Shine a Light

(Author's note: I wrestled with this post, or at least, the notions behind it,  for a long time.  I wanted to get the tone and message just right, and each time I thought I had it, I still wasn't sure it was right.  But I'd rather be mostly right than silent; because silence's time is over.  I am only speaking for myself in the words that follow.)

The recent events at Michigan, between the raised fist protest by members of the football team and the racially charged flyering, there's been lots of attention paid to where we are as a campus and alumni community at Michigan, part of a larger national conversation.  This conversation has no easy answers, because if it did, it would already have taken place.  A piece on this topic by MTV News's (and Michigan alumna) Jane Coaston helped me understand that maybe I did have one small thing to add to this conversation.

I'm a 38-year-old white guy from the suburbs.  My entire life has been lived in a triangle bounded by Livonia, Ann Arbor, and Cone, Michigan.  By any estimation, I have had an incredibly blessed life, one for which I am grateful, though perhaps not always as grateful as I should be. Whatever my anxieties or stresses are, they are not life or death.  I do not know the African American experience, nor would I make any claim to understanding it beyond what I have read and what I have heard from listening to people whose opinions I respect discuss it or write about it.  But I do feel like an important piece has been, if not missing, at least undervalued, in the discussion of the protests taking place regarding the national anthem.  It is in this area is where I feel comfortable, as someone who is well versed in America's history, in making a point.

In the preamble to the United States Constitution, Madison and the other Founders gave their generations and those in their posterity, a mission statement for the United States.  We, the People, of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union.  "More perfect" is a statement of striving, an aspirational goal that says "It's not going to be perfect, but we should try to be better."  Immediately following that statement, the Framers provide a list of things that this Constitution seeks to accomplish: establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.  That "establish Justice" and "insure domestic Tranquility" sit side by side is what gives us pause.  Those who are protesting are seeking, in a very oversimplified by me, way, equal protection under the law, something the Constitution would not assure its citizens for nearly 90 years after its ratification by the several States.  That the quest for that assurance has, in the minds of some, disrupted domestic tranquility is frustrating or even angering, but it is truly in the best traditions of America's history.

One of the heritage narrative themes that runs through America's history, in its telling, is that we are a country founded on dissent and protest.  The Puritans were religious dissenters who left England for an errand in the wilderness and resolved to make their colony a "city upon a hill," an example to the rest of the world.  When middle-class artisans and upper-class Bostonians felt their way of life being threatened by increased regulation from Britain, they took a series of steps to express their displeasure, culminating in the Boston Tea Party.  When men and women alike began to question the role slavery was playing in the United States, they began to write, and write, and write to expose what they saw as a grave injustice, often at great personal or political cost.  When women felt they had waited for a half century of empty promises to grant women's suffrage, seeing nothing come of the words but delays and prevarications, they took to the streets and made their case.  When African-Americans realized that nearly a century after the Civil War, America was still a segregated society of two classes of citizens, they employed a variety of techniques to make their message heard.  All of these moments were, in their time, denounced by the status quo as needless agitations and harmful to the proper order of society.  Today, we celebrate these groups as examples what America can do at its best, shine a light on that where we are wrong and through commitment, dedication, and courage, make things better.  We strive ever forward towards more perfect, though knowing that while perfect may never be attainable, it is a lofty and worthy goal of a nation that believes in the ideals of liberty, freedom, and equality.

At a university whose motto is "Arts, Knowledge, Truth," we too can seek a better way forward.  We can have minds broad enough to embrace positions with seeming contradictions.  We can support the players who protest knowing that they understand their beliefs fall firmly between a love of country and a desire to see that country be better.  We can believe in the possibilities of a better tomorrow while simultaneously listening to those whose today needs immediate care.  We can learn from each other if we listen to each other. If we accept that, well, just maybe, we don't know better than everyone else.  If we don't presume motives without asking questions, and if we can use knowledge gleaned from a wide variety of sources, backgrounds, and beliefs, perhaps we can find something closer to the truth.

I'm just one person, with a very tiny platform, if I can use my platform to support the courage of young men who seek to use their athletic gifts to benefit the university I love, and who use their platform to help draw attention to difficult truths worth examining, then I know that we are keeping in the best traditions of the university I love.  A university that seeks better tomorrows together, and walks together into that future, one that is hopefully made brighter by the honor, courage, and sacrifice of those who shine a light today.

I thank you for reading, and as always, we fight for better days.

Scrambled

So, during the fourth quarter of a blowout, you hope no one gets hurt (speedy recovery Jeremy Clark) and you start to fill with tangential material.  So we ended up doing this.

