• Vintage Michigan pins and buttons

    The Michigan Union Button: A Lost Tradition

    The recent discovery of an 1892 Athletic Association pin clarified the deep history of this lost Michigan tradition. I view this tradition as a bit of a historic puzzle, and this find provided a huge tangible piece of evidence on its origins. This post shares the latest history as I understand it today.

  • Greg Paulus Rumors a Joke? No, Yes, No

    The Free Press is now saying that word that Greg Paulus visited Michigan yesterday and is considering playing for Rich Rodriguez is a April Fools joke?  On April 14th?  Really funny. The original Freep headline read:  ‘Ex-Duke Point Guard Paulus may play football at Michigan’.   The new headline reads: ‘Greg Paulus’ Michigan football workout reported as April Fool’s Joke’ and includes this: Editor’s note: This story was originally published by Fox Sports as an April Fool’s joke. We apologize for the mistake. Hilarious.  What’s odd about the Free Press retraction is that there’s no retraction on the FoxSports.com piece that broke the story, at least not yet.   This rumor spread like wild fire, boiling all the way up to Dan Patrick’s tired radio show prompting a poll question: What a circus, man. Update (a few minutes after posting this): My nerves, now the Free Press is retracting the retraction, going back to the original heading with the following note: Editor’s note: We have talked with an editor at Foxsports.com and have learned this story is true as reported. Again, apologize for the mistake. Update #2, around 12:30pm: Freep has now pulled the retraction editorial note with this: Editor’s note: Story updated at 11:31 a.m. Already busted, homes. Related: Carty weighs in on this, including the eligibility rules. One more take…

  • Purdue and the Homecoming Tradition

    Factoids on this Saturday’s game: – The Boilermakers’ trip to Ann Arbor this Saturday will mark the 53rd meeting between the two schools. – This this will be the sixth time that Purdue will be the homecoming opponent. – Purdue was actually the first Homecoming opponent back in 1900. Prior to that Michigan held a game against an Alumni team on what they called Homecoming. Michigan won the 1900 test 12-6. – A quick Google search on homecoming led to the Wikipedia. According to the post there, while there are varying accounts of the first school to start a homecoming tradition, the roots seems to be much later than 1900. Check it out: Many schools lay claim to having the first Homecoming, but three seem to have the strongest claims. The NCAA, Trivial Pursuit, and Jeopardy! give the title to The University of Missouri’s 1911 football game during which alumni were encouraged to attend.[1] Baylor University and The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign both claim to have held homecoming-like events in 1909 and 1910, respectively. All of these events had homecoming-like characteristics such as a football game, visiting alumni, and a parade. It’s likely that the traditions at these schools and others merged and spread nationwide. By the 1920s homecoming was widely celebrated across the nation. The Bentley museum is…