...but talent gaps can be closed.
Harbaugh has already changed the attitude of the team and the culture of the program. Those are the most critical and difficult things.
The rest will happen. It's just a matter of time.
Keep the faith...
...social media is not essential to his life. It's not even reality.
I hope he just tunes out and continues going to class, hanging out with his buddies and chopping wood with the football team.
There was a time when it was always that way for everyone. Unfortunately I think those days are over.
Whether it's in the aftermath of a football game, a cheating scandal, or a drunk driving incident.
These 'kids' are not kids. They're young adults, much like the ones who have been fighting and dying in a couple of our nation's wars the last 14 years.
This in no way justifies the vitriol that's posted on social media or any threats that have been made, but the adult status of someone who's 18 or older is a non-issue. The real thing people need to be reminded of is that we're all adults, and should act accordingly.
Another thing to remember is that it's just a game. If people wig out over an athletic event, I'd say life is being pretty good to them.
Of the three schools (OSU, MSU & UM), Michigan is playing the best football at the most consistent level and it's not even close.
Unless something comes undone in the heads of the Michigan squad (and I seriously doubt that will happen with Harbaugh in charge), Saturday's game is ours to lose. MSU's injury situation is a non-factor.
14-year-old girls who have had their cell phones taken away (or destroyed).
Richardson is an idiot who has had chronic disciplinary problems dating back to his time at Mizzou. It sounds like one or two years of jail time might be in order. This is beyond stupid. He has shown himself to be a danger to society at large, and it needs to be handled accordingly.
However, this is an off-the-field incident involving one player from one team. Deflate-gate cuts to the integrity of the game and the sanctity of fair competition. In no less than a conference championship game.
If Goodell or the NFL is seen to lose control or if they appear unable to protect those things, they and the league are done. Brady and the Pats need to shut up and wait for the fifth game of the season to arrive.
Surely Michigan Men are sophisticated enough to see the difference. Perhaps not...
...maintaining any sense of morality is laughable. It's almost as bad as the NCAA in that regard.
That said, I don't think much of Tom Brady. He's a great quarterback with a hot wife, but there doesn't seem to be much beyond that. He comes off as being awful bland and not all that bright. That's no big deal, as he's not known for his wit or intellect.
However it does look like he cheated. But since he played for Michigan, this board seems all too eager to canonize him. He's a "Michigan Man" regardless. Whatever...
...neither Mizzou nor Nebraska would ever join a conference that has Texas in it.
This is made even more unlikely when you consider the nubs would have to leave the B1G and the Tigers would have to leave the SEC. That would be like leaving the Hamptons to move back into a trailer park, next to a crazy neighbor with more guns than sense.
As long as Texas is in the house. It just won't happen.
Mizzou was interested in jumping ship to the Big-10 until Delaney brought up the junior member thing. That was a deal breaker. Nebraska was willing to swallow it, Mizzou would not. Mizzou has been a full partner in the SEC from Day 1 so it worked out in the end.
Football in the SEC is more exciting - face it guys, it is - but culturally and scholastically the Big-10 would have been a much better fit for Missouri. Although there are pockets of southern culture in places like the Ozarks, the state of Missouri is still much more like Michigan than Alabama. The old guard SEC schools see it that way too, so Mizzou will always be an outsider in that sense.
When you factor in the revenue, the great football, and the escape from the Big-12, being a perennial outsider is a small price to pay.
The SEC an easier conference than the Bevo 12? Uh, overreact much?
While Mizzou doesn't have anywhere near the pedigree that UM has in hoops, football or academics, it is far from a POS school. It is a proud AAU school with a campus that's at least the equal of Michigan in terms of beauty and facilities. I presume you've never attended or even visited Columbia, otherwise you wouldn't write anything so stupid.
And while the Tigers have yet to win in Atlanta, they've had far more success against SEC opponents in recent years than Michigan has. Mizzou plays fast, physical football that would give any Big-10 team (save for perhaps OSU) all they can handle.
