The Shortest Post I've Ever Written

I don't really have anything to say except this. The Giants will beat the Pats on Saturday. What's a blog if you can't use it to forecast the occasional upset pick, right? I did pick the Tigers over the Yankees in four last year you know. Then again, I thought Michigan was a lock over Ohio State. I thought Les Miles was a lock for Michigan. I thought Rich Rodriguez would look forward to facing the Buckeyes in a week, not 11 months. So what do I know? Not much it seems. But I ams what I ams: a college-educated, critical-thinking, season-ticket-holding half-step better than a housewife picking helmets. Nonetheless, Giants over Pats this Saturday. The conditions are right. At least it'll make picking the Super Bowl champs (New England) much easier.

Lions 25, KC 20: Best Team of the MILLEN-ium

["SAD PUPPY" MUSIC FADES UP]

As long-suffering Detroit Lion fans know too well, "Millenium" starts with Millen. And as these loyal enablers have come to expect, a season under Millen ends with at least 10 losses.

That is, until now.

[MUSIC STOPS; CUE SOUND EFFECT OF NEEDLE YANKED FROM VINYL RECORD]

That nasty habit was kicked, abruptly and inconspicuously, today at Ford Field. In dropping the visiting Kansas City Chiefs 25-20--on the strength of two fourth-quarter stands by an awakened defense (see photo, taken by yours truly)--the Lions officially ended their string of double-digit-loss seasons at six. Proving once and for all that the second half of their season wasn't the death-spiral everyone had made it out to be.

Truth is, they're an up-and-coming football team who played consistent football all season long, despite one mother of a bottom-heavy schedule. At the halfway point, coach Rod Marinelli had this squad sitting at 6-2. The fickle, flat-earth fans who don't measure deeper than Ws and Ls--as well as the lion's share of local media--foresaw a post-season berth with all the certainty of a Jason Hanson 30-yarder. The more relevant issue was that of securing the most favorable playoff position.

Lost in the hysteria--after all, it was the Lions' first glimmering point of light since George H.W. Bush shared with us his thousand--was the fact that the team had not one impressive, eye-opening win. Not a single jaw-dropper to get Howie and Terry's flaps a-flapping the following week. The victory in Chicago was close, being that the Bears (losing record notwithstanding) were still technically the defending conference champs. And considering that Millen-era road wins within the division have been about as commonplace as Nintendo Wii systems on the shelves at Target. The Lions did pummel the Denver Broncos 44-7, at home, a solid team performance indeed given the failed opportunities of seasons past.

Yet, like the big-boned kid sitting on the teeter-totter, the other end of Detroit's schedule had all the meat, all the muscle, all the life to make up for the front part. Of the eight games comprising Act II of Season 74, six were against playoff teams--the Giants, Packers (twice), Cowboys, Vikings and Chargers. And three of those eight matchups involved 7-1 teams looking to ultimately lock down first-round byes. So good luck with all that, as they say.

Now we see that 1-6 should have been the expected result heading into the final week for this young team. A team struggling to find its identity, with a kiddie-pool-shallow roster peppered with injuries and limited talent and a field general figuring out how best to utilize it. And now they've secured their best record of the Millen era, even if they extend their drought at Lambeau and end up at 7-9. (Actually, the Lions' last road win against the Packers was 15 years ago, back when the Pack still played half its home schedule at Milwaukee's County Stadium... so I'm not sure offhand where their last win took place.)

Nonetheless, the best may be yet to come with the formerly Honolulu blue. Particularly when you consider my unofficial "Third Millenium, Even-Year, Rotating Detroit Championship" Theory. Here's how it goes: every even year this millenium, a different Detroit pro sports team has played for their league's championship. The Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in 2002. The 2004 Pistons stunned the basketball world by steamrolling the three-time champion LA Lakers to become NBA World Champions. And then in 2006 the Tigers, who hadn't even seen a .500 record since people played records, roared their way to the American League pennant and their first World Series since Ronald Reagan's first term. The next year in the numeric sequence is 2008. And if my little theory holds true, 2008 will be the Year of the Lion.

