Tradition! Michigan's Guiding Light From Past To Present.

jordan krumreyNov 11, 2008

Tra-DI-tion! It's a powerful word in the college football world. A word that can get you big time recruits and all the media attention in the world. It is a binding tie that links the present to the past as well as the future.

It is what players, coaches, and fans alike look back to in tough times.

It is a guiding light of sort that gives hope to those in need, to be assured everything will be alright.

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It is something to boast and to take great pride in. In fact this quote by one of the University of Michigan's own sums it up best:

"Tradition is something you can't bottle.You can't buy it at the corner store.But it is there to sustain you when you need it most.I've called upon it time and time again.And so have countless other Michigan athletes and coaches.There is nothing like it.I hope it never dies."

-Fritz Crisler

However, tradition is slowly, but surely, dying around the country; due in part to a new media driven era of football. It's sad to see how some programs have lost their ties to tradition in order to keep up with the ever changing ways of college football.

There are few schools though, that have endured the changes and have maintained their tradition. One school stands above the rest though when it comes to tradition.That school is....MICHIGAN!

The Michigan tradition has endured over a century of change.In fact it was Michigan that helped spark most of the change in college football through the decades.

However,in 2008 under new head coach Rich Rodriguez, many seem to think this tradition that has endured so long will be destroyed in a blink of an eye.

It's puzzling as to how anyone could conjure such a thought. All this fear of losing tradition was brought up because of losing a...bowl streak?Yes, a bowl streak. For some reason people think the Michigan tradition is tarnished slightly because the team failed to make a bowl game.

So it has been 33 years since Michigan last sat at home for the holiday's, so what?

Since when has a bowl streak gotten a school a national title?Oh yeah,NEVER!

Losing a streak does not take from tradition nor will it ever.So cool your jets Michigan fans.

Rest assured it will take more than one man, player, or season to even faze the Michigan tradition. It is too strong, too rich for any one man to damage it. For something to endure so long it will take more than one losing season to break the tradition.

Wait, what's that? Michigan has had losing season before. Michigan fans have been infuriated by the fact that UM has a losing record, almost as if UM has never had one.The last was 1967. But don't forget Bo had a 6-6 season during his tenure. That isn't acceptable from what many fans today would say.

The complaining about the bowl streak is getting to be outrageous though. It is a silly number that's only use is just to take pride in. No one outside UM cares nor will they ever care. The bowl streak is not all Michigan tradition. In fact it is just a small piece.That's if you could consider the streak a real piece of tradition.

Think about this. Some have said that the streak represented a streak of winning excellence. But what if we went to 33 straight bowls while winning only 6-8 games a year.Is that winning excellence?

Face the music people the 33 years of bowls is over and it means nothing to be honest.Stop the complaining.

Instead think about all the other streaks and records to keep yourself positive and to assure yourself Michigan tradition is still alive and well.

Michigan lost the bowl streak but still holds the streak of consecutive games without being shut out at 287 games and counting (last shutout was October 20,1984, at Iowa).

First in all-time wins (872), and win percentage(.741).

Most winning season(110)

Mot undefeated seasons (25)

One of only three schools to have winning record vs every FBS conference including independents.

The most recognizable helmet in all football to go along with the best uniforms in the game.

The greatest fight song "The Victors."

The largest football stadium in the country which has had the highest attendance every year since 1974(except 1997), largest single game attendance(112,118 vs OSUin 2003). It now has had 214 consecutive games of over 100,000 people in attendance and counting.

And it's getting bigger.

Michigan is the most televised team in NCAA history.

39 bowl games and is 2nd in Rose Bowl appearances.

11 National titles (T-2nd in NCAA history)

42 Big 10 Championships (Most of any school in any conference).

3 Heismans

76 All-American's

This is just the beginning.People fail to realize the real importance of Michigan football and what impact the University has had on the game of college football. Heck, college football is a much a part of Michigan football as Michigan football is a part of college football.Without some of our players, coaches, and teams what would college football be today?

