Fold or Fight

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It's not supposed to be like this. Tuesday is here and I'm uninspired. I've lost some of the faith in a system I believed in. I've cringed at the last few press conferences. Maybe I don't have the stomach to be the last guy flying the "keep Rich Rod" flag. Maybe it's time to move on. What's weird about the whole thing, is that the season has pretty much gone the way I expected it to. But now that it has happened, I feel differently, and I'm not sure why. It might just be that I've seen more losses in these three years than ever before. It might be the way the defense is so perfectly inept, giving up huge chunks of yards on plays that these teams have been running for 30 years. It might have been that 24-0 halftime score on senior day in a newly renovated Big House.

All the discussions this week are centered around the future...the distant future. Will he be back for a 4th year? Will Denard leave with him if he's fired? What if he lets Greg Robinson go...is that enough "quid pro quo" between a head coach and a former player turned AD? And in the midst of all of that, somehow we snake oiled a running back recruit right out from under Notre Dame. Weird.

But there was a time, not so long ago, when this week was about something else. It was at this time of year that I would find myself consumed with hatred. I'd think about the history, the stuff "before my time," like how Woody Hayes went for two because he couldn't go for three. Or when the Big Ten sent Ohio State to the Rose Bowl after the tie game in 1973...and how MSU was the deciding vote in a cowardly secret ballot that Bo would later uncover. Then there were the things I remember first hand, like being disrespected when they made us 17-point underdogs in 1996 (we showed 'em), or when David Boston got in Woodson's face in the '97 game (we showed 'em again). Mistakingly passing through the OSU tailgates while visiting Columbus in 2000 and being pelted with raw hot dogs...having a 80+ year old women flip me off and tell me to "get the fuck out of (her) town" in 2002...that OSU student that attempted to steal my Michigan hat from off of my head in 2004...

Anger. Hatred. Rivalry.

That was then. With each passing year since 2003, I've felt more and more like Andy Dufresne fighting the Sisters. In fact, I can almost hear Morgan Freeman's voice summarizing the next iteration of Michigan-Ohio State:

I wish I could tell you that Michigan fought the good fight, and the Sisters let them be. I wish I could tell you that, but Columbus is no fairy-tale world.

How do I get that fight back? How do I get angry? It's almost sacrilege to ask the question, but....how do I get fired up for Michigan-Ohio State? The residents of Columbus don't even care anymore. They've become downright nice over the past few years. Long gone is the animosity built on ruining their collective lives in '95. '96, and '97, and the times when we considered renting cars in Toledo with Ohio plates to avoid state troopers and increase our chances of survival.

A couple trips back, somebody actually stopped by our car and said "Welcome to Columbus." That's the reality of this rivalry. It's closer to a punchline to anyone under the age of 23.

There is only one way to get that fight back. Strip everything out of the equation...the coaching controversy, the pros and cons of a spread offense in the Big Ten, the 3-3-5 defense, the 2500+ days since we last beat them, the past, the future, that stuffed animal GERG rubbed on Demons...and make it just about Michigan and Ohio State. Winged helmets, white jerseys, and maize pants. Buckeye-laden gray helmets, scarlet jerseys, and gray pants. Us. Them.

Winning may not fix everything, but it will fix Saturday. And for now, that has to be enough.

GO BLUE!

The Buckeyes? They're Doing Everything I Want to Do

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Let me make a short list...

1) Played a home at home with Texas in football

2) Played a home at home with USC in football

3) Won "the game" 6 consecutive times

4) Has a modern day "fab 5" (really 6) recruiting class coming in for hoops next year...and they don't even need it (BTW...66-55, Buckeyes over Michigan in hoops this afternoon)

5) And finally, the game I wanted, in the venue I wanted, has been scheduled for the team that I hate.  The Buckeyes will return the home at home to Navy in Baltimore to open the 2014 season...at M&T Bank Stadium, the home of the Baltimore Ravens.

