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Absolutely. Because the…

Absolutely. Because the allegations are out there, the playing field is level again—everyone can change signs, go to wristbands, etc. But if the Big Ten suspends Harbaugh, there's no way to unring that bell later if it is determined that the conference was wrong. And you're right that the harm extends to the rest of the staff and the players. 

You're right that this…

You're right that this posture isn't the norm, but it's not unheard of. I run into it fairly often in my practice. In my cases—which, to be clear, don't involve anything like universities and college conferences—the plaintiff can often defeat that "but we'll be irreparably harmed by an injunction" argument by showing that the defendant often accepts that supposed harm in similar situations.

In this case, Michigan could reply to the conference's argument that the sign stuff is irreparably harming the conference by showing that the conference and the NCAA (a useful comparison) often let due process run its course and then address punishments retroactively. So the Big Ten's argument that it can't do that in this case shouldn't be taken very seriously.

I'll be fascinated to see the papers and how the courts deal with this. But hopefully the Big Ten will come to its senses and realize that it probably doesn't want to make law in this area when it might not like the law that it makes.

Looks like another winter of…

Looks like another winter of cold porridge ...

(Actually, when I told MamaBear that Michigan was gearing up for the legal fight and how badly I wanted in, her response was "how in the world would you have the time." Which is true. But thsi would be so fun.)

I'm disappointed only…

I'm disappointed only because I wanted it to be us. I spend a lot of my time in injunction fights. But this is a very good choice.

This is a really good post…

This is a really good post—thank you.

I want to weigh in here only to correct one point that I see often but that is rather secondary to your point. Under most bodies of law (yes, MGoLawyer here), you could not "defame" recruits or families by saying that they took money in the circumstances that you describe so long as you were telling the truth. Similarly, Sam Webb, Isaiah Hole, and others would not "defame" anyone by printing the truth. Most places, truth is a defense to defamation.

When we say that Sam Webb (as an example) doesn't want to defame someone, we really mean something different. Of course, I'm sure that Sam doesn't want to defame someone because Sam doesn't want to print things that he knows aren't true. But what we really mean is that he doesn't want to be accused of defamation. That's a trickier calculation for any journalist—every time they publish, they run that risk—so many of the other factors you mention (access, sources, etc.) probably weigh more heavily in that calculation.

Again, thanks for letting me jump in with my nerdy lawyer thing, and thanks for the good substantive post.

I don't know much about it…

I don't know much about it except where it is, but it sure looks pretty.

Pentwater is terrific, too,…

Pentwater is terrific, too, for many of the same reasons. I played football with a Dawson back in the day. I'd say "small world," but when you're talking about that part of the state, of course it is.

Let me put in a plug for…

Let me put in a plug for Ludington.

First, it's right on Lake Michigan, with one of the prettiest public beach's you'll find. Stearns Park, the city beach, has a huge stretch of sand, so it's great for families with smaller kids. There's a pretty lighthouse to walk to along the breakwater, so you get out into the lake itself, and the Badger car ferry comes and goes from Wisconsin a couple of times a day. The sunsets are stunning.

There's also a great state park just up the road with both a Lake Michigan and smaller beach, access to inland Hamlin Lake, tons of great hiking paths, canoe rentals, and the like. My boys loved all of that stuff when they were your kids' ages, and still do.

The town is also wonderful. Great ice cream at House of Flavors, a small downtown with good restaurants, bars, and shops, and a great hands-on museum when it rains (Sandcastles). 

Ludington is also far south of Traverse City, so you're more likely to have very comfortable water temps that time of year, and an easier drive back to Ann Arbor.

We love Ludington, and visit almost every year. (I grew up in Shelby, just south of there, and have a lot of family still in Ludington.)

Thanks! We'll need it, but…

Thanks! We'll need it, but the crew of U of D are sure helping. We're in for the long haul for sure.

I have three sons of U of D…

I have three sons of U of D Jesuit. We also considered Brother Rice, looked at Notre Dame Prep a little, Shrine, etc. 

We chose UDJ for a few reasons. First, of the schools we considered, it was by far the most diverse in many ways, and that was very important to my wife and me. It has excellent academics, as do most of the schools being discussed here. We've met a lot of UDJ graduates, and like the sort of men they are. The "Men for Others" mission really resonates with our family. And we love the wide variety of activities available for the boys, from sports to sailing club to D&D club. One of the boys has even helped to found a new board-game club focused on the really involved strategy games. The school seems to create spaces for all kinds of kids, not just jocks or musicians or actors. The boys quickly found their small communities within the school, while also fitting well into the larger student body. It's been a great experience for them.

Our youngest in the Academy (for 7th/8th graders), which is a nice option to have. 

