• Listen to this before you DIE (Angelique on WTKA)

    The ‘Angel of the Big House’, of course Angelique Chengelis of the Detroit News, graced WTKA 1050AM this morning.  She discussed a variety of topics with Sam and Ira, from the EMU game, the challenges on defense, her expectations for the season vis a’ vis her preseason predictions.  She finished with a plug for her new book, 100 Things Michigan Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die. Here’s the audio: [display_podcast] . Pick up ‘100 Things Michigan Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die’ here at Amazon.com. Update: Thanks to reader Exploding_monkeyface for noticing this. Compliments of the online smear campaign against Michael Rosenberg, check out the tags suggested for Angelique’s new book:

  • The Vague Anxiety and Bill Frieder

    That's that alpha and omega of my recollection, so thankfully I have a copy Craig Ross's tome, Obscene Diaries of a Michigan Fan, published in 2006. If you enjoy the tone, feel and prose of blogs like mgoblog and even this site, I suggest you get a copy of this book. I had a chance to meet Ross, a local attorney, author and raconteur, for lunch in December. I'm a good way through it and it's fabulous. Ross takes a good portion of chapter four in discussing cheating in college hoops in general, and takes a look at Johnny Orr, Bill Frieder, Ed Martin and Steve Fisher through this lens.

  • Blue Books: Bo’s Winless Season

    Thanks to the profileration of sports media folks in Haiti can tell you that Michigan’s going to end up with its first losing season since 1967, a couple years removed from Bo Schembechler’s arrival on campus in 1969. Bo started the streak and only dipped to .500 once, in 1984 when Jim Harbaugh was hurt and they lost to #1 BYU in the Holiday Bowl. But Bo wasn’t foreign to tough seasons in his professional life before leading Miami, OH and Michigan. In fact, he lived through the worst season you can possibly have during his time as an assistant in Northwestern. With the Wildcats heading into town Saturday this version of Blue Books pulls an excerpt from John U. Bacon‘s tome Bo’s Lasting Lessons, this selection from Chapter 2: Seek Mentors, Not Money: I learned an awful lot from Ara in my first year at Northwestern, but I learned a heckuva lot more from him that second season, when we lost ’em all. And what I learned was how a real leader leads when things aren’t going his way. Ara treated the staff as though we were winning every game. He never gave the slightest inclination that we were the problem. He not once blamed any assistant or any player for any loss we suffered that year. NOT ONCE.…

  • Yost Busts the Galloping Ghost

    In 1924, Red Grange had one of the most famous games in college football history against Michigan.   Did you know that U-M actually got its revenge on the Ghost the following season? With the Illini coming into town we’ll take a look back to October 24, 1925, the year after Red Grange put a whooping on Michigan at the dedication of Illinois’ Memorial Stadium. Grange tallied 6 touchdowns in that game, five rushing and one passing, including four in the first 12 minutes on runs of 95, 67, 56, and 44 yards. For obvious reasons that game is still talked about today. What isn’t talked about so much is what happened the next year. Someone up in the stands didn’t take kindly to the humiliation of 1924 and was set on doing something about it. From Bruce Madej’s Champions of the West: Just one year before, Coach George Little’s Wolverines had been humiliated by the Illini and their junior halfback, Harold “Red” Grange. So embarrassed was U-M athletic director Fielding Yost by Michigan’s performance that day, he decided to abandon his seat in the stands and return as head coach. For 12 months, Yost schemed how to bridle Illinois’ Galloping Ghost. He replaced Michigan’s unsuccessful six-man line of 1924 with a seven-man front and a diamond-shaped secondary. Legendary Illini coach…

