Rip Van Wolverines - The Long Dark Sleep is Over

This is weird. I just woke up and feel like I've been having a Rip Van Winkle kind of Long Dark Sleep - I understand that it's 2015 and I've been deep in football dreams and nightmares for nearly nine years. The last thing I recall was Ohio State and Michigan being ranked #1 and #2 and about to challenge each other head-on for that top spot. Lloyd Carr had his team ready but Bo insisted on giving the Wolverines a special motivational speech. It was electric. I hadn't been so excited and confident for a game in a long time. And then, I don't know what happened, but my Michigan memory disappeared into a strange world where things happened in Ann Arbor that just don't occur in any reality I ever experienced at the university. I've heard from others that had a similar sleepy loss of time and place and memory. Maybe there was something in the air, like Dorothy in the poppy fields of Oz or contrails from aircraft whose owners, likely from East Lansing or Columbus, had nefarious plans for the Maize and Blue faithful. We'll never know. Bo's lifting up the team one minute. Jim Harbaugh's our coach the next. And there's the Dream Time in between.

I don't know what you remember from your dream sleep, but some key points from mine went something along these lines:

• Before that 2006 game, Bo Schembechler left this world. This couldn't have been real because he's immortal to us. He's just off somewhere, getting served Big Macs by Elvis, awaiting his triumphant return, the Once and Future Coach.
• Michigan adopted a spread offense and hired a guy named Rich Rodriguez who was from West Virginia and had no affiliation to the university at all. The greater Michigan family was divided and rancorous. To make it worse, the new guy tried to start new traditions. [Gasp] I know this to be impossible. Hire outside the extended Michigan family? Gimmicky spread offense? Dissent in the Michigan ranks. Not in a million years.
• Then President Mary Sue Coleman hired a new Athletic Director, Dave Brandon, a businessman hawker of pizza and coupon mailers whose primary qualifications for the job were being a slick marketing guru, a former Regent and a little known football player for Schembechler. After a slew of uncharacteristic losing seasons [cue the heavenly sounds of Josh Groban's "You Lift Me Up"] he made Rich Rod go away. 
• In no time, Brandon handed the coaching torch to a jovial unknown from SDSU, Brady Hoke. He looked like Fred Flintstone but he knew exactly what to say to seduce the Wolverine family. In dreams, you hear what you want to hear. He had a National Championship ring from the 1997 season of glory.  [Fade out Groban and fade into Pop Evil's infernal "In the Big House"] He understood Michigan was a place of "Tradition!" and didn't rock the boat. After going 11-2 his first season, I almost remember waking up. (This was a false memory - a dream within a dream, if you will.) And then things went a little hallucinogenic. Hoke apologized to MSU about some perceived slight involving a tent stake. Beyonce spoke to us at a half-time show. And Tom Harmon's sacred number was not only being worn, but getting ground into the turf behind the line of scrimmage with remarkable regularity. Tickets were being given away for buying a Coke or using a coupon at Meijer. Long-time attendance records were in danger of falling. The AD was telling fans to find another team via angry late night emails. The Alumni Association offered a membership Groupon.

STOP. I can't even recall this psychedelic break from reality without high anxiety. If it had really happened someone would have stepped in and put an end to it. Right?

Well, it's the ultimate relief to know that all of it was just a weird, horrific nightmare. I'm awake now and aware (fully!) for the first time since I blacked out of Michigan Football on November 17, 2006.

Sure, I'm sad to realize that Bo really is gone. I'm just glad I got to talk to him over beers a couple years before that day. I see Rich Rod winning at Arizona, Dave Brandon leading Santa's Elves at Toys 'R Us, and Brady Hoke enlightening listeners about high energy execution on Sirius radio -- as if nothing bad ever happened here at all.

And this Thursday, when Jim Harbaugh marches onto the field in Utah for his first game at the helm of the Wolverines, a new dream begins for all of us. It'll be a waking dream and will certainly have its share of twists and turns. Ecstatic highs and of course, some rough patches that may occasionally make us nervous about the return of the Long Dark Sleep. We all suffer a Michigan football fan's version of PTSD. But it won't come. 

Part of the Long Dark Sleep was preparing us for this moment and preparing our leader for his time. In this new dream, Bo isn't really gone. He's living on in Jim Harbaugh's head 24/7/365 - a testament to the lessons and wisdom imparted by the old legend to his long-in-coming rightful heir.There will be no excuses, no passing the buck, and above all, no apologies to anyone, especially our rivals in East Lansing and Columbus. Accountability. Execution. Dedication. Work. These words will be defined and upheld in ways none of the coaches of the Long Dark Sleep could realize here. 

