Oh What Could Have Been

November 18th, 2006 #1 Ohio State versus #2 Michigan both teams unbeaten, winner gets the Big Ten championship and a trip to the national title game. We knew that this game was big but who knew a loss could of been so devastating to a program.

The game starts out with Michigan driving the ball down Ohio States throat going 80 yards scoring a touchdown on 1-yard run my Mike Hart. Ohio State would answer though with a long 69 yard drive that took well over six minutes finishing with soon to be heisman trophy winner Troy Smith connecting with Roy Hall with a one yard touchdown.

The second quarter was all Ohio State, Chris "Beanie" Wells, Ted Ginn Jr., and Anthony Gonzalez all scored touchdowns, while Michigan was able to squeeze in one touchdown pass with Chad Henne connecting to Adrian Arrington. Ohio State had control going into half up two touchdowns 28-14.

Michigan would stop Ohio State on their first drive and then score on run by Mike Hart cutting the deficite down to 21-28 and then add a field goal by Garrett Rivas cutting it again 24-28. But just before the fourth quarter started Antonio Pittman snapped off a 56 yard run to make the game 35-24 going into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth Mike Hart scored his third touchdown of the game making it 31-35. That is when history happens, a historic play that triggerd a downward spiral for Michigan football. After a delay of game penalty against the the Buckeyes it was 3rd and 15 and Michigan looked like they were going to force Ohio State to settle for a field goal making it a touchdown difference. Michigan got Troy Smith under pressure and forced to scramble Smith took off, we had him we stopped I thought! I thought, till Shawn Crable blasted Smith out-of-bounds with a helmet-to-helmet shot. Ohio State went on to score another touchdown making the score 31-42.

Michigan wouldn't go away though 4th and 16 on their own 44 yard line with 2:55 left Chad Henne throws an incompletion, but there is a flag, pass inerference on Ohio State and Michigan gets the ball on Ohio States 41 and a fresh set of downs. Henne would throw a touchdown pass with 2:13 left and then connect on a 2-point conversion.

They wouldn't recover the onside kick and Ohio State wins a classic 42-39.

Had Crable gone low or even just pushed Smith out-of-bounds Ohio State would have settled for the field goal around Michigan's 30 yard line. If he makes the kick its only a seven point game 31-38. But we can't take back history and Michigan would settle for beatdown by USC in the Rose Bowl...again, while Ohio State would suffer the same fate against Florida in the National Championship game.

The lose triggered contraversy as to if Llyod Carr could even beat Jim Tressel and Ohio State, he had only beaten the sweatervest wearing coach once in 2003. But the start of the 2007 would show signs of worse to come Michigan lost to Appalachian State a FCS team that in their case have won many national titles but still and FCS team...Central Michigan was a D-2 national champion back in the day that is where App. State is today, a FCS powerhouse.

The loss killed coach Carr's reputation and he later in the season decided to retire after their bowl game. Which they won the Gator Bowl agianst...FLORIDA, yes defending national champions Florida, with heisman title winner Tim Tebow. Yes the great Tim Tebow does have a losing record against one team...Michigan he is 0-1 against Michigan.

What could of been, our defense is strong and maybe we slow down Florida in the 2006 title game like we did in 2007. Maybe we actually beat Florida like we did in 2007 and we are national champions. Maybe Llyod is still here at UofM and we get big name recruits because who doesn't want to play for the winningest program in college football history (which we still are today) and defending national champion for the 12 time. We never go through Rich Rod, maybe we get a good head coach in waiting or Llyod becomes a Joe Pa type figurehead and we are fine.

With Shawn Crable's hit UofM recieved much worse then a 15-yard penalty, they recieved a at least a five year curse, hopefull Hoke and his staff has the cure for the Crable Curse.

Please Press Pause

Super Bowl XLV (45) is in 13 days and that means for 13 days sports talk will be dissecting the game between the Steelers and Packers from Quarterbacks to the cities they are from, making so many predictions that by the time the game starts we'll be tired for the game and the defensive game that it should be will put most fans to sleep. Better relish the moment of NFL talk we have because it could be the last we hear for a long time.

With a lockout looming ahead will this be the last game we see until 2013? What will we have to watch if this dreadful option becomes reality? We'll have the NBA! Unless your a fan of the Lakers, Heat, Celtics, or Spurs you really don't care to much of the NBA, plus they too have a lockout in the horizon of next season.

