Spearheaded by the request of Michigan’s president James B. Angell, officials from the schools representing the Western Conference (U-M, Chicago, Minnesota, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana) met in Chicago in January 1906 to discuss major reforms. Their target? Michigan football and its coach Fielding H. Yost. Here's how it played out.
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More on Capital One; Audio of Carr’s speech
I’m still blown away by the team’s performance on Tuesday. Looking over the highlights and the media coverage it is just amazing. When things fell like they did, with Penn State and Wisconsin locking into their bowls prior to the BCS pairings and Michigan just hanging there and then finally drawing Florida of all teams….I thought it was a good break for Michigan to get a New Year’s Day bowl but a bad one given they’d have to play the likely Heisman winner and the defending national champion. The Gators seemed to be a perfect poison for the struggling Wolverines. You had to be thinking bad thoughts or at least braced for a spanking like fellow blogger CC at Autumn Thunder. The one hope I had coming in was that we’d have a healthy Henne and Hart, and you know good things can happen when those guys are clicking. But still…it was Florida with Tebow and Harvin. Not mention they were playing essentially a home game. The way those guys played despite the mistakes – it was just incredible. Watch the highlights again and watch how hard Arrington is going and how hard the defensive line comes off the ball. Even when Tebow made a play he ended up on his arse. Finally for MVP Henne, talk about putting it…
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Bowl Predictions 2007-08
Bet the opposite of these and you might just be ok: Michigan vs. Florida is a tough one. As a retired drinker, gambler and smoker, I’ve learned a few things in my day. Never bet with a gorilla, keno is a suckers’ game and always take Michigan if they’re getting points.
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Carty: They’re fat
Per AA News columnist Jim Carty, the team (save Marquis Slocum) looked noticeably a tad plump at the open practice: Hart looks to be carrying a few extra pounds and he was far from alone. Right guard Alex Mitchell and a number of other linemen on both sides of the ball are as big as they’ve been all year, and by big, I mean big as in bellies, not big as in ripped. I question this a little bit, I mean, what’s Carty’s frame of reference? The locker room after the regular season games? He did add that Henne and Hart appeared to be a full strength despite Hart’s portliness. Elsewhere, the New York Times named Rich Rodriguez one of its 5 individuals who had a major impact on the sports world in 2007. Pete Thamel who does the Times’ The Quad Blog wrote the piece. On the Michigan hire: By hiring Rodriguez, Michigan, which had clung to its Bo Schembechler-bred power football roots, essentially pulled its head from the proverbial cloud of dust and conceded that gaining 3 yards at a time was no way to win national titles. Finally, I’m not a doctor but looks like they should have delivered Henne’s cortisone shots in his arse.
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Coach Berenson on WDFN (audio)
The audio from Red Berenson’s interview on the Stoney and Wojo show today discussing the GLI and more. Art Regner filled in for the hosts:
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Michigan Team Postcards (1907)
The last installment of eBay Watch is this year’s finest: a collection of postcards featuring members of 1907 Michigan football team. Perhaps a one of a kind set, the photos feature legendary players including the great Adolph ‘Germany’ Schulz, coach Yost and even the team trainer Keene Fitzpatrick. The seller offered up the entire collection and it didn’t go unnoticed by collectors. The winning bid for these beauties was $1,364.60 back in October. I actually used the photo of Joy Miller in ‘The Disgrace of 1909‘ but this is the first time I’m posting the entire set. Based on the crude way the auction items were photographed and presented on eBay, I doubt the seller was a professional memorabilia collector which makes this pretty cool. The postcard of Yost is different from the rest, not only the pose but also the background. It appears as though the publisher misspelled the surname of fullback Walter Rheinschild [no h on the postcard], and it is not clear as to why Eugene Flanagan was included as he doesn’t appear to have played a significant role on this or any team. In fact, the Bentley spells his name “Flanigan” but that’s only on an alternate full roster and he didn’t make the team photo in any season. Maybe he snuck into the shoot hoping…
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‘M’erry Christmas
Ahh the holidays once again. The webmaster was treated to a few choice M-related gifts including the highly regarded Michigan Crocs and a copy of John Kryk’s Natural Enemies, the definitive tome on the Michigan v. Notre Dame rivalry. The book will make a great addition to my library.
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Michigan Memorabilia Vault: 1960-present
A gallery of Michigan athletics memorabilia from around the web. Do you have anything from this era to share? Scan it in and send it over to me. Click to see full size: