For the last few years, I’ve watched my predecessors write this column and gripe at some time or another about how bad Michigan sports were during their time as the Daily’s SportsMonday columnist.

And in some ways, I sympathize with them. Sports at the University, especially the three major revenue sports — football, basketball and hockey — haven’t lived up to many expectations in my four years in Ann Arbor.

But I’m here to provide a shining ray of hope, a reason to be optimistic, a reason Michigan’s cup is half full. Because nobody likes a downer, right?

So you aren’t happy with the football team’s recent loss at Penn State, I’m guessing. So let’s talk about something else. In case you didn’t know, basketball season starts back up again this weekend!

And I may be going out on a limb here, but I’m going to say that Michigan has a winning record after this weekend. But you never know, those Cardinals from Saginaw Valley State really know how to play ball. If they win, they’ll be the first of the three major sports to finish a week above .500 in three weeks, so that’s good news, right?

That is, of course, only if you count exhibitions as real games. But hey, why not?

The Wolverines should really be able to score this year, now that DeShawn Sims and Manny Harris are gone. Clearly, they just hogged the ball away from the Wolverines’ real scorers, especially in the paint, where the team is loaded with experience in Jordan Morgan, Blake McLimans and Evan Smotrycz — combining for zero starts. But hey, you hear zero starts, I hear fresh legs.

See! Glass half full!

And that’s not even counting Tim Hardaway who might be a little rusty since his time in the NBA but…

Oh, it’s Tim Hardaway Junior you say? Well … umm … like father, like son, right?

Anyway, if you want a little more certainty in your life, I suggest you head down to Yost for a weekend matchup to watch goaltender Bryan Hogan…errr…Shawn Hunwick…errr…someone anchor the Wolverines from between the pipes. Plus, they're guaranteed to win half of the games every weekend, so that's better than watching the football team lately.

Neither of those teams will replace your beloved football team though, will they? Well, I can’t blame you. I have a sweet spot in my heart for watching high-scoring games with no defense, too. It just happens to be a whole lot cheaper to watch myself dominate my friend Coop in NCAA 2011 than pay for student tickets at the Big House. Trust me, I’m pretty wicked on a QB Sweep with Denard.

But I still have hope for the Wolverines. After all, it’s not like their best player gets banged up in every single game, often missing long stretches where Michigan fans are forced to hold their breath and pray.

It’s not like Rodriguez basically admitted his secondary’s incompetence after the Penn State game and justified it because six months ago, half of them were in high school.

And it’s not like the team is looking at a bowl as embarrassing as the Little Caesars Pizza, Pizza Bowl where Marshall beat Ohio in a barnburner last year. Either way, they’ll probably play a MAC team if they make it to Detroit, and that’s always gone well, right? So no need to worry.

See! Put a smile on! All will be well! The grass is always greener!

You know, I don’t know why the guys before me were such downers. This glass half full thing is a piece of cake.

-Kartje drank his half-full glass this weekend in State College. He can be reached rkartje@umich.edu