So for months we will be subject to college football and college basketball for all of the sports headlines, imagine a fall year the biggest names in sports aren't Tom Brady, Drew Brees, or Peyton Manning. The names we'll be watching are Andrew Luck of Stanford, Justin Blackmon of Oklahoma State, and Kellen Moore of Boise State.

Sounds crazy right? We'll unless the Players Associtations and Owners cannot come into an agreement it will be a reality. So lets pray that this Super Bowl will be a classic because we will have hold onto the memory of this game for a long time if the worst case scenario does in fact occur.

Should I stay or Should I Go?

So many times in sports we see players who just don't know how to call it quits. They retire and unretire because either they can't let go, or they still feel they have what it takes to compete, or they were forced out do to sickness and have came back for a great story. It has got to the point though where we see a player or coach retire and question how long this will actually last, or start wondering where will they end up when they do make their comeback. We see this happen all the time. Some comebacks are great stories and we love them, others are iffy and they aren't much of a factor when they return, or it's sad to see when the former greats become an issue for a team to have.

THE GOOD
-Probably one of the greatest stories in sports 1996 American cyclist Lance Armstrong is diagnosed with testicular cancer. He proved everyone wrong and recovers and comes back to win seven straight Tour de France titles.
-In 2004 Roger Clemens joined teammate Andy Pettite in Houston, the season was great for the Rocket he was named starter for the NL team and won the NL Cy Young award. In 2005 he recorded his best era ever throwing 1.87, although he went 13-8 it wasn't his fault he had terrible run support from the Astros. He retired again but returned later in the season for the 'Stros and recorded an era of 2.30. He returned to his old team the Yankees in 2007 for his final season and pitched in the ALDS only to hurt his hamstring and finally call it quits.
-Floyd Mayweather Jr. came out of a 21 month retirement to beat Juan Manuel Marquez in one of the most one sided bouts ever, he then defeated Sugar Shane Mosely. Oscar De La Hoya said he was the best in the game today, but Mayweather would retire again.
-One of the best women's tennis players Martina Navratilova retired but still played some doubles and mix events, she returned in 1994 to win the Wimbledon title becoming the oldest women to win the event (47).
-One of the best boxers of all time George Foremen officially retired from boxing in 1977 only to return 11 years later in 1988, he would win the heavyweight title in 1994 against Michael Moorer, he lost it in 1997 and retired after that.

The Iffy:
-Michael Jordan retired of the NBA for shot in the MLB but a lackluster attempt he came back to run the Washington Wizards, he then came back to the court but wasn't his Bulls self and then officially brought it to an end. He is now running the Charlotte Bobcats.
-Brett Favre has been a perennial summer story, will he or wont he comeback. He had a good start with the Jets but after a shoulder injury he never got back on track. Then he went to Minnesota and had one of his best years ever only to lose in the NFC Championship game. His season this year was awful both on and off the field.
-Ricky Williams is one of the strangest people in sports just watch his 30 for 30 special "Run Ricky Run". He left the NFL pretty much to find himself and smoke pot. He then played in the Canadian League for a season then came back with the Miami Dolphins where he is apart of one of the best running games with teammate Ronnie Brown.
-Primetime Deion Sanders retired at the age of 33 but came back to the Ravens and wore 37 which represented his age. He did return get one more pick six in his two season with Baltimore but that was about the end of his Primetime status.
-Mario Lemieux was running things in the office for the Penguins then made his comeback, he was promoted to captain after Jamir Jagr left for Washington, but those three extra season for Mario resulted in last place and no playoff appearances. They did get Sidney Crosby because of the failures on the rink and now have a Stanley Cup championship in 2009.

The Bad:
-Bjorn Borg was one of the best tennis players in the 70's and early 80's ranked number one in the world. He returned in the 90's and was dreadful he finally called it quits. He tried using the old-wooden rackets and was dominated by his opponents,
-Bob Cousy won of the best players to put on the green Boston uniform had one of the worst comeback attempts. He retired from the Celtics in 1963 but tried a comeback with the Cincinnati Royals in 1969, it did not go to plan as the coach or player.
-Sugar Ray Leonard has retired and unretired more then any other athlete ever, yes even more the Favre. He was once the heavyweight champion. At the end of his career he discovered he had floating right eye that was repaired and broken time and time again. Although he won two of his fights in this return his constant controversy was always on him and his scheduling and dropping of fights was irritating to sports fans.
-Junior Seau was a great with the Chargers and after he left for Miami he had three awful seasons he then retired after his stint in South Beach. Bill Belicheck would get him back though and he performed well for the Patriots until he broke his arm and his season was over. He was then convinced to come again and started 4/16 games in the Patriots run for perfection and we know how that ended...a loss to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl.
-One of the greatest wide receivers in history had one of the worst ends. Jerry Rice looked like he was done after his final game as a 49er he was even carried off the field. He then went to Oakland made to one more Super Bowl but never caught a pass in that game and the Raiders were dominated by Tampa Bay. He then had failed stints in Denver and Seattle. Now he is right where he should be, in the Hall of Fame.

