Double Down

April 6th, 2018 at 1:10 AM ^

All right. Fuck it. I’ve been coming to MGoBlog ten times a day for the last seven years and never created an account. I almost did the day after the Shane Morris concussion. I know every frequent poster on this site by heart. I am responding to a stephenrjking post because he is the most level headed person in my opinion. I am hereby Doubling Down on my Michigan fandom. I am primarily a football fan. In the last few years I have gone all in with other sports too. I was so invested with Michigan basketball this year. I have never been a big hockey fan but I went all in with Michigan because it was fun. I am devestated by the last basketball game and hockey game, But I am also so proud of both overachieving teams and the joy they have brought me this year. Go Blue.

Kevin13

April 6th, 2018 at 9:26 AM ^

before the seasons for both sports started if you had asked people would you be excited if UM BB reached the final game and hockey made it to the frozen four everyone would've been jumping at it.  Both teams over achieved and had great seasons and did the University proud.

Sure it sucks to get that far and then loose, but that doesn't diminish how great of a season both sports had.

RobSk

April 6th, 2018 at 12:09 PM ^

It just doesn't. Seriously.

Let's be serious for a second. To me, taking this attitude toward sports or anything makes little or no sense. What attitude? That if the last part of some enterprise goes badly, that the entire effort was never worth doing, or indeed, you'd rather have failed up front rather than have the end be less than perfect.

I can't agree with this attitude in sports, in love, in books, in anything. Many things are worth doing because all the parts are fantastic! Each step, each experience, each victory (and even sometimes each defeat) is amazing to experience, both the joy and the pain.

I'm geeking out on this question because it seems to me these days that a LOT of people take this attitude toward a lot of things. It's infected sports to an alarming degree- I used to call it the Drew Sharp effect, after the moron whose attitude toward sports was that if you don't win the championship, you're a failed bunch of losers that shouldn't have bothered. Now this attitude is everywhere.

I say "NOPE". Stop it. Don't be Drew Sharp. Sports is worth it because of the games, the players, the plays, the wins, the losses. Same with life.

        Rob

MichFan1997

April 6th, 2018 at 10:42 AM ^

If you wanna triple down, get into wrestling. Michigan has 4 all-Americans back in a lineup that finished 4th in the NCAAs this year. 3 of those 4 have multiple years left. Michigan also has tons and tons of young blue chip talent coming up

Bando Calrissian

April 6th, 2018 at 12:29 AM ^

I don't get this at all. How can you not be disappointed? Why is the instinct to say "Oh, well, it's OK, they got close"?

I don't feel good about this. Just like I haven't felt good about any Michigan hockey tournament choke since the last championship. They do this every time, and hell if I'm going to just start saying "well, that's OK, the Frozen Four is good enough." Why can't they just finish one of these tournaments for once? Why is it always like this?

RobSk

April 6th, 2018 at 12:07 PM ^

above, I'm going to come a lot closer to agreeing with you.

My point is not that I'm not experiencing the emotion of disappointment or getting pissed about some element of the final game. Like that frickin ginger Italian hitting every shot in the world.

My point is that my overall opinion of the season, of the effort, of the tournament is overwhelmingly positive. I refuse to take "Failure" as the word describing Michgan's MBB season.

Especially when I'm more than 24 hours after the end.

      Rob

gbdub

April 6th, 2018 at 5:27 AM ^

Well then let me grieve. This one stung a bit and frankly the parade of “ we’re just happy to be heres” in the immediate aftermath of such a heartbreaker is getting a bit tiresome. Sure, let’s keep things in perspective... tomorrow. But for now let yourself feel some feelings, even disappointment, because that’s part of the ride of being a sports fan.

And this is suppos d to be the venting thread.

Tex_Ind_Blue

April 6th, 2018 at 12:40 AM ^

I am pissed and angry at Michigan not able to pull these games and hoist the damn trophies. I don't care what the pre-season expectations were, if they got this close they should have closed the deal. 

But on the other hand, I also enjoy the effort these kids (and their myriad support stuffs) have put in these games. No one gets on those fields thinking "yah, I am ok with being the second place team today". Somedays it just doesn't work. 

