Posted on Thu, Jun 17, 2010 : 11:13 a.m.
Rich Rodriguez comforts grieving family
By AnnArbor.com Staff
On April 16, one day before Michigan's spring football game, Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez and his wife, Rita, walked through the hallway of the pediatric intensive care unit at Mott Children's Hopsital visiting sick children along with two U-M players.
Late for practice, he bumped into Jackson resident Dave Page.
The interaction turned into a moment neither will forget, as Rodriguez helped provide Page's dying son with a Michigan football moment.
Angelique S. Chengelis chronicles the chance meeting between coach and grieving family in today's Detroit News.
Comments
gobluemark
Thu, Jun 17, 2010 : 8:36 p.m.
@ robbie Can you please explain to all of us, how are you related to RR? Or is that really you RR?
Yelmonian
Thu, Jun 17, 2010 : 6:41 p.m.
Actually.... it took 1 response. Robbie asked to hear our opinion. Again... I appreciate what RR did. It's good to see stuff like that.
wvtroll
Thu, Jun 17, 2010 : 6:31 p.m.
Whenever someone does something like this, I must offer a "Thank you" for spreading a little warmth and making the world a nicer place. There are some nice trolls out here as well, I see, based on what some of us have written about the gesture.
Robbie Webb
Thu, Jun 17, 2010 : 5:32 p.m.
That loss to Toledo was less embarrassing than to App. State, which was Carr's team. And that was due to injuries to guys like Hart and Henne who still played and still lost, despite having experience on both sides of the ball. So if a couple key injuries had an affect to where we lost to App. State, I don't understand why people are shocked we have struggled when we had key injuries amongst other things like youth, no depth, and little veteran leadership. Carr's last team had the depth, experience, and was healthy later on in the year, which is why we beat Florida.
Yelmonian
Thu, Jun 17, 2010 : 5:26 p.m.
Robbie Ruin verb (used with object) 10. to reduce to ruin; devastate. 11. to bring (a person, company, etc.) to financial ruin; bankrupt. 12. to injure (a thing) irretrievably. I think devestate could be used appropriately. First loss to a MAC school. First time on probabtion. First time with a big ten losing season. Not sure any of those things are retrieavable. So... ruining could be considered appropriate. But the article is about what good RR has done. Again, for that... I think RR should be commended. It is nice to see an article that shows the positive sides of today's coaches/athletes/celebraties/etc.
Robbie Webb
Thu, Jun 17, 2010 : 5:16 p.m.
Ruining Michigan football? I think you're confused.
Lokalisierung
Thu, Jun 17, 2010 : 5:08 p.m.
He should try comforting his grieving winning percentage.
Sean T.
Thu, Jun 17, 2010 : 1:49 p.m.
I agree with the few who think this is a classy thing to do despite loathing the RR coaching experience.
NoBowl4Blue
Thu, Jun 17, 2010 : 1:21 p.m.
Never liked Rich Rod and truly believe he was and is a big mistake for Michigan. That being said I respect him for what he did for this family.
Yelmonian
Thu, Jun 17, 2010 : 1:11 p.m.
Robbie/Tater... anytime someone goes out of their way to do something nice, I believe they deserve a kudos. Good job RR. But... I'm still going to say... RR is not the right coach for UM! Him visiting a dying child does not make him a better coach. But again, on taking the time to visit this individual... very nice job, and it's good to hear about things like this.
2000Blue
Thu, Jun 17, 2010 : 1:11 p.m.
Nice job AA.com folks. I salute you!
LRTROJAN
Thu, Jun 17, 2010 : 12:38 p.m.
As a parent of a child who spent a week in a NICU I lost it when I read this story. Any parents out there will agree with me. There is nothing worse than the idea of having to see your child for the last time. It is our worst nightmare. Words cannot express how I feel for this family and their loss. RR did a great thing for this family and it needs to be left at that. Lets applaud RR and his players for what they do at this hospital. There will be plenty of time in the months ahead to discuss the last two years, his record and the future. But now is not the time and this is not the place. Instead our thoughts and prayers should be with this family.
friend12
Thu, Jun 17, 2010 : 11:37 a.m.
You may hate or love RR, but, this was a class act thing to do. I slute RR.
Robbie Webb
Thu, Jun 17, 2010 : 10:31 a.m.
Great article! Where are all the Rich Rod haters that says he's a bad guy? Everyone makes mistakes, and those who work at Michigan are no exception. Rich Rodriguez is in no shape, way, or form a bad guy. And this article is a great example of that.