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An Open Letter to Fans of the University of Michigan [BLOG]

By: Martin Weiss
@martinweiss22

I grew up in Louisiana in the heart of the Southeastern Conference, where college football fandom is indoctrinated in children sometime between learning their names and the alphabet. I loved the game, but never had a team I truly loved. I missed out on the vitriol of rivalry games. And I felt cheated, but fandom isn't created or manufactured. It has to be born. I had to be content, knowing I was watching the best football in the nation.

When I was a kid, other conferences like the Big Ten were an afterthought. They were just the sacrificial lamb the SEC would beat in various bowl games.

When I found out that I would be going to University of Michigan, I was excited. Not only is it a great school, but it has one of the most storied football programs. I was ecstatic to be a part of a fan base that had the tradition, the pedigree, and the reputation of a program like Michigan. I couldn't wait to be a "Michigan Man."

I'll never forget my first football game. There was only one other time I experienced such a massive party -- Mardi Gras -- but this was all for a football game! I was just one in a mass of 100,000 plus walking down State Street, making the right on Hoover, the left on Greene when all of a sudden -- the Big House in all her glory appeared through the trees, teeming with excitement and life. I was hooked.

Good thing, too. Michigan lost that game, 25-23, to Utah. It was the first game of the Rich Rodriguez era. The first game of the dark days of Michigan football.

We left the stadium that day with one thought: it's going to be a long season. And it was.

Watching Rich Rod squander the best defense he would have in his ill-fated time in Ann Arbor by trying to turn the two-headed monster of Steven Threet and Nick Sheridan into a slower, less athletic version of his previous quarterback -- Pat White -- was painful. But I watched every snap of every game, because this was my team; my future alma mater. All the while, through the worst season in Michigan football, I had hope.

Not through the 3-9 season that followed -- I knew that was a lost cause. But hope for the future, based on the past. Michigan knows football; they'll turn it around. A tradition like Michigan will never tarnish. Every program has a down year.

I was studying in Hatcher Library when I heard that Michigan's tumultuous (to put it nicely) coaching search was (finally) finished, and Brady Hoke had somehow beaten out the likes of Les Miles and Jim Harbaugh to be the next head coach of Michigan's program. Hoke came to the press conference like a man with something to prove. An extension of Bo. A man's man. A Michigan Man. His goal? Big Ten Championships. He wanted the job so bad; he would have walked from San Diego to Ann Arbor. He said everything a fan base that had been battered and abused for three years wanted to hear.

And I believed him.

Four years later, we are still waiting for him to deliver. His first year was deceiving -- winning 11 games, but never really passing the eye test. They started one of the most elusive and one of the least accurate quarterbacks in Denard Robinson, who was electric and terrifying to watch on every snap.

I was at the Sugar Bowl in 2011. I remember going back to my hotel room and reliving the moment by watching SportsCenter highlights and watching Brendan Gibbons say he thinks of "brunettes" when it was time to focus on a kick. My immediate thought? "Wow, is that how a 'Michigan Man' is supposed to represent the University?"

I shudder now thinking of his alleged sexual assault case.

After this weekend's complete domination at the hands of Notre Dame, I have realized there is no such thing as a Michigan Man. At least not anymore. I'm done buying the narrative. Stop trying to sell me the legacy jerseys and special numbers. Stop trying to sell me on tradition and stories of days past. Stop trying to sell me on recruiting classes. Let Jabrill Peppers play a season or two before crowning him the next Charles Woodson. Michigan fans everywhere need to just stop and see this program for what it is, right now, in 2014.

Michigan is overwhelmed, overmatched, and bottom line -- not very good. Even if they win nine or 10 games, they still won't be very good in a weak Big Ten. Michigan is supposed to be a national powerhouse. Instead, the Wolverines are an also-ran in a "power" conference that went 8-5 in the second week of the season against mostly "inferior" opponents.

In reality, Michigan is inferior and has been for a long time. Michigan fans deserve better and should expect better. Michigan is supposed to be the Leaders and the Best. The Champions of the West. The Victors. Without expectations and pressure there will be no change. Firing Brady Hoke won't be the all-encompassing change people think. Hoke is just one cog in a very inefficient machine. Drastic changes have to be made.

I urge fans of the Wolverines to voice their displeasure. Be outraged. Demand better, because this program selling this narrative should be wearing thin and falling on deaf ears. Show that mediocrity will not be accepted.

Very soon, the Big Two, Little Eight (12) will be back, with Michigan State and Ohio State running the show. Some argue it's here now. They probably aren't wrong.

It's time for this program to come to grips with the reality that they are not the Michigan of old. Only then will they be able to build a foundation for the new Michigan.

Until then, I'll have the same thought I had leaving the Big House that first time.

It's going to be a long season.

Signed,

A Disgruntled, Dissatisfied, Disappointed, Die-Hard Michigan Football Fan and Alumnus

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