RASHAN GARY
also gives you
GNASH ARRAY

— Hoover Street Rag (@hooverstreet) September 24, 2016

And
TACO CHARLTON
gives you
CHANT LOCATOR

— Hoover Street Rag (@hooverstreet) September 24, 2016

WILTON SPEIGHT
gives you
WHITEST LOPING

(but we all know that is John Navarre)

— Hoover Street Rag (@hooverstreet) September 24, 2016

WILTON SPEIGHT also gives you
LEGIT TOWNSHIP
OWLISH PETTING
WHILE SPOTTING
HOTEL WINGTIPS
WINE SPOTLIGHT
OPEN TWILIGHTS

— Hoover Street Rag (@hooverstreet) September 24, 2016

So, in this vein, here is, in no particular order, a list of anagrams for selected members of the 2016 Michigan football team (fun fact, J words are very tricky in anagrams.  Also, Jake Butt is impossible to anagram, which makes sense, since it's so perfect on its own).

AMARA DARBOH gets you ABHOR ARMADA

DEVIN ASIASI gets you VAIN DAISES

SHANE MORRIS gets you IRON SMASHER

MIKE McCRAY gets you MY, I CRACK EM

CHRIS EVANS gets you CRASH VINES

EDDIE McDOOM gets you DOOMED MEDIC

CHASE WINOVICH gets you COACH, HIVE WINS

HENRY POGGI gets you HYPER GOING

KARAN HIGDON gets you A DARN HOKING (Well...)

JOURDAN LEWIS gets you WIDE JOURNALS

CHRIS WORMLEY gets you CHOWS MERRILY

DELANO HILL gets you NO DEAL, HILL (wait, that's terrible.)

DELANO HILL gets you HELLION LAD (that, that is awesome.)

KYLE KALIS gets you SKA, LIKELY (Which I believe was a rejected name for Ace's ska band.)

MAURICE HURST gets you HAIRCUT SERUM

BEN BREDESON gets you BONES BENDER

MAURICE WAYS gets you AW, MY SAUCIER

MATTHEW GODIN gets you WIDTH MONTAGE

In a Mirror, Darkly

Celebrating with the students, and our ride or dies, the MGoYipYips.
See all of Dustin's photos from the game at Maize n Brew. (Photo credit: Dustin Johnson)

The rout-like nature of the game this week allowed me to think about other notions regarding college football, and specifically Penn State's place in it, five years after what was one of the biggest and most soul wrenching scandals in the history of the sport.

Let's be transparent about a couple of very critical points before we move forward. Firstly, many Penn State loyalists are still wounded and horrified by the Sandusky child abuse scandal, because they may be Penn State fans, but they are thinking, feeling human beings first. They know the gravity, the magnitude, and the sheer awfulness of the whole of it and do not seek to wish it away, but rather want to channel it into positive directions of "Never Forget, so it never happens to anyone again." My genuine belief is that these fans are numerous, but not necessarily visible,  in part because, truth be told, many of us on the outside would rather bury that chapter of college football history in the past. Perhaps occasionally, we present some fist shaking of out revulsion at the scandal to remind ourselves that we are, in fact, human.  Part of this may be that creeping sense that the structural flaws of college football as constructed in American life today are a large part of what made the Sandusky scandal possible and those lessons show no signs of taking root in America writ large.  Whether we like it or not, there is still a sense of "there but for the grace of God go I" as it relates to one's program.

Secondly, we cannot deny that there is a faction within the Penn State fan community disconnected with reality. In rejecting it as such, have tried to force upon the rest of the college football world a narrative that is soulless, honor-free, and numb to the victims and their very real trauma and very real pain. These people do not deserve to be listened to or given any regard, as they have chosen to recreate a pretense of a false world, one built on lies at worst, or a blind eye and few questions if we are generous.  But the recriminations are so natural, so obvious; we hammer them because it makes us feel better about that we didn't choose that path.  Five years on, we're no closer to answers, no closer to healing, no closer to having seemed to learn anything, and that secondary tragedy is nearly as depressing as the original scandal.

All of that said, perhaps the more fascinating, which is to say hilarious rather than soul-numbing, disconnect from reality that Penn State suffers from is the idea that James Franklin is a coach on the level of an Urban Meyer, a Mark Dantonio, or a Jim Harbaugh. That James Franklin, who seems to understand less each passing year about the nature of time and clock management, is a high-level coach that can bring Penn State's "success with honor" vision to fruition. That James Franklin is the right man for the job in State College. That James Franklin, if given the choice, would be a general preference to run your program, even if you could get a Harbaugh (just ask the PennLive writers).

James Franklin pulled a rare moment of doubling down on a surrender field goal, choosing to kick a 21 yarder after a timeout taken to avoid a delay of game penalty.  This after his team had forced a three and out to open the half, and his offense had actually shown some signs of life, driving over 70 yards and making its first real impression on the Michigan side of the field all day. While I cannot prove this, I genuinely believe that this field goal had to inflame the competitive soul of Jim Harbaugh, who realized that quarter was being asked, but that no quarter was being considered, let alone granted.

