Logged in again after 5 years. Brian's comments moved me: pain and disappointment and messiness isn't just the past and "roadblocks" that just need to be cleared away and forgotten, no, that is the story. That is the essential part of the story, and shares in the culminating results years later. So my own past, discouragement, whatever post history I'd rather just forget about, is all part of it too. Thank you for this important lesson. This win just became more than restoring order to the universe, the universe I grew up knowing in 1997 as some of my earliest memories as a kid, I think it taught me something more important about life. I am grateful for that.
Thank you OP and commenters for sharing your experiences and thoughts. I feel like there's a lot of pressure to not do anything unless we see "blatent" evidence of child abuse (don't want to falsely accuse others, but also don't want to confront the reality and have it affect our own world), but the MSU abuse situation shows us that not listening to our instincts and not taking children's words seriously enough is how abuse perpetuates.
I saw him for New Year's eve concert a few years ago. The venue union forced him to stop playing, he wanted to keep going past midnight but they turned the lights on on him. BB took his sweet time leaving the stage, and so we went down front and with a small crowd of 25 people or so who stayed, I just walked up and told him thank you, and shook his hand. He gave me a guitar pick too.
He died a year or so later, I'm really glad I got that chance.
My two cents? The term white privelege is a dangerous and self defeating way to describe real injustices in our society. It brings up guilt and perpetuates distance between people and us-versus-them attitudes, making problems worse.Yes there are real wrongs in the past and present, but no I don't see white privelege as the healthy way to frame the problems. America is the dream that people of all backgrounds can come together as equals under shared values. So it comes down to how well we treat each other and about how much we value each other, shown through our actions. Talking about priveleges goes backward toward disunity, whereas talking about shared values, goals, and examining how we treat each other in a color-neutral way is a way forward toward unity.
My two cents? The term white privelege is a dangerous and self defeating way to describe real injustices in our society. It brings up guilt and perpetuates distance between people and us-versus-them attitudes, making problems worse.Yes there are real wrongs in the past and present, but no I don't see white privelege as the healthy way to frame the problems. America is the dream that people of all backgrounds can come together as equals under shared values. So it comes down to how well we treat each other and about how much we value each other, shown through our actions. Talking about priveleges goes backward toward disunity, whereas talking about shared values, goals, and examining how we treat each other in a color-neutral way is a way forward toward unity.
My two cents? The term white privelege is a dangerous and self defeating way to describe real injustices in our society. It brings up guilt and perpetuates distance between people and us-versus-them attitudes, making problems worse.Yes there are real wrongs in the past and present, but no I don't see white privelege as the healthy way to frame the problems. America is the dream that people of all backgrounds can come together as equals under shared values. So it comes down to how well we treat each other and about how much we value each other, shown through our actions. Talking about priveleges goes backward toward disunity, whereas talking about shared values, goals, and examining how we treat each other in a color-neutral way is a way forward toward unity.
Thank you for sharing, it's fun. Another good comparison would be to look at times for the last 80m (=87.5 yards) of 100m races. Then both the runners and Peppers would have a head start but probably still be accelerating.
Only problem is I'm not sure how to easily estimate where the last 80m begins (i.e. when the runner has run 20m).
I grew up with a natural passion and interest in engineering, went through and got BS and MS in mechanical engineering at UM and did very well. I love good design and technical problems. However, starting in middle school I discovered I also loved playing guitar and writing and recording my own music. I was always very self-conscious about it though, and thought of my music as an outlet, not something I could make a living on or something other people would appreciate much.
In undergrad I found it very difficult to balance coursework with writing music and recording, and by grad school, I had somewhat given up on spending much time on it. Once in a while I'd jam with a friend.
One day I got so frustrated by it though--feeling like I was being pulled in two directions, with engineering always winning--and my friend encouraged me saying that I should pursue it sometime. One of the frustrations was that I was genuinely afraid of sharing my music, it was a very personal thing close to my heart and I was vulnerable. But I never knew if that's how I truly wanted it, or if I just never learned to "own" it publically and if I did, would I grow to be more comfortable and have it be a bigger part of what I do professionally. So that day I promised myself that sometime in my life I would flip the priorities to see what happens--to see if music truly is just a personal outlet, or if it's something I could do on a bigger stage and have it be part of or all of my career.
Two years ago a lot of things changed in my life and I had a blank slate for what to do next. I realized that the only thing I truly wanted to do was try music all-out. So I sold everything I owned except for recording equipment, drove across the country and am currently writing and recording a new album and my own music sharing platform.
The whole process has been scary and I've lost many things (I have passed on professional opportunities that some people, myself included, would kill for), I have basically no money right now (yet strangely a fierce resistance to working for anyone else), and there is no "end" in sight or traditional professional milestones to make me feel better. Yet I have amazed myself at my resourcefulness, and how much progress I've made. Some time it's been hell, and I have given up many times--totally thrown in the towel--but I find that the next morning I wake up and keep going. And that's how I know I'm on to something--because nothing will stop me, not even myself.
A few months ago I met someone while out with friends, and while explaining this journey it slowly dawned on me that I had forgotten what it felt like to WONDER. Like I realized that despite all the craziness of this, I no longer remember what it feels like to wonder "what if I had done that..." or to talk about what I "wish I could do". It was like this huge weight was gone and I never even knew it!
