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Good Thursday morning. Here’s the rundown of this week’s Sports Business Playbook:

• 📰 This Week’s Topic: As most of you know, I am a University of Michigan alum and a diehard fan. I’ve been a fan for nearly three decades and have seen the football program go through many highs and lows, so I set aside my sports business hat this week and tried to put into words what this year’s championship, and the university overall, means to me as a fan.

• 🍸️ Impress Your Friends at Cocktail Party: This section will be back in its regular form next week. The CliffsNotes of this week’s topic is that I love the University of Michigan, they are national champions, and this team will be remembered for forever.

• 🤯 “Whoa of the Week”: NFL Wild Card Playoff Ratings are in and they are strong

• 💪 Weekly Reminders that Sports are Awesome: Steve Ballmer’s quest to make the Clippers’ new arena the ultimate fan experience.

〽️ WARNING 〽️ 

You are about to experience extreme fanboying about Michigan’s national championship team and Coach Jim Harbaugh.

This bonus post has absolutely nothing to do with sports business, and it is purely a 32-year old manchild’s expression of the immense joy he is feeling now that his team has reached the (undisputed) pinnacle of college football.

If you are a fan of Ohio, Penn State, little brother, Alabama, or Washington, I highly recommend you close this newsletter now before it’s too late.

Read on at your own risk.

***

Holy shit.

Holy fsdkfsdfsdffsdajkgsadgjsdgsghsd shit.

They did it.

• 15-0.

• Big Ten Champions — again. again.

• Beat Ohio — again. again.

• Navigated through Harbaugh missing six games and dealing with one of the most sensationalized sports scandals in modern memory. Didn’t falter once, and silenced all of their critics.

• Went toe-to-toe with college football’s boogeyman and bullied his team on both sides of the ball in the Rose Bowl.

• A historically great defense put the best offense in the country in a blender on the way to a national championship.

When the clock ran out last Monday night and Michigan took its seat atop the college football world, it didn’t feel real.

I expected to be overcome with emotion — for reference, I cried when I got to witness Michigan beating Ohio in-person in 2021 — but I found myself sitting there quietly watching the celebration unfold with a sense of disbelief that this actually happened.

It’s taken me a couple of days to process, but now it’s truly hitting me how special this is.

Undisputed champions for the first time in 26 years. Kings of college football. A victory considered “fair and square” according to the NCAA President 🤷 .

Every Michigan fan has a story about how this national championship team, and this university, has impacted them. Here’s mine.

The Early Years

I’ve been a Michigan fan for most of my life.

Growing up in South Carolina with no family ties to the school, this makes no sense — I fully recognize that.

But, I latched onto the winged helmet in the mid-90’s when I watched my first Michigan game on national TV as a young kid, and I haven’t let go since.

I remember the good times in my early years. These teams were routinely competing for Big Ten titles, including their last championship in 1997 — and had top notch players who would go on to have exceptional NFL careers, but there was also this sense of community and aura around what it meant to be a Michigan fan.

It was thrilling to be a part of, even with the ridicule I got growing up in SEC country.

But, this fandom got put to the test in my adolescent and young adult years.

Dark Times

I was often too young at the time to truly appreciate the excellence of those late 90’s/early 2000’s early teams, but I was plenty old enough to remember the down years that would come later.

Through the decline of Lloyd Carr’s tenure and then two disastrous coaching hires later, this once historic program had become painful to watch and a tier 3 “has been” by the mid 2010’s.

Even when Michigan legend Jim Harbaugh came to Ann Arbor in 2015 and began to turn the program around, there were still these singular moments of anguish — trouble with the snap, JT Barrett was short — that kept a return to greatness just out of reach.

This gradual ascension was followed by mediocrity in the next few years, which led many people, myself included, to feel apathy towards the program, question if Harbaugh was the right person for the job, and wonder deep down if there was ever a chance Michigan would return to being a college football blue blood.

It would take a period of time at the source to rekindle my love of the school and team.

Living in Ann Arbor

I was fortunate to bring my lifelong Michigan fandom full circle in 2020.

I had been applying to business schools around the country, including Michigan. I actually got the acceptance call on the day the NBA — and then the world — shut down due to COVID.

Despite the pandemic, I enrolled in business school at Michigan and moved to Ann Arbor.

COVID meant no trips to the Big House my first year, but I frankly didn’t miss much — the football team had a subpar 2-4 record during the shortened season and cancelled the Ohio game.

Despite the team’s struggles, there was still plenty to be excited about.

During that first year in Ann Arbor, I fell in actual love — that’s right, folks; the future Mrs. Sports Business Playbook is a fellow Michigan MBA — but I also re-fell in love with the University of Michigan.

There is a tangible energy in Ann Arbor, and it’s a key reason it is consistently rated as one of the best college towns in America.

The campus. The traditions. The athletics.

These all flow through the 100,000+ people — probably 75% of which are students or affiliated in the school — in creating this unique, familial atmosphere that grabs ahold of you and doesn’t let go.

Yes, I had been a supporter of the school for years and knew there was something special about being a part of the fanbase.

