Go Blue!... No Wait, Where Are You Going?... Come back!

For all of us sports fans that grew up with the traditional football powers like Michigan, Nebraska, and Notre Dame I have to ask what happened? Sometimes the expectations of having to be on top coupled with the attitude that it is ones right to be number one can lead to very rash decisions. It is not yet known whether or not Michigan will share the same fate as Nebraska or Notre Dame two other traditional powers that made hasty moves at the head coaching position and are now mired in college football limbo. Sometimes you just have to be careful of what you ask for.

Last year Michigan started their season with such high expectations at No. 5 in the country and very quickly fell on their face with aloss to Appellation St. and then promptly fell out of the polls all together. After that game Michigan fans began calling for Lloyd Carr's job, later loses to Oregon, Wisconsin, and again to Ohio St. sealed his fate. Carr lead the Wolverines to victory over SEC power Florida in an absolute thriller; ending the season with a over all record of 9-4 and still being seen as an absolute disaster. Soon after the decision was made to part ways with Carr the University of Michigan proceeded to go into a public relations nightmare of a roller coaster ride by batching the hiring of LSU's Les Miles a Michigan alumnist. In the end they wound up with West Virginia's Rich Rodriguez and this season under the new head coach has been less then stellar so far with a 2-4 record.

You would like to think that Michigan would have learned a lesson watching Nebraska remove their head coach Frank Solich in favor of ex-Raider coach Bill Callahan. The Callahan era was a unmitigated disaster and that is being nice; discontinuing time honored traditions, poor recruiting, and the biggest sin of all becoming a doormat to Missouri and Kansas. College programs go through up and down cycles and if universities continue to want to change directions at the drop of a hat they risk becoming another Nebraska.

There is another school out there that could have shared in the same fate as Nebraska that being Penn State. It certainly seemed the Nittany Lions would take their place in college football limbo which left many fans calling for long time head coach Joe Paterno to step down. I think it is safe to say they are glad that Paterno stayed, now the ever youthful Joe Pa has the Lions relevant again sitting on top of the Big Ten conference with a undefeated record. When things go bad with our teams it is easy for us to want to go in another direction but I think it has shown with enough proof that the grass is not always greener on the other side.

The Great Torre...?

After four World Series titles it is hard to argue with anything Joe Torre does and for the future Hall of Famer he almost always knows what strings to pull... almost. There is no doubt about the calming influence he has on a club house, watching him pull together a divided clubhouse in the LA Dodgers and deal with all injuries including one big outfield signing that never showed up this year. But asking him to handle a bullpen, you had better bring a firetruck to put out the fire.

At the end of last year the Dodgers were a mess and certainly anybody hired to take over the job was going have their hands full with a divide between the veterans and the younger corps of players. All year it has been a give and take with Torre, he will give you hope in getting the most out of the players and then take the joy away with his calls during the game that will leave you pulling out your hair. Torre gives you players pitching with all the confidence in the world to take on any one and batters learning swing the bats; but then have them taking pitches on green light counts and yanking pitchers too early leaving himself trying to mix and match the roster for the rest of the game. Often just giving games away. The Dodger manager is the ultimate players coach and the most compulsive over thinking manager in the game today.

Some would say to Dodger fans you should just be happy to be there if not for Torre and one Manny Ramirez the team would not be there. But I also say once we get to the playoffs we should not waist this opportunity. We all know he will have his players loose and well motivated to take the series back to Philadelphia it is just a matter of whether or not will he shoot his team in the foot with another lesson in mismanagement. Let's go Bums!