Softball Thoughts on Temple
Temple is an extremely beatable team and the only reason we split with them is because we didn't bring our bats with us the first game. The first pitcher they threw to us was pretty slow and rather inconsistent. I remember she had a rise and change up, both of which she threw frequently but were never called strikes. The second pitcher I don't remember as clearly, but I know she was faster than the first (but still not overpowering) and didn't have too much movement to it. So at the plate just be patient and wait for the pitcher to throw a strike.
Hitting wise, they weren't really over powerful either and I would classify them more as a speed type of team. We made a few mental lapses on defense that allowed them to score when they did, and if I recall correctly their 1 and 4 hitters were probably their best. Number 1 was also fairly quick and will stretch for an extra base if given the chance. Number 4 was a big leftie, and I stayed low and away from her for the most part. The only pitch she hit hard off of me was a changeup (but it was a pretty fat pitch) so by no means be afraid to throw her one -- I'm fairly certain our other pitcher struck her out (possibly more than once) on a changeup as well. Otherwise, I don't remember many other big hits by their team so I assume just mix it up and I have no doubt that Michigan's pitching staff is good enough to beat them (and will probably have their own scouting report).
On a side note, we were Temple's first game so there is a chance that there have been adjustments made to the lineup and the team might be playing differently after getting some games under their belt. However, from what I saw they are not an extremely difficult team to beat so long as you come ready to hit. Good luck to Michigan tomorrow!
Also, thanks to everyone again for the congratulations and support!
goodluck with your season the rest of the year. Hope you get all the goals you and your team set out for. And thanks for the insight into Temple
I still don't know what team you play for, or is that private?
is that we're still holding off on announcing explicitly. As she gets further into the season, or more accustomed to posting here, it might be a different story. There are enough clues that I'm sure anyone could discover it with a quick Google, but for now we'd prefer keeping last name and team out of the discussion. She might have a different opinion on team identity, but since she didn't make it known in this post I would rather it wasn't posted here for now.
Thanks to everyone in advance for respecting our wishes. I want to make sure she's comfortable posting here, as everyone else is, even if she might have a few more current athletic articles online than most other users here.
Edit: She's asleep at the moment, but assures me she's checking this early tomorrow. Anything she says about this topic overrules this post seeing as it's her identity involved.
Oh ok, I'll respect her privacy and not Google it then. Also, I'm too lazy to go through the trouble.
Basically you would get to see what two teams she'll be able to write previews about after this one (EMU and BGSU, to make it easy on everyone), the name of her team, her major (mechanical engineering) and her hometown (it's in Ohio, sadly). I can assure you that she did pitch against Temple, and also watched Temple play her team while her arm rested after pitching earlier that day.
Anyone who does look, or wants to take the time to look: more power to you, but I ask you to keep anything personal past "pitcher", "Megan" and "softball" on the DL, at least as far as identifiable information goes.
You sound like her dad. It's kinda creepy.
I think it's fairly obvious what team this person suits up for. That said, I have no idea of their specific identity, nor do I feel that revelation would be of any substantial value to me personally.
If it's established megangoblue does play for the team we all think she does, than I don't think any of us need to dig around for her specific identifiable details unless she wants to post them here... although it seems pretty obvious 120 seconds on mgoblue.com and websites that link thereto would reveal them.
Maybe its just me, and I will almost certainly get negged here.....but I dont get why you would give enough information that people could easily google a few teams and schedules to figure out exactly who Megan is, but for some reason not just say in your threads at least which team she plays for.
I dont understand.
But it's the difference between allowing certain information to be published here and keeping it off the site that she's providing information for. If you figure out who she is, great, I've said there's no problem with that; I just prefer it stays off MGoBlog for now. You should also remember that this is her first ever post, she will get more comfortable with time, and I'm sure rules change accordingly.
Yeah, im not trying to be a jerk, or out her identity if thats not what you want for her, or maybe even not what she wants. I guess thats up to you.