So Coach Harbaugh called for the challenge on the spot on fourth down up 35-3 late in the third quarter. So Coach Harbaugh kept the starters in until the dying moments of the fourth quarter. Coach Harbaugh's philosophy is simple, we're out here to win the game, and your job is to stop us (a lesson he took from a 2004 game against Penn when he was at San Diego. I'm not calling off the dogs is about you getting stops than me not trying.) Harbaugh saw the tiny white flag attached to that field goal and ordered Penn State's continued devastation. You don't get to decide to surrender, you don't get to sue for peace, we're going to ground you into powder because I would expect no different if the roles were reversed.  This will lead to calls of "classlessness" and "poor sportsmanship" but Harbaugh "always sees the game as 0-0, no matter what the scoreboard says" in a paraphrase of Brian Griese from Saturday's telecast.  Harbaugh has stated that they only way you get better at playing football is playing football, and so those live snaps are some valuable time in the lab, seeing how concepts the staff have drawn up in the film room and on the practice field at the Glick play out in game situations.  You've got four legitimate running backs? Let's see how all of them work?  You've got three tight ends?  Let's see who can block and who can catch.  Coach Harbaugh knows the challenge that Michigan faces next week, not peeking ahead, but having to know that Wisconsin will be the first genuine test of Michigan's mettle.  The no quarter flag is flying at Michigan Stadium and the man who raised it knows the price involved.

Tacking into the Wind

A little bit of everything.  (Rick Osentoski, USA TODAY Sports)

I'd love to be able to tell you that I saw this coming, but no, I did not.  I did not think today would be a romp; Colorado has some guys on scholarship, after all, but the quick strike touchdown, followed by the sack-fumble-touchdown, and the only comforting thought in the Big House was that it was still really early, and Michigan has not exactly struggled on offense this season.

In sailing, when the direction that one wants to sail in is into the wind, a sailor, with great effort, must tack, or turn its bow into the danger zone, to achieve the desired direction.  It requires discipline, recognition of the circumstances, and willingness to do what is needed to find a way forward.

So, after being stalled in the doldrums for much of the first quarter, Michigan's offense and defense both made adjustments that took them from 21-7 down to 45-28 as a final.  We have become so acclimated to Michigan failing to adjust to what the opponent is trying to do, Michigan being stubborn and refusing to break its tendencies. That it seemed like a minor miracle when midway through the second quarter,  (Truth be told, while the adjustments, which are just coaching, are better for my sanity, they make for worse columns.  I was clearly much better at this when there was some "died bravely" thread running through the piece.  It is a trade-off I can and happily will live with.)

So much of that "tacking" boils down to the efforts of Jabrill Peppers.  Peppers needed to be great and provided a spark on defense and special teams.  He was stopping the run; he executed a tremendous safety blitz that Colorado did not see until their backup quarterback was picking pieces of rubber out of his mouthguard 11 yards behind the line of scrimmage.  Then, of course, there was punt return.

Because of the importance of punt returns for touchdowns in previous Heisman-winning seasons for Michigan players, there has been, in my estimation, a collective will in the Big House to compel by some larger force, Peppers into getting a punt return TD.

So when that ball took a flat trajectory into Peppers' hands, just past the midfield stripe and burst forward, it was the hope that Peppers could score in that end zone that Howard and Woodson had made famous all those years ago.  It was not the prettiest run back, but Peppers is more about bursting through and fighting through than gliding fast and free.  The score and subsequent point after put Michigan up 17 and for the first time all day, Michigan fans felt as though they could breathe with some ease.

And so Michigan emerges from the non-conference portion of the calendar with a 3-0 record, not as easily as some had predicted, but 3-0 nevertheless.  This team is still a flawed team, but it has surpluses in critical areas that allow for those deficits to not necessarily be a huge concern...yet.

But, for now, as long as Michigan has a Peppers, it feels like it always has a chance.

Future Imperfect

This, this was pretty good.

This had to happen.  It was inevitable because it is what happens when expectations are raised.  Michigan won by 37 points, and people aren't happy.  There is a legitimacy in this because it's the inevitability of disappointment, and disappointment only comes when expectations exist.  Expectations have not been "real" in Ann Arbor for much of the last decade, after all.  There have been historical expectations, but that is based as much on a bizarre combination of entitlement and factual evidence as anything.  The expectations that this team entered the 2016 season were, in some ways, too low.  They were tempered by the "three tough road games" narrative and the worry that Year 2 was too soon to think Playoff.  But there were others who said, perhaps rightfully so, that this was the year.  But wherever one fell on that continuum, there were expectations and those expectations were created by the roster and staff that Michigan was rolling out on the field this season.

Michigan punted on its first offensive series of the game, the first time they had punted all season. Their next six drives went touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, field goal.  By the time they punted for the second time this season to essentially close out the first half, Michigan was up 34-7, and the online kvetching had begun in earnest.  Michigan can't run the ball!  Michigan can't stop the run!  Michigan looks sloppy on their assignments! Michigan didn't provide enough condiment stations for the family pack hot dog plans!

