For a November day in Michigan, it can’t get any better. Heading toward mid-60s, you can get away a light jacket and a golf shirt today. Mesko warming up: I blasted a Tweet before the game to this effect, but I caught Tate trotting off the field toward the lockers before the initial stretching, etc. The Purdue band was rolling that giant drum down the tunnel and Tate decided to tried to squeeze by. He made it (barely), but Tate – BAD READ!
-
-
What’s the Frequency? 104.3 WOMC, 10am Saturday
Yo! I’ll be on joining “The Michigan Football Network Tailgate Show With Lucy Ann Lance, Dean Erskine, and Doug Karsch” at 10AM EST on Saturday for a segment or two. For those in Ann Arbor, tune yourselves to 104.3 WOMC or those out of town listen live here. They broadcast in that yellow tent just off Stadium Blvd outside Crisler so come by to check it out. I’ll be signing jugs afterward. Replica Little Brown Jugs, that is.
-
This Flag is Signed, Sealed but not yet Delivered
According to my deep cover, bunkered moles at the athletic department, this sweet item has been relisted on the auction to support the Pat Maloy Scholarship. A frame and signed ‘M’ flag containing the signatures of an amazing array of Michigan football greats. From the auction description: You will never find a greater piece of Michigan football memorabilia anywhere. This is a two foot tall by three foot wide Michigan flag autographed by 46 of the greatest players to ever don the Maize & Blue in Michigan Stadium. The flag is professionally matted and framed with UV protectant plexiglass. The flag is autographed by all of the following former Michigan stars: Charles Woodson. Jake Long, Ron Kramer, Anthony Carter, Jim Harbaugh, Anthony “A-Train” Thomas, Larry Foote, Victor Hobson, Elvis Grbac, Will Johnson, Morgan Trent, Tim Jamison, Aaron Shea, Rick Leach, Don Dufek Sr., Don Dufek Jr., Ali Haji Shiekh, Bill Dufek, Harlan Huckleby, Stan Edwards, Steve Morrison, Adam Kraus, Derek Walker, Chris Floyd, Clint Copenhaver, Ron Simpkins, Glen Steele, Mark Messner, Jamie Morris, Bob Chappuis, Greg McMurtry, John Wangler, Marcus Ray. Billy Taylor, Reggie McKenzie, Buster Stanley, Jim Brandstatter, Scott Dreisbach, Mark Campbell, Rondell Biggs, Carl Diggs, James Hall, Doug Skene, Ron Bellamy, Andre Weathers and Eric Mayes. Bid high and often and good luck. Item is hanging in Moe…
-
Unsolved Questions | Little Brown Jug Lore
I started this project with a list of questions about the jug and the answers I found formed most of the posts in this series. Here are a few questions that remain unsolved: 1. What happened to the cap and ribbons that used to be atop the jug? In older photos of the jug there clearly is a more pronounced cap, which apparently held in place some decorative ribbons: They are missing from the real trophy today (but you can see them on the replica in Schembechler Hall). I asked Jon Falk about this. He told me he remembered there being a cap on the jug but doesn’t recall what happened to it or when it disappeared. I took a variety of photos of the jug and from the looks of it, someone ripped the top off but we just don’t know when. Note the inner circle of the jug, which looks to be torn (maybe Leach did it): 2. Where did the Jug’s carrying case come from? It was a surprise to learn that the jug has a customized carrying case. It’s basically a chest with a padded, velvety interior. Jon Falk showed it to me and here’s a compilation of it from different angles: What I haven’t figured out is who had this built, and when it came…
-
Slapping Yourself
Whew! Local sports talk radio was quite a hoot today, as Rodriguez was thoroughly blasted by the folks that come out whenever Michigan loses, and they came strong today. For those out of town, here’s a snip of mgoblog’s Brian Cook on WTKA 1050AM this afternoon. He and co-host Mark Copeland fielded mostly angry calls like this one, which caused Cook to snap when the listener likened Rodriguez to former Spartan head coach John L. Smith: [display_podcast] . That’s good radio. And props to Cook for demanding the call be ended when he did. While stringing this guy out evoked a lot of the great commentary (and I don’t have a problem with people taking shots at Rodriguez/Michigan), one criticism I have of WTKA is they let many of these callers go way too long. Keep in mind this clip only captures a portion of that dude’s call [here’s the entire segment]. Another thing that’s getting annoying, and was part of that call, is all the folks talking about what Bo Schembechler did/ didn’t do when he was coaching, and what he would/wouldn’t do if he still had an office on campus. It’s getting pretty tired and it’s got to be bordering on offensive to those who knew Bo best, and maybe moreso to those that are still here. Former…