We shall see how the music goes (I've worked out a deal as a caretaker in a sweet cabin in the woods which I've turned into a studio). For better or for worse, I no longer wonder "what if", and it is a sweet thing.
Back in the day I caught them all. I still have my cards too. After reading about Pokemon Go rediculousness for a week, and going on walks in the park and seeing people playing it, while sitting at my desk all of a sudden it hit me that "wait--lol, why don't you download it too??".
So I did, but then it said I couldn't sign up for an account because of high volume of people signing up (and I refuse to use my gmail ID), so never tried it.
I agree. I like the series too. But I didn't feel like people were up in arms about it ending for a few years, especially the way they treated us. I think if it started up again in a few years, not only would we not cancel on other teams and have to pay ND, but by then it would be a very exciting thing to resume. Right now it's more ho-hum about it resuming again, if it was not there for 4 or 5 years, there would be a ton of excitment and interest in it resuming.
Yeah, I've been trying to see the positives for the ND renewal, but I can't shake my gut feeling that it was out of touch with the fan base, and overall a weak move that makes us look stupid.
I think we actually were looking forward to a new thing with the Arkansas games, and honestly, we are sick of ND being petty and annoying and appreciated it to just drop for a while, especially when they pulled out and we had the upper hand. So what if we lost to them--we had awful teams and are finaly rebuilding.
Now we just look like we are stuck in the past, like paying a jerk who beat us up in middle school to fight again when you're 40, just to glorify the old days at the expense of new opportunities.
Sure, if we go and beat them at home, that will be nice. But what ever--now we are the ones looking bad because we cancled on other people.
F- ... the whole thing makes me feel it was weak leadership and shakes my confidence.
"The iron harvest is the annual "harvest" of unexploded ordnance, barbed wire, shrapnel, bullets and congruent trench supports collected by Belgian and French farmers after ploughing their fields. The harvest generally applies to the material from World War I, which is still found in large quantities across the former Western Front.[1]
During World War I an estimated one tonne of explosives was fired for every square metre of territory on the Western front.[2] As many as one in every three shells fired did not detonate.[3] In the Ypres Salient, an estimated 300 million projectiles that the British and the Germans forces fired at each other during World War I were duds, and most of them have not been recovered.[4]In 2013, 160 tonnes of munitions, from bullets to 15 inch naval gun shells, were unearthed from the areas around Ypres.[4]
Unexploded weapons—in the form of shells, bullets, and grenades—buried themselves on impact or were otherwise quickly swallowed in the mud. As time passes, construction work, field ploughing, and natural processes bring the rusting shells to the surface. Most of the iron harvest is found during the spring planting and autumn ploughing as the region of northern France and Flanders are rich agricultural areas.[5] Farmers collect the munitions and place them along the boundaries of fields or other collection points for authorities.[5]"
in Walk the Line, where Johnny Cash auditions for Sam Phillips playing Folsom Prison Blues for the first time...his band mates have never played it before, and he's just totally putting everythign on the line...whew cry like a baby every time!
Cool thank you all for the insights! Some more thoughts and questions.
How much are football programs supposed to represent their own region? For example, I think the incoming classes have players from or near Michigan as the minority, which is a historical shift right? If regional bias is important, are satillite camps bad for this?
It is a fact that smaller schools could not afford to do satillite camps on the same magnitude. I still wonder if there is some potential drawback to this. Or is this an inevitable result of competition? Is this something that could lead to monopolies? (Or are football monopolies even a bad thing?)
How about incentives instead of disincentives? For example, what if smaller programs were eligible for NCAA grants to host their own satillite camps? Or what if big schools down south were required to host camps in Michigan? Because that would be benficial to players in Michigan, right?
If all talent in the country were distributed equally, would we have this problem in the first place? Does this mean that the real solution is to improve Michigan/midwest football competition and opportunities in K-12? What if NCAA allowed satillite camps for 10 years while increasing funding for K-12 opportities?
Is this analagous to how the Yankees can basically buy teams? College football can't buy players, but are satillite camps a form of this?
Regardless, I'm glad Harbaugh is a mover and shaker.
Is the ban actually a good thing for smaller football programs with less resources? Would it stop the large deep pocketed programs from "taking over" the country and monopolizing? Like not all programs can pay to fly their entire coaching staff all over the country (or world...to extrapolate), and if there is an "arms race" to have satillite camps, smaller programs may get choked out, right? Basically is this an anti-monopoly, level playing field type rule?
That's the only reason I can think of that might actually be sensible. But I'm surprised I haven't heard this argument from the NCAA or from rival coaches. All I've heard is whining and blustering.
Whew thank you for this thread! Hopefully it will help the remarkably large number of people who can't seem to spell "disrespect" right around here....
I tear up every time in the scene where Jonny Cash sings folsom prison blues for the first time in front of Sam Phillips in Sun records from the the movie Walk the Line.
Also I cried after seeing 12 Years a Slave in the theater. I had to walk quickly and go get a drink at a bar with my friend I could hardly take it.
JH is very good at identifying value and delivering it, which all great leaders / CEOs etc are good at. He takes advantage of resources and builds a great staff to deliver value.
