I haven’t talked much about Michigan Football this year, partly because I’ve been less engaged with the season – only one alcohol-fueled (except while driving) road trip as opposed to three – but mostly because this season has been less than inspring. Sure I’ve watched (most of) every game, and I’ve been proud of our team’s “comeback” since The Horror (until last week, that is), but nothing about this season has made me want to run around screaming to the world how much I love/hate this team.
But this is rivalry week, the week of the most important game of our season, so I feel that some sort of acknowledgment is due.
Some thoughts on the HBO documentary… Fellow blogger CrimeNotes wrote up an excellent summary and review of the entire thing, one that I almost entirely agree with. My favorite part:
Read this paragraph and you can skip the movie: Football in olden days was fun. Michigan was good. Yost, Friedman, Oosterban, Crisler. Woody Hayes, Woody Hayes. Woody Hayes? Woody Hayes. Bo? Little Woody Hayes. OSU fans = crazy. Michigan fans = snobs. Earl Bruce. Desmond Howard had a touchdown. Biakabatuka was good. John Cooper. Jim Tressel.
I tend to agree with CrimeNotes and most other viewers of the program. There was a strong bias towards OSU as the program went on – they seemed more of the real football-focused half of the rivalry, and we seemed more of the academic institution that happened to have a squad. They had dozens of clips of their fans; we had multiple angles of the Law Quad. Perhaps the producers were trying to balance the show – OSU got a lot of focus because Michigan had Bo, alive (at the time) and able be a part of the program – but even the Bo interviews didn’t seem to carry as much gravity as they ought’ve (though, to be fair, when they spoke of his death and showed clips of the vigils, I almost cried).
I was also disappointed to see a core demographic missing from the show: current students (or recent grads). It seemed like every other angle was covered – coaches, former players, older alumni, journalists, random fans – but there was no real discussion on the rivalry from a younger perspective. True, this rivalry’s significance is more about its history than its point-in-time status, but it would’ve been an interesting perspective nonetheless.
All in all, I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it. It’s ‘Saved Until Deleted’ on my DVR, but who knows if I’ll get around to watching it again.
On to this week’s game…
So much and so little to say. We’re playing for the Big Ten Title, a shot at the Rose Bowl, a first win against that team in 4 years, but I haven’t had the huge sense of excitement about it this year. Blame it on the three losses, I suppose.
I am regretting my decision not to go to Ann Arbor for the game. I was planning on it, then not planning on it, then planning on it, then not planning on it, and ultimately a decision was made to stay here in New York. But I realized too late that I could have gone to Ann Arbor to see Henne, Hart, Long, Manningham, etc play (at least I hope they all play) one last time, for the one win that’s always eluded them. It would’ve been nice to say bye to Carr – despite this season, he was still a good coach and a good man, and if he in fact does leave, part of me will miss him.
Another Michigan blogger, RBUAS (also noticeably absent this season), has an excellent post, appropriately titled Eulogy, which puts into far better words the finality this game brings.
But this is the Ohio State game, and despite our three losses and despite being miles away from the game, I’ll be waking up early to celebrate the end of the season, the end of an era, and hopefully the end of a losing streak. Go Blue!