With the options being discussed here, I doubt there's a bad choice to make. UDJ has simply been an excellent fit for our family.

This is very much what I was…

I was really hoping for the Red Tails. Honor some of our heroes, the color scheme still fits, makes sense with "Washington" ... ah, well. 

Here's an enthusiastic…

Here's an enthusiastic second for Come From Away. That was terrific.

I've seen in three times.

I've seen in three times.

The first time was in Chicago, maybe three years ago. I took my wife for her birthday. We absolutely loved it.

We next saw it in Detroit last year. That case wasn't as good as Chicago's for the most part, but it wasn't too bad. If I recall, we had the understudy Hamilton that night, and thought that he did a really good job. 

We surprised our kids (who had become obsessed) with tickets for Christmas, and so took them to Chicago last April to see it. I paid a bit more to be in the front row of the balcony so they could see. (They were 12, 12, and 9 at the time.) Holy shit was that terrific. Miguel Cervantes, who played Hamilton in Chicago and is now moving to Broadway, really grew into the role in the 18 months between times I saw it in Chicago. He was excellent before; now, he owns that role. (Miranda is a genius writer, but I don't like his voice as much as I do Cervantes's.) Just phenomenal. The man who played George Washington the second time in Chicago, too, was out of this world. I'm not good at judging actors' size on stage, but when he first made his big entrance, he looked 6'8", 350 lbs. Just a mountain of a man. And when he opened his mouth, he brought it from his toes. Just an incredible performance.

Moonbeams is really neat. I…

Moonbeams is really neat. I highly recommend it. We've gone at least a few nights each of the last two years. We're taking the Cub Scouts tomorrow, and one of my 13-year-olds insists that we do this on Christmas Eve again this year. (Kid has a huge heart.) Try to turn i to Beaumont by about 7:30, as there's often a bit of a traffic jam. What a great problem.

The every-offensive-snap…

The every-offensive-snap video's not too bad, either.

After graduating from…

After graduating from Michigan Law, I took the bar exam at Breslin in the summer of 2004. They had the concessions open for lunch, staffed by people in Sparty hats and polos. I walked up and ordered a burger and drink, and the kid taking my order starts giving me grief about my Michigan hat. I just smiled and shook my head. Another member of the concessions staff walked up to the kid who was taking my order, and said, "You dumbass, now you actually have to say it."

And that's when the kid in the Sparty gear mumbled, "Uh, do you want fries with that?"

I'd wear that sweatshirt.

I'd wear that sweatshirt.

I have all of the medical…

I have all of the medical training you can get at the College of Engineering and the Law School, so ...

My wife has a benign tumor on her pituitary gland. I have no idea whether it is the same type as yours. But she was advised to just leave it alone. She does take some medication for it---now down to half a pill two nights per week---and that's it. The doctors have monitored it since it was discovered maybe five years ago, but have never seen anything concerning. Her prognosis is that it should never affect her life beyond (in her case) some occasional medication and checkups.

I hope that yours is like hers.

God Bless.

Coach Harbaugh is on the…

Coach Harbaugh is on the short list of coaches I'd let my sons play for, and it's not because he's coaching at my alma mater. It's because of things like this. 

And congratulations to those 45 young men. That is excellent work, and quite an achievement for any student, not to mention an athlete. Go Blue.

It's going to be fine. We…

It's going to be fine. We have a QB on the roster with a TON of game experience and who will be an NFL starter next year. As a backup QB against Ohio State, that's as good as it gets.

Also, Chase's hair will look sweet when he runs the zone read.

I agree completely. But more…

I agree completely. But more importantly, congratulations on an excellent post. This is better than most of the opinion pieces I read on sports, even in some serious newspapers. Well done.

The size recommendations on

The size recommendations on the back of the box are generally a decent place to start. Then, I suggest you have your son hold the ball in one hand, gripping it as for a pass. Have him hold the ball out in front of him like a glass of water, and shake his hand up and down and around. If he can hold onto the ball, it's small enough for him. If he can't, he'll struggle to throw it correctly. Your older son might be able to handle a slightly bigger ball, but he won't be hurt by playing with a smaller one.

Also, I highly recommend a composite ball. As others have said, they're not too expensive. They'll handle water a scuffs a bit better, and unless you're always in a large grass field, scuffs are fairly inevitable.

But, hey, if the boys want something that's neon and rubber, so long as it's small enough for the youngest to throw, they'll be fine.

Kind of a side note, but I

Kind of a side note, but I was bummed to see him take jersey 2, but not because of anything to do with Woodson. I simply love non-traditional QB numbers, and was hoping Patterson would stick with #20, which was available on offense last time I looked. Oh well. I still dream of a 6-2, 240-lb. fullback of a quarterback who wears #37.