There is a difference between "complaints" and "concerns".  Complaints boil down to "I'm mad that you're not doing what I expected of you!"  Concerns are "Well, that needs to be fixed going forward."  It's mostly a matter of tonality.  What's interesting about yesterday's results are that despite the score it is the other stats on the Big House scoreboard served to confirm many of our concerns as fans from the beginning of the season, that Michigan might have a hard time establishing the run, that Michigan might have difficulty with securing contain in an aggressive defensive scheme,  The difference is a belief that the coaching staff working to fix the problems.  Colorado will likely provide a stiffer test than expected before the season started, and the progress from this week will be measured against the rising expectations of "OK, good, but..."

In the end, we got back exactly what we have wanted for the last ten years, the goal of being in the running for the national championship.  Those expectations come at a high cost.  In Bo's Lasting Lessons, John U. Bacon relays the story (which I am paraphrasing here) that when Bo's captains would choose goals for the season, if they wanted the national championship, he would remind them that they would need to be perfect, not just on every play on Saturday, but in every snap in practice.  Even then, you would need more than your fair share of luck.  Having the highest goals for the season is not an objectively bad thing, Harbaugh himself has said himself: "If nobody's laughing, you didn't set your goals high enough."  But goals only become real when paired with execution.  Saturday showed us, and this team that you can still win a game even if you don't play perfectly.  But this was against Central Florida, a team that went 0-12 last season.  All of us, the fans, the players, and the coaching staff know that this won't cut it against a Wisconsin, or certainly not a Michigan State or an Ohio State.  But, just like the fumbled punt snap yesterday that Kenny Allen fell on, perhaps it is good that it happened early, while there's still time to fix it.

Where No Man Has Gone Before

Speight, the final frontier.  (Credit: Getty Images / Gregory Shamus)

50 years ago this month, Star Trek debuted on NBC.  Though a modest hit at best, it developed, over time, a cult-like following, obsessives who pored over every detail of the original 79 episodes and became the sci-fi fandom against which other fandoms are judged.

137 seasons into Michigan football, each new season is eagerly awaited by its fans (and its hate-watchers) to see which twists and turns the writers have in store for this year.  Social media will see hushed moments of awe and vociferous complaint in the online recaps.  Some will say that this season is a return to form, on par with the classics.  Others will worry that the new landscape will never allow this year to measure up.  But the season is here, and well, these are the voyages.

In the grand scheme, this was as strong a season opener as you could hope for in this kind of enterprise.  When your defense loses the shutout because the kicker defiantly nails a 55-yarder, you just kind of laugh, because the offense nearly covered the over by itself.  So many freshmen played today, it felt like an away team with all of the redshirts burning.  This game, by itself, does not answer many questions, it's just one episode.  New horizons wait next week, new discoveries to be made.  But make no bones about it, if we're going to get beyond the last decade, one that took us into darkness, then the reboot under Harbaugh, keeping the things we loved about the original, but adding a new cast of characters, starting with a head coach with a ridiculous Q score, one seemingly regarded as an emissary by the faithful, that's where all of this brings us, to Year 2, an undiscovered country.  The future remains to be written, but when you have good leadership, your crew can defy the impossible again and again.

First games are about learning something.  Michigan learned a lot from last year's away mission to Salt Lake City, it bounced back because it worked on correcting mistakes that cost them a victory.  All of the preseason expectations change as we gather data points.  Is Colorado better than advertised, or is Colorado State really bad?  Could Wisconsin be more of a challenge than anticipated?  Is the defense for real?  These are the storylines, some will be answered, others will be forgotten as the season moves forward.  Here's to hoping that we will never have to say "Dammit Jim."

10 Years

I got bored when I didn't have a band. So I started a band, man...

A photo posted by The Hold Steady (@theholdsteady) on Aug 30, 2016 at 6:34pm PDT

In 2006, I was a year and a half into the job I still hold, but I didn't have much else going on. Work took up most of my time, and trying to make friends as an adult is weird. I started gravitating online, and a lot of that gravitation took me to MGoBlog. I was completely on board with that, and with my extra time, I figured I could pour that into something similar. So I started a blog, and recruited my friends. It wasn't particularly good (at least not my stuff), but it existed and that was enough. As the years have gone on, my job got bigger, and I fell in love, got married, sold a house, moved 4 times, and bought another house. That slice of time I had has gotten slimmer, and my writing has not gotten any better, so I've receded around here.

But we're back here for the 2016 season, and there's a palpable buzz in the air. I've long given up predicting a year's outcome. It's much more likely to go well, when compared to most of the last decade, but there's a reason they play the games, etc., etc. I want to enjoy this season, just like I enjoyed the 2006 season. It should be a wild ride, and I want to hang on and watch these guys work through it. I hope you'll join me.