  • Blue Books: Badgers Bungle Bo hiring

    A couple weeks ago I looked back at Lou Holtz’s attempts to woo Michigan coach Lloyd Carr to South Bend and join his Irish staff. In late 1989 Carr had interviewed for the Wisconsin head coaching job which was eventually given to Notre Dame defensive coordinator Barry Alvarez. It was Alvarez’s departure that prompted Holtz to seek out Carr. Did you know that legendary General Bo considered an offer to take the reins at Madison back in the 60s? Indeed. Here’s an excerpt from John U. Bacon’s wonderful Bo’s Lasting Lessons, where Bo recounts what happened in Chapter Three titled ‘Wait for the Right Opportunity’: After we won our conference title in my third and fourth seasons at Miami–1965 & 1966–Wisconsin called. From the outside, it seemed like a pretty good job. Wisconsin’s a good school in a great league. It was about ten o’clock on a Sunday when I walk into this meeting room to face twenty guys sitting around–and some board member falls asleep, right there in front of me! Now what does that tell you? They also had a student on the committee, and this kid asks me how I would handle Clem Turner, a Cincinnati kid, who was always in trouble. Well, how the heck do I know how I would handle Clem Turner? I’ve never…

  • Harmon Bio in the works, Military record discussed

    Writer Fredric Alan Maxwell is pulling together a biography of Michigan legend Tom Harmon titled, ‘The Late Great 98’. Michigan Today released an excerpt of the book that will be released chapter by chapter over time in a unique format, and will eventually result in a hard copy book. Details are found on tomharmonbio.com: The Late Great 98 is the Tom Harmon Biography-in-progress that is being published on an advanced subscription basis. People who purchase reduced-rate advance copies will be e-mailed Harmon stories and chapters as they are written, which they can review and comment on, thus becoming part of the editorial process. Hard cover books containing the final draft will be printed and delivered by mail to subscribers before they are sold in bookstores. Maxwell’s book intro discusses some of the controversies around Harmon’s military service in World War II. There were accusations out there discrediting Harmon’s military service, summarized below: …very persistent rumor is afloat to the effect that Tom Harmon, when he crashed in South America was yellow, that he, contrary to all traditions and rules of the Air Service (sic), bailed out first whereas it is the duty of the pilot to be the last to jump. Rumor has it that that was the reason that Tom was the only one to survive that crash. It…

  • Blue Books: Historic Michigan Football Photos

    I just received a fresh copy of ‘Historic Photos of University of Michigan Football’ from Turner Publishing. Michelle O’Brien authored the collection, which pulls together fascinating photos from the vaults over at the U-M Bentley Historical Library over the past 100+ years. It isn’t confined to games and practices; it also includes a few unique looks at the band, the fans and in some cases, the excitement on campus and outside the stadium. Each photo contains a detailed caption describing the photo often along with a relevant background from the period. O’Brien did a very nice job-it’s a fine collection and would make an excellent gift. While I’ve seen a few of the photos before but most were new to me. Here’s a few of my favorites, click to enlarge: Louis Elbel, the man that composed The Victors after the 1898 Michigan game at Chicago, conducts the Michigan Marching Band in 1952 The original Little Brown (White?) Jug. I love the “Not to be taken from the Gymnasium” instruction painted on the top. Can you imagine? A photo as they break ground on Michigan stadium, with a clear shot back to Yost Field House in the background. Gorgeous.

  • Blue Books: Holtz Courting Lloyd Carr

    This week we’ll go again to the absolute definitive tome on the Michigan-Notre Dame Rivarly, John Kryk’s Natural Enemies. There are several anecdotes of interest in the book, some I’ve mentioned on these pages before, and I’ll revisit some of these in the future. Today, a selection from Chapter 11 ‘Extra Points’. Lou Holtz will be honored at Saturday’s game and they are unveiling a statue. I’m sure Jason Peter has some thoughts on how to decorate the Holtz likeness. I don’t know if Lloyd Carr will ever be honored with a monument at Michigan but I’m sure he’ll get his name on a facility or prominent street. An obscure street near Michigan stadium was the reward for Depression era coach Harry Kipke, who won national championships but was also fired at the end of the decade. But according to Natural Enemies, Lou Holtz wanted Carr to join him in South Bend on a couple occasions: In an interview for this book in 2003, current Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr revealed that in the 1980s Lou Holtz twice tried to woo him to his staff at Notre Dame. Carr said he believes that the first offer from Holtz came in 1986. “One night I was sitting at home and Lou called me. I was shocked, honestly,” Carr recalled. “He said,…