In general, he is seeing that there is value--to potential recruits, fans, and the current team--in almost everything the team does through out the year, not just the games and not just winning them. For example, win or lose, us fans love our team. So he promotes the "mundane" and lets us get closer to it all year long (open practices, signing of the stars, etc).
He is also capitalizing on the fact that our culture loves football in general and I think he does a good job articulating why we love it by reminding us of what football is about.
He also believes in rising tide raises all boats -- he increases competition with all teams (seems to want to work with other coaches, doesnt care about rules that no one else could recruit in our back yard...I dont think Harbaugh would like a B1G rule saying MSU couldn't recruit near Ann Arbor and vice versa) which will only make his better, and make it more fun.
Examples of big shifts in perspective.
1. Signing of the stars. Sees that we care so much about recruiting, and recruits want to be part of something great, so it's "obvious" to make it a public official ordeal.
2. National perspective. Football is national now and has been for a while. So he recruits nationally (internationally too--Australia, Canada). One way is by taking the program on the road more (summer swarms). This also means that just because you're local does not mean you are more relevant than someone from a different state. He's leveled the playing field and forcing increased competition regionally.
2. Practices. It's "obvious" that having your team all in one place during a practice would be a great way to showcase and let fans/recruits get closer to the team. Hence Florida IMG practice (plus--he knows that teams benefit from shared new experiences).
3. Using football clinics -- "obvious" that kids want to get better and coaches want more exposure and to learn. His staff loves to teach, so he makes it happen.
4. Inviting in other head coaches from rival teams. Baylor for example.
5. Works with NFL players and coaches (entire Ravens staff, Tom Brady, etc)
6. Following hip hop / current culture -- seems to actually find it interesting?
7. Coaching staff--size, positions, and experience. Night and day difference between his and Hoke era. Remember the "football mom" position? So much NFL experience too. I'd like to know how much bigger this staff is than previous staffs--has it grown?
If I could up vote I would. I'm loving my 94 pro junior with the blue alnico speaker. Thanks for the warm fuzzy feeling.
As for Rudock. Harbaugh is not throwing him under the bus. He is protecting him instead of doing Tough love coaching, at least in public. Remember that we were at least recently all convinced Harbaugh is the QB whisperer. Which means The way he is defending Rudock is exactly what he needs in order to get better right now. I would not be surprised if Rudock really starts to shine later in the season. I wonder if it's a confidence thing, if I were transferring into a foreign program because I got beat out in my last one probably would make me appreciate some defense from my coach especially in my first few games.
Thank you OP for starting this thread. I think it's important.
Other thoughts
A year earlier as our family boarded the plane to move to Germany, all of our friends had come to the terminal to see us off. We still have the pictures of them waiting with us in the terminal and it's strange to realize that the reason you no longer have that is the major security changes that happened post 9/11
My German friend who had initially called me that day had visited NYC and gone to the top of the WTC with his parents not much earlier. He had been really excited about the US (and to have a new friend who was from there) and had told me all about it. I had never been to NYC and didn't even really know much about the towers. He was the first person to tell me much about them, and it didn't become real what he was talking about until seeing them fall on the news that day.
I was in 7th grade and just got home from school in the early afternoon because of the time difference. A year earlier I had moved to Germany with my family. My new friend from school called me and told me to turn on the TV, but because I was still learning German I missed the point. I thought he just wanted to chat about some TV show or something. So I kept talking about my day etc. until he said again to turn on the TV. I finally did, thinking it was an odd request, and then seeing the first tower smoking I remember sitting down right in front of the TV with my friend still on the line and everything slowed way down. I told him I would have to call him back. It didn't dawn on my until later that he was calling because of what was happening in New York.
A few minutes later I saw the second plane fly in. I spent pretty much the rest of the day watching the news with my family.
The next morning during first hour our principal hold a moment of silence. All of the students and teachers give me their condolences. I think they understood the magnitude of it more than I did at the time. Germans genuinely felt our pain and cared.
Through all the craziness that week, what stood out the strongest, and is the first thing I remember, is the strong feeling of "needing to go home to be with my country". It was the first time I knew what patriotism meant, and what being an American meant. I didn't know how deep love for your country went, and how much it's a relationship just like any other--In a tradgedy, I needed to be there. My family had talked that year about coming back to MI to visit because of homesickness, but this was deeper--suddenly I felt I needed to be home.
The underlying problems it took to create such a mess don't go away, so if this particular scandal didn't happen, another one would have. That comes up in failed relationships a lot and can lead to the fallacy of "if only I had done x... then we'd still be together". We certainly could have had another DB season though, or maybe things could have ended less painfully?
Yea when I read "summoned Morris to Brandon's office" I felt physically sick...not totally sure why but something to do with placing someone you are supposed to be protecting in a very unsafe/unfair situation, with conflicting and unclear interests. Like Morris should not be there in the first place. The only person who should have been interacting with Morris should be Hoke, as his direct superior. He is a player on the football team, and a student--nothing more. He has nothing to do with and no responsibility for dealing with a public relations crisis. He should have been protected from any involvement in the controversy. Instead he gets sucked into something that is way beyond what his level of involvement should be, and could even have negative repercussions on his future career and reputation. I honestly get that same sick feeling when I hear about child abuse or other situations where people of power who are entrusted responsibility for others take advantage of it at the expense of the very people they were trusted to protect, and especially because it is always related to them offloading their responsibility on others.