Indy was a horrible loss, there's no other way to describe it. But it was also an aberration. Appalachian State anyone?
For an example of how Mizzou wears teams down, you need only watch the second half of this year's Citrus Bowl against Minny. If I remember correctly, there were some on here predicting a relatively easy Minny win against 'overrated Mizzou.'
I expect things to change soon now that Harbaugh's in charge, but there isn't a poster on this board who wouldn't trade Michigan's last ten years in football for Mizzou's last ten years. It should also be noted that in its best years, Mizzou is able to muster less than half the resources money, alumni and brand-wise that Michigan is able to muster during its worst years. Nobody except for K-State's Bill Snyder has done more with less than Gary Pinkel.
We better hope Harbaugh can turn things around, because if a guy with his talents and rep can't do it with the resources UM is able to put at his disposal, our current state of irrelevance could become permanent. Go Tigers, go Blue!
...he has to go.
The long term value of dismissing one of his oldest friends for violating the law in this way likely exceeds any practical value he has to the program. "Do as I say, not as one of my most trusted confidants does" simply doesn't cut it.
There's a reason people can smell a double standard a mile away. It's because it stinks so bad. Besides, a retired Marine colonel should know better.
If alcohol is found to be in his system but below the legal limit, I believe a stern conversation is still in order. "Excellence" right?
Nor any other major conference.
We all know what Texas is about, and what comes with that school. No commissioner in their right mind would want to be known as the guy who let UT in after seeing what it did to the SWC and Big-12.
Many of them tend to be big talkers and braggerts who think they're the only ones who love their home state.
As a Missourian who feels the "show me" thing in my bones, I've always found their bluster incredibly hard to take. I like the quiet dignity of the midwest. This is one of the many reasons I decided to pursue my graduate studies at UMich.
WRT football... No school does less with more than Texas.
I'm a Mizzou grad who occasionally wore hats with a block M. On many occasions people asked me if I was a Michigan grad. It never offended me; it just left me wishing the Mizzou emblem was more distinct.
The new tiger logo is very distinct, and people seem to love it, even non-Mizzou fans. UMich goes back to having the block M as its very own emblem, so it's a win for Wolverine fans as well. Best of all, it adds more variety to my wardrobe.
I don't have any kids, and I know the desire to give our offspring "a better life" is ingrained in our DNA as Americans, but is it still feasible? And even if it is feasible, is it desirable? Can it reach a point of diminishing, or even negative, returns?
I was a suburban middle-class child raised during the 70s and 80s, and I can't imagine anyone needing more. When I look at what a lot of kids have these days, and what their parents aspire to give them, it puzzles me. They don't seem any happier, better adjusted, etc. If anything, it often seems to have the opposite effect.
...but I think your son can take a real lesson or two from this, and they have nothing to do with math or geometry:
- Sometimes life knocks you on your butt. How hard are you willing to work to get back on your feet?
- He may not get back on his feet with this class. Maybe the instruction is flawed, or maybe your son just isn't able to crack the code. Sometimes the boss is an idiot, and sometimes we aren't able to do the job. In other words, occasionally we simply don't have enough airspeed or altitude to clear the trees. That reality makes itself known to all of us as we make our way through life. He's at a good age to become aware of it.
- You say your son hates the idea of getting help from his peers. Hopefully he'll eventually get over that as he learns that school, work, marriage - life - are collaborative efforts, and that his parents aren't always going to be there. "Cooperate and graduate..."
Your son sounds like a fine young man. If he tubes geometry but ends up a little wiser or more worldly for it, he'll come out ahead on the deal. Best of luck...
I figured the real show wouldn't start until college. Once I got to college, I thought things wouldn't get real until I was out of college. Twenty-five years after graduating from college, I see that I was right.
pulled me aside and told me that being a student was pobably the most important job I would ever have, and to treat it as such. He was all of 24 at the time.
Thirty years later, I'm overwhelmed by the wisdom and concern reflected in this bit of advice. I have the best big brother in the world.
Here's one I arrived at on my own: Avoid the path of least resistance - it usually leads downhill.
