40 Days, 40 Nights, 40 Posts

/

​During the offseason here at UMTailgate.com, I seem to divide my time evenly between posts that are "catch up" oriented and posts that are apologetic for a long period of time between posts. This one should cover both of those.

First we catch up...

Coach Rodriguez is in a legal battle with his alma mater. There are a lot of opinions out there about this from the Michigan side, but most are complaining for the sake of complaining. Those that dislike RichRod and his apparent negative press pile are the same people that would be talking about Les Miles being just another Lloyd. West Virginia won their bowl game without Coach Rodriguez. Les Miles beat Ohio State. Lloyd beat Florida. The bowls results aligned against this new regime from an appearance standpoint. But don't let the beginning of January dissuade you from the decision you supported just six weeks ago. For years you've complained, you asked for change, you wanted more from those four and five star recruits, you wanted speed, unpredictability...don't dare deny it. And now it's here, so don't be scared when the school that didn't want to meet Rodriguez's demands decides to wage a war of words on him. This is your coach. You support him. You don't bail on him before he even gets to take the field. Sack up.

Terrelle Pryor commits at noon today. Brace for an overreaction either way. I plan to embrace him as the next coming of Christ if he picks the Blue. I plan to call him a crooked, overrated pile of shit if he picks the Buckeyes. He's most likely somewhere in between. I'm just as interested in the good press as I am the player at this point.

The stadium currently looks like a medieval castle. There's a 25 foot deep trench all the way around it. It's freaking me out more and more each day. It will not host the spring game this year...but there are some rumors floating about that there will still be a game, perhaps at Ford Field.

The basketball team kinda sucks.

Ok, that's it for the catch up.

The apology: Sorry it's been so long between posts. As penance, and in the interest of Lent, I will post every day from today until Easter. Seems to be better, more fun, and more beneficial than giving some food item up. Seriously. That's the plan. So...we're back tomorrow with Pryorfest. See you then.

Never the Bride

/

​She wore red tonight. The Buffalo Bills of college sports choked on another one, misrepresenting their conference and embarrassing themselves. A lot was said about the lightning fast SEC speed in the weeks leading up to this matchup, but it didn't come to fruition.

Too fast? Not really.

Too smart. Too strong. Out-coached. Out-battled.

The Buckeyes fall short again, making it 3 consecutive National Championship games (football, basketball, football) in which they couldn't get it done. They started quickly, jumping out to a 10-0 lead...and that would be it. From that point, Ohio State looked confused and frustrated. Costly, borderline retarded penalties kept drives alive. Missed assignments all over the place, missed tackles all over the place...unable to adjust to the trickeration from the Michigan Man that almost was, and unable to respond to the SEC strength.

The Buckeyes fall to 3-11-1 overall against the SEC, 0-9 in bowl games. Yummmm. Taste the tears. The Wolverines are 18-5-1 against the SEC...8-2 in bowl games.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to compare seasons here. We lost to a mountain town high school this year. OSU won the Big Ten title. I'm just giving you the final results...Michigan didn't win the National Championship, and neither did Ohio State. The rest of this is smoke and mirrors, ifs and buts. The only difference between us now?

We're on a winning streak.

There's a certain amount of satisfaction that we have the ability to do something that Ohio State cannot...beat the SEC. Our New Year's Day victory felt good and looked good. Now it's even better.

And now it's over in so many ways. The season is over. The reign of Bo has truly ended. Things will never be the same. We are moving on, moving forward. And you have to love it, all of it, even the bit of uncertainty about the new regime. These are exciting times my friends. Get on board.

Spring game up next. See you then...and at the reunion.

GO BLUE!

Just in Case You Are Waffling...

/

​...I would like to remind you that you are rooting for Les Miles and LSU tonight. Big Ten loyalty is something you cherish if you are Northwestern, Indiana, or Michigan State. Ohio State is something you root against if you have any loyalty to Michigan at all. So, don the purple and yellow tonight, wear it with pride, and revel in The Ohio State University being known as The Buffalo Bills of college sports.

Capital One Bowl Pics

/

Didn't really touch on the tailgate itself...or lack thereof. We were some tired boys on Tuesday morning. Tired and unmotivated. I guess we were just going through the motions...waiting patiently for the impending doom. We were bad fans this day. No hope. No chance.

We managed to meet up with Baby Gorilla and his female companion (fresh off her regular season suspension, and proudly wearing Michigan gear), Shep and friends, and the world famous Goody and his fiance...no no, the new one. They all seemed surprised at our lack of enthusiasm. We-the-streakers just chalk it up to too much experience, and too many trips to this god-forsaken bowl venue. You can hand all the Capital One tarps you want on that atrocity, it's still the Citrus Bowl.

Little did we know that everything would change so drastically.

Inside, we ran into Cooper and family from Garsworld, who happened to be in our section. We celebrated the surprising victory together, and stayed long after the final whistle to bask in the glory. A day where everything finally went our way.

I hope you don't have a lot of big expectations for the pictures...like I said, I was suffering from a lack of motivation. Regardless...here they are....

Thank you Blue, for making me so wrong.