Perspective

thank you.

Good luck to your pops on his recovery man.

To add to this post, my grandmother passed away minutes after the game. She was a holocaust survivor and escaped a Nazi death march.

These times really put it all in perspective and what matters and what real tragedy actually looks like. We should be smiling that a loss of a game that we can't control is the "pain" in our lives this week. Life is pretty good compared to some.

My fiance has been out of country for a week tending to her grandfather who fell and had some brain trauma a week ago.

I was texting her updates and telling her how anxious I had been all day.

She texted back saying that, in the middle of standing for 6 hours straight because the hospital is too poor to put chairs for visitors in rooms, her grandpa's roommate in the hospital died after a last ditch effort to save her life. 

Put me in perspective real quick. We live in a great country with a lot of fortunes and Harbaugh is remaking this program into a power. This is hard to swallow today, but things will get better - very soon.

in year two under Harbaugh we took the #2 team into double ot on the road. this program has never looked more in the right direction.

for much of the first half of the game, then she napped for the 2nd half.  I got her from her crib as the first overtime started, gave her a bottle, and watched the rest of the game.  When it ended, my wife said "Go give dada a hug, his team lost."  Kid comes over, grabs my face, says "Sorry dada" and gives me a big kiss.  

Today was my birthday... I obviously had one wish. In my younger days I would have let this loss likely ruin my day, week and possibly even the remainder of the season.

In this holiday season I am thankful for the perspective I have gained as a fan over the years. The dark ages were very humbling and a big test for real fans. These are not those same types of days or losses. I'm also thankful for the health of myself, my parents & especially my children. I'm even thankful for the few dozen people that took the time out of their day to send me birthday wishes via text message or social media. It's always unexpected and appreciated. I no longer feel anger, disappointment or despair for myself personally as a fan during days like this. We still get to pull for and watch one of the greatest and most prestigious programs in college football compete week in week out and I've learned to relish each game, because these seasons seem to fly by faster and faster with each passing year. However, I do feel quite a bit of disappointment for these kids we pull for. Most, if not all are great human beings, mature beyond their years playing under a ton of pressure and expectations. Today, last year vs MSU and a handful of other times during these draughts and tough losses, they've deserved so much better. Still VERY proud of this team and what they've accomplished. Easily one of the best handful of teams in the country, and I have a good feeling that they'll still play in a NY6 bowl and make another pretty good team miserable all day long.

P.S. I'm sorry for your guy's losses and family crisis' you are experiencing... No matter what has happened or what day it is. I'm not a religious person, but I hope you find comfort in your family and friends, and maybe even a little on this here blog. Go Blue! & HAIL!

Reminds me a lot of 2015 MSU. But I said this to my MSU friends after that game: In 10 weeks Harbaugh put together a better team than Dantonio after 7 years. Today I say Harbaugh put together a better team in 2 years with players that aren't his own than Urban has in 5 years with all his own guys. Losing sucks and this is going to sting for a while, but Harbaugh will have his day over OSU and it will come soon. Go Blue!

Beagle passed away today. The hurt on my kid's faces was heart wrenching. Would a win have made things better? Who knows. I just know that I heard my 6 year old say this was the worst day ever, with tears running down his eyes.

This community of anonymous posters feels like some sort of family to me. I know that sounds ridiculous, but when one of you posts your personal struggles, I care. I genuinely hope that your father recovers well, thank you for sharing. We like to escape our personal lives, all of us do. We're just crazy enough to find our escape through a 3 hour football game. Some of us, myself included, hang our happiness on the outcomes of said football games. It's stupid, but this blog wouldn't exist otherwise. Not to mention the risk/reward we get from days like today can payoff well for investing our emotions. Days like today can also be soul crushing. I just let today crush half my soul. Ive learned to limit the damage.

Wishing you both peace and best.

The game was a hot flaming piece of ass. Then I asked my six year old daughter for a hug and she gladly obliged. I felt 99% better.

But my wife is 4 weeks out from having successful brain surgery and she is fucking pissed off and was swearing like a sailor today. So yes...big picture...just a game...but after that game Michigan fans have a green light to be pissed off a little longer.

