Rich Rod and the boys, The True Michigan Men

With UConn knocking on our door and with the with the wolverines preparing for another big debut, I cannot but think that our current record is 0-0 and the sky is the limit. Yes, I do believe that probabilities kick into action at this stage, but that in no way means we should look at the cup as half empty rather than half full.

Michigan has a chance and its a pretty good one this year, these kids have proved that it is possible to make something out of nothing and the 2008 team is the embodiment of that. I live in Jordan, that is a 13 hour flight from Ann Arbor, I thought I wanted to go watch a game to see who this new coach is, and how he will lead our team, and I did, I decided to watch his first Big 10 opener, THE Wisconsin game!! 

Michigan was down big in the first half, I was sitting next to my friend’s dad, who bleeds and lives for the Maize and Blue, he looks at me and says “Nasser, should we just leave?”, I could never leave a Michigan game, I have to wait for that final whistle, so my answer was, “sir, we stay, and we see history either way, either Michigan has its worst loss ever or it has it biggest comeback ever, either way we’re watching history in the making!” So we stayed and we watched and we won, and we cried and I will always thank the likes of Threet, Mathews, Brandon Graham, McGuffie, and off course Rich Rod for that memory. The true hope that I had going into that game was to see the wolverines win, but really, you remember what that team was made of, freshmen, transfers and walk-ons. I’m not even sure we had enough scholarship players to field a team. But who cares, those players played their hearts out and won. In 2009, I saw these things in many of the new players, Tate wanted to win so bad, Robinson works so hard to make it, those DBs bleed Maize and Blue and the same applies to everyone else on this team. They signed up for a roller-coaster ride and they are having the time of their lives.

I’m not the ultimate optimist, but I’d love to be, but the real reason I am writing this is to bring up an important point. Rich Rod is bringing out the best in Michigan ( I know what a lot of people will say, Winning is what is best at Michigan!!) But Michigan really is about heart, about pushing the limits and making miracles happen, yes we might lose a game or 2 or 9 in the process, but that should in no way shoot down our pride and the pride of a great great program. And should in no way belittle a coach who really is putting his heart and soul into this job. 

He is not intentionally losing and he’s not stupid that he doesn't know the formula for winning, its just that everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Think about it, he takes over and a bunch of players leave the team, including a future Heisman candidate at QB, an All-American OL, a bunch of great receivers and an All-Star graduating class. Michigan was going to walk into rebuilding mode regardless of a change of coach, add to that the extra player attrition and are left with something that resembles a 1-AA team, I’m pretty sure that if we would’ve played App State again in 2008, that with the players we had on the team they would have actually had a better poll of talent, and THAT was Rich Rod’s inheritance.

So as to stay focused on what is to come, and more hopeful than many, I go back to that Wisconsin game and believe with every little beat in my heart that Michigan today can still be a miracle team and Rich Rod can bring out the heart in those players. In no way can I boldly predict whether or not Michigan will win today, next week or in November, but I will tell you this, I am pretty sure those players and that coaching staff will die just for a W, and those my friends are the true Michigan men.

Hail to the Victors and GO BLUE

http://nmajali.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d1n6brq  (Players celebrating after the final whistle)