Today is a big day in history for the Michigan Wolverines Football program. It was on this day in 1880 that the Michigan "Football Team" defeated their arch-rivals from TORONTO. Not the University of Toronto, but the Toronto Lacrosse Club. If you read the game account carefully, it's hard to ascertain whether they were actually playing lacrosse, cricket, rugby or rounders, but the UM faithful are certain it was a big win either way, by a commanding score of 13-6. Here is an excerpt from the report on this game:
"During the first inning, Michigan was aided by having the wind at its back and running downhill on a slightly sloped field. In the second inning, the teams switched sides. The game ended at 4:27 pm with Michigan ahead 13–6. The scoring for Michigan consisted of "one goal, two touch downs [one by halfback William Calvert], and two tries for goal, against three safety touch downs which Toronto was compelled to make."
This game was huge for the team-without-a-name-yet, and especially for the players-without-uniform-numbers-yet, as it clinched their first-ever undefeated and untied season. They finished the year with an overall record of 1-0. This victory established their foundation for claims that UM was the "champion of the west", since they had never defeated an eastern team prior to this hallowed day.
There was no head coach and no tackling below the waist. There were no forward passes and the main offensive play was the "flying wedge". But the Wolverines count this game result, embedded into their gaudy total, every time they claim that they hold the "all-time wins record" in college football. This is one of those many "undefeated seasons" that they like to boast about.
It's "games" like these that Michigan folks point to as the basis for their overbearing sense of self-supremacy. Good to know just exactly what they're talking about.
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I'm a huge MSU fan. I have been since I was a child, and I'm starting to get old now. I've been there since the late Perles' era to the current era. I also frequent this site, well, frequently.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, I think at least when it comes to football, it's probably time to cut the anti-UM stuff. Look, I enjoy it to an extent, but having a major blog continue to treat UM as relevant actually is allowing them to stay relevant, in a way. UM hasn't been relevant in football for at least as long as MSU has. They, while a historical "rival" are failing to actually be a "rival" in the sense of the word. They have barely been competitive 2 years in the last 7. They're luster has diminished to the point that they are going to have a hard time winning another "recruiting championship" let alone compete for a championship in their division, let alone the Big Ten. We have several much larger fish to fry in our own conference: OSU, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, in particular. That's almost a whole division's worth of teams that are more relevant in the Big Ten today than Michigan. If you throw in Notre Dame, there's a whole division's worth of more relevant teams. Perhaps, if we must spew vitriol towards another team on a major blog, then OSU, Wisconsin, or Nebraska would be better targets. Or Notre Dame. Michigan has in many ways become as irrelevant in football as another team that considers us to be "rivals" - Indiana. They certainly are doing as bad as they are this year, and have about as much of a hole to fill in before they actually can compete with us on a consistent basis.
UM is currently as important as Indiana in football. The difference is that IU seems to be more on an upswing than Michigan. It's going to take a truly great coach to turn around UM enough to compete for the division, let alone the conference. It's sad, it would be great to continue hating on UM forever, having them a slight rung below us on the ladder while being able to decimate them yearly. Unfortunately for us it's not the case.
So perhaps it's time to start after teams that are in the same area code as us, such as OSU or ND.
Or perhaps it's time to simply promote MSU when it comes to football, and leave the hate to basketball, because when it comes to football, we've got our cleats firmly on their QB's neck, and I don't think that will change until Dantonio retires and UM has a truly great coach for a number of years.
LOL. Thanks, Jim. It sounds like Big Brother has cancer and it may be terminal. Even after their recent operation. So sad. I'll never stop lovin' hating on the chUMps. I have tickets on the 45 for the OSU game. I'll be the guy in green sitting next to my best friend who will be garbed in scarlet and grey.
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteDo not become like them and minimize a rival. Do not be fooled about how wounded the enemy is, lest he may rise and defeat you.
Ann Arbor U has resources and accomplices beyond that which we can imagine. I assure you, they will rise again. In their current condition, they are bottom heavy. They will graduate very few productive players. Their starting line-up will return primarily intact; older, wiser, stronger and they will be the ones with a chip on their shoulder. A good head coaching hire could unleash some really good athletes and get them playing smart football as a TEAM.
They will rise to a high level again in a year, two, five, ten years - whenever, but they will rise. The difference is that MSU will likely remain strong as the Spartans foundation is solid. Penn State will also be back. This will be a tough division for anyone to win. Some Saturday in the not too distant future, our Spartans will fall to our enemies from Ann Arbor. We are not going to go undefeated against them until the end of time. The difference will be that the rise of the chUMps will not spell an end to MSU's success, but only a new era in which both schools field ranked teams, sometimes flirting with and/or gaining a playoff birth. It will provide added meaning the results of MSU vs chUMps game. Then after a while, one of the two programs will fade for a time. There is no guarantee that the team that declines won't be MSU - although Ann Arbor has proven that they are not immune to fading for a time. That's the only question; which team will fade AFTER Ann Arbor gets good again - they will get good again.
You want us to let up on them because we have our cleat firmly on their throat. I know these guys. Now is the time pour it on even more, to grind them into the ground. It is not the time to leave them, wounded on the battle field, in search of another victim lest they will seek to destroy us when they recover.
For now and always, DUMP the chUMps.
"Ann Arbor U has resources and accomplices beyond that which we can imagine."
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a "Michigan Difference."
Bill, you hit the nail right on the head. That IS the difference. Michigan is rich beyond the wildest dreams of King Tut, and therein lies the difference.
DeleteThere is no other relevant difference between UM and most other large schools except for the vast amount of unlimited cash that they have. That's it. Nothing else. Everything derives from that fact.