So it's not time to give up on your gridiron heroes, no sir, not yet. Just think about next year...

[INSPIRING MILITARY MARCH FADES UP AND UNDER]

...imagine an off-season trade for a legitimate quarterback, one who can better appreciate the talents of Kevin Jones, Roy Williams and Calvin Johnson... envision another season of solidarity for a young, talented O-line... picture a strong addition to a fiery young defense, preferrably a game-breaking DB who also loves returning kicks... then consider the role of karma, which HAS to turn the Lions' way at some point, right?

It all starts with the NFL draft next April. Man oh man, I can't wait to see which wide receiver they pick this time!

[MUSIC STOPS; NEEDLE-DRAGGED-OFF-RECORD EFFECT]

The Incredible Lions: To Infinity, And Beyond!

As I'm typing this the Detroit Lions are playing in San Diego, it's the first quarter and the Chargers are beating them infinity to zero. Okay, it's not technically infinity. But it is nonetheless an ever-increasing number (currently 17), only limited by the scoreboard hitting all zeroes and, ultimately, the Fox network signoff.

Two weeks ago, the Minnesota Vikings scored a touchdown every time they touched the ball until midway through the fourth quarter, when by then the score was 42-14 and it didn't matter. The Philadelphia Eagles had 42 points by halftime, and ended with 56. This they've-got-to-get-tired-sometime defensive strategy isn't working, and I can't be the only one getting tired of it. Oh, look, it's 20-0 now.

So will this ever end? I ask although I know the answer. No. As long as a Ford runs the ship, we're forever iceberg-bound. Detroit Lion futility has gone on as long as I can remember, but it's not a fair assessment since I've only been watching them for 38 years. But this is today as it was, as it will always be. The Lions are, were, and will be doomed to fail.

There are ways to tell when a franchise is a sure-as-sunrise-comes-tomorrow loser. First, the owner. In this case, the fat cat of the Lion empire, Mr. William Clay Ford. He sees himself as a success because he's got a beautiful new stadium with nice, comfy seats, which he somehow sells out to more than 70,000 mind-numbed loyalists eight times a year. Hey, beautiful, Chargers just scored again and it's 27-0. Where was I again. Oh yes, WCF. He also gets all the revenue lost to the city of Pontiac from 1975-2001. He conveniently ignores the fact that he's only won one playoff game in the last half century. That his teams have only been good enough to play two home playoff games in the last half century. And with our Super Bowl approaching its 43rd anniversary, his teams have only come as close as the conference championship game once--losing ugly on that stage of course, 41-10 to Washington.

The owner is also responsible for hiring unsuccessful general managers--and keeping them as their unsuccessful general managers for years on end. Ford handed the direction of the Lions to unproven Matt Millen, who responded by delivering his boss victory in only his 13th game on the job. Millen hasn't figured out a way to lose less than ten games a season since he took the job. An employee cannot be blamed for his own incompetence, so long as his employer keeps giving him a paycheck. Yet still, Millen is such an easy target because of his ability to hire the wrong coaches. M-and-M's seven-year tenure is marked by three other Ms: Mornigwheg, Mariucci and Marinelli. Halftime update, the Lions are on the board but it's 34-7, Bolts. Another game long lost by intermission.

The coaching position. The cornerstone of a winning--or losing--tradition. As the Lions are concerned, two points tell you all you need to know. First, prior NFL head coaching experience. In my experience--38 years, in case you don't remember--there have been 11 different head coaches of the Honolulu blue and silver. Three had coached previously: Don McCafferty (1973), Bobby Ross (1997-99) and Mariucci. The second point is NFL head coaching experience after leaving the Lions. Of those 11 head coaches, zero have moved on to coach another pro team. Touchdown, SD! 41-7 now. In fact, since Joe Schmidt retired 35 years ago only one coach has left Detroit winning more games than he lost, and that was because he only coached seven games (Gary Moeller's career coaching record was 4-3).