I think there's a difference between losing due to reality of the season/circumstances (which some people posted about) and expecting to lose (which other people reacted against).
I expect to win. That means going into OSU undefeated and leaving undefeated. And I expect that if we ever do lose, it will be a hard fought battle where 1. we played our absolute best and was not due to underachieving/preventable errors 2. we have clear, measurable reasons for the loss, and 3. the loss will not be described as ok and will not lower moral and effort of the team going forward--actually the opposite.
Expect to win, and actually learn from and overcome losses by understanding them. The reality of our talent, coaching, competition, schedule, etc etc will shake out the rest.
The only reason I can say this is because I think it's our coaches mentality.
Water polo also has historical roots in violence and it's interesting how the ties between the violence and spectator numbers, changing rules and conferences, and the sports popularity played out. Hopefully football stays a reasonable balance but still stays a sport where physical dominance is mandatory (and therefore, you can get hurt).
From http://www.collegiatewaterpolo.org/fans/gameinfo/history
"In 1888, Water polo was introduced into the United States by English swimming instructor John Robinson. The game featured the old rugby style of play which was much like gridiron football in the water. "American style" water polo became very popular and by the late 1890's was played in such venues as the Boston's Mechanics Hall and Madison Square Garden.
The game of the day featured set plays like the "flying salmon," where the player with the ball leapt through the air from the backs of his teammates to score a goal. Violence was the game's main attraction.
As the sport grew in popularity, so did its level of violence, with little rules to prevent it. In the 1800's the intent of the game was to place the ball with two hands against the wall at one end of the pool to score. Players often swam underwater in an attempt to gain an advantage, only to be attacked by their defenders in the same manner.
In addition to the aggressive play, many of the pools and lakes in which it was played were often poorly filtered and very murky, creating even more mystery regarding the actions that took place beneath the surface. It was not uncommon for players to be dragged from the water unconscious. This may have added to the popularity, with crowds as many as 14,000 attending some games in New York City. In fact, its popularity was so great it was named the first Olympic team sport in 1900. Interestingly enough, women's water polo was the last Olympic team sport to be added in 2000."
"The most notorious incident in the history of Olympic water polo took place during the 1956 match between the Soviet Union and Hungary. Four weeks prior to the Games, 200,000 Soviet troops invaded Hungary to suppress an anti-Communist uprising, so there was plenty of bad blood between the two sides before the scrappy game started.
The game was marred by brawls and became so brutal that officials called it off altogether. Hungary was leading 4-0 at the time and was declared the winner; the team advanced to the finals and won the gold."
My high school swimming coach was very successful and highly respected. Most of the guys did what he said and he only had to chew a few slackers out once in a while. He never swore at least from what I remember.
However, after warm up for a local meet against a fairly easy team, we all waited in the locker room for our coach to give us a pre meet talk, as usual. However, we waited for what seemed an abnormally long time. All of a sudden he's standing in the doorway with this furious look. He just waits. Then says "what the FUCK were you doing out there??". He proceeds to rip us apart for joking around too much during warm up. Just ripped us. And then says go out there and win without fucking around. We were silent, then the captains started the cheer. I don't think we ever talked about it but we crushed them and went on to win the state championship. It's a whole lot more sobering when your coach hardly ever swears.
I hope the band plays land down under when he takes the field or it's blasted over the PA
side question---what should his special cheer for the student section be? SEXY--AUSSIE? (Like the ugly parents one)
Well the facts are that 1. It does not take 5-6 years to get to a NC (but maybe that long to have a fully implemented machine?) 2. Hoke was not good enough to stay as coach given the opportunity he had (although Hackett said he wishes he could have helped more ie maybe Hokes tenure could have at least ended better with a different AD?) 3. Hoke had significant influence on the current roster and player talent, and did not leave the cupboard too empty at all.
So given all that my conclusion is that Hoke is wrong/misunderstood about the 5-6 comment, but certainly not trying to take undue credit or lie, and with the same token, Harbaugh is also sincere about hoke leaving him a good roster and academic (but less program/mentality) foundation.
For anyone who thinks Hoke is taking undue credit or trying to stretch the truth about how this years success is related to his recruiting etc, remember that Harbaugh himself said that Hoke built a great foundation for him to build on in his intro presser. And if I am going to believe what Harbaugh says, which I do, then I'm going to believe what Hoke says too. That being said, let's win and I'd be happy to give Brady the benefit of the doubt.
That is really really good and refreshing to watch. Thank you. Remembering and facing the past is essential right now because it means we want the truth as a team -- not just ungrounded hope. Like Harbaugh's recent talk at the media day about how when you get to the field you are "coming clean" -- you face and embrce the truth. Right now the truth is that we have fallen way below what we used to be, but we are doing the work it takes to get back there. And if we keep facing the truth and putting in the hard work... we will be even better than we've ever been, and we won't need hype videos that are painful to watch.
I am a swimmer and water polo player (HS and club college) and from my experience, I am convinced that the mental and culture aspect of the team is the number one important thing, and is almost solely dependent on the coach’s leadership. In the right culture, people want to, and will, work and win. And culture can change instantly, if the coach has power to enforce it (read about when Steve Jobs took over Apple again—firing almost all top members in one meeting). Pure talent gets you perhaps to a .85 win percentage, but with excellent coaching, you get can be elite. Or in the case our M football, from a routine 7-8 win team, to routine 10+, NC contender teams. It is not possible to consistently win with less talent, if coaching is equal between two teams. However, excellent coaching can lead lower talent teams to solid underdog upsets more often.
