That's that alpha and omega of my recollection, so thankfully I have a copy Craig Ross's tome, Obscene Diaries of a Michigan Fan, published in 2006. If you enjoy the tone, feel and prose of blogs like mgoblog and even this site, I suggest you get a copy of this book. I had a chance to meet Ross, a local attorney, author and raconteur, for lunch in December. I'm a good way through it and it's fabulous. Ross takes a good portion of chapter four in discussing cheating in college hoops in general, and takes a look at Johnny Orr, Bill Frieder, Ed Martin and Steve Fisher through this lens.
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Interview: Pete Tiernan of bracketscience.com
This week I sat down with Pete Tiernan, founder of bracketscience.com, a website with a comprehensive database that allows subscribers to slice and dice historical NCAA tournament data. Tiernan also provides statistical trends, charts, tips and strategies for busting up your pools. Over the past several years he’s contributed a column to ESPN.com insider$ and in 2009 will be featured at CBSSports.com. Tiernan holds two degrees from Michigan and taught for a while within the English department. His ties to the M basketball program run deep as his dad, ‘Boom Boom’ Tom Tiernan, laced them up for the Maize & Blue back when they played at Yost Field House in the early 1950s. We met in downtown Saline at the excellent Brecon Grille and over a few pints, he was kind enough to answer questions about Beilein, Michigan, tourney trends, the selection committee and more. We close with a cool story about his son who played for the Grand Valley State team that shocked Michigan State at Breslin last year. Enjoy: MVictors: Michigan basketball is becoming relevant again thanks to John Beilein. Let’s cut right to it, how does Beilein’s tournament coaching record stack up? Tiernan: Michigan made a very good choice. John Beilein is the top overperforming active coach of the modern tournament era. There’s a statistic that I have…
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Robinson spills the beans
Come on Rumeal! The star guard on Steve Fisher’s 1989 NCAA champions basically confirms that guys on the team were paid, from Mark Snyder’s post (with a surprisingly tame headline!): “You got nine pros and none of them left school early? If you’re taking care of players the right way, you understand the process to make it work. Otherwise, a player’s got to go out and look for help, it’s going to happen…” like with the Martin scandal. OK – so he doesn’t specifically say what that means but [cough, clear throat] maybe by “taking care of players the right way” he means furnishing them with Cottage Inn vouchers. Later he added, “Coaches have a lot of pressure to recruit the best players, and they have to turn to alumni for help. Alumni can’t help their school? I guess you’ve got to draw the line somewhere.” Robinson said he thinks they should call his team, with nine players that went to the pros, the Fab Nine.
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When the Game Must be Moved
Played January 11, 2009, scheduled January 9, 2009 Red Berenson and crew continued its roll yesterday afternoon, wrapping up a sweep of Miami, OH with a 4-0 shutout. The rare Sunday tilt was of course due to the postponement of Friday’s scheduled game, due to the structural issues uncovered at Yost Ice Arena. This wasn’t the first time a scheduled game had to be moved, and unfortunately many of the other incidents were brought on by darker circumstances. I thought this would be a nice opportunity to look at some of those instances: 1963 – Kennedy The assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963 moved out the Ohio State game which was scheduled to be played in Ann Arbor the next day. Played November 30, 1963, scheduled November 23, 1963 I was able to connect with Dr. Barry Dehlin, a sophomore on Bump Elliott’s 1963 crew and ask him about his memories of the days surrounding the assassination. Here’s what he wrote: Naturally the assassination was a shock to all of us. I remember being in the dorm getting ready to go to practice when I heard what had happened. One of those sentinel moments in your life that you will always remember. We still met that Friday and the decision was already made that the game was postponed…
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Photos of the Yost Ice Arena damage, repair
sue was discovered by one of the mason's working on the new indoor practice facility next door and the University decided to postpone Friday's game scheduled against Miami, OH to investigate and mitigate any risk of injury to passers-by or hockey fans.
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Stoned Wisconsin Badgers say, “I was there” (1981)
Here’s a look at an interesting pin commemorating Wisconsin’s 1981 victory over Michigan. Certainly, no one in Madison would produce a trinket today for a regular-season victory, but keep in mind that Barry Alvarez wouldn’t arrive for another decade and Badger football consistently had a place at or near the bottom of the Big Ten. The lowly Badgers and hadn’t defeated the Blue since 1962 and in the previous four meetings, Bo’s Wolverines outscored Wisconsin 176 to zero. Michigan was riding a nine-game win streak (including Schembechler’s first Rose Bowl victory) and that was enough for the pollsters to slot the Wolverines #1 in the preseason poll. This seemed to be an ideal opponent for the opener, held September 12, 1981, and Michigan came in as a 19 point favorite. Over 68,000 pickled fans witnessed the historic 21-14 upset. Longtime sportswriter Jack McCallum was on hand for Sports Illustrated: Last year Wisconsin didn’t score a touchdown until its fourth game. On Saturday in Madison, against a Michigan team that hadn’t yielded a touchdown in 5 games, Wisconsin scored two touchdowns in the second quarter and the gamer—on a 71-yard pass play. Quarterback Jess Cole throwing to Tailback John Williams—in the third. “This win is the best thing that ever happened to me,” said Coach Dave McClain. The issue? Michigan’s new…
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Yost should bow to Stoops’ Sooners?
Fielding H. Yost, 1907 team postcards From a post composed by John Fineran of gatorcountry.com: Even Michigan’s legendary coach Fielding Yost might rise from his grave and pay Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops and his Sooners their due. Yost, you’ll remember, was the architect of Michigan’s “point-a-minute” team of 1901 that scored 550 points in 660 minutes of football in winning the national championship and the first Rose Bowl. Actually, that’s 0.83 points every 60 seconds, making the offense of Michigan’s Yost toast when compared to Oklahoma, where the points come whistling down the plains. These 2008 Sooners, led by Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Sam Bradford, have scored 702 points in 780 minutes of play this year – 12 regular-season games and the Big 12 Championship – in running up a 12-1 record that has them in the BCS National Championship Game Thursday night at Dolphin Stadium against the potent Florida Gators. Not quite a point-a-minute, mind you. But again, fathom the numbers – 702 points in 780 minutes of play. That’s 0.9 points every 60 seconds. Clearly this isn’t meant to be a deep dive comparison on Yost vs. Stoops– the purpose is to highlight the prolific offense possessed by the Gators’ barrier to another BCS championship. That said, there’s an inaccuracy in those numbers. The Wolverines played 11 games in…
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Dierdorf dons Michigan ring on CBS?
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.