Lost in all this Rodriguez talk, in the idiotic NCAA investigation, and the lack of wins around here, is that we have a serious deficiency in COOL SHIT.  Cool shit creates a buzz, which makes people take notice of your program, which makes future recruits buy your hats and baggy shorts when they're 8 years old, virtually locking them in and creating recruiting classes 10 years in advance.

Somebody call Dave Brandon, and tell him that we need to fix Michigan Athletics the way he fixed the pizza at Dominos.  I'm sick of the bland taste and the cardboard crust.  Like it or not, Rich Rodriguez is the new spicy sauce...and that's why I want to keep him around, why I want him to succeed.  Throwing out the metaphors, I don't want to be scared to schedule a west coast road trip, or to agree to a home at home with a decent team.

Michigan Basketball Starts the New Year Happy

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Ahhh yes, we've ushered in a new year...a new decade even...sitting at home, wondering if we'll be sitting here next year.  But that's football, that's another day.  Michigan Basketball, from an expectations to output standpoint, has been nearly as disappointing in the 2009 portion of the season.  Three defeats in a row against Marquette, Alabama, and Boston College have seemingly all but sealed Michigan's tournament hopes.  They closed out 2009 by opening the Big Ten season with an embarrassing defeat to the lowly Hoosiers, who happened to be without their super-Frosh Maurice Creek, which does not bode well when we look ahead to the rest of the Big Ten.

But tonight, just tonight, they looked a bit like last year's Wolverines.  Don't get me wrong, they were not by any means great.  But they seemed interested, which is a step ahead of what we've seen so far this season.  Shots fell.  Turnovers were forced.  There seemed to be a somewhat cohesive unit out there, a unit that had leaders, role-players, shooters, defenders.  In short, we seemed to be a basketball team tonight.  A basketball team with confidence, wearing the gold jerseys, and forgetting about 2009.

Sure they defeated an Ohio State team that despite being ranked today, will be unranked tomorrow.   A team that is now 3-3 since losing Evan Turner, including a 65-43 drubbing by Wisconsin on New Year's Eve in Madison.  But we have to start somewhere, and if our start is defeating those bastards from Columbus, then this already is a happy New Year.

So...ya...Happy New Year folks.

A Tailgate to Remember, A Season to Forget

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It's Thanksgiving week, so I just want to take a second to thank everyone that participated in our transition year of tailgating as we left the golf course for greener (actually more asphault colored) pastures.  You guys really blew my mind this year with the turn out, the donations, and the enthusiasm.  So much so that we are going to have to move this thing to a bigger venue.  Stay tuned this offseason to find out where we end up.

I want to also give special thanks to a few folks...


  • Gus, Mel, and the gang from New York.  You guys were all amazing.  Your hard work and generosity made things so much easier for me this season, and I would like to express my deepest gratitude for everything you did, up to and including the massive amount of filet mignon you showed up with for what was truly a grand finale of tailgates this past Saturday.  We look forward to many years of having you as part of our group.  It's nice that after all of these years to have the tailgate family still growing.

  • Our hotdog crew, Joe and Jeff, who feed 100+ people in the postgame.  I can't even imagine what the count was in total dogs for the season....not to mention the pounds of scortching hot peppers.  How ever many it is, it's a huge load off for me, especially in these past couple of years when all I want to do after the game is curl up in a ball and cry.

  • My load-unload crew of Kristen and JJ, who while noticeably absent for several games, occasionally provided the manpower needed to unload the car and get me to the couch as fast as possible after returning from these on the field debacles.  OK, really it's only JJ, but Kristen does provide inspiration through her motivating dialogue, like "hurry up I want to order Pizza House."  Love you both...wouldn't be the same without you.

  • Also, thanks to any and all of you that helped with setup and takedown...too many people to name, but you know who you are, and it is much appreciated.

  • Finally, thanks to James Dickson of AnnArbor.com, who has put my name in the paper more times in the last three months than I'd like to admit.  He's become kind of an embedded tailgate reporter at UMTailgate.com, and his articles are all great reads, especially when they include quotes from our group...like this week.

Commence the run to the Final Four.

GO BLUE!