It was nice to see a young Brady Quinn courageously throw gifts to the Michigan secondary like the prototypical ND QBs.
Purdue game rests on our D-Line. Please motivate them for all 4 Qtrs Lloyd.
How weird is it to see a running back with #20 who isn't Hart?
2 questions, what was ND doing no M's side of the 50 in the 2nd quarter (besides turning it over?) That's pretty embarrassing.
And, what was Pierre Rembert doing in #20? I know it was BH (before Hart) but still someone should give him the Trotsky treatment and fix that shit up.
#20 should be retired in perpituity, across all sports at michigan.
imafreak - THAT was funny.
Freak - I believe we fumbled it in the second quarter (Perry, I think), to give ND what I believe was their best field position of the game.
Wow did ND suck that year. The more things change, the more they stay the same...
It really is weird. Except that really sweet play by Hayden, there wasn't a single instance of Wisconsin not getting totally blown of the ball or backers flowing efficiently toward the ball. This is a Bielema coached team right?
Anyone have a good laugh when Musberger was alluding to Gutz as "The Future?"
Thing I remember about that game is at the end, I worked my way down behind the Michigan bench. When the game ended, Perry climbed over the wall and stood on the bleachers leading cheers, and it was yours truly who gave him a hand to get on the bleacher and stood next to him while this was all going on. A very fine time.
you were right on the third goal, eh. beauty.
hey, pass the elsinore, eh?
In another universe, Gutz never injured his shoulder and eventually led UM to a National Championship in a thrilling overtime victory over Oklahoma. Later the team got to meet President Gore during the trip to the White House. He's currently the unexpected starter down in Atlanta, following the horrible incident of Michael Vick having his throwing arm chewed off in a dog-fighting mishap.
The Lions still suck in that alternate universe, though.
Did he call him Anthiny Avant?
"Anthony Avant" is nothing. The BTN announcer referred to Morgan Trent as Trent Morgan throughout the ENTIRE game against Eastern Michigan.
Seriously, man. Last time we had a night game in Champaign, their chancellor had to send a letter of apology to the MMB.
Memorable quote?
Illini sorority girl: "Hey, Michigan Band people!"
Us: "Yeah?"
ISG: "Why don't you just go the f*** home? YEEEARRRRRRHHHHHH!"
Mr. DeBord,
Please notice the effective use of play action.
Thank you
Sincerely,
Any intelligent Michigan fan
Play-action? Young back-up QBs throwing the ball? Maybe those two videos aren't that similar.
Also, is it me, or does Musberger spend more talking about NCST/FSU than he does about the actual game he's televising?
Brian, I went to Illinois for law school, and I was at the game in 2000 (the year after Illinois beat Michigan at Michigan).
That reputation is very well deserved. You'll meet better, nicer, more civilized fans in the middle of tOSU's student section. They are, quite possibly, the worst fans in the Big Ten.
Man, Lloyd sure looked a lot younger back then.
I'll vouch that Illinois fans are the worst in the Big Ten. I've had full beer cans thrown at me from balconies. Beer cans!
Illinois fans are pretty assholish, mainly I figure due to the huuuuge Greek system there. When you plant schools in corn fields next to smelly cows, you get angry people with nothing to do but drink.
I'm embarrassed for our fans :( Hope any of you who make it down to Champaign on the 20th have a safe, uneventful visit.
I swear we're not all insane.
Is it just the students who are rude?
I have gone to two games in Chambana:
Last time Michigan played there (2004, i think) I sat in the horseshoe end of the stadium amongst Illini fans. Wore M gear - didn't get peep.
I also went in 2005 for PSU - sat in an all orange section on the east side at the north 20 yard line about 25 rows back. All PSU gear - no static.
Am I missing something or are you all trying to get my tickets?
BTW - for those in town for the game, I'll be under the flag pole flying a maize and blue M flag and a blue and white PSU flag. Stop by.
I love Mike Hart and everything, but every time I see a highlight film with Perry, it makes me miss him. Cool to see us run several different types of run plays.
