It is not possible to get 50,000 people to agree on a lot these days. 50,000 people went silent after a beloved Michigan football player collapsed on the sideline.
They agreed to show respect but also to show solidarity about what matters in life. It's a phrase we toss around a lot, but don't see its live-action reality enough.
It wasn't necessary for Mike Hart to fall to the ground in the second quarter of a college football game to remind us that we have more in common than we think.
Hart did. The kind of grace that we take for granted should not be taken for granted.
The Michigan football team will get a true test after beating Indiana.
Mike Hart suffered a seizure and was taken to the hospital.
Harbaugh said that it can put things in perspective.
He was talking about Hart's collapse, and the 10 or so minutes that he lay on the turf as medical folks tended to him, as staff held towels to give him the slimmest of privacy.
Harbaugh said, "For a moment." He is correct. Even if the phrase sometimes loses its meaning and becomes a thing people say because they don't know what to say, moments like this do put things in perspective.
Harbaugh has never been in a situation like that before. He has never had to go into a locker room at halftime to figure out how to get the best out of his team, a team that wasn't playing as well as it should've been.
J.J. McCarthy told him to be in shock.
He and the rest of the team were shocked. Harbaugh was able to relay a message from Hart to the team that he was stable, because Harbaugh had contact with him during the second half.
He knew he would want the running backs to do things.
When he met with reporters after the game, Corum was a little shaky, but he was asked about his coach collapsing.
He said that it was one of those things he didn't want to see. I don't know how to answer your question right now because of the relationship I have for Coach Hart.
The running backs were caught crying as Hart was carted off. The coaches hugged them and patted them on the back.
Corum said it was much bigger than football.
The shock made him run a bit differently. Why wouldn't that happen?
His feet were heavier and his vision wasn't as sharp.
He said it was hard. We didn't fall apart.
He and the offense came back in the second half. The defense kept the Hoosiers out. Both teams played as well as they have all year.
Corum said that they knew they weren't playing as a team.
The drop in focus was caused by the fact that the game was already out of reach. Part of Indiana's strategy was to stack the line of scrimmage and make McCarthy throw the ball.
Part of that was watching Hart struggle and not knowing why.
"I think it's spooky," saidRonnie Bell.
It's also scary.
If everything goes well, Hart was going to go back to Ann arbor on Sunday.
Harbaugh said that Mike is a strong man.
During his time as a coach at Indiana, he was loved as much as he was when he was a player. A group of staff members walked over to shout encouragement.
The tears in Corum's and Edwards' eyes testify to the connection he has built since he arrived back in Ann arbor. It was difficult to not think of the worst.
The running backs fell back on the preparation he had given them and the rest of the team gave everything they had.
Harbaugh said that he was very close to him.
The 50,000 mostly strangers who were in the stands. We do it. Even though it is easy to forget, we can still do something.
A coach went down and the stadium was silent.
Shawn Windsor can be reached at swindsor@free press.com. You can follow him on the social networking site.
The article was originally published on Detroit Free Press.
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