It depends on where you look, writes sportswriter John U. Bacon, ’86/’94, in this excerpt from his new book, ‘Overtime.’ The author examines Jim Harbaugh’s impact on Michigan football as an athlete and a coach.

Before and after the turn of the 20th century, spring in Ann Arbor brought parades, circuses, and attendant student mischief – including an elephant stampede set off by hooligans tossing firecrackers.

Though lauded as one of the most influential presidents ever to helm U-M, James B. Angell was not keen on Michigan at first. It took two years, three offers, and a barrage of letters, telegrams, queries, and concessions to lure the beloved ‘Prexy’ to Ann Arbor.

The first and arguably greatest American novel about a scientist — Sinclair Lewis’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Arrowsmith — never could have been written without the real-life character Lewis found at U-M. But the writer never delivered the credit he promised.

Handwritten letters between the greatest Detroit Tiger of all time and his physician, U-M Regent Charles S. Kennedy, reveals a kinder, gentler Cobb than common lore dictates.

From the 1920s through the ’70s, U-M offered a green sanctuary northwest of Ann Arbor as a retreat for kids in need of special attention.

Just before he died at 42, the King rocked Crisler Arena in a slightly strange and thoroughly unforgettable concert.

The man who endowed the University’s gothic, architectural masterpiece vowed never to lay eyes on it. He feared he would be disappointed.

The esteemed athlete’s story is all about faith and love, says mgoblue.com’s Steve Kornacki. In 1968, Freehan, ’66, helped Detroit win the World Series; today he is battling Alzheimer’s.