Photos From The Fire Dave Brandon Rally Comment Count

Ace

What started with a message board post became a law student wearing an Ohio State sweatshirt in protest:



This and all following photos: Ace Anbender/MGoBlog

While at first it appeared the media members would outnumber the protestors, that changed in a hurry, with the assembled crowd alternating chants of "Fire Brandon," "We Want Harbaugh," and "Down With Dave."

A little while in, a small group chanted "Schlissel's House!" Lo and behold, a few minutes later, the protest had moved to the university president's front lawn:



“I’m proud of our history. I’m not proud of Dave Brandon being a part of that history.”

The guy with the megaphone—I didn't catch who he was, but since he was interviewed by several media outlets, I'm sure it'll get out there—spoke for a while about his pride in the University's athletic history, his support of the students and athletes, and the failure of Dave Brandon to protect either. The rally ended with a mocking "Dave Sucks" chant and a rendition of The Victors. A certain blogger may or may not have been interviewed on live television.

The full set of photos from the rally is embedded below. I'd estimate the turnout ended up at somewhere around 400-500 people—not bad for something that started just hours earlier on a message board...

Comments

Mr. Yost

October 1st, 2014 at 8:58 AM ^

How do you ever move forward if you're always looking back? I suppose you can, but you sure as hell don't know where you're going.

We HAVE to get out of this mentality that everything old should pick or approve of everything new.

There is SUCH a difference from Dave Brandon's way of progress and this "Do what Bo would do" train of thought.

Find a middle ground between them. Force the two thought processes to work together. I guarantee a little bit of Brandon's way and a little bit of the old guard overseeing it. A collabrative process...it'll get us where we need to go.

You need to move forward, but you need to know where you've been as well. It's really not that f-ing hard.

Don

September 30th, 2014 at 11:42 PM ^

There was no meaningful presence of Quaaludes in the protest movements of the late 60s and early 70s. Methaqualone was a central nervous system depressant originally intended as an aid in dealing with insomnia and as a sedative and muscle relaxant, and the drugs of choice of the counterculture were primarily psychotropics and stimulants.

Quaaludes became popular with the suburban white kid party crowd of the early-to mid 1970s, and these kids didn't give a flying fuck about protests. They weren't interested in higher consciousness, but in numbness.

bronxblue

September 30th, 2014 at 9:29 PM ^

Of course he would be.  This has never been about as much about fixing the real problems with the institution as it has been making a public spectacle of pointing out said issues.  People on here who sent letters to administrators, called the phone numbers, and were respectful yet forceful with their opinions are going to do a hell of a lot more to bring about real change in the AD than a bunch of people standing on the Diag.  Again, I credit people for wanting to be heard and doing something about it, but this call to action has morphed from something meaningful to an exploitation of a toxic environment for attention.

bronxblue

September 30th, 2014 at 10:14 PM ^

I'm sure it is real to some people out there, but it also feels like a fair bit of trolling is going on.  And shockingly, I can have an opinion about the matter that differs from those involved in this particular demonstration and still support the general premise.  

And again, is the solidarity in getting a couple of guys fired, to improve overall treatment of players, or something else?  As noted earlier, this feels like crusaders looking for a mission.  But I'm also an old man sitting 800 miles away.  If a bunch of college kids want to stand on the campus and make a symbolic gesture about their discontent for the athletic director, who am I to stop them.  I'm just not going to crown them as the great liberators or speakers of the people.

bronxblue

October 1st, 2014 at 10:24 AM ^

Man, I wasn't alive in the 60s and 70s, but thanks for thinking I'm way older than I am.

I absolutely remember being on that campus; I was one of the many kids in the diag on 9/11 after watching the towers go down in real time at the house I was renting with a bunch of guys.  So I get how sometimes students feel powerless and just need to come together.  Obviously different circumstances, but I get the need for that.

But I'm not the "establishment" because I question the motives of everyone involved in a rally to get a couple of guys fired.  I want Brandon and Hoke gone as much as anyone; I didn't like the hire of Hoke when they made it, and Brandon always struck me as a stuffed shirt.  I got a huge kick about this site's initial "Pimp Hand" of Brandon because all he did was walk into an easy PR situaiton with the Freepgate and take credit for the NCAA thinking it was BS.  

