Was just scrolling the message board posts and noticed that nothing football-related until the middle of page three except for the EJ post on Walter Nolan and some football tidbits in Inside the Fort. And those two posts are by staffers who are expected to report on football.
I know that we are in the midst of week one of the NCAA tourney, but in past years football posts were always sprinkled in the conversation.
Which begs the question, are we actually becoming more of a basketball school? Seems absurd at first glance. But just take a look. A lack of interest/passion from the fan base as evidenced by a lack of football posts. I can understand about fewer posts on the team, coming off a terrible season and with historically low expectations heading into next season. But recruiting posts?
Recruiting posts are a leading indicator of the state of the program. They are a reflection of the fan base’s optimism with respect to where the program is going. And recruiting optimism is the drug behind the success of many of these fan sites. Every year a new cycle of hope. Signing approximately 25 new prospects not yet tarnished by the recent history of Michigan football. Fans consistently celebrating the four and five star signees while spinning the three star signees by “trusting the coaches” (after all we are just mere fans while they are professionals. A valid point, but the staff’s benchmark is other schools, the ones that they are ranked against, not the fans. So why should we trust our coaches evaluations on three stars more than that of the staffs of schools like LSU, Notre Dame and Texas?) or pointing out all the successful three stars in the NFL, while ignoring the fact that the percentage of three stars who succeed are far lower than five and four stars. Every year there are about 50 five stars, 300-375. (on at least one site) four stars, and probably over 1000 three stars. That is a huge pool of three stars and a very small percentage will go on to the NFL. But do the math. With signing classes limited to just 25 it is absurd to spin the “NFL three star success story” theory as one to get excited about signing three stars.
But recruiting optimism has always been there to get fans through the hard times. There is always the future, be it as a continuation of our historic success or as a break from recent losses. Hope springs eternal. Indeed, but perhaps a fan-based manifestation of that hope has been tempered by the 20-year run of playing second-fiddle (at best) to Ohio State. Hence, one of the reasons for so few fan-initiated posts.
But lets be honest. The larger factor in this equation is the excitement over the basketball program. The plethora of basketball posts is evidence of such excitement. Or, to paraphrase Ray Charles, Michigan basketball on my mind. Success breeds fan passion. But why now more so than after our 2013 and 2018 runs? I would argue that those runs were a reflection of the program’s ceiling, getting to the championship game with a lack of five stars. Pleasant surprises. This year, however, seems like the start of something much bigger. The five stars are on their way, but Juwan has had a very Beileinesque coaching season thus far. Winning with a mix of Beilein holdovers, transfers and another Wagner (and lets not forget his freshman recruit Dickinson). So just wait until what he can do once the five and high four stars arrive! The tail wags the dog. Recruiting optimism fuels passion for the program, perhaps as much as the actual wins on the hardwood.
And why more now than back in the days of the 1989 national title and Fab Five? Well back then, basketball wasn’t the only elite program in town. Football was still elite. Even during that mid 90s run of four-loss seasons we were recruiting at an elite level. Lots of recruiting fuel to fire the optimism. And, we were still beating Ohio State. On the other hand, just look at today. No longer an elite football program. Recruiting went pretty well in 2021, but where are all the exciting big recruiting battles to post about for 2022!? Not a lot of current fuel to fire fan recruiting passions. The big battle for three/low four star Pollard? Getting super excited about landing a couple of four stars from Tennessee who are not even in most top 250 lists (as though that is supposed to make a dent in Ohio State’s dominance as they continue to land top fifty types)? We landed five star Will Johnson, a great get, but that is now old news. And he is a legacy. Who is next? What is next? Not a lot out there to fuel the fire. So one reason for the lack of posts.
But lets face it, basketball is hot, hot, hot. And this is a relative issue between basketball and football. I still think that we are a football school. Not thinking so would deny our institutional DNA of over 125 years of pigskin success. Basketball only really broke out at Michigan in the 1960s with Cazzie and Buntin. Not so long a history but a great run, excepting that post-Ed Martin interlude. A history of over fifty years of success has now been established, a critical mass of time to cover Michigan sports memories of all but the most elderly of Michigan fans. Is there now enough institutional basketball DNA to challenge football for supremacy. I don’t think so but things are trending in that direction. Football has been somewhat broken. It is as though a strand of that football DNA needs to be repaired. Perhaps the recent coaching staff turnover will fix that problem. Perhaps it is like an mRNA vaccine that will bring the Michigan football DNA back to its norm. But we have yet to determine the efficacy of that vaccine. Will it even work and, if so for how long? I know, I know. This post is starting to go out there when making analogies to vaccines. Or is it? As I write this there are more posts on the first couple of pages of this board on covid-19 and the vaccines than on Michigan football.
