Spirit Animal

"This might sound arrogant, and if it is, it is. We're Michigan. We have a global education. We're the winningest program in the history of college football. We have a tremendous staff of guys. The lifeblood for all of us, no doubt, is the guys you bring in your program. We've really tried to focus on the guys that fit the mold of Michigan with the integrity and character that we want to have. We want guys who will play with a toughness, play with an accountability and on a team for each other.  Those guys [recruiters] out on the road, they work it and they do a tremendous job. But first and foremost, it's Michigan."

 --Brady Hoke, Big Ten Media Days, July 28, 2011

Short and sweet on this.  I don't know if Brady Hoke means this as deeply as it sounds, but I believe he does.  I don't know if this will translate into a single win in the fall, but I suspect it might.  But if you want to talk about the guy who knows how to sell his product, who knows how to play to his base.  Who knows what any of this means, really, it's just an opportunity to fill column inches and blog posts until we actually get some real football to deal with this.  But you got the word "tremendous", the word "arrogant" and "integrity and character" in there.  Strictly from a lyrical construction standpoint, it's like this beautiful hybrid of Bo, Lloyd, and Fielding Yost.  I'm in Coach Hoke.  I'm drinking the Maize and Blue Kool-Aid (which tastes like blueberry lemonade, which is a definite upgrade from sadness and blood.)  Let's get the season started, and let's let our spirit animal guide our way.