Their lines on both sides of the ball collapsed in the second half of this year's Citrus Bowl. There's no reason to think TCU's lines aren't as good, if not better, than Mizzou's.
Additionally, Mizzou's team speed was significantly faster than Minny's. Minny's backs could not get outside the DEs and Missouri's backs left their secondary behind like they were standing still.
Coming from the arena-ball Big-12, it's reasonable to assume TCU's offensive speed will be even more of a problem for the Gophers. Minny won't have the benefit of hosting them when it's cold either. That spread looks about right to me.
I also remember how my Mizzou Tigers put a stop to that insanity.
I saw it live at Arrowhead. I thought Mark 'Mangina's' head was going to explode. It was awesome.
Seeing Michigan punk Beak-U in the NCAA tourney a few years later turned six million Missourians into huge Michigan fans. At least for one night. It made me want to be a Wolverine. I now am one (grad student).
Hats off to the old boy though for his service and for garnering half of kU's 2015 rushing yards on one carry. I hate that effin' school...
"Lowrents, Kansas: Tons of women, just not many of them."
Nebraska is not on the rise. The best it can hope for is to remain what it currently is: An average program that might contend for a division every once in a while. All the elements that came together during its glory years are gone. In terms of what they once were, the Nubs are dead.
PSU is not going anywhere either. They don't/won't get the athletes needed to become elite. Plus I think James Franklin is hugely overrated.
Going forward, I think the only Big10 programs we can expect to contend on a national level are OSU and MSU. It sucks to have to say that, but it's true. I think we will get there under Harbaugh, but it will take time. Wiscy could make a run, but they've dropped off over the last couple years.
Kill is a good coach, but Minny's recruiting ceiling will preclude it from ever being a top 10 program. They don't have the tradition we do, plus who wants to live in a place that cold? Certainly not kids from down south.
What other schools do you see stepping up?
All that said, things are definitely headed in the right direction for our conference. The Harbaugh-Dantonio-Meyer triangle is going to draw a lot of interest all over the country. The shite's about to get real again. But the fact remains that until/unless we start finishing with 6 or 8 teams in the Top 20 and 3 or 4 in the Top 10, people won't take us seriously.
Spring season games speak to hope, interest and anticipation. Besting the other conferences in those areas doesn't mean anything when it comes to bowl games and final AP rankings.
Entitled, narcissistic kids raised by indulgent parents who flip out at the prospect of anyone outside the family - teachers, bosses, passers by - trying to impose any boundaries or sense of decorum on their offspring.
The advent of social media. Youngsters are obsessed with trying to stand out. With everyone able to post everything they do on the internet, the odds they're going to make their mark by coming up with something like "Hey Jude" are fairly slim, so this is what they're drawn towards.
Finally, note the prevalence of "extreme" this and "extreme" that in our popular culture. American culture is kept at max volume, with the woofer always on the verge of getting blown out.
I hate it, but I think it's here to stay. The youngsters who can still put together a coherent sentence in face-to-face conversation and conduct themselves with some sense of decency will own the future. The others will end up in their parent's basement.
I did my undergrad at an SEC school and am now a grad student at UM-AA. I worked damn hard to be a competitive candidate, knowing full well the reputation 'Michigan' enjoys, not just nationally but globally. I am proud to be a Wolverine, and proud of the effort I put into becoming one.
Do I think there's an element of white-lie deception going on if people who attend Dearborn or Flint claim to have attended "The University of Michigan?" Yes I do.
Does it bother me? A little.
But it doesn't bother me nearly as much as some of the statements I've seen posted on this board by fellow AA students and graduates. Visit a place like Afghanistan and you'll soon realize that all education - any education at all - is sacred and something to be encouraged and respected. When the opportunity to educate one's self goes away, everything else comes crashing down - literally.
Some of people bragging about the global perspective AA imparts seem to be lacking in just that regard. Spend some time eight or ten time zones east of your comfy middle-to-upper class American life and you'll quickly learn that it's not so much where you went to school, but THAT you went to school.