I can't tell from the angle, but if the net wasn't pushed off before the puck went in, or if goalie interference caused it, that was a pretty weak goal on Sauer.
That 2003 team was great. Like the rest of Lloyd's really good teams (1997, 1999, 2006) they really had excellent chemistry. Something this year's team, particularly the offense, sorely lacks. I think the defense actually works well together and has only been made into a laughingstock because of their coaches.
And I would take Navarre any day of the week over Henne. Not trying to bash on Chad; just showing some love to #16.
i'm upset i didn't get to make the first comment about play-action. that's all i thought about when i watched that video.
i have to disagree re: illini fans. there is no way they're worse than osu fans. i feared for my life at osu. even friends of friends threw shit at me and not soft plastic stuff. even osu's former president took them to ask for being violent, rioting fans. illini fans are rowdy when drunk but they won't throw things at you or try to set your car/clothing/hair on fire.
That 2003 was fun. I wouldn't take Lurch over Lurch 2.0, but Navarre was certainly a very good QB.
Most violent/rageful fans against in my experience:
1) tOSU - my friend's fiance is a Buckeye alum and he was telling a story about how he was going to beat up a Northwestern fan (a 12-14 year old child) because he was cheering when NW beat OSU a few years back. Boyfriend of neighbor who was Buckeye fan (don't think he even went there) thereatened to kill me if Michigan won the game (which we did in our one win against Tressel). He did not kill me, instead, settling for grabbing my flag off my house and throwing it on the ground in the middle of the night.
2) Wisconsin - random drunken students getting in face and screaming at you on way to stadium. Foreign object dodging a must. This and EL are the two places where you receive as many death threats from hot girls as guys. This school has a huge inferiority complex when it comes to Michigan and for a school we do not really care about, it seems to obsess over us.
3) Sparty - only behind Wisconsin because many Sparty students and alums have some Michigan fans as friends or relatives, mitigating their desire to do violence. Also, the fact that Sparty has taken its lumps from us over the years has mildly dulled their fans hatred.
4) Illinois: for a school that has had such a historically lousy football team, they sure hate us. I can at least understand why Sparty and OSU hate us so much, but Wisconsin and Illinois are just bizarre. A surprisingly large number of Fuck Michigan shirts or Muck Fichigan is a whore or whatever it is they think is a great insult.
- these are the only fans I have had negative experiences with at away games.
Away games at Iowa (classy, passionate fans), Minn. (all thirty of the fans at the game were Minnesota nice), NW (biggest threat came from the old Michigan fan who kept yelling down in front), and Purdue (pre-tiller, had row to myself) have all been pleasent. Never been to away game at Indiana or PSU.
The play action frequency was stunning to me too. Make 'em fear the run enough, and throwing sure is easier...
-Bo
"Michigan is one of the better programs in the country at getting its kids through school"
That's a joke right? You are such a clown! Can't even graduate your joke of a major - General Studies! Hilarious!!!!
Navarre was great when he had all day to throw. Classic statue with a great arm.
From the old ND game....
Musberger: "Navarre to a wide open Anthony Avant..."
I had forgotten about that! Ha!
Went to the UM-Ill 200 game as a member of the MMB. Went to OSU that same season with the band. When Ill is good and playing a game in the national spotlight, their fans are 10x worse than OSU. Only time I have ever truly feared for my safety at an away venue, and I've been to almost every B10 stadium. Can't speak for Ill fanbase when their team blows (games since 2000), but Michigan fans should be prepared for a rowdy and somewhat unsafe environment on 10/13.
I went to Illinois for law school as well and was at the 2000 game in Champaign. I was heckled throughout and had a cup of water thrown at me. Although, truth be told, I was pretty obnoxious as well. But I concur - the fans in Champaign can be nuts. I'm guessing it's in part because their opportunities to cheer for the football team are few and far between.
"I'll vouch that Illinois fans are the worst in the Big Ten. I've had full beer cans thrown at me from balconies. Beer cans!"
Wow, those ARE terrible fans. I mean, who would waste a whole beer like that?