Therefore, in answer to OP Questions 1) with the right coach and administration, you can very quickly change the culture, and very quickly achieve 100% potential of your talent. Which, in Michigan’s case, is plenty good enough to see many more wins. 2) yes we could win a lot of games (see 1969) 3) absolutely, in fact the culture is what can change the fastest, while it may take longer to get higher talent, more financial / structural support, etc. (the building of the machine)
Oh, and pep talks mean nothing without the right culture and without having put the work in during the rest of the year.
It's too long to compare all the experiences in detail, but my high school my swim team won the state title 3 out of 4 years, yet with the same athletes, never won states in polo. Most significantly -- the losses in swimming were never disappointing for long, because we literally were the best we could be. Polo was always disappointing, because we knew we could win talent-wise, but despite the pep talks and last-minute heroic efforts, came up short. I think we all secretly felt we had under-achieved ourselves (a telltale sign is the feeling of frustration instead of sadness or brief disappointment). I am convinced that the biggest difference was the coaching of the teams. In terms of expectations, amount of work, accountability, and the amount I wanted to “play for” my coach, they were very different.
This also happened in college water polo – my 4th year we got a new coach, and with the same players, went from years of agonizing losses to our rivals, to close yet decisive wins over them to go to nationals for the first time in 7 years. We won the state tournament as the underdogs -- but won in a strong, gutsy way, and as a team. I didn't play in that game, but I knew I contributed and earned it. Nothing changed except for the coach, who tangibly changed the culture, and all of a sudden we were playing for each other much more, and had that kind of deep confidence that is required in critical games.
Honestly every time I watch these teaser trailers I get squeamish with a little voice in my head saying "let's first win some actual games...."
In this video i felt it during Ryan Glasgow saying "the winning tradition of Michigan football ". Yea it is true historically but recent history says otherwise. But I'll play this on repeat for hours next year if we win 10 games this season...
Whenever I saw one of those I wanted one. I still do. The kind of wanting something you'll never actually get. But I wasn't aware of the stereotype baggage. Or the price. Now it's a little more a concrete no.
The moment where I got angry--the kind where I was beyond any rationalization or ability to keep my feelings in perspective or shrug it off--was when the TV cameras showed Bellomy last season frantically putting on several different helmets none of which fit. He then went back to the sideline as Shane Morris who had just been concussed goes back out on the field. Seeing Bellomy not having his helmet ready was simply unacceptable and showed exactly how bad things really were. There was no excuse for a player to be blatantly unprepared to play.
That was embarrassing on a deeper level somehow. It struck a nerve and my numbness turned to anger, like the deep kind. I'm picturing a papa bear ignoring someones insults until they dis his family? It's one thing to make poor game decisions or even player management (putting Shane back in was obviously in itself something we should have never seen), but to literally not be ready to play undercuts everything and shows its beyond fixing or excuses.
The funny thing is that was the first time I can remember real anger at our teams in a long time. I grew up in the 97 nc era but by the time I finished grad school at UM I was numb and never really had any expectations or let myself invest much emotionally even though I saw almost all the games. My sophomore year at UM in 07 started with app state and that set the stage. Even at that game I remember resorting to shrugging my shoulders as we walked out of a silent stadium. I wasn't angry. It's like I couldn't let myself care.
Recent Comments
Logged in again after 5 years. Brian's comments moved me: pain and disappointment and messiness isn't just the past and "roadblocks" that just need to be cleared away and forgotten, no, that is the story. That is the essential part of the story, and shares in the culminating results years later. So my own past, discouragement, whatever post history I'd rather just forget about, is all part of it too. Thank you for this important lesson. This win just became more than restoring order to the universe, the universe I grew up knowing in 1997 as some of my earliest memories as a kid, I think it taught me something more important about life. I am grateful for that.
Bigot
Thank you OP and commenters for sharing your experiences and thoughts. I feel like there's a lot of pressure to not do anything unless we see "blatent" evidence of child abuse (don't want to falsely accuse others, but also don't want to confront the reality and have it affect our own world), but the MSU abuse situation shows us that not listening to our instincts and not taking children's words seriously enough is how abuse perpetuates.
I am so grateful for her standing up for what is right, that is a truly remarkable thing she did. Wow. I will be sharing that with all my friends too.
I saw him for New Year's eve concert a few years ago. The venue union forced him to stop playing, he wanted to keep going past midnight but they turned the lights on on him. BB took his sweet time leaving the stage, and so we went down front and with a small crowd of 25 people or so who stayed, I just walked up and told him thank you, and shook his hand. He gave me a guitar pick too.
He died a year or so later, I'm really glad I got that chance.
My two cents? The term white privelege is a dangerous and self defeating way to describe real injustices in our society. It brings up guilt and perpetuates distance between people and us-versus-them attitudes, making problems worse.Yes there are real wrongs in the past and present, but no I don't see white privelege as the healthy way to frame the problems. America is the dream that people of all backgrounds can come together as equals under shared values. So it comes down to how well we treat each other and about how much we value each other, shown through our actions. Talking about priveleges goes backward toward disunity, whereas talking about shared values, goals, and examining how we treat each other in a color-neutral way is a way forward toward unity.