In short, Millen, or Ford, or the Lions (however you wish to see it) haven't considered experience a priority in their coach, which has resulted in a string of coaches who can't seem to land a job anywhere else afterward. (Except for McCafferty, who died raking leaves in his yard after one season on the Lions sideline.) If that doesn't help define a losing franchise, we can find something else. How bout this. We're in the fourth quarter and the score in San Diego is 51-14. Can you guess who has the 14?

Ethics Preffered But Not Essential (or What Do You Do With A Clueless Sailor?)

Well we've got no class
And we've got no principles
And we've got no innocence
We can't even think of a word that rhymes!

Alice Cooper, School's Out, 1971


The degree of a person's strength and character is best measured during moments of crisis. No better an example exists than the University of Michigan's athletic department.

Coach Lloyd Carr's announcement took no one by surprise. According to reports, it was understood as early as September that this would indeed be his final season at the helm of the Wolverines. Surely, more than enough time to enact that well-thought-out plan for finding a successor.

Being that Carr is no spring chicken to begin with, such plans had to have been conceived a year ago at least, maybe two. Right? This is the University of Michigan we're talking about here. A program that last endured a losing season during the Lyndon Johnson administration. A program that has been to 33 straight bowl games, and was 30-2-1 in the three non-bowl seasons before that.

Rarely in a situation like this does a candidate present himself as the heir to the throne as LSU head coach Les Miles had done. There was no second choice, no need for one. This was a Lou-Ferrigno-as-the-Hulk perfect fit. By now everyone knows why the copy-and-paste Schembechler clone seemed destined to don the "M" cap, so I won't rehash his pedigree and desire for the job. Instead I will focus my attention on the man who chose not to actively pursue Miles. The man who defended himself and his actions on principle yet, if the reports are accurate, abandoned said principles just a few days afterward.

Athletic Director Bill Martin, Lloyd's of London policy for Lloyd of Michigan and trusted guardian of a proud program's football future, defended his apparently casual attitude toward pursuing Miles in a statement the day after the former Wolverine player and assistant coach agreed to a multi-year extension with LSU: "I want to set the record straight as it concerns Michigan's process in its head-coaching search. We asked LSU for permission to talk to Les Miles last week and we were given permission to talk to Les but not until after the SEC Championship game on Saturday. Les Miles was one of our candidates. I did not talk to Les Miles or his agent this past week in accordance with the wishes of Skip Bertman and the LSU Athletic Department."

A March 2000 hire of former university president Lee Bollinger, first as inerim AD before his permanent upgrade five months later, Martin reiterated his adherence to these standards to the Ann Arbor News on Wednesday, saying "I committed not to talk to Les Miles, directly or indirectly before the championship game on Saturday. That's the way this process is done, or at least the way I'm honoring the process."

According to several sources, Martin was abandoning his principles the same day he was defending them. On Wednesday Martin reportedly met with Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano for several hours, sitting at adjacent tables and discussing more than the National Football Foundation's Hall of Fame dinner the previous evening. Reports said the meeting ended with both sides interested in the prospect of Schiano becomeing the next Wolverine coach, before Schiano announced this morning that he was going to remain at Rutgers (as I write this, it is not clear whether Martin had officially offered him the job).

Bob Mulcahy, the Rutgers AD, has been quoted as saying he was unaware of the meeting. More telling, he stated that he had not been approached by Martin or anyone at Michigan requesting contact with his football coach.

Martin has also offered an explanation for his mysterious disappearance last Friday, when he had the opportunity to return the previous day's call from Miles' agent, George Bass, and indicate any interest in his client (Martin admitted in Sunday's statement that Miles was indeed a candidate). "I was out on the boat (in Key Largo, Florida) with a donor, for an hour," Martin told the Ann Arbor News on Wednesday.