I just diagnosed my wife with anorexia.  I have made the call to get her some help and she has her first appointment on Monday.  I am really ignorant in this area, because she looks beautiful but lately too much weight has been coming off and her dieting measures are no longer normal and there are all other sorts of symptoms that I have been reading about that she definetly has. I am praying that she gets this turned around so that she can be the wife and mother my kids know.

Thank you OP. Like many others I was really bummed out by what happened today. But I can say regardless, I feel great about the trajectory of our program. Most importantly, I've had my kids home this week and it's been great to spend time with them.

Great post. I feel as though all of us have seen enough terrible Michigan football in recent seasons that we realize that this type of outcome is not the end of the world. Tough game to swallow for sure, but this is why I love college football. Everybody is so invested in this awesome game that devolves into chaos many times each year. It's exciting and heartbreaking. It makes me so excited for future games and seasons while being extremely bummed that the team could almost taste some really great things this season. Toughest thing to handle is the fact that Michigan beat both of the teams going to the big ten title. Sometimes the gauntlet doesn't quite go your way and that's ok. Go blue!

Best to your dad!

Best post of the day. Thank you for sharing. I was having similar thoughts in my head when I was reading posts to the effect of "my life is ruined," etc. etc. Big difference between football life and real literal life. If you struggle to decipher between the two, this is a great post to give you that perspective that sometimes even the best of us need to be reminded of. Thanks again for posting.

Ive lived thru the 10-2-1 years and now the 1-12 or whatever it is years...The Buckeyes better enjoy this while they can..Harbaugh has this program back in the National Conversation and was perhaps a MISTAKEN 2 inches from a Final 4....Its Coming....what hes done in 2 short years is Miraculous and we still have a Eluite Bowl game coming up...Probably Orange Bowl...We are NOT back yet but we are just about there...Beat Florida next year to start the year and OSU in AA to finish the year.    .2017 is OURS!

Best thread of the day. Thank you OP.

Sports is the most important of the unimportant things.

From a football standpoint: this team is still ahead of schedule. We are competing head to head with out archrival and are winning a bunch of games without Harbaugh's recruits. This is still the old guard that heavily struggled everywhere else. We are on the right track.

Losing sucks.  I didn't have any tragedies like many of those who posted above.  Instead I had a wonderful time.

This weekend was the first time my son has come home since he moved out.  I was glad he moved out because it was time.  You cannot have two bulls under the same roof and we were butting heads more and more.  It was time for him to go off and make a name for himself in the world.

He came home for Thanksgiving and stayed just to watch The Game with me today.  Through good times and bad Michigan football has always been something we shared.  Today as he sat at the other end of the couch I realized he's a man now and not my little boy.  I love him and I hope that we will always share The Game together.

Double Post

Thanks for this, and sorry to hear about your father. I hope he's feeling better. When Ohio State scored its winning touchdown, I fell to the floor and laid there, sprawled out face down in the middle of my living room, for a good 5 minutes. What snapped me out of my stupor? My ten month old son crawled over to me and climbed onto my back. I slowly turned over and found him smiling and looking at me as if to say, "What's wrong, dad?" In that moment, all was right with the world. This was a hard-fought game that could have gone either way. There will be many of these while Harbaugh is in charge, and we'll win our share. Everything will be fine. GO BLUE.

and best wishes to you and your dad!

All the best to you and your dad. I am glad that he is out of the hospital and hope he has a full and speedy recovery.

I think this is a really good thread. I definitely let this loss down me a little longer than it should on a nice Saturday with family. It's crazy how lucky those of us are that a loss by a bunch of college kids we didn't even play in is our biggest heart ache for time being. I feel horrible for the seniors who put in so much time and just barely missed out on their chance to beat OSU, but they're off to bigger and better things now.

And remember, if some rival fan goes out of their way to rub it in that a bunch of college athletes they didn't participate in beat a bunch of college athletes we didn't participate in, there's probably a reason why that's the thing that brings joy to their life, and I feel bad for someone that miserable. Hope everyone has a great holiday season and New Year.