2018 Spring Trip Announced: Paris, London, and Normandy

Submitted by hail2victors9 on

Per Harbaugh, the 2018 Football team's Spring trip will include stops in Paris, London, and Normandy.

 

"Yeah, we took a straw poll," Harbaugh said. The result of the vote? The team chose to go to three places in Spring 2018, returning to Europe. "Paris, Normandy and London."

http://michigan.247sports.com/Bolt/Harbaugh-team-going-to-Paris-London-and-Normandy-in-2018-53215018

 

Courtesy Isaiah Hole at 247sports

softshoes

June 17th, 2017 at 1:46 PM ^

In Flanders fields the poppies blow 

Between the crosses, row on row 

That mark our place; and in the sky 

The larks, still bravely singing, fly 

Scarce heard amid the guns below. 



We are the Dead. Short days ago 

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, 

Loved and were loved, and now we lie 

In Flanders fields. 

Take up our quarrel with the foe: 

To you from failing hands we throw 

The torch; be yours to hold it high. 

If ye break faith with us who die 

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow 

In Flanders fields.

                           John McCrae

 

I'm with you pal. A bucket list for sure.

jmblue

June 17th, 2017 at 4:10 PM ^

There is a Belgian Flanders and a French Flanders. Both were battle scenes in WWI.

Normandy is further to the southwest, along the Channel coast. I have been to Pointe du Hoc and Omaha Beach. They are something else. The German fortifications have been largely left intact and even the craters from the Allied bombs are still there. Pointe du Hoc has sheer cliffs that are almost vertical - it's astonishing that soldiers climbed them under gunfire. As for Omaha Beach, it's huge - the troops had a long way to go tand get from their ships to the hill, with no cover. It is quite the experience to see these sites now.

MGOTokyo

June 18th, 2017 at 7:58 AM ^

and the Battle of Flanders....

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History, Blueprint for Armageddon II.  In the first 2 days of the German invasion, 70,000 French troops died and another 250,000 injured, leading to the Flanders battle.  It's a long recording but very interesting for those who are interested.

UMich2016

June 17th, 2017 at 1:46 PM ^

Every major college football program will be doing this in 10-15 years.  It is wonderful to have the most innovative coach in college football.  

Blue in Paradise

June 17th, 2017 at 1:51 PM ^

They can already travel around Columbus and see the sites (according to Mr. Smith).

On a serious note, I don't see too many ACC / SEC programs having any interest in this - not their style.  Many would think it's weird for people to be interested in foreign countries / cultures.

My wife is from Tallahassee and the people down there are really nice and hospitable, but most people down literally have zero interest of anything outside the U.S.

 

Blue in Paradise

June 17th, 2017 at 2:05 PM ^

In general, the players being recruited by those schools would be less interested than the kids Michigan is recruiting.

The P5 schools where you will may this are Stanford, Cal, ND (if they can swallow their pride and copy Harbaugh), USC, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Wiscy, Minnesota, and Northwestern.  You have to think of high academic that can afford it.

pmark1210

June 17th, 2017 at 2:37 PM ^

I'm not entirely sure what you're saying. how many top recruits has Michigan lost out on to other schools? this won't happen only at the schools you mentioned. once Alabama, fsu, etc. realizes that kids want to go to Europe (for whatever reason, learning experience, foreign girls, etc.) they will hop on board the trip train. it doesn't matter if Michigan is recruiting them or not. when you were 17, if you could've had an all expense paid trip to Europe, you'd definitely be interested, right?

Blue in Paradise

June 17th, 2017 at 2:53 PM ^

Would I have liked to go at 17?  Of course and so would a lot of the recruits.  But I can also guarantee you that a lot of kids couldn't care less.

My point is that Michigan (and the other schools I listed) tend to recruit more kids that will be interested in this type of thing.  Schools like Alabama and LSU tend to recruit less kids that are interested in broadening their horizons.

Of course, there are exceptions at both schools and overlap between the kids their recruiting.  But it would be less of incentive at those schools.  Add in the fact that their coaches and administrators would hate to set up that kind of trip.