Forget for the moment the likelihood of flying to Florida for a one-hour boat ride in the Atlantic. My boss goes anywhere on vacation and people know how to reach him. The athletic director of one of college football's most prominent programs leaves town 13 days after the head football coaching position becomes vacant, and cannot be reached to return a call.

It begs the question: Is sailing more important than football to Bill Martin?

A look at his background is revealing if not downright creepy. From 1988 to 1991 Martin served as president of the United States Sailing Association, the sports's national governing body. He was awarded the Nathaniel G. Heereshoff Trophy in 2003 for outstanding contributions to the sport of sailing in the United States. His credentials may be impressive were he wearing Mary Sue Coleman's shoes (and if that's his desire, we'll just keep it our secret). But with no experience indicated for any non-sailing sport (much less football), Martin's biography in the Michigan football media guide seems to indicate that of a person better suited to hire the crew coach than anything else.

Now couple that with his on-the-job experience regarding the coaching positions of Michigan's high-profile sports teams. Aside from Carr, who had been given a free pass to coach until he felt like calling it quits, Martin's biggest imprint on Michigan athletics was deciding to stick with basketball coach Tommy Amaker for six agonizing seasons despite the Wolverines never qualifying for the NCAA tournament. That is, until his inexcusable misread of the Les Miles situation. And considering his inability to sell the University of Michigan coaching opportunity persuasively enough to lure a guy away from Rutgers, bigger imprints may be yet to come.

It's enough to give even the most rabid Wolverine fan a case of sea legs.

The Les Miles Fallout: 20 Questions, 0 Answers (So Far)

(Photo, "This Chip Shot Should Do It", was taken by yours truly on Sept. 1, 2007, moments before the Michigan Wolverines found themselves on the losing end of one of the greatest upsets in college football history.)

Oh, what I would give for a bottle of truth syrum and five straws. One each for outgoing Michigan coach Lloyd Carr, athletic director Bill Martin, current (and future) LSU coach Les Miles, his athletic director, Skip Bertman, and ESPN "journalist"/analyst and Ohio State alum Kirk Herbstreit.

So much information these people possess, so many answers, so many things they will NEVER tell a living soul. Sure, you can ask them whatever you like, and you can bet they'll have something nice and polished to say in response--be it the politically correct statement, the rehearsed answer their employers are telling them to say, or the calculated angry explosion in lieu of response. But just think how cool it would be to really know what went on and why. We could see how things appeared (and how they smelled). We could see who the winners and losers were. We could see the apparent motives and yet we now can only speculate as to the real reasons.

So while they're knocking back the syrum, I've pulled together an unofficial inquiry. Being that "20 questions" is a popular number, here are my 20 for what I will call Herbiegate. (Why not? Every contraversial series of events gets the "-gate" suffix from some media figure anyway. I had to do it once in my lifetime.) Here's what I'd ask these five suspects (as well as the powers that be at ESPN), while they slurp away at their potion like doey-eyed teens sharing a big choloate malted at the ice cream parlor...

1. to Miles: Does your new $3.0 million contract extension have a "Michigan Clause" built in, like the old one?

2. to Martin: Had you leaked your "assurance" that Miles was your #1 man on Friday, there's a strong chance he would have taken a leap of faith instead of agreeing to continue at LSU, as yours was the job he has always wanted. But countless people reported that you were unreachable all day, on this most crucial of days to be reachable. You've been quoted as saying that you're putting all your energies into the process, that this is your primary responsibility. So where were you last Friday?

3. to Herbstreit: How could you feel you had enough information to run with your story, when you didn't even know that Martin and Miles hadn't spoken with each other?

4. to the program director at ESPN: How on earth would you allow one of your reporters to break a story of such magnitude, one that would impact the futures of two prominent college football programs, hours before one of them was to play their conference championship game, based on such little evidence? As journalists, what exactly told you Herbstreit's story was solid enough to run with?