Of course, being UIUC it was probably Busch Light or Keystone Light, so not that big of a loss.
i found psu fans to be nice and non-threatening although the campus smells a little funny. i was fine at wisconsin - never threatened. every sparty knows a UM fan or alum so they aren't too bad. n'westerns fans don't even pay attention to you. ND is like going to an nfl game.
my favorite illinois story is meeting a random girl at a party at state. the exchange went like this.
Me:hey
her:hey
ME:so where you from
her: illinois... you?
Me: Michigan
Her: o you're are rival
Me: ummm.... riggghhhhttt
besides the occasional rock being thrown, PSU fans are awright to the maize n' blue.
tim -
Kind of like me my first year of law school
my friend: you're pretty brave wearing that Michigan t-shirt around campus.
me: why?
my friend: well, you're our biggest rival.
me: you have a football team?
Yeah, I've heard that rival stuff from Illinois fans as well. Someone ought to wear a shirt to the game that says something like
Michigan Rivals
1. Ohio State
2. Michigan State
3. Notre Dame
4. Penn State
5. The Pac 10
6. Wisconsin
7. The SEC and their jort-wearing fans
...
35-31. Illinois
The 35-31 game in 2000 still pisses the bejesus out of Illinois' fans.
Anthony Avant? He didn't even say "Avant" right.
It sounded like he didn't know who Breaston was either, until he checked his notes after the play.
Wouldn't it be nice to throw the ball to the halfback now and then?
Seriously, is Mike Hart just not good at catching or what?
Yeah, I work with an Illinois alum (in a sea of PSU, Rutgers, and ND fans), and he keeps telling me how much he hates Michigan and my general response is, "oh, well, um, don't we both hate OSU?" Then he says "no, we hate you so they're kind of okay with us." Then I tell him that I could care less about Illinois and it makes him even more angry. The whole thing is contrary to everybody else in the Big Ten. Pretty much all the other Big Ten fans I've come in contact with hate OSU fans. Illinois people are weird. I can't wait for the Zooker to strike.
I know we are scheduled to play Notre Dame through like the year 3013, so maybe we can play them twice or 3 times a year. Throw in Penn State for a home and away each year and we are u got 5 Lloyd quality wins.
I went to grad school in Champaign for 5 years. When the basketball/football team is playing well, the fans are horribly behaved idiots. When the team sucks, they are quite welcoming and gracious...
hey brian, thanks for the note on the illinois game and the "no-btn" thingy.
man, the one benefit to us sucking this year that nobody ever talks about on here is that it's basically now - "Big Ten Network, The Flagship Station of Michigan Football". look out notre dame, here we come! think of the recruiting advantages alone...
[sarcasm off]
go blue!
Re the Illini/UofM epic rivalry. I attended the '95 game in Champaign, and when I stepped into the La Bamba's on campus at 2:00AM for a burrito as big as my head, I noticed the full size mural of the Burrito-headed Illinois team kicking the crap out of a Michigan football team. At the time, I was still a bit pissed off about the infamous tie back in '83 and the mobile QB strikes again game of '93 (I hope I'm getting all of these dates right ...) but it's really only a rivalry among great engineering grad schools.
Speaking of tickets, I won't be able to use my pair for the rest of the season (3 home games left). They are student tix but aren't in the student section. Shoot me an email if you'd like them at shorts723@yahoo.com
What does CAUP and TCAUP stand for?
Blue Gray Sky (ND) is a great blog, but here's what they've devolved to during this season:
With the win on Saturday, Charlie Weis managed to stay one step ahead of his two predecessors for at least one more week. Weis, Willingham, and Davie all won their 31st game, and Weis remains slightly ahead of DavieHam with a 20-11 record (vs 19-12 for the other two coaches). Both Davie and Willingham won their 32nd game but subsequently lost four of their next five. So, despite a disasterous season by most measures, Weis still has a very good chance at being ahead of both Davie and Willingham at the end of the season when comparing records after the same number of games. http://bluegraysky.blogspot.com/
...679449114738619
Sometimes, I don't feel so bad after all.
