Rolling Stone Article - "Michigan Football's Big Chill"
Yes. It's another pile-on piece highlighting the demise of the Michigan Football brand. But I must admit, I did find interesting the Big Chill metaphor.
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/michigan-footballs-big-chi…
September 26th, 2014 at 2:58 PM ^
But hey, it's publicity, right?
September 26th, 2014 at 3:13 PM ^
Yep. Let's at least acknowledge the fact that Michigan's current suckiness being an on-going topic in national sports media is evidence that the Michigan football brand is still influential and is associated with success (current non success notwithstanding). It's better than total indifference. Bama got through a recent bad cycle, ND got through. We'll get through it too.
September 26th, 2014 at 4:55 PM ^
Exactly. Only relevant programs with a history of winning make headlines when they lose. All the attention goes to show how much Michigan means to the sport. I don't recall a Rolling Stone article about the Dan Enos era at CMU. Do I like it that we're being discussed now because we're losing? Of course not. But I take some small comfort in knowing Michigan still matters. I will be really sad if Michigan isn't discussed at all. There SHOULD be headlines when Michigan loses.
September 26th, 2014 at 6:39 PM ^
September 26th, 2014 at 5:22 PM ^
September 26th, 2014 at 2:59 PM ^
The author Michael Weinreb is a PSU graduate who for some reason has taken much joy in writing about Michigan since Sandusky.
September 26th, 2014 at 3:03 PM ^
If only there were something in that article that's innacurrate to bitch about, though...which there isn't.
September 26th, 2014 at 3:28 PM ^
except Weinreb's over-the-top writing and reveling in Michigan's misfortune. He has been hammering this for the last couple years, but he's not a Michigan columnist though. Like here:
Or here:
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/sugar-bowl-revisited-basking-in-the-big-tens-faux-success/
You pretty much don't even need to read the column as you already know what is going to be in it. Revel in Michigan's misfortune. Take shots at Michigan's history and historical significance. Rinse and repeat. He has pretty much written the same column twice in the last 5 months.
The guy just the used the phrase "snooty self-indulgence" and "hoary symbolism of the Michigan Man" to describe Michigan after using "Michigan's storied and (schadenfreude alert) oppressively self-congratulatory history" and "No program traffics on the assuredness of its own history quite like Michigan does" in a column 5 months ago. Twice he has referred to schadenfreude, and I don't think it is by accident.
September 26th, 2014 at 3:31 PM ^
The one way having a PSU guy write this is relevant is that there isn't a more delusionally self-congratulatory fanbase on the planet than them. And I include Notre Dame in that statement.
And that's in a post-Sandusky era. I fucking hate Penn State fans. More than Buckeyes or Spartans, even.
September 26th, 2014 at 6:42 PM ^
September 26th, 2014 at 3:16 PM ^
Even in the knowledge that Weinreb is indeed a PSU guy and probably would love to engage in a bit of schadenfreude (never mind, he is - it makes the tone of the article a bit difficult to stand), there's a theme in the article which he brings out that I happen to agree is part of what's going on here - due to many things, several of the important ones being mentioned in the article, the program does suffer from a crisis of identity right now.
September 26th, 2014 at 7:57 PM ^
September 26th, 2014 at 3:02 PM ^
September 26th, 2014 at 3:17 PM ^
Feel free to take your own advice...
September 26th, 2014 at 5:54 PM ^
September 26th, 2014 at 3:05 PM ^
No idea how Brandon can last another year. The amount of bad publicity he's generated has been staggering.
September 26th, 2014 at 3:07 PM ^
This place is becoming intolerable. We don't have to post every single thing every single person says or writes about the program.
September 26th, 2014 at 3:07 PM ^
It's not the OP's fault that there is a seemingly incessant deluge of articles about the demise of our football program.
September 26th, 2014 at 3:13 PM ^
No, but it's his fault for posting another. I'm not blaming the OP alone, but collectively, we really need to stop doing this. Posting articles from PSU graduates, current OSU students, reddit users, and hack radio personalities adds nothing to the discussion and just brings more negativity to an already depressing situation.
September 26th, 2014 at 3:21 PM ^
I don't think this needs to be boiled down to a PSU article. There's an article in Rolling Stone about the state of Michigan football. That's relevant, if only because you probably shouldn't be seeing an article like that in a publication like that
September 26th, 2014 at 3:30 PM ^
It's relevant because we shouldn't be seeing it? Huh? We know that state of our program. Everyone in the country knows the state of our program. Posting 30 identical articles about the state of our program is pointless.
September 26th, 2014 at 3:34 PM ^
Everyone in the country knows the state of our program.
Everyone in the college football world does. To a greater extent, so do those who may not follow it but are glued to the WWL or some of the other sport networks.
But I'd be willing to bet there's a significant portion of Rolling Stone's readership that doesn't. And if the state of the program is to the point that Rolling Stone has decided this is an article worth publishing, then yes, I would say that in and of itself is newsworthy.
It's also a Friday afternoon board post with a pretty clear title that is easily avoided by those that don't want to read anymore...
September 26th, 2014 at 3:49 PM ^
Fine. A magazine ranked 53rd in total circulation with fewer than half the readers of Ladies' Home Journal also thinks our program sucks. Glad to know it.
