Believe

No, I'm not dealing with it anymore.

It's not happening again.

I'm tired of feeling like Charlie Brown trying to kick field goals.

I'm not going to be bitter, or cynical or fear that the other shoe is about to fall. I'm not going to assume the worst, or worry about the outcome, or the past.

I'm tired of listening to the pessimism, sick of hearing that we have no chance to win. I'm done with Tressel and with losing to those bastards from down south.

I'm not going to talk about the past anymore, because it's not relevant to the Game. For me, Saturday is the beginning and the end of the 2007 football season. Nothing else matters.

The Wolverines will beat Ohio State. I know because I have to, because they have to. I refuse to believe in a world where Mike Hart will never beat them, where my most hated enemy always comes out victorious. So, I'm going to believe, no matter what the odds. I'm going to put my faith on those players making another miracle happen, of them finally coming out on top when it really matters. I'm going to believe in Henne, Long, Manningham and Crable, that they will go out on top, that they'll go out smelling like roses. I'm going to believe and know that come Saturday night, I will be in Ann Arbor celebrating. I'm not listening to any other opinions. I'm just going to sit here believing, because I have to. I have nothing else left, and there is nothing else that I know how to do.

Come Saturday, the field of the Big House will be flooded with maize and blue, and I'll watch as Mike Hart hops about with a rose, just like Charles Woodson. I'll be in the stands, jumping up and down and screaming with pure, unadulterated joy, even though I'm sure my voice will already be gone by then.

Overly optimistic?

In denial?

Completely insane?

I don't care.

I'm done whining and complaining and thinking about what might have been, and having to listen to others who are. I'm done living in the past. I know that come Saturday, we will be Big Ten Champions, we will be headed to Pasadena and we will have our place in the sun.

Isn't it time that we all just stop the endless analyzing and worrying? It's not going to do us any good in the end. We can't shield our emotions or soften the blow of defeat by lowering expectations, and why would we want to? The only way I know how to truly love something is to open myself up completely and risk that raw, stinging pain of loss. There is no other way.

So, because I'm a Wolverine through and through, and because I have know of no other reaction to all of this, I'm laying it all on the line. I'm going to just live, react and yell until I cannot hear myself think anymore. I'm just going to believe.

Hail to the Victors!