Is Molk Right About The Fans(Edited)?
I don't get to go to games very often. So I was curious if what David Mol said about people booing the players during RR tenure was true? I would tend to think that real fans would never boo. But if some felt really compelled to express their frustration I would hope that it would be directed at the coaching staff and never the players. Of course if you're a player on the sideline it's probably not easy to differentiate who the boo's are aimed at. Many of you are regular game attendees, what did you witness? Are some fans really that classless?
Edit: My apologies I meant to type David Molk but instead typed Mike Martin.
December 15th, 2011 at 11:53 AM ^
And at least 10-20 certified assholes. I feel like the big house is pretty tame when you consider 100K+ in there.
December 15th, 2011 at 6:57 PM ^
December 15th, 2011 at 11:58 AM ^
I'm curious how one deciphers the boos intended for the coaches versus those meant for the kids?
I've heard boos before. It's rare but it happens. Usually the people I've heard boo usually follow it up with a tasty expletive followed by a certain coach's name. So there's that, I guess.
December 15th, 2011 at 12:32 PM ^
Its actually a lower-pitched boo when it is directed at coaches. More like a "BOOOO" sound. When directed at players, people use a higher-pitched boo, kind of like a "booooo" sound. Make sense?
December 15th, 2011 at 12:40 PM ^
let us all text in our specific grievances and post them on the megascreens.
Happy Early Festivus!
December 15th, 2011 at 12:03 PM ^
I don't boo our opponents and don't allow my daughter to do so. They are just college kids.
December 15th, 2011 at 12:04 PM ^
I thnk it really is a reflection on the fact that Michigan fans weren't "all in." He is right. I have been to all of the football games for the last 3 years and we really have supported the team a lot more this year. People did desert the team for a couple of years. But this is like the 40,000th time that we have reflected on this and the RR years. It is time to move on for the betterment of the program.
December 15th, 2011 at 12:08 PM ^
Before 2008. Yeah. Right.
(Might have something to do with winning every home game this year, vs. almost every other year..not)
December 15th, 2011 at 3:41 PM ^
He clearly didn't attend the 2007 Oregon game. The booing was so loud at times I thought Springsteen was on stage.
December 15th, 2011 at 3:29 PM ^
Hey, I hear there's this really good burger place here, should we try that?
Naw man....I want to go to that Chinese place we went to last time.
What about Zingerman's, we're in Ann Arbor right?
Way too pricey and the team didn't pay enough this time.
Oh right, well what about we go back to the hotel and Call Cottage Inn?
Nah, Dominos.
Dominos? are you F'in kidding me?
Dominos is pretty good...
Geeze, we really can't make the right calls, can we?
Well what about that play?
Um.....
Der.....
Icing right?
Um...that's not the right sport..
Oh yeah, forgot where I was for a second....
I don't know...roughing the kicker...
Dude it was 2nd Down...
they could have punted on 2nd down if they wanted...
They didn't...
Oh yeah, well how about offsides and we call it good?
Sure....
December 15th, 2011 at 12:07 PM ^
Of the Wisconsin game in 2008.
December 15th, 2011 at 12:27 PM ^
I thought I remembered boos during Toledo 2008 as well
December 15th, 2011 at 12:28 PM ^
are by a perennial boo-bird (I'm section 20 ailse and he sits across from us in 21). All he does is shit-talk Denard the whole time. He's a total fucking prick and I want to punch him in his smug face every time I go. Wow . . . guess I had been saving that up for a while.
December 15th, 2011 at 3:46 PM ^
with a strong violent-diarrhea-causing laxative in it is definitely the way to go.
December 15th, 2011 at 10:22 PM ^
that or actually punching him in the face.
December 16th, 2011 at 1:03 PM ^
throwing a mostly empty water bottle at him on a regular basis.
I do actually try to calm my ire with people/actions like this by reminding myself that this person is probably like that all the time and that they actually live their life being an a-hole. Seems weird, but it helps.