-
Neither Tea nor Crumpets for QBs (Rodriguez audio)
Rodriguez was pretty cool for the most part during the Monday morning press conference. Here’s a little audio of Rodriguez responding to a question from Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News this morning who asked if Rich Rod’s yelling at players perhaps creates some tightness in his team. This is one of the criticisms that thick Spartan fans drop on Tom Izzo when MSU struggles. His animated (and at times sarcastic) response included his second reference to tea and crumpets this year. The first was earlier in the year referring to his relationship with Mark Dantonio, with whom RR doesn’t not have tea & crumpets. It’s worth a listen: [display_podcast] The best lines: “It’s kind of amusing. If we had a quarterback that threw it to the wrong guy, and the guy picked it off and went 100-something yards for a touchdown and all that. And he come over to the sideline….if people expect me to put my arm around him, whether he’s a freshman or a senior, and say, ‘Honey that’s ok, don’t worry about it, misreading and all that kind of stuff. Let’s talk about it in the future and we’ll sit down on the couch and have tea and crumpets…’” -> Links to press conference notes from mgoblog, and AnnArbor.com. Child ID Program: Before Rodriguez’s presser, they…
-
Power Index Week 3
It was painful exercise for me, stacking Michigan up against the rest of the league this week. Once again the Wolverines take the biggest drop in the Index, mercifully spared from the cellar. There was a shift at the top, with Penn State and Ohio State barely jumping the Hawkeyes: Coach Lew the Blue (as in sad) Wolverine: Football is 1/3 confidence, 1/3 execution and 1/3 determination. A slip in any factor throws the whole thing out of balance, and then you’re hanging by a thread. Michigan had all 3 in spades the first two games of the season, but then the execution seemed to start slipping during the first half of the Eastern game, and then Penn State seemed to sap all that was left of the team’s confidence. Against Illinois, failure in all three aspects reigned: dropped passes and fumbles are a symptom of lack of confidence; missed reads and blown assignments show failure to execute; and the inability to punch it in from 1st and goal at the 1 and the horrible attempt at tackling on Illinois’ last TD = lack of determination. This was an easier pill to swallow last year when it could conveniently be chalked up to the coaching change and new system, but it’s totally unexpected at this point of season 2. So…
-
How They Voted – AP Poll 11/01/09
The AP poll is in for Week 10. Crap, no votes for Michigan again this week. After reviewing each of the voters’ rankings here’s a few things that stuck out: Top Slots: Once again, with the exception of one voter, all of the writers have Florida, Alabama or Texas in their top three. That voter is once again Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News who kept Texas #4, removed USC at #2 and replaced them with Oregon. Apparently ESPN/ABC’s Kirk Herbstreit didn’t get his ballot in this week, don’t know the circumstances. Top 10/Region – Here’s the national vote, spliced by the region of the voters (Central is effectively Big 12 country, mostly dudes from Texas): Big Ten by Region –Here’s how the Big Ten and Notre Dame was rated, by region: Angelique. Here’s how The Angel of the Big House put her vote this week and last. Interesting that she completely rejiggered her top five and kept Iowa and Boise St. put at 6 and 7. Also note her love for Notre Dame on the current ballot, from out of the top 25 last week all the way to #18 today:
