When Maximus Speaks, Michigan Beats A Crappy Team. When Bob Costas Speaks, 'Cuse Beats A 37 Point Favorite

Sure Russell Crowe has had some pretty cool lines in his day with all that Gladiator crap and whatnot. And I'm not even going to suggest that he couldn't get a group of football players fired up before a big game, but the fact that he gave a pre-game speech before Michigan defeated Notre Dame doesn't really solidify his perceived effectiveness as a great pre-game speaker in my mind. It's like crediting Columbus' battle strategy for defeating the native islanders after the small pox epidemic killed everyone. Michigan was going to win anyway. But when one of your most famous alums stops by before a game that no one expects you to win and gives a rousing speech to the team in the week preceding the game and THEN that underdog team comes in and blows the doors off of that favored team in their home stadium.... now THAT is a pre-game speech. And apparently that's what happened with the Syracuse football team thanks to the verbal stylings of one Bob Costas.

According to Syracuse.com (The Axeman), Costas stopped by the Syracuse team this week and gave a well-received talking-to. There's no transcript of what was said but it must've been something pretty great. Given the success of the speech from the 5'7" journalist, we hear that next week they're gonna call in Mike Lupica.