The Rich Rod Redemption

Submitted by tomhagan on
After spending much of the past week in the prison of popular opinion, Rich Rodriguez convicted of a crime that he did not commit,...was worn out, tired...at his wits end...
and looking to escape...

Then...late last night...the Spirit of Bo came to Rich in a dream:

        "Rich, if you ever get out of here,
        do me a favor. There's this big
        hayfield up near Saline. You know
        where Saline is?"

        "Sure Bo, lots of hayfields out there."
            
        "One in particular. Got a long rock
        wall with a big oak at the North
        end. Like something out of a Robert
        Frost poem. It's where I asked Rick Leach
        to commit to Michigan...I asked and he said yes.
            
        Promise me, Rich. If you ever get
        out, find that spot. In the base of
        that wall you'll find a rock that
        has no earthly business in a Saline
        hayfield. A piece of black volcanic
        glass. You'll find something buried
        under it I want you to have. "

        "What Bo? What's buried there?" - asked Rich

        "You'll just have to pry it up and see..." said the Spirit of Bo
        as his vision faded away in Rich Rod's dream.


The Next Morning, before the team meal... Rich Rod woke up and thumbed a ride on an old fruit truck, out to Saline.  After searching for miles and miles..., he finally found the spot that The Spirit of Bo was referring to.

There it sits, the mystery solved at last...Rich stares at the object buried under the rock. Stunned. It's an old cigar box..

    Rich slowly opens the box and inside is a dusty old book:
    "Michigan Defensive Playbook 1976".

    He just stares at the book for a while, almost afraid to open it. But open it he does.       Inside the book is a smaller envelope and a letter. Rich begins to read:

        "Dear Rich. If you're reading this,
        you've gotten out. And if you've
        come this far, maybe you're willing
        to come a little further. You
        remember the name of the town,
        don't you?"    

        Rich Rod thinks for a while and then it comes to him:
        "Pasadena!"

        "I could use a good Michigan Man
        to help me get my project on
        wheels. I'll keep an eye out for
        you and the Playbook ready.
            
        Remember, Rich. Hope is a good
        thing, maybe the best of things,
        and no good thing ever dies. I will
        be hoping that this letter finds
        you, and finds you well. Your
        friend. Bo. "

Comments

woody

September 5th, 2009 at 10:50 PM ^

"I believe in two things: discipline and winning. Here you'll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord; your ass belongs to me. Welcome to Ann Arbor."

Blue Durham

September 5th, 2009 at 10:56 PM ^

For a coach and a program that went 3-9 and not use to such depths, this was a critical win to Rodriguez.

But it was still against MAC Western Michigan. Perspective - this would have been a completely non-issue if the team hadn't lost to Toledo last year.

But the next game, against Notre Dame, it a UM-Rodriguez and program defining game, and I suspect RR knows this.

In all of the seasons I have been following Michigan football, I really think that this season is absolutely critical.

Win this next game against a hated rival, and maybe, although completely silenced, all of the awful bullshit is at least muffled for a year or so.

But the team did look damn good in the first half.

foreverbluemaize

September 5th, 2009 at 11:00 PM ^

I had no option but to +1 you for the Shawshank Redemption parody. One of my favorite movies. I was even thinking that maybe there should be a TV show called "The Spirit Of Bo" I do not know what it would be about except UM Football but I would definitely watch something like that just to see.

Catholepistimiad

September 5th, 2009 at 11:41 PM ^

The original story that spawned "The Shawshank Redemption" was a Steven King novella entitled "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption." Time for "Rita Rodriguez and the Pasadena Redemption"!

BTW I highly recommend the book "Different Seasons", even if you've seen the "Shawshank" movie a thousand times. Two of the other three stories in the book were the basis for the movies "Stand by Me" and "The Apt Pupil".