Three and Out by John U. Bacon

Author:John U. Bacon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

23 IN SEARCH OF PAUL BUNYAN

Jim Plocki woke up early Saturday morning at the team hotel, which was a stone’s throw from the state capitol, and three miles down Michigan Avenue from Michigan State’s verdant campus.

He opened the drapes, saw the rain turning the old asphalt a rich black, and said, “Crap. This is just what I didn’t want to see.”

How would two green quarterbacks, from San Diego and South Florida, handle the ball on a cold, wet day, working with a substitute center who was just learning how to snap the ball? Plocki shook his head.

Yes, the Spartans were 1–3, and probably one good loss from throwing in the towel, but they weren’t 3–9 the previous year. They didn’t have dozens of players being pulled from practice all week to be questioned by NCAA and university attorneys. And Coach Dantonio wasn’t constantly on the hot seat—even at 1–3 in his third season.

“I don’t get it,” said another staffer, waiting to board the buses. “All these people bad-mouthing Rich and his staff. I want to tell them; ‘You think you’re taking Rich Rod down. But you’re taking the whole program down.’

“When the old players ask me about them, I always say the same thing: ‘Have you met these guys? You know who they are? Have you watched them work? Once you meet him, you like him. He’s genuine.’”

To those ends, alumni were always welcome, with a few celebrated as honorary captains at each home game—one of several “traditions” Rodriguez initiated, along with the alumni flag football game and locker room tour on the day of the spring game, the Victors’ Walk and the post-victory sing-along in the student corner. The honorary captains ate breakfast at Rodriguez’s table Saturday mornings at the Campus Inn, and as focused as he tended to be, he always made the effort to connect with them.

“And after they meet him,” the staffer said said, “they always tell me, ‘You’re right. He’s the real deal.’”

* * *

On the way to Spartan Stadium, the buses passed a Michigan fan wearing a T-shirt that said BIG BROTHER IS BACK—a far cry from the sign seen on the way to the Purdue game last year: OUR 2–6 SIX TEAM IS BETTER THAN YOUR 2–6 TEAM.

When Rodriguez’s Wolverines took a knee in the Big Ten’s most hated visitors’ locker room, Jon Falk said, “Let’s get that trophy back, Blue! It’s right next door. Paul Bunyan wants to come home.”

“Get him outta jail, Jonny!” Brandon Graham yelled.

“Let ’em talk,” Brandon Minor said. “We don’t play that game. Let’s just go out and kick their asses.”

“C’mon, Rod, get on out here!” Graham begged. “We wanna go!”

Whatever fault lines Labadie had sensed starting that week weren’t visible in that locker room.

“This is a different Michigan team than they played last year,” Rodriguez said. “We’re going to stick together no matter what. That’s who we are. That’s the men who wear the winged helmet.”

But Dusty Rutledge, sitting in his usual spot on the Michigan bench, was not so sanguine.

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