Signed copies of 3&Out

Submitted by ST3 on

If all goes as planned, my brother will be getting me a signed copy of 3&Out tonight for my Christmas present. He made the mistake of asking me how I’d like John U. Bacon to sign the book. Here’s my top 10* list. (For each item, precede the quote with “Dear ST3,” and follow it with, “MGoBlue, JUB.”)

12. Dilithium uber alles.

11. Your brother listened to wuss music in the 80’s. **

10. This book is full of verified voracity.

9. When Brady Hoke points, he’s pointing at you.

8. Section 1 was right.

7. Your Inside the BoxScore diaries are the highlight of MGoBlog for me.

6. UFR? Ur freakin’ remarkable!

5. You, sir, are a Michigan Man.

4. After reading this, you will cackle with knowing glee.

3. Muppets!

2. Beating a bleating ungulate against the wall of the Notre Dame locker room until it bursts into a kaleidoscope of viscera… that stays with you.***

and finally,

1. You be like dang.

What would you want JUB to write in your copy?

* Yes, there are 12 items on my top 10 list, because in the B1G, that’s how we roll.

** That’s a private joke between my brother and me, but I thought it fit given this Blog’s occasional Morrissey-inspired posts.

*** Quite possibly my favorite thing Brian has written on this site.

OMG Shirtless

October 28th, 2011 at 8:19 PM ^

I didn't really even watch the Purdue game that I fucked up the story about.  If you want to believe the rest of the book, you're free to do that.  If I made mistakes about a section that is easily corrected by looking up the boxscore/drive summary of that game, you can be totally sure that I didn't make any mistakes about who told me what at what point in the three years, especially because that is much harder to prove or disprove.

Signed, 

John U. Bacon

PS. At least I got the name of the team correct.

pascal

October 28th, 2011 at 8:58 PM ^

 

Yep, I just got back from Nicola's, and Bacon is happy to personalize when he signs. He is not only a good writer, but a very engaging and entertaining speaker. He talked for about an hour, mostly going over certain sections of the book. He gave the history of how athletics came to be so uniquely interwined with academics at universities in America, and he spent a lot of time discussing his experience working out under Mike Barwis. It was a great section where he described this in the book, but it was twice as good to hear him tell it in person. One thing I was impressed with is that he had to run four down-and-backs on a football field--400 yards--in under 60 seconds, and he did it! That is quite impressive for a middle-aged man. Apparently afterward, Barwis gave him the highest compliment imaginable afterward: "That was the first time I've seen you run, and I didn't want to break your jaw." Bacon also made a very good point concerning those prone to criticize Rodriguez for trivial matters, such as using the word "ain't" so often: Bacon would ask such people, "Have you revolutionized your field?" Engineers often don't have the best writing or speaking abilities, yet that doesn't diminish the job they do as engineers. Bacon also made the comment that he thinks if RR had won just one more game last year, he'd still be coaching at Michigan. He didn't speculate as to when DB decided to fire him, but Bacon did say that he "wasn't sure if [DB] was pulling for him [RR] at the end." Finally, one last great nugget: Bacon talked about how his publishers had been hesitant to use the word "crucible" in the subtitle of the book, and Bacon assured them that Michigan fans could handle it (Arthur Miller went to Michigan, for crying out loud). And he said that he was on a talk show in a "Big Ten town that will not be named," and the host repeatedly referred to the book as "Three and Out: Rich Rodriguez and the Michigan Wolverines in the CUBICLE of College Football."

BlueHills

October 28th, 2011 at 8:41 PM ^

Nice to have a signed copy, and it's an excellent, fast read.

It's also changed my mind about my alma mater, Michigan. What was for me a magical place, a school that educated and felt like home to me, my wife and my children, was revealed as having become just another cold institution.

Yes, they did what was best for Michigan. Maybe that was smart business. DB is all about smart business. MSC is all about smart business.

But in doing so, they dragged out the coaching search and prevented RR and some of his assistants from working in their profession this year; they retained Barwis, so he turned down Florida and another opportunity, then fired him for Hoke's guy. They didn't care about the people involved enough to consider the impact their lives.

They didn't have their coach's back when he needed it during the heat of the Freep investigation thing. I'm starting to have more respect for OSU - which said stupidly protective things to have their coach's back - than M. Sure, OSU was stupid until they finally threw Tressel under the bus. But at least they tried to be loyal for a while.

Every year I get a call to guest lecture at the school. I always volunteer.

I don't think I'm going to say yes again. Unless they pay me. Because it's just business. And if I ever meet Rosenberg, I'm going to let him know that I think he's a self-righteous liar.

Finally, I think it will be a while before I can be an enthusiastic Michigan fan again.

Bando Calrissian

October 28th, 2011 at 9:55 PM ^

You know as well as I do that one of the main conclusions of this book is that a bunch of adult problems made things difficult for a team full of college kids.

