Anti-Climacus

Jim Harbaugh to Michigan

Fulfilling Michigan's own most inflated conception of itself: an alumnus who has enjoyed incredible professional success leaves what is widely considered to be the peak of his field to return to his alma mater for less money than he would have gotten elsewhere. The hiring rather changes the narrative about Michigan and its success in creating football coaches: there is every reason to believe that Harbaugh and LSU's Les Miles would have accepted any serious offer from Michigan to return home, possibly any offer, period.
The hiring also exposed (again) the significant different between college sports fans, professional sports fans, and those uninterested in sports. Michigan creates tremendous alumni loyalty by making itself into a distinct identity in spite of the large number of students, and the football team is one of the most important parts of that identity. I love living in North Carolina, and cannot really picture leaving, but for a good job offer in Ann Arbor, I might well do so.

FC Barcelona 0-1 Real Sociedad

I watched through the Jordi Alba own goal, and then realized the same thing all the other Barça fans had realized: this team is a mess, and it's the manager's fault. Desperation is built in to football: all the games count and all the goals count because one can never quite predict what the rest of the league will do, and this accounts for the tension that ratchets itself up throughout every game that's not Brazil-Germany at the past World Cup. Desperation that shows up earlier than that, earlier than, say, the 60th minute, is bad. Luis Enrique put out a bad starting XI, mismatched in such a way that all the needed players could not be added later, they made one mistake early on, and every move after that reeked of panic. Add to this the increasingly loud reports that Enrique is fighting with Messi and Neymar--and that their benching was a punishment for questioning his authority--and everything looks a mess.

Tottenham Hotspur 5-3 Chelsea

The flip side of Barça is Spurs, who are coming together at the right moment. Sports is about schadenfreude as much as loyalty to one's team, and in the Premier League there is no joy to be had that surpasses Chelsea losing, except perhaps the attendant thrill of Jose Mourinho losing. When it's your team that does it, it's even better. Spurs always lose to Chelsea, pulling a win in four or five of the last 40 meetings. Nor was it a fluke: Spurs were the better team, building the attack through strong midfield play (I even saw some tiki-taka make an appearance as they drew Chelsea out of defensive shape), and Harry Kane continued to prove that he can do whatever he wants. There's a plan, the team is excited, and they're rounding into form at just the right time.