My two cents? The term white privelege is a dangerous and self defeating way to describe real injustices in our society. It brings up guilt and perpetuates distance between people and us-versus-them attitudes, making problems worse.Yes there are real wrongs in the past and present, but no I don't see white privelege as the healthy way to frame the problems. America is the dream that people of all backgrounds can come together as equals under shared values. So it comes down to how well we treat each other and about how much we value each other, shown through our actions. Talking about priveleges goes backward toward disunity, whereas talking about shared values, goals, and examining how we treat each other in a color-neutral way is a way forward toward unity.
My two cents? The term white privelege is a dangerous and self defeating way to describe real injustices in our society. It brings up guilt and perpetuates distance between people and us-versus-them attitudes, making problems worse.Yes there are real wrongs in the past and present, but no I don't see white privelege as the healthy way to frame the problems. America is the dream that people of all backgrounds can come together as equals under shared values. So it comes down to how well we treat each other and about how much we value each other, shown through our actions. Talking about priveleges goes backward toward disunity, whereas talking about shared values, goals, and examining how we treat each other in a color-neutral way is a way forward toward unity.
Thank you for sharing, it's fun. Another good comparison would be to look at times for the last 80m (=87.5 yards) of 100m races. Then both the runners and Peppers would have a head start but probably still be accelerating.
Only problem is I'm not sure how to easily estimate where the last 80m begins (i.e. when the runner has run 20m).
Is it bad that I was disappointed when they got their first down? Normal shut outs don't do it for me anymore. Thanks, Harbaugh.
Long-but hopefully helpful and relevant.
I grew up with a natural passion and interest in engineering, went through and got BS and MS in mechanical engineering at UM and did very well. I love good design and technical problems. However, starting in middle school I discovered I also loved playing guitar and writing and recording my own music. I was always very self-conscious about it though, and thought of my music as an outlet, not something I could make a living on or something other people would appreciate much.
In undergrad I found it very difficult to balance coursework with writing music and recording, and by grad school, I had somewhat given up on spending much time on it. Once in a while I'd jam with a friend.
One day I got so frustrated by it though--feeling like I was being pulled in two directions, with engineering always winning--and my friend encouraged me saying that I should pursue it sometime. One of the frustrations was that I was genuinely afraid of sharing my music, it was a very personal thing close to my heart and I was vulnerable. But I never knew if that's how I truly wanted it, or if I just never learned to "own" it publically and if I did, would I grow to be more comfortable and have it be a bigger part of what I do professionally. So that day I promised myself that sometime in my life I would flip the priorities to see what happens--to see if music truly is just a personal outlet, or if it's something I could do on a bigger stage and have it be part of or all of my career.
Two years ago a lot of things changed in my life and I had a blank slate for what to do next. I realized that the only thing I truly wanted to do was try music all-out. So I sold everything I owned except for recording equipment, drove across the country and am currently writing and recording a new album and my own music sharing platform.
The whole process has been scary and I've lost many things (I have passed on professional opportunities that some people, myself included, would kill for), I have basically no money right now (yet strangely a fierce resistance to working for anyone else), and there is no "end" in sight or traditional professional milestones to make me feel better. Yet I have amazed myself at my resourcefulness, and how much progress I've made. Some time it's been hell, and I have given up many times--totally thrown in the towel--but I find that the next morning I wake up and keep going. And that's how I know I'm on to something--because nothing will stop me, not even myself.
A few months ago I met someone while out with friends, and while explaining this journey it slowly dawned on me that I had forgotten what it felt like to WONDER. Like I realized that despite all the craziness of this, I no longer remember what it feels like to wonder "what if I had done that..." or to talk about what I "wish I could do". It was like this huge weight was gone and I never even knew it!
We shall see how the music goes (I've worked out a deal as a caretaker in a sweet cabin in the woods which I've turned into a studio). For better or for worse, I no longer wonder "what if", and it is a sweet thing.
:) I think that's exactly why I'm happy for an "excuse" to not start it...because as soon as I do I won't put it down!
Back in the day I caught them all. I still have my cards too. After reading about Pokemon Go rediculousness for a week, and going on walks in the park and seeing people playing it, while sitting at my desk all of a sudden it hit me that "wait--lol, why don't you download it too??".
So I did, but then it said I couldn't sign up for an account because of high volume of people signing up (and I refuse to use my gmail ID), so never tried it.
I agree. I like the series too. But I didn't feel like people were up in arms about it ending for a few years, especially the way they treated us. I think if it started up again in a few years, not only would we not cancel on other teams and have to pay ND, but by then it would be a very exciting thing to resume. Right now it's more ho-hum about it resuming again, if it was not there for 4 or 5 years, there would be a ton of excitment and interest in it resuming.
Yeah, I've been trying to see the positives for the ND renewal, but I can't shake my gut feeling that it was out of touch with the fan base, and overall a weak move that makes us look stupid.
I think we actually were looking forward to a new thing with the Arkansas games, and honestly, we are sick of ND being petty and annoying and appreciated it to just drop for a while, especially when they pulled out and we had the upper hand. So what if we lost to them--we had awful teams and are finaly rebuilding.