5. to Herbstreit: Being that I've never heard of anyone apologizing to a guy for making him a million dollars in one day, I can't help but be curious... what did you apologize to Miles for when you called him Saturday night? And did you call Martin as well, since he seems to be a more deserving recipient of your mea culpa?

6. to Martin: If Miles was not your top choice, which your lack of persistence seems to indicate, was there someone else you had in mind? Or are you waiting for one of your 20 candidates to "shine" during the interview process?

7. to Martin: You've mentioned such selection criteria as number of DUIs, whether he pays his bills and behaviors that could embarrass the university. What priority do you place on his coaching and/or recruiting abilities? Aside from your job title, what specifically qualifies you to choose a head football coach, particularly one who holds the fate of a perenially successful program in his hands?

8. to Herbstreit: Would you have broken a similar story in similar circumstances had the coaching vacancy been at Ohio State?

9. to Martin: You knew this would be Carr's final season back in September. With this in mind, after watching an entire season of college football, please tell me you have one or two names that you would love to see as the next Michigan coach. Right?

10. to Bertman: According to reports, you begain crafting Miles' extension last Wednesday and finished on Friday. After Herbstreit's "scoop" on Saturday morning, you revised the contract and reached a verbal agreement with Miles before your school's game that afternoon. If you felt the need to rush a contract together in less than three days, particularly one that forced Miles into an immediate answer, why then are you giving him six weeks (until after the BCS Championship game) to sign it?

11. to Martin: If Miles was THE top candidate in your eyes, why would you bother calling his agent on Sunday, a day after he put together a $3.0 million contract for his client, to tell him Miles was one of several candidates you were considering? Did you think you were being shrewd, and if so how did you think they would respond?

12. to Carr: did the timing of your retirement have anything to do with your predecessor announcing his retirement after the Ohio State game in 1989? And if this was your intention, why did you announce the press conference on the day before the Ohio State game? Given that Bo's mid-December announcement was by design a surprise to most, why did you tip off your intentions before the biggest game of the season when it would very likely become a distraction?

13. to Herbstreit: If you hadn't gone on the air last Saturday morning with your story--which you now realize was untrue--where do you think Les Miles would be coaching next season?

14. to Martin: you mean to tell me you have 20 candidates and plan on conducting 20 interviews? Wasn't the timing of Carr retiring--a topic he surely discussed with you--designed to have a new coach in place before the heart of recruiting season? In light of your comments about having 20 candidates you plan to interview for the position, do you honestly think you'll reach a decision by the end of 2007?

15. to Martin: Being that you likely won't spend the sum a high-profile name would demand, you will end up taking a chance on a somewhat (or completely) unproven coach. Loyalty being a cornerstone of the Martin regime (as exemplified by your six-year experiment with basketball coach Tommy Amaker, who never reached the NCAA playoffs), how long will you tolerate a lack of success on the football field? In other words, should the new coach preside over Michigan's first losing season since 1967, which given the above point is a very realistic possibility, do you have the stones to pull the plug on your coaching choice? Or could there be multiple losing seasons in Michigan's immediate future?

16. to Herbstreit: If you still stand behind your story and the source(s) behind it, if you feel you did nothing wrong, why do you now say that you will never gather information and report news again?

17. to Carr: You have been quoted as saying that you don't plan on being a part of the selection of your successor, and that you timed the announcement of your retirement to allow for a new coach to take over. Yet you agreed to retire only after assuring the yet-to-be-named coach that he must keep your staff for the 2008 season, and now there are rumors that your not being in Miles' "camp" may have played a part in what happened. Why do you act like you're not involved when you really are?

18. to Herbstreit: How could you say you're not comfortable breaking stories and you'd rather leave it to the true journalists, yet do what you did on Saturday?

19. to the program director at ESPN: We the public now know that as of Saturday morning, Miles and Martin had never actually spoken, much less met. Now that you realize the story was not only inaccurate but led to the course of events that transpired, why have you not apologized for the release of such misinformation, or the fact that your irresponsibility alone created the news that it did?

