TheWriteReferee.com

A Year Later, Here's What I Miss Most About Michigan

A year ago a moving van pulled our possessions off our driveway and moved them 550 miles southeast into Maryland. It's been a long, strange journey filled with some heartache, struggles and some incredible experiences, too.

So as I type this, it occurred to me I'm pining a bit nostalgic for my Michigan roots. Football season is ramping up here, but the fervor, anticipation and general excitement isn't the same. For those reasons and a few others, here's the Top 10 things I miss from Michigan.

10. Cool nights. Jesus, as if 80 inches of snow packaged in three storms of 20+ inches wasn't enough, we're already at 45 days above 90 degrees. I've worked two plate games where it was warmer that 105 when I took the lineups, over 95 when the game ended and still above 90 when I got home in the late evening. I had heard the Mid-Atlantic was hot; I didn't realize that was merely code for living in the doorway of a blast furnace.

9. Sports Town Tradition. Look, Baltimore and D.C. are great cities with their own distinct energy and passion, but like Chicago, New York and L.A., they pale in comparison to the passion that oozes from The D. That's just fact.

8. Nicknames. OK, the Baltimore Dunbar High Poets is cool, but the winningest Maryland basketball school this side of De Matha High is the overwhelming exception. We're overloaded by Cougars, Falcons, Lions, Tigers, Eagles and Patriots in Maryland. By comparison, Detroit's got Doughboys, Tars, Tractors, Thunderbirds, Maples and River Rats. We lost the Oaks and Chiefs but you can still find Shamrocks, Saddelites and Pilots, too.

7. Opinion. The local Baltimore sports media probably wouldn't look very dignified in cheerleader outfits, but if it sounds like a cheerleader and squeals like a cheerleader, why not just finish the look? I think this town is still scared to say anything that will make the owner pack up this toys and go elsewhere. The Tigers had 12 losings seasons in a row and there were songs and shirts chiding the team, and I think the Matt Millen era of Detroit Lions football -- if that's what you call that regular season scrimmage schedule-- speaks for itself. Try saying something negative about the Ravens here, and it's the media, not the fans, who shoot your argument down.

6. Driving Seven Over The Speed Limit. Note to everyone from Maryland: Driving 45 mph in the far left lane is pathetic. So is entering the freeway at 25 mph, scared to death of pushing your way into a moving lane of traffic. Slowing down to a crawl on the freeway for no absolute reason is also a swell Blue Crab state tradition. Jesus, people, we drive 45 mph in our Michigan neighborhoods, just not the nice ones, right? Get moving!

5. Football Fever. Before I chide the Navy gameday experience, I need to omit the games the Mids play Notre Dame, Air Force and Army. Those are exceptional spectacles, but your garden-variety Navy football game looks great from afar, but when you actually go to a game, you realize it's a lot of retired brass sitting on their hands awash in the three scotch n' sodas they put down in the parking lot. The 3,800 Midshipmen in the stands are into it for sure, but it's no Spartan Stadium or Big House, where each school's band thunders into the stadium and the rest of the day just gets crazier from there.

The University of Maryland? Yeah, fear the turtle...if you're trying to stay awake.

4. The Big Ten. If I had a dollar for every transposed Big 10 fan I've met from Michigan, Ohio or Penn State who is secretly rooting for Maryland to be the surprise addition to the Big 10 so they can see their favorite school once a year, I wouldn't have to look for work. If you ask the Maryland fans, they oppose joining the Big 10, but a lot of Big Ten'rs think this is fear. They know the Terrapins would struggle mightily in football and they know it; can you say Indiana East? 

Marylanders also point to the ACC and their rivalry with Duke or North Carolina on the hardwood. Well, it's only a big deal when they play Duke or UNC to Maryland, because the rest of the country doesn't care. Being a Big 10 school hasn't hurt Tom Izzo's Spartans from getting to six Final Fours in 12 years either.

3. Fight Songs. Anchors Aweigh is a stirring march to be sure, but fight songs like the Buckeye Battle Cry, On Wisconsin and The Victors, not to mention Falcone Fight (Michigan State), and Hail! Purdue are just amazing. A handful of the Big 10 fight songs are derived from Civil War hymns. How cool is that?

2. High School Football Scores. I so miss ripping open the paper or going online and pouring over the scores. Of course, before they closed, my first glance pointed to Royal Oak. Did Kimball win? How did Dondero do? The upsets. Walled Lake Western got beat by who? Farmington Hills Harrison. Dearborn Fordson. The PSL. King, Southeastern, Pershing and Denby. The trio of schools in Livonia and Plymouth. The Catholic League. Who did CC play? Did the Cubs win? Where is Brother Rice today?

By comparison, here in Anne Arundel County, which is about the size and population of Oakland County, we have 12 public schools and six private schools, and the JV plays at 4:00 on Friday before the varsity game at 6:30. Hardly the stuff of Friday Night Lights, let alone Ampipe High in All The Right Moves. Tell Bosco I'll be seeing him around!

1. Coney Dogs, Apple Cider, Sweet Corn & Driving Down The Lodge Listening To "It's The Same Old Song". Don't get wrong, Maryland Blue Crabs and cold beer is a beautiful thing, but every time I'm back in The D, I hit a coney and grab two with everything. Greek salads, too. It's just part of Detroit that I've never seen replicated. Washington D.C. has Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street (a must-see when you're in The District, btw), but it's not a true Detroit coney. And good luck finding a cider mill or a sweet corn stand on the side of the road. That truly is Pure Michigan.

~ T.C. Cameron is the author of Metro Detroit's High School Football Rivalries, Metro Detroit's High School Basketball Rivalries and writes sports for The Capital-Gazette newspaper in Annapolis.

'Little Brother' Dogging Michigan?

Last Thursday I covered Anne Arundel County's public school track and field championships, and the day didn't disappoint.

Old Mill's Alexis Franklin set three meet records, because she's really fast, and Josh Furman -- on his way to play football and go to school at the University of Michigan -- won the 100 meter dash in 11.09. Furman nosed out Meade's Terron Fondren by a tenth of a second, but Fondren and the Mustangs would get the last laugh. Fondren won the 200 and Meade won the boys' championship by 1 1/2 points. Ba-ha!

But what had my attention was how well-versed Furman was in the 'little brother' dialogue between rivals Michigan and Michigan State. The infamous comment was made by then-Michigan running back Mike Hart as a reference to rival Michigan State's standing with Michigan in 2007 in the moments after the Wolverines had beaten the Spartans, 28-24, in the annual Paul Bunyan trophy game. The quote has become Ground Zero for the stoking of a rivalry that was already searing with heat, and Michigan hasn't beaten Michigan State since.

Furman and I had a short little trash-talking session about it last Thursday. It was all friendly, very funny and we both know it's all settled on the field without words. But what strikes me is two-fold.

First, Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez clearly recruited Furman because he knows the Mid-Atlantic from his days at West Virginia. Michigan State's Mark Dantonio is practically unknown here in Annapolis, the town that produced Bill Belichick. Now that's not a big deal. As much as they would would all like to, these college coaches can't be in all places to be all things to all potential recruits.

But Furman, one of the nicest kids I've met, knew about 'little brother' like you and I know how to start our own car. That tells me Michigan continues to embellish the remark, as if it's part of the Michigan brand. 

Two straight losses to just about everybody has been the Michigan way of late. What cannot be overstated is how much the 'little brother' tag motivated theuber-rival Spartans. It's been three years since Michigan's scored a notable victory over the Spartans in almost any sport. And while Michigan has been drummed repeatedly by Ohio State for nearly a decade, it was only when Michigan State began pounding Michigan two years in a row that the old guard at Michigan became unnerved about their changing football fortunes. 

Apparently losing to the Buckeyes is acceptable but a back-to-back thumping from the Spartans is sacrilege.

I can't speculate on what might happen if Rodriguez loses a third-consecutive game to MSU in 2010. I really hope Furman does well at Michigan -- except whe he faces Michigan State. The truth is college football on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay feels a little like jayvee football compared to the fervor generated by the Big Ten in the Great Lakes.

Maybe a local star going on to great things in maize n' blue will drive college football in this area.

Regards...

~ T.C. Cameron writes and referees in the shadows of the beautiful Chesapeake Bay.

Does College Football Kill?

After first-year head coach Bo Schembechler had engineered the greatest upset in modern day college football -- Michigan's 24-12 victory in 1969 over Woody Hayes' No. 1 ranked and superhuman Ohio State Buckeyes -- the soon-to-become iconic coach suffered a heart attack. It was just days before Michigan was set to play in the Rose Bowl.