HSR 10

It's our tenth anniversary year here at HSR, and we made a joke this morning:

We're back, for our 10th anniversary season! (We don't have a patch. We should.)https://t.co/nfSNl7Ckoi

— Hoover Street Rag (@hooverstreet) August 16, 2016

We got way more than we deserved!

@hooverstreet I was bored pic.twitter.com/zS75vOecQQ

— Joe Sports (@joefedewa) August 16, 2016

Thank you, Joe!

MGoMix 2016

We're back!  After yet still another summer of continued Harbaugh, Harbaugh, Harbaugh, we're back with our breakdown of our new playlist for the 2016 season.  We tried to mix it up a bit while following our rules: no more than 80 minutes of music, make every effort not to repeat non-Michigan songs from previous years, and try to capture the mood of the season while driving to Ann Arbor and walking to Michigan Stadium.  With that in mind, here we go:

(Note: It's been a crazy summer.  We did sincerely think about just tossing up The Big Chill soundtrack and calling it a day, but we figured someone would catch it.  That said, there is a vein running through this year's choices.)

1). "It Don't Come Easy" by Ringo Starr
"Forget about the past and all your sorrows
The future won't last
It will soon be over tomorrow."

Last season was great, well, except for a few moments.  But it's in the past.  A new horizon awaits, new memories to be made.  New joys are stretching out before us.

2). "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf
"Why don't you tell your dreams to me
Fantasy will set you free." 

In honor of the 50th anniversary of Star Trek, the song the accompanied the first warp flight.  It also marks the return of Michigan fans being able to, reasonably, dream big.

3). "Here Comes Your Man" by The Pixies
"There is a wait so long (so long, so long)
You'll never wait so long
Here comes your man."
Harbaugh?  Harbaugh.

4). "Hypnotize" by The Notorious B.I.G.
"Pink gators, my Detroit players."
I mean, the video starts with a trip to Florida.  I also hope that we can collectively start calling the Cass Tech connection "the Pink Gators." OK, you know what, let's not.

Then again, I mean, it all makes sense when you think about it, it's all there. #howbiggieknow?

5). "Heroes" by David Bowie
"We can beat them, forever and ever
Oh, we can be heroes, just for one day."

In honor of the late great Mr. Bowie, my favorite Bowie song (well, this or "Under Pressure").  Some portions of the schedule will feature schools Michigan has handled in the past with great ease.  Others, well, just for one day.

6). "Living in America" by James Brown
"You might have to walk the fine line
You might take the hard line
But everybody's working overtime."

It's Jim Harbaugh's America as this tribute to the hardest working man in college football shows us.  (Also, as we learned in the "30 for 30" on the events of Rocky IV, never perform a five-minute dance routine before you begin your prize fight.) 

7).  "Lonely Town" by Brandon Flowers
Brandon Flowers and the Killers remain the unofficial chroniclers of HSR's sincere belief in a new future.

8). "Something Good Can Work" by Two Door Cinema Club
"There's a spanner in the works, you know
You gotta step up your game to make to the top
So go!

Got a little competition now
You're going to find it hard to cope with living on your own now
Uh oh! Uh oh!"

Michigan football, ladies and gentlemen.

9). "Mess is Mine" by Vance Joy
"You can tell me what you see
I will choose what I believe

Well hold on darling
This body is yours
This body is yours and mine
Well hold on my darling
This mess was yours
Now your mess is mine
Ah-oooh
Your mess is mine."

There's something appropriate to this for my ten-year "career" as a Michigan football blogger.  I write about Michigan football, Michigan athletics, because of the shared communal experience of it. Not just the highs, but the lows, the frustrations, the near misses.  This mess was yours, now your mess is mine.

10). "Hey Man, Nice Shot" by Filter
"Now that the smoke's gone
And the air is all clear
Those who were right there
Got a new kind of fear"

Hey man, have fun.

11). "Sure Shot" by the Beastie Boys
"Because you can't, you won't, and you don't stop."

Jim Harbaugh in one line.

12). "My Silver Lining" by First Aid Kit
"There's hope, there's a silver lining
Show me my silver lining."

Seven years ago, another program tried to be the silver lining for the state of Michigan.  Time to restore the traditional order of things.

13). "Courage (For Hugh MacLellan)" by The Tragically Hip
"But that night as I drove back to Montreal, I at least discovered this: that there is no simple explanation for anything important any of us do, and that the human tragedy, or the human irony, consists in the necessity of living with the consequences of actions performed under the pressure of compulsions so obscure we do not and cannot understand them.”

― Hugh MacLennan, The Watch that Ends the Night

This one is for me.  Thank you, Gord.

14). "Spectre" by Radiohead
"Futures tricked by the past
Spectre, how he laughs"

The danger of a strong performance in a New Year's Day bowl is that it can be ephemeral.  That team that won won't be the one that takes the field on September 3.  The job of this team will be to show that 41-7 was no fluke.