My anger and pissiness and sadness don't nullify the joy I got from the success these teams have achieved. 

So even though I just swore at ND scoring with 3.7s to go, I sure as hell enjoy and congratulate the team for a great season as well. These two feelings aren't mutually exclusive. It just took me a couple of decades and a couple of kids to understand and accept that. 

 

Forza Azul. 

mchicagoblue

April 6th, 2018 at 1:43 AM ^

Because as great as Red was, the man didn't know when it was time to hang it up and when he finally did, he left Mel a tire fire. That they made the tournament at all this year is impressive. That they made the Frozen Four is outstanding. Obviously, losing never feels good. Nobody in their right mind would say it does. But right now, we just need to put some steel in our spines and realize how bright the future is.

bo_lives

April 6th, 2018 at 1:45 AM ^

You don't have a particularly great shot at winning a title even if you DO have a great team with big expectations. This is why overachieving and falling short is little consolation. I prefer it compared to being terrible, obviously, but let's look at history:

2006 & 2016 football: Huge expectations with senior-laden teams, devastating losses

2008 hockey: Dominating season, #1 overall seed, devastating loss in Frozen Four

2013 basketball: Beilein's best team ever, devastating loss in National Championship Game

History shows our odds of a gut-wrenching, devastating, soul-crushing loss in the finals is just as good when we have a historically great team. So what's the point of holding out hope that "we're on the right track"? I'll take literally any championship at all, thank you very much, and your odds at a title are vastly greater if you're already in the Finals, compared to your odds at the beginning of the season, no matter how great you think the team is going to be.

bronxblue

April 6th, 2018 at 6:55 AM ^

I don't see how losing in the last 5 seconds of a game defined by randomness is a "choke", but whatever. It's a venting thread.

Nobody likes to lose, but everybody but one team has to every year. And against both Nova and ND, Michigan hasn't been the better team. Hell, they got so deep with some luck and good fortune, and sometimes that runs out. So people aren't happy (I'm certainly not, subjectively) about this week, but at the same time the alternative is basically to be mad at the gods, and that isn't all that much fun either.

Clarence Beeks

April 6th, 2018 at 1:59 AM ^

Honestly, the only mistake he made on that play was mental: not realizing he had an eighteen year old freshman on twenty one year old, senior team captain. In almost any other scenario there would never even be a shot on goal, but of course many will blame the goaltender solely. It looked like a weak goal, but those are honestly not easy.

JamieH

April 6th, 2018 at 2:28 AM ^

I feel like his mistake was almost giving the ND guy too much credit.  He pushed off to go post-to-post, assuming the ND guy had enough control to actually put a shot to the far post.  Instead, the ND guy barely had the ability to just get the puck on net, but it happened to find the 5-hole that was now opened up because he was trying to stop a great shot that wasn't coming.



If he had stayed home, given up the wide side of the net that he probably wasn't going to get to anyway, and kept his 5-hole covered, no goal.  But that is REALLY REALLY picking nits.  Most goalies would react to a guy cruising down the middle of the ice like that by assuming he is going to go top-shelf wide-side.  He tried to stop a great shot that never came, and in the process, gave up a goal on the weak shot that did come.  



 

Clarence Beeks

April 6th, 2018 at 7:36 AM ^

That’s fair (and also a mental mistake, albeit a very understandable one). As a goalie, I’ve often found that the hardest shot to stop is when the shot just simply goes where it (predictively) shouldn’t. Of course goaltending is read and react, but it’s also predict and react, and when a player duffs a shot (for example), that can be really difficult to adjust to. I do think you’re right in that he was just caught in between on that play. That’s more or less what I was saying, as well, just for a different reason. If that play goes either other way (no pass and just a shot from the guy coming down the wing or no interaction by Hughes and a great shot) I think he would have been just fine. You make a really good point.

Sideline

April 6th, 2018 at 12:24 AM ^

I’m pissed. It was a terrible break. But NO WAY in Hell am I regretting this. Top-2 in Basketball. Top-4 in Hockey. Things could be worse, we could be Spartans.