Non-Big Ten country prefers Michigan over Ohio State...

Funny/good letter to Brady Hoke from a writer over at Grantland:

Coach Hoke,

Everyone down (or over) here in non–Big Ten country is rooting for you. Hope you're not unaware — like that singer Rodriguez who was adored in South Africa for 20 years without ever knowing it — that all us fans of no particular Midwest affiliation prefer Michigan to Ohio State. And we finally have a reason to believe equity is in the offing again for one of college football's premier rivalries. These things are relative, but between your school and Ohio State, yours is the institution of higher learning and theirs the football factory. RichRod left a stain or two, but still you have the moral high ground — even as Urban Meyer begins bleaching away the tattoos of misconduct in Columbus.

And to a degree, it's you personally, Coach Hoke, who's getting us disinterested parties interested. You don't seem like a CEO! You don't seem canned or steamed or in any way slimy or limp. You are a CEO, because it's required for success, but you don't seem like one. You seem like a tough-love hombre with an indifferent haircut and a big gut who's registered 150 tackles his senior year at Ball State, an honorable ruffian of instinctual intelligence — the type that can, on contact, make a bunch of 19-year-olds tougher. And perhaps your no-nonsense selfdom is as winning up close as from afar, because in the living rooms with the 4-stars' families, you're lights-out. You got this recruiting thing form-tackled, Coach. Last year, you ran neck and neck with Meyer, but ample "yeah, buts" were in place. Meyer hadn't the benefit of a full cycle to work with. Meyer had NCAA drama dragging against him. Meyer was trying to prove to his family that he wasn't going to be a workaholic.

Well, Coach, have you checked the services regarding your 2013 class? You haven't? No one told you how well you're doing? That surprises me. Well, let me be the first. You're ahead of Urban in all of the big three. Scout even has your class número uno. Rivals ranks you no. 2 and Ohio State 10.2 "Back," in the long term, means not playing second tuba to the Buckeyes, and you just may have the Wolverines "back." Even the prospect of losing Denard Robinson after this season — a glum one for all non–Big Ten football fans — isn't so unnerving when you've got Devin Gardner to bridge the gap between Shoelace and super-recruit Shane Morris.

We all prefer for the Big Ten to be strong, and the only sustainable and transferable Big Ten strength is the UM–Ohio State rivalry. Penn State is gone for now, but Nebraska picks up that slack. Michigan State and Wisconsin are solid, but if they're winning the conference (as they have been), then the conference isn't going to national championship games. Soon there will be four invitations per year, and we'll be rooting for you to get a couple of them during your tenure, Coach Hoke.

Go Blue!

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8294092/college-football-preview-kansas-state-collin-klein-michigan-coach-brady-hoke-four-team-playoff-system

Admin wrote:

... And perhaps your no-nonsense selfdom is as winning up close as from afar, because in the living rooms with the 4-stars' families, you're lights-out. You got this recruiting thing form-tackled, Coach. ...

that says it all.

It's pretty well-written, no doubt.

I'd be curious to know where the writer went to school, too.