15). "Trouble Man" by Marvin Gaye

"I come up hard, baby, I had to fight

Took him on madness with all my might

I come up hard, I had to win

Then start all over and then again

I come up hard, but that's OK

Because Trouble Man don't get in my way"

"Marvin Gaye, 1972, Trouble Man soundtrack.  Everything you missed, jammed into one album."  How right you are, Sam.
16). "Gimme Some Lovin" by The Spencer Davis Group
"Well, my temperature is rising, got my feet on the floor
Crazy people rocking 'cause they want to go more
Let me in baby, I don't know what you got
But you better take it easy cause this place is hot"

One of the truly great opening riffs of 1960s blue-eyed soul.  And it goes will with a young man running a precision aerial assault.  Or a precision ground attack.  Or trying to counter preprogrammed electronic dis-co.

17). "I Can't Turn You Loose" by The Blues Brothers
18). "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" by The Blues Brothers
"We're so glad to see so many of you lovely people here tonight and we would especially like to welcome all the representatives of the Big Ten officiating community who have chosen to join us here in the Michigan Amphitheater at this time. We do sincerely hope you'll all enjoy the show and please remember people, that no matter who you are and what you do to live, thrive and survive, there're still some things that make us all the same. You, me, _them_, everybody, everybody."

19). "I Can't Turn You Loose" by Michigan Marching Band
And suddenly, I am craving cake and electronic dis-co.

20). "M Fanfare" by Michigan Marching Band
21). "The Victors" by Michigan Marching Band
22). "Temptation" by Michigan Marching Band
23). "Hawaiian War Chant" by Michigan Marching Band
24). "Varsity" by Michigan Marching Band
25). "Star Spangled Banner" by Michigan Marching Band

Name Games

Name Games are simultaneous an easy and difficult concept to grasp in college football.  It started, interestingly enough, with a discussion of John O'Korn's number change to #8 and a mention of Nick Sheridan and my defense that Nick Sheridan will always have "The Nick Sheridan Game".  That led to my desire to make this list.

So a "Name Game" is, on some level, a great performance by a player where it is that player's signature game.  It is seemingly simple, but as discussion bore out, like anything that seems simple, it is not.  Let us eliminate a few things ahead of making the list.

It is, generally, not:

·         A Game that is better known by another name.
To wit, Barry Pierson had a tremendous performance in the 1969 Ohio State game, and that may very well be his signature game, but that would not be immediately how anyone characterized it in discussing it.  This is not to disparage three interceptions and a 60-yard punt return to set up Michigan's third touchdown, he is clearly the game's MVP, but that's not quite what this exercise is.  That also tends to eliminate bowl games, which knocks out Leroy Hoard's effort in the 1989 Rose Bowl, Steve Breaston's valiant effort in the 2005 Rose Bowl and the like.  It also eliminates Anthony Carter's effort against Indiana in 1979, which is better known as "Ufer Goes Crazy".

·         A Game that Michigan lost.
Interestingly enough, that tends to create its own version of the Name Game, like The Donovan McNabb Game, The Dennis Dixon Game, The Troy Smith Game, where the opponent that did it to Michigan goes down in legend.  But that is not out focus here.  But some honorable mentions would have to go to Devin Gardner's effort on a broken foot against Ohio State in 2013 and Walter Cross's 104 yards and two touchdowns as a freshman that came up shy against Syracuse in 1998 (yes, the Donovan McNabb game).

·        A Game in the Darkest Timeline
Though many of these are eliminated by the previous condition, though suggested to me, I'm not going down the road of Nebraska 2012 or Minnesota 2014.  We all know what happened and to hang that title on the name of a player when it speaks more to decisions made by the coaching staff prior to the game is simply not fair to the player.  It also knocks out the Tyler Ecker game. #pitchittobreaston

·         A Game that immediately raises an argument.
I dubbed this "the autopen argument" and it's more of a compliment than anything.  To wit, what is Denard Robinson's signature game for Michigan?   Heck, he has two signature performances against Notre Dame alone (even if one is Under the Lights, aka "Jeremy Gallon's Cloaking Device").  Or Desmond Howard?  Do you pick Notre Dame 1991, Boston College 1991, or Ohio State 1991.  Charles Woodson?  Michigan State 1997, Ohio State 1997, etc.  This tends to hurt quarterbacks, as they can have multiple great games in their careers.

