American culture has changed dramatically since the arrival of the Information Age. Want to own something? Three clicks and it's yours. Want to know something? Ask the computer in your pocket. Want to lash out at someone or something you're upset with, tweet it, post it. We're all guilty of it on some level. We want gratification, and goddamnit, we want it five minutes ago.
This isn't an OT post, so let me get to the primary board topic. Michigan Football. It seems like a long time since Jim Harbaugh turned down every NFL job opening to return home. He did it for the right reasons, and by all accounts, loves it in Ann Arbor. Jim brought Michigan football back into the national discussion, almost immediately. It hasn't been perfect, but it has been very good. Some might call it a miraculous turn around, if they consider their take on UM two years ago. I distinctly recall watching ESPN Thursday kickoff coverage at my Salt Lake hotel in August 2015. Danny Kanell declared the Michigan case hopeless. "A five year rebuild" he said. I laughed, knowing how poorly our talented upper class players had been developed. I believed and was vocal here that we'd contend at the highest level, and quickly. In 2015 we were near that level. In 2016 we were very much at that level, and one (or more) poor call (s) in Columbus from reaching the playoff.
In hindsight, it would be silly for me to say UM shouldn't have made the playoff last year. Beat a less than mediocre Iowa team, and you're in. Mistakes were made in that game that shouldn't be made, coaches, players, across the board. That said, welcome to college football. 20 seasons ago Michigan almost lost to a decent Iowa team (at home) and lost any shot at a national championship. Some breaks fell in our direction, and we won. Explore the season of any national champion and you'll find a game like our Iowa loss, that ended in narrow victory. Michigan's 2016 season was not as fortunate. The poorly coached and played game was a loss, change any one of several poor plays/decisions, and it's a win.
So here were are in 2017. Fans have waited 2 years (not 2 minutes!!) and we don't have a championship under Harbaugh. It seems we may not have a championship offense this year, and the unthinkable has crept into the collective mind of our fanbase. We might have to wait another season? No! The tantrums are widespread on Twitter, here, and elsewhere. I hate to think what it would look like if we had actually lost a game.
Admittedly, the offense is not what any of us would hope in the first 3 games of year 3 of Jim Harbaugh. Jim's first full recruiting class did not yield an Andrew Luck, but rather a talented QB that could be on the trajectory of most starting QB's in college football (or passed over). The lineman from his first full recruiting class, mostly playing like 1st or 2nd year players. The true frosh receivers are playing like talented frosh. The play of the RS Junior QB, lightly recruited and limited in some respects, has been mostly poor. The new pass game coordinator hasn't hit the ground (or air) running, as those always accurate August practice reports suggested he would.
Of course, if a break or two had gone our way last season, and UM went to the playoff. Some of this might be forgiven during a 3-0 start. That's not the case though, we didn't get it last year, and we want it now!
Mick Jagger famously wrote, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find......you get what you need"
So sit back and ask yourself, as Michigan fans, what do we need right now? I submit that this fanbase, more than anything.....we need the unthinkable in 2017. Patience. We might have to wait another season, or two, or this team might end up being better than in appears through week three. Whether or not we get our desires gratified this season, Michigan football will win championships under Jim Harbaugh. The administration can wait. The coaches can wait. The players can wait. The only question is, can the fanbase wait? If not, the only real threat to the inevitable success of Harbaugh at Michigan comes into play: The fans' incessant negative energy overwhelms the program, the players, the coaches. Perhaps Jim (and his family) take a step back and say "is this what we came here for?"
I (mostly) understood the pervasive negativity more under coaches like Rich Rod and Brady Hoke. As fans, there were many concerns with both at the time of hire. Their resumes were not bulletproof, and while one was considered a fit, the other was not. He's not flawless, but every sane adult on the planet knows that Jim Harbaugh is the man to bring this program back to consistent prominence. So, suck it up, buttercups. Hang onto those posts/tweets/boos and put some faith in a guy that has "done it" everywhere he's ever coached.
