That's exhausting.

I guess we should be sorry for interrupting the Blue Blood party....

Yeah I read some of it. I called them "Big Blue" in three places, and then I made the correction. (I think that might be the commonly accepted nickname for IBM... They use "Go Blue.") I also called Ohio State conference champions when I meant conference leaders, which they were at the time Michigan beat them. I made that correction also.

I guess the other problem they have is that the preview was insufficiently genuflecting before their majesty. Which kind of underscores some of the points I tried to make in the first place.

These guys are fans of a program that has $163 million in athletic revenue (about 8-10x ours?), they have at least two message boards (one with paid premium content), and they spend a lot of their time looking for an opportunity to punch down.

On top of the fact that basketball is basically an afterthought there....

Typical Michigan fans being arrogant snobs.

Not their top sport, but they do have some passionate fans. I was in Seattle in 1989 for the Final Four and met a bunch of decent Michigan fans.... but they had the whole coaching controversy and kind of seemed like they didn't really expect to be there that year, or they were surprised to be winning after Fisher took over in all the confusion.

My worst experience with Michigan fans was on Sept. 8, 2000, when they played Loyola in their third men's soccer game in program history. (That's right, they didn't have men's soccer before 2000). I arrived about 20-25 minutes before the game and found the Michigan fans already had lounge chairs set up on the grass, their own music playing, and some kind of semi-tailgating thing going on at Loyola Soccer Park. They brought a flagpole with them, taped it to the side of bleachers, and hoisted a big Michigan "M" flag, as though they were claiming the territory for themselves and their King.

With Loyola up 3-1 in the second half, Michigan's really strong athletes started turning up the pressure with aggressive over-playing. Every one of their guys seemed to have 1-3 inches and 20 pounds on our guys, and all of them were comparable in speed, or faster. After they scored again in the 65th minute to cut the deficit to one, Loyola fans tried to cheer over the Michigan fans and rally Loyola to hold the lead.

Michigan looked like they were going to score at any minute. When the ball was kicked out of bounds near the stands around the 75th minute, the Loyola crowd yelled jeers at Michigan freshman defender Kevin Taylor, who was totally supercharged in anticipation of getting a tying score. He already had a yellow card from super aggressive play. Something a fan yelled bothered him, so he turned to the crowd and yelled pointing into the stands, "You just sit down and shut the F--- up!!" right in front of the referee. Red card. Michigan had to play the rest of the game with 10 players, and Loyola survived to win 3-2.

That glimpse of Michigan athletics really stuck with me. Can still see the flag flying and the kid snarling at the stands. Third game in program history, and they already thought they ran everything.

As an alum of both schools, I agree with most of what has been said. Just a different world in terms of the importance of athletics to each school. Would love to see my diehard Wolverine friends go home Saturday night.

There are a lot of great Michigan fans though. I think it will be a fun time all around San Antonio on Saturday. If we win though, and have to face Kansas....then not so much.

After reading all that, I have a hard time understanding why people hate Michigan.

_________________
Cigarboy sucks!

http://mgoblog.com/diaries/loyola-chicago-first-glance

What an arrogant group...." Loyola was made to be Michigan's b*tch" ?

"We will only lose if the refs screw us"

WTHeck ?!?!?