College Football

Brady Hoke befriends young Ohio State fan who nicknamed his cancer 'Michigan'

Hey look, a college football story that makes you feel good, for once!

By Peter Berkes Jul 22, 2013, 8:36pm EDT

It really goes without saying that being associated with cancer is a bad thing. So when we found out young Ohio State fan Grant Reed, who was waging a battle against a brain tumor which he had dubbed "Michigan," there were probably some folks in the Mitten that probably weren't entirely pleased. Obviously, the most important thing is that Reed's cancer has gone into remission, but there were probably some folks who found it in bad taste.

Michigan head coach Brady Hoke, however, was so pleased that Reed was able to "beat Michigan," that he called him and offered him and his family four tickets to this year's Michigan-Ohio State game in Ann Arbor. Hoke previously expressed his pleasure that Reed had "beaten Michigan," and his public showings of support for the fan of a rival team have caused him to grow on the Reeds:

"It's getting hard to keep my dislike for them, because they've been so classy and unbelievable to us." Said Troy [Reed, Grant's father], who played in the OSU marching band along with his wife, Denise.

The Rotary Club of Jackson (Mich.) has offered to cover the family's hotel costs for the game, as well.

This is so great. Rivalries like Michigan-Ohio State have caused a lot of people to say and do some incredibly mean things, so it's really refreshing to see someone with Hoke's status reaching across the aisle with an olive branch, so to speak. What's even better is that a young life that was once in serious danger of being lost is on the road back to health. There's so much more to life than sports, and it's good to be reminded of that once in a while.