Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh told his former quarterback Wilton Speight not to eat chicken because 'it's a nervous bird'.

Chickens ARE nervous, but does that mean you shouldn't eat them? Let's break it down like they do on the sports talk shows.

In a pre-season look at Michigan's new transfer quarterback Shea Patterson, Bleacher Report told a story of Speight being told not to eat chicken by Harbaugh, because it's a white meat:

How do you explain the Harbaugh Experience? Former Michigan (and current UCLA) quarterback Wilton Speight tells a story to sum it up nicely. Early in his Michigan tenure, Harbaugh pulled Speight aside and told him not to eat chicken, a protein that is considered fairly safe by nutritionists. When Speight asked why, Harbaugh said, "because it's a nervous bird."

 

"He thinks some type of sickness injected its way into the human population when people began eating white meats instead of beef and pork," Speight says. "And he believes it, 100 percent."

Okay, that's a strong opinion, but is there any validity to it? What's the science behind that thinking or is it just the nutritional ramblings of a man known to drink whole milk with his steak? And isn't pork a white meat? What is happening?

The industrialization of our food supply has certainly left us many questions about how our food is being raised, but I would certainly argue that pertains as much to beef as to chicken, and Jim seems to eat a lot of red meat.

So let's breakdown the Harbaugh-Chicken rivalry:

As for his initial theory, chickens do tend to be nervous, but a dude in my neighborhood has a chicken coop in his backyard, and his chickens seem to have adapted their owners laid back behavior. They are not nervous at all, and their eggs are delicious. However, I suspect he's been getting them stoned on his 'medical' marijuana.

Furthermore, there is no scientific literature indicating that cows are any less nervous than chickens. EDGE: Chicken.

Every coach I've ever had, and every coach all three of my daughters have had have all tried to be pro-active on nutrition. They've all told their players to eat better. They see their players mainlining junk food and they want to exert some control over that. It's a noble idea, rooted in good intentions.

My basketball coach in high school told us fast food would kill us. He was on to something way ahead of his time, but did we listen? No. EDGE: Chicken.

Wilton Speight left Michigan with a year of eligibility left, and although the two parties parted amicably, Speight painting Harbaugh as kind of crazy, may be a little passive aggressive revenge for the senior, now at UCLA.

That being said, Harbaugh is crazy. All coaches are. I mean, who wears pleated khakis ALL the time? Not a sane person.

"He's definitely a character, a little bizarre," current Michigan QB Shea Patterson told Bleacher Report. "You'll be sitting there talking to him, and you're thinking, What the hell is this guy talking about? Is this real life? But I really like him." EDGE: Harbaugh.

So should we stop eating chicken because Jim Harbaugh says so? No. Rotisserie chicken eaten in the Meijer parking lot right out of the container is a small joy in my life, and one day after his coaching days are over, Jim will find it to be a small joy too, only his life won't be as sad as mine.

Just don't shove too many McNuggets down your pie hole, and avoid any chicken products that have the words 'machine separated' on the label. That stuff is definitely not natural.

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