20. to Martin: No potential candidate has anywhere near the level of ingenuity of Boise State head coach Chris Peterson, who built a perennial power in Idaho and could do wonders given the product of Michigan football. Since you blew it once already by letting Miles get away, will you please give Peterson a fighting chance for the job? I'll drop to a knee and ask for your hand in marriage if you do, I promise.

Nicely Played, Mr. Herbstreit... You Must Be So Proud

Last time I checked, media figures aren't supposed to take advantage of their positions and create the news themselves. But sometimes, as Agent Cooper used to say in Twin Peaks, “things are not always what they seem.”

Take the example of Kirk Herbstreit.

Yesterday morning, hours before the LSU Tigers were to compete for the SEC Championship, the co-host of ESPN’s College GameDay pregame show broke the news that LSU head coach Les Miles was on his way to Ann Arbor, having agreed to coach the Michigan Wolverines beginning next season. Herbstreit cited a reliable albeit unnamed source who told him it was a “done deal.”

As it turned out, Miles said he had neither visited Ann Arbor nor been in contact with Michigan athletic director Bill Martin for the purpose of pursuing the Wolverines’ vacant head coaching position. Communication and face-to-face meetings being pre-requisites for virtually all administrative hirings in this country, this revelation would have rendered Herbstreit’s scoop at the least premature, if not entirely baseless.

Nonetheless, the former Ohio State University quarterback ran with the story. Whether the network checked the source and felt it was solid enough to give him the go sign, whether they consulted and ultimately dismissed what each school had to say, is unclear. What is clear is that Herbstreit’s misinformation set into motion a rapid chain of events that resulted in Michigan's top (read: Michigan’s only) candidate for head coach verbally agreeing to a lucrative contract extension that will keep him at LSU for the foreseeable future. Thereby evaporating, in a matter of hours, any chance for Michigan to speak with Miles—a request granted by LSU athletic director Skip Bertman just a day earlier.

Of course, Herbstreit still stands by his story even now, despite the assurances of everyone in the LSU athletic department that Miles has not and will not entertain offers from any other schools, period. And despite the fact that no one seems to be interested in how such misinformation could have made it in front of the cameras, at such a critical time for so many affected parties, there are some of us that just can’t ignore the smell.

What Herbstreit’s reporting seemed to lack in journalistic integrity, it more than made up in school spirit. From his white-hot intensity to his intolerance for failure at any level, Les Miles is Little Bo, pulled directly from the Schembechler mold. And as such, the seemingly perfect fit to replace the retiring Lloyd Carr, the key to restoring Michigan football to prominence as one of the most successful programs in the nation. And as anyone from Michigan or Ohio can tell you, that means beating your arch-rival on a regular basis.

As talk grew that this was very likely Carr’s last season as coach, speculation grew that the position was Miles’ if he wanted it. For the one-time Schembechler assistant, this was the holy grail of opportunities—so much so that he had a “Michigan clause” written into his LSU contract, allowing him a buyout should a coaching vacancy arise in Ann Arbor. Nothing spoke to his devotion to U-M more than the stories his colleagues would share of Miles dropping to a knee as he spoke of his alma mater—out of sheer reverence.

So given all this back story, why the sudden change of heart? What would cause the man to negotiate a contract extension, particularly while he’s working to prepare his team for the SEC Championship game?

One guess would be Miles’ desire to concentrate on his team, his players and their goal of winning the SEC title without distraction. Another guess would be to avoid the negative impact that any unfounded speculation would have on his current employer’s recruiting efforts. And still another guess would be that he simply received an offer he could not refuse. All three serve as plausible rationale for Miles’ actions; similarly, all seem to be direct consequences of breaking an unsubstantiated news story about his agreeing to coach Michigan.

