Everywhere in the Michigan football blogosphere (the same realm that Brent Musburger apparently chastised during the broadcast on Monday) there are reports of the line's poor play and the inevitable calling for the firing of Lloyd Carr. Equal in number, though, are a series of Rose Parade tributes that indicate which January 1st event was the highlight for Michigan fans. (As far as Carr goes, you don't get fired for going 10-2 anywhere, and if you stay away from drunken restaurant altercations - Gary Moeller - you just plain don't get fired at Michigan... more on that directly.)

Over Christmas I mentioned to Grandpa that Michigan is loathed by so many schools because, as a university community, we don't seem to care that much. Ohio State 'hates' us. MSU apparently believes we're elitist snobs. Trojans think we're midwestern hillbillies who are so bored with our midwestern hillbilly lives that we have nothing better to do than get into fights at the Rose Bowl Game. In return, Michigan is the exact opposite of each: we don't care that much. You never hear about riots in Ann Arbor. A bad loss in the Rose Bowl Game didn't generate a front-page picture in the Michigan Daily. U of M is too stoic and steeped in its ongoing, often accidental, traditions to get all worked up about which sports fans suggest we do what to whom. We just don't care. An MBA friend who went to tOSU as an undergrad suggested that our apathy towards rivalry is part of the reason the Wolverines are the subject of such animosity. I replied: "that's fine."