Not to excuse Musberger, but Anthony Avent was a star on the Seton Hall basketball team that played Michigan in the 1989 NCAA championship game. I always have to stop and think to remember Jason's first name correctly.
I don't know if it's a collective issue, but I've been mercilessly e-ssaulted on a White Sox blog after making a really tame "Michigan > Wisconsin" comment. It was weird. The guy was normally all nice and smart too.
(T)CAUP = (Taubman)College of Architecture and Urban Planning....(I presume)
Sorry if this was already mentioned elsewhere, but Courtney Fucking Sims is on an NBA roster.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/te...roster?
team=Ind
See, kids, your completely unrealistic, improbably-far-fetched dreams DO come true!
Check out this quote from Englemon in Tuesday's Ann Arbor News:
"We try to stay in our base defense and make them adjust to what we do instead of trying to adjust to what they do"
The players even admit we only throw rock!
For my preemptive UFR:
Why does Crable never read his keys when rushing and the team runs a read option out of shotgun? He has made the same mistake 4 times (2 for NW, one he recovered from, one kept the drive alive; and two for EMU - one allowed a conversion for a 3rd and 10+, and one went for a score - QB keeper). He is getting lots of accolades but I don't know if he always deserves them.
Jamison doesn't make the same mistakes.
If Crable doesn't correct these, Illinois will beat us.
Andrew,
If my extensive EA Sports experience holds any merit, I can safely say that forcing offenses to "adjust" to your base defense is the most ridiculous notion I've ever heard. It's not even worth explaining - it's just stupid. "Behold! You will tremble in fear as we trot out our base defense every play! Wait..why are you running passed us? WTF? WHAT THE EFF?! Get back here! We're Michigan damn it! This would be so much easier if Alan Branch and David Harris were in the lineup! Whoops, gotta line up for the extra point!ttyl"
God, we need some fucking new coordinators. If hiring Miles solves this dilemma(watching us throw play action in that highlight video makes me want to scream....we should have let Henne, Hart and company grow up with Malone), then bring on our new f*cking coach(reference to Miles' "rival in fucking Alabama" tirade).
Disclaimer - I'm an Illinois alum ('96).
Apologies in advance for any mistreatment received in Champaign. It's been my experience that drunk students are the cause of most problems. Even while I was a student there, objects routinely rained down from the balcony into my seating section. This year the student season ticket holders have been moved to the north end zone. Hopefully that helps.
I'm a quiet guy who doesn't mind some good natured trash-talking over a cold beverage with rival fans. That said, the majority of the Michigan folks I've encountered at games in Champaign have been some of the biggest, most obnoxious, foul-mouthed, violent jackasses I've ever met. That is in stark contrast to the warm reception I've received in Ann Arbor from many a Wolverine fan. I think you'll find that you will get what you give unless dealing with a drunken frat contigent (of which, unfortunately, there are many at the U. of I.).
Visitors sections are S&T on the lower east side and S in the balcony. See the following Scout.com thread for more info:
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=1...=2617&
t=1170910
I cannot fathom that Illinois fans are anywhere near as bad as tOSU fans. I went to the Texas game @ Columbus in 2005 and was pelted with full water bottles, cursed at, and threatened with bodily harm multiple times simply because I dared to wear an (Illini) orange shirt instead of scarlet and gray.
Illinois fans are still fired up about the UM-UI game in 2000 because of the controversial fumble/non-fumble calls AND Lloyd's comments regarding the officiating. Please don't judge the fan base by that one game.
Safe travels. I'm looking forward to the pre- and post-game analysis.
this posts makes me tingle on the inside. The SEC is the biggest "conference full of pussies"
http://www.redshirtblogger.com/2...nch-of-pussies/
I was at the UM/ILL game in 2004 and found it pretty uneventful, though I attribute it to the Illini's extra suckyness that year and especially to the fact it was an *11AM* game. I have a feeling we're in for a situation more like 2000, which my UM band friend puts only a tiny notch under Columbus on the terrible fan/fear for lives scale...