As Oklahoma's dismantling of #1 Missouri became apparent, assuring Ohio State of a trip to New Orleans and a berth in the BCS championship game, the former Buckeye signal-caller became almost giddy. Awash in scarlet-and-gray pride and even giggling at times during the broadcast. Not only had his Buckeyes gained another shot at the national title, but the hated Wolverines had lost their best hope of drawing even with their bitter rival. And all—it seems—because coach Miles was fed up with “misinformation”, as he put it, becoming a distraction for his team; and because the university, fed up with speculation of his leaving Baton Rouge for Ann Arbor, offered him the keys to the kingdom. And all—it seems—because of an ESPN report on a “done deal” between Miles and Michigan. Smell anything yet?

Whether anyone bothers to get to the bottom of this or not, the former Buckeye’s well-timed misinformation should garner him an honorary pair of gold pants next November during Senior Day in Columbus, held the night before what could be OSU's fifth straight win over the Wolverines. He may also find a nice little gold-and-purple gift-wrapped surprise under the family tree this holiday, bearing the inscription, "From Les With Love..." Herbstreit’s bogus reporting ended up making Miles a million or two richer than he was when he woke up this morning, but his work was far from finished. As the final minutes of Oklahoma’s upset win ticked away and #2 West Virginia's 13-9 upset loss to Pitt (a 28-point underdog) went final, Herbie completed what by all appearances could be considered the most ambitious one-day campaign for a spot on the LSU Board of Regents on record, by lobbying voters to figure out a way to move LSU up to #2 so they can play his Buckeyes for the national championship. This would involve the Tigers (who are currently #6) leap-frogging two higher-ranked teams (Kansas and Georgia), and staying ahead of white-hot USC and Oklahoma.

As I type this, Coach Miles has just phoned into ESPN and is now stumping furiously for his team on SportsCenter. He has become this year's version of Urban Meyer, another step closer to New Orleans with every spin of the media machine. If you still don’t smell something by now, go find a mirror. You nose may have fallen off.

Will Mr. Herbstreit be reprimanded for his actions? Will someone at ESPN bother to investigate his "reliable source"? Or will all of this receive a quiet burial, as quickly forgotten as the $20 million carrot fellow Ohio State University sympathizer George Steinbrenner dangled in front of Wolverine quarterback Drew Henson in 2001 (all Drew had to do before endorsing the check was simply forego his senior year as the Wolverines' starting QB). Remember 2001? Year One of the Tressell Era? The first Buckeye victory over Michigan in seven years?

(It's irrelevant but nonetheless worth noting at this point that Drew Henson did beat Ohio State once, in 2000... or one more time than Herbstreit defeated Michigan in his career.)

ESPN’s aforementioned analyst notwithstanding, there are many culpable forces behind the Les Miles Debacle. First, Coach Carr, who decided to call it quits the day before the Ohio State game. It showed the following day as the listless Wolverines turned in their least-productive offensive performance since Bo was a Woody Hayes assistant nearly a half-century ago. Carr's November 19 announcement forced the school into its coaching search before most conferences had finished their regular season schedules. Second, athletic director Bill Martin. Who approaches their top candidate's athletic director while the top candidate is preparing his team for their conference championship? Particularly when he all but begs you to wait until the season is over?

And lastly, Les Miles himself. The braintrust inside the Michigan athletic compound should never again afford him the opportunity to accept--or decline--the position of head football coach. To put it mildly, Miles' words and actions did little honor to the school that gave him his degree, his varsity letter and his first coaching job. In fact, if his post-game press conference is any indication, it seems the Wolverines provided him little more than punchline material. After insisting that he's still a Michigan man and will wear the blue whenever they play Ohio State, he then smiled and added, "eventually they're gonna win".

Writers and reporters chuckled, surprised by the coach's playful treatment of such a sensitive topic. All the while, the road for the maize and blue grows longer, the mountain higher. It's tough to be a Michigan Wolverine these days. You can see it on the faces of all connected to the U--from players and coaches to alums, boosters, season-ticket holders and casual fans. Being Ohio State's bitch is difficult enough. Being punked by a fellow Michigan man is another thing entirely.