But now I felt like I was truly a part of the Michigan ecosystem. I felt an immediate pull to not only want to have a deeper connection to this vibrant community but to also proudly evangelize it:

• I collected an inordinate amount of maize and blue clothing — even more than I already had.

• I actively sought out opportunities to say “Go Blue” to someone in public when I was outside of Michigan (I still do this and it still brings me immense joy).

• Anyone who had a Michigan affiliation was already a connection and friend in my book due to the shared bond.

If at this point you’re saying to yourself: “my god, Alex joined a cult,” I’d say you’re somewhat correct.

Certain universities have an ability to create that deep, almost innate sense of belonging and connection, and I — along with countless others — feel that with UofM.

Does the support of the athletic teams and university overall reach a point of absurdity sometimes?

Can Harbaugh come across as a football-crazed wacko?

And can I agree that Michigan’s homages in September and November to Harbaugh when he was suspended, not on his death bed, were a tad much?

Yes, but:

• I/we can’t help it

• That’s our wacko (who, by the way, loves his players, routinely gives them and his assistants the credit, and has repeatedly advocated for players to be paid a revenue share of all of the TV money they generate)

• Dammit I still loved that this team was fighting for their coach.

I will forever be proud to be a Michigan Man and to rep the “block M”, and I can thank that time in Ann Arbor for my renewed sense of belonging there.

Serendipitously, my deep appreciation for the school and community were set ablaze right as the football team roared back to life.

The Golden (Maize) Years

The 2023 championship team — Team 144 (each team is numbered by the number of years Michigan has had football) — will forever be remembered, but you can’t look at this year’s team finally re-summiting the peak of college football without pointing back to 2021 as the moment they began the climb.

Michigan was widely picked to finish towards the bottom of the Big Ten at 6-6 or 7-5 and get blasted by Ohio in what was becoming a comically lopsided rivalry — Ohio was 17-3 in the 21st century against Michigan heading into the season.

Low expectations, to say the least.

But, you can cope with a 6-6 record when you’re able to physically be back in the Big House chant “Hail to the Victors” 30+ times, getting chills listening to James Earl Jones voice over the hype video before the team takes the field, and sing “Mr. Brightside” and “Pump it Up” with 110,000 of your closest friends.

We were all so thrilled to be able to go to the games and return to some semblance of normalcy that we accepted that the team may be mediocre.

But then, a spark.

Anchored by an exceptional defense and a punishing run game — now hallmarks of Michigan’s program three years later — the team surprised everyone with an exceptional season, including an improbable win over Ohio, and reached the College Football Playoff.

They got manhandled by Georgia in the CFP — arguably one of the most talented college football teams ever — but it didn’t matter. A rejuvenated team and fanbase had life again.

The unexpected journey in 2021 set the bar high for 2022.

A ton of returning talent, great additions in the transfer portal, and a new found attitude meant many of us were expecting another run. And it happened.

Michigan cruised through the regular season, smacked Ohio again (in Columbus this time, mind you), and reached the CFP for the second straight year.

This time, though, we weren’t just happy to be there — we wanted a rematch against Georgia. All that stood in between us and vengeance was a plucky TCU team.

Michigan proceeded to play its sloppiest game of the season. Turnovers, poor tackling, and giving up big plays on defense — three aspects Michigan normally excelled in — reared their ugly heads, and Michigan lost 51-45.

A squandered opportunity when many considered them to be the best team in the country at that point (and I truly believe they were).

Because of the the way 2022 ended, it placed even loftier expectations on 2023.

No one could have predicted the roller coaster season that would unfold.

Team 144

This season’s team bore many of the hallmarks of the past two years: returning talent, great portal additions, and a smashmouth mentality that permeated throughout the program.

The difference was that now Michigan — and the general public — expected them to be there and to compete for a national title.

With the shift in expectations came additional scrutiny.

The past two teams had shown flashes of greatness, but they’d never been able to make the plays when they truly needed them and to get over the hump.

Questions were creeping in about Harbaugh’s ability to prepare his team for bowl games — 1-6 heading into this year — and if he had what it takes to win a championship.

Now add on top of that two suspensions for Harbaugh, one involving a cheeseburger and the NCAA’s Napoleon complex, and one that turned into the most overblown media circus in modern sports history — looking at you, Pete Thamel, Stewart Mandel, and Tony Pettiti — and you’ve got the ultimate pressure cooker.

[I will say this once. Yes, Michigan broke a rule. Yes, this rule is stupid, everyone does it, and it is not that big of a deal. Yes, Michigan should still face a punishment for it. No, the punishment shouldn’t be harsh and it didn’t have an actual impact on the outcomes. See Charlie Baker quote above. Fin]

Despite all of that, Team 144 didn’t blink.

Why?

Michigan has talent, but it’s nothing compared to Ohio or any of the SEC powers that have won titles in the CFP era.

Michigan has done an exceptional job in team fit-based scouting, player development, and strength and conditioning to build a group where the sum of the whole is better than the parts, but this year’s team had a little something extra.

This team, and the teams in the years prior, were made in the image of Harbaugh on the field, but Team 144 truly embodied the essence of who he is.

