Brandon proposed that the Game not be held every year
More revelations from Endzone via Land-Grant Holy Land:
Dave Brandon proposed that the Ohio State/Michigan game be occasionally moved to October, or in some cases, not played at all. He also proposed that Ohio State and Michigan be in different Big Ten divisions.
Yikes. Read the whole thing here:
August 25th, 2015 at 11:51 AM ^
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August 25th, 2015 at 4:19 PM ^
August 25th, 2015 at 11:52 AM ^
August 25th, 2015 at 11:52 AM ^
We should survey every single person on both rosters during the Ten Year War and see what the approval for Brandon's "eh, don't need to play The Game every year" proposal is.
My money is on under one percent, but that's just me.
August 25th, 2015 at 2:38 PM ^
August 25th, 2015 at 11:52 AM ^
I thought that he had at least a mentality of a former player.
Jeesh..
August 25th, 2015 at 11:53 AM ^
How clueless is that guy? He played for Michigan. I don't understand how anyone can think that not playing every year is a good idea.
August 25th, 2015 at 11:53 AM ^
So happy Brandon got the boot. Almost feel sorry for Toys-R-Us.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:04 PM ^
A friend of mine just had a baby shower and asked for gift cards to Babies-R-Us or Target. I went with Target, which was 100% because of Dave Brandon. I'm hoping to never contribute another dollar to any of that asshole's companies.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:33 PM ^
is just an awful, expensive purveyor of crap. Their return policies are a joke. We wnt there a lot when our son was In utero and an infant, then the baby fog lifted and we realized how awful that place was. I think it was the $249 glider that needed extensive modifications to just stay together when you sat in it that finally tore it for me. I paid $249 for this chair, tried to return it the next day (once it was put together it was rickety as all hell), and they wouldnt take it back (even though I had the reciept from the day before). They did tell me that had I paid $75 for the protection plan or whatever they would have been happy to assist me. Essentially, it was extortion.
They seem to know they sell overpriced crap and sont care. Perfect place for Brandon
(Dont get me started on Target, either. Meijer FTW!)
August 25th, 2015 at 1:01 PM ^
I love it, and literally did the exact same thing about a month ago.
August 25th, 2015 at 2:03 PM ^
August 25th, 2015 at 11:53 AM ^
Brandon was a money > all else guy, but why? The rivalry was called the greatest in Sports and was a ratings winner. What possible reason could he have?
August 25th, 2015 at 12:00 PM ^
Money was even more important to him than money.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:08 PM ^
I can't think of a single good that this ignoramus actually did while he was here.
The odd part is for a guy being all about money, the AD still ran a deficit last year. Even if you take the buyouts out of the equation, it still would've been in the red.
And as far as the non-revenue sports upgrades, that only happened because Stephen Ross donated 200 million not Brandon.
Ugh
August 25th, 2015 at 1:07 PM ^
Money may have been what motivated Brandon, but his ideas for getting it confirm just how much he sucked at his job. Arrogance + incompetence = your typical modern CEO.
August 25th, 2015 at 11:54 AM ^
That is just insane. Was he an android sent from the future to terminate UM football or something? How the hell could he even think this?
August 25th, 2015 at 11:54 AM ^
Man, I don't know about this. I need to read this in the book to see if it's true as it's almost too stupid to be believed. Then again, we've seen games like Nebraska-Oklahoma, Texas-Texas A&M, Kansas-Mizzou all get sacrificed to the conference realignment gods by people making similarly driven decisions, so I guess I can believe Brandon would, indeed, be that fucking stupid.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:04 PM ^
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August 25th, 2015 at 12:31 PM ^
Stopped being an annual game when the Big 12 went to divisions and they were placed in different divisions.