But by all means, please keep portraying anyone who has a different take on the situation and isn't immediately "burn the place down" as part of the fuzz who is trying to stiffle the voice of the people.  I guess my connection to the school ended in your eyes when I graduated.

westwardwolverine

October 1st, 2014 at 8:48 AM ^

I would say its about getting two guys who have done a terrible job fired and that their treatment of Shane Morris and cover-up in the aftermath of the Minnesota game was the straw that broke the camel's back and got us to this point. 

bronxblue

October 1st, 2014 at 10:25 AM ^

I'd agree with this generally, though nobody thought Hoke was going to make it past this season, and by all accounts Brandon was on the way out too.  I think the Morris situation simply gave people the motiviation to demand a firing now instead of later in the year.  

westwardwolverine

October 1st, 2014 at 10:52 AM ^

Agreed. I even think that had the aftermath of the Morris situation been handled correctly, people would have settled down. 

But then you have Hoke's press conference, the delayed medical statement that apparently was delayed due to DB trying to pressure the medical staff into lying about Morris' concussion, plus his "Look how smart I am, I'll release this at the dead of night" bullshit....They just kept fanning the flames. They've proved all the people who were mad as hell about their incompetence immediately after the Morris situation right with everything they've done since then. 

MGoCombs

September 30th, 2014 at 9:48 PM ^

Ugh.. There's ALWAYS something worse going on or more meaningful you could be doing. Institutional racism... Why aren't we protesting state-sponsored genocide!?! See how that works? It's a stupid argument to make (not directing at you, but I've seen people blasting the booers and congratulating the random guy). Athletics is one of the most visible aspects of our university, for better or worse. It's worthwhile to voice your discontent with the guy running it into the ground.

Also, the University of Michigan President can do something about "firing Dave Brandon." He can't do anything about institutional racism, so why would the crowd protest that?



Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

Wolverine Devotee

September 30th, 2014 at 8:28 PM ^

I'm glad I went. Hopefully I spelled things right in the liveblog thread. Capitalization be damned. I was so packed in at one point. 

Hopefully this rally is mentioned in the beginning chapter in a future book of John U Bacon's. About how the next Michigan coach brought the program from the ashes back to the top. 

bronxblue

September 30th, 2014 at 10:08 PM ^

I honestly don't know.  I like the passion, and I do think you can civilly disagree without thinking a guy is an ass or something.  

It does seem like he's a bit young (I honestly don't know, but that's the sentiment I've picked up on), and I do think some people perceive that as naivety.  Personally, I rarely look at the names of the people commenting because it usually isn't relevant; I've been posting here for years but I can still be 100% wrong about something, and I am happy if people point that out in a civiish manner.  Figure that is true for most.

Bando Calrissian

October 1st, 2014 at 2:13 AM ^

Because there's a lot of us who are annoyed by the fact that the kid seems to miss the fact that there's a lot more to Michigan than its Athletic Department. Mix that with a lot of self-promotion and narcissism, and you have a pretty annoying combination for those of us who actually went to the University and care about its reputation beyond the athletic field.

And as for me, I'll particularly never forget his absolutely reprehensible twitter feed and the rather low-brow way in which he conducted himself around here. Character counts, and he didn't show a lot of it for a very, very long time. First impressions count, too. It wasn't the kinds of things you can just forget about, no matter how many YouTube videos the kid put up after he helped get MGoVideo shut down. 

Mr. Yost

October 1st, 2014 at 9:01 AM ^

There it is....the "actually went to Michigan" excuse.

I always laugh at that one. Because I know more than a good number of people who "went to Michigan" and don't give 2 shits about Michigan. It was a fine education with a great job on the other end. They would've easily "went to (insert name)" if the program was as good as Michigan's.

Going to Michigan doesn't give you any more "right" to be a fan than not going to Michigan.

Drill

September 30th, 2014 at 8:28 PM ^

The megaphone guy was Craig Kaplan, a senior studying energy policy at the George R Ford School of Public policy.  In one of the interviews on the Michigan Daily livestream after he started talking, one of the interviewers asked him who he was.