Thanks for those links Russ-
Since you liked those, here's some blurbs from his dad about how fun it is having your son as QB at Michigan.
Larry Navarre has sat through enough Michigan football games to know it is better to walk around, watch the game on television monitors and listen to his portable radio.
In other words, tune out the rest of the world, because it can be tough in the stands -- home and away -- listening to criticism directed at your son.
Navarre's son, John, is the Wolverines' starting quarterback, a fifth-year senior who has taken his share of biting and, at times, venomous criticism throughout his career.
The kid is too slow. He locks in on receivers. He throws too high. He can't win the big game.
And that's the nice stuff.
Many parents of Michigan players stand out because they proudly wear their sons' jerseys, and many, mostly the mothers, wear buttons with pictures of their football-playing sons.
Larry Navarre wears neither. It is better, he finds, to be incognito when checking into hotel rooms during game weekends, when he looks for his stadium seat and when he is waiting for his son after a game.
"I remember two years ago, I was standing next to a post (at Michigan Stadium), smoking, and this man and his little 9-year-old were standing next to me, and he was saying, 'That Navarre stinks,' " Navarre said.
"I just walked to the next post. Well, he followed me over there. There were some other words he said, and I turned around, looked at him and said, 'How old is your son?' He said, 'Nine years old." And I said, 'Boy, I'm sure you kind of hope he can play for Michigan someday,' and he said that would be a dream come true. I told him, 'You may want to rethink that because some fans are really cruel when they start talking about your kid.' And he looked at me and said, 'You're not John's dad, are you?' I said, 'Yeah, I am.' He said he should probably leave, and I said, 'Yeah, that would be a good idea.' "
AND
Larry Navarre has seen and heard far too much to chalk up what he considers rude and nasty behavior to the college football environment.
Two years ago, he took his 75-year-old mother to a game to watch her grandson.
"There were some mid-20-ish guys there, and they started with the (obscenities) about John," Navarre said.
He leaned over and asked them to watch the language in front of his mother.
"And then 15 minutes later, they're doing it again," he said. "I said, 'Hey, that's enough, guys,' and one said, 'I paid and I can say whatever I want,' and I said, 'No, you can't. This is his grandma, I'm his dad, and I'm not going to tolerate it.' By halftime, they left."
Larry Navarre has taken several of his son's high school friends to games. They always wear Navarre's No. 16 jersey. Almost always, Larry said, he has to restrain his son's friends because they can't stand hearing their friend being ripped so vociferously.
After games, Larry Navarre always can be found outside Michigan's locker room waiting for his son. He walks with John from outside Crisler Arena all the way to the parking lot at Schembechler Hall, a fairly lengthy walk. Navarre admits he is there just in case.
"Win or lose, I'm going to be there," Navarre said. "Part of the reason I'm there is because walking with John through the parking lot can get kind of rough." Some fans shout obscenities even if his son is signing autographs for youngsters.
John Navarre has stopped going downtown after games like the rest of the student body because, his father said, he has been "challenged" too many times. Instead, father and son go back to the hotel, cook out, then call it a night early, and Navarre goes back to his apartment.
Larry Navarre said he has never regretted a day his son has been at Michigan. He has learned not to listen to his son's critics and has learned restraint. After all, what could be worse than reading about the quarterback's father arrested for hitting a fan?
"It's not fun sitting in the stands," Navarre said. "I never thought I would think this way on the debate of college kids being paid. But last year, I thought, if my son can take that type of abuse from fans and media, then he should be paid. People forget, this is college football.
