Goodbye Mr. Brandon

Protests revolt against Dave Brandon’s practices

David Brandon, the now former Athletic Director (AD) here at the University of Michigan, recently resigned from his position on Friday, October 31st 2014 in the face of massive student protests and criticism regarding his poor management of the athletic arm of the institution. Marc Schlissel made the announcement stating that it was a mutual decision to fire Brandon in order to return to the normal activities of the program without the day to day distractions that had arisen.

David Brandon, Former Athletic Director and the face of a failing franchise

Although the Athletic Directors are not elected by the majority to lead, University of Michigan acts as a commonwealth for the people and its Athletic Department is a branch of that leadership. Hobbes states in Chapter 17 of the Leviathan that, “the only way to erect such a common power” that will “keep [the people] in awe and direct their actions to the common benefit” is to “confer all power and strength [of the people] upon one man, or upon one assembly of men”. Ultimately, a commonwealth can only stand strong if the majority of people are behind it’s actions.

Bo Schembechler: A True Machiavellian

Bo Schembechler is a God-like figure at the University of Michigan.

Bo Schembechler was one of the greatest ever to coach in College Football.

When Bo took over at Michigan, the football program was in shambles.  Michigan was coming off of a 50-14 defeat by Ohio State, in which legendary head football coach Woody Hayes opted to run up the score and go for two against Michigan on a late touchdown just to make it to 50 points.  For college football’s all time winningest program, it was flat out embarrassing.   When Bo took over in 1969, he ended up using that move by Woody Hayes as motivation, taping the score 50-14 on each player’s helmet during practice the week before the Ohio State game in 1969, where Michigan upset #1 Ohio State.  He ran one of the toughest conditioning practices in college football at the time, which lead 65 out of 140 players that showed up to camp to quit the team.  Bo then made one of the most legendary moves of his career, putting up a sign in the locker room that read “Those Who Stay Will Be Champions.”  Bo went on to become one of college football’s greatest all time coaches, posting a record of 194-48-5 (The 5 being ties).  He also won or shared thirteen Big Ten Championships, more than fulfilling his promise to his players that they would be champions.  He was inducted into the University of Michigan Hall of Fame, State of Michigan Hall of Fame, Rose Bowl Hall of Fame, and College Football Hall of Fame among numerous other awards and recognitions.

F*** Ohio. The Politics of Rivalry

If you’ve been on a bus any friday or saturday night then you’ve heard the chant. Drunk college kids love it. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing on Saturday, the campus wide hate for Ohio takes precedent. Its basis is a football game, but seems so much more than that. In his book Take Time for Paradise A. Bartlett Giamatti talks about the spectator living through the athlete, and as such any event becomes much more grand than it would appear. The importance comes from outside of the sport, from the hopes and dreams of those watching. The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is a great example of this. More important than almost any single game, this event captures the heart of more than just spectators, but whole universities. This rivalry breaks all the rules that Johan Huizinga describes as the “magic circle” in his book Homo Ludens. We don’t hate Ohio for the duration of the game, it is eternal. The whole state of Ohio is accepted as the enemy of Michigan. What makes this case so different from every other game?

The Collapse of Michigan Football

Happy and dedicated U of M football fans

Being students at the University of Michigan, we all realize how important out football team is to the overall school, and how much money the school makes by having a successful program. In order to achieve this goal of a successful football program, our athletic department often pays schools, such as Appalachian State, with football programs in the lower-teir FCS conference (as apposed to the higher-teir FBS that Michigan and other Big 10 teams are in) up to one million dollars just to play our team. Our athletics program does this in the sole hope that the game against these types of teams will serve as an opportunity to boost fan morale and player confidence. Additionally, a blowout win (no matter who we are playing) will make boosters (people that add funds to the football program) extremely happy, and they in turn will give the athletics program at Michigan even more money!

We pay teams so that we can blow them out, and they make more money by doing so!

This is Not a Hoke

The University of Michigan is home to some of the greatest athletic teams in the history of America, and in the entire world. This is because the University of Michigan attracts students from countries at each end of the globe, and actively tries to bring them together in ways that involve school spirit to unite them on a common front. It is through events such as football games in the Big House, (which accommodates over 109,000 people), that the athletic culture proves to be so prevalent.

Despite the fact that Michigan football is so well revered around the world drawing hundreds upon hundreds of alumni to bars across the world to watch the game, our record over the past few years has been far from impressive. In fact, we totally suck! The last time we won a National Championship was in 1997, and the last time we even won our own conference championship is going on eleven years ago. We went from a season of eleven wins and two losses in 2006 under Lloyd Carr, to last year, in 2013, a season of seven wins and six losses under Brady Hoke.