December 15th, 2011 at 12:28 PM ^
1. Not that it makes it right but ticket prices have doubled in the last 10 years while most people in this state probably make less money then they did 10 years ago.
2. The addition of the club and suite seats have made the stadium louder.
3. There has always been some booing, but when your not preforming well your probably going to notice it more. (Kinda like when your broke it feels like the bills are comming in faster)
December 15th, 2011 at 12:28 PM ^
There were some boos at the Utah game as I remember. As well as the usual smattering for short field punts and halftime knees. I dont know that it was more epidemic than the Carr era(I've only been attending games since '95), but if Molk heard them and thought they were meant for him, there's really no way to defend it. I wish he could have felt how much we wanted them to succeed. And the hope we had for them. I'm glad they were able to enjoy some of that success this year. Those guys deserve it.
December 15th, 2011 at 12:35 PM ^
It's not always directed at the coaches and that is when I get frustrated.
Examples:
1. Gibbons missed field goal vs. Wisconsin 2010. RR was booed for attempting the field goal, Gibbons was booed for missing it.
2. Tate Forcier fumble on first touch vs. Illinois 2010.
December 15th, 2011 at 3:44 PM ^
Good point, but from my experience, most booing of players comes from repeated mistakes of the same variety. Both examples you gave fall into that category. Repeated dropped passes is another thing that seems to get boos at the stadium. Not saying it's right, just that's my observation. Players don't seem to be booed on principle, like Joey Harrington or Sergei Fedorov.
December 15th, 2011 at 12:39 PM ^
The Biggest ones I can remember:
Oregon 2007
Wis 2008
Toledo 2008. I am still pissed about this game. At least the horror was a decent team, not a bottom dewller MAC team (that yr), and it ended our perfect reccord against the MAC. Even typing this is making my blood angry.
December 15th, 2011 at 2:00 PM ^
I booed at Toledo 08. In hindsight do I wish I hadn't? Sure, I guess, but there's an irrational fan in all of us. And you don't get a free pass to express your criticism (likely more bluntly) just because you were watching/listening at home and kicking babies in the face and then hitting the message boards. Sports invoke emotions and players know that...theyve all been embarassed on the field by their parents at some point.
December 15th, 2011 at 12:39 PM ^
2008 Northwestern game was the first game I ever attended and there was a lot of booing which didn't give me a good first impression of Michigan fans (that has since changed). I also remember some booing last year when Tate was put in against Illinois which made the comeback seem even more satisfying for me.
December 15th, 2011 at 2:05 PM ^
man that was nasty
December 15th, 2011 at 1:01 PM ^
You save booing for the other team and the refs. Booing your own team is disgraceful. I don't care how poorly they're playing. I was at the 2007 OSU game, in the student section, and I couldn't believe how many people were booing Lloyd and chanting "Lloyd, you suck!" No, YOU suck for not supporting the team.
I feel better.
December 15th, 2011 at 2:27 PM ^
It makes me sad to know booing happens at all, and even sadder to think that the team noticed it enough to call out poor fan behavior. Anyone who has any experience playing sports (or acting or dancing or playing music in front of an audience, for that matter) knows that audience behavior can really, really affect performance.
Just as applause and encouragement can help fire you up, I can't imagine how hearing boos would do anything but deflate and discourage. So not only is it rude and ridiculous behavior for a fan, it's also counterproductive. It's *not* going to magically make your team or coaching staff better, and it might just do the opposite.
December 15th, 2011 at 1:17 PM ^
Sitting in the student section the last 7 years, booing is the most tame thing I've heard directed at a player. I can't tell you how many times I've heard "fans" call players hateful names, and at times wish them injury just so they could see some "real football". It made me sick to my stomach, and those people should be ashamed of themselves.
December 15th, 2011 at 3:55 PM ^
Yeah, Navarre got a lot of that type stuff. Not so much booing as "You suck!"
December 15th, 2011 at 4:22 PM ^
Compared to what Navarre got, the 2011 seniors got 4 years of foot massages.
