Michigan Releases Stake Statement
WE CLAIM THIS FIELD IN THE NAME OF COMMITMENT AND HARD-TO-SEE OBJECTS
This is a real thing.
October 26, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Below is a statement from University of Michigan head football coach Brady Hoke:
“I want to publicly apologize to Coach Dantonio as well as the players and supporters of Michigan State for our act of poor sportsmanship displayed pre-game yesterday. I spoke with Mark earlier today and expressed to him that we meant no disrespect to his team. During our regular Friday night team meeting, one of the topics presented to motivate our team was a history lesson addressing commitment and teamwork in a tough environment. A tent stake was presented to the team as a symbol of this concept. The stake was brought into our locker room as a visual reminder, and one of our team leaders chose to take it out on the field. As the leader of our football program, I take full responsibility for the actions of our team. We believe in displaying a high level of respect at the University of Michigan and unfortunately that was not reflected by this action prior to kickoff.”
We're very sorry a thing meant to be driven into a field was driven into your field.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:33 PM ^
and it was a dick thing to do, but they did it after winning the game. As opposed to before a contest in which they were a big underdog... and proceeded to lose by more than the spread.
October 26th, 2014 at 6:47 PM ^
1. That was a 2005 John L. Smith team.
2. ND players planted their flag in the visitors' corner in Spartan Stadium in 2004.
3. ND didn't bring the Megaphone Trophy to the 2005 game, so there was nothing for the MSU players to celebrate with.
It still wasn't right, but it also happened to be after a win. The stake before the game was pathetic.
October 26th, 2014 at 2:51 PM ^
What happened to the Bolden spear thread? I was laughing my ass off at like 3 in the morning reading that people were disgusted Hoke let them carry a weapon on the field. Finding out it was just a tent stake makes it even funnier lol.
October 26th, 2014 at 4:19 PM ^
Yeah, I pictured a giant javelin with flames and everything, with a couple of MSU cheerleaders impaled on it.
Instead I come to see that it's this little Cub Scout pup tent spike. Makes it even funnier. Pure theatre.
October 26th, 2014 at 2:56 PM ^
They just don't get it...
October 26th, 2014 at 2:57 PM ^
Maybe I'm getting old, but win some meaningful games before you start antagonizing your rivals. Mike Hart had some right, though it was probably poor sportsmanship, to say what he did. But anyone since, keep your head down and wine the game.
October 26th, 2014 at 7:16 PM ^
Was intentional. Or maybe you meant "whine the game". Both are appropriate
October 27th, 2014 at 3:17 PM ^
I meant 'win', actually. Sorry about the typo. But yeah, either would have been better.
October 26th, 2014 at 2:57 PM ^
It happening, to Hoke not being fully aware, to the self-emasculating apology is a Bobby Williams moment. Hoke, have you lost your team?
October 26th, 2014 at 3:23 PM ^
He hasn't just lost the team. He's lost the entire f'ing program.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:34 PM ^
Now the darn tent just keeps falling over.
October 26th, 2014 at 2:58 PM ^
Every week I think "Okay, this is it, this is the bottom".
And then it just keeps getting worse.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:29 PM ^
more games to play in '14. Buckle up, and not like we normally mean it.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:00 PM ^
No way in hell Hoke wrote any of that--it is far too articulate for his feeble mind.
I wouldnt infer any of Hoke's intentions from that released document.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:01 PM ^
Brady Hoke is pussy and a terrible football coach. He is basically just waiting for his check. It sucks that he failed at his dream job, but he knew what he was getting into. He was just surprised someone actually wanted him. For that, David Brandon is at fault.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:01 PM ^
This is downright fucking embarrassing.
Let Shane play so he can get his suck out this year instead of next and get this fucking thing over with.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:55 PM ^
My thoughts exactly. This is as pathetic as public embarrassments come.
This is the infantile, big-eyed "We apologized" of Dave Brandon's disastrous media tour writ large as Michigan's new official PR strategy. I can't believe somebody is being paid to come up with this shit.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:02 PM ^
Somehow, I think Brandon is behind this spear thing -- it smacks of bad advertising gimmick.
Then making Hoke offer an apology for it when it went bad.
He did this type thing to RR too: make the coach in question do embarrassing, humiliating things just to try and keep their jobs. Brandon is a sadistic, manipultive F*#% and is making Hoke twist in the wind -- just because he can. The program is rotten from the top down.
They both need to go.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:02 PM ^
Brandon was brought in for his PR skills?
The sad thing is that there were probably 5 or more executive level marketing people in the AD that had their hands on this pathetic statement. Every single person involved with it should be canned.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:29 PM ^
it hurts more...
October 26th, 2014 at 3:03 PM ^
If you were still wondering why Michigan is soft, this apology should drive the "Why" home.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:05 PM ^
I really wish Brady Hoke would have apologized to the fans, players, and the football staff for the contemptibly inept team he fielded this year as he tendered his resignation.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:12 PM ^
October 26th, 2014 at 3:06 PM ^
This guy is a fucking joke. Enough already. Add me to the fire this guy now camp.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:41 PM ^
to be on Fire Hoke camp?
October 26th, 2014 at 5:08 PM ^
Haha, no. I'm referring to the 'fire him now' vs. 'fire him at end of season' debate.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:09 PM ^
This was adressed the day after and nothing on Shane for 2 or 3 days? It would be funny if it weren't so absurd and depressing. Maybe the program is making progress.
