Two Items, And Then Into The Breach
First: McGuffie. As recently as last night I was getting corroborating information about McGuffie's intended departure; today it's different. I'd really like to go back and un-post that first thing and then I would just have all this crazy stuff about McGuffie in my inbox, but I started this so I owe you the information I have: two different sources indicate to me that there's been a change of heart, McGuffie is at practice, will play Saturday, and, at least for now, intends to stay.
Chambers is "officially not a Wolverine anymore" according to his facebook status, FWIW, and you will probably see a few more players leave the team after the season.
Also FTR: there are a lot of issues completely unrelated to the team McGuffie is dealing with, for anyone wishing to criticize him.
Second: this has been a trying season for everyone from the coaches to the team to the fans and the bloggers. It figures to be trying for another four hours tomorrow. Everyone got mad at someone; those of us who got mad at people tearing at the program in newspapers or on message boards had the same bile and took the same opportunity for release. Targeting it better doesn't change the emotion.
The best example of this was an ugly exchange between Johnny and the WLA this week. Johnny started it off by posting something that ended with "This was Michigan. They used to exist." And that was about the tenor of the post. Raise your hand if you saw a full broadside from the WLA coming and okay that's everybody. Response, attempt at reconciliation, possible lingering rift.
Schism and dissent plagues the program top to bottom, and you, as a fan, have a choice. You can loudly voice your anger at the program, you can disconnect and give up and regard Rich Rodriguez as an interloper and regard the players as weak or lazy or whatever. No one will remember this if and when the program turns around. You'll switch hats and no one will know. Except you.
My advice: do the things now that will allow you to fully bask in the glow of victory later. Let's say Mike Rosenberg was actually a big Michigan fan. Now he's spent a full year publicly hating Rich Rodriguez, and anything positive Rodriguez does will be poisoned to him. He'll be rooting for him to fail a little bit so he can be right.
Being right isn't that great. My brother and I spent a large portion of the 2005 Penn State game—the New Math game—making sarcastic comments to each other about the state of the team and the game. As it turns out, we were basically right about the team. But as we were jumping up and down at the end of the game someone who had clearly been annoyed by us earlier turned around and said something like "what can you say now, jerks?"
He was 100% right, and I was shamed, and it took something away from that moment. That moment does not come along except once in a very long while, and what a shame to have done something to spoil it.
And now, someone directs their child to destroy Jim Tressel:
Go Blue. See you on the other side.
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