I assume that people who get to attend fine schools worked hard to create that opportunity. I commend them.
But you know what? Lots of people work hard but never get that opportunity, for any number of reasons. It could be finances, family obligations, civil wars, whatever. Some of the very fortunate on this board need to humble themselves and keep that in mind.
When you look at it objectively, Michigan is a long way from slugging it out with the likes of Bama and OSU for the big prize. Yes we have Harbaugh, and thank god for it, but it's going to be a process, and it's going to take time.
Additionally, the blue chips down south have no interest in leaving their buddies and families behind to play in the cold midwest. Add to that the lack of national interest in Big10 football. Beyond Sparty and OSU, there currently aren't any programs the rest of the nation wants to see play, and the recruits know it. Heck, a lot of Wolverines on this board have admitted to not watching the football games as of late.
I'm confident things will change with Harbaugh at the helm, but it won't happen overnight.
I remember being annoyed by the prevalence of commercials on TV listing company websites and e-mail addresses. I had no clue what any of it meant. Although I had no need for a computer or the internet at the time I bought it, something told me it was the wave of the future, and that I needed to get educated.
Twenty years on, I now conduct all my important and personal business via the internet. It's become indispensable to me. Ironically I don't necessarily think that's a good thing either.
but I do have an 87-year-old mother who is in assisted living (my dad passed away a few years ago). It's a nice enough place, not high end by any means, and the rent is $4400 a month.
My mother is not wealthy, but my old man left behind enough of a nest egg to ensure she will not outlive her money. There is no greater gift he could have left for my mom, myself, and my siblings. She has her space (an apartment actually), and we still have our privacy.
If you have to choose between maintaining your own financial future or funding your kids' academic dreams, protect your financial future. They may not understand it now (although I think most will), but they'll thank you for it later.
For what it's worth, Pop did send me to an in-state public university. I doubt he would have signed on for the private, out-of-state thing though. I never would have asked. I was a pretty dumb 18-year-old, but even then I knew money didn't grow on trees.
And have concluded that - materially - there's nothing a lottery win would give me that I don't already have or see myself having in the future.
I'm not wealthy, but a decent income and relatively simple needs have made my wife and I content. For me, happiness is being able to get a tank of gas or my wife being able to pull $100 out of the ATM without either one of us giving it a second thought. I know that is something a lot of folks can only dream of so I don't take it for granted.
I read somewhere that the marginal utility of money drops precipitously at $60K/year. It makes sense to me.
If I did win the lottery, I'd pay the debts of the people I care about and set them up with trusts. I'd probably stop working in order to travel more, but I'd place a high priority on finding something to occupy my time, whether it be volunteering, taking classes, whatever. I've seen people achieve the 'dream' of retirement at 50 and many of them don't fare too well. They often end up fat, diabetic, or dead.
After setting aside enough to secure our financial future (for me, that would be the best thing a lottery win would buy me), I'd probably give the rest to charity. That would provide more satisfaction than anything I could buy for myself.
If anyone I associate with lies, cheats, steals, or destroys somebody else's property, all bets are off. Implicit in the loyalty and support I extend to my friends and family is the understanding they'll never put me in a bad position. The bottom line is I have no interest in hanging out with people who do stupid s**t.
I think the whole fraternity brother/character building thing the Greek system touts is almost laughable. If it was legit, the guilty Sammy's would have stepped forward, taken responsibility, and placed the good name of their fraternity (and UMich) above their own welfare. It's also worth noting that none of the SAE guys from OU have stepped forward either. Call me crazy, but it sounds like there were more than two people clapping on that bus. So much for the whole brotherhood/character thing.
1. Male prostitute (see my avatar). Before that I was a WW1 fighter pilot. Chicks dig it.
2. 2010 Toyota Tacoma.
3. No. I'm not 12, plus consensus makes me suspicious. I never went for the Hammer Pants, Lance bracelet or social media either (except for MGoBlog of course).
...is ridiculously bad. The screenwriting was comically horrendous.
