Why Michigan should embrace sign-stealing villain role - ESPN

There has to be a bad guy.

All right, that's not true. There doesn't have to be a bad guy. There is no rule that states the necessity of a heel. No statute that specifies the presence of a widely despised, shadowy, black-hatted figure who dominates the mood of the room. No understood agreement requiring the existence of someone or something toward whom a large percentage of an audience can hurl a chorus of boos.

But, man, the world sure is a lot more fun when there is one. Darth Vader, Thanos, The Joker, Norman Bates, the Wicked Witch of the West, that wizard with no nose whose name Harry Potter wasn't supposed to say aloud, and now, the 2023 Michigan Wolverines.

«I know there's a lot of noise going on the outside of the building,» Wolverines offensive lineman Zak Zinter said Monday. «Haven't really paid too, too much attention to it. But I mean if someone thinks we're the villain, I mean, I'm fine being the villain.

»You know, sometimes the villain wins and takes down the superhero. So, if that's got to be the case, let's be the villain and let's take them down. I'm fine with being the villain if that's how the media and everyone else sees it outside the building."

Good thing. Because to those outside of Ann Arbor, that's what they have become. Thanks to an ongoing investigation into whether or not a (now former) Michigan staffer blatantly broke a bunch of rules, statutes and understood agreements that college football teams aren't supposed to do any in-person scouting of opponents. Given that in the grand scheme of college football scandals, this is relatively harmless (and extremely funny), the Wolverines should welcome the hate from rivals and embrace their new role as villains.

For anyone who has been asleep the