 PM ^

I get what you're saying, but I don't think it's all in our imaginations. Last August was conspicuously devoid of "tea leaf" content. During Spring, there was very little. There may be very good reasons for it, but it just seems like that feature of the site has dropped off. Don't get me wrong, I still have a ton of respect for what they've got going here. It's not easy to please everyone and run a blog like this that has high standards and is free. But it's ludicrous to deny that the insider type content has slowed a bit.

HL2VCTRS

July 30th, 2018 at 7:21 PM ^

I don’t buy it. Every thread has a bunch of users that can figure out the site well enough to bitch about the site, but they can’t figure it out or take the same amount of time to post wild speculation in other threads?  

I think there is general apathy and it’s slow season. 

corundum

July 30th, 2018 at 8:00 PM ^

I agree to a certain degree. The conversation is definitely taking a big hit from the inability to see which posts are new since the user's last visit.

 

Honestly, I'm not even 30 and this format is frustrating in the sense that if this is the point forward for internet forums, then I know what it was like when my mom first got the iPhone.

 

I've been more active on r/cfb this offseason and it actually hasn't bothered me. One drawback there is that there are too many users to get a true sense of individual personality. I thought I would eventually get used to the new board here but I have concluded that I just don't flat out like it.

Hold This L

July 31st, 2018 at 3:47 PM ^

It took me 20 minutes to try and figure out how to post a gif from Giphy yesterday because it wouldn’t accept the link. I never did figure it out. The old board it was sooooo easy. I thought the old board was slightly easier to navigate as well. I’m relatively young too so this stuff shouldn’t be as difficult. 

aaamichfan

July 30th, 2018 at 5:12 PM ^

Expectations are high, but this is a tough fucking schedule. Sometimes you just gotta wait and see, which I'm pretty ok with doing.

And work is crazy busy right now, so I don't have much time to sit around wondering....

corundum

July 30th, 2018 at 8:04 PM ^

This has been echoed plenty, but I'm just not seeing it as much as everyone else has been saying. ND and Penn St are overrated. MSU and OSU were going to be tough no matter where we played. Wisconsin is a home game and we get Indiana the week before OSU.

 

Sure, going undefeated isn't likely but I'll be surprised if we have more than two losses at the end of the year.

DJMich23

July 30th, 2018 at 5:12 PM ^

I'm okay with the lack of chatter. There's only so much we can speculate about. We all know the strengths/weaknesses of the team and what needs to be done. This season will answer many questions about the state of Michigan football and where it's headed. No more hype. No more talk. No more excuses. We've been through multiple regimes who have failed to get the job done, yet they garnered ridiculous pre-season hype. Enough of that. This isn't Notre Dame. This is Michigan. 

ScooterTooter

July 30th, 2018 at 5:16 PM ^

Personally, I wish the UFRs that have been skipped from the previous year would come in July just to complete the picture of the season for that particular series. Even if reliving the losses suck, its superior to draftteggaddonn. 

Berger04

July 30th, 2018 at 5:21 PM ^

I guess I would like to see more football talk and posts this time a year as well. I just believe everything is the calm before the storm right now. The submarine just left the port and is ready to disappear off the radar for the next couple of weeks. Lets hope Jim and our boys have taken the fuel the media and other players from other teams have said to heart and wreak everything in there path this year. I just got a good feeling about this team....Go Blue

DonAZ

July 30th, 2018 at 5:25 PM ^

"He [Harbaugh] is quieter, he is calmer"

He's dialed in.  Thousand yard stare.

Michigan may lose some games this year, but they won't go down easily.  

JonnyHintz

July 30th, 2018 at 6:06 PM ^

I mean... it’s July. Aside from recruiting and the random coach interview, there isn’t much football news. Unless someone is getting arrested or suspended, July is dead. Once camp starts up here soon and little bits of information start getting leaked back out, the chatter will start back up 

andrewG

July 30th, 2018 at 6:35 PM ^

I've finally learned that the Kool-Aid is often tainted with poison. It's best to let others drink it first and approach cautiously.