michigan breathes

Baseball has the purest successful play.

Is there anything better than a towering homerun? When the ball leaves a players bat, soaring toward the stands of slowly rising fans, it’s destiny is sealed. It will drop beyond the field of play and will be worth, one (+ the number of players on base, of course). Go ahead and mark it, dude. There is no bringing that one back.

The homerun is great because it is somewhat unlike any other pinnacle play in the four major sports. In football, any touchdown scamper can be brought back by a holding call. A shot in basketball can be waved off by a simultaneous offensive foul, or some idiot coach’s middle-of-the-play timeout to draw-up a plan that will subsequently NOT lead to a bucket. Hockey is fun. A player’s skate can be in the crease; a puck may not make it across the line before it reads triple zero; the goalpost can be bumped a gnat’s nut-hair off its proper position; and so on. Now sure, in baseball, there are homeruns that flirt with the foul pole or tickle the yellow line that paints the top of outfield walls. But when someone blasts a Boooyaaaahh 12 rows deep into left-center, you do not find yourself with held breath, frozen in suspense on your couch, praaaaying you don’t see the camera pan to a referee.

A homerun is pure, unquestioned celebration.

It is superior because we don’t need to hold our breath to enjoy it.

I wonder if Auburn is currently holding its breath?

A few weeks ago Cam Newton and his Auburn Tiger football program wrapped up their Heisman and national championship season. Amid all this was the season-long scandal that he and/or his father took money for Cam to play football. The investigation is still ongoing and could one day lead to further evidence that costs Cam his trophy, or Auburn it’s season. Certainly, we’ve seen this before. Reggie Bush recently lost his Heisman trophy with the confirmation that he and his family took illegal benefits while at USC. Memphis basketball had to vacate their 38-win season and national championship appearance because of Derrick Rose’s invalidated SAT score. USC is on probation for recruiting violations that will cost them 2 years of potential bowl appearances.

Why does this happen in college sports? It’s the answer that everyone knows; college sports are a business. And winning is good business. And to win you need to beat your competition. And this gets harder and harder every year. You have to have an edge, a shortcut, or offer something that others cannot, or will not.

The problem I fear is there are fewer and fewer programs that will not cheat to get what they need. Coaches, AD’s and programs cannot afford to pass on poor character guys or lose out on prized recruits whose fathers are in the background rubbing their thumb and fingers together. Pay them, get them here, win, wash, repeat. The question is what do you want your program to look like? Do you care if they do it the right way as long as they are winning? Even if you think that because college sports are a business and they should be paying the players anyway, the way to honorably fight for that is not to pay players behind the NCAA’s back. These are the current rules in which we must play by and if you break them, and are caught, you will hurt your program.

A recent article asked U of M Law Professor, Richard Friedman, whether Michigan could still be a world-class university and football power in the modern landscape of money and sports, to which he replied,

“There’s no doubt in my mind, that if we had to move in one direction or the other, I’d rather move in the direction of Northwestern than of Ohio State.”

Clearly the man rightfully cares more about the integrity of his school than he does of its football success.

For years, we have had the luxury as Michigan football fans of being able to have our cake and eat it too. While we’ve always been a winning program, we’ve also always been a relatively clean program. There were never any University of Miami or Southern Methodist scandals surrounding Michigan football. However, if it comes down to choosing one type of success, I’ll jump on board with the professor.

Michigan has had to hold its breath.

When Rich Rodriguez was here, I was constantly torn between wishing for on the field success, and wanting something behind the scenes to push the school heads to finally fire him. I do not want a coach burning the midnight oil next to a paper shredder. I do not want a coach that has a record number of players transfer away or creates a reputation of eroding family values. I do not want investigations, or questions about practice time, or self-imposed sanctions, or relief when we are only slightly penalized. I do not want a coach whose success has to be tied to the possibility of having it all taken away someday. Our basketball program has already been dragged down that road! When Rodriguez was here, it felt as though the entire program was constantly looking over its shoulder for the next blow to come.

Enter Brady Hoke. He comes from San Diego State with no baggage or lawsuits. There are no pending investigations or poor reputations. In fact, he was once a Michigan coach, and seems to understand that fairly annoying mantra that is so tied to our school: A Michigan Man. It may be over blown, but represents so much of our identity. It means more than a winning percentage or being connected to the university. It is a code of conduct, and an honorable way of doing things. If college football is a business, then it stands for the right way to do business. It is now, just as much Hoke’s responsibility to build a winner, as it is to uphold this standard.

National signing day was yesterday. I hope Hoke picked the right guys and got them here the right way. I would love to root for these kids for four years, see them stay scandal free, work hard, and turn their three-star ratings into NFL potential.It may be a few years before we seriously challenge for the Big Ten title. It may be several more years before we challenge the Auburns, USCs and Ohio States. But if we do, we will get there by our own path. And if Hoke is fortunate enough to take down one of these current goliaths, he will have belted a moon-shot blast, to straightaway center that will launch Michigan back into college football supremacy. And unlike many of our counterparts, the program, the university, and MEEECH nation, will trot the bases in exaltation, without having to look over its shoulder.

Finally Michigan, we can exhale.