Those who are familiar with the University of Michigan story might enjoy this open letter from a Michigan grad:

I am frustrated, disappointed and embarrassed. I entered this football season with high hopes for a successful season. After all, in the past, my team had won national championships and Rose Bowl games. For more years than I can remember, my team was a regular participant in post-season play. My team was a perennial top 10 team, which helped it achieve top recruiting classes year after year. Once again, I had high hopes for the 2007 squad.

And then it all came tumbling down. First, my team lost to a small school, Appalachian State. I know we were not the first school to lose to them, and it was not the first time a small school beat a pre-season pick for the Top 10. But it hurt.

Week two of the season had a lot of build-up. A lot of fans were already calling for the coach to be fired. But clearly they were taking their frustrations out publicly, and didn’t care whether they lashed out at a real person who had a family and feelings of his own. And then it happened.

My team lost again. Two weeks in a row. It was not the first time a team had lost two in a row, and it was not even the first time my own team had lost twice in a row. But it hurt.

I was devastated enough because I had invested so much emotion into my team. I was a proud graduate of the school, and now my pride was diminished.

It also was bad enough that I had to stew in my own feelings for a second weekend in a row. But I also knew what would be waiting for me Monday: at work, at restaurants, where ever I was to go. I know that other people would be talking about the Big Loss at the Big House. It hurt I had stabbed myself with my own emotions, but now the entire city would seem to be joining together to twist the knife around and around, and perhaps even rub a little salt in the wound.

I already know what this week was going to look like. More and more alumni would be calling for the coach’s removal, at any cost. Some alumni would start talking about withholding their financial support for the school. Others would start offering their valued football tickets for future games, hoping not to be there when the next loss might occur. Sports radio and TV commentaries would be filled with jokes and insults about the team.

How would I be able to survive this week? I guess there’s only way to find out.

I’ll ask my friends who graduated from MSU. And I hope they will be generous enough to help me be as level-headed and humble as they were when I was insulting their team and gloating about mine for the past 20 years.

Signed,
A Michigan grad who finally gets it.