Bottom line - don't expect to see Da Coach O or Saban taking their kids on a tour of Europe anytime soon.

pmark1210

June 17th, 2017 at 5:08 PM ^

I get what you're saying but it doesn't make sense. Just because Alabama and lsu recruit a kid doesn't mean they're dumb or couldn't get into Michigan. Those teams have plenty of highly intellectual young men on them that would love that opportunity. Mark my words, within 2 years, one of the big boys will be heading over seas.

SF Wolverine

June 17th, 2017 at 1:50 PM ^

We can all debate whether and the extent to which athletes should get paid.  While that debate goes on JH has made sure to get his kids the same kind of opportunities that so many other college kids enjoy but that are hard (financially and because of their time commitments) for student-athletes.  Next big step (which I believe is being looked at) is getting athletes chances for work experience/internships.  

Guy continues to compete to be better; it would be great if this led to other teams doing more things to help athletes get the full student experience.   Truly a Leader. 

BuckNekked

June 17th, 2017 at 2:12 PM ^

There are a lot of coaches out there you can say are true leaders but would never do something like this. What I love about Harbaugh is he is a true mentor taking care of the kids minds, bodies and souls. Thats what is truly rare in todays educational climate.

BuckNekked

June 17th, 2017 at 2:12 PM ^

There are a lot of coaches out there you can say are true leaders but would never do something like this. What I love about Harbaugh is he is a true mentor taking care of the kids minds, bodies and souls. Thats what is truly rare in todays educational climate.

Bp6

June 17th, 2017 at 1:53 PM ^

Man I bet Normandy is awesome, but I wouldn't set foot in London or Paris with all of the terror issues going on.

Blue in Paradise

June 17th, 2017 at 2:10 PM ^

them in anyway (different conversation for a different website).  But stastically speaking you have a 10x better chance of dieing in a car accident backing out of your driveway than a terrorist attack in London or Paris.

There are literally millions of people going into and out of those cities on a daily basis - the odds are literally negligible.

You can't live your life out of fear of getting caught up in a situation of something negligible happening to you.

 

Double-D

June 17th, 2017 at 5:03 PM ^

sitting with the hottest girl in the senior class. I had been chasing her all semester. We were having a really nice conversation and things seemed to be going my way when a seagull laid a huge white crap that landed right in the middle of my chest.

All I could say was anybody want to go for a swim. So I guess i must agree with you.

pinkfloyd2000

June 17th, 2017 at 2:03 PM ^

Not to make this political -- that's not my intent -- but how many people are killed (or injured) each day by acts of violence in the US as compared to Paris or London? 

And yes, I know, I'm trying to compare a country to two cities...but you get the point. 

You'd be a fool to pass up a trip to either of those places.

 

snarling wolverine

June 17th, 2017 at 4:26 PM ^

You can compare any of the 100 largest cities in the U.S. to those two - our cities are statistically more dangerous across the board.

The U.S. also experiences significantly more terror attacks than Europe.  We just lie about it and call our terrorism by other names.  (When a guy shoots up 20 kids at Sandy Hook, somehow that's not an act of terror, but a "school shooting".)

Franz Schubert

June 18th, 2017 at 4:01 PM ^

You are trying to compare apples to oranges. The homicides you are pointing to are ghetto thugs killing each other in the hoods. Unless you are hanging out in the hoods, the murder rates are actually low. London and Paris have experienced a string of terrorist attacks on innocents, in what are normally safe areas of town. In fact, they are in areas of historical significance and so they already have added security. Stop trying to politically, equivocate Democratic strongholds like Chicago and all of their carnage, as indicative of typical US safety and security. Get your head out of the sand, and recognize that Islamic terror is a threat to civilization.

In reply to by Franz Schubert

snarling wolverine

June 18th, 2017 at 8:32 PM ^

Sandy Hook?  Orlando?  The Charleston church shooting?  The San Francisco post office shooting the other day?  

You consider these cases of "ghetto thugs killing each other in the hoods"?   That's one hell of a rationalization.