Rich Rod keeps faith, sheds tears
After three autumns of making Michigan football fans cry on most Saturdays, Rich Rodriguez had to fight back tears at the team's banquet on Thursday night.
According to an Associated Press account of the festivities, Rodriguez grew misty-eyed when citing Bible verses and mentioning the Josh Groban song "You Raise Me Up" in talking about the toll the struggles of his job have taken on his family and expressing his faith in the program's direction.
The sappy song then played as Rodriguez, his wife, the athletic director and all the players stood on risers with their hands raised in the air.
The scene sounds almost as disturbing as the 15-21 record Rodriguez has at the school.
The night could have been even more awkward.
Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh was supposed to be in attendance with his teammates from the 1985 squad to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the team that finished No. 2 in the nation.
Harbaugh, who is rumored to be the school's top choice to replace Rodriguez should he be fired, had planned on showing up but decided to schedule a practice back in California.
Michigan still has a bowl game left to play, and it remains to be seen whether it will be the last hurrah for Rodriguez at the helm of college football's most successful program.
One thing is for sure, by crying to a Josh Groban song, Rodriguez has made a nine-loss season two years ago, NCAA sanctions and losing all three games with Ohio State seem like proud moments in his tenure.
■ PRAY BALL -- Much was made of Buffalo Bills wide receiver Steve Johnson apparently blaming God on Twitter after dropping a sure touchdown pass in overtime against Pittsburgh on Sunday.
Ronnie Hastie made fewer headlines for an equally bizarre situation involving his faith.
The running back for Tumwater (Wash.) High School took a knee and pointed toward the heavens after scoring a touchdown in a state semifinal playoff game on Monday night.
He turned around to see a flag thrown against him for unsportsmanlike conduct.
According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, an official informed Hastie that he was not supposed to do anything to draw attention to himself.
Hastie said he has done the same celebration after every touchdown but no longer plans to do so. "I'll have to change it up and not make as big of a statement. The refs are in charge," he said. "I'll just point to the sky once I'm off the field."
■ WHOA, CANADA -- The disappointment of Thursday's World Cup announcement was not limited to England and the United States, nations that lost out to Russia and Qatar to host the soccer event in 2018 and 2022, respectively.
The snubs -- especially the choice of Qatar over the U.S. -- also stunned Canadian basketball star Steve Nash.
"No beer in Qatar? No Canadians going! The bribe must have been large to outbid Budweiser's sponsorship," he tweeted to his more than 286,000 followers.
The Canadian soccer fans' desires likely were not a big part of the decision process. Canada has qualified for the World Cup once and never has won a game at the event.
COMPILED BY ADAM HILL
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
