The Miracle in Ann Arbor

This morning, during the announcements before Mass, our priest, Father Steve, made the following announcement:

"In honor of yesterday's Miracle in Ann Arbor, all Catholic priests around the world will be wearing Green and White vestments today."

(It was a joke, right?  See, according to the Liturgical Calendar, this is 'Ordinary Time' - which covers something like 33 weeks of the year, and during Ordinary Time, vestments and altar coverings are green; I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with yesterday's events in Ann Arbor, no matter how miraculous.) (Pretty sure. . .)

But. . . Hoe. . . Lee. . . Crapp. . . It WAS kinda miraculous.  At least, if you're a Spartan like me.  Folks from our Sister Institution down the road might see it in more nightmarish terms. . .

I won't spend much time rehashing the final play of the game; you can go here to see it.  Suffice it to say that we were 10 seconds away from losing to our hated rivals, but. . . a miracle happened, and we beat them for the 7th time in the last 8 times we've played.  As to the play itself, everything had to happen just as it did, or we don't win the game.  If any single thing went differently, we lose (as the final play was being lined up, The ESPN Win Probability Tracker had our odds of winning at 0.02% - 1 in 5000).  And this wasn't a last-second trick play, or anything that the Spartans planned or designed; it was a pure, gratuitous gift from (I'm tempted to say Heaven; I don't really like references to 'the football gods'). . . well, it was a gift.  

I feel for the Michigan punter, I really do.  He'll take way more crap than he deserves over it (in fact, the Facebook/Twitter trolls have already been pretty vicious toward the kid, which is reprehensible in the extreme).  The fact is, it was a classic game between two pretty darn good teams; a great game (say it with me) if you didn't care who won.  But I did care, and so did a whole lot of people in my state, which only added to the intensity.

I will take the win, and the year's worth of alumni/institutional bragging rights.  But I know (and I want you all to know that I know) that there is NO ultimate significance inhering to this football game.  Good and Evil aren't at stake (well, maybe just a little bit) (I'm kidding!!), and nobody (I hope) is going to Heaven or Hell over the outcome (there were reports of a fan being taken from the stadium after the game, having suffered an apparent heart attack; no reports on whether his soul was in a state of grace or not).

But yeah, I'll take it. . . Oh, yeah, I'll definitely take it. . .