I'm back. It's been a long four weeks, replete with a trip to Chicago (by air), a trip to Ohio (north of Dayton, by car, with dogs, 12 hours, don't ask), a weekend of nothing, followed by a sudden Monday trip, by car, with dogs, to Michigan, when my uncle died unexpectedly last week. But I have returned to DC, to my life, to searching for a house in Baltimore, etc.
Only to have my goddam Michigan Wolverine football team explode in on itself.
Look, I love football. College football especially, but really, football. I'd watch the CFL if that was on TV and I could see it. Watching plays unfold, watching guys do what, in many ways, guys shouldn't be able to do. One handed, endzone catches to win the game with seconds ticking away on the game clock. Giving and receiving tackles that would kill a lesser mortal. The thrill of fighting for those few inches needed to make the first down, stop the clock, and get that fieldgoal kicker out onto the turf.*
My dad and I have had Michigan season tickets for years now. Back when Damon worked at athletics, tickets were part of your salary package. When he quit the department, they were kind enough to allow him to buy his tickets and become a season ticket holder. When I moved last year, there was a discussion. Do we give up the tickets? Or do we buy them again, just to hold onto them? We bought, and have been selling them off (all but Ohio State, which I shall go to if I have to WALK back to Ann Arbor for it). [Also, if you'd like to purchase tickets for any of the first few games (WSU, EMU, Indiana) let me know. We're selling them for face value.)
Fast forward to a couple of days ago. I call my mom, to make sure she's handling the loss of her only sibling. And she is. And then she mentions a newspaper article about Michigan's football team. So, while we talk, I jump on espn.com, because newsprint is dead, long live up-to-the-minute-sports-reporting on the internet. And here we have some players, mostly former Michigan players, crying to their mamas about how much WORK football is. How they are routinely kept at practice for longer than the NCAA allotted weekly time limit for training and practice. Twelve hour days, people. Weight-lifting, core training, massages, seven-and-sevens, cry cry cry.
[Let me say, right now, if you're one of those folks who thinks college football is a terrible, horrible, rotten, no-good-for-universities institution...well, you can just shut the hell up for right now. I know your arguments, and I agree with them in many many ways. This does not, however, make me any less of a fan, nor does it make me feel bad for these whining mamas-boys.]
ANYWAY. Many of the things these kids are complaining about are not mandatory. They are voluntary. Yes, it is very possible that excusing yourself from these voluntary exercises might be bad for your starting position on the team. At the same time, without doing a little extra work (or a lot), how can you expect to start on a major college football team? (And screw you, if you even THINK about mentioning last season's record, or argue that Michigan is no longer a powerhouse football program. It will be back.)
Commentators have already said that football programs across the country operate like this, but only Michigan's players have the idealism to whine and complain about it. And I'm sure they're right. Hell, one underclassman player has already refused to be named in the media because he fears the retribution of fans. Son, don't fear what the fans will say. Fear your position on the team.
If it's really THAT bad, if we're harkening back to Bear Bryant style football practices, then yes, something should be done about things. Refusing to give kids water in 100 degree heat waves during summer practices should never be encouraged. But these kids are on the team voluntarily. If they're working too hard on football, they should, perhaps, do what others have done and leave the program. Eventually, RichRod will put together a group of kids who ARE willing to go the extra mile, who ARE willing to do the extra work, and THAT'S how you create a championship team in modern college football.
Either that, or you whine to the press, and look like even bigger wusses than you did last year, when you FUCKING LOST TO FUCKING TOLEDO.
*Insert bad joke about Appalachian State University here.
EDIT:WHEN OHIO STATE PLAYERS AND COACHES ARE DEFENDING MICHIGAN'S FOOTBALL PROGRAM, YOU KNOW THE PLAYERS ARE JUST WHINY LITTLE SHITS WHO NEED TO GET THEIR ASSES BACK ON THE FUCKING PRACTICE FIELD.