Feinstein Washington Post article on Army vs. Michigan
John Feinstein has an article up on the Washington Post about the Army game this Saturday. Pretty standard stuff, but I found Harbaugh's quote that he's "Not exactly chomping at the bit" for a rematch interesting, since John U. Bacon indicated on the podcast last week that Harbaugh was probably behind scheduling the game to begin with.
September 5th, 2019 at 10:29 AM ^
thanks for sharing
September 5th, 2019 at 10:32 AM ^
Ugh - Champing... champing at the bit...
September 5th, 2019 at 12:24 PM ^
Twas an answer on Jeopardy last night...
September 5th, 2019 at 12:35 PM ^
Troof. Think Harbs is way more intelligent than he comes across in pressers but he's not exactly a wordsmith. Besides, the phrase is said wrong at least 75% of the time.
September 5th, 2019 at 12:48 PM ^
I'm not criticizing, it's just a personal pet peeve. And the fact that it's commonly mistaken is likely to be the reason that it will be acceptable to use chomping rather than champing. That's assuming of course that people in the future will even remember that a 'bit' is anything other than a unit of data.
September 5th, 2019 at 1:01 PM ^
I understand where the phrase comes from but TBR - I would feel funny saying champing at the bit in front of a group of people. I would guess most of them would be thinking to themselves - "doesn't he mean Chomping?".
September 5th, 2019 at 1:28 PM ^
Champing was fine if you were using it in 1910, which, some of these board posters probably were.
September 5th, 2019 at 3:55 PM ^
Or perhaps some of us still read things that were published before all thought was reduced to 140 characters or fewer.
September 5th, 2019 at 1:04 PM ^
Are we sure that the error is not Feinstein's? Has anyone ever heard Harbaugh incorrectly use the phrase before? Not saying he's perfect, but I can imagine Harbaugh saying it correctly and Feinstein writing it down wrong.
September 5th, 2019 at 1:20 PM ^
Maybe Feinstein had it right and the editor changed it.
September 5th, 2019 at 3:47 PM ^
I'm probably just reading it wrong.
September 5th, 2019 at 1:43 PM ^
Are you using Harbaugh as an escape goat?! ;-)
September 5th, 2019 at 3:57 PM ^
Don't you mean champing at the byte?
September 5th, 2019 at 4:15 PM ^
That's a lot of bits... eight of them, in fact. Which, if my math is correct, works out to something 4 shaves and hair cuts.
September 5th, 2019 at 1:26 PM ^
Chomping sounds better and Oxford tells me it’s A-OK.
September 5th, 2019 at 3:52 PM ^
Chicago and AP tell me champing is better. I don't need the Brits' charity.
September 5th, 2019 at 3:41 PM ^
For all intensive purposes, chomping is perfectly cromulent.
September 5th, 2019 at 3:47 PM ^
*triggered*
September 5th, 2019 at 10:33 AM ^
Harbaugh was very interested in scheduling this game. Army is one of the few programs in the country that has a winning record against Michigan. As WD eloquently showed us, Army won the first five, and we have won the most recent four. The all-time record versus this team is a huge driver for scheduling this game, and Coach Harbaugh is looking forward to the opportunity to erase a losing record against this program.
September 5th, 2019 at 10:48 AM ^
A) You have no idea if evening up the all-time series was a "huge driver" in scheduling this game.
B) If - hypothetically - everything else told Michigan this wasn't a super idea to schedule Army but they said we have to even up an all time series, that is incredibly dumb.
I say that as someone who is not terribly worried about Army on Saturday, but even less worried about trivia that WD (who it honestly feels like is more into early 20th century football than what happens today) is prone to value.
September 5th, 2019 at 12:09 PM ^
While it would be great to even up the all-time series against Army, it would be odd if that's why Michigan scheduled the game. Michigan has a surprising number of opponents to whom it has a losing record -- mainly teams it played in the 19th and early 20th century once or twice. But we also have a losing record to Florida State, South Carolina, and Utah, among current Division I teams. Let's schedule more Utah!
Full list here: https://mgoblue.com/news/2009/4/21/University_of_Michigan_Football_All_Time_Records_vs_Opponents.aspx
September 5th, 2019 at 12:19 PM ^
Are you new - Harbaugh specifically mentioned in a press conference that Army is one of the few teams that has a winning record over Michigan, and that he wants to change that. Check your facts (and your tone, intelligence, kindness, and overall decency).