While you're at it, try to enjoy the wins we do get. There have been more than a few since Harbaugh arrived.
This isn't an OT post, so let me get to the primary board topic. Michigan Football. It seems like a long time since Jim Harbaugh turned down every NFL job opening to return home. He did it for the right reasons, and by all accounts, loves it in Ann Arbor. Jim brought Michigan football back into the national discussion, almost immediately. It hasn't been perfect, but it has been very good. Some might call it a miraculous turn around, if they consider their take on UM two years ago. I distinctly recall watching ESPN Thursday kickoff coverage at my Salt Lake hotel in August 2015. Danny Kanell declared the Michigan case hopeless. "A five year rebuild" he said. I laughed, knowing how poorly our talented upper class players had been developed. I believed and was vocal here that we'd contend at the highest level, and quickly. In 2015 we were near that level. In 2016 we were very much at that level, and one (or more) poor call (s) in Columbus from reaching the playoff.
In hindsight, it would be silly for me to say UM shouldn't have made the playoff last year. Beat a less than mediocre Iowa team, and you're in. Mistakes were made in that game that shouldn't be made, coaches, players, across the board. That said, welcome to college football. 20 seasons ago Michigan almost lost to a decent Iowa team (at home) and lost any shot at a national championship. Some breaks fell in our direction, and we won. Explore the season of any national champion and you'll find a game like our Iowa loss, that ended in narrow victory. Michigan's 2016 season was not as fortunate. The poorly coached and played game was a loss, change any one of several poor plays/decisions, and it's a win.
So here were are in 2017. Fans have waited 2 years (not 2 minutes!!) and we don't have a championship under Harbaugh. It seems we may not have a championship offense this year, and the unthinkable has crept into the collective mind of our fanbase. We might have to wait another season? No! The tantrums are widespread on Twitter, here, and elsewhere. I hate to think what it would look like if we had actually lost a game.
Admittedly, the offense is not what any of us would hope in the first 3 games of year 3 of Jim Harbaugh. Jim's first full recruiting class did not yield an Andrew Luck, but rather a talented QB that could be on the trajectory of most starting QB's in college football (or passed over). The lineman from his first full recruiting class, mostly playing like 1st or 2nd year players. The true frosh receivers are playing like talented frosh. The play of the RS Junior QB, lightly recruited and limited in some respects, has been mostly poor. The new pass game coordinator hasn't hit the ground (or air) running, as those always accurate August practice reports suggested he would.
Of course, if a break or two had gone our way last season, and UM went to the playoff. Some of this might be forgiven during a 3-0 start. That's not the case though, we didn't get it last year, and we want it now!
Mick Jagger famously wrote, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find......you get what you need"
So sit back and ask yourself, as Michigan fans, what do we need right now? I submit that this fanbase, more than anything.....we need the unthinkable in 2017. Patience. We might have to wait another season, or two, or this team might end up being better than in appears through week three. Whether or not we get our desires gratified this season, Michigan football will win championships under Jim Harbaugh. The administration can wait. The coaches can wait. The players can wait. The only question is, can the fanbase wait? If not, the only real threat to the inevitable success of Harbaugh at Michigan comes into play: The fans' incessant negative energy overwhelms the program, the players, the coaches. Perhaps Jim (and his family) take a step back and say "is this what we came here for?"
I (mostly) understood the pervasive negativity more under coaches like Rich Rod and Brady Hoke. As fans, there were many concerns with both at the time of hire. Their resumes were not bulletproof, and while one was considered a fit, the other was not. He's not flawless, but every sane adult on the planet knows that Jim Harbaugh is the man to bring this program back to consistent prominence. So, suck it up, buttercups. Hang onto those posts/tweets/boos and put some faith in a guy that has "done it" everywhere he's ever coached.
While you're at it, try to enjoy the wins we do get. There have been more than a few since Harbaugh arrived.
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