Now we just look like we are stuck in the past, like paying a jerk who beat us up in middle school to fight again when you're 40, just to glorify the old days at the expense of new opportunities.
Sure, if we go and beat them at home, that will be nice. But what ever--now we are the ones looking bad because we cancled on other people.
F- ... the whole thing makes me feel it was weak leadership and shakes my confidence.
"The iron harvest is the annual "harvest" of unexploded ordnance, barbed wire, shrapnel, bullets and congruent trench supports collected by Belgian and French farmers after ploughing their fields. The harvest generally applies to the material from World War I, which is still found in large quantities across the former Western Front.[1]
During World War I an estimated one tonne of explosives was fired for every square metre of territory on the Western front.[2] As many as one in every three shells fired did not detonate.[3] In the Ypres Salient, an estimated 300 million projectiles that the British and the Germans forces fired at each other during World War I were duds, and most of them have not been recovered.[4]In 2013, 160 tonnes of munitions, from bullets to 15 inch naval gun shells, were unearthed from the areas around Ypres.[4]
Unexploded weapons—in the form of shells, bullets, and grenades—buried themselves on impact or were otherwise quickly swallowed in the mud. As time passes, construction work, field ploughing, and natural processes bring the rusting shells to the surface. Most of the iron harvest is found during the spring planting and autumn ploughing as the region of northern France and Flanders are rich agricultural areas.[5] Farmers collect the munitions and place them along the boundaries of fields or other collection points for authorities.[5]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_harvest
in Walk the Line, where Johnny Cash auditions for Sam Phillips playing Folsom Prison Blues for the first time...his band mates have never played it before, and he's just totally putting everythign on the line...whew cry like a baby every time!
Cool thank you all for the insights! Some more thoughts and questions.
How much are football programs supposed to represent their own region? For example, I think the incoming classes have players from or near Michigan as the minority, which is a historical shift right? If regional bias is important, are satillite camps bad for this?
It is a fact that smaller schools could not afford to do satillite camps on the same magnitude. I still wonder if there is some potential drawback to this. Or is this an inevitable result of competition? Is this something that could lead to monopolies? (Or are football monopolies even a bad thing?)
How about incentives instead of disincentives? For example, what if smaller programs were eligible for NCAA grants to host their own satillite camps? Or what if big schools down south were required to host camps in Michigan? Because that would be benficial to players in Michigan, right?
If all talent in the country were distributed equally, would we have this problem in the first place? Does this mean that the real solution is to improve Michigan/midwest football competition and opportunities in K-12? What if NCAA allowed satillite camps for 10 years while increasing funding for K-12 opportities?
Is this analagous to how the Yankees can basically buy teams? College football can't buy players, but are satillite camps a form of this?
Regardless, I'm glad Harbaugh is a mover and shaker.
Is the ban actually a good thing for smaller football programs with less resources? Would it stop the large deep pocketed programs from "taking over" the country and monopolizing? Like not all programs can pay to fly their entire coaching staff all over the country (or world...to extrapolate), and if there is an "arms race" to have satillite camps, smaller programs may get choked out, right? Basically is this an anti-monopoly, level playing field type rule?
That's the only reason I can think of that might actually be sensible. But I'm surprised I haven't heard this argument from the NCAA or from rival coaches. All I've heard is whining and blustering.
What do you think?
Whew thank you for this thread! Hopefully it will help the remarkably large number of people who can't seem to spell "disrespect" right around here....
I tear up every time in the scene where Jonny Cash sings folsom prison blues for the first time in front of Sam Phillips in Sun records from the the movie Walk the Line.
Also I cried after seeing 12 Years a Slave in the theater. I had to walk quickly and go get a drink at a bar with my friend I could hardly take it.
JH is very good at identifying value and delivering it, which all great leaders / CEOs etc are good at. He takes advantage of resources and builds a great staff to deliver value.
In general, he is seeing that there is value--to potential recruits, fans, and the current team--in almost everything the team does through out the year, not just the games and not just winning them. For example, win or lose, us fans love our team. So he promotes the "mundane" and lets us get closer to it all year long (open practices, signing of the stars, etc).
He is also capitalizing on the fact that our culture loves football in general and I think he does a good job articulating why we love it by reminding us of what football is about.
He also believes in rising tide raises all boats -- he increases competition with all teams (seems to want to work with other coaches, doesnt care about rules that no one else could recruit in our back yard...I dont think Harbaugh would like a B1G rule saying MSU couldn't recruit near Ann Arbor and vice versa) which will only make his better, and make it more fun.
Examples of big shifts in perspective.
1. Signing of the stars. Sees that we care so much about recruiting, and recruits want to be part of something great, so it's "obvious" to make it a public official ordeal.
2. National perspective. Football is national now and has been for a while. So he recruits nationally (internationally too--Australia, Canada). One way is by taking the program on the road more (summer swarms). This also means that just because you're local does not mean you are more relevant than someone from a different state. He's leveled the playing field and forcing increased competition regionally.
2. Practices. It's "obvious" that having your team all in one place during a practice would be a great way to showcase and let fans/recruits get closer to the team. Hence Florida IMG practice (plus--he knows that teams benefit from shared new experiences).
3. Using football clinics -- "obvious" that kids want to get better and coaches want more exposure and to learn. His staff loves to teach, so he makes it happen.
