Fear and Loathing in Ann Arbor

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

Michigan fans are spoiled.  I know this because I’m one of them.  The first Michigan game I ever watched was the 1997 opener, a 27-3 dismantling of #8 Colorado.  11 wins and one Heisman Trophy later, the team captured its first National Title since 1948.  I was hooked.

I’ve never seen my team have a losing season or not play in a bowl game, but I could tell that the program was slipping a bit in the last few years of Lloyd Carr’s tenure.  Besides the struggles with that team from down south and the debacles with Appalachian State and Oregon, the offense had gotten stale. 

Lloyd’s strategy, based on that of Bo’s, was that if you were bigger and stronger than the other team and out-executed them, you would win.  This philosophy worked pretty well, for the most part, against the Eastern Michigans, Minnesotas, and Iowas of the world, but when it came time to play teams such as Ohio State and USC, the results were usually not as pleasant. 

Enter Rich Rodriguez: successful coach, offensive innovator, and object of scorn for everyone from Morgantown to White Sulphur Springs.  He brought with him a playbook based on speed and deception, a legendary cage-fighting strength and conditioning guru with pet wolves as well as a youthful energy and change to a program that had remained essentially unchanged for 40 years. 

Fast forward to Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008.  Toledo (yes, Toledo has a football team) 13, Michigan 10.  Following the game, I hear grown men casting obscenities down on 18-22 year old collegiate athletes.  Among the more tame grumblings:  “Uhhhh, this s*** only works in the Big East!!!,” “Lloyd was a less predictable play-caller than Rodriguez,” “Go back to West Virginia.”

This last one was the one that irritated me the most.  Surely enough, it would be repeated in various forms on the internet, on sports radio, and in the local papers.  I’ve finally come to realize that there are more delusional, unrealistic, incorrigible Michigan fans than I thought.  In less than a week, I’ve come to dislike these people more than Domers, Spartys, and Bucknuts alike. 

These are people who believe that winning is a birthright. They see trying new things as a recipe for ruin and even though virtually every top program in the country has gone through a rough transition phase over the last 10-20 years, they think it won’t happen to us because, “We’re Michigan.” 

And, invariably, these are also the people who make fun of Notre Dame fans for their “arrogance.” 

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