Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Thoughts on football

Saturday I was at Michigan Stadium for the Northwestern game, and some idiot girl sitting a row behind me shouted out "Chad Henne sucks!" Now honestly, if you are a Michigan fan, why would you say something like that? Chad Henne is only the best quarterback in the conference, and the most talented this school has had other than Drew Henson, so I turned around and asked this girl if she was kidding, and she said, "No, I just don't like him." So naturally i responded, "I don't like you either." Honestly, was this fool at the Michigan State game? Was she there to see Henne and Braylon take control of the game? I know I was, and my fellow blogger Ajai Tuli was also present for that once-in-a-lifetime experience (his first blog ever is on the MSU game). The biggest problem with Michigan fans is that they unknowingly throw around blame; people that say Henne suck are the same people that blamed Tom Brady, and then reversed field when he became a two time Super Bowl MVP and world's most eligible bachelor. I don't mean to make any presumptions about girls in general, but if you are wondering why men stereotype women as clueless about sports, that biotch was one reason.

If you think this guy sucks, I'd love to hear your thoughts on Jermaine Gonzalez


Similarly, when i hear other fans ask why Jim Herrmann has not been offered a head coaching job yet, i just want to set myself on fire. Many of the Michigan faithful love Herrmann to death because he is an alumnus turned coach. Well, let me tell you something. He is an idiot. He has no brains. Many of the fans that admire Herrmann only because he has been part of the school so long give him credit for the 1997 defense, arguably the best in school history. But when you have over 7 NFL players in your rotation (Ian Gold, D'hani Jones, William Peterson, James Hall, Glen Steele, Sam Sword, and most of all Charles Woodson, the best defensive player in college football history) that have combined for something like 5 Pro Bowl appearances, you could have had a retarded donkey running that defense to a championship.
Take a closer look: in 2000, Michigan had 3 losses. If you want, blame the one at UCLA to a young John Navarre, who threw an interception at the end. But remember that at West Lafayette against Purdue, the defense was nursing a three score lead, and blew it big time; any Michigan fan that saw this game will remember beleaguered Purdue placekicker Travis Dorsch sending the game winning field goal into the air, while ABC's cameras caught Drew Henson putting his arms up in triumph on the Michigan sideline, thinking his team escaped a defensive collapse, followed by his entire body slumping as the kick went through the uprights.
At Northwestern, the defense gave up over 50 points in a shootout, and while Anthony Thomas's fumble allowed the Wildcats to make the winning score, most everyone that has seen that game (a staple on ESPN classic) will tell you how the Michigan defense was not stopping anyone. Herrmann's defense was working with the most talented offense in school history that year (Henson, A-Train, Terrell, Marquise, Hutchinson, Backus, Mo Williams, David Brandt all made the NFL and have started at some point), and turned a 1-loss season into a 3-loss. That was the same year that the BCS shut out 1-loss Miami to have 1-loss Florida State play in the national championship against Oklahoma; a 1-loss Michigan certainly could have gotten into that game as well, and no one can ever convince me that Oklahoma would have stopped Henson and that offense. And at the very least they could have matched up against 11-1 Washington, who had Marques Tuiasosopo at QB. If you want an idea of how good that guy was and what he was on his way toward until being derailed by injury last year, read what Jerry Rice had to say. Or don't, because you only need to remember he was the last QB to beat Miami before they went on their 36 game streak, which we all agree ended suspiciously against Ohio State. I'll leave it at that.

Test


Jeff Yang


I am a student at the University of Michigan.



The OC



Jeffrey Yang, jcyang@umich.edu

 
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