I know that we are in the midst of week one of the NCAA tourney, but in past years football posts were always sprinkled in the conversation.
Which begs the question, are we actually becoming more of a basketball school? Seems absurd at first glance. But just take a look. A lack of interest/passion from the fan base as evidenced by a lack of football posts. I can understand about fewer posts on the team, coming off a terrible season and with historically low expectations heading into next season. But recruiting posts?
Recruiting posts are a leading indicator of the state of the program. They are a reflection of the fan base’s optimism with respect to where the program is going. And recruiting optimism is the drug behind the success of many of these fan sites. Every year a new cycle of hope. Signing approximately 25 new prospects not yet tarnished by the recent history of Michigan football. Fans consistently celebrating the four and five star signees while spinning the three star signees by “trusting the coaches” (after all we are just mere fans while they are professionals. A valid point, but the staff’s benchmark is other schools, the ones that they are ranked against, not the fans. So why should we trust our coaches evaluations on three stars more than that of the staffs of schools like LSU, Notre Dame and Texas?) or pointing out all the successful three stars in the NFL, while ignoring the fact that the percentage of three stars who succeed are far lower than five and four stars. Every year there are about 50 five stars, 300-375. (on at least one site) four stars, and probably over 1000 three stars. That is a huge pool of three stars and a very small percentage will go on to the NFL. But do the math. With signing classes limited to just 25 it is absurd to spin the “NFL three star success story” theory as one to get excited about signing three stars.
But recruiting optimism has always been there to get fans through the hard times. There is always the future, be it as a continuation of our historic success or as a break from recent losses. Hope springs eternal. Indeed, but perhaps a fan-based manifestation of that hope has been tempered by the 20-year run of playing second-fiddle (at best) to Ohio State. Hence, one of the reasons for so few fan-initiated posts.
But lets be honest. The larger factor in this equation is the excitement over the basketball program. The plethora of basketball posts is evidence of such excitement. Or, to paraphrase Ray Charles, Michigan basketball on my mind. Success breeds fan passion. But why now more so than after our 2013 and 2018 runs? I would argue that those runs were a reflection of the program’s ceiling, getting to the championship game with a lack of five stars. Pleasant surprises. This year, however, seems like the start of something much bigger. The five stars are on their way, but Juwan has had a very Beileinesque coaching season thus far. Winning with a mix of Beilein holdovers, transfers and another Wagner (and lets not forget his freshman recruit Dickinson). So just wait until what he can do once the five and high four stars arrive! The tail wags the dog. Recruiting optimism fuels passion for the program, perhaps as much as the actual wins on the hardwood.
And why more now than back in the days of the 1989 national title and Fab Five? Well back then, basketball wasn’t the only elite program in town. Football was still elite. Even during that mid 90s run of four-loss seasons we were recruiting at an elite level. Lots of recruiting fuel to fire the optimism. And, we were still beating Ohio State. On the other hand, just look at today. No longer an elite football program. Recruiting went pretty well in 2021, but where are all the exciting big recruiting battles to post about for 2022!? Not a lot of current fuel to fire fan recruiting passions. The big battle for three/low four star Pollard? Getting super excited about landing a couple of four stars from Tennessee who are not even in most top 250 lists (as though that is supposed to make a dent in Ohio State’s dominance as they continue to land top fifty types)? We landed five star Will Johnson, a great get, but that is now old news. And he is a legacy. Who is next? What is next? Not a lot out there to fuel the fire. So one reason for the lack of posts.
But lets face it, basketball is hot, hot, hot. And this is a relative issue between basketball and football. I still think that we are a football school. Not thinking so would deny our institutional DNA of over 125 years of pigskin success. Basketball only really broke out at Michigan in the 1960s with Cazzie and Buntin. Not so long a history but a great run, excepting that post-Ed Martin interlude. A history of over fifty years of success has now been established, a critical mass of time to cover Michigan sports memories of all but the most elderly of Michigan fans. Is there now enough institutional basketball DNA to challenge football for supremacy. I don’t think so but things are trending in that direction. Football has been somewhat broken. It is as though a strand of that football DNA needs to be repaired. Perhaps the recent coaching staff turnover will fix that problem. Perhaps it is like an mRNA vaccine that will bring the Michigan football DNA back to its norm. But we have yet to determine the efficacy of that vaccine. Will it even work and, if so for how long? I know, I know. This post is starting to go out there when making analogies to vaccines. Or is it? As I write this there are more posts on the first couple of pages of this board on covid-19 and the vaccines than on Michigan football.
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