Time Marches On

I am no psychologist, but I would imagine it is a universal property of human nature to be averse to change.  Continuity is comfortable.  We like our routines and don't like having to deviate from them.  We get comfortable in the present, and quickly forget the changes that brought us to where we are.  Its easy to get lost in the present.  To get caught up in the status quo.

As a child I was so afraid of change that I would get sad at the end of the school year as summer vacation approached.  I wanted the familiarity of where I was, and I didn't want to blaze a path through the summer only to re-establish myself the next year as I advanced to the next grade.  Change scared the hell out of me.  Still does.

Change isn't bad, but it isn't good either.  Change is simply a fact of life, for better or worse.  Time marches on.  What we know today was an unknown future yesterday, and the uncertainty about tomorrow will eventually be a comforting present.  The only constant in the world is the laws of physics that guide the universe.  Everything else is fleeting.  It is this constant evolution of everything around us that forces humans to adapt.  We have to make the best of our world as it is, not as we wish it to be.

Funny thing is, we often don't notice that things have changed until the rug is already yanked out from beneath our feet.  We ignore the little signs and tell ourselves that everything will keep humming along like it always does, even though it never has.  Humans have the tendency to be extremely short sighted.  We lose the forest for the trees.

Lost in all the talk of Big Ten alignment scenarios is the fact that the real change has already happened.  The fighting continues over what should be kept the same, what rivalries to protect, what geographical considerations to value in this new landscape of mid-western college football.  But things are already radically different, even when it comes to the greatest rivalry in college football:  The Game.

I am an unabashed Michigan fan.  Always have been.  The Game means more to me than just about any other college football tradition behind the winged helmets and The Victors.  I grew up loving Michigan Football wholeheartedly and waiting for that final fall Saturday to face off against the team from down south.  I hated OSU more than I hated anyone or anything.

But college football isn't the monolith of tradition that we sometimes believe it is.  Changes slowly creep across the landscape inciting pockets of rage from effected fan bases.  Today, the loudest voices come from the "Big Two", crying out for the sanctity of the storied rivalry:  It won't be the same in October.  This is all about the money.  Won't someone think of the children?

Fact is, the game lost its significance months ago.  Once the Big Ten decided to push for expansion to 12 teams, with a conference championship game as the goal, the writing was on the wall.  The Game has been the hallmark of the Big Ten for as long as any football fan can remember.  Over the past 75 years of the regular season showdown has been the de facto championship 22 times (30%) and had a direct influence on the Big Ten champ another 24 times (Credit to Maize and Brew for the numbers, and a good counterpoint to my argument).  While it bothers me to think that the Big Ten title won't run through Columbus or Ann Arbor every year, we can't cling to the notion that this rivalry carries the same significance it always has now that the road to the conference championship and the Rose Bowl is going to run through Lucas Oil Stadium.  Moving The Game to mid October won't diminish its significance, deciding to stage a championship game already did that.  In a college football landscape where conference championship games fetch big money, a clash of old enemies in mid November loses its luster, especially when there are ten other teams that would benefit from a bona-fide championship game.

The game will always mean the same to fans on either side.  I don't hate OSU any less in October than I do the week before Thanksgiving, and I would hope they would feel the same.  That universal vitriol is what makes the rivalry great.  The hatred and bad feelings were born from years of struggle for conference supremacy, but a showdown in November no longer sets up the same way.  If The Game is played on the last week of the season it will always be in the shadow of the championship game.

College football is still changing, and what we see today will be radically different than what we will see at the start of the next decade.  When we look at the way the sport changes we see large leaps to new rules, different conference membership, and more intricate (asinine?) championship calculations.  But it doesn't happen like that.  Change flows like a glacier, creeping along and tearing up the landscape in ways that we don't notice until we are right in the path.  The changes that will lead to a playoff or four super conferences are happening now, in every athletic department and stadium.  Or maybe they aren't.  We won't know until we are confronted with the new reality.  Thats where we find ourselves today.  Two fan bases in disagreement on everything but the storied rivalry that both hold dear.  The Big Ten has changed.  Who are we to stop it?

Michigan-OSU won't be the same no matter when it is played.  You don't have to like it   and God knows I don't   but we can't refuse to accept that things have changed in the Big Ten.  This decision is going to be made with or without the support of the proponents of The Game.  Time marches on, with or without us.

The Internet Comment Board: Where Thoughtful Discussion Goes To Die

It is the end of July and all across the college football universe it seems clear that we know one thing for sure:  we know nothing.  This is the nature of the sport.  When teams experience 100% turnover every four years you are necessarily limited in what you can predict.  Things come together quickly, windows close almost as soon as they open, and unless you are on the top you spend all your time fighting and clawing to get there.

Four years ago the University of Michigan was a bad penalty and a last minute comeback from playing for the MNC.  Today?  Well, laughingstock might be too strong a word, but that only depends on what bar you are hanging out at.  We don't know what we are going to get year in and year out.  Will the all world recruit live up to the hype, or will he get the "special teams touch of death" and spend the next two years as nothing more than a human bowling ball?

This doesn't end the fascination, speculation, and rampant argument that accompanies any sport where enough people have emotionally invested themselves to the point that they will sit through unbearably hot September afternoons and bone chillingly cold November snowstorms for a chance to watch their alma mater.  Pair this with the anonymity of the internet and you have the perfect storm of stupid comments being amplified by stupid people gathering in groups and message boards.  Every fan base has them, and you have no doubt seen it for yourself.  These are the kind of people who think "scUM" is a clever moniker for UofM, and any mention of MSU is followed by the obligatory prison joke.

Its all fun and games until it isn't.

Earlier today I read an article on MSU's chances at making the Rose Bowl this year   not out of the realm of possibility by any means.  The schedule is set up well, the team returns a lot of offensive firepower and the best defender in the Big Ten, and with solid play from the most unknown units (offensive line and defensive backfield) the team could conceivably make a strong run through the Big Ten.  I finished the article and broke one of my own rules of the internet:  I read the comments.  I wanted to list a few of the most egregious comments in this post, but I didn't have the heart to even click through two of the seven pages of comments.  In fact, those two pages provided one comment that even referenced the article in question.  The rest were a series of insults and bombastic statements aimed to belittle the opposing team.  What do last year's discipline problems at MSU have to do with this year's team now that all those involved have been dealt with?  Why is the quickest comeback to a UM fan a swift kick to the dead horse that is NCAA sanctions?  What is the point of arguing for arguments sake?  Are we as fans so bitter toward our rivals that all we can respond with is petty name calling?

It is July, and what do we know?  Nothing.  But that doesn't stop the chatter.  People will argue about who will win the national championship, who will inevitably disappoint after huge pre-season expectations, and why anyone still lets Eastern Michigan play football (seriously, someone needs to take Ron English's squad out back for some Old Yeller treatment).  Most of those arguments are interesting, and when taken with a grain of salt they can lead to some very heated but enjoyable barroom discussions or emails.  However, do yourself a favor.  If all you have to respond with is a played out internet meme (lolsparty, scUM) or personal attack, remember what Mark Twain said:

"It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt."