Week 7 - Perspective

Half-way through the season, let's look at the standings:

1st: Madison/Chuck, 40-27 (5-5)

2nd: Alexx/Pete, 39-28 (5-5)

3rd: Mitch, 36-31 (5-5)

4th (tied): Mar/Dan, 35-32 (4-6)

4th (tied): Sue/Garry, 35-32 (4-6)

Everyone's Week 7 Picks

Pete: Is it just me or is it all chalk this week?

*Thanos snaps*

Pete: Well okay there goes half the top ten.

Rough week for picks, but at least everyone did bad. Also, Michigan benefits with their big win and so many teams ahead of them losing. 

Michigan is now ranked #6. We've seen Michigan in recent years ranked highly and we knew it wasn't the real story or that it wouldn't last. This one feels different to me. Don't worry, I'm still in Schrodinger mode as I can totally see us follow up this big win with an upset loss against Sparty. Sparty, by the way, is the real Schrodinger football team. They are in a constant chaotic state of superposition, and that is terrifying.

I went to Ann Arbor for the Wisconsin game last Saturday. The Big House is a special place for me and all of us. Whenever I go there, it feels like coming home. All of the memories of tailgates and games run through my mind. Few places have this effect for me. The cabin is another one. When I visit a place like this, time telescopes. I see myself in the past and how life has changed. I wonder what it will be like 1, 5, or 10 years down the road when I sit down in those same seats. It's an oddly beautiful feeling.

There's so much you get at a live game that you miss on TV. I know, I know, I'm probably beating a dead horse. Of course, there is the emotion of being part of a live crowd witnessing real drama. But there are these little parts that people play in "the show". One of the relevant ones I noticed is the chain gang. These guys hold the sticks that mark the line of scrimmage and the line to gain for first down, at least that's what you see on TV. At the game, there is another stick that indicates where a team was when they first gained possession. Seems trivial, I know. Dad said he wasn't even sure why they have that extra stick. When your team has drove the ball 90 yards downfield and is knocking on the door of the endzone, it provides a really cool visual effect. You can see how far you've come. It makes that touchdown mean that much more.

I can't think of a better metaphor for Michigan football right now. The last time I went to a game was two years ago...against Wisconsin...at night. Like this year, in that game both teams were highly ranked and in pursuit of Big Ten and National Championships. The time telescope effect was strong. And boy, has Michigan come a long way since then. We won that game, but 14-7, not 38-13. We sweated out the victory in the final moments, instead of putting in our backup quarterback and then his backup. Back then we had come so far from the darkest days and we were knocking on the endzone. We came up inches short of that goal against Ohio State that year. This year we're driving again and look even better than before. The bad news is we still might come up inches short.

The good news is that, unlike in real football, your team's progress doesn't reset when you fail to reach your goals. At least that is the case when you have good leadership, like Harbaugh and Don Brown. Sure, it may feel like you lose ground, but if you're smart you can still see the progress you've made over a long period of time and build on that progress. Make no mistake: Michigan has come a long way and is an outstanding football program. I can't bring up the exact stats, but some analyst showed that in the 4 years under Harbaugh, Michigan has statistically been around the 10th to 15th best program in the country. Bill Connelly is a top college football analyst and he's trying to perfect his ranking system, S&P. Take a read at his article here for some in-depth statistical analysis. To put it short, he's ranking teams based how well they perform against how similar teams would have performed in the same situation. Basically, do you exceed expectations or not. Michigan is one of five teams this year that actually exceed expectations, performing 3.1 points per game better than expected (Michigan ranks 3rd with 3.1 points above, Ohio State 2nd with 4.5 above...and Alabama 1st with 16.8 points above...and look out for LSU, who is 9th in these rankings but has the 5th hardest schedule, way harder than any team above them).

What am I trying to get at with all of this rambling? Sometimes it is hard to perceive success. A classic metaphor is success as an iceberg. People see the top 10% of the iceberg above water and they say that's success, that's what it means to be successful. But they ignore the 90% that led to the success, they ignore that the journey is as important as the destination. Trophies are nice because they are tangible objects that show you've accomplished something. Since trophies are rare for most teams, we need different ways to gauge success. Michigan has statisically been a top 15 team over four years and a top 5 team this year. That is an elite program--damn the hardware. John Candy in Cool Runnings lays it all out for us.

Are you enough without beating Sparty, without beating Ohio State, without beating Alabama, without lifting trophies over your head? When I look at those sticks that show where Michigan has been and how far we've come--hell, where I've been and how far I've come--I have no doubt that we are successful. Wins and trophies simply serve as nice cherries on top. Programs like Sparty, Ohio State, and Alabama, could learn a thing or two from Cool Runnings.

Good luck.