August 25th, 2015 at 1:14 PM ^
> I don't know if you get bombarded with things like this, so thanks for your patience. > > This is an exchange I had writing to an email address posted for David Brandon in a comment here at this site. I have done some letter-writing activism before and seen the various institutional responses one is prone to get. This took me by surprise, as shown by my subservient reaction to the first response I got. I don't know if this exchange has anything of interest to you in it, or if people have forwarded to you by now a couple thousand more like it, but just in case, here it is. > > Go Blue -- bjk. > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Brandon, David A.I suppose it's a rare privilege for a member of the general public to get to interact so directly with someone at that level, but this one galls me all the more now:> Date: Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 11:19 PM > Subject: RE: The Game. > To: REDACT > > > Thanks, REDACT…. > > > > I don’t blame you for thinking like a fan….you are one! > > > > However, I am thinking like a guy who was a part of three Michigan – OSU games during the Bo vs. Woody 10 year war….when we won one…lost one….and tied one! I was a high school senior recruit sitting on the field for the 1969 upset victory in Bo’s first year. I GET IT!!!!! I find is fascinating how many fans want to explain to me the importance of this game!! > > > > Now I am our A.D. fighting for the very best deal I can get for our university. I promise I am!! > > > > You take care…and Go Blue! > > > > Dave > > > > From: REDACT > Sent: Friday, August 27, 2010 11:09 PM > To: Brandon, David A. > Subject: Re: The Game. > > > > I was thinking like a fan, not a negotiator or decision-maker. Forgive my naive arrogance. I do believe you are the best man for this job, and I trust you would never forget who we are. > > If decisions have not been made, that is the best news I have heard yet. I will hang tight and stand behind you. We need you. > > Go Blue. -- bjk. > > On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 10:16 PM, Brandon, David A. wrote: > > REDACT, > > > > Keep the faith….you have reached your conclusion before you know any facts or before any decisions have been made. > > > > If I thought screaming was the way to get everything we want….I would scream. Perhaps that is how you get things done in your line of work. > > > > However, in my line of work….I am dealing with 11 other A.D.’s….12 Presidents….and a building full of Conference Officials. Screaming and appearing selfish is not a great way to create a lot of success! > > > > Just relax and understand I am doing the best I can….under some challenging circumstances. > > > > Go Blue. > > > > Dave > > > > From: REDACT > Sent: Friday, August 27, 2010 3:48 PM > To: Brandon, David A. > Subject: The Game. > > > > From what I'm hearing, there is talk of relegating The Game to a cross-division game sometime during baseball season. > > Historically, there are two ways to steer a tradition and Franchise into and through the division era. One is the way the Iron Bowl was handled by the SEC, the other is the way Nebraska-Oklahoma was handled by the B-12. > > Apparently, The Game is headed the way of Nebraska-Oklahoma. The Big Ten is set to eliminate or trivialize college football's most important rivalry and the heart and soul of the season of two of its most storied teams. > > I can't imagine what kind of argument could make a sound businessman think that this is a good idea, least of all economically. Maybe there's been too MUCH discussion, by the time this sounds like a good idea. Once UM and OSU are stripped of their biggest tradition and reduced to just two more non-paying warm-up teams for the NFL, the hemorrhage of dollars will follow the hemorrhage of support, interest and fan involvement. A once-a-decade meeting in a sterile commercial environment does not compensate for this loss in any meaningful way. > > If you want to be remembered as a great AD, FIGHT for The Game on the last Saturday of the season at the Big House or the Shoe. (Third Saturday of November with kids home for Thanksgiving would be better.) > > So far, you've won me over as AD, except . . . > > I can't believe you aren't the one screaming loudest about this travesty. If The Game isn't worth saving, I have trouble imagining what else is left. Not even money -- you will be destroying the most valuable property the Big Ten has. > > Well, that's what I think. Thanks for listening. Respectfully -- REDACT. > >
However, I am thinking like a guy who was a part of three Michigan – OSU games during the Bo vs. Woody 10 year war….when we won one…lost one….and tied one! I was a high school senior recruit sitting on the field for the 1969 upset victory in Bo’s first year. I GET IT!!!!! I find is fascinating how many fans want to explain to me the importance of this game!!
August 25th, 2015 at 1:35 PM ^
Wow . . . the fucking arrogance.
Even if you actually feel that way, you keep it to yourself.
My god, I had more customer-facing tact as a teenager working the counter at a McDonalds waiting on the fat ladies who ordered a diet coke with their supersize meal.
August 25th, 2015 at 1:56 PM ^
This was the line that would've made me want to punch him in the face so hard....
If I thought screaming was the way to get everything we want….I would scream. Perhaps that is how you get things done in your line of work.
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> However, in my line of work….I am dealing with 11 other A.D.’s….12 Presidents….and a building full of Conference Officials. Screaming and appearing selfish is not a great way to create a lot of success!