·         A Game which is more about the "One Shining Moment" principle, aka sharing the wealth.
Also not a knock.  But a single shining moment in a game is not, necessarily, enough to make it a Name Game for you.  To wit, John Thompson's scoop and score against Wisconsin in 2008 is memorable, but not necessarily "The John Thompson Game", because it's also a bit of "The Steven Threet Game" due to his crazy, season long for the team scramble in the second half.  It also, kind of, eliminates Indiana 2015, since that is simultaneously The Jake Rudock Game and The Jehu Chesson Game (we hope that Mr. Chesson autopens a few more of those efforts this season, allowing us to move Mr. Rudock's six TDs into this category.)  It also eliminates Iowa 2001, because as much as Larry Foote was an absolute, absolute monster in that game, 15 tackles, including setting a school record 7 TFL, Marquise Walker's "how did he catch that" grab late in the third quarter keeps it from reaching the singularity.   Tai Streets effort in 1996 against Ohio State at the Horseshoe is also memorable for how Brian Griese seemingly came out of the depths of nowheresville to regain the starting quarterback job.

Now, all of that said, there are always exceptions to how we remember things, memory very rarely follows a strict set of rules.  So, with that in mind, a ranking of Name Games of the last 25 years.

Honorable Mentions:

The John Kolesar Game - at Ohio State 1988

Yes, this is outside the scope of our consideration, but Ohio native John Kolesar, with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter, ran back a kickoff 59 yards to get Michigan in position and then caught a 41-yard TD pass to give Michigan the win.  That gets you a mention, for sure.  (Keeping in mind that Kolesar also had a huge catch in the 1985 game from Harbaugh as well.  He saved some of his best work for The Game.)

The Roy Roundtree Game - Illinois 2010

Treezy set the Michigan record for receiving yards in a game with 246, besting Braylon Edwards effort in 2004 against Michigan State (more on that in a moment.)  But this also falls under the "better known as" principle, since this is the 67-65 triple overtime game against the Illini, so it is not necessarily remembered as the Roy Roundtree Game.

The Mario Manningham Game - Penn State 2005

The Ernest Shazor Game - at Purdue 2004

The Phil Brabbs Game - Washington 2002

In each of these three cases, they should not qualify under the "One Shining Moment" guidelines, but in each of these cases, they are moments "at the death", to use the term from English football, where the victory is sealed by their actions.  In the case of Manningham, TOUCHDOWN MANNINGHAM is indelibly seared into the brains of many a Michigan fan (and many a Penn State fan, who will tell you this write up is two seconds too long to begin with.)   In the case of Ernest Shazor, though he had a monster game, his explosive hit of the Boilermakers' Dorien Bryant, following a Markus Curry hit, which led to a Leon Hall fumble recovery to end Purdue's last gasp drive was so big, it overshadowed a 206-yard rushing effort by freshman Mike Hart in our collective memory.  In the case of Phil Brabbs, his two early missed field goals against the Huskies in the 2002 season opener led to one more shot at redemption on the last play of the game, of which he made the most.  Worthy of mentioning, but not necessarily what we're looking for here.

The Drake Johnson Game - Indiana 2014

Though I have already dubbed Indiana 2014 "The Drake Johnson Game" on this blog, I am leaving it out, as I do not feel it is fair to cast in stone a Michigan career not yet finished.  I hope, I sincerely hope, that there is a bigger, better Drake Johnson game left somewhere in the future.

10).        The Brandon Herron Game - Western Michigan 2011

Brady Hoke's first game as Michigan head coach, when we were so full of hope…and Denard.   Better remembered for the wicked weather and being called early with 87 seconds left in the third quarter, this is still the Brandon Herron game, between his 94 yard pick six, and his score off a fumble forced by Captain Kovacs, two defensive scores, in such a delightful manner gave hope to an era and a fanbase desperately looking for it.

  9).        The Jerome Jackson Game - at Iowa 2005

Interesting case here, because it was suggested several times by different Twitter users, but others could not remember it when mentioned.   Jerome Jackson's name game comes from pinch hitting for a dinged up Mike Hart and taking over the fourth quarter at Kinnick, then scoring on a 1-yard run in overtime to seal a big win during "the season of infinite pain" and Coach Carr's 100th win as Michigan head coach.

  8).        The Justin Fargas Game - at Northwestern 1998

Before Son of Huggybear left Ann Arbor for the warmer climes of Los Angeles, he had one legendary night in the muck and the mire of a soaked Ryan Field in Evanston.  Though usually the purview of the A-Train in that era (who will have a hugely memorable moment at Ryan Field two seasons later and I don't want to talk about it.), Justin Fargas had 31 carries for 120 yards to secure a much needed conference win against a Northwestern team that looked more fierce at the time than it would at the end of the season.

  7).        The Tate Forcier Game - Notre Dame 2009

Though the post itself was one of the biggest whiffs of my chronicling career, the point remains.  The image of Forcier, pointing to the crowd after a masterful scramble, the freshman so full of potential that would never truly be fulfilled, the false promise of the infamous "Rich Rod Year 2" meme that died on the one-yard line in Champaign, the charitable contributions of Charlie Weis's schematic use of times out.  All of this goes into making The Tate Forcier Game what it is.  Because, if nothing else, you beat a rival, again, in a completely unexpected and shocking manner.

