Brady trots out of the tunnel for the first time (& leaves headset in locker room by mistake) To kickoff the sixth season of This Week in Michigan Football History we dip back to 2011, to the official start of the last glorious period of redemption for Michigan football. Yes, our friends from Kalamazoo visited the Big House for a bizarre and historic day, when an otherwise obscure figure in Wolverine history made history as did Mother Nature. Dig it: [display_podcast] Don’t forget to catch the whole KeyBank Countdown to Kickoff on WTKA starting 4 hours before each game, and of course live in the Bud Light Victors Lounge when they lace them up in Ann Arbor. For those so inclined, here’s a little more from my 2011 post on the history of games ending early: It’s certainly not the first Michigan football game to end before the planned allotted time. Most notably two of the most famous games in college football history ended early: The 1902 Rose Bowl (the first bowl game ever played) ended with plenty of time on the clock because Yost, Heston and crew were putting a colossal smack down on Stanford. From the Bentley: With eight minutes remaining in the game, Stanford captain Ralph Fisher approached the Wolverine bench and offered to concede; Michigan consented.…
-
-
Jim Harbaugh’s Top 5 Games at Michigan
A guest post by Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis #5: 1984 Miami (FL) – Jim Harbaugh’s first start as a Michigan Wolverine would come against the #1-ranked, defending National Champion Miami Hurricanes and he didn’t disappoint. Wolverine fans, myself included, had long felt that the maize and blue lacked one thing on offense for a few years – a tall, pocket-passing QB, ideally from California. That finally happened with the Palo Alto, CA 6-3, 202 pound Harbaugh. Having heard that he had attended a high school passing camp with John Elway as his instructor, sealed the deal for me – Harbs was going to be the next starting QB in my opinion and his first start was highly anticipated by many. His first two passes against Miami – an out pattern to Vince Bean for 11 yards and another to Steve Johnson for 16 yards – showed off his strong arm, much to the delight of the Michigan Stadium crowd, as Michigan went on to win, 22-14. It was an impressive victory for the Wolverines and a great start for the new QB from California. #4: 1985 Notre Dame – Remembering how Michigan finished the 1984 season at 6-6, not many gave U-M a chance in the season opener against Notre Dame in 1985. It was a statement game for both…
-
The Game: Illustrated
Ann Arbor-based uber Michigan memorabilia collector Ken Magee has been busy on a couple of fronts. First, as a follow-up to their successful book The Little Brown Jug that covered the history of the Michigan-Minnesota rivalry, Kenny has partnered with Jon Stevens again to produce The Game: The Michigan-Ohio State Football Rivalry (Images of Sports). Like the LBJ book The Game run downs season by season in the rivalry using classic photos, clippings, and memorabilia as a backdrop. Stevens put a nice little FAQ together here. It’s worth a spot on the bookshelf next to the personal Wolverine shrine in your den, office, bedroom or basement (yes, I know you have one). While I didn’t contribute nearly as much as I did in the Jug book in The Game, Ken and Jon did use a photo of mine from Harbaugh’s opening press conference…but sadly not this one:
-
Dechanalia – Potential Helmet Sticker Designs
Helmet decals. Honor badges. Or how about “performance stickers”? Call it a gut feeling but I think we’ll see them on the winged helmet following the Utah game but we’ll see. A primer on helmet sticker history can be found here. Naturally Dr. Sap has been pondering their return and he has mocked up a few potential designs for your review, poll at the bottom: 1. adidas logo 2. 1969 old school maize 3. 1969 high maize 4. Bo 5. Block M (Inside Oval) 6. Swoosh 7. Pebble grain retro 8. The Team x 3 9. HTTV 10. Mid-1970s Added: 11. Blockhams Bo (submitted by Scott from The Blockhams) Added 12. Plain Block M (requested on Twitter and mgoblog) Added 13. Via comments, Jumpman (2016?) Which one do you like, or do you have your own design? Send it over or hit me on Twitter. [poll id=”73″] Follow MVictors on Twitter
-
Deeper Maize and Blue
So by now you’ve seen The Wolverine’s Chris Balas tweet out what his sources say will be the 2015 road uniform:
-
#GoBlue150 and Being Decidedly Golden
As part of its celebration of the 150th anniversary of the athletic program, mgoblue.com is running a few nice pieces including a video bit from Greg Kinney of the U-M Bentley Historical Library and a breakdown of the first athletic team at Michigan – the baseball squad that played during the 1885-86 school year. Here are a few notes:
-
The Brilliance of 1901, Michigan Football
Friends, fans, or mere passers-by of this site. Read this excerpt. Buy Stagg vs. Yost. This is a masterpiece that will be read and taught through the ages, and Kryk has offered up an exclusive morsel to you – the readers of MVictors. A huge thanks to John and his publisher and the U-M Bentley Historical Library for this exclusive including several of the photos – I know you will love it: – – – – Yost’s 1901 Wolverines: perfection and roses Fielding H. Yost’s first Michigan team in 1901 smacked Amos Alonzo Stagg’s Chicago Maroons by the largest score so far in the 10-year series, 22-0 — the Wolverines’ eighth win in eight tries, all by shutout. Afterward, Stagg acted as he usually did after a team clobbered him on the field: he counter-punched as hard as he could off it. Days after the Nov. 16 game, Stagg filed a protest to UM authorities, charging that starting Wolverine left end Curtis Redden was a professional, for evidently pocketing an $11 prize as a youth after having won sprint races at a town sports meet. UM authorities mulled the matter while Redden on the following Saturday played in Michigan’s 15-touchdown, 89-0 destruction of Beloit in 30-minute halves — a near repeat of the 128-0 University of Buffalo slaughter. Upon launching…
-
Media Day: Miscellanea and Photos
Quick takes from media day: 1. I thought the idea of having 5 kids ask questions during the press conference was a bad idea—but it turned out to be pretty fun, cute, and at times, actually a little interesting. Well done #1000SSS. 2. The Harbaugh highlight was old #4 himself coordinating the team photo – from calling out the order of where guys would sit, to the spacing, to where they should put their hands, etc., etc. It was classic. I sat there and watched the whole thing. 3. Peppers is a beast. 4. Uniform notes: The players appeared to be wearing last years’ jersey and the 2015 maize pants. The pants were clearly a darker shade of maize. Just a guess, but the jerseys will follow the same tone. Speaking of the 2014 jerseys, they deliberately put a blue patch over the big block M above the nameplate (see Morris below). Hmm. I’m guessing the block M over the name plate won’t return in 2015.
