This is my first diary post, seeing as how I'm now a "basic" member of the site and all ... I feel all privileged.

To borrow a phrase that has jumped the shark in the last year: I loves me some Michigan Football.

Anyhoo, there's been plenty said about the anti-RR crowd among the alumni, AD, fans, etc. Maybe I'm paranoid, but might it not be possible that Lloyd Carr is among the most virulent of the lot? After all, he and Roseypalm were "close" (probably not in the Biblical sense). Someone must have given the Life cereal kid the story idea. I'm sure he didn't just dream it up out of whole cloth. Mikey isn't that clever -- he even borrowed an email I sent him once as the origin of a column he wrote about the Lions last season, (though he gave me proper credit in his story -- I guess he gets a minor prop for not plagiarizing).

Even if Lloyd didn't commit a cardinal sin in this case, I still have a commodious problem with him: he had a golden opportunity to say, "If you claim to be a fan of Michigan Athletics, then its time to put away the sour, grinchy frowns and cheer for the Maize and Blue with every ounce of your being. Your team needs you." He didn't. Deafening silence. Now, I'll allow (for the moment) that UM's lawyers put the lid on most any statements not made by the Bill and Mary Sue, but c'mon -- not a PEEP? That doesn't sound like the characteristic of a "Michigan Man" to me.

He, and the rest of the Grinches, need to remember a few historical facts about "their" program. Consider:

- One Fielding Yost hailed from the "hollers" of West Virginia. His accent was so thick that he couldn't say, "Michigan" ... That's right, comrades, he is the origin of the beloved malapropism, "Meechigan!"
- Michigan's greatest dynasties happened when the program broke with "tradition". Starting with Yost, then Crisler, then Schembechler. Each new era heralded key innovations in the game and some of the greatest teams in school history.
- Even Bo had an inauspicious start. The headline in the Detroit papers was, "BO WHO?" Alumni howled. No matter that the first and second choices said, "No". Nor that it was Joe Paterno who suggested to Don Canham, (after flatly turning the job down) about an unknown coach at the University of Miami (OH).
- Bo didn't give a shit whether people - who had little to no knowledge of what it took to build a championship program - liked his approach to the program. He had helped Woody build the program at Ohio State, and had no intention of doing it any other way. That half of the squad quit from the roster in his first year made no difference, either.

In the interest of full disclosure, I was not a particular fan of Coach Rod until Monday. Though I still believe his complete dismissal of everything and everyone that had come before (save Fred Jackson) was over-kill, and is probably a big part of why he struggles to be supported by some "fans", its really not materially different than what Bo did, nor Crisler before him.

Win or lose tomorrow, I will remain a fan of the Michigan Wolverines, and cheer my heart out for that team until my last breath. I will also cheer for Rich Rodriguez until he is the coach no longer, no matter if it is next season or the next decade. This is Our Team. And, in the spirit of what every Head Football Coach of the University of Michigan has believed, including Coach Rod:

This is about the TEAM, the TEAM, the TEAM.

Hail.