What Makes A Michigan Man?

I will forgo the usual crappy artwork tonight to discuss something that might have been on your mind today.

Were you taken aback when Ryan Mallett called himself a Michigan Man? Personally, I found his claim to be unwarranted.

The term "Michigan Man" has been become somewhat of a cliche this year. "Michigan Man" became the phrase du jour during the Harbaugh scandal, and since then, anyone who's anyone seems to want to bestow the term upon themself.

Sure, while Mallett was here, he showed hints of the success he could have had at Michigan, and made positive contributions to the football team on a number of occasions. One can argue that Mallett, even though enrolled for only one and a half years, was a more prominent "Man in Michigan" than the majority of the students and faculty who have been at Michigan for many years.

So this leads me to ask a more important question: "What exactly is a Michigan Man?"

In my opinion, a Michigan Man is one of two things: a person who has graduated from Michigan, or a distinguished non-graduate who has served the University for a substantial period of time and has been been awarded the title by his peers. Mallett is certainly not the former, and I would be hard-pressed to say he's the latter.

Ryan Mallett is a talented man. A confident man. A tall man. But a Michigan Man? That's pushing it.