I think upsets like this are great, Wendy. I am unhappy that it was Michigan who was on the losing end of one of the biggest upsets in sports history but events like this perhaps provides a little inspiration to anyone who faces hard adversity in life and feels that the chances of overcoming his or her present misfortunes are insurmountable. Usually, I hate it when people focus upon sports or famous sports figures as providing a blueprint of how one should live one's life since the simple clarity of sports has very little in common with the ambiguous and confusing nature of ordinary life But, what took place last Saturday translates well in the real world. The world is divided up between Davids and Goliaths and, usually, the Davids end up as debris underneath the the big fella's foot. Getting to watch that rare occasion when the giant pitches face first to the ground after the rock bounces off his forehead leaves a person with hope that maybe the rock they have to sling might find its mark.
I think to put it bluntly that I think games like this are good for the game, but only when it's the other guys team. :roll: :roll: :roll: I know that when Mississippi State beat the Gators that was it for me and Zook. However, Zook did not have a track record like Carr and while he had recruited well we were losing games every year that we shouldn't lose. That may not be fair, but that game was the last straw with me for Zook and obviously the administration at Florida felt the same way. I felt for Zook as a person but wanted him gone. I feel for Carr, but also feel he has handled things head on and I wish him no ill will and do think in the big picture games like this are good for the game and like Bobda said earlier are part of what makes college football great. I also remember last bowl season rooting for Boise State against Oklahoma.
That's how I and thousands of ND fans felt about Ty. If any of the mentally lazy media would take a reality pill, they would realize that Ty is a good person and a good coach, but he was not good enough or committed enough (re: recruiting) to coach at Notre Dame. He lost games he should not have lost by big scores. Unfortunately, that element of the media that revels in ND's misfortunes (It DOES exist, believe me) will ride the Ty horse into the sunset while we struggle this year.
I feel the same way about Gerry Faust who was and is as fine a man as you'll ever meet. The difference between he and Ty is that Faust was totally dedicated to the Dome.
Ha! Looking at our back-to-back posts above, I can't help thinking of the twin leprechauns in a barroom fight, back to back, taking on the entire room. :lol: George, I feel the same way as you toward Gerry Faust. As with Ty, I was one of the last to jump off the wagon. It happened in the Purdue game his last year, when we were called for 2 successive penalties, the first for too many men on the field and the second for too few players on the field. At that moment I no longer could deny that he was in over his head and had been from the beginning. "That moment" with Ty happened in the BC game his last season when we had given up a big 1st half lead and were trying to come back. Very late in the 4th quarter with 4th and single digits in BC territory, he elected to punt rather than go for it. The punt only went about 15 yds. We were done. I was livid. That was the last straw for me, much later than for most everyone else.
The Ron Zook last straw for me came when he announced prior to his second loss to Ole Miss that since Ole Miss gave up 500 passing yds. (really) to TexTech and therefore had no pass defense that he was certain they would expect UF to throw and throw with UF's destined to be all-time passing leader Chris Leak at the helm. To counter this bit of public knowledge the Zooker...( after a night of heavy drinking) says in his Tues. press conference that he will foul up them Rebs for sure by running the ball down their throats by golly. No sir...the Ole Zooker would not be set up by that TexTech anomaly...no sir.....no way Jose.... Of course UF floundered miserably running the ball time after time against a stacked Ole Miss line and Chris Leak only threw when he had to and UF sputtered all day allowing Eli Manning to pull the game at THE SWAMP out in the last minute. I am certain Zook left this game off his Illinois job application...... :roll: :evil: