Harbaugh may get official credit for school's 1,000th win even if suspended

I'm through the denial stage, and on record as thinking that this Stalions deal is a fuck-up, a bit of an own goal. You give people who hate you a reason to kick you, and they're going to kick. But I also think that, cumulatively, you can see how the U of M gets in people's craws. And I love it.

And this goes way back. In my family, back in the 60s, this stuff was huge. Every member of my immediate family went to Michigan, as did my gramps. The games were so big, Michigan's general dominance so secure, that you just casually checked in to beam about another win, or took a blanket and had a picnic coming and going from the entertainment. The family loved the story about how a then still very poor Tom Harmon's mom had once been their housekeeper. (My gramps was the superintendent of schools in Hamtramick, then--we were told--the biggest school system in the world; all of this was bound up with the emergence of a new middle class, and managerial class, that felt they had the keys to a better world; Jim continues to embody this very midwestern way of being.) There wasn't hateful antagonism of family members who ended up at MSU, or elsewhere; it was all one thing. (My dad went to Wayne State to teach out of the U of M.) But Michigan was the gold standard. The reigning power. 

Here we are at a thousand wins. You don't think that ESPN, which doesn't own the B1G, isn't happy not to have to trumpet that with banner headlines? That other B1G members aren't delighted to take some air out of the triumphal balloon? Ha! Jim was marching to a g*t d*mned coronation this year, on the cusp of a model of steadily replicable success that people are/will struggle to derail. One way or a fuckinuther!

I'm not Niccolo Machiavelli, but I do think that Santa and Warde and Jim need to be strategic here, to protect and amplify this thing. Hell, I'm ambivalent about college football, tbh. Violent, unremunerated labor that tends to prey on the poor, all of that. But I do think that if you're going to play this game, you'd better play it right. We've got something big and important to protect here. This idea resonates for me, even when it is primitive: You come at the king, you better land that punch. Not often, not without elegance and poise, but we really need to see these guys punching back. 

Which reminds me, is a team required to have a head coach?  I don’t see why he can’t be demoted immediately prior to game time and be allowed to coach. It’s the same logic the conference used. 

1,001 in Roman numerals is MI. Credit win MI to America’s Team on 11/25.

So let it be written; so let it be done.

Probably another reason why OSU is pushing so hard for punishment over the Stalions nonsense - they want that record.  They'd need a lot of Michigan wins vacated to get there first.

I remember win #900 against Sparty.  Brendan Gibbons kicked the game winning field goal and we won 12-10.

Win #800 was even more nerve wrecking against Wisconsin with Drew Henson making that crazy over the body throw to all that traffic in the end zone, David Terrell thankfully grabbing it.  Brent Musberger was screaming while the ball was in the air, “Dangerous pass!!!  Real dangerous!!!  Touchdown!!!” Probably one of the loudest non-rival moments ever at the big house.  Final score 13-10.

I hope this isn’t an omen. I don’t want any stressful heroics to get win # 1,000 this weekend. 

Knocks on wood 3 times 

Not the Dallas Cowboys, America's Faux Team. Only the Real America's Team.

I feel like this is behind the "vacate their seasons!" screeching. They want us to not have that milestone before them. 

There is absolutely no precedent for that.  In 2014, a Baylor assistant coach (not an analyst, an actual member of the coaching staff) attended an opponent's game in person.  He was given a half-game suspension.

The crazy thing about all this is that violating 11.6.1 is just considered a level II infraction - normally, the kind of thing that gets a couple sentences at the bottom of an article.  The OSU PR campaign has managed to amplify a trivial matter into a national news story.

It is not a trial, but I agree with your sentiment. 

Sure. You probably think going 4-4 with a double and two HRs is better than hitting for the cycle, too.

For the 1,000th win - a win that will be remembered - it's only fair that we recognize the program's head coach.

For the players the next 2 games to achieve 1,000. Youl'll go down in history.

"We’re the lake."

LOL

Never give up your dead, Corn.