December 15th, 2011 at 1:22 PM ^
He might just as easily been speaking figuratively, and there was plenty of "booing" in all the media, by a wide range of people. I know I heard boos at the stadium. They might have been directed at the situation, or the coaching staff, but they don't reach the field with little disclaimers attached. Also - that whole team thing - you boo my coach, you boo me. When it comes to what the team thinks, it is their perception that matters - if they perceived booing, you are not going to change their mind. In fact, I would probably enjoy watching someone try to change Molk's mind.
December 15th, 2011 at 1:24 PM ^
While I have never booed IN PERSON at a game I have many times watching on TV...When people pay these PRICES?? and get RRod and 3-9 or a 52-14 Bowl blowout loss??? they deserved to get booed..with each passing day it becomes CLEARER that RROD is a coaching Disaster!!!! i have no sympathy what so ever and to hear him say how he could have won "AT LEAST" 10 games this year makes me sick...not with your defense RR...Now your gone, so STFU about Michigan already....its like a bad dream...I shudder everytime I think of him...Thank You Dave Brandon for getting rid of him asap....if you did nothing else thats enough..
December 15th, 2011 at 1:35 PM ^
Speaking of bad dreams, I dreamt I read a post like this the other night.
December 15th, 2011 at 1:40 PM ^
Deep breaths, buddy, deep breaths. Put the gun away, okay?
December 16th, 2011 at 12:31 PM ^
Can I get a 'no sense'?
December 15th, 2011 at 1:36 PM ^
I dont think Molk meant majority of the fans, probably some emotional hardcore fans got after him. It's ok, we all know we love Michigan.
December 15th, 2011 at 1:42 PM ^
Different seats each game, and in all three there were Michigan fans around us booing.
December 15th, 2011 at 3:31 PM ^
I'm pretty sure I heard some boos too...but I thought they were Suh's...:)
December 15th, 2011 at 2:03 PM ^
I think Molk's point is the criticism of the team over the past three years (and you can try to separate criticism of the coach from criticism of the players but the players know that lack of execution by them reflects poorly on the coach, that's what being a "team" really means). That criticism included boos at the game and it included alumni, fans, media, and former players ripping the performance of these teams. Think: "This isn't Michigan Football." If that's not an implicit, if not explicit, rejection of the players AND the coaches, I don't know what it is.
December 15th, 2011 at 2:28 PM ^
I would definitely hear booing at half time, although I think it was mostly directed at the staff. It was "Booooooo-RR YOU SUCK-Booooo" type of stuff. Or Robinson (Greg, not Denard) was booed.
The loudest they got was when in 2010 we played some message from RR on the screens. That was booed at a tremendous level.
I never really heard much booing at a player or the team. Just at the staff.
December 15th, 2011 at 2:33 PM ^
It is literally impossible for a player on the sideline to hear a boo and determine whether it was meant for him, his teammates, or the coaches.
People who boo their own team—whether players or coaches—are no different from the people who scream epithets at their own kid (or their coach) when he strikes out at T-ball.
December 15th, 2011 at 2:56 PM ^
That's why I didn't boo. By year three though if there was some special frequency you could boo on and only the coaches would hear it, I'd have been game though.
December 15th, 2011 at 4:11 PM ^
How the hell do you strike out at T-ball?
December 15th, 2011 at 2:43 PM ^
The guy whose comment was blocked who said fans are justified for booing players based on effort.
These kids aren't professionals -- and anyone that doubts the effort it takes to get to the point where you (1) are able to don the Winged helmet; and then (2) step on the field to play for U of M are crazy.
You lack effort on a DI football field, you probably get yourself hurt. The a-holes sitting in Row 60 (season ticket holders like myself, or not) are in no position to judge "effort." How about this - assume effort... and if a UM player ever misses a block because he's holding a Nintendo DS in his hands, or a WR ever drops a pass because his hands are occupied with a half eaten Big Ten Burrito... then boo.
Until then? Cheer the college kids playing.
