2024 started out with a bang for University of Michigan football fans as their team won a decisive 34-13 game against the University of Washington. Earlier in the year, Michigan's Head Coach Jim Harbaugh stated that his team was “America’s Team” because of its perseverance through controversy. As a distinguished sports fan living in America myself, I must say I agree with Harbaugh's statement.
Unless you have been living underneath a rock, you will have heard by now the words “Michigan” and “cheaters” used in the same sentence a lot. Earlier in the wee months of September and October 2023, Michigan football came under heavy fire for paying a staff member to travel to Big Ten and other schools' games to record signs.
But what does that mean? Basically speaking, it's pretty easy to ace a test if you know for an entire week what the questions are. Fans of football worldwide looked on in disgust as Michigan did not deny the allegations and fired multiple members of its staff midseason.
The season continued, many other things happened, people were fired, suspensions were doled out and justice was served. Michigan ended up having a good team regardless of cheating and won the national championship.
But one thing really stuck out in my mind.
It was the words Harbaugh uttered Nov. 14, 2023 — that his team was “America's team” because they were “honest” and had persevered as the underdog.
I thought back upon former cheaters in American sports. I reflected on the PED scandals of Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Mark McGwire. I thought about when Tonya Harding requested a knee-whacking on her ice skating opponent and when Bill Belichick videotaped other teams and deflated some balls.
I pondered on the importance that Mike Tyson biting off Evander Holyfield's ear had in the decision of the fight. I remember Richard Nixon spying on the opposing party in the Watergate Scandal. That last debacle has nothing to do with sports, but I think it's still a defining moment that needs to be mentioned.
As Americans, we have a great tendency to think of our nation and what we do as the best of the best. But in reality, we are not the best, as many can attest to, I am sure. As a result, we cheat, to put it plainly. We as a country try to downplay it and force the memories deep down, where we can never think of how such a holy place with righteous people could possibly do something that bad.
But if you look at some of the cheating and scandals listed above, you start to realize that not being able to be honest and pure, but getting your hands dirty and doing whatever it takes to win is what embodies America. It's not just in sports either; you can look at social media groups in the U.S. breaching privacy laws to gain more information or some form of political corruption, from the city council to the White House.
It's this reflection on the numerous cheating scandals in America that truly pushed me to reconfigure John Harbaugh's meaning of America's team. Sure, if you're not affiliated with Michigan at all you probably couldn’t care less that it won the Championship this year, despite the allegations and firings.
You wouldn't root for the Wolverines, cheer them on, or buy into them, and you certainly won't hang a banner or toast them in the New Year. But if you look at what they did, going the extra mile to be proclaimed the best, you can sit back with a sour taste in your mouth and say, “That's America's team.” And you don't have to like it, you just have to live with it.
Drew Haughn is a freshman studying communications at Ohio University. Please note that the opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of The Post. Want to Talk to Drew about his article? Tweet him @haughn_drew24.