And I'll double down by saying Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are average to below-average actors. But Hollywood and the media love them so what are you gonna do?
Convicts have kids, and those kids need their fathers/mothers. Does that mean you don't send their parents to prison?
One would think the coach of that team will think twice before doing that again, though I wonder how many other teams in that tournament had violations as well. I don't for one second believe Chicago was the only team violating a rule.
The LLWS has become big. Too big for its own good.
Recent Comments
And water is wet.
Of the three schools (OSU, MSU & UM), Michigan is playing the best football at the most consistent level and it's not even close.
Unless something comes undone in the heads of the Michigan squad (and I seriously doubt that will happen with Harbaugh in charge), Saturday's game is ours to lose. MSU's injury situation is a non-factor.
...maintaining any sense of morality is laughable. It's almost as bad as the NCAA in that regard.
That said, I don't think much of Tom Brady. He's a great quarterback with a hot wife, but there doesn't seem to be much beyond that. He comes off as being awful bland and not all that bright. That's no big deal, as he's not known for his wit or intellect.
However it does look like he cheated. But since he played for Michigan, this board seems all too eager to canonize him. He's a "Michigan Man" regardless. Whatever...
...neither Mizzou nor Nebraska would ever join a conference that has Texas in it.
This is made even more unlikely when you consider the nubs would have to leave the B1G and the Tigers would have to leave the SEC. That would be like leaving the Hamptons to move back into a trailer park, next to a crazy neighbor with more guns than sense.
No.
Way.
As long as Texas is in the house. It just won't happen.
Mizzou was interested in jumping ship to the Big-10 until Delaney brought up the junior member thing. That was a deal breaker. Nebraska was willing to swallow it, Mizzou would not. Mizzou has been a full partner in the SEC from Day 1 so it worked out in the end.
Football in the SEC is more exciting - face it guys, it is - but culturally and scholastically the Big-10 would have been a much better fit for Missouri. Although there are pockets of southern culture in places like the Ozarks, the state of Missouri is still much more like Michigan than Alabama. The old guard SEC schools see it that way too, so Mizzou will always be an outsider in that sense.
When you factor in the revenue, the great football, and the escape from the Big-12, being a perennial outsider is a small price to pay.
The SEC an easier conference than the Bevo 12? Uh, overreact much?
While Mizzou doesn't have anywhere near the pedigree that UM has in hoops, football or academics, it is far from a POS school. It is a proud AAU school with a campus that's at least the equal of Michigan in terms of beauty and facilities. I presume you've never attended or even visited Columbia, otherwise you wouldn't write anything so stupid.
And while the Tigers have yet to win in Atlanta, they've had far more success against SEC opponents in recent years than Michigan has. Mizzou plays fast, physical football that would give any Big-10 team (save for perhaps OSU) all they can handle.
Indy was a horrible loss, there's no other way to describe it. But it was also an aberration. Appalachian State anyone?
For an example of how Mizzou wears teams down, you need only watch the second half of this year's Citrus Bowl against Minny. If I remember correctly, there were some on here predicting a relatively easy Minny win against 'overrated Mizzou.'
I expect things to change soon now that Harbaugh's in charge, but there isn't a poster on this board who wouldn't trade Michigan's last ten years in football for Mizzou's last ten years. It should also be noted that in its best years, Mizzou is able to muster less than half the resources money, alumni and brand-wise that Michigan is able to muster during its worst years. Nobody except for K-State's Bill Snyder has done more with less than Gary Pinkel.
We better hope Harbaugh can turn things around, because if a guy with his talents and rep can't do it with the resources UM is able to put at his disposal, our current state of irrelevance could become permanent. Go Tigers, go Blue!
Their lines on both sides of the ball collapsed in the second half of this year's Citrus Bowl. There's no reason to think TCU's lines aren't as good, if not better, than Mizzou's.
Additionally, Mizzou's team speed was significantly faster than Minny's. Minny's backs could not get outside the DEs and Missouri's backs left their secondary behind like they were standing still.
