Fallout: OSU-Michigan

Let the fallout begin, first with the resignation of Michigan coach Lloyd Carr.

As a fan of college football, it's a sad day, as Carr was known around the community as a player's coach, a Michigan man, a guy who didn't necessarily care about an occasional rift with a reporter here or there. He always had his players' backs, and ran for the most part a clean program that earned him a national championship 10 years ago.

But since that championship, Carr picked up an illness known as John Cooper Syndrome. Nice guy, good recruiter, wins lots of games. But those that matter most -- the season-ender against a bitter rival and a subsequent bowl game a month later -- have been unfriendly to Carr in recent years. Once Jim Tressel replaced Cooper at Ohio State, Carr fared poorly against the Buckeyes. He lost his first two, then won once in Ann Arbor with a far superior team in 2003, then dropped his last four to the Buckeyes. And the Wolverines have lost their last three bowl games under Carr.

But as a fan of Ohio State, it's an even sadder day, for the reasons mentioned above. Those in the Columbus camp rooted for a Carr contract extension. In a rivalry as big as this one, it became psychological. Michigan doesn't have weak recruiting classes. The maize-and-blue is always loaded with talent. For some reason, however, the Wolverines couldn't come up big in big games under Carr. Handing Penn State its only loss in 2005 is about the only big win in recent years I can think of off the top of my head.

OK, onto Friday . . . the group was quite busy on the emails. Nervousness and excitement ruled the day. Lots of folks sent the usual jpegs of the anti-Michigan pictures (the 3rd-grade class picture with the Michigan kid sitting by himself, the picture of Osama bin Laden wearing a Michigan sweatshirt, etc.).

No one was doing any work that day. My boy Bruce put it best when he said Friday that he "spent more time dressing for work than actually working."

And from Abby, who works in a hospital: "I'm not even listening to what my patients are saying today. I'm just focusing on the game!"

Now, onto Saturday. It began with 10 friends in the crib at about 10 a.m. I've never been a fan of Bloody Marys, but others like them, and my apartment is close to the bar where we watch the Bucks. So my place it was. And of course Erin brought a very cool bootleg DVD of Jack Nicklaus dotting the I in the Minnesota game last year. And I didn't need to fret too much about having misplaced my OSU Marching Band CD, as Steve had all the staples on his iPod, which he plugged into my stereo.

The surprise of the day came when homeboy Bruce produced a nifty little bookmark for both Steve and I. On first glance, just a little ticket. Take a second look, though, and you'll find it's an unused Appalachian State-Michigan ticket from that enormous upset on the season's first weekend. Very cool move, Bruce.

So the noon hour approached, and most of us walked the cold, eight blocks with open containers on busy Upper East Side streets to Blondie's. Steve is well known at the bar, and his standing table of six was accommodated. It amazed me though, how about 15 of us walked in at different times and told the same manager checking names at the door, "We're with Steve's table."

I got shut out of my usual seat, but that was OK, because I just bellied up with Carly and Monica, two lovely friends in our group. The game was actually pretty boring, but the atmosphere was far from it.

And thank goodness for digital cameras and cell phone outgoing/incoming call logs, because I was able the next day to somewhat piece together what happened to everybody after about 5 or 6.

Saturday's victory was especially outstanding because 2008 is a leap year, allowing OSU fans one extra day of gloating before the next meeting.

Our boy Wall writes in to say he "will now be refering to the big game as the most tradition rich game in all of sports. it is no longer the greatest rivalry since michigan sucks so bad they can't compete with the bucks." Good point.

And just for a stroll down memory lane, here's my PAE entry last year after OSU beat Michigan in Columbus, 42-39:

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I've got a camera bag on one shoulder, a camera on the other shoulder and another camera with a heavy-as-hell 500mm lens mounted to a monopod in one hand, so the video taken by my small-time Canon PowerShot G5 in the other hand isn't great, but here are two clips from the moments after Ohio State beat Michigan.





I heard Jerry Bruckheimer is looking for a director of cinematography for his next $250 million movie. Do you think I should drop him a resume?