40 years later, the eerily similar details are emerging of Florida coach Urban Meyer's rush for help after experiencing all the familiar symptoms of a heart attack after his Gators dropped the SEC Championship game to Nick Saban and Alabama.

A few weeks later, we're talking about Texas Tech coach Mike Leach and the decision he made to place one Adam James, a high-profile player and the prodigy of a revered name in college football, in an electrical closet as 'treatment' for a mild concussion. Now the coach wants us to believe that he thought that idea to be of sound judgment. He also cites the words of two position coaches (whom he hired) and a handful of scholarship players (whom he picked) to justify his belief that Adam James is the lazy cancer, the guilty party, and Leach is the victim. At least, this was his statement last night after he unsuccessfully tried to wrangle a court hearing to overturn a suspension and said the school leaders who gave him a 12.5 million-dollar contract less than year ago are liars. Not surprisingly, he was subsequently fired.

And these are just the headlines, mind you, which begs the question: Is the pressure associated with the pursuit to win in major college football so great that it kills? Is the stress so great that it places your life in danger, as might be the case with Urban Meyer. Does the pressure to validate multi-million dollar contracts kill the common sense application that naturally would suppress the idea of putting someone's son or daughter in an electrical closet as 'treatment' for a mild concussion?

And what is to be made of Meyer's apparent burning desire to return after his brush with death? That in itself ought to be a strong warning sign that the bar is set so high with absurd expectations, we're willing to watch a man subject himself and his family to his potential demise before he turns 50 just so long as he beats Georgia, Tennessee, LSU and Alabama again in the same season.

In 1999 I was a season-ticket holder to Michigan State University's home games. That season, the Spartans defeated Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame before edging Florida on New Year's Day. If I had said that before the season started, you might have told me Michigan State would be national champions. MSU finished ranked 7th (final AP poll), and not only was it not good enough for a top five ranking, it didn't win the Big Ten, and it wasn't enough to please MSU's fan base. The grumbling drove Nick Saban, a man who always has one foot out the door anyway, off to the next great job at LSU, which seems like 10 jobs ago for Mr. Mover & Shaker.

I love college football for all the things it is. The emotion is real, because 95% of the student-athletes at the powerhouse programs, much less the bottom-dwellers, never play football after college again. The offenses are usually different compared to the stale, just one-flavor-to-savor pro set offense run identically by every NFL team. And then there's Idaho versus Bowling Green, Boise State versus Oklahoma or Appalachian State stunning Michigan, the upsets and games we remember because they were genuine and compelling, and that appeals to all of us who tire of the constant suspicion and skepticism required to be successful in our busy lives.

But death is real, too. Passion to return to a profession ready to kill you is real. Stupidity in the pursuit of winning is real. College football has a real problem, but will it take something even more dire, like death too soon for a coach or athlete, to solve it?

Regards...

~T.C. Cameron is a three-sport official who writes for The Capital newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland. He's the author of Metro Detroit's High School Football Rivalries and Metro Detroit's High School Basketball Rivalries, both from Arcadia Publishing.

Leach's Last Stand Fittingly At Alamo

Mike Leach will never coach another college football team after his tenure at Texas Tech University ends.

The man committed professional suicide when he empowered his lawyer to acquire a hearing today in hopes of procuring a stay against Texas Tech's decision to suspend Leach following charges he forced Adam James to stand in a darkened equipment shed because James wouldn't be practicing after suffering a mild concussion and now defends that decision as 'treatment'.

What school will ever hire Leach when he can't take his medicine like a man? When you engage your employer in the manner Leach has over the university's decision to suspend him, the list of schools willing to hire you gets short fast and looks eerily similar to the list of drivers you'd bet your mortgage on dethroning Jimmy Johnson next year.

Two schools of thought here. One, Texas Tech overreacted and suspended the coach. Not very plausible but playing devil's advocate, Leach reacts by hiring his lawyer to haul Texas Tech into court to try to convince a judge to issue a stay against the school's decision and thus allow him to coach in a rather meaningless bowl game against Michigan State? Not 'Yes Man' material by any stretch. On the other hand, assume Leach did exactly what he is accused of and Texas Tech took the needed corrective action. Leach's reaction is to empower his lawyer to wrangle a hearing to try to force the employer, Texas Tech, to allow him to coach? 

