I was at the game on Saturday night in Ann Arbor with a mix of MSU and UM fans. As someone who has been around high school and college sports for 30 years, I've been processing all of this and relating it to my experiences around athletes, parents, coaches, our youth, and fans. I talked with a lot of coaches yesterday, watched/read what Comp posted, read this board, and saw some Twitter reaction. I don't think my take is anything earth-shattering, but like Comp, I think it's bigger than that field or tunnel on Saturday. I think it's even a step further.
Our society has lost the ability to disagree respectfully. Maybe we never really had it, but I'm 100% convinced it's gotten worse. Heck, I think we just don't respect other humans as we once did. I think what happened inside that stadium, and in that tunnel, is just a microcosm of society. Not only can we not disagree, the disagreement is followed by violence.
* I think we can all agree politics brings out the worst in this. Someone who doesn't agree with our stance is stupid, we call them names, or they just must be bad people
* Social media is a major factor. Veiled behind a keyboard of anonymity, people can say whatever they want and call names at will
* Officials are disrespected, verbally and now even now physically, worse than I've ever seen
* Players, fans, and parents say things to coaches that I can't even believe
* Fan disrespect for opposing fans just seems to be worse. Not saying good-natured ribbing and jabs haven't always been a thing. Even brawls, especially in the NFL. Just seems worse and more often. You can scroll through fight after fight in stadiums at games of just about every level
* When you see a kid getting bullied or beat up at a park or in a school and the bystanders are more eager to film than help, that's an indication to me of a lack of respect for other humans
* As Comp/Paul referred to, this rivalry has gotten heated. Mike Hart's comment seemed to really start the fire. Coach Dantonio stoked the flames. Joe Bolden throwing the stake. Gholston/Lewan exchange. The Walkgate incident and Devin Bush disrespecting the field. The social media jabs between players/alumni. People like Braylon Edwards, Draymond, or Taylor Lewan talking about the game/players/schools. Not judging or assigning a lot of blame in there, just seems like it was all building.
* Then you have the swipe at Coach Mel in the tunnel, the Michigan players taunting MSU as they tried to get off the field, and eventually 2 UM players mixed up with MSU players and what happened in the tunnel. I'd love to have more of that story before giving too much of my opinion, as I'd prefer to be accurate than be first when sharing my thinking. Regardless, MSU had players make some horrible decisions by assaulting UM players and some of our other players not stopping it.
* On top of that, when you add up all of those rivalry pieces over the last two decades, the fact that there wasn't a HEAVY police and coaching staff presence in that tunnel is beyond maddening. I know coaches shake hands after games, know players from other teams, often hang out on the field for a bit. But a football coaching staff has so many bodies. How can there not be PLENTY of adults in that tunnel (and no, not 70 year old ushers and sports writers), between coaches and police to make sure this doesn't happen?
I'm not surprised by what happened. It seems to be more of what we see in society and also in sports. I think it starts with an inability to see the world through another person's eyes. It starts on a bigger scale and just trickles it's way into sports and ultimately into that tunnel on Saturday night. Student-athletes didn't change genetically over the last 50 years. Blaming kids is a cop-out. How kids are raised and the world they are growing up in, is the issue, IMO.
I'm usually the glass half-full kind of guy. I'm around high school and college athletes on just about a daily basis. I see great kids, hard workers, and future leaders, but I'm not fired up about the world we are sending them into.
Our society has lost the ability to disagree respectfully. Maybe we never really had it, but I'm 100% convinced it's gotten worse. Heck, I think we just don't respect other humans as we once did. I think what happened inside that stadium, and in that tunnel, is just a microcosm of society. Not only can we not disagree, the disagreement is followed by violence.
* I think we can all agree politics brings out the worst in this. Someone who doesn't agree with our stance is stupid, we call them names, or they just must be bad people
* Social media is a major factor. Veiled behind a keyboard of anonymity, people can say whatever they want and call names at will
* Officials are disrespected, verbally and now even now physically, worse than I've ever seen
* Players, fans, and parents say things to coaches that I can't even believe
* Fan disrespect for opposing fans just seems to be worse. Not saying good-natured ribbing and jabs haven't always been a thing. Even brawls, especially in the NFL. Just seems worse and more often. You can scroll through fight after fight in stadiums at games of just about every level
* When you see a kid getting bullied or beat up at a park or in a school and the bystanders are more eager to film than help, that's an indication to me of a lack of respect for other humans
* As Comp/Paul referred to, this rivalry has gotten heated. Mike Hart's comment seemed to really start the fire. Coach Dantonio stoked the flames. Joe Bolden throwing the stake. Gholston/Lewan exchange. The Walkgate incident and Devin Bush disrespecting the field. The social media jabs between players/alumni. People like Braylon Edwards, Draymond, or Taylor Lewan talking about the game/players/schools. Not judging or assigning a lot of blame in there, just seems like it was all building.
* Then you have the swipe at Coach Mel in the tunnel, the Michigan players taunting MSU as they tried to get off the field, and eventually 2 UM players mixed up with MSU players and what happened in the tunnel. I'd love to have more of that story before giving too much of my opinion, as I'd prefer to be accurate than be first when sharing my thinking. Regardless, MSU had players make some horrible decisions by assaulting UM players and some of our other players not stopping it.
* On top of that, when you add up all of those rivalry pieces over the last two decades, the fact that there wasn't a HEAVY police and coaching staff presence in that tunnel is beyond maddening. I know coaches shake hands after games, know players from other teams, often hang out on the field for a bit. But a football coaching staff has so many bodies. How can there not be PLENTY of adults in that tunnel (and no, not 70 year old ushers and sports writers), between coaches and police to make sure this doesn't happen?
I'm not surprised by what happened. It seems to be more of what we see in society and also in sports. I think it starts with an inability to see the world through another person's eyes. It starts on a bigger scale and just trickles it's way into sports and ultimately into that tunnel on Saturday night. Student-athletes didn't change genetically over the last 50 years. Blaming kids is a cop-out. How kids are raised and the world they are growing up in, is the issue, IMO.
I'm usually the glass half-full kind of guy. I'm around high school and college athletes on just about a daily basis. I see great kids, hard workers, and future leaders, but I'm not fired up about the world we are sending them into.
