Loyalty

I haven’t posted in too long. I’ve wanted to. I’ve tried to, but it just hasn’t come. I guess I’m feeling lost in the Michigan Blogosphere… I was never a football coach, and though I did play in High School, I doubt I can dissect plays like MGoBlog. I don’t have the time to scour the internet for every piece of Michigan news, every recruit’s movement. I always felt that my niche was my passion and my ability to describe that. Be it jubilation or anguish, that was my sweet spot. But, I feel neither of those now… maybe it’s just the lowered expectations for this season. I guess I’m feeling a bit lost with this team period. I don’t have any complaints, and perhaps I should, but just a deep feeling of unrest. So, I’m going to try to force this all to make sense.

I didn’t see the Toledo game. I recorded it and assumed I would watch it Sunday night. I was in West Chester, PA this weekend to do play by play for University of Michigan-Dearborn hockey. Not that anyone cares, but we beat Penn State on Sunday… it was a huge win against the number 3 team in the ACHA. Traditionally UMD has a very good hockey program, but last year we won 5 games all year… we were rebuilding. We played three games in West Chester (it was a tournament), the first against a good Stony Brook team, who we beat 5-4, the second against a PSU-Berks team who we should have beat, but lost to 6-5, and the third against PSU. Penn State is good, really good, at least at this level, at this level where no one really cares and no one really watches except hockey rink rats, parents and die hard students. But we beat them, with four of our players out for the game, two being our starting center and left wing. We beat them 9-5, I guess you could say we crushed them. I followed this team last year for forty-some odd games. At the beginning of the year I didn’t care about them one iota, by the end when we beat our archrival Eastern Michigan in overtime to ruin their playoff hopes, I have been happier only for a few other sports moments in my life.

Michigan football means more to me than I can ever express, and I would have normally gone to do the hockey games and walled myself from the outside world so there was no chance of hearing the score of the Michigan game before I could watch it late at night, fast forwarding through all the dumb commentary and the time between plays… I’ve really grown to love watching football this way. I can see the formations, the pre-snap motions and the plays and nothing else. I didn’t bother for Toledo.

I didn’t bother with any of that because it was Toledo… we would win. I would watch the game because I always watch the games and everything would be fine. Surely it’d be an ugly game, our offense has been moving in fits and starts all year, but it was Toledo.

You all know what happened, or at least the results… I doubt any of us can really comprehend what happened. Many of us are angry, many of us depressed, many of us confused. I understand, but what I don’t understand is turning on the team… I will never understand booing.

We are rebuilding, I suppose… our defense should be better, our offensive line is atrocious, we have freshman everywhere and our once competent kicker has suddenly vanished.

I am tired of hearing all the complaints, tired of hearing how with Carr things would have been so much better. This team is not good, and perhaps the line would have been a bit better had he returned, and perhaps the offense a bit more functional, but at what price?

Rodriguez will turn things around eventually, he has everywhere he goes. Why would anyone think things will be different here? Here at Michigan, the winningest program in college football history, here where he has more talent available to him than he ever had before.

Next year will be the time for critiques, for anger, perhaps now we can just sit back and try to enjoy football. Isn’t that what this is supposed to be all about? Sure, Penn State is probably going to crush is, but that’s what everyone thought when UMD faced them on Sunday, too.

For now, I’m just going to sit back, doubled over in pain watching Michigan football, cringing at every badly thrown screen and every lineman blown off the line, but on Sunday, I’ll calm myself and move on.

I have followed Michigan since I can remember, and I will follow them until I die, unquestionably, unerringly. I don’t know about the rest of you, but that is where my loyalty lies. It is simple and pure love.