• The House that Jack Built: The Ultimate Wolverine Den

    There are a few places in Ann Arbor where you can view some of the finest Michigan football memorabilia in the land. If you can get inside, the museum at Schembechler Hall features helmets, jerseys and other relics from the early days of the program. Up on North Campus the wonderful archives at the U-M Bentley Historical Library contain an extensive array of documents, photos and news clippings covering the history of Michigan athletics. Neither collection is quite like what lifelong Ann Arbor resident Jack Briegel has at his home.

  • American Pickers Coming This Way

    Do you know these guys? That’s Mike Wolfe and his partner Frank Fritz, stars of History Channel’s American Pickers.   According to AnnArbor.com, the treasure hunting pair is coming to town looking for a good pick: Show producer Jeff Eggleston confirmed on Tuesday that the show will be coming to Michigan, but said the itinerary is not set. The show plans to shoot in the area sometime between April 12 and April 24, he said. So why do I care?  I love the show but more importantly, check out what’s on Eggleston’s list of items they are looking for on their visit: Michigan sports memorabilia: Unique pieces related to any of Michigan’s college or professional sports teams. I try to catch the holy trinity of memorabilia shows on Monday: Antiques Roadshow, Pawn Stars and American Pickers hoping that one day they’ll stumble upon an item related Michigan football and dial up yours truly to provide some expert input.   (I even stretched this wish to Detroit’s Hardcore Pawn as I told Hondo Carpenter the other day.) I reached out to the show’s research department to let them know I’m available if they find anything, and I suggested a couple places/people to talk to about their collections.  If you know of an awesome collection they should check out, email americanpickers [at] cineflix.com.