December 15th, 2011 at 2:48 PM ^
and its a big reason why a large portion of the Michigan fanbase shouldn't even bother supporting the team till the last guys who played for Rodriguez are gone. People spent the last three years contributing towards the toxic atmosphere around the program, riding these guys into the ground - whether you realize it or not - with their endless negativity and now they want to pretend like everything is cool.
The same guy that you - you know who you are - spent the last three years mocking these guys for being "too small", for being tiny slot receivers, for being the worst team ever, for being terrible... just went 10-2, beat Ohio and are going to a BCS bowl.
They are more "Michigan" from a success standpoint than just about every team from the second half of Lloyd Carr's career....possibly longer. If they win the Sugar Bowl, they are the best Michigan team since, what? 1999? 1997? Pretty good for a team that according to a lot of you lacks talent, a real quarterback and a contains a bunch of nobodies on defense.
You get to enjoy the success due to a lack of accountability. But just know you don't deserve it.
December 15th, 2011 at 2:52 PM ^
seriously.
you are a fuckstain if you do.
no matter what team, what sport, whatever
December 15th, 2011 at 2:55 PM ^
As a student, I’m not the biggest fan of football players’ attitudes. This kind of “us versus the world” bullshit, and acting like they’ve somehow been terribly victimized. Let’s put this into context: they get to attend a world class institution for FREE, and in the case of some of them, have the potential to make multi-million dollar contracts playing a game. A game that’s entertaining to watch? Yes. But in the end it is a game.
Now, I don’t personally boo. I just find it difficult to take a football player seriously when they go on about the “anguish” they have to endure. Somehow, I don’t have too much sympathy for them. Not when there are people here paying OOS tuition without parental support in order to get a job in an ailing economy, without the slightest hope of ever earning a fraction of what some of these athletes have the potential of making.
I know there is about a 100% chance I get down voted for this. Also, at least one person will respond saying that I can’t possibly know what it’s like having to balance student responsibilities with their athletic responsibilities. But again, they’re getting paid for it, and have the privilege of attending a university that many of them wouldn’t have been able to get into otherwise.
And for that person out there who believes “Then stop attending games. We won’t miss you” is a clever and snappy response, you’ve misunderstood. I will continue to attend games, and enjoy the team and sport. I will continue to think that people who boo are misguided. I just happen to believe that it’s a bit difficult to take extremely privileged people seriously when they complain.
December 15th, 2011 at 4:35 PM ^
Damn kids.
December 16th, 2011 at 12:48 PM ^
I'm not sure sure what your definition of free is, but looking at the numbers coming out of the PracticeGate investigation, the amount of work put in for just countable hours is tremendous. If you attach even a minimum wage level of compensation to that, you are looking at a lot of $$.
Let's also consider the things they give up to play football while at college, the parties, the almost complete lack of responsibility, the massive amount of socializing and fun that comes with attending a school with a few thousand people your own age, perhaps the ability to study whatever major you want due to time constraints.
They also take a huge risk of bodily injury, either an abrupt, career-ending one, or ones that will appear later in life as a result of repeated/constant impact to the head, knees, spine, etc.
That...is not free.
Please also consider that very few of these guys are going to the NFL and they likely know it better than you do. I don't know an exact percentage, but the number of these guys making a career in the NFL is astronomically low.
Also, remember that the entire program, the gameday experience, the history, the tradition and everything you love is built on their backs and that the athletic department runs on the revenue they generate. If you apportion the amount of profit from football revenues on a a per player basis, they are paying the U back in spades several times over.
So yeah, boo them when you don't get enough of what YOU want and delude yourself into thinking you aren't acting like a petulant three year old. Good idea.
December 15th, 2011 at 2:56 PM ^
Is when its a clear its due to a coach's actions.
If it is 4th and short and you can see the players want to go for it and the coach sends on the punt team, then displaying your displeasure seems fair. They get paid millions to win games and they are not trying to win them. Let them know.
Booing a 19 year old because he throws a pick is dumb.