In The Shawshank Redemption, while recapping how Andy Dufresne walked through the prison wearing the warden’s shoes, Red asks, “I mean, seriously, how often do you really look at a mans shoes?” That’s probably fair, unless we’re talking about Billy Taylor’s Pumas of course. Many of you know this season I got to test drive one of the products of my sponsor MaraWatch. Unlike Andy’s shoes the watch was noticed—throughout the season I fielded compliments heading into the stadium, on the field by alums, and even up in the press box by my media buds. I also got to know the man behind the operation, Shashi Mara. We met a few weeks back in Ann Arbor and I got to see the whole collection and the different straps. The dude has a great story and an intense passion for his product—down to the finish on the underside of the buckles. I love it. Over coffee Shashi shared a sneak peek at a couple videos he was pulling together to promote the brand. They’ve since been finished and they are pure gold–here’s my favorite: Interested in wearing one? For the holidays they’ll donate 10% of the sale price to a charity such as the Charles Woodson Clinical Research Fund or the Blavin Scholars Fund. or perhaps something that’s close to you. …
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Seeing Seven Sign
I bumped into Ricky Leach last night when he was up at WTKA last night signing photo of he and Bo taken following the 1978 win over the Buckeyes. Last week on air Leach promised anyone who donated $50+ to Debbie Williams-Hoak’s Magic of Christmas campaign that they’d receive a personalized copy from Old #7 and he obviously came through. Here’s what he put on mine: Major props to Ira, Sam and the folks at WTKA for once again posting a record-breaking number of kids “adopted”..and hats off to saint Debbie for all she does in driving this great program. Follow MVictors on Twitter
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Don Lund Passes Away
Lundo (seated) and Bump Elliott up in the press box. Lund watched on the far south side of the press box each game (my photo) We lost a legend in these parts for sure. Via Media Relations: Former Standout U-M Student-Athlete, Coach and Administrator Don Lund Passes Away ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Don Lund, a former standout University of Michigan student-athlete, coach and administrator passed away of natural causes today (Tuesday, Dec. 10) at the age of 90. Lund was born May 18, 1923, in Detroit, Mich., and graduated from Detroit Southeastern High School. Lund was a three-sport star at Michigan, earning three letters each in baseball, football and basketball. His number 33 jersey is one of six retired by the Michigan baseball program. A star on the gridiron, Lund was drafted in the first round of the NFL draft by the Chicago Bears in 1945. The running back at Michigan decided to pursue a Major League Baseball career rather than a football career, however, signing out of Michigan with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945. He played two-plus seasons for the Dodgers (1945, ’47-’48) before joining the St. Louis Brown at the tail-end of the 1948 season. Lund returned to his hometown team, the Detroit Tigers, for the final six years of his professional career (1949-54). After finishing his major…
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…but we get up again
See you in Tempe? We need boots on the ground – I’ll be there.
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The Zero-Sum Game (Ohio State 42, Michigan 41)
As someone covering the history of this program I always love it when I see historic events unfold before us, and fortunately I get to see a lot of that following Michigan. Saturday was an all-timer and yes, I’m one of those people who can enjoy an epic game even if we come out on the wrong side. While many of you who watched the twists (and the result) of the 2000 Northwestern game no doubt hurled a remote or two during the game, I was in Evanston that day and while I was frustrated at times, in the end I was fine knowing I witnessed one for the ages. Damn I wish we had that two-point conversion back but I’m fine, even good. Most of all now I’m actually a little excited to see the bowl game and I’m not sure I could say that before kickoff. To the questions on the collective mind: > Should we have gone for 2? I liked the call, and I have trouble finding fans who disagree. I know you are out there, but it feels like most everyone liked the balls and more importantly, the call. If anything we should have gone for two earlier in the game as the nerds will tell you. > Like the play? I think most fans…
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Dr. Sap’s Decals | O-H-N-O! NO! NO! NO!!
To quote Ufer: “I just ache, in every ounce of my body!!” OFFENSIVE CHAMPION DEVIN GARDNER – New 98 has the Heart of a Champion and the way he gutted through the second half on Saturday was very inspiring to say the least. He left it all on the field against the Bucks – much like Old 98 did in 1940. By the way, did you happen to notice how eerily similar his option TD run in the northwest endzone corner was to Ricky Leach’s option TD against OSU in 1977? Nice! DEFENSIVE CHAMPION BEN GEDEON – His play in the first half helped stymie OSU’s over-confident offense and helped make the Buckeyes realize what kind of a dog fight they were in. All of a sudden, Michigan has decent quality depth at linebacker – finally! SPECIAL TEAMS CHAMPION ENTIRE KICK TEAM UNIT – Let me tell you right now – when somebody bitch-slaps you in your own house, like OSU did in the second quarter, you BETTER punch back! I don’t condone fighting at all, but once the gloves come off, BRING IT! Kudos for the entire kick team for sending a message to the Buckeyes that the days of UM rolling over are DONE! To me, those ejections were as team galvanizing as scoring 21 points on OSU…
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The Game (More Photos)
Incredible work by photographer Kelley Kuehne out there Saturday – a few for you: More: Salutes Off The Game (Sights, Sounds) Just A Few (Photos) Valiant TWIMFbH: Angus Goetz the Bucks (1918) Passing the Broadcast Torch to Frankie
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Salutes
You probably know Saturday was the last home game for equipment manager Jon Falk, Frank Beckmann, and Bruce Madej. Falk was acknowledged at midfield, and Bruce and Frank received framed #1 jerseys (pics below). I don’t know Beckmann on a personal level but through the writing on these pages and elsewhere I’ve gotten to know Falk and Madej and they’ve always been great to me. They will be missed. Congrats gents! Related: mgoblue.com posted a list of Beckmann’s Top 10 calls and Madej’s top 10 moments. I also posted a few clips from the ‘81 Notre Dame game with Beckmann taking the broadcast baton from Ufer. Follow MVictors on Twitter