This team was intense. It was football above all else with unfinished business and a singular mission to fulfill its destiny.

This team played with an edge, embraced the villain role, and stood in the gap and said “Michigan vs. Everybody” and “Bet” when the entire sports world turned on them.

This team also had moments of chaos, hair-tearing out frustration, and downright goofiness.

But above all else, this team was about family and an undying loyalty to each other and to the program.

I now realize I was subdued when Michigan was crowned champion because I was reliving a similar complex web of memories — the good, bad, the ugly — I’d had in my nearly 30 years as a Michigan fan:

• Watching the 1997 Rose Bowl team

• Getting my first Michigan jersey for Christmas when I was 7

• Watching the games on Saturdays with my Dad

• My first game in the Big House for my 12th birthday

• App State

• Toledo

• Praying they fired Rich Rod, and then praying again they fired Brady f*cking Hoke a few years later

• The surrender cobra (cut to 13 seconds) I also made after “trouble with the snap”

• Having a celebration alone in my car that would make Tom Wambsgans proud after I scored high enough on my GRE to put myself in Michigan’s target score range

• Getting the acceptance call

• The raucous nights at house parties, Skeeps, and the Bus with my MBA classmates that often ended in two (or five) late night slices from Joe’s Pizza

• Meeting and beginning my relationship with the love of my life — the aforementioned future Mrs. SBP

• My buddy Bobby and I wearing plastic disco balls every Saturday tailgate during the 2021 run because we thought they were Michigan’s good luck charms that year (they were)

• Storming the field with future Mrs. SBP with tears in my eyes after beating Ohio

• Trying (and failing) not to freak out in front of my future in-laws while watching UGA beat the crap out of Michigan in the CFP

• Walking across the Crisler Center stage with my Michigan degree in hand

• TURNOVER BUFFS

• Silencing the Horseshoe

• Watching the TCU loss alone on New Year’s Eve with COVID and a sad pizza

• Conor Stalions

• BET

• Let’s Go Zak (if you’re going to click on one of these, please click on this one)

• Hugging future Mrs. SBP and our friend and fellow Michigan grad for two minutes straight after Rod Moore’s game-winning interception to make it three straight against Ohio. Set to the Titanic music is even better.

• Watching Big Ten Commissioner Tony Pettiti have to hand the conference championship to Michigan after getting bullied by the other schools in the conference into putting them behind the eight ball in the first place

• Wtf are Semaj Morgan and Jake Thaw doing on these punt returns?!?! (Still love you both, though)

• Vintage Blake Corum on the last drive and in OT against Bama

• The Stop against Bama

• The Don’s resurgence in the first quarter of the national championship

• Mikey Sainristil’s interception that sealed the title. Cue the Titanic music one more time!

This season crystallized all of those memories, and it made the tough times all worth it.

That’s what will stick with me the most about Team 144.

It took all of the emotions in the human experience and rolled it up into one imperfect perfect season. A season that I, and countless others around the country (and the world for that matter) will never forget.

Three Deep Breaths

The season is finished. The parade was awesome, but it is over. And who knows what happens next year.

As of writing this, the cornerstones of this team — guys like JJ, Blake, Mikey, Trevor Keegan, Zak Zinter, and Mike Barrett — who have been there since this run started and are now Michigan legends are off to the NFL Draft.

Several other key contributors are either graduating or heading to the Draft too.

And it’s still unclear what Harbaugh will do. He may want another chance at a Super Bowl title, and and he will have plenty of suitors who will give him that chance if that’s the route he decides to go.

Of course the whole Michigan fanbase wants him back. But, he’s got nothing left to prove and his legacy as a Mt. Rushmore figure in Michigan history is solidified.

There will be a time to be concerned about these topics, next season — Michigan has a number of question marks and is staring down a brutal schedule in 2024 — and the future overall.

And at some point, the magic will run out. Maybe it’s next year. Maybe it’s several years down the road. But, Ohio will eventually find a way to beat Michigan again, there won’t be a Big Ten title and CFP birth every year, and we will be sticking by a team that’s in the midst of a program rebuild.

It is what it is — that’s a part of what it means to be a true fan.

But for now, let’s do what JJ said back in his 2020 tweet ahead of his arrival on campus that is now forever in Michigan lore: “take three deep breaths” and enjoy the hell out of this both now and well into the future.

Thank you, Team 144, and Go Blue Forever.

🤯 “Whoa” of the Week

Insane, mind-blowing things constantly happen in the sports business world. Here was my favorite of the past week.

1. NFL Wild Card Weekend ratings are in, and they were excellent. The notable one: a strong 23 million on the streaming-only game with Peacock. Expect continued experimentation from the NFL on this.

💪 Weekly Reminder that Sports are Awesome

This newsletter is, of course, mostly centered on the business side of sports and the things that happen off the field. That being said, it’s important to remember why we fell in love with sports in the first place, though.

This section is meant to highlight the amazing things that happened in sports this week that serve as that reminder.

1. Steve Ballmer is a total goober, but I love what he’s trying to do with the Clippers’ new arena.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what feedback you have.

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Until next time, sports fans!

-Alex