Spath rant on Michigan Football's lack of fan engagement
January 9th, 2019 at 9:28 PM ^
Who? Who cares?
January 9th, 2019 at 9:45 PM ^
After M wins a home game, the players should run to a corner and sing the Victor's with the fan base. Some players should jump on to the wall and in to the stands and hug the fans, take selfies with fans. It would be awesome!
I understand what some are saying on here about 'do more appreciation', but I would appreciate the wins in Nov-Dec more ?
Go Blue!
January 9th, 2019 at 10:26 PM ^
i know why all the hidden practices? it's not like the play calls are so unpredictable
January 9th, 2019 at 11:26 PM ^
Seems like a no-brainer. Think of all the $5 bottles of water they could sell at these fan events!
January 9th, 2019 at 11:37 PM ^
What do you want, sleepovers with the players?
January 10th, 2019 at 12:32 AM ^
I can't take listening to Spath.
Also, I tried listening to various podcasts that I have liked in the past, but every one of them started spewing about bowl games not mattering, which caused them to lose me as a listener.
Bowl games don't matter to some people.
Bowl games do matter to a significant number of fans and advertisers and a significant number of the people who work their asses off for bowl games (players, coaches, staff, and even some media people)
January 10th, 2019 at 10:55 AM ^
Yes, how DARE the university try something new, modern, and engaging for people who shell out THOUSANDS of dollars to attend even one game (a family of four or five at one game costs, what, five hundred just for the tix?)
And how DARE they try something to bring new blood and enthusiasm to the program.
Especially since it really in mired in boring mediocrity.
An energetic, enthusiastic fan base could also be, I dunno, a recruiting tool?
January 10th, 2019 at 11:23 AM ^
The basketball program makes it fun to be a fan while the football program makes it feel like a burdensome chore most of the time. I don't think you can fault Spath for talking about that issue. And it's about more than just winning and losing.
I took my wife (who doesn't give a shit about sports in general) and my 2-year-old to selfie night a couple years ago. Without being asked, Coach B held up my boy for a fantastic pic and told us he has "grandpa experience." Then when we were doing a family selfie with Herr Wagner, who was fresh off the boat, he asked for the phone and told us he was a "human selfie stick" in a thick German drawl. I love that picture. And then we got to chat with women's all-time great Katelynn Flaherty. It was all awesome, and free, and enjoyable for all of us, regardless of age or interest level in basketball. It humanized the team. If you have a chance to go to selfie night, go, particularly if you have young kiddos.
When I attend or watch a basketball game now, I mostly think "hey, this is pretty great!" even when we end up losing. The experience compares well to the games I went to from '92-'96 when I had season tix (minus the sleeping in tents outside Crisler to get good seats). When I attend or watch a football game, on the other hand, I regularly find myself thinking "this isn't as much fun as it used to be," even though we're winning at a similar clip to what we did in the '90s (well, other than '97).
So it's definitely about more than just winning. It's about an attitude toward the fanbase, and the many things the football program and the NCAA have done over the past couple decades to diminish the gameday experience: minimizing the band, raising ticket prices/fees, raising concession prices, diminishing the significance of the bowls, rendering a playoff appearance as the only "acceptable" measure of a successful season, instant replay (damn it to hell), endless commercial timeouts. Keith Jackson died and nobody has come close to replacing him. Even Harbaugh's annual "submarine" and his content-free press conference answers, which I used to kind of appreciate as a middle finger to dumb reporter questions, have gotten old and serve to further disengage this fan from paying as much attention as I want to.
All that said: I love watching Michigan football, I still want to be passionate about them, and I still want us to win. But it's become less fun and more like work. I'm tired of being badgered and taken for granted as a fan, and it would be nice if the program would take some baby steps toward re-engaging the fanbase. Throw us a mother-fucking bone, indeed, even if that's just letting us throw marshmallows at the cheerleaders again. If the Shining taught us anything, it's that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, and that you shouldn't move into a haunted hotel in the mountains for the winter with your weird-looking wife and psychic child.