And with that out of the way, some thoughts about college football.
College football is like the ancient world, and I love them both for similar reasons. Everyone has their city-state. Each city-state has its peculiar rituals, cults, symbols. They go out to fight each other. Victory is more than just victory, and defeat more than just defeat. Everything that happens has a relation to the mythical figures and events of the distant past that also help construct your identity and the cohesion of the community. Every action has a context beyond the normal. It's the poetry that colors a prosaic world.
We treat college football the same way; at least, some of us do. Michigan fans use the hiring of Bo Schembechler as a template for Rich Rodriguez. He's a great coach because he's making them work hard like Bo did; he's a terrible coach because he isn't from Bo's coaching lineage. Charles Woodson became like a second Desmond Howard when he ran back the punt against Ohio State and then won the Heisman. You stand outside until the final whistle of a miserable game in the miserable cold, because if you're honest, it isn't about being entertained--it's about being part of something bigger than you. ("The team!" -- Bo.)
The colors, the songs, the places the former players and coaches--it all combines into a complex and vibrant tapestry of legend and tradition capable of evoking everything that is highest and lowest in humanity. (It's important for Michigan fans frustrated with this season and contemplating Coach Rod to remember the "lowest" and strive for the "highest.")
All this said, it's important to have a sense of perspective. The kingdom of God is so incredibly important compared to these earthly things. Unlike our sports teams, it will never pass away, and it has the power to change people's lives.
Still, in a society that seems determined to make life as mediocre and prosaic as possible, college football has a way of calling us out of our materialistic, individualistic slumber. And for that reason, this silly but violent game provides real value.
Anyway...there goes another year. The worst year in decades for U-M. Nothing left but to have patience, look to the future.
Oh, and root against all the teams we hate that are still in it.
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