One of the reasons that, despite the name of this blog, I don't write that much about U of M is that no matter what I say about the program, its players or about, well, anything really, Brian at M Go Blog says it better. What I called a colossal relief (and it was), Brian summed up this way:
After it was over I did something I hadn't done since I was a kid making paper airplanes out of the free programs and throwing confetti* in the air whenever Michigan scored. I went down to the tunnel as the players exited the field and watched them go: Taylor boisterous, high fiving anyone he came across, Warren stoic, the Coner completely neutral until someone thumped his shoulder pads in congratulations. The only thing that betrayed Kevin Koger and his old man beard as an 18 year old, not an Antietam veteran, was the kid-on-Christmas-morning smile stretching from ear-to-ear. A blood-soaked band-aid hung from Thompson's chin, gamely sticking to a couple of hairs in his ragged beard. Barwis looked like he was stuck in a paint shaker.
These are no longer strangers. I know how they run, and they are mine. I wanted to say something to them, to wrap everything that had just transpired into a sentence and give it to them, to tell them about ashes and hope and the future. But nothing came.
This is what I should have said: "Those who stay will be champions."
On my best day I wouldn't have come up with anything nearly so cool to write as that.
He also pointed out something very important about the game that I failed to mention. If you go to a college sporting event as a fan of the home team and you boo said home team, you, sir, are an asshat. If you didn't show up to cheer your team on then either sit down and shut up or go home. You serve no useful purpose whatsoever by booing a bunch of college kids.
