To quote CNNSI.com:
Michigan has lost one of its greats on the eve of perhaps its biggest game.
I'm not usually one to get sentimental for things like this, but I really feel for Lloyd Carr right now. He's been at Michigan for 27 years, and on the eve before the biggest game he will ever coach (bigger even than the 1998 Rose Bowl that clinched him a national championship), he has to try not to let the death of his mentor cloud his focus.
Bo was the winningest coach ever at the winningest school of all time. That's really all that needs to be said about him. Michigan executive associate athletic director Mike Stevenson told the Ann Arbor News: "In the history of Michigan athletics, nobody had a bigger impact. He was passionate, bright, and an unbelievable leader. He loved Michigan."
There are two things that I hope:
1. The team is able to turn a negative into a positive and to inspire themselves to win this one game for Bo. It's one of the biggest games in the history of the program he loved. It's an unfortunate shame that he was not able to live long enough to see it.
2. I really hope that all the douche-bag Michigan-hatin' OSU fans (not saying ALL OSU fans, obviously; just the real jerky ones I talked about yesterday) can let the man rest in peace. I shudder to think about what I'm sure will be all of the classy signs that the gracious OSU fans will have on College Game Day tomorrow morning. I mean, it's not like there's a punk band called "The Dead Schembechlers" performing at a tailgate before the game1.
Rest in Peace. Win This One for Bo.
1. Per the comment from Kokotan, I want to reiterate that I don't harbor specific resentment for the Dead Schembechlers, since I know they've been together for over a decade, and are/were not a reactionary outcropping from Bo's death. It was meant more as a commentary about many of the harder-core, hatred-of-all-things-Michigan OSU fans who have been known to have less than better taste/judgement in situations such as these.
5 comments:
I don't really get any of the Dead Schembechlers stuff going around lately. That band has been around for 15 years at least. They're just a rip off of the Dead Kennedys, and not that good at all.
Sad to hear about Bo. First time Bo coached against Woody on earth, tOSU was #1 and undefeated and Bo pulled that one out.
Now they meet for the first time in heaven (or hell or wherever) and tOSU is undefeated and ranked #1...
I didn't mean to imply that the D.S. band just sprung up today. It was more a comment on some of the "harder-core" OSU fans and their hatred of all things Michigan.
I just hope people remember that he actually once coached at OSU, too, and that while he and Woody were frigid while coaching against one another, that they were friends before and after their rivalry and definitely respected one another.
The D.S. wasn't exactly aimed at you but moreso just a comment on the overall attention they seem to be getting this year.
FWIW... One of the dude's from the band was on 610 and wasn't an asshole about the dude's death at all. He seemed to be kind and understanding about it.
Also, UM fans weren't on the bad end of a 2-10-1 stretch. The hate in the Bus sat brewing in an oven for 13 years.
a couple of things:
1. I'm sure Bo will be honored with a moment of silence. Regardless of who he coached for, he was a classy guy with some Woody flair. Sure, there will be some drunk assholes that might boo, but for the most part, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with the reception for him tomorrow.
2. If Michigan needs this to get pumped for the game, they had/have no chance. If there is that something extra something extra, I'd have to think that the Buckeyes would be able to do get that something extra as well. As you said, he was a Buckeye once and always will be.
for what it's worth, here's a comment from the dead schembechler's site:
BO SCHEMBECHLER: OSU'S MOST VALIANT FOE: The band is crushed to learn of the death of Bo Schembechler. We named this band after Coach Schembechler to honor him as the face of Wolverine football. We have never wished ill will upon him in any way and have always wished him the best. When we learned that Bo had seen our web site and was amused by it we were delighted. We were simply delighted. He said to those with him as he read it, "See, I still matter in Columbus!" That may have been the greatest understatement in football history. We believe that he took the band's name as the compliment that it was meant as and that he was flattered by it. We wish to extend our deepest and most heartfelt sympathies to his family. We are truly sorry for their loss.
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