Rites of Autumn

Eight Belles, What a Heart...

We here at RIVALSflag love the ponies, none more than the first Saturday in May from Louisville.  Today we saw maybe the most game effort by a filly we had ever seen up to this point in our racing lives.  Then tragedy struck once again as it did with Barbaro; Eight Belles had no front legs to stand on with the damage so severe that she had to be put down on the track.  I personally shed a tear and had to turn the TV off because the grandchildren were there watching with me.  We had been cheering Big Brown on big time since we had placed a little wager on him but we also were cheering on the big filly, all 17 hands of her.  Then it happened and the mood went from jubilation to one of sadness.  Our best wishes go out to her owners and handlers; going to be a long tough night for them...

Is everything OK at MEECHIGAN...

Four million dollars is a lot of money.  That is what WVU says Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez owes them to satisfy his contractual obligations.  With his first season at Michigan coming up, he (RR) is having to go through depositions in order for legal counsels to prepare for the case.  Am I off base here with my thinking but if I were the Michigan AD I would be talking with RR's legal counsel to see if there was some way to settle this so all of RR's attention could be on the upcoming season and recruiting.  Those of you that have read this blog know that their is a whole lot of admiration for the Wolverine program within this business.  So it pains me to write this.  Is there any buyer's remorse within the administration at A2?  In the overall scheme of things with Michigan football, kicking in a few million to end this ugly mess would seem to be the prudent thing to do.  Do you agree or disagree?  That is unless things are not as they seem on the surface.  I guess time will tell...

RoA