Chances are it wouldn't be the same. Here is why:

Michigan is the original Linebacker U. Sorry Penn State, but it was Fielding H. Yost that created the position.

Fielding Yost was the father of the no-huddle offense that is still used today.

Yost was the first coach to utilize the forward pass.Even though Knute Rockne is often credited for that.Don't be fooled it was Yost.

Fritz Crisler was the creator of the two-platoon system which revolutionized the game of football.

Fritz also wrote half of the NCAA rules regarding recruiting and he wrote numerous other NCAA rules in the rule book that still stand today.

Many people also don't know how it was Michigan football players that taught students at Notre Dame how to play football. It was UM that taught them no one else.We laid the bricks for what would become the second winningest program in NCAA football history.

Just think what would Notre Dame be if not for Michigan.Would there have been Rockne, or the four horsemen,or Rudy? Would there be a Gipper speech or "Play Like Champions Today"? We will never know but the possibilities of there being no Notre Dame without Michigan will always be there.

Michigan brought the game of college football to the next level in the Midwest and the entire country.People flocked from around the nation to go see the Maize and Blue of Michigan. Michigan had become the standard of college football.Michigan was the media darlings.

Michigan was the first team to be televised on the national level.It was Michigan that first stepped foot into the merchandising industry. It was Michigan that drew crowds to the sport and helped evolve it to what it is today.

It's Michigan,Michigan,Michigan!

Let's not forget everything else...

The Tunnel, the block M, and the banner the players touch as they run out of that tunnel.

The in-state rivalry with Michigan State for the Paul Bunyan Trophy.

The rivalry with Minnesota for The Little Brown Jug, the oldest trophy in the game.

The rivalry with Notre dame, a clash of historical Titans...and what you could call a battle of father vs son.

And of course the rivalry of all rivalries, which is claimed to be the greatest in ALL sports..."THE GAME" vs that team down south.

The Ten Year War.

Michigan has the point-a-minute teams of Fielding Yost.

The Mad Magicians, who have long been overshadowed by the four horsemen of Notre dame in the history books, and undeservedly so.

Highest scoring delta in NCAA history.

Claims arguably the highest all-time S.O.S in NCAA history.

The Pose. "One man...Goodbye...Helloooo Heisman."

Only defensive player to win the Heisman.

Quarterback U

3 Super Bowl MVP's (Tom Brady x2, Desmond Howard)

34 college football Hall of Famers.

It goes on and on and on.....Oh, and Michigan had a President too,former center Gerald Ford.Not to many schools can say that.

Does everyone see now? Michigan tradition is here to stay.The loss of the bowl streak is just a meaningless number to the University of Michigan.It's greatness far exceeds that of what the bowl streak represented.

Michigan's real tradition doesn't even live within these numbers and records listed. It really lives in the fans,players,and coaches.It lives in the hallways, facilities, and campus of the University of Michigan. It lives in the names such as Yost, Crisler, Schembechler, Carter, Harmon, Woodson, Howard and so forth.It also lives in you the Michigan fan.

So long as the fans, players, and coaches believe in these traditions, the traditions will live on. It is when the faith is lost, in which these long standing traditions will falter and crumble to nothing.

Let us hope that day never comes. Let us instead keep faith in our tradition as well as our coaches and players.With faith it will only be in due time the slumbering giant known as Michigan will wake from its sleep and take back what is rightfully their's...Their title of being Champion of the West.

"I remember the stand at Thermopylae

the Greek Guard made one day;

I remember the legions that Caesar used

To shatter the Gallic sway;

And I remember across those years

Two banners that crowned the crest,

When Yale was king of the conquered East,

And Michigan ruled the West.

At night in my humble den I dream

Of the glories that used to be-

Of Hannibal taking the Alpine Trail,

Of Drake on the open sea;