Coming from the arena-ball Big-12, it's reasonable to assume TCU's offensive speed will be even more of a problem for the Gophers. Minny won't have the benefit of hosting them when it's cold either. That spread looks about right to me.
Nebraska is not on the rise. The best it can hope for is to remain what it currently is: An average program that might contend for a division every once in a while. All the elements that came together during its glory years are gone. In terms of what they once were, the Nubs are dead.
PSU is not going anywhere either. They don't/won't get the athletes needed to become elite. Plus I think James Franklin is hugely overrated.
Going forward, I think the only Big10 programs we can expect to contend on a national level are OSU and MSU. It sucks to have to say that, but it's true. I think we will get there under Harbaugh, but it will take time. Wiscy could make a run, but they've dropped off over the last couple years.
Kill is a good coach, but Minny's recruiting ceiling will preclude it from ever being a top 10 program. They don't have the tradition we do, plus who wants to live in a place that cold? Certainly not kids from down south.
What other schools do you see stepping up?
All that said, things are definitely headed in the right direction for our conference. The Harbaugh-Dantonio-Meyer triangle is going to draw a lot of interest all over the country. The shite's about to get real again. But the fact remains that until/unless we start finishing with 6 or 8 teams in the Top 20 and 3 or 4 in the Top 10, people won't take us seriously.
Spring season games speak to hope, interest and anticipation. Besting the other conferences in those areas doesn't mean anything when it comes to bowl games and final AP rankings.
Entitled, narcissistic kids raised by indulgent parents who flip out at the prospect of anyone outside the family - teachers, bosses, passers by - trying to impose any boundaries or sense of decorum on their offspring.
The advent of social media. Youngsters are obsessed with trying to stand out. With everyone able to post everything they do on the internet, the odds they're going to make their mark by coming up with something like "Hey Jude" are fairly slim, so this is what they're drawn towards.
Finally, note the prevalence of "extreme" this and "extreme" that in our popular culture. American culture is kept at max volume, with the woofer always on the verge of getting blown out.
I hate it, but I think it's here to stay. The youngsters who can still put together a coherent sentence in face-to-face conversation and conduct themselves with some sense of decency will own the future. The others will end up in their parent's basement.
I did my undergrad at an SEC school and am now a grad student at UM-AA. I worked damn hard to be a competitive candidate, knowing full well the reputation 'Michigan' enjoys, not just nationally but globally. I am proud to be a Wolverine, and proud of the effort I put into becoming one.
Do I think there's an element of white-lie deception going on if people who attend Dearborn or Flint claim to have attended "The University of Michigan?" Yes I do.
Does it bother me? A little.
But it doesn't bother me nearly as much as some of the statements I've seen posted on this board by fellow AA students and graduates. Visit a place like Afghanistan and you'll soon realize that all education - any education at all - is sacred and something to be encouraged and respected. When the opportunity to educate one's self goes away, everything else comes crashing down - literally.
Some of people bragging about the global perspective AA imparts seem to be lacking in just that regard. Spend some time eight or ten time zones east of your comfy middle-to-upper class American life and you'll quickly learn that it's not so much where you went to school, but THAT you went to school.
I assume that people who get to attend fine schools worked hard to create that opportunity. I commend them.
But you know what? Lots of people work hard but never get that opportunity, for any number of reasons. It could be finances, family obligations, civil wars, whatever. Some of the very fortunate on this board need to humble themselves and keep that in mind.
My two cents...
Bring back the stickers.
Just hope they look really cool.
Hail to the victors.
...is ridiculously bad. The screenwriting was comically horrendous.
And I'll double down by saying Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are average to below-average actors. But Hollywood and the media love them so what are you gonna do?
...maaaaaale prostitute!"
Epic...
...for the crimes of others.
Convicts have kids, and those kids need their fathers/mothers. Does that mean you don't send their parents to prison?
One would think the coach of that team will think twice before doing that again, though I wonder how many other teams in that tournament had violations as well. I don't for one second believe Chicago was the only team violating a rule.
The LLWS has become big. Too big for its own good.