  6).        The Chris Perry Game - at Michigan State 2003

51 times.  No FBS player since 2003 has carried the ball more times in a game than Chris Perry did on that day in East Lansing.  Only one, Michael "The Burner" Turner, has carried it more in a game since 2000 (as far back as the Play Index goes), and that was literally just one more carry.  219 yards and Michigan needed every one of them to hold off Michigan State that day, 27-20.  "I need a hot tub," Perry said that day. "And we've got one in our apartment."

  5).        The Nick Sheridan Game - at Minnesota 2008

I have often dubbed this "Sheridan Saves the Jug" and it's true.  In the darkest night in recent Michigan football memory, well, at least until 2014 and another Minnesota game, Nick Sheridan, the coach's son who came to Michigan and probably never expected to see game action behind Ryan Mallett, fills in for a banged up Steven Threet and proceeds to, in utterly efficient fashion, go 18/30 for 203 yards and a TD, no picks, and Michigan wins 29-6. Sheridan saves the Jug (until 2014…ugh), and preserves Michigan's perfect record at the Metrodome.

  4).        The John Navarre Game - at Minnesota 2003

OK, yes, this is probably remembered for "the Water Buffalo Stampede" and being on a Friday night, and the comeback, and being for the Jug, but it is the moment for John Navarre.  "Not Drew Henson" led Michigan to a 31 point fourth quarter, threw for three touchdowns, ran for a huge gain on the Transcontinental, and won the 100th anniversary of the purchase of the Jug game (wanting to get that just right for Dooley) and Michigan's 15th straight win in the series.  You'll always have the Metrodome, John.

  3).        The Jeremy Gallon Game - Indiana 2013

This isn't fair to Devin Gardner, who had 584 yards of total offense, 503 of which came through the air.  It's just that he kept finding Jeremy Gallon.  Again and again and again.  Gallon had a B1G record 369 receiving yards on 14 catches with two touchdowns as Michigan won 63-47.  Even as further cracks appeared in the foundation of the Hoke era, Gallon was there with spackle, a trowel, and an indomitable will.

(Author's edit: 3/9/16.  A compelling case for The Devin Gardner Game - Notre Dame 2015 has been made in the comments, so I am slotting it in at 2a), which feels right.  Seth, take it away.)

The DEVIN GARDNER game! You brought up the Ohio State one on a broken foot, but what about in Under the Lights II, which name needs to go both for being not very descriptive (who's going to remember every night game?) and for the Dave Brandonness of it.

The Game in 2013 was representative of the Tragedy of Devin, but against ND that year Gardner was transcendent:

*21 for 33 for 294 yards, 4 TDs and an interception
*13 rushes for 96 yards and another TD
*That totally insane INT where he was falling down and chucked it to a nose tackle in the end zone.

THIS THROW: https://youtu.be/J2uZXmavRTs that's 30 yards and made ropes feel bad.
THIS THROW: https://youtu.be/MPr_zv0hSos where he took over the mind of his receiver.
THIS OMIGOD THIS THIS THIS THROW: https://youtu.be/e7dh8hODIq0
WATCH THAT ONE AGAIN!
THIS THROW: https://youtu.be/vmlpG5QbkPg
THIS THROW: https://youtu.be/9uU2efsWDkE

You skipped the last one didn't you? Don't do that. Unless of course you want to do anything else again ever because once you click that you will need to simulcast the Woodson/Desmond returns to break your skull out of it.


On a night after an entire day of having to listen to tailgate idiots talk about how Shane Morris would replace him, on a night when his offensive line was a disaster on the level of, well, 2013 Michigan, on a night when not a single linebacker or safety showed the least bit of fear of any kind of handoff run, Gardner looked like an NFL franchise QB, ran like an NFL-bound RB, and then we all got to make glorious chicken noises.

  2).        The Tim Biakabatuka Game - Ohio State 1995

313 yards.  In The Game.  To upset previously unbeaten and #2 in the country Ohio State.  To send Northwestern to the Rose Bowl.  To overshadow eventual Heisman winner Eddie George.  To forever be BIAKA…..BATUKA in the hearts and minds of a generation of Michigan football fans.

  1).        The Braylon Edwards Game (bka Braylonfest) - Michigan State 2004

One of my first outings in football blogging, Braylonfest is as magic a game as I have ever been to at Michigan Stadium for the reasons outlined in this post.   That there are over 1500 Google results for this specific one-word term speaks to MGoBlog's power to create a meme and to the magic in the gloaming of that evening.  Braylon Edwards had other great games at Michigan, but if every Michigan receiver who wears #1 has to earn it, he earned it, in spades, that evening. 

I may have missed some (you know where to find us), and I am exceptionally grateful to all of you who joined in this exercise on Twitter, it was some fun in the dark of early Spring in Michigan.