University of Michigan scored a big 21-7 road win over their inter-state rival Michigan State on Saturday to put themselves in a solid position to make the college football playoffs. The narrative of the day should have been Michigan's return to national relevance. Yet head coach Jim Harbaugh felt the need to steal the headlines by proclaiming Michigan St. and their head coach Mark Dantonio "bush league". Maybe he should get his team together and take a good long hard look in a mirror before he opens his mouth again.
Every college football program has a series of rituals before they play, especially at home. Michigan St. lines up its player and coaches arm in arm across the football field for a team field march when they arrive at the stadium for home games. Many programs do similar things.
When the Spartans arrived on the field Saturday two hours before game time for their walk, several Wolverines were on the field warming up. If the Wolverines had any class, they would have simply stepped aside for a minute and let the Spartans make their walk. That would be the courteous thing to do, especially for the visiting team.
Of course that's not what happened. The Wolverines stayed on the field and essentially challenged the Spartans to walk right through them. So the Spartans did, did the idiotic Michigan guys think they would turn around and leave? It was a stupid game of chicken.
If you see the video clip, the Spartans did nothing malicious. They simply walked into the Wolverines who refused to move and broke their arm in arm grasps to eventually get through. Words were exchanged and I'm sure they were ugly. You'd be pissed to if somebody tried to block your way through your own yard.
Wolverine linebacker Devin Bush was one the players who refused to get out of the way and he wasn't done trying to make trouble. After the Spartans left the field, he walked over to the painted Michigan St logo on the 50-yard line and proceeded to try to dig up the grass with his feet. Stadium personnel had to repair the field before the game started.
After the game was over and Michigan came out victorious, the team decided to run out to the midfield logo once again and stomp on it. Once again, classy move Wolverines.
It's bad enough when a team shows such a terrible lack of sportsmanship, it's even more troubling when the head coach comes out after the game to matters worse. Jim Harbaugh told the media after the game he didn't see the pregame incidents, but he heard about them. He claimed his players were "clotheslined" by the Spartans and that head coach Mark Antonio followed his players smiling. He called the incident "bush league".
I wonder if Harbaugh is really that stupid or if he is just so full of himself that is what he really believes. It could go either way.
Let's look at the facts. The Spartans came out for their pregame field walk as they always do. The Wolverines on the field decided to play chicken with them instead of showing the home team an ounce of respect. Arm in arm the Spartans simply walked through the offending Wolverines and left the field after some barbs were traded. Michigan LB Devin Bush proceeded to deface the field forcing the stadium crew to come out to repair it before the game started. After the game was over, the Wolverines ran out to deface the midfield logo once again. Now which team is "bush league"?
Sorry Harbaugh, your team went into enemy territory and acted like assholes. And apparently you are fine with that. That tells me all I need to know about you. If you don't show any respect you will not receive any respect. Don't be surprised when everyone craps all over you when you lose to Ohio St. again. Harbaugh wasn't chased out of San Francisco because everybody loved him, that's for sure.
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