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FOOTBALL is LIFE!!!

An old essay I wrote but felt like reposting this today:

Football is Life..and why we love Jim Harbaugh.

by AKUG

Why do we love football so much? A simple question we can pose to our friends and coworkers over lunch or at happy hour, but a more difficult question to answer. Is it the beauty of gladiators doing a choreographed imposition of will on their foe? Is it the speed, power, and agility of the great athletes? The intricate play of the game? Chess not checkers as the expression goes. Is it just our school/team spirit driving us?

Or, might I pose, that the game of football strikes deeply into our core human DNA and does so at such a deep level that we are unaware of the root nerve it touches. Life itself, for every species on Earth has a single driving purpose that rules action. That purpose is to reproduce, to pass our genes on to the next generation. And in higher order creatures like us (even Buckeyes) we accomplish this task through mate selection. Both genders need to attract a mate, and for the human male we do this not by just our appearance but by demonstrating our ability to control resources. The human female at an instinctual level wants a mate who can provide adequate resources for her and her offspring. Let's set aside modern feminism just for this paragraph, as of course we know today many women provide resources for themselves and their entire families. We are viewing this at a deeply primitive and core genetic level. Again, looking backwards in time many thousands of years, the ability of a male to control land, to protect their turf from enemies was critical in mate selection, and those who were able to do this attracted a mate and were fruitful and multiplied. Those who did not became extinct or went to the B1G West division.

Tying this overview of sociobiology back to football is quite simple. The field represents land and resources, delineated in exacting measurements. Each team engaging in a pure physical contest of will over every yard, foot and even inch of ground. Controlling resources. Controlling your enemy. Controlling your fate. Controlling victory and defeat. Controlling whether you attract a mate and get to pass your genes forward or worse not mating and not getting a bowl invite! An unconscious deep connection to our core genetics, played out over 100 yards of turf, with all the pageantry of the coronation of a king. No wonder we love this game. Football is life.

Jim Harbaugh understands the connection football has with life. His metrics are teamwork, camaraderie, hard work, meritocracy, commitment, intensity, & effort. He knows the discipline and dedication that football brings to his players benefits them on and off the field. And he holds players and coaches accountable to those standards. He expects goals to be set high enough to be laughed at, and he attacks each day with an enthusiasm unknown. For the alumni, students, faculty and fans at large of Michigan Football, he brings a deep and genuine love of the game and would pretty much do anything that is legal to advance the cause, and we love him for it.

After enjoying decades of unbroken successes, Wolverine Nation was wholly unready for the lean years under Rich Rodriguez, and the radical decline in the last year of Brady Hoke. We were not used to invaders taking over our land, consuming our resources and 'not reproducing'. Having talked to many Michigan fans during this period, it was like a plague had settled in our kingdom, dark clouds besetting us.

Thankfully, the sun is shining in Ann Arbor again. Acknowledging of course that many goals are yet unmet, it is a comfort to know there is leadership in place, and whether or not is part of Jim Harbaugh's plan, Wolverines can once again, be fruitful and multiply.

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