The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: Go Blue!

Team 144, Game 1: Michigan v. East Carolina
The University of Michigan Marching Band, "Entry Cadence" from Forever Valiant (Mike Papa Wolverine)

Commentary: This is an exceedingly strange season opener. Reason the first: Coach Harbaugh will not be on the sidelines, due to a self-imposed three-game suspension in response to a capricious N.C.A.A. investigation into recruiting violations. He's still the head coach throughout the week, just not during the games. A rotating cast of assistant coaches will act as head coach during the three non-conference games of Harbaugh's suspension.

Reason the second: The game is not being televised; instead, the valiant Wolverines' tilt against the epithetless Pirates of East Carolina will only be available on the glitchy Peacock streaming service. I will not sign up for Peacock. Instead, I will listen to the radio broadcast.

Reason the third: This is the final season before fully one-third of the schools in the ancient enemy, the Pac-12, join the B1G—U.S.C., U.C.L.A., Washington, & Oregon. This I cannot abide. I give myself a pass for not objecting to Penn State becoming the eleventh member of the Big Ten in 1990; I was a child, after all. I grumbled than Nebraska was admitted in 2011, but I let it go because as much as I loathe the conniving Cornhuskers, at least Nebraska is a Midwestern state. I was livid when Maryland & Rutgers were admitted in 2014, both states having Atlantic coastlines & being not even remotely Midwestern. But ultimately I acquiesed, even though I still grouse about the valiant Wolverines facing classic foes like Minnesota & Illinois only once in a blue Moon, yet playing the State University of New Jersey each & every year. But admitting the heart of the old Pacific Coast Conference into the B1G? California, Oregaon, & Washington are Pacific coastal states, without even the geographic contiguity that serves as a fig leaf for Nebraska, Maryland, & New Jersey. That is a bridge too far.

There is no reason to believe that this is where the conference realignment madness will end, either. It is the end of college sports as we know it. I have zero interest in hanging around for that chaotic & nihilistic future.

But next year's troubles will wait for next year, should the world persist. For now, it's time to listen to the valiant Wolverines take on the epithetless Pirates.

Go Blue!