Well, better late than never.  Four years after I implored Jim Harbaugh to come home, he is finally coming back to Ann Arbor.  Brady Hoke is a good man and a good coach but he was over matched at the highest level of college football.  If there is anyone out there who can revive the storied Michigan program, it is Harbaugh.  It would have been great if Harbaugh had accepted the job four years ago, but in a way it is a blessing in disguise.  For one thing, having coached in the NFL gives him more experience and more credential in recruiting.  If he had taken the job four years ago, he may be restless at Michigan now, wondering about the challenge of the NFL.  Having gotten that out of his system, he may be staying at Michigan for a long time as opposed to jumping to the pros after a few years. So I look forward to a long reign for Harbaugh at Michigan.

Of course fans should not get their hopes up too high in the next few years.  The cupboard is relatively bare as Hoke has not recruited well and the records in the past two years is not going to help.  Add to the great job of MSU in recruiting in the state of Michigan and OSU dominating the state of Ohio, it is going to take at least a couple of years to stockpile enough stars to compete with those two programs.  I see 7-5 next season and 8-4 after that.  Michigan can be competitive for the Big Ten championship in 3 years and maybe win it by the time Harbaugh's first recruiting class are seniors.  I think anything more than that is unrealistic and anything less than that and he would not be worth 8 million per year!

I am not trying to get out of my own predicament or elicit sympathy for being an old man but I made some stupid mistakes in my predictions.  I found the first newspaper where I circled the Big Ten winners that led to a 5-4 prediction.  I has PSU winning originally but had not noticed Illinois playing!  So when I go write my blog I used a different newspaper and I missed the PSU game and couldn't figure out how I came up with 5-4 the first time.  After a while I just decided I must have predicted Illinois winning instead of losing to make it 5-4.  When LBOAYM pointed out that the PSU game was missing, I figured the Big Ten can't possibly win 6 games so I decided to make PSU a loser.  So I should be 4-0 at this point but instead I am 2-2!  Nobody's fault but my own so I will stick with the bad result.  But obviously I am getting old:  not able to count to ten and can't remember what predictions I made in the first place!

Ben Carson apparently is throwing his hat into the ring for president.  So we will have another black Republican candidate in 2016!  Carson is obviously a lot smarter than Herman Cain who ran in 2012.  For one thing he is a retired pediatric neurosurgeon.  But more importantly he is a  U. of Michigan alumnus.  Cain cannot match those credentials.  But like Cain, Carson's candidacy is bound to fail.  For one thing he considered himself an independent until recently even though he worked for Fox News.  He has not held any political office.  In the past he has come out against assault weapons and admitted that affirmative action had helped him.  Those things will be attacked by factions within the party.  It is easy for Republicans to embrace him to make them look more diverse.  It is another thing to embrace him to be their leader.  Carson is capable of doing a lot better than Herman Cain but he will not be the Republican nominee.

Whenever someone mentions about black neurosurgeons, only one other name is mentioned along with Ben Carson.  That is Keith Black.  Interestingly, Black is also a graduate of U. of Michigan Medical School.  He is head of the dept. at UCLA.   While Carson is a perfect example of affirmative action doing good, Keith Black is someone who shoots down the idea that minorities always need affirmative action.  Black made it into Michigan's prestigious 6 year undergraduate/medical school program.  This means he only took 6 years to get his BS and MD which most people take at least 8 years.  You cannot get in if your scores and maturity are not way up there coming out of high school.  So who knows?  Maybe if Carson makes a decent run, he can open the way for another neurosurgeon in politics in the future.

I have a complaint about Steve Nash.  Some people are mad that Nash, having declare himself out for the season, is shown on Instagram hitting a golf ball.  I know that hitting a golf ball is not anywhere the same as playing in an NBA game.  So I don't have problem with that.  But I am disappointed that while he has time to play golf, he has not been showing up at practice and games to support his teammates.  He is still being paid while not playing so at least he can do is contribute SOMETHING to the team.  Young guards like Jeremy Lin and Jordan Clarkson sure can use his teaching.  So how about trying to be the highest paid coach in the NBA for this season, Steve?