When Husbands Defend Their Wives (Poor Jim Harbaugh)
College Football August 15th. 2007, 12:40pmAnyone been following the Jim Harbaugh-Michigan feud? Brief backstory: the former Bears quarterback and current Stanford coach ripped his alma mater in May, saying that Michigan had ways of landing top notch recruits by steering them into easier classes. Some statistics did not support his argument. It probably wouldn’t matter as much if Harbaugh hadn’t attended Michigan.
Fast forward to this week, where Jim Carty notes in his blog that the husband of Michigan’s athletic director jumped into the fray with a hilarious take on Harbaugh’s ramblings, penning a magazine piece titled: “Was Jim Harbaugh Drunk, or Merely Truculent?†Nice touch with the bottle of Thunderbird.
Humor can diffuse any situation, but Carty asks a harmless question: why are there 29 Wolverines in their junior or senior year majoring in general studies?
Harbaugh debate takes a very odd spousal turn (Ann Arbor Sports Blog)
9 Responses to “When Husbands Defend Their Wives (Poor Jim Harbaugh)”
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August 15th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Carty took that picture of the bottle of Thunderbird before he chugged it and wrote this piece.
August 15th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
One very legitiamte reason why a degree in General Studies would appeal to an athlete is because of their schedule. Upper level classes in traditional majors, even at a large school like UM, are given infrequently and at specific times. If an athletes practice or workout schedules conflict such that they can’t take a class in a given semester, they can find themselves falling behind in their major. General Studies is, I believe, a little more forgiving as to which upper level classes an athlete takes and thus allows them to take classes around their schedules which still go towards their degrees…is this the whole story? Surely not, but this concept that a clustering of atheletes in a major means it’s “fake” or whatever isn’t really fair.
August 15th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Why would a school foster their students into a “general studies” program. I don’t know a ton about schools in the US but here in Canada a degree in General Studies isn’t worth the paper its written on. I’d think that in an effort to create well balanced people, the school would push their students to diversify and, god forbid, take some challenging courses.
August 15th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
TBL, that ESPN article is 90% in favor of what Harbaugh said. What do you mean, it did not support him? And Jim Acho is a regular columnist at the site, which is apparently one of the bigger blogs out there. This was no one-time guest post. I don’t know why Canty did not mention that (besides the fact that he’s too lazy to do anything but click the original link he was sent). It’s different if your husband’s job is a writer rather than if he’s volunteering himself to write articles about your school.
In fact, Mike Hart was a former intern for Jim Acho, apparently, if you read the third post down in his archive.(http://sportsreviewmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=1&Itemid=88888915) So Mike gets to work for the husband of the sports athletic director for his internship? Hmm…
Anyway, bottom line is, just 15 minutes checking facts says there’s a lot more to this story than what your post says. I know, it’s Wednesday, and no one is reading right now, but a post revision for some of these facts would be nice.
August 15th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
General Studies?
In this job market, you’re better off getting a certification in Ninja Warrior training.
August 15th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Maxwell:
Point taken, but I know I can at least speak for my undergraduate school in saying that that’s why the football players load the rest of the “specialized” classes they would need for their degrees into their spring and, if needed, summer semesters. Typically, athletes get special perks like “tutors” who write their notes/flash cards for them. Let’s just face it, the majority of football players at major NCAA schools don’t go there to get serious or “real” degrees. I am not trying to open up the whole “athletes are dumb jocks” can of worms, I’m merely stating that colleges will bend over backwards to help the athletes out and so having weight training for three hours spring semester is no reason for them not to get that specialized degree.
August 15th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Ouch-Jim Carty’s blog delivered a nice kick in the old Harbaugh crotch. Shades of Howard Cosell.
August 15th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
As a UM grad who was in school the same time as Harbaugh, I’ll make a few points:
I graduated from UM, and had a few classes with Harbaugh. He was an OK guy with a cocky attitude who liked to run his mouth in class. I’m not surprised he is running his mouth here, but he did speak the truth in the majority of his ramblings. I do agree, he should have kept his mouth shut, because he looks like a vindictive whiner. Bo would have bitch smacked him had he been alive.
General Studies at UM is for those who cannot decide on a major. It is a favorite outpost for athletes (along with Kinesiology (sp?)) and regular students who are underperformers, as it keeps them from the killer classes at the 400 level that are needed to fulfill a major. Basically, they can feed on the easier 300 and 400 level classes and also can find classes that fit their schedules.
Acho is correct in stating that most schools usher their athletes, especially in the revenue sports, through the school. How ready they are for jobs when the pros do not come calling is an issue. Many of these athletes are clearly disposable after they are done playing.
I also knew several athletes in “real” majors, including the hard to get into Business School, which has an application process for undergraduates during their sophomore year. I don’t want to paint with a wide brush, so I must give some of them credit.
On another note, does Harbaugh remember Stefan Humphries, the only D1 athlete to have his transcript published in SI? Hell, they were teammates.
Harbaugh needs to check his mouth at the door.
UM fans need to relax, we are not that much different with our athletes than other schools. It happens.
Acho needs to quit posting and sniping with the cheap DUI comments.
August 16th, 2007 at 8:54 am
Glass Yark Dog is upset someone shat in his cereal.