Did anyone out there hear the segment with former Nebraska stand-out and recovering drug addict Jason Peter on Jim Rome today? I caught it in the car, I’m looking for the audio to post. If you’ve got it please send it along. Even if you know the story you’ve got to hear him tell it. In a nutshell, his younger brother Damian was a highly rated Holtz commit to Notre Dame. The summer before he was to enroll he was injured in their swimming pool and was perhaps minutes from never walking again. He eventually recovered but it ended his career. According to Peter, Holtz never called his brother once when he was in the hospital. Nothing. When his brother eventually enrolled at Notre Dame, none of the coaching staff ever approached him about the injury or offered any assistance. Me writing this doesn’t do justice to the passion of live interview, so I’m trying to get it for you. I’ve heard a few things about Holtz and I’ve heard his motivational speech, I’ve seen some of the messes he’s created and I listen to him on ESPN. All this said, there are two sides to stories like this and we really should hear what Holtz has to say.
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Dave Brown 34th Wolverine Enshrined into College Football Hall of Fame
Congratulations to the late Dave Brown who joined 19 other coaches and players into the College Football Hall of Fame today. The two-time (’73-’74) All-American defensive back was inducted alongside JoPa and Doug Flutie. But you wouldn’t know about it because there is minimal local coverage [Freep] including no mention on mgoblue.com? What’s the deal? It’s not like the athletic department isn’t on top of things: there’s a mention of Dan Deirdorf winning an award for broadcasting. Brown is the 34th individual with Michigan ties to be inducted. I don’t have any memories of Brown since I was a wee lad when he took the field, but it’s clear he had some skills in the defensive backfield (9 career interceptions) and was a fine punt returner (11.1 career average). He co-captained the great 1974 squad that finished 10-1 and 3rd in the final AP poll. The lone loss that season was the 12-10 defeat at the hand of the Buckeyes. Here’s his full bio on his new college football hall of fame page: Dave Brown was the leader of one of the most successful and yet frustrating periods in Michigan football history. The Wolverines posted a 30-2-1 record, tied for three Big Ten conference titles and never went to a bowl game. The defensive units on which Brown played were…
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Carr Reacts to Charlie Weis comments
WJR’s Frank Beckmann asked Lloyd Carr to react to the “To Hell with Michigan” comments from Notre Dame Charlie Weis. No surprise, Carr took the high road but suggested that Bo made his “To Hell with Notre Dame” comments “after he was out of coaching”. [display_podcast] You can hear the entire interview here. HT: Michigan Sports Center.
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To Hell is Back
One of the things bloggers do when they’ve been away from the keyboard for a little while is check out site statistics. A quick scan of the incoming links revealed that my previous posts referencing my favorite Schembechler phrase are being peppered. It didn’t take long to find out why. As you may know by now you can thank Notre Dame head coach Chuck Weis for that: “I think the first opportunity they’re going to have to really make a statement is that day [Sept. 6 against SDSU], and then we’ll listen to Michigan have all their excuses as they come runnin’ in and sayin’ how they have a new coaching staff and there’s changes. To hell with Michigan.” ** Translated by Brian at mgoblog, who is fluent in Hutt Beautiful! I love this. Rich Rod is getting from all sides this off-season and I say bring it on. Any shot at our new coach just unifies the fickle Michigan fan base and gives a reassuring boost to our rivalries. Now we need Tim Brewster to announce he’s cleared a space in his office to display the Little Brown Jug and we’ll be all set. Referencing a Schembechler line is fine by me although I’m sure many would say that Weis would never dare say such a thing if Bo…
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Michigan Bunt Almost Yields Beaning
Hilarious stuff is coming through on the Wolverine exhibition game with the New York Mets. You may know that the teams tied 4-4 after a late Mets rally. What you may not have seen is that someone forgot to tell our boys in Blue that this wasn’t a real game. Apparently my main man Kevin Cislo tried to lay down a bunt to advance a runner in the 4th, and I guess that violates one of the countless unwritten rules of etiquette in baseball. Here’s the description from Newsday: Forget the Phillies. Billy Wagner nearly started a beanball war with the University of Michigan after one overzealous Wolverine tried to bunt on him in the fourth inning. With a runner on second and one out, centerfielder Kevin Cislo pushed his bunt foul. Wagner, clearly annoyed, shook his head a number of times, and Cislo wisely swung away, grounding out. Wagner said he couldn’t believe that Cislo, a junior, bunted. “If he got that bunt down, I would have drilled the next guy,” Wagner said. “Play to win against Villanova.” Asked about Wagner’s reaction, manager Willie Randolph laughed. “He couldn’t bring himself to drill the kid,” Randolph said. ” Nolan Ryan might have. Nolan or Roger [Clemens] may have done it, kid or not.” While the Mets viewed the game as…
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Ultimate Michigan Football Highlight? You Decide
You like me have likely been suffering through ESPN’s tournament for the greatest sports highlight of all time (which inexplicably contains an entry with no actual footage and may have never actually happened: Babe Ruth’s called shot). I typically hate these things unless there’s some Michigan-related element to it (see Legg’s goal winning the ESPY). To make a bit interesting I rolled my head through the greatest highlights in Michigan football in the past 40 years or so. Several came to mind and I’m certainly missing some of your favorites. My favorite? See the pic that leads this story. I was in the upper deck in Spartan Stadium on the same side of the field and saw the whole thing. My head almost exploded when I realized what I had just watched. Here’s a poll and get your takes and feel free to add your own entry: {democracy} Here’s what I could find on the YouTube. Thankfully I witnessed each of these in person except for the great Wangler to Carter game winner and of course the Harmon ditty:
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1948 Rose Bowl and the National Championship debate
How about the 1948 Rose Bowl in Pasadena against USC? The 49-0 win capped off a national championship season where the Wolverines went 10-0 and outscored their opponents 394-53. You may have seen some clips of this version of Fritz Crisler's "Mad Magicians" featuring Bob Chappuis and Bump Elliott on Michigan Football Memories show from PBS. The combination of line shifts and ball movement is jaw-dropping:
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Newsflash: O-line Getting Bigger
I picked up a copy of Bruce Madej’s Champions of the West this past weekend and it’s got some interesting stuff. Greg Kinney of the University of Michigan Bentley Museum contributed and that was a big selling point for me. It was published back in 1997 and provides a year-by-year capsule of Michigan sports, dedicating a page or two to each season. The focus is on football but covers the entire Michigan athletic package. It’s basically a collection of factoids, bios, lists and general items of interest over each year and I’ve cited the book here several times due to some of the nuggets they dredged up. One of the lists they pulled together was the average weight of the Michigan offensive line over the years. Since it was published a decade ago, I added the last data point based on this year’s line and slapped it into a graph. Yes, they are getting bigger: Based on the data points I’ve seen, when the Notre Dame series is scheduled to end in 2032 the average Michigan offensive linemen should come in at around 6’7″, 327 pounds. This of course assumes a lot of things. Forgetting about human progress in fitness & nutrition for a moment, a key factor might be the type of lineman you want to fit the offensive…
