Hello, Loyal Readers!

To quote Monty Python, “I’m not dead yet!” But it might have seemed like it, due to my long absence from The Bacon Blog this fall.

Alas, 2015 was a crazy year! Let’s see, we moved an apartment, a condo and a loft into a “new” house (built in 1893), wrote two books, and went on a 46-stop, 16-state book tour, where I met some 5,500 of you along the way. Oh, and we had a kid. That’ll do it.

Nonetheless, if I was smarter, I would have posted my travels on this site every Friday to let you know where I was going to be, and that I was still alive. I’ll do better next time!

In the meantime, we’re back at it, with a vengeance! Hope you enjoy your traditional Friday morning helping of Bacon, and look forward to hearing from you.

-John

 

2015 was a pretty good year for college football fans in the state – especially for fans of its two Big Ten schools.

The Michigan Wolverines finished their 2014 season in horrible shape, on and off the field. After the students held a campus rally, hoping to get athletic director Dave Brandon fired, a popular website, MGoBlog, did the job for them. When MGoBlog published Brandon’s insulting emails to fans, including, “Quit drinking and go to bed,” Brandon had to resign.

For Michigan’s last home game that year, only 83,000 people paid to see it, and thousands of them didn’t bother to show up to actually see it. I hadn’t seen so many empty seats in the Big House since I was an eight year-old kid. Brady Hoke’s teams lost that game, and six more. His teams got worse every year, and that cost him his job. Add it all up, and it might have been the most miserable year in the history of Michigan football.

Michigan fans dreamed that prodigal son Jim Harbaugh would return to his alma mater, but just about every single NFL reporter kept saying, No how and No way. But on Saturday night, December 27, I got off the phone with my sources, who actually knew what was going on. When I heard about plane and hotel reservations, I was finally certain Harbaugh was coming to Michigan. I asked my wife if I should bother tweeting the info, because who would care at 10:30 on a Saturday night? She said, “Just tweet it, or I’ll be hearing about it the rest of the night.”

I hit send, then went to brush my teeth. Before going to bed, I checked my twitter account one last time – and watched it explode, adding 10,000 followers in a week. Turns out these fans were just a little hungry for good news. A year later, Harbaugh-Mania shows no signs of letting up.

But it wasn’t all milk and honey. Against Michigan State, the Wolverines needed only to execute a “game-winning punt” to vanquish their rival. Instead – oh, heck, I still can’t explain what happened. Think of the craziest play you’ve ever seen, then multiply it by the second craziest, and you’d be close. Michigan fans were so stunned, their expressions went viral.

The Spartans were also expected to lose to undefeated, returning national champion Ohio State, especially when the Spartans lost their starting quarterback. But the Spartans went down to Columbus with their back-up quarterback and beat the heavily favored Buckeyes, in one of the best coaching jobs I’ve ever seen. Of course, on the other side of the field, it was one of the worst coaching jobs I’ve ever seen — and there’s your upset.

Michigan State became the first school to get to the Final Four in football and basketball — and in the same year, no less. But the Spartans’ luck ran out against Alabama, and so did their offense, which couldn’t score a point.

Michigan finished with a convincing 41-7 thumping of Florida, to notch a 10-win season – exactly twice as many wins as Hoke won his last year, with the same players. That’s what great coaching looks like.

Meanwhile, the Detroit Lions reverted to form, missing the playoffs. They fired team president Tom Lewand, and kept beleaguered head coach Jim Caldwell, who looks just as confused when the Lions are ahead by 20 as he does when they’re losing by 20 – which is more common.

Love you, Lions fans, but to be shocked by this Most Lions of Seasons is tantamount to Charlie Brown screaming at Lucy for pulling the football. You had to see it coming.

For all the twists and turns, the world is almost back on its axis: The Lions missed the playoffs, the Spartans are riding high, and the Wolverines are catching up fast.

2016 looks like it will be a lot of fun. Well, unless you’re a Lions fan.

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Please join the conversation, but remember: I run only those letters from those who are not profane or insane, and who include their FULL name. 

My latest book, “ENDZONE: The Rise, Fall and Return of Michigan Football,” debuted at #6 on the New York Times’ Bestseller List, and is still going very strong. THANK YOU!

Radio stuff: On Friday mornings, these commentaries run at 8:50 on Michigan Radio (91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit and Flint, and 104.1 Grand Rapids), and a few minutes later,  I join Sam Webb and Ira Weintraub LIVE from 9:05 to 9:25 on WTKA.com, 1050 AM.

After 12 years, I’ve handed over my “Off the Field” slot on WTKA to my good friend Jamie Morris, who launched his new two-hour show, “A View From the Backfield,” last year. He’s returning this fall, and I’ll be joining him Sunday, August 30, to talk about my next book, “ENDZONE.”

This gives me the time I need to join Michigan Radio’s great Cynthia Canty on her afternoon Stateside show every Thursday for a few minutes.  Check it out!

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/johnubacon.  Just cracked 33,000 followers.   THANK YOU!

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