So We Beat On

As I write this, fighting back the urge to puke from last night's drinking binder, from the corner of my eye, I see a book at the edge of my desk. That damn book. I've written a ton about it the last semester for college. I'm sick of it, but The Great Gatsby is consuming my life so I must share the burden with you.

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year receeds before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter- tomorrow we will run faster, strech our arms further... And one fine morning-"

A lot has changed over the course of just a few years. Juggling school, work, and two children, things don't get much more hectic. Life has a way of shuffling your priorities for you, against your will. However, amidst the pressure of everyday life, in the forefront of a country in social turmoil, one thing remains a constant: Michigan. I make time for it. I forcably shove it into the spinning cogs that move my life forward every Saturday. Everything stops for three hours. The chaos around me is nullified to a dull hum in the background. I could search the very depths of my conciousness to find something that compares to this unique passion of mine, but it would be to no avail. No matter the consequences. I'm still here.

The Great Gatsby, if you're familiar with it, is a tragedy. F. Scott Fitzgerald writes of our passion to recapture the past. To re-create the moments lost in memory. As it goes, this passion is ultimately damaging. No matter how hard you try to grab the ever-fleeting past, you'll walk away defeated and demoralized. 

Michigan football seems to be doing the same, stuck in the realm of past glory. We as fans push this notion all the time. Perhaps if we merely accept that things are different now, we can truely move forward to capture a new essance of glory.

Forget about yesterday, forget about capturing the past. Focus upon today, where challenges await in the future. And put some damn steel in your spine.

"So we beat on".