August 25th, 2015 at 4:25 PM ^
I read these quotes in a yelling Dave Brandon voice and I highly reccommend everyone does it too.
August 25th, 2015 at 2:12 PM ^
August 25th, 2015 at 2:23 PM ^
August 25th, 2015 at 2:43 PM ^
August 26th, 2015 at 7:30 PM ^
I somehow missed seeing that exchange that you forwarded to our favorite Terrorist (Brian) and subsequently posted during the season of discontent last year when all the Brandon crap came to a head. That exchange is even more damning of Brandon, IMO, than the stuff that WD posted.
Wow. Just wow. What a fucking moran Idiot Brandon has proven to be.
What's even for shocking, though, is that somehow Toys 'R' Us justified hiring this steaming pile of fuck earlier this year.
August 26th, 2015 at 9:48 AM ^
Nebraska was in a different conference. That is not a coincidence.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:34 PM ^
Nebraska-Oklahoma in the context I was talking about was because the Big 8 became the Big 12 and they put the teams in separate divisions and didn't guarantee they would play every year. So by the time Nebraska came here, it wasn't that big of a deal to lose the game. That's probably the best historical parallel to what the impact of this decision would have been.
August 25th, 2015 at 11:57 AM ^
. . . Considering his Mantra is
" If it ain't broke, . . . Break It. "
August 25th, 2015 at 11:54 AM ^
Ticket sales plummeting? Hey what if we don't play the one game that automatically sells out every year? Great idea!
August 25th, 2015 at 11:56 AM ^
Also worth mentioning is that according to the article, Brandon proposed some wacky 16-team B1G schedule that, based on my reading of it, wouldn't have the matchups locked in at the beginning of the season. That one may be the very apotheosis of the "If it ain't broke, break it" philosophy that Brandon brought with him when he arrived, and took away with him when he left.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:21 PM ^
That sort of reminded me of Brian's proposal for an expanded B1G. Set schedule for part of the season, then winners playing winners, losers going into a "lower" division.
EDIT: my recollection was a bit off. Below in the comments are a better rehash.
August 25th, 2015 at 11:57 AM ^
...Geoffrey the Giraffe I'm kinda crapping my ruminant pants right now.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:09 PM ^
... he's undercover at Toys'R'Us in order to legally kidnap Geoffrey the Giraffe and bring him back to Michigan as our new mascot. Hackett may seem like a savior to us, but he's in on the whole deal. I fear that I will pay the consequence for uncovering this... Harbaugh is their hitman. He'll be here before I
August 25th, 2015 at 11:58 AM ^
August 25th, 2015 at 11:59 AM ^
What the fuck?
August 25th, 2015 at 12:01 PM ^
"Brandon was a money > all else guy, but why? The rivalry was called the greatest in Sports and was a ratings winner. What possible reason could he have?"
Less pressure on him - because that bumbling idiot of a coach he hired, couldnt beat them.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:01 PM ^
August 25th, 2015 at 12:27 PM ^
Fuck you whoever negged me. I havent said shit on Hoke - but ever since he has been saying he needed 5-6 years ...fuck him ... & fuck that worthless bastard Brandon too.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:48 PM ^
Lighten up Francis
August 25th, 2015 at 1:03 PM ^
Good call ...
August 25th, 2015 at 12:02 PM ^
Anyone else notice that he suggested for football nearly the exact relegation-style schedule that Brian advocates for basketball?
August 25th, 2015 at 12:11 PM ^
Brandon's scheme had teams being relegated after THREE GAMES. That's idiotic.
Brian's scheme involved relegation after nine games, and he prefaced the whole idea as being a "completely insane" solution to a "basically insane" situation.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:17 PM ^
Yeah, I agree there are substantial differences. Just though it was interesting that he liked the concept. It makes less sense for football than basketball for the sample-size reasons you mention, added to the fact that football is much more random to begin with.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:02 PM ^
How much more wrong do I need him to be?
August 25th, 2015 at 12:02 PM ^
Like I said - the guy who was soooo focused on the Michigan brand, either had no idea what that brand actually stood for, or was fully intent on breaking and reforming it to fit some vision of a better way to bring in more revenue.
Given that he was on the football team under Bo, I cannot believe it was the former ...