I still simply fail to understand any logical reason to that desire.
I can tell you that for me, it's the difference between having the people who take a second to read or understand a post knowing personal information, and literally every person on the site knowing the same.
To get to the point, it's people who take the time to care a little bit knowing, and giving a blanket announcement. It might seem like a small difference, but it does make me feel a little better about someone I care greatly about's identity getting all over the internet.
We're testing out things like this tonight, with her first post. Neither of us pretend to know what the best route is as far as personal information, and we're learning as we go along. If there are issues, we'll backtrack and get her off the MGoBlog radar; if things seem positive with the way they are being posted, they'll continue.
Agreed, RDD. From, Terg. (No personally identifying info here)
...I think I figured it out as well.
I will say, I think many of us are in a similar position on the board, where there are probably enough clues here and there that anyone could probably figure out exactly who some were in our non-MGoBlog lives, but it is all about how and when you choose to reveal anything at all really, not to mention how comfortable you are with it. In this case, the stat line in one thread and the scheduled opponents in this one made it rather easy. I believe many of us would identify with what you're converying here.
Example - for various reasons, I don't mind that many people here know who my employer is here because it is something I am comfortable revealing and also because I am in a position to help people with certain types of issues if there is a need. However, it was probably six months before I let that information fly in a thread about, of all things, power outages in Ann Arbor.
That being said, my request is a little like this site handled Lloyd Brady, I think...figure out anything you want, and clues will probably be there. Just be patient with members attempting to provide good content without their names attached at first. Even if you figure out who she is, maybe she doesn't feel like stamping her name on something, and maybe she has a good reason.
Going off that idea, please keep last names/Facebook links off the blog. If there's a reason that's needed for M softball, that information will be provided; as of now I think we could all do without publicly "outing" someone taking her time to write scouting reports for softball fans. Her and I have nothing to hide, but at this point aren't okay with putting names into the blogosphere, even if other information doesn't seem as protected (like schedules and stat lines for people willing to look them up). That could change in the future, but she needs time, to speak nothing of my needs.
My apologies to both of you. I had no intention of offending sensibilities, and I will say no more. I did enjoy the update and look forward to more of these. Fresh content is always welcome here - in the off-season, it's desperately needed sometimes.
I didn't mean to imply anything. I know you're a good guy and aren't going to abuse sensibilities, and actually I'm hoping you read this ASAP because I don't want you to think you did.
Like I said above, I'm fine with people knowing who I am or who she is. I would just rather take time before I'm okay having it all over the site. I highly doubt you're going to be "that guy" doing something the MGoBlog community generally frowns upon, based on reading your thoughts for the past eighteen months.
Thanks for the clarification. You're a great poster and I enjoy reading your views and you're one of the last folks I would ever want to offend - I completely understand your wishes on this matter.
are entirely reciprocated, basically down to the letter. No foolies, like early South Park would say.
Actually, I'm very glad to hear that type of praise from you; it means a lot more when someone you've come to respect says nice things.
Megan is Kaiser Soze. Mystery solved.
Thanks for the critical analysis on my Owls Megan. This is such a conflicting match up for me.
Look.
If you want to stay private, stop flooding the board with your personal life and details. Brian, Tremendous, Ace, TomVH, Heiko, all of the people that we consider "authorities" on this blog are transparent about who they are. Brian Cook. Tom Van Haaren. Ace Anbender. Steve Lorenz (thank you, twitter). Even my name is RIGHT THERE in my mgohandle, as I have nothing to hide and consider my thoughts/opinions credible enough to attach my name to.
If you're going to flaunt your achievements and relationship status on the blog then the right to privacy may as well be forfeited. This whole charade of "oo I have a girlfriend but you can't know who she is" has been insufferable.
Bully for you. The desire for privacy here doesn't seem to have anything to do with credibility or standing behind thoughts and opinions.
