Jim Harbaugh losing moral superiority, but not the core of Michigan football fan base

I would like to take this opportunity to apologize, because I’m guilty.

See? Was that so hard, Jim Harbaugh?

I am guilty of thoroughly enjoying the latest episode of the long-running hit soap opera “Days of Coach Harbaugh’s Lives,” which stars a well-meaning but misunderstood hero who must battle sinister forces from a nearby town that bears a green-and-white flag.

In the latest installment of our drama, Coach Harbaugh got pinched, and pinched hard, for purposely misleading NCAA investigators over middling offenses. Harbaugh has denied that he was purposely misleading.

To which the entirety of Michigan State’s fans responded by pulling out their knives and forks — but especially the knives — and preparing for the feast of raw meat laid before them.

Michigan roasting on a spit. Harbaugh in a pot of boiling water that he voluntarily fired up and jumped into. It’s about the best thing you can serve to an MSU fan base that’s starving to look anywhere but at its own struggling program.

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“All of a sudden....the soft sparty's (sic) have morals,” one reader commented on the Free Press’ initial report of Harbaugh’s four-game suspension.

“Meanwhile um has none,” another reader responded.

These were among nearly 500 comments on the article. I’ll let you in on a little trade secret for context. If an article on Freep.com gets 50 comments, it’s a lot. A hundred and there’s some serious stuff going on. Two hundred and the sun might be exploding. Four hundred and the massive meteor we all know is coming is about to hit Earth.

On and on the comments went. Dodge and parry. Stick and jab. Sharks vs. Jets. Montagues vs. Capulets. Sean Payton vs. Nathaniel Hackett.

I couldn’t get enough. This wasn’t about reveling in Michigan’s pain. It was about a thorough appreciation for the lifeblood of a magnificent rivalry that pumps through every Michigan and Michigan State fan’s arteries as though it was actual plasma, platelets and cells.

Anyone who can’t appreciate the passion, and even the venom, that inspire these comments probably needs a tummy rub, a juice box and a pacifier. This is sports, and the height of sports at that with all the raw emotions laid bare that underscore why we care so much about our teams and, honestly, our rivals. Because we can all come together when it really matters. Look no further than the outpouring of compassion on U-M’s campus after the tragic shooting on MSU’s campus.

Harbaugh’s predicament certainly serves as grist for the trash-talking mill and you can already imagine Spartans fans devising clever made-for-TV signs. Perhaps a mannequin with his khaki pants on fire.

Fun. But not fraught with danger. What is dangerous for Harbaugh are the unspoken comments by the people who play a part in deciding his future: powerful alumni and donors. I imagine they are sitting in their home libraries surrounded by many leather-bound books while they hold a snifter of brandy and mutter to themselves: “Flub the dub! Poor form, old boy, poor form!”

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Presently, Harbaugh has unlimited runway to make mistakes. He’s done so much winning the past two years that it feels like he’s untouchable and that missing the first four games of the season is nothing more than a minor speedbump for the program.

But this actually could have been a fire-worthy offense if Harbaugh wasn’t winning as much and especially if he hadn't beat Ohio State the last two years, because the thing powerful alums and donors hate is to be embarrassed by the person who represents them and their precious university.

That’s why the most meaningful part of Harbaugh’s very brief, side-stepping statement Thursday at Big Ten media days in Indianapolis was this: “I'd love to lay it all out there. Nothing to be ashamed of. But now is not that time.”

Sorry, coach, but you’re not the one who decides what’s shameful in this case. That would be the powerful donors, alums and Santa Ono, the school president who works symbiotically with Harbaugh (or whoever the football coach is) to ensure the two precious E’s: enrollment and endowment. Just ask U-M Flint’s outgoing chancellor.

Reputation matters. And in one, at best, careless action, or at worst a needlessly stubborn decision, Harbaugh sacrificed some of his and that of his program and his school’s. Because he has maintained during his tenure that he has been a righteous rule-follower, even while telling author John U. Bacon that it’s “hard to beat the cheaters.”

In one fell swoop, Harbaugh lost any moral superiority he ever thought he had. It’s never the crime, it’s the cover-up. Show enough contrition, and people will forgive just about anything. Lie and they’ll bury you good and deep.

And they’ll probably have something to say about it in the comment section.

Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jim Harbaugh losing moral superiority, but not Michigan football base