4. Inviting in other head coaches from rival teams. Baylor for example.
5. Works with NFL players and coaches (entire Ravens staff, Tom Brady, etc)
6. Following hip hop / current culture -- seems to actually find it interesting?
7. Coaching staff--size, positions, and experience. Night and day difference between his and Hoke era. Remember the "football mom" position? So much NFL experience too. I'd like to know how much bigger this staff is than previous staffs--has it grown?
is to publicly admonish and invalidate those who don't meet one's own definition of a proper fellow citizen...
What a wonderful surprise! Thank you for sharing the great news with us.
"Satisfied is not a word I associate with football"
"Satisfied is not a word I associate with football"
MGoEngineer in me says plot it to know the answer...apparently we will win it all next year.
Thank you OP for starting this thread. I think it's important.
Other thoughts
A year earlier as our family boarded the plane to move to Germany, all of our friends had come to the terminal to see us off. We still have the pictures of them waiting with us in the terminal and it's strange to realize that the reason you no longer have that is the major security changes that happened post 9/11
My German friend who had initially called me that day had visited NYC and gone to the top of the WTC with his parents not much earlier. He had been really excited about the US (and to have a new friend who was from there) and had told me all about it. I had never been to NYC and didn't even really know much about the towers. He was the first person to tell me much about them, and it didn't become real what he was talking about until seeing them fall on the news that day.
I was in 7th grade and just got home from school in the early afternoon because of the time difference. A year earlier I had moved to Germany with my family. My new friend from school called me and told me to turn on the TV, but because I was still learning German I missed the point. I thought he just wanted to chat about some TV show or something. So I kept talking about my day etc. until he said again to turn on the TV. I finally did, thinking it was an odd request, and then seeing the first tower smoking I remember sitting down right in front of the TV with my friend still on the line and everything slowed way down. I told him I would have to call him back. It didn't dawn on my until later that he was calling because of what was happening in New York.
A few minutes later I saw the second plane fly in. I spent pretty much the rest of the day watching the news with my family.
The next morning during first hour our principal hold a moment of silence. All of the students and teachers give me their condolences. I think they understood the magnitude of it more than I did at the time. Germans genuinely felt our pain and cared.
Through all the craziness that week, what stood out the strongest, and is the first thing I remember, is the strong feeling of "needing to go home to be with my country". It was the first time I knew what patriotism meant, and what being an American meant. I didn't know how deep love for your country went, and how much it's a relationship just like any other--In a tradgedy, I needed to be there. My family had talked that year about coming back to MI to visit because of homesickness, but this was deeper--suddenly I felt I needed to be home.
That is really really good and refreshing to watch. Thank you. Remembering and facing the past is essential right now because it means we want the truth as a team -- not just ungrounded hope. Like Harbaugh's recent talk at the media day about how when you get to the field you are "coming clean" -- you face and embrce the truth. Right now the truth is that we have fallen way below what we used to be, but we are doing the work it takes to get back there. And if we keep facing the truth and putting in the hard work... we will be even better than we've ever been, and we won't need hype videos that are painful to watch.
I am a swimmer and water polo player (HS and club college) and from my experience, I am convinced that the mental and culture aspect of the team is the number one important thing, and is almost solely dependent on the coach’s leadership. In the right culture, people want to, and will, work and win. And culture can change instantly, if the coach has power to enforce it (read about when Steve Jobs took over Apple again—firing almost all top members in one meeting). Pure talent gets you perhaps to a .85 win percentage, but with excellent coaching, you get can be elite. Or in the case our M football, from a routine 7-8 win team, to routine 10+, NC contender teams. It is not possible to consistently win with less talent, if coaching is equal between two teams. However, excellent coaching can lead lower talent teams to solid underdog upsets more often.
Therefore, in answer to OP Questions 1) with the right coach and administration, you can very quickly change the culture, and very quickly achieve 100% potential of your talent. Which, in Michigan’s case, is plenty good enough to see many more wins. 2) yes we could win a lot of games (see 1969) 3) absolutely, in fact the culture is what can change the fastest, while it may take longer to get higher talent, more financial / structural support, etc. (the building of the machine)
Oh, and pep talks mean nothing without the right culture and without having put the work in during the rest of the year.
It's too long to compare all the experiences in detail, but my high school my swim team won the state title 3 out of 4 years, yet with the same athletes, never won states in polo. Most significantly -- the losses in swimming were never disappointing for long, because we literally were the best we could be. Polo was always disappointing, because we knew we could win talent-wise, but despite the pep talks and last-minute heroic efforts, came up short. I think we all secretly felt we had under-achieved ourselves (a telltale sign is the feeling of frustration instead of sadness or brief disappointment). I am convinced that the biggest difference was the coaching of the teams. In terms of expectations, amount of work, accountability, and the amount I wanted to “play for” my coach, they were very different.
This also happened in college water polo – my 4th year we got a new coach, and with the same players, went from years of agonizing losses to our rivals, to close yet decisive wins over them to go to nationals for the first time in 7 years. We won the state tournament as the underdogs -- but won in a strong, gutsy way, and as a team. I didn't play in that game, but I knew I contributed and earned it. Nothing changed except for the coach, who tangibly changed the culture, and all of a sudden we were playing for each other much more, and had that kind of deep confidence that is required in critical games.