Either way you look at it, it's hardly legendary in merit as it reflects on Leach. The day colleges start embracing and further, hiring coaches who run to the ambulance chasers when they don't get their way is the day there's a legitimate playoff system in major college football, too. Put another way, it's never going to happen.

There's more than a few dirty secrets in college athletics, and one of the biggest is the ways and means employed by coaches to regain a scholarship they wish they had not given out to a player they've long given up on. Often a student-athlete drowns in accusations of poor effort, cantankerous attitude and is described as a cancer in the hopes the student-athlete will quit, thus releasing his scholarship back to the coaching staff, soon to be handed out to the next can't-miss prodigy. See Alex Legion for a refresher regarding can't-miss prodigy, if you can catch him on his way out of Champaign, Illinois.

Perhaps James is one of those kids, simply a bad fit in one school's program. The problem is as long as James goes to practice and shows up as expected, Texas Tech foots the bill. To drive a student-athlete from the program, coaches often ride the athlete into submission and while I can't confirm this as an absolute truth, this publicly-held spectacle certainly shows many of the familiar symptoms of this practice.

I confess I don't know much of the Adam James situation specifically, but when I covered the Big Ten and Michigan and before that, the Mid-American Conference and Eastern Michigan (sorry Jason Whitlock; my school, not yours) as a reporter, I never heard of any student-athlete being forced to sit in a darkened equipment shed as 'treatment' for a concussion. Later, when I was contracted to work as a college football official, I saw some coaches employ a lot of over-the-top tactics but nothing that comes close to putting a player in a shed. I'm further buoyed by the fact that Craig James is a well-known national commentator at ESPN and former football standout at Southern Methodist University. There's no way he subjects his son and himself to the high level of public scrutiny that comes with such an accusation if it isn't true and he doesn't feel compelled to protect his son's well-being. Further, this is a coach who told reporters his players shouldn't have listened to their "fat little girlfriends" after the Raiders dropped this year's game to rival Texas A&M. 

In short, Leach might be least liking to be heard singing Aretha Franklin's R-E-S-P-E-C-T anytime soon.

Regardless of who's right and who's wrong, it's obvious being forced into a dark equipment shed doesn't constitute 'treatment' in any physician's book for a concussion. It's certainly not going to show up in the AMA's guide to treatment and anyone who believes otherwise is only fooling themselves.

Mike Leach, like another famed coach with a history of anger management issues who coached his final basketball game at Texas Tech, will not be hired again.

Regards...

~T.C. Cameron is the author of Metro Detroit's High School Basketball Rivalries and a three-sport official.

Annapolis, You Missed A Great Game

ANNAPOLIS -- On a day rain-soaked day ultimately suited for a sea dominance, the Naval Academy football team borrowed a page from the battleground playbook of the Infantry and secured a 13-10 win over Wake Forest. Too bad so few were there to see it.

Oh, ye of faint heart and thin skin, Annapolis, Maryland. Shame on you.

In one of the most exciting and rare of all football games played in Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in a long time, less than 5,000 fans were left witness to a heart-pounding 13-10 win by the Midshipmen over a gritty Wake Forest team in front of an announced total of 31,907 fans. Making the victory even more impressive is the fact Navy called upon a sophomore from California to make his first career start at quarterback. Kriss Proctor filled in admirably for senior signal caller Ricky Dobbs, injured with a strained knee cap/patella. But what ultimately led Navy to victory was a 64-play ground attack buttressed by fullback Vince Murray's 175 yards on 27 carries.

What was history-making was Navy ran 64 plays and every single one of them was a running play. Navy didn't attempt a single pass and still won the football game. When is the last time a major college game was won without attempting a pass? 

However, most of the announced crowd found out about the game's particulars the same way you found my copy, by searching for it and reading it. 

Unfortunately, the Navy fight song, raw emotions and the general excitement surrounding a college football game wasn't the only thing pounding. There was a driving rain storm which started coming down in the 2nd quarter. After halftime it was pouring in sheets, buckets and any other household metaphor you can think of. In most parts of the country, it's called 'football weather'. In Annapolis, it's apparently time to say goodbye. Sure the announced crowd was over 31,000 and that crowd was present for kickoff and the first 15 minutes of play, but when the rains came, the crowd -- save for the brigade of Midshipman and a few other hearty souls -- waved goodbye.

