Check out this postcard commemorating the October 19, 1907 game against Wabash College played in Indianapolis. Bidding started at $24.99 and had 1 bid at the time of this post.  Here's a look:

So the common thing people want to know is what it will take for Michigan to get in.   I think the consensus right now is Michigan will need to beat Minnesota (given) and also win in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament to put themselves in position.  From there it’ll depend on what happens in the conference tournaments. I asked Pete Tiernan of the great bracketscience.com for his take.  Recall from my interview with Tiernan earlier this year that his dad ‘Boom Boom’ Tiernan played Michigan hoops in the 1950s.   Here’s what he emailed me earlier this week: “They must beat Minnesota and they must win at least their first tourney game…and maybe their second, which could be against MSU.” “If they lose to Minnesota, they’ll have to get to the Big Ten finals.” “I don’t think there’s any way they get in with a Minnesota win and no Big Ten win. Despite our three good wins and nice UConn loss, an 18-13 record, sub-.500 conference record (including a tourney loss), and all the other bubble teams would seem to me to crowd UM out. Too bad they just couldn’t get it done versus Wisconsin.”

Just an excellent call by Red Berenson into Jeff DeFran’s version of the ‘The Big Show’ on WTKA. I don’t care if you think hockey is lame, you’ve got to enjoy listening to this man. [display_podcast] He discusses: His recent contract extension When he’ll know it’s time to retire (and he hopes it’s not next year) On the struggles and doubts he faced during his first few years at the helm in Ann Arbor On the Cold War II game and how exciting it is for the coaches and players, especially for him as a guy who grew up on the ponds in Canada. On how proud he is of so many of his former players, on what they are doing now and the importance of completing and continuing their education.

Michigan State signed on today to participate in the hockey game to be held December 11, 2010 in Ann Arbor. This of course will be a blast. Memo to Marty Bodnar: Reward your loyal hockey season ticket holders with choice seats–that shouldn’t be a big burden. Somewhere up in Michigan football’s Valhalla, Don Canham and Fielding Yost are smiling.

Check out Jim Carty’s blog Paper Tiger No More this morning for a real gem.   JC received his share of nice emails (and the occasional call if you recall our interview) when he was a columnist for the Ann Arbor News.  Of course most of that was friendly (at least local) fire from Wolverine fans. Well, although Carty has hung ’em up at the News for quite a while now apparently he still gets the love.   Today he posts an absolute beauty of an email he recently received, blasting him for his sweet 2002 ‘Green Giant’ column (predicting Tommy Amaker’s rise).   Jim openly admits how horrible the column was and of course Carty later became one of Amaker’s harshest critics, to the point where he was advised by News brass to tone it down. The email from reader Ben starts off with “Hey Queer,” and rocks out from there.  Don’t mess with a blogger, man!

Back when Rich Rodriguez was first hired a little over a year ago (man, it seems longer than that, doesn’t it?), many folks were asking how he might get up to speed on Michigan’s traditions. In his press conference he told us he got a copy of Bo’s book (assume that was JUB’s Lasting Lessons). I suggested a few additional items in a post titled ‘Michigan Tradition 101: Study Guide for Coach Rodriguez‘. One of the items on the list was this: If that didn’t convince you (or RichRod) that sitting with Red was a worthy endeavor, check out this profile on Simmons from Jo-Ann Barnas in the Free Press from earlier this week.    You’ll get the idea.  An excerpt: In 1932, Simmons competed in the U.S. Olympic trials in track. He also ran in track meets in summer AAU meets. Often the field included [Jessie] Owens. Simmons said he never beat him.  The two weren’t strangers that historic day in 1935 at Ferry Field. Owens, then a star at Ohio State University, broke three world records and tied another in a two-hour span — considered one of the greatest one-day sports achievements in history. Simmons was asked to work the event. At the time, he was a Detroit police officer — and the department’s star athlete in field-day…

What a pleasure it was to sit with great Michigan author and historian John U. Bacon this evening on WTKA’s ‘Big Show’. If you missed it, here’s all three segments for you. I sat in for the full hour in the 5pm slot. A quick summary: Segment 1: 1980, 1909, 1934 oh my – Starts about 1 minute in. I offer a little background on the eBay Watch series, about the coach Bill McCartney ring drama and about the Joy Miller scandal after the season of 1909 and the posts I did on Norm Daniel’s 1931 jersey, and finally on the incredible tale of 1934’s Willis Ward incident. Segment 2: More History, and some of the Michigan ‘myths’ – (There’s a little dead air in the first few seconds) We talk a little more about the 1909 season (there’s much more, hopefully you see it in Hail to the Victors 2009), about chorus of The Victors being “borrowed” from Louis Elbel’s roommate, and the Those Who Stay will be Champions appearing years before Bo arrived, and finally, on the video I took of the Corey Tropp/Steve Kampfer incident. Segment 3: Bonus Time – I stuck around after my official segments to join JUB’s famous “winners and losers” segment and talked about seeing Mr. Hockey Gordie Howe this weekend (my winner),…