So dream on, dear Wolverines, and enjoy the show.  Scene One, Act One on Thursday should be dramatic. And I think Team 136 can pull this one off. I can't begin to bet against Harbaugh in his opener. He may be coaching some of the same men who contributed to years of "Ls", but there's no way on Earth they're the same players.

Let the games begin. GO BLUE! 

The RED Women's Movement - A Cure for Writers Block

It's been awhile since I've been back here, tapping out my thoughts about football and other sports that catch my attention in phrases exceeding 140 characters. It's not that I haven't had anything to say, really. It's that the things I felt like saying were already being said by a few hundred other people with a lot more juice than me on the internet. What drove me to write last fall was anger and frustration with the state of Michigan football, Brady Hoke, and especially Dave Brandon. If most successful writers are driven by emotion, angst, and a darkness of spirit, I had that in spades last year. Didn't we all?

Then Jim Harbaugh came along and ruined all that by making me happy and hopeful. By entertaining me to a point where I can barely recall the years of The Horror. But really, how many people need to document his every word and every move? What more could I say about this crazy, intense, beautiful coach and the things he's doing with his new program than others were already saying? So I took a summer hiatus from MGoGirl and just fiddled around on Twitter and MGoBlog when I felt the need to say something. 

With football season fast approaching, I've been contemplating how to ease myself back into my little literary endeavor. Thanks to my BFF and former MGoRoommate Lynn, who somehow manages to read the internet completely at least once a day, I was given the nudge I needed -- a tidbit of insanity she found on Salon.com and shared with me on Facebook.

It's called the RED Women's Movement and I think most of you will find it a slap in the face to football-loving ladies everywhere. Check it out on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers website. Go ahead. Take a couple minutes. It won't take you long to either love the idea -- or if you're like me, feel cheapened, belittled, and dismissed. Dismissed from the man cave where I, too, enjoy calling the next play, second-guessing referees, asking my man for another beer, and cussing like a sailor or throwing objects when things don't go my team's way.

The Buccaneers bill this as "a women's movement that will re-invent the female fan experience." It's supposedly being led by the women of the Tampa Bay area to help start an "exciting new era" for female fans in their region. It's described as "groundbreaking," but I'd characterize it as condescending bullshit and football gods forbid this movement ever reaches the Mason-Dixon line in its attempt to create a special community of female football followers.

So, ladies, this is what RED will do for you:

• Year round education on understanding football (OK, if done in a non-condescending way, this is potentially acceptable.)
• Insider's talks with the Bucs' GM and visits from Bucs' legends, whatever that means. (Vinnie Testaverde? Baby! Count me in. Not.)
• Game day style tips (somewhere Tim Gunn is reaching for smelling salts)
• Sessions on how to incorporate Bucs love into tailgating and home entertainment ideas
• Practical advice on expressing Bucs love through "fashion-forward" team apparel and creative culinary efforts.

It's bad enough that the photo in the article shows three hot, young blonde babes in Bucs' gear to represent the female fan. I barely noticed them, though. The picture was replaced in my mind's eye with one from the Mad Men era. In that photo, mommy is enjoying game day in the kitchen wearing a dress with a Peter Pan collar and smart, matching pumps. And she's not yelling "J---F---C---! Homer refs! I hope Jim Delany is happy with that call. Takin' care of Uncle Urbz! Asshats." She's just happy to be all matchy-matchy and deliver cold beer and thoughtfully prepared snacks to the guys in the room.

The stunning stupidity of this program is almost laugh-worthy. Seriously, the first thing I did when Lynn shared the  article with me was to check for Onion.com as the source. I understand that not all women know as much about football as many of us do. There's nothing wrong with that, just as there's nothing wrong with a program to teach women more about football. That indeed could improve the game day experience for many women who don't currently enjoy a weekend marathon of college and pro football with their menfolk like I do. (There are even times when my beau Dave wants to turn it off and I'm "no, we need to watch the end of this game.")

