So I wore a Michigan hoodie last night to a company outing

This week my firm held a sales meeting in Nashville and last week we all went to the Predators hockey game, and I wore a white Michigan hoodie.  Before the game we had dinner at a restaurant not far from the arena where I was seated  at a table with two OSU grads and season ticket holders and after a couple of beers the conversation turned predictably to our current situation with the B1G. 

OSU fan #1 thinks the entire situation is borderline hilarious.  He thinks we were turned in by an insider and whole thing is much ado about nothing BUT he’s loving that we’re going through it.  Thinks Day probably got everyone spun up and doesn’t think much, if anything, will ultimately come of it.  Thinks Harbaugh’s suspension will get lifted on appeal on Friday.

OSU fan #2 is quite different to say the least as he honestly thinks this is the worst scandal to hit college football in his lifetime.  Believes Michigan will get all wins for the past three years vacated, believes Harbaugh will get a 10-year show cause, thinks CJ Stroud not winning the Heisman last year was because of us “cheating”,  doesn’t believe OSU has ever stolen signs legally or otherwise, doesn’t think signs change unless cheaters like Michigan force teams to do so, says there’s “tons of proof” that Harbaugh himself authorized the vast network and that Michigan paid for the game tickets and travel expenses, thinks Friday the suspension will not only be upheld but that the B1G and the NCAA will ban Michigan from the B1G Championship game and post-season play THIS year.  I’m not making this up, any push back from me on any of his thoughts was met by him turning to another co-worker where he’d explain basically why Michigan fans are delusional for not understanding just how bad this is and will ultimately be.

The game itself was also interesting.  I got four or five random “Go Blue’s” with a fist bump from people just walking by me.  I also got multiple drive-by’s saying “cheaters” and pointing at my sweatshirt.  One guy who was laughing stopped to talk to me, he was a Tennessee Volunteer’s fan, who acknowledged that everyone did it but like OSU fan #1, thought it was beyond funny that we were in the media & NCAA crosshairs for enforcement.   Said we had one hell of a team too.

For the record, I’m 64 and have been wearing Michigan gear out and about for about 50 years or more and this is the most interaction I’ve gotten from strangers seeing the block M in my lifetime.  Regardless of the outcome Friday, and ultimately from the NCAA, I believe our current situation has fundamentally changed the way Michigan is viewed by the average fan.  Give the devil his due, whoever paid the private investigator to leak information detrimental to the Michigan football team, coach Harbaugh and our brand in general did one hell of a job.