In all fairness to Sheridan,

In all fairness to Sheridan, I've always understood from the people I know who were and are close to the program that Sheridan walked on to learn how to coach. He never had the right constitution to play in front of 100,000 people. Which is particularly disappointing, I understand, because he was pretty decent in practice. Oh well.



But regardless of his success on the field, I bet he learned a bunch that is helping him in his coaching career. So jokes aside, what this player said could be fairly rational.

I don't think the national

I don't think the national media is covering the Nassar situation as closely as it should be. But in fairness, googling "Washington Post Larry Nassar" generates a lot of hits. This was the most recent I saw on the first page of my Google search results.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2017/11/29/former-usa-gym…

That's a fairly quick and

That's a fairly quick and compact release he's got there.

I haven't read the NYTimes

I haven't read the NYTimes article, but probably will because it sounds interesting.

I do subscribe to The Athletic for about $4 per month. So far, I'm pleased. While it offers the sorts of gamers I can often find elsewhere, there has been some high-quality content that is different from but comparable in quality to what I love about MGoBlog.

For example, there have a been a few articles about Michigan's passing game. The writer has started with some general discussion about the good and the bad he has seen, followed by a series of video clip examples and discussions. There was a particularly good one about Speight's difficulties passing in the red zone against Air Force. I'm happy to pay $4 per month for stuff like that. So if it keeps up the quality, I'll keep subscribing.

That said, I'm someone who likes pay sites. In my experience, you get what you pay for, and I'd rather pay for good content with a dollar a week than pay for it by being bombarded by ads. Now that's me; The Athletic will be a decent test to see how many of me are out there.

Well, we know that, whatever

Well, we know that, whatever we have in McCaffery, we need about 40 more pounds of it. (I'm pumped about his potential, but damn does he look skinny. Park him under the soft-serve machine and let's get some weight on the boy.)

I agree that a few handoffs

I agree that a few handoffs hardly count as real reps. They might be nice if you want to show a truly green player what it feels like to be on the field in front of 100,000 people, but after that, you need real game situations, throws, adjustments, etc.

I think that who you play now

I think that who you play now depends, to some extent, on Speight's prognosis.

We know that Speight is not coming back this year. The question is: What about next year? If he doesn't come back, and O'Korn plays the rest of the way, then Michigan goes into 2018 with no quarterbacks with meaningful game experience. That is pretty darned uncomfortable.

If you expect Speight to come back, then Michigan goes into 2018 with a veteran plus at least three talented QBs to compete against him. That is a far more comfortable situation. In this scenario, I think there is no reason to rush a QB that isn't ready (Peters) into a game behind a shaky line.

So I think that if Michigan believes that Speight's career is over, they need to, at the very least, find a way to get Peters some meaningful snaps, if not a few starts. Otherwise, let's see if O'Korn can return to his Purdue form while we pray for no further monsoons.

(By the way, I have no knowledge about Speight's prognosis. I've simply heard rumors that his career might be over—an awful outcome if so—and it got me thinking about what it meant for Michigan's quarterback situation. That is all.)

My only consolation is that

My only consolation is that they are in place of the whites (since we're visitors, technically) and not the home blues. Don't touch my home blues.

I read the post to say that

I read the post to say that Peters is QB3. He would be QB4 but for McCaffery's redshirt. But McCaffery is redshirting, so Peters is QB3. 

Most of the ordering here

Most of the ordering here doesn't concern me. I have some concerns about Speight, but it's ideal if our best QB is also the one with the most experience in ths system. Perhaps he's even solved the issues that concern me. And if a senior won the backup job, sweet.



What concerns me is the word "fading" about Peters. If taken literally, it doesn't mean that the older QBs are just pulling away (which is plausible even if Peters is doing quite well). Instead, it suggests he's regressing. Note that nothing is said about McCaffery ("He's so good already that he would play over Peters!"), but only mentioned as a reference to how far Peters has fallen.



I hope Peters shakes off whatever's up and works through it. I've been more excited about his potential than that of any Michigan QB since Gardner.

Thanks for this. I'd actually

Thanks for this. I'd actually forgotten the detail of his physical and the probing of his stomach until you mentioned this. This extra context makes the story even more heart-wrenching. Because you're right: I can't see what anyone could have done differently here.

All very, very true.

All very, very true.

All that you say is fair, and

All that you say is fair, and if what I wrote contradicts that, I didn't mean it to. As I understand the article, he was sick, which caused his spleen to be enlarged and vulnerable. Likely, one of those hits in the game ruptured it. That could have happened in baseball or basketball or hockey or goofing around with friends, but it did happen on the football field, and but for that rupture, he'd still be here.