Whats the deal with B.Minor? Lloyd sounds pissed, if I decipher the Lloydspeak correctly...
Last paragraph:
http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/ne...uwire&
type=lgns
When I was listening to Musburger, I was under the impression that "The Future" was Brady Quinn. I could be wrong, though. I'm too lazy to go back and listen again.
Steve Breaston was only a RS freshman that year. I don't really blame Musburger for not knowing him, but he at least said, "He's supposed to be a dandy."
I still hate Musburger, though. He's the Joy Behar of sports broadcasting.
i thought enemy fans were supposed to be hostile? why is the big 10 so stuck on class at freakin' football games? we'd get eaten alive if we traveled to a road SEC game. they'd find a UM soccer mom fan hanging upside down from the side of an RV by the time it was over.
i should have gone to LSU.
Hey Motley College Football; I was at the 2000 game with my wife, mother & father. Dad & I had UM hats on while my wife and Mom did not wear any thing that would indicate their allegiance. For some reason, my Mom was targeted by most students. One even ran up to her and screamed "I FUCKING HATE you" inches from her nose. I can still see the look on her face. We were doing nothing other than walking around, looking for the proper stadium entrance. I was prepared to be abused, as was my Dad. But, my Mom? Illinois students are about as low class as they get. I will say this; the 'adult' Illinois fans that we sat near were quite nice. The "Ann Arbor is a whore" shirts were pretty base, too. It was great to watch all the students mope after the game.
Brent Slushberger has always been a tOSU homer. He is the worst. Does anyone else think he sounds like The Penguin (Burgess Meredith) from the 60s Batman sit-com when he laughs? Ugh.
I think the 2000 game in Champaign was the perfect storm of events that caused Illinois fans to be especially obnoxious. It was a night game, they had beat us the year before, and IIRC, there was a rumor that had Michigan not lost the week before to UCLA, ESPN Gameday would have been on campus for the game (both teams would have been undefeated). So some of the fans were especially pissed at Michigan (at least my roommates were).
Henson replacing an ineffective Navarre in that game was truly amazing. But, of course, damn you Drew Henson!
Bronco638:
Hey Motley College Football; I was at the 2000 game with my wife, mother & father. Dad & I had UM hats on while my wife and Mom did not wear any thing that would indicate their allegiance. For some reason, my Mom was targeted by most students. One even ran up to her and screamed "I FUCKING HATE you" inches from her nose.
that must be in the asshole inferiority complex fan handbook. That same exact thing happened to me at Wisconsin. And I am a very likable fella.
Illinois blows. Over-Under on how long b4 $$$Zooker gets them the death penalty? I put it at 2.5 years and take the over...NCAA is usually slow to move on these things.
As an IU student I will concur wholeheartedly that Illinois has the worst fans in the Big Ten. Although, I think they give that "biggest rival" crap to everybody, because they keep looking for someone other than NU to reciprocate. Last year of the year before, I remember their student paper just sort of declared Indiana was their biggest rival. I will admit though, the BS that goes on every time I encounter an Illini fan has slipped them past OSU and MSU into third on my rivals list. Still miles behind Purdue and Kentucky though.
Although, you shouldn't be so proud of yourselves Michigan. Most of your fans we're pretty obnoxious blowhards when you came down to the Rock last year. OSU flippin invades the stadium with way more people, but I don't remember any of them embarrasing their school. But don't get too worked up about it, you didn't even register compared to Illinois.
IMO, Terry Malone should have never been shown the door. He got a bad rap for 2005 when the offense was decimated by injuries. I can remember several games in 2004 when he came out and threw 10 straight passes - most memorably, Minnesota, where the "diamond" formation was used. He had 10X the offensive creativity of DeBord.
Stan Parrish is another - quarterbacks coach for Griese, Brady, and Henson, and OC for 2000 offensive juggernaut (if only they played defense that year). He also managed 45 points against Big Ten Champ Illinois in 2001 with sophomore John Navarre. In fact, he ran both a double pass and halfback pass in that game.
