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.
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Interview: Pete Tiernan of bracketscience.com
This week I sat down with Pete Tiernan, founder of bracketscience.com, a website with a comprehensive database that allows subscribers to slice and dice historical NCAA tournament data. Tiernan also provides statistical trends, charts, tips and strategies for busting up your pools. Over the past several years he’s contributed a column to ESPN.com insider$ and in 2009 will be featured at CBSSports.com. Tiernan holds two degrees from Michigan and taught for a while within the English department. His ties to the M basketball program run deep as his dad, ‘Boom Boom’ Tom Tiernan, laced them up for the Maize & Blue back when they played at Yost Field House in the early 1950s. We met in downtown Saline at the excellent Brecon Grille and over a few pints, he was kind enough to answer questions about Beilein, Michigan, tourney trends, the selection committee and more. We close with a cool story about his son who played for the Grand Valley State team that shocked Michigan State at Breslin last year. Enjoy: MVictors: Michigan basketball is becoming relevant again thanks to John Beilein. Let’s cut right to it, how does Beilein’s tournament coaching record stack up? Tiernan: Michigan made a very good choice. John Beilein is the top overperforming active coach of the modern tournament era. There’s a statistic that I have…
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Robinson spills the beans
Come on Rumeal! The star guard on Steve Fisher’s 1989 NCAA champions basically confirms that guys on the team were paid, from Mark Snyder’s post (with a surprisingly tame headline!): “You got nine pros and none of them left school early? If you’re taking care of players the right way, you understand the process to make it work. Otherwise, a player’s got to go out and look for help, it’s going to happen…” like with the Martin scandal. OK – so he doesn’t specifically say what that means but [cough, clear throat] maybe by “taking care of players the right way” he means furnishing them with Cottage Inn vouchers. Later he added, “Coaches have a lot of pressure to recruit the best players, and they have to turn to alumni for help. Alumni can’t help their school? I guess you’ve got to draw the line somewhere.” Robinson said he thinks they should call his team, with nine players that went to the pros, the Fab Nine.
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LaMarr Woodley on Tirico (ESPN audio 1/13)
A quick interview with former Michigan badass LaMarr Woodley on contributor Lew’s favorite show, ESPN Radio’s Tirico and Van Pelt. As expected Tirico dropped a few Michigan references in there. A few things they covered: * On the upcoming battle with the Ravens, and what he’s expecting to see out there. * On Joe Flacco’s progress. (He’s getting better, he’s making big time plays). * On the legacy of the Pittsburgh defense and how the veteran players continue the tradition. * Van Pelt asked him if he felt a link and responsibility to the former Steeler teams. Woodley says yes, you represent the guys that used to be because he’s thinks the Steelers lose, the former players feel they lost too. Woodley illustrates this by saying, “We acted that way when Michigan was playing this year. They go out there and lose a game I felt like I lost, because you were a part of that.” * Then he almost gets killed by another car or something, and they end the interview. Seriously. [display_podcast] . .
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Albom’s Spartan Omission
If you haven’t, give Mitch Albom’s essay titled ‘The Courage Of Detroit’ a read. It was published in this week’s Sports Illustrated and putting aside what you think of Albom, if you are from this area it’s a must read. One paragraph caught my eye, and I don’t want to take away from the message of the story. Albom was taking about the Detroit jokes about rioting, etc., and spun up this: Same goes for the favorite Detroit cliché of so many pundits: the image of a burning police car in 1984, after the Tigers won the World Series. Yes, some folks went stupid that night, and an eighth-grade dropout nicknamed Bubba held up a Tigers pennant in front of that burning vehicle, and — snap-snap — that was the only photo anyone seemed to need. Never mind that in the years since, many cities have done as badly or worse after championships — Boston and Chicago come to mind — and weren’t labeled for it. Never mind that through three NBA titles, four Stanley Cups, Michigan’s national championships in college basketball and football, and even another World Series, nothing of that nature has occurred again in Detroit. You might notice that while he mentioned Michigan’s 1989 hoops and 1997 football championships, he neglected to mention Michigan State’s…
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Michigan Basketball: 1,000 to 1
Another great win this weekend for Beilein and crew, and if things keep falling as expected it’s very likely the Wolverines will find themselves somewhere inside the bracket this March. ESPN bracket guru Joe Lunardi projects Michigan as a 9th seed right now with obviously a lot of schedule to be played. I checked out a couple of sports betting sites to see if any future odds were posted on the tournament. Sure enough, they’ve released the futures on the 2009 NCAA tournament here. I can’t tell when it was last updated, at the top, it reads January 31, 2009 – so I’m not sure what that means. Michigan is a +10,000 moneyline longshot to cut down the nets in Detroit, meaning your $100 college basketball bet would win you $10,000. So you’re saying there’s a chance. Let’s say the team improves and they end up a 6 or 7 seed who is to say they can get hot and get through? They’ll then be playing practically at home at Ford Field. If you’ve got a few bucks and a few stones, you could be laughing all the way to the bank in these hard times. Other odds of interest:+250 – North Carolina+1600 – Duke+1800 – UCLA+2500 – Michigan State, Purdue+5000 – Ohio State
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Jim Carty on WTKA (audio 1-12)
An exceptional into WTKA 1050AM this morning by former Ann Arbor News columnist Jim Carty. As usual he hit on a variety of topics: * Tim Tebow and the ridiculous Fox broadcast. * The Michigan defensive coordinator opening and the former Michigan players/assistants whose names have come up, including Jim Herrmann. * On Beilein trying to keep everyone’s expectations in line. * On Manny Harris’s progress and whether he’s the player of the year in the Big Ten. * The Rob Parker resignation. Here’s the audio: [display_podcast] . Sidenote: I’m obviously thankful that WTKA provides these podcasts for us, but how about a better podcast player? Best I can tell you have the ability to play or pause, nothing else- you can’t move forward or back.
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When the Game Must be Moved
Played January 11, 2009, scheduled January 9, 2009 Red Berenson and crew continued its roll yesterday afternoon, wrapping up a sweep of Miami, OH with a 4-0 shutout. The rare Sunday tilt was of course due to the postponement of Friday’s scheduled game, due to the structural issues uncovered at Yost Ice Arena. This wasn’t the first time a scheduled game had to be moved, and unfortunately many of the other incidents were brought on by darker circumstances. I thought this would be a nice opportunity to look at some of those instances: 1963 – Kennedy The assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963 moved out the Ohio State game which was scheduled to be played in Ann Arbor the next day. Played November 30, 1963, scheduled November 23, 1963 I was able to connect with Dr. Barry Dehlin, a sophomore on Bump Elliott’s 1963 crew and ask him about his memories of the days surrounding the assassination. Here’s what he wrote: Naturally the assassination was a shock to all of us. I remember being in the dorm getting ready to go to practice when I heard what had happened. One of those sentinel moments in your life that you will always remember. We still met that Friday and the decision was already made that the game was postponed…