Maybe what I should have said was that this isn't the sort of thing I should rationally fear if my boys play football. The odds of them having an enlarged and vulnerable spleen due to mono and playing in a football game are pretty low. I only meant that I have enough other fears about football now that I'll probably still be like Evan's mom, pacing throughout the game, regardless of whether that's rational.

What a gutting read. I can't

What a gutting read. I can't even imagine.



I'm afraid that I'll be like Evan's mother here if I let any of my boys play, pacing somewhere in fear until the game is over. That's not even directly related to this story—it's hard to blame football for Evan's death, which was a simple, horrible tragedy—or even necessarily that rational, but simply because that specter hangs out there, and that's my boy out there, dammit. And I love this game passionately, and miss playing terribly, and got so much from it. 



I probably won't be able to stop thinking about this story for days.

Heck, I'm just grateful you

Heck, I'm just grateful you read the actual words in the post (which wasn't "Which QB should start?"). 

You raise a fair point. But in my experience, serious fans of the game have more information to impart than I could find through a bit of internet research. Sure, I can find cases where a younger player was started over a veteran who'd started the year before, or where that didn't happen. But the details—Who was this young kid? How had the veteran really played the previous year?—are far harder to suss out without hours of reading. I figured a few people here who really watch this sort of thing might write in with an anecdote they'd watched more closely.

Twenty years ago, I probably could have done this myself off the top of my head. I watched hours and hours of college football every week, often taping games to watch mid-week that I dind't have time for on Saturday. But these days, I have far less time to watch football. This board, though, is full of people who do now what I did twenty years ago. So I thought it was worth trying to tap that wealth of knowledge. So far, I think I might have been wrong.

I don't know enough about the

I don't know enough about the Cook/Maxwell situation to comment. But the Tate/Denard comparisons ring hollow. I bet that RichRod was interested to see what Denard could do, but Tate had been plenty promising (and frustrating). But Tate had a lot of off-the-field issues that contributed to Denard's increased opportunities. Speight seems to have none of that; from what I've read, he's a very hard worker and solid leader.

I'd forgotten this situation.

I'd forgotten this situation. Yes, thank you.

This is what I don't

This is what I don't understand. Yes, time will tell. Yes, the coaches know more than we do. Yes, this was one spring "game" among lots and lots of hours of work. Yes, the games will be played and the things will happen. Do the same people who express those opinions want MGoBlog to be nothing more than a post of the final score of each game? Where's the fun in that?

I'm disappointed I didn't

I'm disappointed I didn't think of that! Yes, that's exactly the sort of comparable situation I was trying to think of.

The fact that there is no

The fact that there is no science to it is one of the things that is so interesting to me. That's why I'm curious about comparable situations, but of course realize that they aren't scientific data points, either. For example, we know how Navarre did in 2003 and were pretty happy with it. But might we have done better with Gutierrez? There's no way to know. Comparable situations are informative but not determinative.

Oh, I do. I'm not getting

Oh, I do. I'm not getting worked up about it. I just enjoy thinking about football, and with the season far away, this is what I do. It's all in fun.

I haven't really followed

I haven't really followed Trubisky's career. Was he expected to turn into what he became, or did he blossom once he took over the starting job? Was he much of a threat to transfer while he sat the bench?

Renting planes is quite

Renting planes is quite common. It's what most flying clubs do. I'd bet that most private pilots rent. 

It would be unusual for a

It would be unusual for a pilot in a plane like this to have a parachute in case of emergency, so the emergency-bail-out scenario is unlikely. If he had a parachute and used it, either he is very unusual, or planned on using it all along.

Well, crap. I need to make a

Well, crap. I need to make a correction here. I was discussing this with my wife last night, and apparently a lot of the research that suggested that victims were more likely to become perpetrators has been challenged recently. Part of the problem is that a lot of these studies were based on self-reporting, and there were incentives in place for a perpetrator to claim that they were also a victim. But that self-reporting might not be credible or accurate.

I'm sure that there is much more nuance here than I understand, so I won't muddy the waters more in an attempt to clear them up. But please disregard my "yes" answer above.

That is an excellent

That is an excellent clarification. And yes, you understood me correctly. Among those who abuse children, a disproportionately higher percentage were abused themselves compared to the general population. How much higher? I'd have to ask mamabear. Also, I have no idea whether the accused here was abused.

As someone said below, this could be an example of how this evil can perpetuate itself down through generations, harming hundreds or thousands of kids. (Sadly, that's not hyperbole.) This is why reporting this stuff is so important; if you can break the chain, you can save so many kids.

This is my wife's line of

This is my wife's line of work. Although I'm not qualified to answer a lot of questions about it, this one I know: Yes.