September 26th, 2014 at 3:59 PM ^
Ladies Home Journal can't be far behind with their exposé.
September 26th, 2014 at 4:30 PM ^
I'm actually glad to see these types of articles posted and discussed on this board. Of course as a fan I already have a handle on the problems with Michigan football; but that's not the point.
The point is at this point, we should accelerate the inevitable change in anyway we can. Every day that goes by with the uncertainty of "when" and "who," we hemorrhage recruits. Hemorrhaging is likely to accelerate unless changes are made shortly.
It's alright to notice that our suckage has been noted outside the program. If we can build the suckage cacophany to deafening levels, it is possible that even Schissel--high in his ivory tower--will hear us.
Then the necessary changes may begin.
September 26th, 2014 at 5:02 PM ^
Well enough people have shot me down that I will now diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.
September 26th, 2014 at 5:37 PM ^
September 26th, 2014 at 3:14 PM ^
I disagree. With most programs imploding isn't a national storyline. These pieces highlight both that Michigan is nationally reelevant and that the program is being handled terribly. I actually like that people are noticing how embarrasing things are since nothing else has seemed to work to this point. I like to think each article brings us that much closer to the end of Dave Brandon....
September 26th, 2014 at 4:18 PM ^
I actually like that people are noticing how embarrasing things are since nothing else has seemed to work to this point.
And skywriting the message is beneath us.
September 26th, 2014 at 3:14 PM ^
The two articles you referenced may be written by PSU/OSU grads, respectively, but they were published by very respectable and widely-read outlets (Rolling Stone and Grantland). I totally agree that reddit material or some guy named Greggg Hanson is probably not board-worthy, but I think a Rolling Stone article more than makes the cut.
We're seeing the beginning of the end (or maybe more the end of the end) of Brandon's, and possibly Hoke's, tenure. It's worth chronicling and watching it unfold.
September 26th, 2014 at 3:21 PM ^
What did this article contribute to the narrative? What new insights did it provide?
September 26th, 2014 at 3:30 PM ^
The fact a story about Michigan's demise appeared in Rolling Stone IS the new insight. This is not normal.
September 26th, 2014 at 5:40 PM ^
September 26th, 2014 at 3:33 PM ^
I, for one, do not think that any publication that glamms up, and puts on the front page, the Boston Bombing terrorist in order to mitigate his crime, and opinion-form the public in his favor, could, or should, ever be called "respectable", widely read, perhaps, and I can think of a few other words for them, but respectable is not one of them.
September 26th, 2014 at 4:14 PM ^
September 26th, 2014 at 8:00 PM ^
September 26th, 2014 at 3:16 PM ^
OP here. Look, I get it. There are articles everywhere on the topic, most of which offer the same conclusion. I fancied this particular one because it used The Big Chil -- a movie us older alum hold near and dear to our hearts -- as a metaphor for the state of the program. I found that an interesting take, and as such decided the article was worthy of posting.
On a side note -- I don't believe this is the moment to stick our head in the ground. I'm interested in everyone's take on this situation, good or bad, since it affects the value of the Michigan brand -- and selfishly, my own pride in the degree I barely earned.
September 26th, 2014 at 3:21 PM ^
Haven't we pretty much always done that, be it positive or negative writing?
September 26th, 2014 at 3:37 PM ^
and thats the truth
September 26th, 2014 at 3:11 PM ^
September 26th, 2014 at 6:14 PM ^
At first blush, it appears accurate, and insofar as it describes the occurrence of events that nobody can debate transpired. But it's shaded.
It implies Michigan fired Rodriguez because he was a bad cultural fit, which may or may not be true, but omits mention of the NCAA sanctions (which were Mickey Mouse, but unprecedented), and the woeful defenses of 2009 and 2010.
It mocks Michigan in several underhanded ways: implies the Big Chill is a bad film; portrays Michigan fans as "snooty,"; and above-all-else it over-dramatizes our struggles which, while bad, are not anything that Oklahoma, Nebraska, Miami, USC, and Texas haven't experienced in the last 25 years.
September 27th, 2014 at 8:05 AM ^
September 26th, 2014 at 3:14 PM ^
What the hell? Who's gonna write about Michigan football next? Lifehacker? Jezebel? Gawker? Buzzfeed? Or another similar blog staffed and read by godless hippies?
September 26th, 2014 at 3:15 PM ^
More like the NYT or the Wall Street Journal....
September 26th, 2014 at 5:53 PM ^
September 26th, 2014 at 5:56 PM ^
and btw, I think bacon wrote an article picked up by wsj. So that quota was filled.. . .
September 26th, 2014 at 3:21 PM ^
Carlos Spicyweiner article. I guarantee that shit will be brilliant! How about it, Carlos SW?
September 26th, 2014 at 3:32 PM ^
Well, my friends say my life is pretty interesting, so maybe I should write more. Aside from being a Michigan fan, I'm an exotic/ short film actor, and i'm usually on set performing...activities with young, buxom female co-stars 4 to 5 times per week. I'm renowed in the industry for my lack of "stage fright" and my rock hard...focus at the drop of a hat.
In my spare time I like to direct similar short films as well. I both produce and write the scripts as well; short movies with varying amounts of plot, heavy on camera-close ups of the actors and actresses as they...act. After the scene climax and cameras cut, we usually need to towel off the actresses; I help with that too.