Brenda Tracy is Honorary Captain for Home Opener
Rape survivor and survivor advocate Brenda Tracy has been selected as an honorary captain for the home opener. She spoke to a few Michigan athletics teams this summer and Coach Harbaugh has brought her back to serve as the honorary captain.
While we are all lamenting a less than stellar start to the season and some are questioning the direction of the program, I think we can all agree that this is something we can celebrate. When she visited, she singled out Harbaugh as one of the most involved and responsive coaches she’s encountered when she’s come to speak. Wins and losses matter, but not as much as creating a culture of that develops our student athletes into quality human beings.
https://twitter.com/brendatracy24/status/1036994528576565248?s=21
September 4th, 2018 at 4:58 PM ^
With special guest Zach Smith
September 4th, 2018 at 5:32 PM ^
Why would you post this?
September 4th, 2018 at 5:40 PM ^
If ever a ban were deserved...
September 4th, 2018 at 8:08 PM ^
If this site had a payment method to be able to personally ban posters where you get to log in as a mod, this thread would put a dent in my finances.
September 4th, 2018 at 6:29 PM ^
Ok, I laughed at this. I wouldn't have posted it, but I laughed.
I'm a terrible person
September 4th, 2018 at 8:46 PM ^
Same here.
It's funny because I don't for a second think that the poster was serious.
September 4th, 2018 at 4:59 PM ^
She does a great thing for society. I'm proud our school has her as an honorary captain.
September 4th, 2018 at 5:05 PM ^
No; I don't think that the University of Michigan Athletic Department is wise to get into the business of political activism.
September 4th, 2018 at 5:09 PM ^
MAN this is a bad take.
September 4th, 2018 at 5:09 PM ^
Don’t rape isn’t political
September 4th, 2018 at 5:17 PM ^
Of course rape is not political. It is a crime.
Brenda Tracy is, by all accounts including her own, an "activist." She is regularly involved in political activism. Again, by her own account. Her own bio notes the number of bills she's been involved with.
I would have a lot more empathy with Brenda Tracy if she had not stopped cooperating with authorities, in her notorious allegations against a group of Oregon State football players.
I want this to be clear; I am not tolerating rape. I want all rapes to be investigated and prosecuted. I am not against political activism. I am not against Brenda Tracy being an activist, or having activist views.
I just think that this is not the best choice by Michigan's Athletic Department.
Further, I don't even expect that Michigan will be viewed negatively for this; we aren't the first to use a football game to celebrate Brenda Tracy. Arizona State and Stanford have done it as well, right?
So if I am to be negbombed, it is not for any extremist viewpoint; it is for the mildest expression of disagreement with the MGoMajority.
September 4th, 2018 at 5:20 PM ^
So basically you're voicing your unsolicited, contrarian opinion even though by and large you think that the decision is fine?
Seems like you just want attention.
September 4th, 2018 at 5:29 PM ^
I am saying that I regard it as an unfortunate decision by our Athletic Department, but that it is one which the wide world of political correctness won't ever question.
September 4th, 2018 at 5:31 PM ^
And I'm saying that you're a troll, and always have been.
September 4th, 2018 at 5:38 PM ^
Why do you think it's unfortunate? And is "politically correct" a bad thing if it's applied to something as simple (and seemingly unquestionable) as bringing to light a serious problem on many college campuses and college athletics?
September 4th, 2018 at 5:54 PM ^
I never wrote to complain about the Athletic Department's invitation to Brenda Tracy to speak to several teams, as part of education and informational exercises. "Bringing to light a serious problem on many college campuses and college athletics," as you say.
The "honorary captain" role is, in my opinion, different from an educational role. It is a splashy public relations play. And an unfortunate one. In the wrong setting.
I'm trying to figure out a way to make this hurt for my detractors, by making this as reasonable as possible. I am not opposed to Brenda Tracy's views. I am certainly not opposed to Brenda Tracy's rights to engage in activism. I am not doing any victim-blaming or victim-shaming. Far from it. The opposite, in fact. I wish that Brenda Tracy had been a courtroom witness in her case.
You see, if somebody committed a rape I don't want him kicked off the Oregon State football team. If somebody committed a rape I want him in jail.
September 4th, 2018 at 6:06 PM ^
There is no other way to interpret “Id have more respect for her if she cooperated with authorities” other than to take it as victim blaming. Shut the fuck up. She’s not having people sign petitions at Michigan Stadium. She’s not giving a long speech or advocating for legislation there. It’s not a splashy PR move considering I don’t see it anywhere in mainstream sports news. You’re a moron and the sooner you accept that, the better off you’ll be. Might even be able to make some friends.
