Is Michigan football above the law, the law in this case meaning – well, the NCAA rules and regulations, and pretty much everybody else?
It seems like the Wolverines are just all-in for the season, pushing their chips into the center of the table for a national championship, damn the torpedoes, and, well, damn everything else.
There was news on Thursday, as the university decided to forego their appeal on coach Jim Harbaugh’s three-game suspension and accept it, so Harbaugh will not coach this Saturday at Maryland, nor will he coach in the regular season finale against Ohio State (Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh accepts Big Ten’s 3-game suspension – ESPN)
A column today on awfulannouncing.com by Jesse Pantuosco (Michigan’s response to cheating scandal reeks of entitlement) points out numerous accuracies in the happenings of the last few weeks surrounding the story, including that Michigan has circled the wagons, so to speak, showing a unified front against outsiders; that the message from the Wolverines is that the entire thing is some massive conspiracy (when there appears to be clear evidence that their staffer, Connor Stalions, is guilty of the sign-stealing of which he’s accused); and that even FOX Sports, who has the Big Ten TV broadcast rights, is in the tank for Michigan, with Collin Cowherd equating the allegations to a speeding ticket.
Pantuosco makes some great points in his column. Here’s just one.
“Sports tribalism is a hell of a drug,” he writes, “one that highlights our ugliest tendencies as fans, many operating under the naïve assumption that every issue is binary with no room for nuance or compromise. Michigan’s ‘us against the world’ act isn’t exactly subtle, though it is effective, serving as a dog whistle of sorts as America confronts its widening political divide, skirting responsibility and introspection for ruthless smearing, muddying the discourse with straw-man tactics and other false equivalencies.”
The Wolverines are ranked No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings, visit Maryland this Saturday and then host No. 2 Ohio State on Nov. 25 in the regular season finale.
The winner of that game will go on to play in the Big Ten Championship Game, and likely remain in the top four for the national championship.
