[Ed. Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis at it again, just in time for March Madness. ] Ever wonder what Bo Schembechler-coached-Michigan-Football-team was the best? [Ed. Sap, of course they have!]. With March Madness all around us and brackets being filled out everywhere, I decided to draw up my own set of Bo Brackets – The Schembechler Sweet 16, if you will. I used some basic criteria to determine who would go dancing, who would stay on the sidelines and who would get the highest ranking/seed of the Schembechler-coached teams from 1969-1989. Rose Bowl and Big Ten Championships certainly helped, and the absence of either of those pretty much meant you didn’t get an invite. As a result, these teams are not included in the tourney for the following reasons: 1975 – Started Bo’s Bowl streak but did not win a Big Ten Championship & had only 8 wins. 1979 – No conference championship & poor record doom this team. 1983 – A great defense, but no Big Ten Championship means no invite. 1984 – Obvious non-qualifier with 6-6 record. 1987 – Too many losses and too many interceptions spell disaster for this team. Also note: The 1970 team was on the bubble for this tourney, but got the nod over the 1975 squad because of their better record, even though they…
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Wire Photo Wednesday | Cutting Nets and Dr. Shake
Good Wednesday to you. Leading off…T Mills: Leading off, the man coach Bill Frieder personally visited at Romulus High literally hundreds of times – to keep him away from Jud Heathcote and MSU, here from April 1989 presumably from the Kingdome following the NCAA title victory (Ed. However as a commenter pointed out, M wore blue of course in the finals—so perhaps an earlier round or something else]. From 1970, an awesome shot of back Glenn Doughty posing between an unidentified pair of Bo’s bruisers. Great shot. Following his Michigan days he became Shake and Bake, and later (after completing his PhD in Groove from Funkalicious University [Dearborn]), just Dr. Shake: He earned the nickname “Shake and Bake” during his years with the Colts, and the nickname was also extended to the 1975 Baltimore Colts offense. The Colts Record of 10-4 reversed the prior year’s 2-12 record to set the greatest one year turn-a-round season in NFL History. The Colts won the Eastern Division Championship. Doughty played a key role in leading the Colts to three straight Eastern Division Championships for the first time in Colts history. 1975 also saw Doughty, a Motown native, create the Shake & Bake Band. The Group consisted of Tight End Ray Chester on bass, Lloyd Mumford Defensive Back on harmonica, Fred Scott…
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Beat Ohio!
We got this!
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Wire Photo Wednesday | Fritz Watches Harry Wrestle
Good Wednesday to you, friends. WPW leads off with a classic shot of the B1G football coaches meeting prior to the 1931 season (see above). This photo, from the Big Ten meetings prior to the 1931 season, is probably worth its $44 auction price. On the floor you’ve got M headman Harry Kipke with Purdue coach (and former player under Rockne) Noble Kizer demonstrating life in the trenches. Minnesota’s Fritz Crisler, who would replace Kipke later that decade, watches from the back. Amongst the men seated is Illinois legend Bob Zuppke sitting next to the one & only Amos Alonzo Stagg. Great shot. Dress code in ‘31? White shirt, tie, Brylcreem in the hair (except for Stagg). I don’t know when wire photos started to be distributed to newspapers, but this has to be a fairly early one (from 1926) featuring the great Michigan quarterback and NFL HOF’er Benny Friedman. The seller claims it is an original and wants a mere $30. If it’s truly the original it’s worth over $100 easy IMO.
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The Coach Was Happy (Beilein joins WTKA 3-11)
Ole! Via BTN Brent Yarina. Enjoy a very happy John Beilein chatting with Sam and Ira this morning on WTKA 1050AM. They hit on many topics – the success this year, the 1-3-1 zone, the postgame celebration on Saturday, the evolution of the Crisler atmosphere (LOL), the upcoming B1G tournament and much more: [display_podcast] As always, you can catch all of the WTKA podcasts here. Follow MVictors on Twitter
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Schembechler Hall 2.0 (Fresh Renovation photos)
A few sneak-peek photos from the new Schembechler Hall renovation:
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Going Down Bloody-Nose-Lane With Bob Ufer (1965) | Storytime with Dr. Sap
[Ed. Did you know the great Bob Ufer called the occasional hoops game? Believe it. Here’s Sap breaking down a recording from the 1965 IU game with Ufe on the mic. P.S. If Ufe were alive today I bet he’d have a few choice words for Crean! #DONG] A guest post by Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis With Michigan winning their first outright B1G Basketball Championship in 28 years, I thought it would be appropriate to look back on the 1965 Michigan – Indiana Basketball game. Not because UM will be playing IU this weekend, but because Bob Ufer was doing the play-by-play radio on WPAG (the predecessor to your beloved WTKA 1050AM). Back in 1965 Michigan, led by the great Cazzie Russell, also won the B1G title and was ranked #2 in the country behind some school out west (UCLA). But the real story here is Ufer. A few years ago, Ufer.org came out with a CD that had the first half of the UM-IU Hoops game and it is priceless. To hear Ufer call a basketball game in much the same fashion that he called a football game is pure joy. Here’s a breakdown of a few selected tracks: [display_podcast] Track #1: Here you’ve got Ufe calling the opening tip of the game. Track #2: If you listen closely…
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Wire Photo Wednesday | Men Amongst Boys
This week WPW takes a look at three outstanding shots, each featuring a unique perspective of three Michigan greats – Cazzie Russell, Tom Harmon and Bill Yearby: Crisler is known as the house that Cazzie built, but here’s a look at Cazzie’s original digs: Yost Arena. Dang it looks pretty cool in there and I love the angle of that photo. Memo to #41: Nice socks, Milhous. Speaking of that venue, who’d like to see a hoops game at Yost? Get on board #1000SSS. And maybe they’d even bring back the Old Man?: Speaking of cool angles, I’m not sure I can recall a old shot quite like this, here you’ve got Old 98 Tom Harmon in 1938 trotting out of the tunnel handling a pigskin. Uniform snobs will note the block M socks. I also love the cheerleader’s sweater and the shiny pants (that guy has a little Barney Fife in him). Turning to the crowd, clearly if you didn’t wear a hat (children and ladies included) to the game back then you were a square, Daddy-O. A real flat tire. What I can’t make out is what’s on the guy’s sweatshirt behind Harmon? Best guess – it either reads “Maroons” (played in the Big House 10/8/38) or “Spartans” (the season opener 10/1/38). Hmm, who do you…
