Michigan and Notre Dame football are both pathetic, but at least Wolverine State has great golf

I’ve been saying since January that I don’t care if the University of Michigan football goes 1-11 this year, as long as that one “W” is finally vs. Ohio State.

I didn’t know that was a real possibility.

As we await Saturday’s marquee Tickle Fight between 0-2 laughing stocks Michigan and Notre Dame, this could be the first year Michigan doesn’t have a winning record in a long, long time.

At least Michigan isn’t to the sad level of Notre Dame yet. They dumped a good coach in Tyrone Willingham in favor of immediate results from a video-taping sidelines cheater: former New England offensive coordinator Charlie Weis. This begs the question: if former Notre Dame hire George O’Leary resigned five days after a resume discrepancy, shouldn’t Weis give back his $10 million contract extension since he surely cheated his way to three Super Bowls?

It pains me to say that, considering former golfing partner of mine Tom Brady was at the helm. But their dynasty just isn’t as remarkable anymore.

By the way, head over to Chris Baldwin’s blog to check out some delusional Domer faithfuls whose ignorance have become the butt end of many sports blogs jokes.

Notre Dame has been the court jester of big-time football programs for years, but Michigan fans on the other hand aren’t used to losing at this pace.

One of my buddies from Michigan IMs me about every five minutes with some new blog ripping Lloyd Carr - or a photo of UM footballers in diapers, or the little Indian kid dancing on YouTube (never gets old). His IM away message even has a running countdown in days to opening day of Michigan’s 2008 season.

Whenever I’m at the office, our secretary from Lansing talks some smack to me the second I walk in the door. At lunch a few days ago, I nearly dumped a bowl of salsa on one of our programmers who brought the Appalachian State game up with a cheesy grin.

With the Detroit Tigers falling behind in the pennant race and the eventual Lions implosion around the corner, the only redeeming aspect to Michigan sports right now is our 800-plus golf courses. Many are still better and cheaper than practically anywhere in the world. And September is the last real good month to soak it all in before the weather gets spotty.

Check out this feature on the best of the best in Northern Michigan, or head over to MichiganGolf.com for more photos and course reviews.

Here’s a few recent courses I played I was very impressed with: Tullymore, Cedar River, Bay Harbor, Belvedere, Ross Memorial at Boyne Highlands.

If you’re an Ohio State fan heading to Ann Arbor this weekend to bask in Michigan and Notre Dame fans’ grief, I don’t blame you. But you’ll want to golf a little too. Eagle Crest, Pierce Lake and Leslie Park are some of my favorites around my home town.

So go ahead and pile on Michigan fans everyone, but remember us Michiganders usually pay about $50 to play a better golf course than the $100 offerings in most parts of the world.

You can knock UM football, but not northern Michigan courses like Hawk’s Eye.