I say shame on you, Annapolis. Yes, I know there's swine flu and wet rain and all the other reasons not to stand by in a rain storm, but you have one of the greatest college football traditions in all of the country in your backyard. A Naval Academy home football game is a spectacle unlike no other, but the passion rarely approaches the rolling boil found in other college towns even on picture-perfect days. The Mids play in a quaint, eye-catching stadium but it's rarely filled to capacity. And the school annually plays three of the biggest games in the country with Air Force, Notre Dame -- the country's longest, continually-running inter-sectional rivalry -- and the storied, epic battle with Army. 

Add a national championship, two Heisman trophy winners and a city most downtown chamber of commerce committees would kill for and you've got the makings of an incredible atmosphere for college football. But what should be an all-encompassing community rally feels more like a arts & crafts bazaar. What strikes me ironically about yesterday's mass exodus is Annapolis likes to fancy itself as the sailing capital of America. What headstrong sailor worth his or her salt do you know that would run and hide from the rain? Yeah, I don't know any like that, either.

In fact, The Capital newspaper in Annapolis, which probably owes half of yesterday's online hits totals and paper copy sales to those who had to read about the game after they left the stadium, might be the only entity without blame. The Capital covers the Mids better than any other Mid-Atlantic publication.

I admit I come by this passionate opinion honestly. I moved from Michigan. When it snows, we came bundled. When it rains, we came sheathed. When it blew, blustered and howled, we yelled, screamed and cheered louder. It's called football. My company was a a Michigan State University season-ticket holder. MSU plays a couple big games on the annual docket, too. Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame. They sold-out Saturday night and they're just 4-4. Despite losses to Notre Dame, Central Michigan and Iowa in the final seconds, they'll still sell out their remaining home dates despite the four losses. The Spartans haven't won the Big Ten since 1990 and haven't been to the Rose Bowl since 1987 but Michigan State football is king of the hill in a town where Spartans' basketball and considerable more team success still runs from behind, although not by much.

Navy, by comparison, has won the Commander-In-Chief's trophy six straight years, have enjoyed nearly a decade of dominance over rivals Air Force and Army, have battled Notre Dame in some epic games during that time and nearly topped Ohio State this season in the Horseshoe, better known as the always-imposing Ohio Stadium. The Mids are trying to win eight games for the 7th-consecutive season and will go to a bowl for the 7th straight year with one more win. Needing just two wins in their final five games, it's all but a certainty. 

Where's the love? Annapolis, shame on you for bailing on this team. They play their hearts out for you and you let a little rain stop you from being fans.

Regards...

~ T.C. Cameron authored two prep football books in metro Detroit before becoming a resident of Annapolis.

Ray Lewis's Cheapshot Helps Bengals Stun Baltimore

Last week in Baltimore, the officiating was all the rage after the Baltimore Ravens lost to the New England Patriots in Foxboro, Massachusetts eight days ago. The refrain was predicable. The league is overprotective of quarterbacks. They're picking only on us. They never call the other team for the same thing. All we want is consistency. 

Blah, blah, blah. I couldn't wait for this Monday. The Ravens were shocked Sunday by the Cincinnati Bengals by a 17-14 count. With 22 seconds to play, the Bengals scored the go-ahead touchdown to culminate a nine-play, 80-yard drive. Three times the Bengals were awarded first downs by way of a penalty. 

All three were legit, too, but don't tell that to the Ravens or the talking heads on sports talker 105.7 FM in Baltimore. For a second consecutive week, it's all about the stripes, and I'm not referring to the single ugliest uniform ever created, courtesy the Denver Broncos as worn in yesterday's 20-17 win over the Patriots, something the Ravens couldn't do the week before.

However, it's the middle penalty, a vicious cheap shot on Chad Ochocinco by Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis, that was the worst of the three penalties, and maybe the most crucial. While Lewis is a Hall-of-Fame linebacker, he's also one of the most divisive players in league history. His role and subsequent obstruction of justice charge in a past murder investigation notwithstanding, Lewis showed Sunday that the legendary rage, talent and temper that makes him one of the most feared players in all of football also makes him a liability, especially when it mattered most Sunday afternoon.

The first was an illegal contact penalty called on Chris Carr away from the play. While certainly the weakest of the three, it was indeed illegal contact. Replays showed the officials may have passed on a holding call against a Bengal interior lineman as well.

