Open Letter to Jim Hermann, Defensive Coordinator for the University of Michigan Football Team, from A Concerned Fan.

Dear Jim (can I call you Jim? Lord knows I've called you lots worse this season. I've been known to associate you with trucking--mea culpa--if you catch my drift):

There is a story, quite possibly apocryphal, about the Beatles meeting with a record company executive in 1962. Reportedly, after hearing the group's material, he said that the company would not sign them because "Groups with guitars are on the way out." Bad call as it turned out, I think you'd agree.

Watching the struggles of the Michigan defense since the semi-glory year of 1997 smacks of the same miscalculating mindset.

Mobile quarterbacks are not a "fad" or "gimmick." Purdue's offense is a gimmick. Signal callers with 4.4 speed are not. The miserable failure of the Michigan defense to even remotely contain such men over the past eight years has repeatedly led to bitter failure, and threatens to make the block "M" stand for "mediocre" again. Donovan McNabb? Vince Jones? Zak freakin' Kustok? Every one of these guys has destroyed seasons, simply because the defense never, ever has an answer. Never has the ability to make the game-saving stop. Never. EVER.

You might want to think about doing something about that some time.

Before I die, preferably.

Warmest regards,

Dale Price