Who is Jim Harbaugh

       There has been a lot of talk this week on where will Jim Harbaugh be coaching this year, will it be at his Alma mater the University of Michigan, stay at his current school Stanford, will he go pro to Miami, San Francisco, Denver, Oakland or maybe he'll go to Carolina if they pick is Quarterback Andrew Luck with the number one draft pick. At first it looked like he was going to be the savior of the program and go to Ann Arbor and coach Michigan, but a person close to him said he doesn't want to go there. Then maybe he would go the Dolphins owner George Ross is a Michigan Man and he'll offer him 8 million, but as it so happens Miami has a coach Tony Sparano and now Ross made one of the most awkward situations in sports ever, to much for Jim and that fell through. Now his QB at Stanford Luck is staying will that affect his decision. Reports say early today that it is down to two Stanford and San Francisco but Stanford was the favorite. Well they were wrong because it finally came to a conclusion and the 49ers won offering Jim 5yr 25mill contract. So who is Jim Harbaugh and what makes him such a hot coach commodity?
       Jim is 47 years old born in Toledo, Ohio but grew up mainly in Ann Arbor, MI. He played at Pioneer High School to start out his high school career but would transfer across the nation to high school football powerhouse Palo Alto. He would return to Ann Arbor though.
     The college days were good for Harbaugh he played for Bo Schembechler from 1983-1986 and was the starter from his Sophomore season. His season though ended after just 710 passing yards and only 60 completions because of a broken arm. His junior season was his coming out party though he was the most efficiency QB in the nation completing 63.9% of his passes and lead the Wolverines to a 10-1-1 recording beating Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl and finishing the season #2 in the nation. His senior year was just as good, he improved his completion rating to 65%, guaranteed a win of rival Ohio State and he came through on it, won Big Ten Player of the Year, came in third in Heismen ballot losing to Miami QB Vinny Testeverde, he took Michigan to the Rose Bowl but lost 15-22 against Arizona State, he was an All-Academic and All-American player. He ended with 387 completions 62.4% 22 interceptions 5,449 yards averaging 14.1 yards per completion and 31 touchdowns.
      His pro career wasn't as spectacular, Harbaugh was the first round pick by the Chicago Bears in the 1987 NFL draft. He played 7 seasons for the Bears with his best season coming in 1991throwing for 3,121 yards. He then played for the Indianapolis Colts having his best season there in 1995 with completion percentage of 63.7% and 17 passing touchdowns and led the team to the AFC Championship game, he was MVP runner-up and won Comeback Player of the Year with a Pro Bowl appearance and is now in the Colts "Ring of Honor". In 1997 he went 3-13 and was traded to the Baltimore Ravens and was replaced by a young man out of Tennessee Heisman runner-up Peyton Manning. He struggled in Baltimore and later went to the San Diego Chargers but lost the starting job to Ryan Leaf which didn't turn out well for the Chargers, he was signed and cut by the Detroit Lions for Ty Detmer who backed up Charlie Batch, he finished his career in 2001 with the Carolina Panthers.
     His coaching career actually began in 1994 as a part time assistant for his father Jack at Western Kentucky. He began his true coaching career as the QB coach for the Oakland Raiders in 2002. In 2004 he got his first shot at being the head coach at the University of San Diego he went 18-5 and won the Pioneer League Championship. He then went to Stanford where he took a Cardinal team that was 1-11 to winning the Orange Bowl this year in a blow out against Virginia Tech and finished an 11-1 season and won Coach of the Year.
      Jim now starts his professional head coaching career at nearby San Francisco who was the early season favorite to win the NFC West but didn't and lost the in the worst conference in the NFL. Jim Harbaugh joins his brother John in the ranks of NFL coaches, his brother is the head coach of Jim's former team the Baltimore Ravens. The two will coach against each other if there is a 2011-2012 season.