Michigan Wolverine Football Top Five "Hype Videos"

More than any other fan base in the nation, Michigan fans are going through arguably the most strenuous offseason.

The summer is hard for all college football fans. The days are long, the weekends are even longer. But with everything surrounding the Wolverine’s program, those days and weekends become never ending as they fill with the pain of extreme anticipation.

That pain becomes even more agonizing when you add into it the tumultuous offseason Michigan fans have endured.

Sanctions, position battles, hot seats, you name the problem and chances are the Wolverines have it.

But all of that, all of those problems, and all of that agony, can go away when trounced by the pleasure of wins and the elixir that is victory.

Unfortunately, such a remedy cannot be obtained for more than a month to come. In the meantime, fans must get their fix through the ever popular “hype video”.

Hype videos are a mixture of so many different elements of fanhood all rolled up into a five minute visual and audio spectacle.

The song, the clip, and the slide show help us to acknowledge our past misgivings while at the same time instilling hope for a better tomorrow through the evidence of yesterday’s progress.

We watch five minute games with motivational soundtracks wherein our team sometimes struggles, sometimes dominates, but no matter what, always wins.

The following is a list of the top five Michigan Wolverines Football 2010 hype videos.

No. 5 - Michigan Football 2010 Pump Up/By: gobluemetim

“Michigan Football 2010 pump up” takes a more sentimental approach to getting hyped for the 2010 season.

With an instrumental, movie-ending like song for its soundtrack, and a motivational speech literally from a movie, you sort of feel like you’re sitting in the locker room for the Wolverines (or the Titans, or that team from the Gridiron Gang).

Although this sentimentality can feel cheap at some points, it is a nice break from the normal hype video.

Whereas many hype videos just get you all hot and bothered for the Wolverines to take the field, and make you feel like putting on the pads and rushing on out the field to knock some heads, “Michigan Football 2010 Pump Up” gets you more ready to have some alone time to reflect on the 50-yard line as the sun sets.

And that’s why it comes in at No. 5 on the list of top Michigan football hype videos.

No. 4 - Michigan Wolverines 2010 Football Promotion/By: Papereater32

Like the previous hype video, this one also opens with a coach giving a speech to a team.

Unlike the previous video, this wasn’t a contrived made-for-television movie speech.

It is perhaps the most famous speech in the history of arguably America’s most storied program—Bo Schembechler’s “The Team” speech.

Amongst days where the Michigan program is constantly surrounded by talks of individuals—Rich Rodriguez, Tate Forcier, and Denard Robinson—with the backdrop of an Ohio State beating, we hear some of the wisest words ever spoken in the Wolverine locker room:

“No man is more important than the team. No coach is more important than the team. The team! The team! The team!”

From there, with the help of some well developed editing, the video breaks into “hype” mode and explodes both musically and visually.

No. 3 - Michigan Football 2010: The Harder the Conflict/By: redeyedandblue181

“Michigan Football 2010: The Harder the Conflict” is without a doubt the best edited and most well put together of all the Wolverine hype videos—possibly of all hype videos in college football.

The opening with the multiple screens and news anchors speaking is reminiscent of Baz Luhrman’s introduction to his post-modern Romeo + Juliet.

From there the video goes on to show flickering images, as though its creator is just giving you a glimpse of what’s to come. As the video progresses though, those flickering images become bigger in size and take up more room on the screen, encapsulating the eye of the viewer.

The sound is filled with the beginnings of Radiohead’s 2+2=5, and for those who have heard it before, we wait in eager anticipation for the kick that is about to arrive.

That anticipation is only furthered by the visual mystery that will come with that kick.

There are some other highlights that make this video unique as opposed to all of its counter parts: Michael Shaw running into an Ohio State player, dual flashbacks between historic Michigan plays and plays from the 2009 season, and the final roman numeral stamp declaring next year’s season with a traditional Wolverine MMX.

This video is without a doubt the smartest and best developed out of all the hype videos.

No. 2 - 2010 Michigan Football: Sometimes When You’re On/By: shortsgoblue

When you first watch “2010 Michigan Football: Sometimes When You’re On”, two thoughts come to mind: (a) who's the idiot who accidentally uploaded the video in black and white, and (b) I just got tricked by some buckeye into watching an anti-Michigan football video.

But like the song in the video encourages, you have to persevere through the first half of the video in order to reap the benefits.

One moment you’re watching a full acknowledgement of Michigan’s awful play last year, and the next moment your screen pulls a Jonathan Safran Foer and everything is illuminated.

You’ve got to give it to Michigan fans, they know their indy. While most videos have songs by Lil Wayne, or Eminem (and don’t be mistaken, tons of Michigan hype videos do the same), Michigan fans have an outstanding balance of pop and obscure indy rock to their credit. The likes of Radiohead, Bright Eyes, and in this case Rilo Kiley, can all be found to motivate fans for an upcoming college football season.

Although the last video did an outstanding job at editing in a technical and artistic sense, the editing in this video has the greatest impact of the bunch.

With Denard’s unbelievable run comes the high pitched, throat swelling solo, and Forcier’s march into the student end zone during the last seconds of the Notre Dame game. The lyrics to the song are so directly in line with the video that you would think Rilo Kiley are a bunch of Wolverine fans, or that this was their well-directed music video.

But it’s not. It’s a Michigan hype video, and it’s the second best on the 2010 list.

No. 1 - My Time – Michigan Football 2010/By: 16goblue

Rounding out the top of the list for the best Michigan Wolvering football hype videos heading into the 2010 season is “My Time – Michigan Football 2010”.

There may be videos with more professional editing, or songs whose lyrics sync up perfectly with the plays shown on the screen, but there isn’t a single video that does it’s job better—to hype you up for this year’s football season.

From the very beginning the video sets a tone of getting work done. When 13th overall NFL draft pick Brandon Graham paces from side to side and pounds his chest to the rhythm of the bass, “My Time” lets you know that in 2010 it all gets laid on the line.

The theme of the song, to forget the past and seize the moment, goes in line perfectly with the mindset all Wolverine fans have as they approach the opening day kickoff.

When that toe hits the ball on Saturday the fourth at 3:30 p.m., all this talk about sanctions, and positions, and hot seats, goes out the window. At that moment the season becomes about one thing and one thing only—winning. And this hype video packages that message perfectly.

Normally slide show pictures can detract from a hype video. After all, it is supposed to be a video, not a flip book.

In the case of this video though, they enhance the overall piece. Between camera angles from hundreds of feet away, and the fade to black between different video clips, we get full, bright, still photos of up close intense action captured in a framed moment.

Perhaps the greatest moment of the entire video comes in its final shot (which I won’t give away).

If for no other reason, the lasting final image in this hype video makes it No.1 heading into the 2010 season.