Friday, August 29, 2008

You have to hate Losing more then you love Winning

That line is something the Wolverines lost sight of under Lloyd Carr. He learned from Bo and knew at the end of the day everything was going to be all right. Bo's Michigan was about overpowering the other team. You never had to out think them. Who cares if the entire world knew Mike Hart was going to run left, let them try to stop it!

Well over the past few years, teams were stopping it and stopping it regularly. Our play calling became weak and our ability to not "lose" games was gone. Case in point: The disaster last year: the team was not ready to play before the ball was even snapped. I pointed that out as they ran from the tunnel. The team had taken on the personality of it's coach, clam, relaxed, cool, and prepared like they have the past 40 years.

Well guess what? Things have changed. Lloyd Carr is and always will be a class act, he did things the right way, he recruited well, made kids go to class, and tried to keep them out of trouble. He gave us the magical year of 1997 and left on a high note as Michigan beat the highly favored Gators in a New Years Day Bowl.

We appreciate and Thank You Lloyd, but Today is a New Day and this team has something to prove to everyone. Nobody expects anything from this team. Sports Illustrated doesn't even think Michigan will have a winning record and lose it's Bowl streak. Even this blog thinks a successful season is 4 loses. When was the last time you thought 4 losses was a good year?

You have to hate lose more then you love to win.

That is the key, I hope the Wolverines learned that a year ago this weekend. That is what I believe, RR and staff bring to this team. It's a new approach on offense and defense but it's more then that. It's a belief no matter how good you think you are you have to work your ass off to be better and to win football games. No hanging around and smoking pot or taking practice off to farm with Dad. It's about two things: Class time and Football time. It's about putting time: in the gym, on the track, in the film room, in the weight room and on the practice field.

It's about being hungry, it's about team work, it's that you haven't earned anything yet, it's about hating to lose more then you love to win.

I love the sign: Those that stay will be champions. But today's sign should read, those that work hard will be champions. Championships are no longer a right of passage for the Michigan Wolverines, they need to earn them.

Earn something on Saturday.

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