September 4th, 2018 at 6:22 PM ^
You seem to be getting a bit too heated about his opinion, which is a reasonable stance and not inflammatory. Maybe you should sit this one out, bud.
September 4th, 2018 at 6:23 PM ^
Victim blaming is not reasonable and is inherently inflammatory.
September 4th, 2018 at 8:46 PM ^
Can’t you just accept other people’s opinions? You are out here didactically lecturing everybody on Tracy without even acknowledging the other side of the story. For a compassionate and accepting liberal you seem very poor at actually accepting other people.
September 4th, 2018 at 6:45 PM ^
Who the hell are you to tell a victim whether or not she should put herself through the hell that is testifying in court? It's her right to choose whether to do so. If you had paid attention to her story, she lays out the reasons for her choices.
Would someone please, yet again, ban this ass?
September 4th, 2018 at 9:03 PM ^
The "honorary captain" role is, in my opinion, is different from an educational role. It is a splashy public relations play. And an unfortunate one. In the wrong setting.
God forbid that we give any PR to the extremely political and controversial topic of preventing rape. And God forbid we send such a message at a football game, of all places. I mean, can you imagine the optics of sending out this sort of message in front of 110,000+ fans and a national TV audience? Simply not the time and place to be doing that sort of thing. /s
But hey, you’re an OSU fan and have absolutely NO IDEA of what a good message is regarding sexual assault and have NO IDEA what a good PR move looks like. Your take is so bad and you should feel bad.
September 4th, 2018 at 9:52 PM ^
So I am an OSU fan. Lulz. I can't wait to break that news to OSU fan (and IU grad) Ramzy Nasrallah. I love surprises.
September 4th, 2018 at 9:58 PM ^
I agree. I also think everyone attending the game should kneel for the national anthem to show their support for Brenda Tracy. That's the only way for other people to know that they're against rape.
September 6th, 2018 at 3:54 PM ^
Strange. Given the herd mentality and the general "virtue signalling" on this blog, as well as the vilification of independent thought, I thought for sure this lunacy would have been a big hit.
September 4th, 2018 at 5:23 PM ^
This is pure trolling, consistent with your long history of saying jerky things to get a reaction. While it's certainly possible that you are this idiotic, I imagine you understand that not all activism is political activism, and that this is all about engaging athletes to help prevent rape/DV, not promoting a politically divisive viewpoint.
Please just stop this. Whatever low self esteem or borderline personality issues you may be dealing with, they are best addressed with therapy rather than spreading your illness over the internet.
September 4th, 2018 at 5:25 PM ^
Well argued
September 4th, 2018 at 5:36 PM ^
Only a bonafide asshole victim blames a gang rape survivor and then tries to portray himself as some sort of victim of a mob mentality
September 4th, 2018 at 5:46 PM ^
I agree 100% with this. Michigan Football needs to avoid things like Virtue Signaling, even if it does endear them to a few students who will attend this game and never come to another game throughout their college experience.
September 4th, 2018 at 6:05 PM ^
The virtue being signaled is "don't commit acts of sexual violence." Why is that a bad thing?
September 4th, 2018 at 6:28 PM ^
It's not a bad thing, but the type of people who buy season tickets for Michigan generally don't like this kind of stuff rammed down their throats. I would put this on the same level as the dancing Arby's fries.
September 4th, 2018 at 6:36 PM ^
"Rammed down their throats"? Taking 15 seconds before a football game to honor somebody is "ramming something down fans' throats"? I don't understand how something like this could make people so defensive.
September 4th, 2018 at 8:47 PM ^
Sadly there is, a larger than many of us would like to accept, portion of society that only cares about sports and does not want anything and I mean anything to be associated, attached, or included as part of their fan experience. That is how important some fans place sport in their lives.
When confronted with any suggestion that something could be more important than sports (say rape on college campuses which all of the data says happens at a significantly higher rate than in the broader society making a college football game the perfect platform for such a message) they tend to get very aggravated and make irrational statements and arguments...because sports.
Then there are the general assholes. They don’t like things like this either.
September 4th, 2018 at 10:13 PM ^
Eh, they're very selective. They applaud military flyovers and other such displays.
September 4th, 2018 at 9:00 PM ^
"Rammed down the throats" is a common dog-whistle nowadays.
Usually it's that blood-curdlingly awful "tolerance" of something that is being discussed.
