Today I am both excited and disappointed. Excited for the future at my beloved University of Michigan. Disappointed with how far the Lions have fallen in six weeks.
This morning the Wolverines announced Rich Rodriguez as their new head coach and I am about as happy as a fan can be. I’ve wanted them to pursue him since Lloyd Carr announced his retirement, and I was frustrated that they hadn’t even considered him more than three weeks into their coaching search. I was very excited on Friday when the news broke that Rodriguez met with Michigan officials for 6 hours. Then as the news reports continued throughout the weekend, there was no indication that Rodriguez had told the Wolverines that he wasn’t interested. Then the news broke yesterday that the deal was done.
Not only is Rodriguez bringing a dynamic spread offense with him, he may be bringing the best high school football player in the country with him. Terelle Pryor is the #1 high school football player according to rivals.com and Pryor is a big fan of ”Coach Rod”. With a versatile athlete like Pryor combined with a potent passer like current Michigan QB Ryan Mallett, the Wolverines could have a combo like the Chris Leak/Tim Tebow tandem that won a national title last year with the Florida Gators. I expect big things in years to come from Coach Rod, even if the next couple of seasons involve some growing pains. This is a major step forward for Michigan by going in a completely different direction than they’ve had for 40 years. I think the potential is there for this to be as big a moment in Michigan Wolverine history as when they hired Bo.
On the other hand, the Detroit Lions were embarassed yesterday 51-14 by the San Diego Chargers yesterday which dropped them to 6-8 on the season. They’ve lost 6 straight games since I professed my new-found confidence in them. I feel so stupid for getting sucked in by this team. I should know by now after a lifetime of cheering for the Lions that this kind of collapse was on its way. I can’t believe that I actually was talking with people about the Lions’ playoff chances just a few weeks ago. I wish I could say that I don’t care anymore, but that would be lying. I just hope that I can see a Lions team with a winning record before I have grandchildren.
Tomorrow is the best day of the year, and like the previous three years, I will not be able to enjoy it fully. Tomorrow is the game of games, the biggest rivalry in sports, the hate between the states.
It’s the Michigan/Ohio State game.
Tomorrow is the 104th meeting of the mighty Wolverines of Ann Arbor and the redneck loser Buckeyes of Columbus. This game is always big, but tomorrow could be one for the ages. It isn’t going to be special because a shot at the national title is on the line, it’s not. It’s going to be special because it is the last game for Chad Henne, Mike Hart, Jake Long and maybe even the last for Mario Manningham, Adrian Arrington, and Lloyd Carr. There have been a lot of rumblings that Lloyd will announce his retirement either after the game or early next week. I believe that if the players know this is Carr’s last game, they are going to come out and play some inspired football. I believe that Ohio State is the better team coming in to the game tomorrow, but that matters little in this rivalry.
Unfortunately, I will not be able to watch the entire game for a 4th year in a row. We will be in Chicago for the weekend and we will be eating lunch at the Walnut Room tomorrow, as is the tradition in Cassie’s family. They always go downtown the Saturday before Thanksgiving and have lunch and do some Christmas shopping. Since I love my wife (and because I’m no longer allowed a say in these matters) I will be there eating some good food and walking around in the cold. Thankfully I will have my super-sweet smartphone with me and I’ll be able to stay up to date with the scores. Plus, the ABC studio is near Macy’s downtown, so I will probably be standing outside watching the game on one of the TVs they have facing the street. I will try to update my thoughts during the game on my Twitter page.
GO BLUE!
Here in the state of Michigan, things are tough. We have the highest unemployment rate in the country, the highest gas prices in the country, our main industry (the one I happen to work in) is crumbling, and to top it off we’re facing a $1.8 billion budget deficit. People are selling their homes and moving out of the state in massive numbers.
This week is the annual Mackinac Policy Conference where Michigan lawmakers and civic leaders go to discuss the future of the state and how to keep the state viable. Unfortunately this conference has become more like a funeral for the state’s economy for the past few years, and this year is turning out to be the worst yet. Despite all of the problems this state is facing, lawmakers are considering raising taxes to make up the difference in the state budget. Right now the Michigan state income tax is 3.9%, but lawmakers are proposing a tax increase to somewhere between 4.4% and 4.9%.
What I don’t understand is how our representatives in Lansing can see the struggles we are going through and decide that taking money away from us is the best solution.
It’s now midnight and I can’t come down from the excitement of today’s events. I watched the Tigers win the ALCS in historic and dramatic fashion and then watched Michigan play their way into the #2 spot in the polls. (They had better be #2 after today.)
When this season started, I honestly believed the Tigers would be a better team than they have been in recent years. I thought they had a shot at playing .500 baseball this season and I thought they could maybe get to 85 wins. I never thought they would be even playing in the playoffs let alone making it to the World Series. I wasn’t alone in my thoughts, 19 baseball “experts” on ESPN made preseason predictions this year and not one picked the Tigers to make the playoffs. This is an incredible story that will be remembered for a very long time. I only wish my dad lived closer so he could experience all of this. We lived in Chicago for the last Tigers World Series, so he’s never gotten to experience it first hand.
Things are not great here in Michigan. The economy is in the toilet and the industry that this state was built on (the automotive industry) is in a free fall. Thousands of people are out of work and more are losing their jobs every day. What this team, like all sports teams in Michigan, give us a release and something to be joyful about. It would be easy to be depressed if all we had was a bleak outlook for the future and the Lions to cheer us up. We are a proud people and we want to show the world that even though we may be down, we’re never out here in the Motor City and the state of Michigan.
Game 1 of the World Series is on Saturday… and the whole world will be watching Detroit cheer.