Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend any of the rededication activities at Crisler this weekend but I was involved on the periphery. I assisted in editing some of the bios of those enshrined within the Michigan Hall of Honor, one of the features on the large interactive screens available in the spacious lobby of the tricked-out Crisler Center. Here I am looking over the tribute to Old 98: The boards are pretty cool and I hope #1000SSS shares this content throughout the athletic campus (at the Big House & in the renovated Schembechler Hall for starters). Naturally it was a process to get all the bios edited and photos uploaded et cetera, and naturally there was (and certainly still is) a typo or misplaced photo here and there. I also assisted with some error checking over the past couple weeks and was there when we spotted this priceless gem:Poor Fritz. At another (perhaps the last?) great event celebrating Michigan athletics tradition in 1979, Fritz was invited but certainly was far from thrilled when he gazed at the fourth line on the tickets to the event: Follow MVictors on Twitter
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Bucks Unlimited
Via a piece on local tipping at area restaurants in AnnArbor.com, something good resulted the “unfortunate defeat” of Sucks Unlimited in 2007: “When Oregon football fans were here, another bartender and I waited on a group the whole weekend. They were over-tipping everyone ridiculously—buying a beer for $5, paying with a $50 bill and telling me to keep the change. The Friday before the game, one gentleman in particular wanted to buy us out of Jagermeister (which isn’t possible, I assure you). He bought 100 shots to pass out, which cost him roughly $500, then tipped $200 and gave me another $500 to let him stand on the bar while he passed them out. We split that $500 among our door staff and kitchen staff. “The next day, after the Wolverines’ unfortunate defeat, the same Oregon fans spent most of the rest of their evening at our bar. The same man from the night before ran up a rather large bar tab with me and tipped $1,000. That hasn’t happened to me since, but I don’t expect it to. If Oregon ever plays Michigan again though, no matter where I am, I will come out of retirement to wait on them.” Not to discredit the general generousness of the Duck faithful, but I’m guessing there were special circumstances in play. …
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Michigan 3, Michigan State 2 (Photos)
Sadly somehow it was a subdued mood in old Yost tonight for a Michigan-Michigan State game, but a 3-2 victory nonetheless. As a nod to my post on the 1928 canary unis, the Wolverines donned the maize sweaters with blue numerals. A few shots from the early evening tilt, including Derek DeBlois just burying this one in the 2nd period to make it 1-1: DeBlois being DeBlois Boys being Boys “Celebrate weird times, come on!” Follow MVictors on Twitter
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A Snowman for Harbs (1994)
If you haven’t, you’ve got to give John Kryk’s piece on the Harbaughs and Moellers a read. Great stuff. Here’s a much less interesting piece of Harbaugh history. Up on eBay right now, this scorecard from the 1994 CGA Classic of Orlando, a charity golf event: This was just a few weeks after he signed with the Colts, and Jim had a decent day save for the snowman on seemingly tame 351-yard par four #6 which no doubt sent his jaw jutting. Other than the backstory on the snowman, the only question for me is that signature at the bottom. Is that really Jim Harbaugh’s actual signature? Tough to tell. While it looks very little like his autograph on other items on eBay, you have to factor not only for the tiny golf pencil that was likely used to scribe his name and perhaps the frustration with the 8, you also must consider the Bloody Marys and other libations that were no doubt consumed that morning on the links. Want it? Buy it now for $11.99. Follow MVictors on Twitter
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Smiling Jack Harbaugh
You’ll be inundated with Harbaugh content over the next week and here’s some more, hopefully, a little unique. Thanks to the Dr. Sap archives, here is a brief interview with then U-M assistant coach Jack Harbaugh following Michigan’s 21-17 victory over Arizona on October 7, 1978: No, he doesn’t talk about his young sons John and Jim, but I thought it was worth sharing to get a sense of what the elder coach Harbaugh was like back in the day, and as a bonus, the backdrop of the Michigan Marching Band postgame routine :) The pic inset (via mgoblog) is from a profile of the 1978 U-M staff and shucks, Jack kind of looks what would happen if Jim and John had a dad. Related: via John U Bacon: The Harbaughs – and Their Godfather
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Beilein joins Jim Rome (1-25 audio)
Coach Beilein dialed into Rome this afternoon, audio (a tad faint but listenable): [display_podcast] Notes: * Praised Trey Burke for his ability to excel in both big and small spaces on the court. Marveled how he gets to the rim in traffic or surrounded by defenders. Does this in practice that make you go, “how did he do that?”. * Praised GRIII, said he has a chip on his shoulder for not being a highly touted recruit in Indiana early on. Beilein talked about “what a pleasure” is to coach him and how quickly he adopts their coaching points. * Said this team has a chance to be one of the best he’s every coached. * On the Ohio State loss, “that was what we needed..” * On the potential of the #1 ranking, he downplayed it again, adding, “I wanna know where we’re going to be in March.”
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The Uniform Timeline
The latest mini-project: A descending timeline of changes to the Michigan football team uniforms over the years. I’m still pulling it together but you can check out what I have so far here. This will also be a regular ‘page’ that you can access from the toolbar above. A huge thanks to Dr. Sap (Steve Sapardanis) for much of the detail especially during the Bo years. As always, ping me with any inputs Follow MVictors on Twitter
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The Jim Harbaugh Bio Plaque – Preserved
Phenomenal, via John Kryk, NFL beat writer for the Toronto Sun: As a “fun thing” to do, San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh this week arranged for plaques to be hung above each player’s locker. Each plaque contained a photo and bio of the player from during his high school recruitment. What about one for Harbaugh? “They didn’t have the internet back in 1982 that I’m aware of,” Harbaugh said. Fortunately, however, the John Kryk Football Archives go that far back. As an unofficial college and Michigan football historian of sorts, I possess far too many musty boxes in my basement, to my wife’s chagrin. One produced the accompanying goods. And here’s the goods: Full story on Kryk’s blog, Kryk Slants.