I just fail to see what fashion-forward gameday apparel and cooking tips have to do with the Bucs' stated aim of changing the way women enjoy football. It's condescending and dismissive. It doesn't pull women into the same fan experience men have. It considers them fangirl Barbie dolls who want to know "What's a play clock?" (yes, click the link and witness) while contemplating whether their blouse matches the napkins the men will use at the tailgate which will be serving Buccaneer Bruschetta with I-Can-Define-First-Down Filets.

I hope the women of Tampa (who I suspect had nothing to do with this clearly non-grassroots movement) give this program (and the men who started it) what it deserves -- a) a forced run through a gauntlet of female fans swinging wooden spoons and jabbing with cocktail forks and shrimp deveining knives and/or b) a surprise halftime bombing of Raymond James Stadium with hundreds of thousands of tampons and other feminine delights. 

Would that help the Bucs' management pull their heads out of their collective 1957 ass? Probably not. When you're that out of touch with 2015, I don't see much enlightenment happening.

All I know is that in reading about RED, I appreciate being a Michigan fan and a Michigan woman more than ever! We get the Michigan Women's Football Academy with real coaches and game play. Tampa Bay women get Project Top Chef on the Runway. Who has it better than us?

Go Blue! I'm back. And my MGoLadies can laugh more about RED here. 

A Quality Day in the Universe

Yesterday could have gone all wrong. It was a day chock full of sports I care about a lot. It also involved plenty of teams and coaches I either love, like, or loathe.  I began tempering my expectations days before, preparing for a laundry list of emotions by Saturday night, expecting disappointment. It's my M.O. -- expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised -- and for the first time in a while, I got to enjoy the surprise.

From the moment I woke until I collapsed into bed 18 hours later, it was a rare day of sports in which every outcome I hoped to see actually materialized. It started when I walked out the door into a brisk, sunny maize and blue day and ended with visions of Kentucky-- the entire state -- crying in the bitter pain of loss and the caustic fumes of burning jerseys. Here's how the day broke down for me:

The Michigan Spring Game: Fans Waking Up with Collective Amnesia

I arrived in Ann Arbor, with my MGoMan (nameless to protect his called-in-sick-to-work identity), at about 9:30 a.m. and was granted by the parking gods, a size-challenged space 100 yards from the north gate. After surgically inserting my SUV into said space, we proceeded to break out our mini-tailgate fare and watched as thousands descended on the Big House. It felt like a real game day except for our 40 yard line seats on the press box side, a view I never see on game day. I was even giddy about my Alumni Association swag - a #4 drawstring backpack which was an odd gift that totally violates the uber-restrictive Big House "bag rules," but was certainly useful and fun Saturday.

The atmosphere was lively and celebratory as 60,000 fans awoke, with collective amnesia, from seven years shrouded in darkness and dearth of hope. All due to the khaki'd man on the field, the miracle that happened. Harbaugh and AD Jim Hackett made all the right moves with this game. I've been to plenty of spring games in my life, from Bo's Blue and White scrimmages to Hoke's first (and last) hopeful effort. This was bigger, livelier, and nearly better-attended than some actual games last fall. Our national anthem was well-belted. The band played the traditional game day opening sequence. I half expected a fighter squadron to fly over. We even got a few Norfleet Atomic Dog dance moves in. The balance between piped in "Michigan-made" music and band was perfect. And there were referees. Referees! If I doubted the seriousness of this "game," I did no longer.

I won't bore you with my detailed assessment of the action. A hundred people better-qualified to judge that and report it to you already have. I will just say this: our man has his work cut out for him. While I saw many things I liked, including a defense that is finally coming into its own, the offense didn't give me a feeling of confidence going into this season. Though Jim named Shane Morris the QB winner of the day, time will tell if he wins the permanent spot at #1. I hope getting Rudock from Iowa this summer works as well as we all pray it will. We now have a stable of young, theoretically talented QBs, but they need a lot more time on the field under the tutelage of the new staff before I'll be able to watch an offensive series without an anticipatory cringe.

The high point of the event for me was just being part of a Michigan crowd enjoying the ray of hope Harbaugh brings of restoring the program to its rightful place in the scheme of things. To bring back the pride...and the quality experience...of Michigan football. In that respect, this was a perfect game.

