Dispatch
Bob Hunter commentary: Rodriguez speech ruckus helps rekindle rivalry
Monday, February 18, 2008 3:09 AM
By
Bob Hunter
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
TONY DING | ASSOCIATED PRESS
Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez, addressing the crowd in Crisler Arena while wife Rita and son Rhett look on, didn't go so far as to promise a victory over Ohio State.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- This was it. This was Rich Rodriguez's chance to one-up that villainous Jim Tressel, to go him one better before his Michigan football team has played its first game. Everybody remembers when the new Ohio State coach took the microphone at halftime of an
OSU-Michigan basketball game in 2001 and assured fans he would make them "proud" of his team "310 days from now in Ann Arbor."
Well, here it was. A new Michigan football coach being introduced at halftime of another
OSU game, this time to the crowd in Crisler Arena. Rodriguez getting the chance to assure the Michigan faithful that his Wolverines were finally going to make someone besides their moms proud of them in the big game.
The place went crazy as Rodriguez began to speak, just as it did for Tressel that day in Columbus. "I really want to thank everybody here for welcoming my family ?"
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