• Chris Webber stole one of Charles Barkley’s shoes

    December 29, 2008 /

    Check this out from Sports Illustrated this week [12/29/08 issue]. On the Dan Patrick ‘Just My Type‘ page, Chris Webber talks about his time on the practice squad for the 1992 Olympic Dream Team while he was at Michigan. IT’S NICE to know that even stars get nervous around their idols. Before the 1992 Olympics, Chris Webber was one of the players on a practice squad that provided opposition for the Dream Team. He shared a limo from the airport in Barcelona with Larry Bird. “I was shaking, calling him Mr. Bird,” Webber said. “He was very nice. It was a 10-minute car ride. I said, ‘It was nice meeting you.’ He was like, ‘Yeah, you can grab my bag.'” Webber left with more than just memories: “I got autographs, I stole socks out of their bags, I took everything, even jockstraps. I took one of Charles Barkley’s shoes. I was just a kid in a wonderland.” That’s good stuff (as long as we’re way outside the statutory limit) and you can’t blame him for grabbing everything in sight. I remember reading about C-Webb working out with the team but I didn’t know he actually traveled to Spain. And how big of a pisser is Bird? I wonder if it was just a little reminder to Webber not to get…

    READ MORE

  • Dierdorf dons Michigan ring on CBS?

    December 28, 2008 /

    If you caught the pregame for the New England vs. Buffalo game on CBS today you may have noticed a shiny blue ring on color man Dan Dierdorf’s finger. Here it is: My first thought wondered if this was a 1969 Michigan Big Ten championship ring for the former All-American offensive tackle. After a few Google searches I couldn’t find an example of a ’69 ring. Certainly if the ring had a stone it’d be blue, but that doesn’t exactly narrow it down. The other obvious choice would be a Pro Football Hall of Fame ring which very possible, here are a couple examples: I’m guessing it is either his HOF ring as a player as the 2008 recipient of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. And no, I really don’t care that much what a dude is wearing on his finger but give me a break man, the Lions are about to go 0-16 and there isn’t a lot of M pre-bowl hype to discuss.

    READ MORE

  • A2 Chronicle talks Ann Arbor News

    December 26, 2008 /

    Take a look at Chronicle editor Mary Morgan’s column on the state of the Ann Arbor News. , check here it out here. Here’s an excerpt of her advice for the News. [Note: this is condensed. Morgan elaborates on each recommendation in the column]: No amount of spin will change the realities confronting The News, but there is hope. A smaller newsroom could produce a smaller newspaper that’s a must-read, tightly focused on local news and events. But to do that, the paper’s leadership needs to overhaul its own approach to doing business. Here are a few places to start: * Don’t treat readers like idiots. Don’t tell people they’re getting more when they’re clearly not. * Don’t try to be everything to everyone. * Communicate, communicate, communicate. If you don’t tell your story, someone else will. * Get out of the office. Like anything else, loyalty is built through relationships….Speak to community groups, reach out to people you don’t already know, make sure all the senior managers are involved in as many different community efforts as possible.

    READ MORE

  • Scuttlebutt: Big Will Campbell enrolled

    December 24, 2008 /

    Hat tip to Michigan Sports Center,  the Michigan Daily performed some umich directory stalking and found that a William Campbell was added to the university directory yesterday. A couple commenters on the Daily post criticized writer Dan Feldman for his snooping here, suggesting that if true, Big Will should have been allowed to make the announcement on his terms. ***NERD ALERT – warning, if you read below this line it may confirm that I’m a geek*** 1. By posting this you can guess that I don’t have an issue with what Feldman did.  I’m sure the university has ways of hiding LDAP directory listings–the U-M should know how to do that since the directory protocol has its roots at Michigan. 2. Other potential William Campbells that may have enrolled for next semester include one of the grandchildren of actor William Campbell, of Star Trek fame amongst my fellow studs, from Wikipedia: Campbell has also obtained cult status for his guest starring roles on Star Trek, appearing first as the mischievous super-being Trelane (in part a parody of Liberace, whom Campbell resembled), in an episode of the original Star Trek series called “The Squire of Gothos”. Campbell also appeared three times as the Klingon Captain Koloth. Campbell first played Koloth on the original Star Trek series in the classic episode “The…

    READ MORE

  • New adidas Coaches Gear?

    December 23, 2008 /

    Fight fire with fire, the cure for Sweatervestitis: Yikes. Receiving this from your grams would tie a nice bow on a miserable year. Speaking of the holidays, are you 100% guaranteed to receive a Michigan related gift every year? [poll id=24] Related: More stuff from eBay: * Someone’s selling Rich Rodriguez’s spread offense playbooks on eBay man! Bollocks. [Hat Tip: Spawn of MZone] * You can own the website domain, images and content on UMICHFOOTBALL.com for $499, here’s the auction (with free shipping!).

    READ MORE

  • Brandstatter Blowing a .111

    December 22, 2008 /

    Just an update to my post this year that considered the brutal 2008 it’s been for Michigan football and Detroit Lions color man Jim Brandstatter. Tallied up through Sunday, the man they call Brando on Saturdays and Brandy on Sundays has covered 27 games with the good guys losing in 24, giving him a .111 win percentage. As for the Lions, I truly want them to beat Green Bay Sunday. Screw this ‘we need to send a message to the Fords’ nonsense–I want a win. Related: Speaking of tough years– “AP: Burress Crashes Uninsured Mercedes”

    READ MORE