I have been watching hockey all my life, and that was without a doubt the worst officiating I've ever seen. Not just last night, but against Bimidji too. Their calls and non-calls were horrible, but the inconsistency was even worse. Inconsistency like that makes it impossible for players to settle into the game, and it results from a lack of knowledge of the game, and letting the fans and coaches influence your calls. Simply pathetic. How is there such a huge disparity between NCAA and NHL reffing?
My pops bought me frozen four tickets for a Christmas gift. It looked like neither of my teams (Michigan + Minnesota) would make it, but I'm so stoked that Michigan is going! Red Berenson = best Michigan coach ever, IMO.
Dude, nice account picture!
I agree that we the fans need to have some faith in Coach Rodriguez. This season has been incredibly aggravating. But don't blame Rodriguez, blame the 4-0 start! It tricked us, and raised our hopes so high only to make the losses feel worse. And the sad part is that it was only our love of Michigan Football that made us so gullible. If the team had alternated wins and losses up to this point, then nobody would be talking about firing Rodriguez, except those who were before the team started losing.
2008 was the year that Michigan Football became BAD. So bad, that it was clear it would take a at FEW years to fix. The team is definitely better in 2009. And as long as it doesn't regress in the coming seasons, I'll continue to be all in for Coach Rodriguez.
-S
I just want to be 100% sure Rodriguez will not do Michigan well before firing him and starting from square 1 again. Right now I'm 100% sure I can't tell yet. The potential damage of firing Rodriguez far outweighs the consequences of keeping him another 3 years, IME. Make no mistake, if we fire RR he'll find work at another elite program. And he'll probably do well there, as long as it's a good fit. Right now Michigan is NOT a good fit for Rodriguez because the fans are calling for his head!
Patience is a virtue. Let's stop letting anger and frustration get the best of us. Coach Rodriguez is a winner. Look at WVU. Do you think Stewart has anything to do with their success? No. The only reason they're still so good is because of how well RR built that program. It takes time to unbuild a program as good as that. With all the resources he has here, there's no way he won't get us on the right track.
He will get Michigan back to national dominance. That is, unless we the fans don't allow him the opportunity. How much can you blame the coaches for our futility? There is A LOT wrong with this team that is not Rodriguez's fault.
Like I've said before, if we aren't back to M standards by the time Gardner is a junior, then I'll start talking about a coaching change.
I think that we never really tried to establish the running game, and that this was a bad mistake. At the start of the game it looked like Minor and Brown would be able to contribute a fair amount to our offense--maybe an average of 3.X YPC with a few big gainers--not great, but respectable. Then we started to focus more on throwing it. Both our QBs were inaccurate from the start, and our receivers were dropping balls all over the place. At this point I think we should have gone back to the run, but it seemed like we were too focused on establishing the passing game itself, rather than as an extension of a solid running game (through play action). By the time the coaches finally realized this we were already down by more than two touchdowns... Of course even if our offense did play well, we still would have lost because of how horrible our defense is.
Defense is about instinct and intelligence. Our D plays with neither. It takes real brains to play good defense, and that is why I think the quality of a team's defense is a more accurate reflection of its coaching than its offense is. That said, it's easy to make the conclusion that RR can't build a solid defense, but I think he deserves at least 2, if not 3 more years to prove himself. Shafer was bad, and RR did the right thing in getting rid of him. It's hard for me to pass judgement on GERG yet because I feel that it's practically impossible to have a good defense with a group of upperclassmen that have never been able to settle in to a system. This forces us to lean too heavily on our underclassmen, which consequently destroys their confidence/development and perpetuates the cycle of futility. I guess, what I'm trying to say is that it takes time to fix a really bad defense. And that is what we have. I'll give RR more time. But if we aren't back to M standards by the time Gardner is a junior, then I'll start talking about a coaching change.
Don't forget about the -30, or whatever, yards that were due to all those poor snaps. ARGH! I know snapping the ball is harder than it seems. But even still, how hard could it be? Put the ball in your QB's hands when he asks for it, not in his feet 2 seconds early.
The only drawback I see is that it might be a tad cluttered. For a shirt like this, I'd like people to be able to see it clearly without having to stare too hard. Great idea, though. It's executed about as well as it could be.
For me, it's between this shirt and yesterday's (M go blog / home of unverified voracity). Both are great for exactly the opposite reasons.
FWIW, I learned how awesome wolverines are when I went to Glacier National Park last month. Apparently their paws/claws are so big in proportion to their overall size that they can climb up and over 11,000-ft. mountains in ~90 minutes. And they're SMART.
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