non-revenue

This happens often enough, but there was yet another mini-spat on the board about non-revenue sports and their worth.  I may be biased.  I love all sports.  I've never met an athletic game I didn't fall in love with at one point or another.  As a student at UM some friends took me to a volleyball game and I fell in love with volleyball and found myself hitting Elbel as often as possible to pay.  Playing innertube waterpolo made me realize what a fun sport that was and subsequently I found myself watching Michigan v. Indiana, not on the Big Ten Network, but in Canham Natatorium.

There's something about those teams, those sports, that reminds me of some the best times of my life - playing high school baseball with my friends, winning a regional, then a state quarterfinal, only to lose in heartbreaking fashion one game later.  The pure elation of victory and the pure agony of defeat.  There's something pure about non-revenue sports at Michigan.  It takes a dedication that I like to think I would have had, but don't know if I would have.

Alex Hunt and Stu Douglass were two of my favorite Michigan Men and Women while I was a student there.  They embody this spirit.  For those of you who don't feel this way about the Michigan Men and Women who wear the maize and blue in soccer, softball, baseball, wrestling, gymnastics, field hockey, etc., I challenge you to give them a shot.  I truly think you're missing out. You're entitled to your opinion, but I highly suggest you read Alex and Stu's journey and maybe you'll see the quality person that UM and UM athletics can produce.

http://www.michigandaily.com/sports/one-last-season

“He wanted to prove to himself and to the world that he could play with the best athletes in the country. He didn’t want anybody to ever say, ‘He was OK at Harvard.’ He would have rather failed at the Big Ten than just be OK at Harvard.”– Stuart’s father, Matt Douglass