Rodriguez’s troubles travel from country roads

I would have thought Rich Rodriguez heard it all by now. This is a coach who had his name put… I would have thought Rich Rodriguez heard it all by now. This is a coach who had his name put on a gravestone and displayed in a Charleston, W.Va., storefront after he left the Mountaineers last year. The governor of West Virginia called him a ‘victim of high-priced sports agents.’ The West Virginia fan base (or fan bunker) said things unfit for print. So when he took the country road out of West Virginia to the place where he thought he belonged ‘- Michigan ‘- he probably thought he’d left all that behind for greener pastures in Ann Arbor. Well, guess what? Michigan is blue and gold, too. And the people who bleed it aren’t nearly as patient as Rodriguez’s brethren. Michigan is 3-8 in his first season ‘- the first eight-loss season Michigan has ever had. The program started in 1879, so you wouldn’t imagine Michigan fans are used to this type of feeling. Yet Rodriguez still is shocked at some of the backlash. ‘It’s amazing some of the things that people would say [on a message board] or yell at you of a personal nature,’ said Rodriguez to the Associated Press Monday. ‘You almost want to tell them, ‘Get a life.’ There’s a whole lot bigger problems. Look at the economy.’ Look at the auto industry, for that matter. But please, look at anything but our team! Actually, look at Boston Red Sox pitcher Jonathan Papelbon. When he even hinted that he thought he should be the closer, not the Yankees’ Mariano Rivera, for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game this past July at Yankee Stadium, he and his pregnant wife were pelted with threats from delirious Yankees fans. Lance Armstrong even said this week that he fears he’d be attacked by Tour de France spectators if he races again. So yes, Rich, it is amazing what people will say and to whom they’ll say it. But rest assured they’ll say it, no matter where you are or who you coach, if you lose. They said it in West Virginia when you lost to Pitt and then bolted, and they’re saying it in Michigan when you have to throw the economy out there as a distraction. Even so, it’s not appropriate. Never has been, never will be. But this kind of spew happens, and most likely always will. The only way to hush it all, at least for this season? A win for the lowly Wolverines in their last game against hated rival Ohio State. It would ruin the Buckeyes’ Rose Bowl hopes. ‘[If] we go down there and beat them, they have no chance to go to the Rose Bowl,’ said Michigan safety Brandon Harrison to the AP. ‘That’s what we’re playing for.’ Queue Alanis Morissette. It’d be a dream. Just a flat-out dream. Speaking of which … – Never did anybody (well, never did I) expect a River City Rivalry game to mean anything, much less have Big East championship and BCS bowl implications. Both will be on the line, though, on Saturday as Pitt visits Cincinnati in just the fourth year these teams have been told to hate each other. – Sports Movie Quote Trivia Question of the Day: ‘Carrie Harold told me that Becky Fraker doesn’t think you’re very ugly.’ – OK ‘- rankings time (first place votes): 1. Stewie (1) ‘- Ranked No. 1 three weeks straight. 2. Brock Lesnar ‘- Too scared to rank him lower. 3. Erin Andrews ‘- Hoops season brings the promise of one last visit before I graduate. 4. Kane (with mask) ‘- Wasn’t he a lot cooler back in the day? 5. Old school wrestling intro music ‘- Oh you didn’t know? Dropped from the rankings: Seeing a familiar actor or actress in a particular movie you’re watching and immediately pointing out what other movies they’re in and what characters they play (Take Becky Fraker, for instance: ‘Wait … that’s Julie ‘The Cat’ Gaffney!’ See?) – Heisman Trophy dark horse: Steven Threet. That’s Michigan’s quarterback. The Wolverines are not good. Read the column. – Sports Movie Quote Trivia Answer of the Day: That was Becky’s friend Edith to Henry Rowengartner in ‘Rookie of the Year,’ of course. – Just think, this time next week, we could know that the River City Rivalry trophy remains safe at the good end of the Ohio for one more year. One more year. E-mail Pat at pmitsch@gmail.com.