Group Therapy Time: Your Worst Moment
So my wife admitted last night that with HARBAUGH on board, hopefully leading us out of the wilderness, she's a little worried that I will revert back to watching Michigan games as a raging lunatic in the way that I did when the team was relevant. I think she has secretly enjoyed the last few years as I've become more and more detached, watching out of a sense of duty more than any real hope of a return to glory. The discussion led us to my lowest moment, the Crable hit on Troy Smith in the epic 2006 game. I had invited my parents over to watch with us, and my poor mother is still embarrassed by what I yelled at Mr. Crable. SO...at what moment did the team make you lose your mind the most? Come on, it'll help to talk about it!
Penn State 2013.
Completely agree. I couldn't sleep after this one. I kept seeing the missed field goals every time I closed my eyes. Though ND 2014 was similar.
The whole family was gathered around to watch. I let out a loud F-Bomb in front of my wife and little kids.
Wife: Not pleased.
Kids: Delighted.
I was in Happy Valley for that one and it stung big time. It was the exact feeling I had when Carr was coaching. There was just no reason to lose that game.
I thought that was the begining of the end for Hoke. ND the following year was the death blow.
I also thought Rodriguez downfall was in PSU as well losing to a backup walkon QB.
I watched the game from a hospital room with a severly broken right humerus. It was a bad day. On the plus side, I was so hopped up on pain meds I didn't really care that much about the outcome.
Yep. My mother was in the stands with us. I'm hoping the rest of the student section drowned out some of my choice words after we lost that thing.
One thing I'll always vividly remember is being in the middle of the student section, and then when the blocked FG happened, everybody turning dead silent in a state of shock.
I went to see Rush in Cinn. that day. I started skipping the shit games with less than teams. I missed that game and the Toledo game.
There have been others since that maybe came close, but that was the worst for sure.
There have been only 2 games where everyone hung around post game that I've seen
One was Notre Dame 2011 because everyone was partying.
The second was App State. The shock of that moment let a good chunk of the student section to just sit in silence for quite a while. I was personally stunned and sat around for probably 10-15 minutes post game
The Oregon loss the following week hurt even worse. After the App game it seemed like everyone was just stunned. Some people were writing it off as a fluke. But after a week of the worst loss in program history sinking in, taking a solid kick to the nuts from Oregon was.../sigh
I wasn't even really able to enjoy dominating Jimmy Clausen the following week.
The Horror and next week's Debacle were only confirmation that what we saw against USC in the previous Rose Bowl was valid.
To me, the worst "moment" was the entire David Brandon tenure. It was like watching footage of a plane crash or a train wreck, except with six years of slow motion to hell instead of mere seconds. Six fucking excruciating years.
Every coach, every player and every bad individual moment from his tenure get "let off the hook" AFAIC. It was just Six Years of Brandon.
The Horror and next week's Debacle were only confirmation that what we saw against USC in the previous Rose Bowl was valid.
To me, the worst "moment" was the entire David Brandon tenure. It was like watching footage of a plane crash or a train wreck, except with six years of slow motion to hell instead of mere seconds. Six fucking excruciating years.
Every coach, every player and every bad individual moment from his tenure get "let off the hook" AFAIC. It was just Six Years of Brandon.
The Horror. My son Braylon had just been born, championship aspirations were high, and I didn't have an obscure cable package so I had to listen on the radio, holding my son in his Michigan onesie while I tuned in wearing a maize Michigan long sleeve. Before the game was over he had thrown up on my shirt which is the last time I wore that shirt and it was fitting for how that game and the succeeding seasons save 2011 went.
Wait, you named your kid Braylon? Don't give WD any crazy ideas.
Yep. And my wife is convinced it was her idea. I always liked the name and after MSU '04 I somehow knew it was destiny. But that was not one of the worst days of my life.
The Maryland game last year. It was literally the first game I did not watch live since I was 9 years old (1995) because I had to work a trade show. And I honestly felt nothing. Not even when I saw they lost on Twitter. I knew I had hit rock bottom.
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I felt like a zombie driving 6 hours to that game.
This is what it must be like to be a Cubs fan.
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I knew Michigan had problems with a weak O line and a below average QB but thought the D alone could win this game. Nope! Last second field goal beat Michigan. I walked out of the big house shaking my head saying how my once mighty football program had fallen! I knew after this game that RR would not be hanging around that long as coach.
I also have to mention a close second was attending last year's Utah game. Shit game. Shit weather. Ennui was a sure thing the rest of the year.
