As a 49er fan I obviously have some feelings about Harbaugh singing in San Francisco. I want him! Not only b/c I think he has the balls to change the losing mentality down in Santa Clara and because he is a football guru who makes Jon Gruden look like a slacker when it comes to football film study, but because I like him. The fact that he met with Jed for five hours the other day without falling asleep is quite impressive. I find it fascinating that sports talk Todd's across the country are up in arms with the idea that a guy would return to coach the college game instead of bolt for the national football league and all it's perks. Is it that shocking? That a guy would return to a first class institution to finish what he started? Is it that ridiculous to think that he went on a few dates with two terrible franchises and didn't get sex on the first date? I don't think it's ridiculous. I think people are not giving Stanford enough credit. Let's get real. Stanford has billions of dollars and plenty of smart people running the show that know when to hold em and when to fold em. It feels like a breath of fresh air to see a guy return to a college program, where he took over a group that really sucked in football and turned them around in a very short period of time. He took over when they were 1-10 and just capped off their best season in school history with an absolute beat down of a very good Virginia Tech program. I like the move and give him a ton of credit for taking that path less traveled.
When I heard that Andrew Luck was returning to Stanford I wasn't shocked, I wasn't butt hurt and I wasn't thinking that he just took a match to his mega millions winning lottery ticket. For those of you who think he's an idiot for passing up $60 million, allow me to break it down in a way that you won't hear on Jim Rome, Collin Cowherd and JT the Dick.
Andrew Luck didn't apply to Middle Tennessee St he didn't apply to Auburn and he didn't apply to Chico St. He applied to Stanford University. He was accepted at Stanford University not simply b/c he can throw a football but b/c he is a very smart kid. Now, he has an opportunity to continue being a student, play football with his buds and graduate from one of the top institutions on the planet and then go get paid. He also took a good look at the reality of playing for the Carolina Panthers and a franchise that is circling the drain faster than even my 49ers are. Then there is this little issue called a pending work stoppage in the NFL which can create tons of problems for anyone who enters the draft in 2011. Yeah, he is leaving a ton of cash on the table to head back to school and that's clearly not as important to Andrew Luck as it is to Cam Newton and his family of misfits. Andrew Luck's family is clearly in a different financial situation than Cam Newton b/c the last I checked, Oliver Luck, Andrew's father, wasn't shopping his kid around to the highest bidder before they decided which college to attend.
I say good for you kid. You can play pro football next season or the season after, but you can't relive your college years. How many of us would pay good money right now to head back to school and focus our energy on what party to attend tonight instead of staring at spreadsheets or doing manual labor? I sure would and I would definitely love every moment of it, as Andrew Luck is about to in 2011.
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