Thursday, February 3, 2022

Wolverine waffle

 The Blob is not one for blowing its own horn ("Right, Dizzy Gillespie," you're saying), but remember a month or so ago when it was saying, kind of, that it couldn't see Jim Harbaugh fleeing Michigan for the NFL right now because he finally had the Wolverines where he wanted them?

Well, I was right about that. And I was wrong.

Allow me to explain.

("This I gotta hear," you're saying)

See, I'm right because Harbaugh just told the Michigan brass he's staying in Ann Arbor. But he had to tell them that because he also just interviewed for the Vikings job.

So maybe it would be more accurate to say he's not leaving Ann Arbor TODAY. But his dalliance with the Vikes certainly indicates he might at some point in the future.

Oh, sure, he told UM nothing like this would ever happen again, and he's Michigan's for as long as they'll have him. But how do you believe him?

Because if you read the tea leaves of this exceedingly odd episode, it quickly becomes obvious that Harbaugh had his track shoes on and was ready to sprint off to Minneapolis. The only reason he didn't, reportedly, is because the Vikings interviewed him like they would any other potential head coach, instead of as the heir apparent.

Which Harbaugh apparently thought he was.

At some point (again, reading the tea leaves), he seems to have gotten the idea he was the Vikings' guy, and the "interview" was simply a pro forma coronation. So if I'm Michigan, I'd be taking his sudden declaration of loyalty with several large grains of salt.

After all, Harbaugh repotedly had already made several farewells before he left Ann Arbor for his interview with the Vikings. Only when he got to Minneapolis and found out they were treating him like just another candidate did he say, essentially, "Yeah, no, just kidding.  I'm not going anywhere."'

Which is kinda like trying to cheat on your wife and and then pledging eternal fidelity to her because the potential cheat-ee shut you down.

Makes me wonder what Harbaugh's players are thinking right now. 

Hey, Coach, if  you're saying now you're never gonna leave us, why did you try to leave us? Really, Coach? Is this the Big House, or the Waffle House?

Something along those lines, I imagine.

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