A few plays later, Lewis launched himself into Ochocinco well after an attempted pass play had fallen incomplete. The vicious hit was so forceful, Ochocinco's helmet was launched from his skull and rolled to a stop some 10-15 yards away. Lewis showed his all-too-predictable look of incredulous disbelief, but for all the hits the NFL needlessly fines and penalizes, this hit deserves a fine and maybe a suspension, too. There was no defending the hit, one made without an ounce of football instinct to possibly defend the act. This first down tacked 15 yards onto an incomplete pass and pushed the ball from midfield to Baltimore's 35 with an automatic first down. Lewis was trying to physically punish Ochocinco with every ounce of force he could muster. Do it during the legitimate act of making a play? Great, we call that football. Do it well after the play is over during a crucial juncture of the game. It's called boneheaded.

Lewis, outspoken in his criticism of the officiating last week, wouldn't speak to reporters after Sunday's self-induced collapse.

Finally, a pass interference call against Frank Walker (announced incorrectly against Ed Reed) was also a good call, one that replays showed to be a no-doubter, as Walker played through the back of Ochocinco well before the ball arrived. On the next play, Cincinnati quarterback Carson Palmer hit Andre Caldwell on a slant and the Bengals had secured an emotional victory with just 22 seconds to play.

Last week Baltimore scoffed at the notion that the Charm City was ranked 28th by The Sporting News, which produces an annual poll of America's Best sports cities. Trust me when I say it's deserved. There's no hockey and no basketball in the harbor town, giving 'Bal'mer' too big strikes. The Maryland Terrapins football program elicits little more than a yawn and little if any coverage is afforded the Naval Academy despite Annapolis being located just 25 miles to the south.

I was in Detroit covering the Lions a few years back when the Ravens were flagged an absurd 19 times in an embarrassing display of immaturity. If Baltimore wants to prove itself to be a world-class sports city, calling Ray Lewis to task for this latest transgression against common sense is a good start, and admitting the obvious deficiencies in the vaulted Raven defense would be more compelling than repetitively blaming the officials week after week.

Regards...

~T.C. Cameron is a noted freelancer, blogger and author two prep rivalry books from Arcadia Publishing, including Metro Detroit's High School Basketball Rivalries, due October 26, 2009.

Congrats, Glen Burnie Gophers!

Glen Burnie High School, which hadn't won a varsity football game since defeating Chesapeake High School 27-13 on September 26, 2006, broke a 28-game skid by running away from Northeast High tonight, 32-22.

Glen Burnie is located in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Nearly three years after their last win, Alex Gadow threw three touchdowns for the Gophers, which showered Head Coach Lee Thomas with the water bucket after the win.

~T.C. Cameron authored Metro Detroit's High School Football Rivalries for Arcadia Publishing in 2008.

Thanks For The Link!

Kudos to Ryan Wilson from Fanhouse for linking The Write Referee in his blurb about the Pittsburgh Steelers releasing for Detroit Pershing High standout Larry Foote. Wilson also likened Foote's Pershing loyalties to actor Eddie Murphy wearing the now-famous Mumford High School t-shirt in the 1980s blockbuster Beverly Hills Cop.

Foote, who also was a stalwart defender for the University of Michigan, has made it obvious he welcomes an opportunity to play for his hometown team, the Detroit Lions.

Wilson's NFL Fanhouse page offers a lot of great content from a lot of great writers -- well worth checking out!

Pershing's Super Bowl Sunday ShoutOut

Did you notice it?

Larry Foote, the former Michigan Wolverine, gave his prep alma mater some serious holla' when the Pittsburgh Steelers' defense introduced themselves in the first quarter of their 27-23 triumph over Arizona in Super Bowl XLIII. The overwhelming majority of players who introduce themselves -- 44 offensive and defensive starters in all -- make mention of the college or university they played football for.

Not Foote. When the heavy hitter's face emerged, his quote was simple: "Larry Foote....Detroit Pershing...Doughboy."

Of course, most of us in metropolitan Detroit know the Public School League (PSL) alums from Detroit who populate the rosters in the NBA and NFL are fiercely loyal to their Detroit upbringing. Many of these players treat the PSL like it's a badge of honor on their athletic resume. It's one of the reasons I cringe when I hear suburbanites say things like, "They should just bulldoze Detroit and start over."

