Heart of the Rivalry: Kalamazoo too cruel by two

Heart of the Rivalry is a Blade-produced YouTube series and podcast available on all major platforms that covers the heart of college football through the sport’s own treasured programs of Ohio State, Michigan, Toledo, and Bowling Green.

The weekly show is led by The Blade’s sports columnist, David Briggs, with co-host/producer Phil Kaplan.

This week, Dave regales us with the gale forces behind the Rockets trip to Kalamazoo. The road loss by 2-point-conversion was so fraught with doom, a biblical storm was going to end the game whether UT won it or lost it. But with a 99.9 per cent win likelihood according to ESPN models when W. Michigan had a 4th-and-10 near the 50 yard line and barely 2 minutes to go, lighting struck. 

It was so bad, Phil wanted to talk baseball or the Browns, where a couple more 99.9 per cent phantoms haunt outcomes. 

And through those diversions, we once again observed the unique prism of fan-hood that makes Toledo such a compelling and confusing sports town, with its split fan bases and split personal allegiances taking up residency in any household. 

All that and more from Heart of the Rivalry, the only show to cover exclusively the rivalry programs of Bowling Green and Toledo, as well as Michigan and Ohio State.