Michigan State vs. Duke: The Battle of Two Evils

I will get a boatload of crap from my Spartan friends reading this, but that game tickled every nerve, every fancy in my Wolverine body and soul. With no apology. I almost overcame my Scandinavian sense of rhythm and danced Atomic Dog! It's not that I like Duke. Really, who does outside of maybe 30% of the Research Triangle? But I don't live around and work with (and for) dozens of irritating Duke fans. Not so with the Spartans. Did they have a good run? Yes. Do I love their 20 point arse-whoopin'? Only with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind! Especially when the slappies started blaming the officials. It was pathetic officiating, but not 20 points worth. They simply got spanked by a better team. It ended even better than I hoped. With a bus load of Spartans on a slow, sad ride up I-69 two days before the finals.

Kentucky vs. Wisconsin: Making the World a Better Place

Unless you were still clinging to the hope of winning a few bucks from your bracket, it's hard to imagine not reveling in this classic triumph of good over evil. This was right up there with Skywalker versus Vader and Frodo versus the One Ring. It was a team that stands for everything we hate, led by Calipari -- who seems qualified to star in any future Godfather film -- versus Bo Ryan and his clean cut, stay in school, dairy advertisement-ready Badgers. I kept waiting for Wisconsin to falter, but they proved you don't need an arsenal of one and dones to excel in this arena. It was beautiful and forces me now to recant the following tweet I made while at the Spring game:

Wisconsin deserves the spotlight for the biggest game in the B1G on Saturday and my hat's off to them. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I heartily support their success in this tournament because a) Michigan isn't playing, b) their success is much less a threat to Michigan recruiting than MSU's, and c) I can't even identify a Badger I dislike. Their fans' response to this game juxtaposed to the response of losing Kentucky and MSU fans says it all. 


In Lexington:

In East Lansing:

Badgers in Indianapolis...

and in Madison:

The Badgers were models of behavior and kept their cool, no doubt enjoying some Kentucky-fried Calipari Rings. Lemons thrown in by the Spartans.

Frosting on the Cake

The Red Wings snagged a much-needed 2 points with a shootout win over the Wild and the Tigers got a win over Tampa Bay as Spring Training winds down toward Opening Day on Monday. This leaves a glimmer of hope for more hockey and well, who knows what, for baseball this summer. It is what it is.

I won't worry about that now, though. For today, it's enough to wallow in the perfection of yesterday. When the sporting universe doled out a rare, but succulent taste of justice and hope.

Happy Sunday and #OnWisconsin.

The Case for Supporting MSU's Title Bid

Excellent! Now that you're reading this and thinking either a) MGoGirl is a kind, big-hearted citizen of the B1G conference -- or more likely b) what's a self-respecting Michigan blogger thinking to offer up support for MSU, I can tell you this in explaining the title topic:

There is no case. You have come to the wrong blog if you want to see me enumerate even one reason for supporting the Spartans in the upcoming Final Four this weekend. I am a kind, big-hearted person, but my Michigan blood runs thicker. As P.C. as some seem to think it is to express even mild support for MSU and Izzo as they fight for a national title, I intend to give them the same loving support they've given us over the years. I've heard all the reasons I should support them and the taunts about my decision not to. Here are just a few:  

"It's good for the Big 10."
Yes, it's wonderful for the B1G as a conference. Everyone thought this was a down year for B1G hoops and look - here they are making up 50% of the Final Four. Is that which is good for the whole equally fabulous for the 14 individuals? Not necessarily. In addition to the conference, it's perfect for MSU and Wisconsin - a boon to their recruiting, especially any kids wavering in their choice. It doesn't help the Wolverines and Beilein, though. They already have to fight Izzo for top talent both in-state and out. I'm not worried about Michigan recruiting at all right now, but to think an MSU championship is "good for us" is crazy talk. Like OSU's national title in football is good for us. Only when we beat them.

"We [the Spartans] would support you [Michigan] in the same situation."
With the exception of State friends I can count on 1 or 2 fingers, no, you would not. I've been in plenty of places both public and private when Michigan was playing a big game, sometimes to advance in or win a tournament. Those one or two Spartyfriends may wish us well, but for the most part, Sparties want us to fail in epic fashion on a national stage as much as we wish the same for them. And this is one of those times.

"But you have to admit Izzo's a great coach. You have to respect him. You'd take him in Ann Arbor in a split second if he was available."
I'll split this issue. I think he is a great coach. He did a lot with an average team this season and he's not done yet. Do I have to respect him, though? I don't disrespect him. He's 10x more likable than Dantonio, but I'm not going into paroxysms of loving praise for him, either. There's plenty of that in the media right now. I'm perfectly happy with John Beilein in Ann Arbor and don't think we need an Izzo to make another run. It was a tough year for the Wolverines, but I didn't expect greatness this time around. Sparty can keep Izzo. We'll be fine in short order.