Try saying that to the community at Seven Mile and Ryan in Detroit. To anyone who thinks high schools in the city don't have a spirit or energy comparable with the schools in the 'burbs, I point to schools in the city like Pershing. In New York City, the word Pershing is commonly associated with Park and 42nd Street -- Grand Central Station and that intersection's name -- Pershing Square. In Detroit, Pershing is synonymous with a football and basketball tradition swathed in royal blue and gold.

CHARLIE'S NOT SORRY: That's two championship rings for former Detroit Lion and standout Eastern Michigan University quarterback Charlie Batch. Of course, Batch is a local legend in the Pittsburgh area, where he grew up, but Batch was also one of the outstanding football players to ever toss the pigskin in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

MAC DADDY: Did anyone else take notice that three of Pittsburgh's four quarterbacks are Mid-American Conference products?Ben Roethlisberger played at Miami University andByron Leftwich was a member of Marshall's MAC championship teams. Batch makes the Mid-American hat trick possible.

There are, in fact, 22 players on the Steeler roster (active, injured/reserve or practice) from colleges in the Great Lakes, including two from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).

(Photo courtesy The Detroit News archives)

Did EMU's Recent Hire Fuel Future Failure?

Derrick Gragg oversees one of the most successful athletic departments in the Mid-American Conference but what defines Eastern Michigan University, to the frustration of the school's athletic director, is the failures in a two sports instead of the success of the many others.

Specifically, football and men's basketball have earned the very definition of futility for the past 10 years in Ypsilanti, with football struggling ever since the ill-fated Huron decision was quietly broached in the fall of 1990. Add an administrative train wreck prior to Gragg taking the reins of athletics and Dr. Susan W. Martin assuming the president's position and you can understand why Eastern's recent football hire was so important.

But did Eastern hire the right person for their long-term future? I'm not saying the man who got the job, Ron English, isn't the right man for right now, nor am I saying he wasn't the most qualified candidate. If anything, Ron English is probably over-qualified, a charismatic man who's on-field success and passion for football supersedes the most fervent coach you could imagine.

But was Michigan State running backs coach Dan Enos the better candidate for the long-term viability of EMU football? Is it possible the right man was passed over because he didn't exude of the aforementioned qualities English possesses while remaining the most viable candidate for long-term success?

Yes, I'll concede that sounds a bit naive, so let me explain.

EMU has been a springboard for too many coaches and athletic administrators for too long. Eastern needs its own company man, a Bo Schembechler, Eddie Robinson, Duffy Daugherty or Herb Deromedi-type man to accompany a Don Canham-type athletic director. Moreover, Eastern needs a man content with building a successful, long-term program that will succeed him for a couple generations. I could see Ron English, the dynamic, hard-nosed, smart coach winning more than a handful of games next year, and eight or nine games in Year Two only to be poached away from Ypsilanti for a jackpot of dollars and a conference affiliation that starts with the letters B-C-S.

Where will that leave EMU? The same place it was was when Ron Cooper, another dynamic, hard-nosed, willful leader left after two years for the green pastures of Louisville after a 4-7 season was followed by a 5-6 campaign in 1994. Cooper had been head assistant coach at Notre Dame under Lou Holtz before being hired by another golden domer when Gene Smith tabbed Cooper to replace Jim Harkema in 1993, his final year as EMU's athletic director. After Cooper left EMU was 6-5 under Rick Rasnick in 1995 but that was a bit of a faux record. EMU didn't earn a winning mark in the MAC that season and hasn't notched a noticeable ledger in the MAC since 1989 when the then-Hurons lost to Ball State on the last day of the season in a winner-take-all scenario for the league's title berth to the California Bowl.

The school hasn't had a winning record since.

Dan Enos interviewed for the job at Eastern. He's a Dearborn product, a former Edsel Ford Thunderbird who also led MSU to their last Big Ten title, when the Spartans earned a share of the championship in 1990 under the former Spartan quarterback. Like English, he's got Big Ten coaching experience and has children he's not willing to uproot. It was rumored that Enos was already building a staff that included George Perles' son, Pat, and former MSU standout receiver Courtney Hawkins.

I'm absolutely certain EMU hired the best candidate it was afforded in its search. I simply wonder if EMU missed hiring the best candidate as it relates to EMU's long-term success.