Where is your UM Football Fandom in the 5 Stages of Grief?
Just curious where you folks stand in the 5 stages of grief right now? Feel free to give your answer and speak your mind - its like the internet's MichiganFanAnonymous forum.
The 5 stages are:
- Denial
- Anger
- Bargaining
- Depression
- Acceptance
I know I have been in the small cabal of EMO (or as we call ourselves realists) peeps on the board so I viewed this staff with a more negative eye than many last year. Like most I did pick up a little kool aid in August as we are all apt to do but the ND game (with a team down 6 players) turned me back to reality despite what the stats said. That said I think the defense is the best part of the team despite the 31 pts given up that night...but the team did not pass the eye test to me. It was the same as the 2013 team - when we plug one hole, another 2 spring up.
So I'd say for me, 2012 was bargaining. I could explain away every loss - we didnt belong on the same field as Bama. We lost to ND and OSU (#2, and #3 in the country). Nebraska was due to Denard going down and not having a viable backup. SC in the bowl was anyone's game - unlike VATech the prior year (where VATech looked faster and better) we looked pretty even with SC and either team could win. All 5 losses bargained away.
Since I'm a realist at heart I dont have much depression - I sort of move quickly into acceptance from bargaining. I will live a shorter life than many of you eternal optimists due to that per science. So that sucks. But it helped me get thru 2013 much quicker. I was shocked by Akron and UConn, and entered accpetance post PSU. Wrong staff. Even if some good pieces on it (i.e. I'd keep Coach Heck no matter what) Hoke is our Charlie Weiss - I said thag about 11 months to the tune of many downvotes. So that was my acceptance.
After tonight I still see a lot of anger out there (a bit surprising to me - we're past that no?)...some bargaining ...and some depression (not surprising) - but where are you now? How does it compare to 3 weeks ago? If you are holding out from acceptance what is keeping you in earlier stages?
(And no acceptance doesnt mean UM will suck for 20 years. It means until we start over we dont have a chance to get back to a viable program. )
September 20th, 2014 at 9:37 PM ^
September 20th, 2014 at 11:06 PM ^
September 20th, 2014 at 9:37 PM ^
September 20th, 2014 at 9:37 PM ^
September 20th, 2014 at 9:37 PM ^
September 20th, 2014 at 9:38 PM ^
Not even angry or depressed. It is what it is. Michigan football, what we knew as Michigan football is dead. It was a hell of a run.
September 20th, 2014 at 9:39 PM ^
I'd say apathy but I'd be lying. I'll tune in next week with the slimmest hope they can pick themselves up. I know deep down that won't happen. The OL won't get the push they need to, capable though they may be. Gardner will still stare down receivers and throw a moment too late or bail a moment to early. The receivers will still run routes poorly getting little to no separation...but it won't matter because Gardner only ever has eyes for the primary. Morris will still be Morris and if anything he has regressed over the last 12 months. I mean how does that happen, he and Gardner now have a real QB coach and they can point at the Mikes and everything.
Oh well, unlike most contributors on this blog, I can still remember the heady days of 1970s.
So I have that going for me, and that's nice.
September 20th, 2014 at 10:37 PM ^
There is way too little data on Morris to declare regression or not.
September 20th, 2014 at 9:39 PM ^
September 20th, 2014 at 9:43 PM ^
September 20th, 2014 at 10:38 PM ^
But if a gun was held to my head, sure I'd go with getting rid of both.
September 20th, 2014 at 9:39 PM ^
September 20th, 2014 at 9:41 PM ^
September 20th, 2014 at 9:42 PM ^
September 20th, 2014 at 9:43 PM ^
and acceptance. I got more entertainment watching IU football than I did Michigan football today.
this is Michigan ?!?!?!?!?
Ugh
September 20th, 2014 at 9:43 PM ^
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September 20th, 2014 at 9:50 PM ^
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September 20th, 2014 at 10:40 PM ^
I'm extremely mad and can hardly fathom watching these games, but we have something very wrong with are program when stuff like this is said about michigan football. Michigan has money.....go spend it. Brandon needs to figure this out or he needs to go.
September 20th, 2014 at 10:42 PM ^
I'm extremely mad and can hardly fathom watching these games, but we have something very wrong with our fanbase when stuff like this is said about michigan football. Michigan has money.....go spend it. Brandon needs to figure this out or he needs to go.
September 20th, 2014 at 9:43 PM ^
I tell myself these loses wont get to me but who am I kidding, they always do.
Fire Hoke now, promote Doug N. to HC for time being. Get the god damn check book out to hire a REAL head coach. John Harbaugh ....take the damn jet over there now.
September 20th, 2014 at 9:43 PM ^
I've started seriously following Liverpool for the last three seasons. I went to my first soccer game in Chicago this summer when the Reds were on their US tour.
I can tell you almost everything about Michigan football since 1990. I have an engineering degree from Michigan and played trumpet in the marching band. This will be the first season since 2000 that I will not attend at least one Michigan game. That sums up my stage of grief.
September 20th, 2014 at 10:18 PM ^
You truly had it tough today: first Liverpool getting stunned by West Ham in the morning, followed by Michigan losing to Utah in the evening.
September 20th, 2014 at 10:56 PM ^
You certainly have a knack for picking the most Michigan like team in the EPL to root for... no EPL title since the 80s... one semi-flukey Champion's League in the last decade... A part of the so called "Big 4" but tends to underperform year in and out and seemingly this year as well.. and the kicker... also clings to tradition like mad... lol
September 20th, 2014 at 9:44 PM ^
I'm upset and I want a change.
