GREAT read by Spencer Hall

A Tale of Two Cities is a sobering take on modern living.

This is a week+ old but a great -- albeit sobering -- read. I understand why there's a collegial nature between Brian and the EDSBS guys as there is great long-form writing going on at both.

Is there any other kind by Spencer?

I pretty much love everything about Spencer Hall. Great writer. Hilarious twitter feed. Amazing on the podcast.

And his current beard game is ON. POINT.

1) great article, 2) the Rose green hit was awful to watch live and still today on YouTube, 3) coincidentally, the closest I can recall to a player death on the field was when the Lions' Reggie Brown (from Texas A&M) stopped breathing against the Jets, and 4) it's only a matter of time before another player dies on the field during the run of play...oh, and bison meat is delicious.

This article confirmed it for me: Jim Harbaugh = modern day Teddy Roosevelt. 

Great read!!

If you are ever near Kalispell or Missoula, Montana, in the summer, you should go to the National Bison Range.  Give youself a couple of hours to take the longer road, and bring your camera.  It's beautiful country and bison are majestic creatures.  Just, stay inside your car and out of "idiot dad" videos. :-)

Afterwards, consider a meal at the Bison Inn Cafe in Ravalli, right near the range ("Hey kids, let's go eat one of those cool animals we just saw!").  Bring cash; they don't accept plastic.  The bison burger is excellent, but the menu is limited.

On a side note...are Ryan and Jason from shutdown fullcast from EDSBS or do they collaborate with spencer?

I couldn't get past his whining politics when he started rambling about Roosevelt. And "a windpipe the size of an HVAC tube"? Which "HVAC tube", specifically? 

I think that when Spencer Hall is funny, he's hilarious.  And when he is serious, he's worth reading and paying attention to.  I'd go so far as to say what he writes is important when he decides to do so.  His best work stands the test of time - at least so far - and you can't credibly say that about 99% of sportswriting.

So I read this with anticipation, gratitude, but also with a gnawing sense of dissatisfaction.  I know it's a hot topic, but to this day I don't understand why we are supposed to take it as an article of faith that one of college football's great sins is that it does not pay its players.*

That concept is baked into Hall's article at several spots, and it takes away from the balance of the piece.  For all of that, it is great work by Hall and props to the OP for posting the link.

*I understand that football generates a shit ton of money, and the coaches and schools are getting the bulk of that money.  I also work with ex-B1G football players, including one that played for Bo, and each of them agrees that they got far more out of football than what they put in.  Point being that there are arguments on either side of this issue, and I find it offputting that there's this big assumed injustice in college football.

I don't care what anyone says.

That man can tell a story. Even though I wasn't always sure where it was going and enjoyed that fact tremendously.

I found myself expecting obvious returns to football and why it sucks, but he always surprised me by going elsewhere.

That makes Grantland look like a heap of cheap hamburgers. It makes ESPN look like a corndog found the next morning under a picnic table.

I appreciate the comments section here at MGoBlog, especially after a great piece of writing, a lot more now after seeing them after Spencer's article.  He writes a great article and the first dozen are just brain drivel. 

The Michigan Difference.

thanks for the link - would have missed it.

though a bit off the main point, this line stood out for me: "It seats 61,500 people, and is still the only FBS college football stadium named after an African-American player."

just wow.