You get that invitation to guest lecture to teach a bunch of college kids.  And you're going to let a bunch of adult problems (which are completely unrelated to academics) stop you from helping, again, a bunch of college kids.

Do what you're going to do, but keep in mind what happens when you do it.

Franc-O

October 28th, 2011 at 10:42 PM ^

I'm on this blog everyday reading almost everything posted, day in and day out. Nothing that I have read recently has upset me more than your post.

How dare you let the handlings of this football team effect your viewpoint of this University has a whole, this magical place. I love this  University and I love this football team. Am I happy about the last 3 yrs, the divisions, the losing, the rollercoaster ride we all have been on? No. But I have never let any feelings effect my love of MICHIGAN.

I go back to Bo, no one individual is more important than The Team. The Team, The Team, The Team. Substitute "individual" with "Department" and "The Team" with "The University" and you have how you should look at this. Obviously Football is huge it drives the University. But there is so much more. This University gave me my degree, my best friends, my passion for UofM, the best times of my life and most importantly, Mott Children's Hospital saved my son's life twice. Open heart surgery at 5 days old by the best heart surgeons in the world. I will love this university until the day I die. It has given me more than I can EVER ask of it and I will defend it forever.

Don't let the business end of Football take you away from this magical place. You'll regret it and I cannot fathom I'm writing this to an alum. I'm truly disappointed.

BlueHills

October 29th, 2011 at 12:08 AM ^

My daughter trained at Mott. She may have taken care of your son if he was there a few years ago. She spent a lot of time in small peds post-op ICU. Who knows?

But what happened with the "business end of football" exposes Michigan's administrators and AD for what they are. You're free to reach your own conclusions about these folks; you can probably imagine that my opinion of them is not high (and I never much cared for DB to be honest).

Bo's (and Harlan Hatcher's) Michigan is long gone. It has been replaced by something that I don't recognize. That is how I, in your words, dare to be so utterly disappointed in my University that I'm actually disgusted.

 

Feat of Clay

October 29th, 2011 at 12:38 PM ^

Right.

Your response here illustrates exactly why I am pushing back.  If you forgive a president for his failure of leadership at a pretty dark episode in the U's history, and hold him up as an examplar of Michigan's greatness, then clearly you get that people can fail and still do great things for their institutions.  You understand that Universities can blow it but still redeem themselves elsewhere. 

I don't understand what is so different about what you're reading in 3 & Out.

BlueHills

October 29th, 2011 at 4:50 PM ^

Actually, I mentioned Hatcher because when I was a freshman he took the trouble to invite everyone to an open house at the president's house on campus, and meet us in small groups or individually. I was a 17 year old, and it made an impression.

But you are absolutely right. There are good and bad sides to most people.

I do think what the University did with the football staff was low-class, and since they'd never done it quite that way to another staff, it was un-Michigan.

But 24 hours later, I agree with you, it was an overreaction on my part to get stressed over it. Maybe they'd do it differently now. Time to forget, forgive and move on.

double blue

October 28th, 2011 at 11:01 PM ^

You are so wrong . While it is very clear that many mistakes were made do not turn your back on the university as a whole. Forgiveness is the ky to life. We learn and move on. Move on w the one's we love. And we all love this university very much. It is not perfect, but it's as close as it gets.

Jon06

October 28th, 2011 at 11:53 PM ^

I think all the people who are acting incredulous that your attitude could be something other than blind devotion are being a bit extreme. For one thing, the students aren't going to have a markedly different experience if somebody other than you guest lectures, unless you're, like, Arthur Miller (who is dead) or Madonna or Larry Page. For another, it's perfectly reasonable to request compensation. The standard compensation for filling in for a one hour lecture in my department is over $100, even if you are a GSI or grader for the course. (Compensation does vary, though, and the rules often change--my dad filled in for an upper-level math course for 2 full weeks in the 90s and only got paid $100 or so.) That said, it's also reasonable to just boycott altogether, provided you make your reasons clear to somebody who cares enough to pass along the feedback to somebody who pays attention to these things (e.g., the professor who invites you or his/her department head, who might pass it along to someone active in faculty governance or even a regent). Michigan is a special place, but it's still run by humans. As such it can use whatever checks and balances can be provided by the people who care that it remains a special place.

Feat of Clay

October 29th, 2011 at 8:42 AM ^

I completely get how hard it is to have one's blinders ripped off.

All institutions have warts.  ALL OF THEM.  But Michigan is an institution that has so much good going on, that it ultimately rises above those warts.

I suspect anyone who is closely affiliated with the inner workings of a university can relate events that are disillusioning. But you have to see the University for what it is on the whole, which is a truly amazing place worth loving and worth supporting.  It is worth being loyal to.

Give yourself tme to be pissed off, but then I hope you will reconsider your support.  Mistakes have been made at Michigan; not everyone is noble all the time.  I see that side of things way more than I'd like.  But put it all in the balance, and the good far outweighs the bad IMO.