September 4th, 2018 at 7:35 PM ^
right, because taking a stand against rape is ‘virtue signaling’ now and not, you know, doing the right thing.
if you find yourself agreeing with section 1 about anything either you’re dumb or just on the wrong side of an argument
September 4th, 2018 at 5:51 PM ^
I'll give you a +1 for giving a logical thought-worthy argument.
And I sort of (not fully) agree. I'm not associated with U-M ...... but this honoring does feel like it has a bit of a "virtue signaling" element to it.
Perhaps the following is an uncomfortable question. But I'll still ask. Would this honoring occur had the Zach Smith mess of the last 5 weeks not occurred? Had she and Zach Smith not started fighting on Twitter last week?
September 4th, 2018 at 5:56 PM ^
Probably, considering that JH brought her to speak over the summer, which was scheduled months in advance. And that she thought he was very responsive to her message and they’ve struck up a friendship of sorts. And it’s not like Brenda is sitting on her ass waiting to be invited to a game. This was probably in the works for the last month or so.
September 4th, 2018 at 6:07 PM ^
Thanks for the info on JH/Brenda being in touch well before August.
I'm not trying to criticize U-M here ........ but this invite, it strikes me as a bit (a bit) tricky.
September 4th, 2018 at 6:09 PM ^
Only if you’re looking for a reason to criticize it.
September 4th, 2018 at 7:40 PM ^
says the guy who cheers for the team whose coach and admin staff happily let a predator rape boys in football facilities for decades because they didn’t want to ‘ruin anyone’s weekend’
September 4th, 2018 at 5:58 PM ^
we already knew about this way before last week.
September 4th, 2018 at 6:08 PM ^
I hate it when people use the term "virtue signaling" as if it's an intrinsically negative thing to do. It is literally just the expression of moral values. We all virtue signal constantly, and the majority of the time it's beneficial to society.
September 4th, 2018 at 6:23 PM ^
"Virtue signalling" is, by definition, the CONSPICUOUS expression of moral values. The key word there is conspicuous.
Some virtual signalling is beneficial to society. E.g., the ice-bucket challenge of 4 years ago. Lots of $ that wouldn't have been raised otherwise.
Some virtual signalling isn't beneficial. E.g., my school (Penn State) putting a bunch of blue-ribbons on their football helmets for some games in 2011/2012. Big freaking deal. Just some attempt by some PSUers to make themselves look and feel good.
Many people didn't know about ALS research. Most everyone already knew that you should report someone who may be sexually abusing children.
And yes, I think this one by U-M has "a bit" (to repeat my phrase from earlier) of virtue signalling to it. Most everyone already knows that rape is wrong.
September 4th, 2018 at 6:39 PM ^
This is a stupid point. Yes, a vast majority will say that rape or sexual assault is wrong. Yet it’s a major problem in his country. Just like how a majority of people say racism is wrong yet it’s still one of the dominant forces in the world.
September 4th, 2018 at 6:43 PM ^
I haven't insulted you - can you please keep the conversation civil and say it's "a point I disagree with" instead of a "stupid" point? Come on.
One-on-one education (not blue ribbons or honorary guests) is the primary way to solve problems like racism and sexual violence.
I certainly have no issues with U-M (or any other school) bringing in people to educate student-athletes on these issues. And that's, obviously, something that U-M already did (as you told me elsehwere). Kudos to U-M there.
September 4th, 2018 at 6:50 PM ^
Lol. I didn’t insult you. I just said it’s a stupid point, which it was. I’m sorry that you’re upset about it? Not really though.
Education is the most effective (duh), but how many people will become interested in Brenda’s work because of the publicity? I’m willing to venture that a few will. HS coaches might consider connecting their players with educational organizations regarding this issue.
September 4th, 2018 at 6:58 PM ^
Fair enough - but I also think it's fair to wonder if you would have called it a "stupid point" if we were in a 1-1 conversation.
I'll go into a self-righteous tangent on Social Media. Social Media is generally good, IMO. But it has also:
(1) made it easier for folk to feel good about themselves ("virtual signaling").
(2) made it easier for folk to attempt to minimize others (slipping phrases like "stupid point", "duh" and "not really though" into a conversation).
September 4th, 2018 at 7:04 PM ^
Holy virtue signaling Batman!
Nobody asked for your holier than thou lecture on interactions in the social media age. The fact that you gave it unsolicited is pretty tone deaf considering the topic you’ve ranted on in this thread. What the fuck.