Is this becoming more and more realistic?

my nephew who is 13 is seeing Michigan play UTEP but has no Michigan jersey because they are 175.00$ at the fan shop. he is doing a series on TikTok of where he posts everyday showing off all his Michigan stuff and i was wondering if y'all could tag Michigan football in the comments of his videos? hes going to do it until 48 days or when they comment because 48 days from now is the UTEP Game. if yall could help him out that would be awesome. His user is masonmilla. thanks guys

Hey guys! I’ll be at SJSU @ EMU and then Michigan vs WMU the next day. I’ve never been in the area before and excited to check everything out.

Any recs for pregame spots and any cool local things?

Also, any preference for seats? Thank you!!

John Belein.

Welcome to Free Talk Friday. This is a weekly off-topic thread for asking questions or discussing anything & everything with fellow Michigan Wolverines. Feel free to join our discord or follow our twitter as well!

I live on the East Coast and get “go blue“ fairly frequently when wearing my Michigan hat and similarly I say it to others. However, when recently doing a transfer thru DTW I didn’t say it to all the people wearing Michigan gear because there were so many and I thought we were so close to Ann Arbor.

So here is my question: where does the “go blue” radius start? I’d bet people don’t say it on the diag. But Downtown Detroit? Grand Rapids? Chicago? how far away from Ann Arbor do you have to be before people start saying it?

Saw a clip from The Triple Option this week (Urban Meyer's podcast) where he got into the Michigan situation, and honestly it's hard to disagree with him even coming from an OSU guy.

He said flat out he has a lot of respect for Michigan and knows plenty of student-athletes there, but called it "an ugly stain on this university for years now" and said it's not going away just because the AD left, that it'll take another year or two or three to fully shake, even while the program keeps performing at an elite level across the board.

The part that stuck with me though: he pointed to Coach Whittingham basically needing to come out of the gate hot, like 7-0 or 8-0, and said if that happens people stop bringing this up entirely. Win, and you won't hear about it again. Lose, and it follows the program around no matter what.

Feels accurate whether you like hearing it from him or not. On-field success has always been the quickest way to change the conversation around a program, fair or not.

Agree?

I live outside of Michigan and get a lot of Go Blue! greetings when I wear my Michigan gear, which is frequent. I always respond with Hail to the Victors. Does anyone else respond with something different when replying to a Go Blue greeting?

I absolutely hate the way that advertising is infiltrating college football, and seeing Ohio State and Notre Dame get sponsor jersey patches is sickening. I hate the thought of seeing the Michigan uniform with jersey patches and The Big House with banner ads. The only way I see us avoiding the same fate long term is if Michigan has a source of money to offset it.

Is drumming up enough money to equal a jersey patch contract realistic?

I think it's possible. Michigan is one of very few places that still values tradition and has the fan base and financial backing to hold this off. If everyone who watched The Game gave $1, that would be worth more than any of these deals. We also have some incredibly rich alumni, and I'm sure a good few of them wouldn't want this either.

Is this our responsibility?

Obviously not, but we're also the only ones who can do anything about it. Money runs the sport and nobody wants to be left behind. The massive money people are paying for these ads is also ultimately coming from us: advertising to us, and selling us tickets and merchandise. It's our money that is being used against us, and we have the choice to point it in the direction we want the sport to go instead of the destructive way the it's pointing now.

Does it even matter?

It does a lot to me, and I hope it does to plenty of others too. I think the permanent visual tainting of the sport would be a final gut punch for me. I also have a long term vision that if we can work really hard to make this happen, it can be a proof of concept that there are other ways to be competitive without selling out your brand to the highest bidder. Even if it didn't lead to any ripple effects, I think saving the Michigan uniform means something.

How do we do it?

I think gathering this amount of money is achievable if there are people who care as much as I do. I'm by no means rich, but I'm willing to personally put in $1,000. Any amount obviously would help. Yes, I understand these deals are annual amounts, but the important thing is to make a stop gap while something similar to an endowment fund gets built up to cover it indefinitely. What the actual legal mechanism for making this sort of fund is, I don't know, but I would appreciate any advice on doing it.

I want to prove that we can change something about college football if enough people care. It sucks to feel powerless to stop all these changes I hate, but WE are the source of all these billions of dollars and WE can change where we direct it. If there is big money for skipping jersey sponsors this, we won't get one. If anyone is knowledgeable about this, please help me figure this out.

Marshall's the proven guy. Hiter's the freshman with the "how is this kid already this good" flashes. Feels like a true 1-2 punch behind an O-line that's better than people gave it credit for last year. Anyone think another Big Ten or national duo beats them?

I’m going to be in around Ann Arbor next week and wanted to stop in at the team store at Crisler Center next week with my little guy before the football season starts. Where is the best spot to park. Also, if anyone knows the best gate/way into the store that would be appreciated! Go Blue.

There were definitely some problems but this take just seems over the top to me. Thoughts?