Finally, why was Loeffler hired in 2002 instead of Harbaugh? Harbaugh applied for the job, and I think that I would have hired a QB with 15 years NFL experience over a 28 year old kid who never took a snap in college.
I think the answer to all of this is easy - don't rock the boat.
I've always wondered why Malone left in 2005. The fan base was calling for Hermann's head, but not necessarily Malone's. People tend to assume he was "forced out" like Hermann almost certainly was. Isn't it possible he left for the NFL out of his own accord?
Off topic . . .
I have been doing some reading (mostly online) about the specific method of HIT training that Gittleson employes for Michigan's S & C program. As someone knowledgeable in training / S & C, I can say that he is about 30 years behind the times. AS a background, the training philosophy used by Git is called HIT (high intensity training). It involves performing a very limited number of sets with very heavy weight, with each set being taken to total failure. I have used variations of this training in the past, and the primary problems are: (1) you do not develop muscle stamina, (2) you do not develop speed / agility, (3) you are MUCH more susceptable to injury because of the increased wear and tear on the joints / tendons from the heavy weight, and (4) you do not develop "lean" muscle.
We can see these exact problems in our own team. Our guys frequently look tired and slow and are often injured. As for the "lean" muscle, look at some of the SEC players as compared to ours, and you can instantly see a difference in the level of muscular definition.
What makes matters worse is that Git's HIT method focuses almost exclusively on training with machines, and not free weights. Since about the mid 1990's, it has been accepted that machine training is inferior to free-weight training. Part of the problem with machine training is that you do not develop muscle stabilizers that you would otherwise develop balancing heavy free weights, which when put in the real world, can lead to injuries.
To sum up, Git is using a training method that, while popular in the 1980's, is simply outdated. I actually think that this is the single biggest factor in our inability to stop faster, spread-offense teams.
Malone sucked. With the exception of 2003, his offenses couldn't run the ball which was a lot of the problem in 2005 with the late leads and the losing. Yes, he put up big numbers on little teams. Check out Vijay's excellent analysis in Brian's book. Malone murdered cupcakes and withered against good competition--especially late in the game.
Y'all may hate the run oriented offense but it's miles better than the 'can't run offense.'
So Illinois puts the Michigan fans in the south east side of the stadium? My tickets are in a north west section. I'm screwed.
Wow, d'you think there's a lesson here in this from EDSBS today?:
Chase Daniel, after throwing for 400 yards on Nebraska’s defense in a 41-6 Missouri win against the Huskers, thinks your defense sucks, Kevin Cosgrove.
“Cosgrove’s a very stubborn guy,” said Daniel, who threw for 401 yards in a 41-6 Tiger win. “It’s always been that way. . . . That’s just how he is, that’s how they are. They’re a bunch of confident guys in what they do, and they felt they had the best chance doing that, so they stuck with it.
“You can’t just play one defense the whole entire game,” Daniel said. “That’s like high school stuff.”
Hart couldn't run the ball in 2004? He had multiple 200-yard games as a true frosh. He was part of Malone's offense.
He coached the offense for 4 years -
2002 - 148 rush yards per game and 381 total with Navarre at QB (before he was sr., he was suspect at best)
2003 - 176 rush, 447 total
2004 - 154 rush, 387 total with a true frosh at QB. In 1975, UM averaged 389 total per game with Rick Leach a true frosh when the rest of the conference stunk except for tOSU
2005 - 162 rush, 384 total
Bo feasted on inferior opponents too - look at the number of ranked opponents he played in the 1970's. Do you slight him as well?
The reality is that Michigan hasn't been able to run the ball like it used to for awhile now.
Without a doubt, some of this goes to Gittleson. He needs to go. He is a dinosaur.
Lloyd put together all these staffs. It starts at the top. No matter who comes and goes, the final product you see on the field is a manifestation of the vision and leadership of its head coach. When the ultimate goal is to "win the big ten title," 9-3 will be considered good enough every year. Congrats, we have won the right to get destroyed by USC in the Rose Bowl, has become the standard for this program.
