Michigan wrapping up another trip abroad
PARIS — Michigan’s football team gathered for a group shot atop Pont des Arts overlooking the Seine River after witnessing history in Normandy and getting an up-close look at art in the Louvre.
Jim Harbaugh took his team back to Europe. His players left with memories they’ll never forget. Again.
While standing under the Eiffel Tower, Harbaugh relayed something Josh Selzer, father of tight end Carter Selzer, shared.
“He said, ‘30 years from now you (might not) remember some games you won or lost but you’ll remember being in Paris with your buddies,’ ” Harbaugh recalled Selzer saying. “I think I’ll remember them all. The wins. I’ll remember the losses. There will be some I’d like to forget, but I think he’s right.”
A year after making a trip to Rome , Harbaugh and the Wolverines continued what he insists will be an annual tradition of making a spring trip abroad as a way to expand his team’s worldview. This year’s trip to France was once again funded by Michigan donors.
Harbaugh said Michigan alums Bobby Kotick and Don Graham funded the team’s trip this year and Kotick paid for the visit to Italy. The coach said Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, is willing to fund these trips as long as Harbaugh wants to do them. With the Paris trip set to conclude Thursday, Harbaugh already has a list of possible destinations planned for next year: South Africa, Greece, Spain and Cuba.
“These trips kind of (have) to do with the reflection of why we came to (college) in the first place,” Michigan defensive end Chase Winovich said. “To be well-rounded human beings and the best possible people we can be. Those aspects will carry over for us later in life.”
Michigan’s seven-day trip to Paris didn’t feature any football because the Wolverines wrapped up spring ball last week. But the visit did begin with some notable football news because junior quarterback Shea Patterson was officially declared eligible for the 2018 season by the NCAA on Friday, getting a waiver to play this fall after transferring from Ole Miss.