"What an amazing tournament record!"
Yes, yes. Usually coming out of the easiest region. With the MSU AD on the tournament selection committee. His teams play well in the post-season, but it's often on the path of least resistance. Or so it seems to my highly objective (?) Wolverine eyes. 

"Yeah, well that's the kind of attitude we expect from Walmart Wolverines."
Stop with the Walmart thing and maybe I won't go on about Sam's Club Spartans. Want to remove all the Spartan fans that didn't graduate from MSU from the Spartan cash flow? You know, those ones who fit your Walmart definition? Yeah, I didn't think so. So leave our fans, however they became fans, alone.

"Michigan can't handle that MSU is elite in basketball and elite in football."
To this I say, the truly elite don't have to argue in support of their elite status with every single breath to anyone who'll listen. Elite status isn't conferred internally. It's recognized by others. If you want respect, don't keep begging for it so damn hard. Stop whining when the love doesn't come. When you call yourself elite and you need to sheepishly look to others to validate it, are you truly elite?

"So I guess you won't support Wisconsin either."
Where did you get that idea? Of course I'll support Wisconsin. The Badgers, as a whole, are pretty cool people. They don't struggle internally with an inferiority/superiority complex when comparing themselves with other B1G rivals. They aren't as big of a direct threat to our recruiting as MSU. Most Badgers I know support Michigan and frankly, everyone else in the Big 10 when those teams have a chance to do well and it's not directly impacting their own success. They're fun, happy people who can drink prodigious amounts of beer and worship cheese, both of which they gladly share. In short, they aren't small-minded mean little people who need validation. 

"All the Wolverines wish us bad luck."
In the end, everyone has their own opinion in the case for supporting the Spartans this weekend. I don't care if other Wolverines have a soft spot for overall Big Ten success. By all means, wish the Spartans well if you feel the urge. I'm just not wired for it. I'll congratulate my "normal" Spartyfriends if the situation calls for it. I would acknowledge their happiness as they would mine if the situation was reversed. Hopefully it won't come to that. This is what I foresee (although by the shattered state of my brackets, my gifts for prediction are suspect):

Finals Predictions:

My heart - Wisconsin over Duke

My brain - Kentucky over Duke 

Go Blue! And this weekend: Go Badgers!

A Day of Suspension, But Not Disbelief

There's a lot of suspension happening in Ann Arbor and East Lansing lately, but one thing that's not suspended is my disbelief. Nothing surprises me anymore about the things some college athletes, in this case football players, will do to put dents in their futures. We see it far too often all over the country. Alcohol and drug violations. Violence. Weapons. Theft. Some get a slap on the wrist and are on the field again as soon as the coach can swing it. Others pay more of a price - loss of their positions on the team, legal battles, and tarnished reputations in the eyes of an increasingly wary potential employer - the NFL.

Maybe if I was a better person (with a less medieval take on crime and punishment) I could feel more compassion for them than I do. For the most part, I can't say that I do. I guess my time on Earth has hardened me a bit when it comes to the antics of people who are being handed opportunity on a silver platter and don't seem to care enough about their own futures to seize it. (I also believe that the vast majority of student athletes are cognizant of the opportunities they have and behave in ways that honor themselves, their families, and their schools.) 

The events of the last couple days just add to my irritation with athletes who squander their futures with bad decision-making, thug behavior, and what looks sometimes like "The Untouchable Big Man on Campus" syndrome.

I'll start with Michigan State, who just suspended RB Delton Williams indefinitely for brandishing a firearm in the sight of a driver he'd just cut off after that person honked at him. (The nerve of some people to honk, really.) Williams has a concealed carry permit, but I'm fairly certain that replacing the traditional middle finger with a gun when gesturing angrily at another driver is NOT something they teach as acceptable gun owner behavior in CCW classes. I'm all for having a CCW. I would actually like to get one. I'm not for putting weapons in the hands of people who are unstable enough to think it's okay to wave a gun at others while driving down the road, regardless of their legal right to carry it.