I have three daughters in college, and I would hope if they were in the position megangoblue is in they would be afforded the courtesy of respecting some modicum of privacy. As justingoblue has said, if people want to go to the trouble to find out, who she is, that's their business.
On this board we discuss and sometimes joke about different athletic abilities of men and women, but there is also a difference between the sexes in terms of safety and vulnerability to internet (and other) jackasses. If you don't want to listen to people who don't identify with their full names. that's fine, but that includes probably around 80-90% of the posters here.
I can see why this all might seem a little coy to you, but there are also people on the board with no interest in revealing their identity.
Say I'm Mary Sue Coleman. I don't want to post as MSC because anything I say could get repeated as "The University officially hates what David Brandon is doing" or "Even our president prefers Devin over Denard!"
By the way, I saw you throw that Taco Bell wrapper in my yard the other day.
I am completely fine with anonymity. But if Mary Sue Coleman was a member of MGoBlog and wanted to maintain her privacy, would it be appropriate for her to post all over the forums, have her significant other claim that she was a "public figure" and give revealing tidbits like "I am the president of a Big Ten University" "Here are some stats on my school" "Yesterday my school's softball team played X team" but then follow everything up by saying "But I want to remain anonymous. But you can Google me to find out who I really am. But I want to have a private life. But I'm a public figure. But I might reveal who I am at some point soon. But I want privacy." Really?????? It's just foolish, honestly.
The only difference between my imagined scenario and what is going on in the forums right now is that MSC is actually a public figure.
I believe the level of privacy asked for was "don't post her last name or links to her team website". Honestly, that shouldn't even have to be asked for and I've done it as a reminder. Even Lloyd Brady was afforded the luxury of not having his Facebook page shared.
Beyond that, I don't think anyone said anything should be kept private.
That is great that he has his name for his moniker. It is wonderful that many who post here have their names public. There are several that do not want their names mentioned, that includes me.
I do not have a problem with meeting others on this blog and introducing myself. I met up with MGrowOld and his lovely wife in NOLA. I have strong opinions that may or may not be popular. So I just dont want any hastles.
Let gajensen stay on his high horse. We will keep Megan's identity quiet until she feels comfortable.
I believe the term I/we used yesterday was "no expectation of total privacy" with the phrase "public figure" being thrown in there at some point.
I thought I made it fairly clear in this thread and a previous one (that gajensen stopped by at least long enough to neg) that she's okay with people knowing her identity, but has no desire to see her last name or team published at this time.
To me, this seems like a pretty reasonable request, and falls in line with at least one or two other users here as well. If people have credibility concerns (people are now making up softball credentials?) there is plenty of information here to judge her expertise.
Love you. Your insight into the 164th most popular sport is much appreciated.
For being so unpopular, you're doing a lot of clicking on threads involving it. If it's irrelevant, why not spend your time elsewhere?
Was Lloyd Brady on the forums? Was his significant other bragging about his every move? Was Lloyd Brady posting personal info about himself followed by strange requests for anonymity? No.
If it's insufferable to you then the solution is pretty simple. Stop reading.
I am a seasoned softball google-stalker, with years of opposition research experience. I also enjoy tracking the subsequent careers of opponents, including some that play for UM. As such, I am very careful not to let slip anything about myself or my family (I hope I haven't, anyway.) We have more reasons than most to avoid identity, but I endorse the idea of confidentiality.
Softball notes: I wouldn't sweat the walks, as have been referred to elsewhere. I know coaches hate them but often they are the better of some bad alternatives. I'll take a near 4th ball over a fat strike almost anytime (not to inning lead-offs or 8th batters, usually.) Also, I don't think rise balls or change ups should be in the strike zone. I prefer them to be tempting to swing at but hard to hit well. I don't claim to know better than a seasoned D1 pitcher, but I often disagree with coaches.
I appreciate your attempts to maintain your personal anonymity by not constantly posting personal information about yourself and your NCAA sporting stats that are easily found on Google.