Hoke having to apologize to the coach who just kicked his ass again is going to be the hallmark of his tenure.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:11 PM ^
1.) Dantonio is a very smart guy and a great motivator. He's going to find or invent slights to motivate his team until he retires. Michigan's behavior doesn't matter.
2.) MSU won yesterday because they are the better football team.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:15 PM ^
But we at least don't have to keep making it so damn easy for him.
1.) Michigan keeps doing things that make it easy for him to invent slights.
2.) Michigan lost yesterday because they are an inferior football team.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:51 PM ^
The apology will be a better motivating tool than the stake.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:13 PM ^
Lay off Brady and Dave, everyone - at least this statement was released during daylight hours
October 26th, 2014 at 3:14 PM ^
Sums up public sentiment:
It was silly, but not that big a deal. Now a public apology from Hoke for the stake incident? Michigan is a self-pitying psychological mess.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:18 PM ^
That does summarize things nicely. What should have been a footnote is now highlighted again. Just like the mishandling of Morris, they should have said something and been done with it. This one they should have just let go. Instead they made it worse.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:19 PM ^
Wojo really drives the stake home.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:23 PM ^
My God, this whole deal is really f'n stupid.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:14 PM ^
October 26, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
I want to publicly apologize for actually watching the entirety of that poor excuse for a rivalry game. I want to apologize for any faith I had in this coaching staff. However, I do not apologize for expecting more from a Michigan Wolverines football team than what has been put out on the field this year.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:16 PM ^
Here at the clownshow university we apologize to teams that kick our ass.
Just like the Gibbons incident, which Brandon instructed Hoke to not say anything, this has the stench of Brandon's mishandling all over it.
At this point I fully expect Indiana to come in and beat the snot out of this team.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:17 PM ^
and it had to do with a tent - then I am lost. Watching that video looked more like a team building exercise in which our players used it as a"team" middle finger towards MSU.
A middlge finger that MSU promptly broke off and shoved up our collective rears.
October 26th, 2014 at 4:05 PM ^
Maybe the team is having trouble pitching tents.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:26 PM ^
Dammitdammitdammitdammitdammit!
The program is a dumpster fire! Hoke's career is careening! We got our asses handed to us not out of unluck, but out of incompetence!
And Hoke (and the rest of us) get upset over a STAKE?
So many, many, many things that require an apology/explanation/plan.
But a STAKE? Are we really buying into the mythology of the Little Brother inspiration as the source of our problems THAT MUCH that we fear a fricking $1.25 garden device because it might upset the opposition?
What a fricking waste of time.
I'm disgusted with myself at having contributed to this by writing this.
Waaauugh!
October 26th, 2014 at 3:29 PM ^
Hoke should have come out and said, "Yeah, the stake thing was dumb and we shouldn't have done it. I shouldn't have let it happen. But we're not apologizing for anything. We're a struggling team, and a leader of our team was trying to motivate his guys in a big game by saying we were going to put a stake in the ground and make a stand to turn our season around in East Lansing. There was no disrespect meant, and if Dantonito and Michigan State want to get all bent out of shape about it, that is really their problem."
See how easy that is? Took me 60 seconds to write that, and I'm not even in PR.
October 26th, 2014 at 4:03 PM ^
What you wrote is exactly what Hoke should have said. The stake was dumb and stupid, and it put Hoke in a bad spot. It's just symptomatic of the condition of the team—why in hell do they need a prop to motivate themselves to play their in-state rival? It's mind-boggling.
The fact that they thought putting an object in the ground—other than Conor Cook's head—had a symbolic value that was going to do them any good whatsoever is indicative of how fucked the situation is.
That Dantonio is a whiny, disingenuous, hypocritical douchebag of the first order makes this all that much worse.
October 26th, 2014 at 7:07 PM ^
Goes without saying that the situation was FUBARed to begin with. But hey, the '97 team used those mountain climbing props for motivation and everyone thought Lloyd was a genious for it, so......
Any port in a storm. When you're on a sinking ship, you'll try anything for motivation. Cheesy? Sure. Gimicky? Yep. Worth Dantonio twisting up his nutsack so hard that he can't see straight? Um, no.
October 26th, 2014 at 9:32 PM ^
Kudos JamieH, you're GOOD at PR for someone not in PR. You said.... in the classiest possible way... "I'm SORRY you are such a whiny ass wimp Dantonio, F YOU"
October 26th, 2014 at 3:28 PM ^
did the team practice really well driving the stake into the ground? Now that would be important to know.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:29 PM ^
Tanner Boyle: Hey Yankees... you can take your apology and your trophy and shove 'em straight up your ass!
-from "The Bad News Bears"
Compare and contrast.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:32 PM ^
they finally executed something well. Now if we can just get to executing DURING football games.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:35 PM ^
I hope this is a soothing balm for the various orifices of MSU fans.
October 26th, 2014 at 3:50 PM ^
New, softer, creamy formula!
October 26th, 2014 at 3:41 PM ^
God what a mess, bad sportsmanship, getting your ass kicked, humiliating apologies
this program has morphed into a trash talking punk who always gets the shit beat out him while everybody laughs
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