I don't have a problem with Loeffler. Henne improved in 2005 and 2006. I am confused by his decline in 2007, but I think some of his failures have been the result of poor playcalling, the absence of Carson Butler for the first two games, and a subpar season for Manningham.
I can see the problems with Debord, but I'd like to keep Loeffler.
Illini fans are pretty bad. I went to the 2004 game (I'm going again this year) and was being harassed by a sorority chick that ate too many hot dogs and some of her frat boy friends during the first half. She shut up when we finally pulled away. That was when they sucked, now that they have a pulse it should be much worse.
osuck my poisonous nuts fans are by far the worst. I work in Cleveland and have been threatened and had crap thrown at my car. 95% of these people are classless and crude.
tOSU fans were much worse under Cooper. While they burn couches and riot, win or lose, they tend to have an inverse relationhip between fan behavior and team quality. The buckstache is fiercest with it's back against the wall. Illini fans, on the other hand, are classic fair weather shit talkers. Fortunately, they are so rarely decent that we only need deal with them once or twice a decade.
The plural of anecdote is not data.
I have attended a dozen UM-UI games since my freshman year in Champaign in 1984, both in AA and C-U. And six tOSU-UI games in Columbus since '84. Oh, and I grew up in Columbus with season tickets watching tOSU in the 'Shoe from '73 though '83. You're delusional if you believe that Illinois fans are, as a group, abusive compared with other BT schools.
I was at the 2000 UM-Ill game in C-U with my brother, an '82 & '83 UM engineering alum. We sat in the west balcony of Memorial Stadium with nary a UM fan in sight. My bro' wore his Michigan sweatshirt and hat and cheered loudly.
Everyone around us was polite, just as they have been on other occasions when I have sat next to unaccountably arrogant UM alums in student sections of the east balcony (e.g., 1989 when we were #8, fell just short of knocking off #3 Bo and winning the BT title, and fans were greatly disappointed.)
On our walk out of the stadium and across campus to Murphy's Pub after the 2000 night game we didn't witness a single example of poor Illini fan behavior, a fact that my brother noted and one that surprised me given the fact that certain frat boys are idiots on Saturday nights. But that fact is not unique to Illinois, of course.
Contrast this with tOSU, where fans are regularly abusive in the stadium and the charming student habit of torching cars on High Street win or lose was de reigeur when I was a boy and probably inspired the present-day gits in East Lansing. In fact, tOSU's president finally managed to defuse student violence on game days there only by posting police in dorms a couple years back and creating incentives for students to behave.
Until that evening in Sept. 2000, having seen plenty of Big Ten football fans up close around the conference, I regarded Michigan fans as fairly gracious. Then, as we departed Memorial Stadium that evening, Michigan having eked out a win aided by no-calls and botched calls, the Michigan fans from the visitors' section began singing "Isn't it great to be... a Michigan Wolverine..." en masse as they marched down the tower ramps and out of the stadium.
My brother was embarrassed at his Michigan affiliation. I just found it classless. What jackasses. I've never witnessed anything like it in 35 years of attending Big Ten games. At least when Nebraska visited in 1986 (and crushed us 59-14) their fans were gracious and friendly. Yours are apparently poor winners.
I compare this with my treatment at the 2001 Illinois game in Ann Arbor in which I endured abuse AFTER the game (fans beforehand expressed a fear that Michigan might actually lose) from Michigan fans simply for wearing my Illinois sweatshirt. My response was simply "basketball season begins in two months and lasts until April." That shut my hosts up fairly quickly.
Regarding the "rival" business, football (even during the White / Mackovic years of the '80s) has always been an optional Sat
Oooh, Michigan fans celebrated after a win. How classless.
On another note that we can all agree on (Notre Dame mocking):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=p0Y7yjxJVlc
Illini Alum -
Your brother was "embarrassed at his Michigan affiliation" because UM fans sang "It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine" as they left the stadium? It's not like they were taunting Illinois. What they were doing was no different than singing the fight song.