Last I heard, Williams is now at the Ingham County Jail. My guess is that he'll be chastised "severely" by Dantonio right up until the first really big game when his thug ass is needed back in the lineup. I can almost guarantee he'll be playing in Ann Arbor. What should happen, after the immediate revocation of his CCW, is to cut him from the team. This behavior is unacceptable when representing a university (or anything for that matter). If the gun lobby is trying to promote the safety of people legally toting guns in public, then this guy is not a poster child for the movement. Maybe Dantonio will shock me and do the right thing. His track record suggests otherwise.

One person I'm not sure will be playing in Ann Arbor much, if at all, is Graham Glasgow, the senior red shirt offensive lineman who was likely to assume the starting spot vacated after the departure of Jack Miller. Glasgow was suspended by Coach Harbaugh on Monday after blowing a .086 blood alcohol level on Sunday morning, violating the terms of his probation for an April 2014 drunk driving charge. I'm very supportive of Glasgow getting help and getting his life together off the field. I don't know that it should include ongoing involvement with our football team. Harbaugh's done the right thing so far and no doubt is concerned for the young man. With the meritocracy Harbaugh is putting in place for starting positions, though, repetitive violations like this won't bode well for any player. I can't see our coach putting up with anything less than total commitment to the team and being the best. Blowing .086 in the morning isn't winning merit points.

When it comes down to it, a student-athlete can choose how they want their college career to go. Yes, it's hard not to act like a campus star when you've likely been fawned over by colleges and media types since you were in 9th grade. And it's hard to be sensible about the freedom college affords you to have fun and party the nights away like everyone else. (It explains my 2.8 GPA freshman year.) When a school chooses you and you reciprocate, you're getting an education, experiencing elite coaching, and receiving almost everything you need to be successful at something in life. You need to be more responsible with your decisions and your behavior. There are dozens of kids with talent who don't get the chance to go to or play at Michigan, MSU or any other high profile institution. They would happily take someone's place and run (or pass or block) with it. 

I know this is not a new thing. Technology just puts it in our faces with an immediacy that wasn't available when Bo was coaching. Did it happen then? Undoubtedly. But I don't think with the regularity or severity that it seems now. I know some of Bo's players drank to excess because I witnessed some Bacchanalian football parties while I was a student. (I mean Roman emperors would be envious types of parties.) If they ever got in trouble it was behind closed doors. I don't recall so many instances of assault, drugs, weapons, and other heavier issues in those days. Perhaps we were all blissfully unaware. Perhaps today's society is creating more kids with these problems.

What other coaches do to discipline their team is up for grabs and I already have a skeptical view of Mark Dantonio and Urban Meyer. I hope that Jim Harbaugh is the man I think he is and will have a low tolerance for trouble in general and zero tolerance for real crime in his ranks. I don't think I'll be disappointed in that hope. Every word from the man's mouth impresses me with the feeling that there's some excruciatingly hard work, both physical and mental, going on in Schembechler Hall. I don't see him recruiting troublemakers regardless of their skills. And if a troublemaker arises, he'll be straightened out or shipped out with a speed unknown to mankind. Or at least to other coaches.

And that's okay by old school, hard-assed, mean ol' me. 

Wallflowers This Year, But The Wolverines Will Be Dancing Again Soon

Today, the music stopped. 

Following an early exit from the B1G Tournament with a 71-60 loss to Wisconsin earlier today, what we've all likely come to accept for weeks is virtually certain. As better teams dance their way into the NCAA tourney next week, the Wolverines will be wallflowers. 

The disappointment stings a little when you think back on their string of tournament invitations since 2011 and the two deep, brilliant runs of the past two years. It'll be odd filling out my bracket and not having to talk myself out of the madness of putting Michigan in the final. I'll just be filling out one this year. I won't be needing the "Go with My Heart" version. The "Use Your Head" will suffice in 2015. 

Now normally, I get all jacked out of shape when the Wolverines have a bad year in any major sport, especially when the sweet taste of success is still so fresh. With football, the relentless long-term disappointment and frustration drove me to such bubbling anger that I started writing this blog. I couldn't hold back my words a moment longer. 

With this year's basketball team, though, I am utterly calm and accepting of their results. Of course I hoped for more than a 50-50ish sort of ending. Some of the games they lost could have fallen on the W side easily with a little more focus and end-of-game drive. The reason I can watch hoops move on without the Wolverines next week is simple. John Beilein's 2014-15 squad experienced some tough loss. Five extremely talented players left for the NBA early in the past two years. Other senior leaders graduated or transferred. Of those left in the locker room after all that attrition, injuries ended Caris LeVert's season in January and took out Derrick Walton, Jr. for some time not long after that. Beilein was left to rely on kids who probably didn't expect to see game action, let alone extended playing time, for a year or more.