The next coach has the talent to come in and win. Praying it's Harbaugh or maybe the third time is the charm and they get Miles.
But this can't go on much longer and I believe it won't--as long as Michigan gets a new HC.
They have the pieces. The schedule is a dream for a first year HC next year. Both rivalry games at home. Only tough part is having a new QB and starting the season on the road.
However, who knows what the QB position is after today. The season is shot regardless so I say boot Hoke and Brandon, get a new AD and promote Nuss to interim HC.
September 20th, 2014 at 10:00 PM ^
Not to get on you Wolverine Devotee, and I plead ignorance on football coaching, but why is Miles touted as a viable candidate? He seems to underachieve at times with the talent he has on his teams. I know he'll be an upgrade on Hoke, but is Miles that great of a coach? Just curious, not really trying to criticize or anything.
September 20th, 2014 at 10:32 PM ^
He has had some shitty loses but he also is coaching in the SEC, with the talent on this team and a good head coach like Les, we could run the Big Ten! Plus he was a thorn in Urbz side for years. Oh and he has won championships, and one more thing he is a Michigan man (i hate that term and how it is used out of context since Bo said it) to keep that group of fans happy!
September 20th, 2014 at 9:44 PM ^
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September 20th, 2014 at 9:44 PM ^
September 20th, 2014 at 9:44 PM ^
September 20th, 2014 at 9:46 PM ^
September 20th, 2014 at 9:47 PM ^
Michigan has been a very average team for about 20 years. The last Rose Bowl won was in 1998, the non-conference record sucks, the Ohio State (yes OHIO STATE, not the stupid "Ohio" crap) record is shit and recent records also suck.
Some like to think this program has always been elite which it has not. Michigan has won 3 NC since WW2. By contrast ND has 7, MSU: 5, Ohio State: 6, Nebraska: 4, Miami: 5 (all since '83) and on and on. They've been good but to be elite you need to have more than 3 NC's in 60 years.
September 20th, 2014 at 9:47 PM ^
or maybe even some form of that and denial still with growing apathy.
I mean, I don't get near mad anymore, I just laugh when they do something typically bad. Like today I was watching games with my dad and when we flipped it back to Michigan a little after the 2nd Gardner interception I said, "let's see if they've managed to screw up more." and then had a tiny flash of hope when I saw Morris out there and then first down! and another! and tiny bits of hope built up in me, and then he threw a horrible ball right to the wrong team. A year or two ago this would have been soul crushing. Today I just laughed and changed the channel not to go back again.
September 20th, 2014 at 9:48 PM ^
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September 20th, 2014 at 9:48 PM ^
September 20th, 2014 at 9:49 PM ^
Zero.Zero
September 20th, 2014 at 9:51 PM ^
This too shall pass. And in the meantime, I no longer look forward to Saturday like I used to. Oh the game is on? Maybe I'll watch it for a bit to see if we have a chance. No, not today? OK, I have other stuff I can do.
September 20th, 2014 at 10:33 PM ^
"No longer look forward to Saturday like I used to". This nails my sentiment directly on the head.
I will still watch games this year, but will probably record everything, watch on tape delay, and fast-forward DVR if/when things get ugly. I'm just so beaten right now. I'm not excited at all about next week, and that makes me so sad. If we even show a pulse against Utah, I'm still in. But we didn't show a pulse after halftime.
So I guess I'm at the acceptance phase. Or depression. I don't know.
September 20th, 2014 at 10:58 PM ^
... I used to get with friends every weekend to watch the game. Now, we don't even make the effort, because we always end up depressed or angry afterwards. All of us watch the games -- or at least the first half -- by ourselves. We never speak of the game or the team except probably on this board anonymously.
September 20th, 2014 at 11:18 PM ^
On the bright side, my cooking has improved tremendously over the past few seasons. I made chicken saltimbocca a la romana for dinner this evening in lieu of watching the game. I used sage from my own garden, serrano ham (not prosciutto as serrano is a bit saltier) and friolano cheese. Made a pan sauce from the drippings, etc. Delicious.
September 20th, 2014 at 9:53 PM ^
I reached acceptance somewhere back in 2009
September 20th, 2014 at 9:54 PM ^
Acceptance and wanting it to end.
September 20th, 2014 at 9:55 PM ^
September 20th, 2014 at 9:55 PM ^
September 20th, 2014 at 9:56 PM ^
I'm now just watching to see what's going to happen. It no longer has any impact on my life in any meaningful way. I've gone from completely obsessed and involved to just wishing the damn thing would be over already 90% of the time. Dave Brandon has lost me, Brady Hoke has lost me. I'm not even sure what Michigan Football is anymore. The program is completely unrecognizable from the program that left the field at the Citrus Bowl when I graduated in '08.
I'm not saying change is bad. But there's change, and then there's scorched-earth, leave no survivors change. The entire thing, top to bottom, is completely broken. And I'm pretty much convinced nothing will ever bring it back.
Meanwhile in East Lansing...
September 20th, 2014 at 9:57 PM ^
September 20th, 2014 at 9:58 PM ^
Largely acceptance of the facts that we are so terrible and will not get better under Hoke, and then anger that the people at the top (DB) do not seem willing or interested in taking the steps needed to fix the problem.
September 20th, 2014 at 9:58 PM ^
Acceptance ... easily, I can forego watching our team play and would be fine checking the box scores and highlights (if there are any) on espn. I have been at this level since the middle of last year.
September 20th, 2014 at 10:11 PM ^