Michigan and Ohio State a Rivalry on the Field

You might remember from a recent post about a West Virgina columnist that was looking for any reason to hang out the prodigal son Rich Rodriguez by putting this quote in a recent article: "The No. 1 uniform meant a lot to Edwards. It has belonged exclusively to a wide receiver since 1979, dating back to Chris Carter"

I made fun of the columnist and wondered how he could ever think Cris Carter played for Michigan when he actually played for Michigan's rival Ohio State. Well something ironic happened on the way to funny store.

I was watching NFL live last night on ESPN, when they started talking about PacMan Jones (formerly of WVU) wanting to wear number 21 because his mentor/idol Deion Sanders wore it for the Cowboys. Then the NFL Live crew went around the table and started to name thier mentors. Cris Carter the newest member to the NFL staff at ESPN said Mike Quick and Anthony Carter.

What? A Michigan Man and an Ohio State Man friends and mentors? How can this be? I will tell you how! It's not about hating the other team or state, it's about respect for the players and for the game. This gets lost by many fans and from my experience, OSU fans have the hardest time with this. (BTW: I know there are many Michigan fans that are just as bad, but my experience tells me that OSU fans take this rivalry to extremes more often).

Bo and Woody coached together, (in fact Woody crawled out of his death bed to honor Bo in Dayton, gave his speech about Bo and went home and died. Bo did his interview for HBO's Documentary and died a day before The GAME #1 vs #2) and CC and AC are friends. I'm sure there are many more examples.

This rivalry is not about hate, it's about respecting the game and the opportunity to play in it.

Well all should take a lesson from Cris and Anthony.