ORD's post is on point and leads to another issue that has bothered me since the week of The Game (that wasn't). Ward Manuel and his reaction to Kirk Herbstreit. And it's also a cautionary tale to the few folks (on this forum anyway) that feel any sympathy for TTUN's downturn OR think that any other game on our schedule is more important than this one.
Ward Maneul: “I think it’s ridiculous,” Manuel said. “I have to pause because of my words. I was angered, infuriated by the insinuation that Michigan would do anything other than play a football game. We’ve been playing this game since 1879. 1879. We’re the winningest program for a reason because we play whoever is in front of us before the forward pass was invented, we fielded teams of semi-pro players who had used up their eligibility at Eastern schools and then went out and beat up a bunch of small colleges and high schools that didn't even know how to play the game. No shit, folks. We'd literally take an hour or two to teach them the rules and go out and mark an epic 88-0 victory. Eventually, it all caught up with us though, and we were kicked out of the Big Ten when we became the only conference school to defy the new rule requiring that we place our program under the jurisdiction of the faculty and university President. No shit, folks. We were literally the birthplace of Lack Of Institutional Control. The only way we want to keep anybody from moving on is to beat them on the fields of play. To insinuate that, to say something other than that is a statement by a fool.”
If you like Herbie ... he only said what everyone was thinking. If you hate Herbie, he said it in way that left egg on his face and forced an apology. Win-win right? As for Ward, pure quintessential Michigan Man® bullshit. Bringing up the win total and how long you've played the game had NO bearing on what Herbie said. Total misdirection and an attempt to obfuscate the truth. Truth being: you suck, and you're going to do EXACTLY what Kirk implied you would do ... duck the loss AND attempt to hurt Ohio State in the process. This is exactly the reason we hate that team and program with a burning intensity like no other. They take refuge from any form of ridicule by hiding in past glories and infantile rationalizations regarding current failures. Oh it's bagmen and online classes and impermissible benefits and on and on and on. It never changes, no matter their state of affairs. So yeah, keep kicking their ass ... but NOT until they quit the sport. That's far to lenient for such asshats. Take the head-to-head record, the all time wins, the BigTen titles ... it all goes before they can "quit the sport". And when they DO ask to quit, remind them what Ward Manuel said ... and tell them NO.
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