If showing pride for your university after a victory embarrasses your brother, then I'm embarrassed by his Michigan affiliation as well.
What's wrong with cheering that "It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine" after a win? Just because Michigan got a few calls their way doesn't mean they can celebrate a victory. I must be missing something here.
However, there are bad eggs in every basket. Michigan has them. tOSU has them. Illinois has them. However, the consensus is that tOSU seems to have the most. I don't disagree but the reality is that Michigan has bad fans.
I went to the PSU game in 1999. Two Michigan fans (and grads) sat behind me and they were rude, obnoxious, and embarrassing. At the ND game this year, one of my 15-year-old wrestlers wore an OSU jersey to the game. A grown man threatened to beat the crap out of him if he didn't take it off. Nice.
When we see obnoxious Michigan fans, it is our job tell to them to shut up and that they are making Michigan look bad. End of story.
I'm thinking about walking around prior to the OSU game this year in OSU stuff just to see how I get treated.
Illinois Alum,
I understand you probably don't have much experience celebrating college football victories, but chanting "It's great, to be, a [Insert college name here] is the norm for celebration after a football victory. How you can compare celebrating your own school's achievement to setting cars and couches on fire/rioting is idiotic. You want Mich fans to mourn their victory over you. Should we no longer say, "Go Blue, as it may offend the opposition. Sorry, but you and your brother are GIANT VAGINAS if this said "classless" celebration hurt your feelings and embarrassed him. And BTW.... It is Great To Be a Michigan Wolverine.
As a Mich fan I can say that we are obnoxious and arrogant in that cocky, spoiled twerp--"I'll sue you, my dad is a lawyer" kind of way. Worse for us, daddy doesn't have as much money or power (we aren't as good) as we seem to believe.
That being said, we tend not to be the idiotic, barbaric, frat boy, meatheads that you see starting fights and riots with the opposition. Ours is a more sophisticated dickheadedness, focused on shit-talking.
Ha - "sophisticated dickheadedness." I love it.
I think "Michigan fans: sophisticated dickheadedness" would make an amazing t-shirt. To the mgostore!
If that's the best Illinois alum can do...that's pretty lame.
Michigan fans cheering 'It's great... to be... a Michigan Wolverine' after a win takes the prize for "biggest stretch of the world 'classless' ever." That's saying something, considering the liberal use of "classless" on message boards and blogs.
Love the comments about meeting random Illinois fans who decide they "hate" you. Met an Illinois girl at a party few years ago, told her I went to UM, and the reply was "Ooooooh, we hate you guys!" My reply (in all sincerity): "Um... really? No, seriously?"
I had a roommate in college who was a walk-on, and eventually became an assitant to Git. He put me through a couple Git workouts back then, and they all involve PAIN! Excrutiating, vomit-inducing pain. It was all the rage back then. The thought that nothing has changed in all these years is sobering. It definitely leads to bulk, which has been part of the UM formula. But it's not part of the evolution of college fb, for sure.
ColoradoBlue,
Yes, those workouts are indeed brutally painful. I have lifted for years, and my HIT style workouts are amongst the most taxing. And I agree that HIT workout can most definitely add size and strength, perhaps as effectively as many of the newer workouts, but unfortunately, they do nothing to add speed, stamina and athleticism or to prevent injuries. This is especially true, when these workouts are done on machines, as opposed to uing free weights. Because of this training, we have a slow, unathletic team that has been very injury prone over the past few years.
The roommate you must be talking about that worked under Gittleson has to be Terry Looby. Looby was nuts...and also put me through the best workouts I ever had at Michigan. Looby was insane, and was once told by Gittleson after once working Rob Swett out that "there is a fine line between fitness and abuse, and what you just did (to Swett) was abuse." Classic.
Prescott Burgess is Gittleson's poster child of the 21st century - 5 star, super-fast DB becomes slow linebacker after arriving at Michigan.
Agreed on Burgess, although he was 6'3" and 210 coming out of high school. Pretty much every player is going to pack on some weight, so he might have been bound to outgrow the safety position anyway.
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