And for the most part, those kids stepped up to the challenge. It may be a better example of Beilein's coaching prowess than their trip to the NCAA finals in 2013. It's no surprise when you can help superstars exceed their already high expectations. It takes coaching talent to patch together starters from the ranks of freshmen, sophomores, and the remaining uninjured junior and senior while keeping the wheels on the bus. This season could have been a total disaster, instead it was just a disappointment. A season we can write off as a rebuilding year, filled with many hopeful and exciting moments amidst the occasional forehead-slapping "what in the hell did I just watch" smack down. And not a soul is calling for Beilein's head on a platter. 

I can only explain my calm demeanor for basketball's tough season by contrasting it to my anger with football.

• I see flashes of skill and teamwork that give me hope for the next hoops season. When I saw the same flashes in football, I still had no hope -- mostly because of the next point.
• I believe John Beilein is one of the top basketball minds in the nation and trust that he will do what it takes to adjust and start winning again next year. With football, no one would call Brady Hoke a top mind. Or a developer of talent. With Beilein, you just know you have it good and he's already thinking of how to move forward next season. There's not a single brain cell that's not engaged in re-engineering his team for success. Aware. Fully aware. And that's all I need to say about that. 

Hopefully the team will get some more experience and practice time with an NIT bid. I usually mock the NIT as a way to crown the 69th Best Team in College Basketball. This year, I'd look at it as an opportunity we can exploit to better reach the our goals in the future. 

It's not Dancing with the Stars, but a useful trip to Arthur Murray to brush up on some moves. The Wolverines will be back next year ready to rumble (or perhaps rhumba?) We can only hope!

Going Wordless on the Wolverines

It's been said that the best writers are emotional, often tortured souls. Their words spring forth like the sweat on their brows after an anxiety attack or their panting breath as they compose themselves after experiencing the highest, joyful high. 

I can relate to them. No, not in the Ernest Hemingway or Sylvia Plath kind of way. Not in the stick-my-head-in-an-oven kind of dark madness. But I understand how frustration, anger, shame, and hopelessness can unleash someone's power to link thoughts to words and words to paper (even the electronic kind.)

National Signing Day was when I last wrote a single word about Michigan Athletics. I've had plenty to say on MGoBlog and Twitter because other people have reminded me that I have strong opinions (or clever and smart-assed things to say) about many happenings on campus in Ann Arbor and in the general sporting world. When it's come to sitting down to write something substantive here, though, it hasn't been so easy.

My only explanation for my odd wordlessness in this forum is: I am no longer tortured. The nightmare is over. Hoke has ambled on. Brandon has fled. The overthinking and guesswork around the new coaching staff is in the rearview mirror. The unimaginable reality that Jim Harbaugh and his rock star staff have moved to Ann Arbor has finally set in. Schembechler Hall is humming with exciting activity. We have an interim AD who absolutely gets this place. Signing Day? All things considered, decent. Basketball? An unfortunate anomaly that doesn't worry me this year. Hockey? Hanging in there and doing better than I expected. 

I'm kind of at peace with my little Wolverine world right now. And after seven years of "WTH?" and the roller coaster ride of this past coaching search, my brain cells have been screaming for some time to just soak in all this wholesome pinch-me-I'm-dreaming goodness. I knew it was time for a break when I had a long, vivid dream one night in which Harbaugh starred in his self-penned and -titled musical revue called "HARBAUGH!" at the Power Center on campus. I was watching with Jim's brother John. The entire audience was participating with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. What kind of brain dreams this stuff up? The kind that needs to stop thinking about football for a few weeks!

This period of reflection and calm won't last much longer. In fact, I could write regularly about my fascination with all things Jim Harbaugh. His intelligence, his intensity, and how he is, if not the Most Interesting Man in the World, at least the most interesting one in Michigan or the Big Ten these days. But I'll spare you all that. It would be nothing new. Half the state's in love with the man and the other half is trying to pretend that they're not concerned with him at all. 

As the Spring Game comes up in just a month and the season itself will be here before we know it, I expect plenty of news and controversy to fuel my pen. Somewhere between the coach's ongoing Twitter gems and the noses he tweaks when the new meritocracy depth chart doesn't favor seniority, things are about to get interesting again. 

I'm rested and ready to see what happens next!