How sane are we?
While we are bathing in the sweet, sweet milk of ND schadenfreude, perhaps we should reflect on exactly what we would do in the same situation. Are we better than these pathetic ND fans who believe everything Te'o is spewing? Would we have condemned Bo if he did the same thing as JoePa?
In a great all Te'o mailbag, Bill Simmons laid out following levels Indefensively Defending Sports Figure;
Level 1: Reserved for harmless stuff — like Boston fans defending Kevin Garnett every time he acts like a bully or an a-hole (just because he's on our team and we love him and that's what you do when it's your guy), or Cowboys fans blindly defending Tony Romo's litany of choke jobs just because they love Tony Romo, or Miami fans refusing to admit that Dwyane Wade is an occasionally dirty player, or Utah fans arguing that Karl Malone really DID have some clutch moments. All benevolent fan-defending goes here.
Level 2: A blown-out version of the first level — the stakes are a little higher only because there's a little more of that hits-too-close-to-home sensitivity. Like how Ravens fans fly off the handle every time someone jokes about Ray Lewis's incident from 2000. Yes, you could throw Kobe and the Lakers fans in here. As well as Red Sox fans post-2004 right after any steroids joke about Manny or Papi.
Level 3: Any longtime O.J. Simpson fan now making the "If we're going to make excuses for Junior Seau, why can't we make the same excuses for everything that happened to O.J. after he retired? What if he has CTE, too?" defense. This gets its own level. By the way, I'm all-in on the CTE O.J. defense. He should start pushing it right now.
Level 4: Any Notre Dame fan pushing the whole "Look, Manti is the one who's a victim here!" scenario. If you play the catfishing/naive angle hard enough, the "victim" door is juuuuuuuuuuuuuust open enough that they don't sound completely insane. Just marginally insane.
Level 5: Anyone defending baseball cheaters (Bonds, Clemens, McGwire, etc.) with the always hilarious "We don't know for sure" defense or the equally hilarious "Come on, everyone was cheating, any competitive person would have done what they did" defense. All PED defenses go here. So does everyone defending Lance Armstrong's last two decades of lying/cheating/bullying/threatening/intimidating because "he did some real good, too."
Level 6: Anyone who wanted the Paterno statue to stay up; anyone who thinks that Paterno and/or Penn State's administration didn't have an inkling that something was at the very least a little off with Jerry Sandusky; anyone who rushed out a mostly flattering post-scandal biography about Paterno without waiting for the entire investigation to play out; and anyone who said the words, "Well, this may have complicated Joe's legacy, but it didn't change all the great things he did." Welcome to the highest level of Indefensibly Defending Sports Figures.
Looking at the list, even in the depths of Fab Five scandal, Michigan fans were never more than guilty of level 2 violation. Or have we committed worse offense in the past?
January 19th, 2013 at 12:56 PM ^
We're fans (short for fanatics) . . . that kind of sums it up.
January 19th, 2013 at 1:08 PM ^
When we found out about Te'o it was hilarious, and we had some fun over it, but some of the over the top responses had me wondering about sanity levels. I saw rants like: "He made up a girfriend to win the Heisman! or: His whole family was in on it! and: NCAA sanctions! plus: Kelly knew the whole time and should be fired! or: NDs whole class will decommit after seeing this! not to mention: Who would draft Te'o now?!" and I hoped they weren't serious, and just having a temporary fit of rcmb.
January 19th, 2013 at 1:12 PM ^
How self aware can one truly be? The temptation and tendency is to always see yourself (or those you love, or the institution you love,) in a positive light. Conversely, the temption is to see others, (especially those you are predisposed to dislike, or institutions you don't care for) in a negative light. The idea that one is neutral or impartial or unbiased is a fantasy. If we are fans of Michigan, we can't really be neutral.
How we view things is also fluid. We may be sane at times about Michigan, and delusional at other times. It is a mistake to think "sanity" is a static state. And as mentioned above, being "sane" and being a "fanatic" are diametrically opposed.
Another problem: how do you define "we?" Who belongs to the "we?" In other words, some of the "we" for each fanbase is more sane than other parts of the fanbase. Michigan fans are fond of pointing to the outliers in other fanbases as being emblematic of the general population of that fanbase.
- What percentage of Ohio fans poop in coolers?
- How many Ohio fans have a youtube video of pooping in their bathroom?
- How many Spartie students look for sugar daddies?
- How many PSU staff abuse children?
- How many ND players are catfished?
- And how many ND fans defend said catfishing?
So, take that horrendous song "We are Notre Dame." Does that mean that "we" have online relationships? That "we" defend online relationships? That "we" are delusional? Since "we" are Notre Dame?
