Darius Morris dialed up WDFN to chat with M basketball radio voice and WDFN morning show host Matt Shepard on Shep, Shave, and Shower on 1130AM this morning: [display_podcast] They hit on: * How Darius came to accept the MSU rivalry being from LA. * On what other M athletes think about the MSU rivalry. * Morris thinks the MSU win earlier this game was a huge turning point, “we learned how to win”. * “You wouldn’t want it any other way” — that is, this game Saturday against State and all that’s on the line. * He caught some of the MSU/Iowa game at Pizza House last night. * He was asked about the impact of losing a teammate this late this the season (a la BYU). * Morris is only worried about Saturday right now (not the NCAA or B10 tournament). * Darius shared a bit about his friend Dan Tan. * Says he never saw himself at a particular school (like UCLA or USC) – just wanted a solid D-1 school. * Best player he’s played against? Kobe Bryant (at a camp). * Best player he’s played with? John Wall (on a travel team). You can catch all of the WDFN podcasts here.
-
-
Jalen Joins Shep to discuss the Fab Five (03-03 WDFN audio)
Jalen Rose joined Michigan hoops radio voice and WDFN morning show host Matt Shepard on Shep, Shave, and Shower on 1130AM this morning: [display_podcast] They talked quite a bit about the legacy and potential reinstatement of the Fab 5. Jalen clearly thinks the F4 banners need to be restored and feels a jersey or two should be retired. ESPN has an extensive documentary on the controversial quintet coming up on March 13 at 9am. You can preview some of the clips here HT to Jeff Papworth. One historical nitpick: Jalen says a key piece in restoring the Fab Five back to Michigan will be restoring their Final 4 banners. He adds that the Fab 5 had were the team “that helped Michigan get to two of its three final appearances ever.” Of course Michigan was also in the 1965 and 1976 NCAA finals, losing to UCLA and undefeated Indiana respectively. You can catch all of the WDFN podcasts here.
-
President Gerald Ford Snaps the Pigskin! (1974)
Check out this shot of President Ford at a Portland, Oregon charity event
-
Let Him Pass
I just returned from a nice vacation in much warmer climates. On the way home from DTW (after enduring a power outage that locked me and many others inside the airport parking structure for 45 minutes—yes, they held us hostage while they figured out how to charge us for parking given cc’s wouldn’t process) I caught the end of the excellent Minnesota hoops game on WTKA. Catching up on reading, I got a big chuckle out of this line from Brian in the aftermath of the Wisconsin bank robbery: Not to dwell on a small monkey on a Caribbean island throwing a banana that turns into a tsunami because of chaos theory and wham(!) there’s a coconut in Crisler.. While I’m not going to make you suffer through all the photos from my family vacation, I thought I better post this shot of this small Caribbean monkey that walked by me last Sunday just before 9am, on his way to find a banana to chuck: I let regrettably let him pass. One more photo – here’s my pal Giles in front of Wayne Rooney’s getaway house Barbados: Rooney wasn’t there of course, he was busy doing this.
-
Mental Prep for Wednesday
You been there I’m sure. You’re out of the country, or out of TV coverage or for whatever reason, you can’t catch of feed or regular updates from an important game. You feel helpless & the bits of data you find are precious. I could be found refreshing the final couple minutes of the Iowa game on ScoreMobile, trying to piece together what was going on. The stretch in the final seconds of reg to tie the game (that I later learned was Jordan Morgan at the line sinking free throws) took 14 refreshes and lasted a span of around five anxious Caribbean minutes. With three games to go it’s hard to believe this young group is actually in the discussion for tournament bid. Pete, I may need my account at BracketScience.com freshened up. The Michigan State game is always going to be huge for so many reasons but first it’s a huge one with the Badgers. There’s plenty on the line but what gets you extra pumped up for Wisconsin on Wednesday? Bielema and Ryan are easy to hate, but beyond that—what’s your beef with the Badgers and their fans? They get too pickled at games? Maybe so, but it’s a loveable kind of drunk, like the charming Alison a.ka. “Puke and Rally Aly” who I saw on Wipeout…
-
Inside Big Ten Icons
I appreciate all the kind words (and hair jokes) for the appearance on the Tom Harmon Big Ten Icons piece that has been running this week. A few folks have fired over questions about the episode and I’d thought I’d summarize those here. I addressed some of this and more with Sam and Ira on Feb 3 so check that out as well. I was contacted by the producer about a month ago. They were pulling together the episode and felt they needed more “voices” to add to the documentary. Keep in mind most of the interviews/comments about Harmon and the other pieces were collected a while ago. Angelique, for instance, was interviewed during the Big Ten basketball tournament last year—they shot her in an old gym in Indianapolis. My read is that they had a lot about how great/dynamic Harmon was, but not a lot of detail in the Harmon story. So—the producer asked around for names & John Lofy of Michigan Today and the great John U. Bacon suggested they contact me. The BTN folks also contacted Greg Kinney, the curator at The Bentley Library. They interviewed Kinney and I on January 25th at the stadium on the east side. (Kinney went before me and he was gone before I arrived). I’m seated in the first row of…
-
Viva Michigan Helmet Stickers!?
Near the end of Wojo’s extensive Q&A with Coach Hoke was this exchange: Q. Many fans crave a return to old Michigan ways. You’ve talked about being tough in the trenches, having a pounding defense. What about the little traditions, like helmet stickers again? A. I don’t know about the helmet stickers yet. I’m gonna get some counsel from ex-players, from coach (Gary) Moeller, coach (Jerry) Hanlon. We are going to have captains, I can promise you. It’s a tradition many believe started with Woody Hayes and the Buckeyes in the late 1960s but thanks to the piece in Hail to the Victors 2010 by John Kryk (with Steve Sapardanis), we know that the tradition was actually started by Bo. Kryk described the scene in 1969 when Schembechler announced that the Wolverines would be placed stickers on their helmets after games: “Oh, like Woody?” a reporter asked. “Uh-uh.” Schembechler grinned triumphantly. “Woody got the idea from me.” Kryk goes on to trace the start back of the “big-play” stickers to 1965, Bo’s third season at Miami, OH (then still nicknamed the Redskins). They used little red tomahawks. Thanks to Sapardanis, here’s a breakdown of the Michigan helmet decals used to date: Count Sapardanis as one who would like to see the tradition return in fact he’s made a bold suggestion…
-
It Had to Happen
Nearly three years ago to the day I submitted a mgoblog guest post talking about the 100-year Michigan football anniversary event held in 1979. Former player Willis Ward attended the celebration held at Chrysler errr, Crisler Arena. I mentioned this: Willis Ward: The African-American end and U-M track star was Gerald Ford’s roommate for road games and a member of the ’32 and ’33 national championship squads. This man’s story deserves a full documentary or movie, not a blurb on a blog post, and it’s safe to assume he gave some interesting remarks to the banquet crowd. A hat tip to my boys at UGP/Moe’s and MGoShoe for simultaneously sending over this link. Pete Bigelow at AnnArbor.com writes that a local group is putting together a 10 part series covering Michigan football. It’ll debut with this: The series will debut with an episode on the 1934 Michigan-Georgia Tech game, in which the Yellow Jackets threatened to pull out of the game if Michigan played Willis Ward, the school’s second black player. Ward’s teammate, future President Gerald Ford, contemplated quitting the team in protest of Ward’s exclusion. Here’s a trailer from the group producing the films, Stunt3 Multimedia: When can we expect this to come out? According to senior creative director Buddy Moorehouse: ..the first film in the series ("Black and…