Go blue!
September 5th, 2019 at 10:49 AM ^
Then we need to get Chicago & Cleveland Alcoholics Anonymous lined up.
September 5th, 2019 at 10:38 AM ^
Pro Tip. If you're an Amazon Prime subscriber you can use your Amazon account to log on to WaPo and read an unlimited number of articles.
September 5th, 2019 at 11:03 AM ^
I work at amazon and didn’t even know this. Thanks!
September 5th, 2019 at 11:07 AM ^
Does that work with NYTimes too...i really get tired of their click-bait headlines, only to be blocked by their 5-a-month limit
September 5th, 2019 at 11:27 AM ^
I wouldn't think so. Bezos doesn't own NYT.
September 5th, 2019 at 11:27 AM ^
September 5th, 2019 at 11:13 AM ^
+1 informative, had no idea that was a Prime benefit. Thank you.
September 5th, 2019 at 11:17 AM ^
I was going to say that's weird, but then I remembered Bezos.
September 5th, 2019 at 11:22 AM ^
It's too bad points are broken again, because that is a great tip! Take my upvote anyway, and thank you!
September 5th, 2019 at 11:26 AM ^
That makes sense, actually! Why would they keep that secret from us, though!?
September 5th, 2019 at 11:31 AM ^
Holy shit, you just changed the game! I pretty much always restrict my WaPo reading to articles that look like specific to WaPo and not general news so I don't burn my monthly articles. Even on this article, I accidentally closed my browser and contemplated not opening the article again for fear of losing another read this month.
September 5th, 2019 at 10:49 AM ^
wanting to even up the match set to 5-5 is not the same as wanting to continue playing army.
September 5th, 2019 at 11:24 AM ^
Brian Smith, who played and coached with don brown, is the DC of Rice.
Think they talked???
September 5th, 2019 at 11:49 AM ^
Yes, but it was mostly about baseball and swapping InstantPot recipes.
September 5th, 2019 at 11:26 AM ^
ESPN has UM on upset watch. Really? We are a better candidate than say MSU who plays ASU?
September 5th, 2019 at 11:29 AM ^
MSU plays Western this weekend. But, they are definitely still on upset watch.
September 5th, 2019 at 11:31 AM ^
To be fair, ASU beating MSU next week wouldn't be too much of an upset.
September 5th, 2019 at 12:25 PM ^
I'll be upset if they don't
September 5th, 2019 at 12:52 PM ^
ASU beat them just last year, 16-13 in the desert
September 5th, 2019 at 11:50 AM ^
ESPN needs some kind of exciting narrative each week. Fawning over the SEC gets boring and repetitive after a while.
September 5th, 2019 at 12:47 PM ^
No one cares about MSU. Would it be a surprise for them to lose again to ASU?
Also, there's some nervous birds on here that aren't exactly looking forward to Saturday. Army could've, maybe should've beaten Oklahoma and they made the CFP last year.
I think it's more of a slap to the face to OSU that they're on upset watch. They don't lose to mediocre teams at home.
September 5th, 2019 at 12:15 PM ^
The difference between Michigan and many of our competitors in the upper echelons of college football is that at those places everything, every little detail, is viewed entirely through the lens of “does this maximize our chances of winning the maximum possible number of football games?”
At Michigan there is no doubt a desire to win, but there is a tendency for other aspects to be given importance. Sometimes thats good, sometimes it creates obstacles that really dont need to be there (take the Notre Dame series, take this game, take the OSU/MSU home/road rotation).
September 5th, 2019 at 12:19 PM ^
Excellent game. Army will be well disciplined, tough and well coached. Michigan scheduling Middle Tenn State and Army will benefit us down the road.
September 5th, 2019 at 12:22 PM ^
How does this benefit them down the road?
September 5th, 2019 at 12:51 PM ^
"We don't have one guy on our roster who was recruited by Eastern Michigan, much less Michigan."
Great quote.
Good luck Army...….next year vs. OU, the year after that @ Wisky, and......well year after that you don't need luck to beat Tennetucky.
September 6th, 2019 at 8:48 AM ^
Harbaugh then clarified that he's champing at the bit, not chomping.
https://www.portablepress.com/blog/2014/04/chomping-vs-champing/