The Bartelstein Blog: The Final Entry
The final edition of The Bartelstein Blog is posted on mgoblue.com and it's a doozy. Read this thing and continue to marvel at what we were given this year by the Men's Basketball team.
The love we had for each other, the memories we made would never be forgotten. I told my guys for the rest of my life if they EVER needed anything I would ALWAYS be there. We were brothers now. I care about every one of them like I do my three sisters, and we shared something that one day when the time is right we will all consider ourselves champions. We then sang the greatest fight song in the world one last time, and it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.I knew I had about five minutes before the media came in, and I sat in my chair with tears running down my face and a towel over my head. I pinched myself one last time this time hoping I was dreaming, but the moment was real. My story was coming to an end, 23 years worth of basketball, 23 years of my life being dedicated to a sport I loved. Then I remembered this is so much bigger than me, bigger than my whole family contingent, bigger than us 15, bigger than our program.
This is for the University of Michigan.
I get the chills as I write this, but we made it so our fans can hold their heads up high when they speak of Michigan basketball. We brought the Fab Five back into the same stadium again. We gave you guys one great run and had the time of our lives doing so!
Yes, you and your teammates did, Josh. Thank you for that.
Let the slow clap begin. Just awesome and true.
It's the guys on the team like this that made this Final Four run possible. I truly believe this team, with as much talent as it has, would not have been able to accomplish and overcome everthing it did without the fantastic senior leadership from the guys that almost never get a chance to play. Thank you seniors!
So much fucking dust in my house these last few days.
Awesome and sad.
Love the ride these guys gave us. From our national player of the year to the last guy off the bench, this team truly appeared to care about each other. Go Blue!
" If everyone bought in and just did all the small things that make great teams elite, we could end our journey in Atlanta. There would be more bumps in the road for sure, but a vision on where our journey was going to end; a final destination was established on that day."
Much has been said about the senior leadership of the team, but here it is in a nutshell. Setting the expectations and the goal and then leading and talking the team through the tough spots along the way is what Bartelstein and others did masterfully, and they got to Atlanta and played like they belonged there. Leadership like this, on the court and off of it, goes a long way towards making talent like Michigan's that much better.
Excellent entry by Josh Bartelstein. Thanks for sharing this.
anyone didn't catch it, he wants us to email him at [email protected] with our favorite memories
Great post! You should write a diary about your son's experience sometime. I'd love to hear what it is like, especially covering so many years and talent levels. My son just turned 12 and loves the game and is quite excellent for his age. We are hoping to move back to Michigan soon (from Korea) and I would likely look into him attending these camps.
I, and I'm sure other MGoBloggers with children, would like to hear about the camps, how much it has/hasn't helped your son - from skills/confidence/cool perspective.
Consider it - best of luck.
Regarding AAU, there are hundreds of teams and coaches out there. We started in a suburban setting and I can tell you that after several years it wasn't working. Many coaches have sons playing and it appeared to me they wanted their sons to succeed more than the team. Also there is a different brand of basketball in the suburbs. We discussed this and moved Chris into a inner city AAU team. Two reasons. Social diversity and harder faster play. We couldn't believe the difference. It worked for us and not all kids will make the adjustment. But my son grew in more ways than one from doing this. Life is more than basketball and Chris learned great life lessons early on. After our first practice Chris got into the car and looked at me and said "These guys are tough, they trash talk their own team mates." I knew we had arrived. His game improved and he made some great friendships. Good luck with your son and don't be afraid to lead him in a direction others might not.
So cool, also so jealous. Basketball is much more fun than EECS
Fandom aside, he should go to the NBA. And I hope the stupider side of our fanbase keeps their mouth shut and off the twitter when he declares he's doing so.
but but but what if I really want to tell him that he should follow his heart?
Thank you for everything you and the team have done for us the fans this year .... It was one heck of a ride.
April 11th, 2013 at 10:09 PM ^
God damn onions.
April 12th, 2013 at 12:27 AM ^
So that makes him, what, at least 28? Or, might this just be the typical U-M hyperbole?