Harbaugh Criticsm and NCAA Go Away....

A few of you out there (you know who you are!) were kind enough to e-mail me and suggest that I take the "Michigan Road" and shun or banish Jim Harbaugh from the Michigan Family due to his outburst and degrading comments on Michigan's admission requirements while he was coaching at Stanford.  That I should NOT be rooting for Jim's success in The Super Bowl.  These types of e-mails make me scratch my head and go, "Hmmmmmm...."

Folks, the MMQ is here to say this:  IF there was ONE thing I learned at Michigan it's this - YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO CHALLENGE and QUESTION authority!  I'm sure Jim picked up on that in a class somewhere.  To say or suggest that the QB that single handedly beat the Suckeyes two years running and guaranteed it the 2nd time is somehow NOW disloyal and should be banished as a result of what was more or less a true comment (while he was coaching Stanford) is not only ricidulous, its a complete misunderstanding of what makes Michigan special.

Look - I'm a MICHIGAN fan.  That not only allows me to question the University, the Athletic Department, coaching, etc....It DEMANDS that I question it!  If we were all yes men and agreed with everything that went on...Well....we'd be either OSU or Sparty.  Or the Domers.   We can stand on our own individual beliefs and those might differ, but in the end, we're ALL MICHIGAN. 

I hope that makes some sense to those of you that wanted me to ignore what Harbaugh accomplished here and later in the NFL and yes, even coaching at Stanford.   I'm proud of that Michigan Member and I'm hoping for his success.  Regardless of whatever comments he made while in the heat of the moment....

If you can't see that or don't agree with it, that's fine.  You, as a Michigan Fan, are entitled to that opinion.  But remember that in the end, you can't take away what he accomplished while he was here and least of all - who he LEARNED it from while he was here.....

NCAA – Please….Just Stop….Stop….It’ll be FAIR For Everyone


In case you haven’t heard, the NCAA has officially “botched” the Miami Scandal Investigation. How did they manage that? In 25 words or less, they apparently were going to base the punishment on some information that was obtained “illegally” and now that information is inadmissible.   The NCAA has to go back and “redo” everything it has by ignoring the information that they know….because there weren't and aren't supposed to know it.....

If that makes any sense to you, please respond and explain it to me….

I guess where this is going is that the NCAA can’t even be trusted at this point to collect information from viable sources in the manner they are supposed to obtain it. Yet, somehow, they can “justify” coming down on a University that was open and honest in their communication and that was rectifying that situation via the criminal courts (PSU). But other Universities that chose to clam up and not say nuttin’ get less severely punished than would otherwise be expected (USC And OSU).

Where does that leave any of this? Be a good guy and you get crushed. In fact, be a good guy and the long arm of the NCAA simply circumvents their investigative process (which, btw, must be the biggest bunch of BS that anyone has ever seen) and crushes you to within an inch of your NCAA football life…..Be a bad guy and don’t say nuttin’ and you’re still able to recruit, go to bowls…etc. That’s FAIR. Sure…It’s FAIR….Just like Title IX is fair to male athletes. I get tired of hearing that word in our everyday barrage of news and media. It has to be FAIR.  In what world is any of what the NCAA does FAIR??????

And seeing as how the NCAA doesn’t even bother with “rule benders” any more (see Bama, MSU, Arkansas and others) when it comes to oversigning….Well, What EXACTLY is the point of the NCAA anymore and trying to keep things FAIR? They certainly aren’t try to create a level or FAIR playing field even with the rules they HAVE!

Dan Wetzel as usual, hits the nail on the head. Amateurism isn’t dead, it simply never was. Amateurism was one of those things, per Wetzel, that was designed by rich people in order to create an unfair advantage….A perfect example is the “amateur” tag that has long since been removed from Olympic athletes…Certainly hasn’t hurt that event or the sports in that event, summer or winter.

Why would removing the amateur tag from collegiate sports be any different? A normal student who is an engineer, pre-med, pre-law, or whatever can got get a summer internship in that field and get paid. College athletes ARE NOT ALLOWED BY NCAA RULES TO EVEN WORK PART TIME IN WHAT MIGHT BE DEFINED AS THEIR FUTURE PROFESSION!

How, the MMQ asks…IS that Fair????

Let it stop….Make the NCAA go away. Let Student Athletes make money however and whenever they want to make money. That includes boosters throwing them a couple of bucks. And if there’s someone like De-Rob that can pull in $100G’s while he’s a student athlete, awesome. I have often wondered what would happen if somehow the golden calf of College Football were to somehow get taken away or diluted by regional semi-pro teams or what would happen if the NFL got its act together and started “Farm” systems similar to Major League Baseball. Sign kids out of high school for $250K a year that weren’t eligible to make it into a college because of grades. Arrange for special training for these kids in another field so it seemed like a noble thing to do if they didn’t pan out in football.  Something like a "glorified" ITT tech institute or something.... Sell tickets (in the current stadiums that the NFL cities and owners own) for $25 general admission. They could have all games be Monday Night Games. Or Tuesday. Pick a night and own it. OR it could be like the USFL and the season could begin in the NFL off-season. Six weeks after the Super Bowl. 12 game every other week schedule starting in March and wrapping up at the end of August. Get a couple of big name coaches to coach these regional city farm clubs that would be feeders to the NFL and once the players were old enough, they would simply enter the NFL draft next to their collegiate counterparts…

HOW FAST do you think the NCAA and the SEC, B1G and others would come around to the idea of athletic compensation?

The answer is: Pretty damn quick.