I honestly think that was the game that just left me numb to all future losses. It was such a pathetic display. That being said, the 2012 ND hurt me more. We should have won that game and ND should not have reached the national championship.
Losing the national championship in hockey a few years back was slightly embarrassing as I was with a group of my parents friends and I yelled a lot of things at the tv. My mother should have washed my mouth out with soap.
After being shutout from a not so great ND team. I'm glad things happened the way they did and we got Harbaugh. If Hoke would have finished 6-6 or 7-5 he wold have gotten another year and everyone would be saying once the team became seniors they would win the B1G in 2016!
Hoke would not have been given another year at 6-6 or 7-5 especially with the whole stadium chanting fire Brandon fire Hoke at the Minnesota game and he already had 4 years.
I yelled at my TV way too much.
I watch the games as a raging lunatic whether they're doing good or not. I'm better behaved if they win anyways so it's better that they're doing well. I watch alone anyways so I don't embarass myself in front of other people.
I meant it's better now that we have Harbaugh who is as much of a sure thing as any college coach after turning around three places worse than the current Michigan job.
so I know exactly how you feel. During certain games, I'm not fit for public consumption. I have to have a towel in my hand while I'm watching, so I can bite on it rather than screaming "You string-of-every-possible-combination-of-profanity-including-some-you've-never-heard-of" at the TV.
My girlfriend still reminds me of all the terrible accusations I used to scream at John Navarre. In retrospect, I'm sure he never did those any of those things with his mother. Or his dog.
The defense gave up two touchdowns on the SAME DAMN route (Mendenhall??). And then the fans charged the field after they won. . .against Illinois. And Dave Revsine on BTN laughing his ass off during the recap. . .
at that point, the winningest football team in history, had become a laughingstock. . .
But I was at that game - (scored some great free tickets), and I remember three things about it:
1. My girlfriend (the one of us who actually graduated from UM Ann Arbor) had NEVER been to a Michigan football game. We screamed our heads off, froze our asses off, and after the jailbreak blitz that foiled Illinois' two-point conversion at the end of it, (which happened right in front of us) she asked me, "Honey - are ALL games like this one?"
2. I remember noticing how small UM's defensive players were compared to the UI offensive line. Ray Vinopal looked like a JV player who had wandered into the wrong stadium.
3. The last UM player off the field was Tate Forcier. He'd lost his job to Denard, was not long for UM anyway, but had come off the bench to take UM to a victory (albeit not a flawless one). I think he was soaking it in, maybe knowing he wasn't going to hear those cheers again.
Yeah, maybe the celebration was out of proportion to the victory - but hey, it was still a victory.
but think about it. I've been to over 100 games in the Big House. I barely remember any win over Illinois. A solid victory was an expectation. And not win on a jailhouse blitz to foil a 2 point conversion to deprive the Illinois from scoring its 67th point.
The idea you have such a vivid memory of it is exactly my point. I'm not disparaging your memory in any way. It was an exciting game and there is absolutely no reason why it should have been so exciting.
and if I'm not mistaken, the Illinois qb was a freshman? And wasn't his dad on Falcon crest or something? Someone out there please correct me if I'm wrong.
I understand your point, and I can agree with it, at least in part. I mean, in the first place, the score was ridiculous. (If you'd told me Michigan beat Illinois 67-65, I'd have assumed they were playing at Crisler).
And giving up 65 points to Illinois? And then rushing the field? I agree, it showed how far the UMighty had fallen - and how desperate the fans were to celebrate anything at that point.
I guess I'm concentrating on the question the OP asked: What's your worst moment? And when I consider all the bad moments I've endured while watching UM football (App State, the Colorado Hail Mary, Sparty Bob, Desmond getting mugged in the end zone, last year's embarrassment by ND, any loss to those mouthbreathers south of our border, and Bo's many Rose Bowl losses) ... well, any victory, no matter how tainted or even embarrassing, is going to be far down on my list of worst moments.
I've had some pretty epic meltdowns over the years, but agreeing with evenyoubrutus, i hit rock bottom last year. I did not watch the Rutgers game, instead went to the ASU/USC game in LA. I never even checked the score and when i saw they had lost i didnt even care. Hopefully I'll be back to my lunatic self this year. Actually i already know i will be
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I try my best to not get pissed at the athletes themselves, as these young people have a ton of pressure on them. The coaching staff making millions of dollars, however, is fair game. When we only had 10 men on the field versus Utah and again against Rutgers I think that was finally my breaking point.
Thanks Brady