Last comment: bringing up this topic with the fanbase usually doesn't end well. Notice all the negative comments to the OP.
January 19th, 2013 at 1:18 PM ^
January 19th, 2013 at 1:23 PM ^
has it's share of overzealous posters and this one is no different. We overreact a ton around here, that's part of fandom. The percentage of "facepalm" comments here is certainly less than most places, and we have safeguards and a culture which usually prevents troll comments from turning into a flame war. That's what makes this site among the very few I go to. We're not MLive, or RCMB and that's a good thing. But we'll never stamp out people who live their life by the "ready, fire, aim" philosphy. And I'm glad we're a community that doesn't tolerate baseless accusations (things like "Hoke manages the roster specifically to force out certain players"). We don't stand for crap like that; not because you're being critical of a coach (god knows we're PERFECTLY FINE with that) but because its an asinine statement.
January 19th, 2013 at 1:36 PM ^
January 19th, 2013 at 1:44 PM ^
If a Michigan commit changes his mind and decommits, or even simply expresses interest in visiting another school, the character assassination of him begins immediately on MGoBlog. His values, ethics, athletic ability, and quality of his familial upbringing are all questioned, with the direct assumption being that he's scum of the earth.
But when a kid who's previously committed to another school decommits from, for example, Illinois or Purdue, and then commits to Michigan, it's direct proof that he's the salt of the earth and an admirable model of Michigan Man-like intelligence, fortitude, and virtue.
January 19th, 2013 at 2:20 PM ^
"Called her every damn night?? On the telephone???
Take it away Gary!!!!!!!
January 19th, 2013 at 3:30 PM ^
But generally speaking, the group that frequents this particular blog seems to be for the most part devoid of it. There may very well be cooler-pooping Wolverines fans out there, but I've never met them, and I don't expect too many of them own user ID's for this site.
Part of it, I think, goes back to supporting the idea that Michigan and its athletic programs do it "the right way"...that they still expect their athletes to be good citizens in the community, in the classroom, while representing well on the field. Graduation rates matter to the fans, not just the program. It's not just a matter of winning games or championships or obsessing over beating "that other school"...it's being able to do it while running ethically conscious programs filled with athletes who actually go to class and look at the University as something more than just a way station on the way to the NFL/NBA/NHL.
It's a mature approach to college athletics, and one you don't see too often in ESS-EEE-SEE country, and I think the intellectual honesty that comes with that limits the tendency to lose your shit when/if something as heinous (Sandusky) or bizarre (Te'o) happens at Michigan. The Fab Five's really the most obvious scandal...Moeller would come next. And after that I'd probably rate the incident with Berenson that most people aren't even aware occurred. Stretchgate is just so damned trivial it's impossible to take seriously, but it happened and the rules are what they are. For me the worst thing about it was people giving me grief over "all that extra practice and you all still went 3-9".
January 19th, 2013 at 6:29 PM ^
The sane man is simply a better lair than the insane man.
January 19th, 2013 at 8:19 PM ^
I for one am not entering the lair of an insane man. My fedora is off to you.
January 19th, 2013 at 7:27 PM ^
But there have been a few insane reactions. The anti-Freep backlash being first and foremost. Those guys are journalists, not fans, and there is absolutely no doubt M was guilty of minor violations. We shot the messenger on this one, accusing the Freep of overreaching. I know this is not a popular view, but that is a level 2 at least.
January 20th, 2013 at 8:49 AM ^
January 19th, 2013 at 9:03 PM ^
Would this ever happen at Michigan or any other Big Ten school? The chances are pretty close to zero.
Consider this:
The most action anyone gets at this college is a tap on the behind after a football game. At Notre Dame students can be expelled for having premarital sex, so naturally contraception is banned and there are no sexual health resources. In fact, in a recent study Notre Dame was one of the bottom ten schools for sexual health awareness. The students are not informed about safer sex, and thus are more at risk for STIs and unintended pregnancies. But even if students find themselves wanting to have sex, the single gender dorms and strict visiting hours keep them at bay. There was even an article about how students don’t know how to interact with the opposite sex, so the university’s tactics to keep students from getting it on seem to be working.
If Te'o really was engaging in some sort of on-line relationship, catfish or otherwise, I place the fault at the feet of Notre Dame and its dark-age & backwards view of sex and sexuality. Had Te'o gone to any Big Ten institution, he would surely been able to openly & without fear have a relationship with a real human (target rich environment!). No reasonable collage student would need to look for sex or a relationship on-line unless at a college or university that banned sex.
It's Notre Dame's fault.