Hail! Your TipMas Treezy:
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Hail! Al Wistert, Back in the Big House
Back in the Big House today, here’s Albert (Al) Wistert. He’s the final living Michigan man to have his number (#11) retired and unretired via the Michigan Football Legends Program: Official release, via Media Relations: Wisterts Recognized as Michigan Football Legends, Safety Kovacs to Wear No. 11 Jersey ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The University of Michigan Athletic Department officially recognized the Wistert brothers, Francis, Albert and Alvin, as Michigan Football Legends today (Nov. 11) during a pregame ceremony at the Michigan-Northwestern football game. Senior safety Jordan Kovacs (Curtice, Ohio/Clay) will wear the famed No. 11 jersey for the remainder of the season, switching from No. 32. A Michigan Football Legend patch over the left upper chest will be affixed to the No. 11 jersey worn by Kovacs and all other future players donning the Wisterts’ jersey number. The Wisterts, one of the great Michigan athletic families in school history, each wore the No. 11 jersey for the Michigan football program. All three brothers played tackle, were selected consensus All-Americans and were inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and Michigan Hall of Honor. Francis “Whitey” Wistert (1931-33) played on three consecutive Big Ten Championship teams, including two back-to-back national championship squads. Whitey was also Big Ten Conference MVP in baseball and later played for the Cincinnati Reds. He was…
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History of the GO BLUE Banner (1962) | This Week in Michigan Football History
Saturday’s edition of This Week in Michigan Football History drops back to exactly five decades ago to November 10, 1962 as Bump Elliott’s struggling 1-5 Wolverines took on Illinois. It was that day, according to John U. Bacon, that one of the greatest traditions in college football was hatched: the coveted Michigan GO BLUE banner. This week head back to this day exactly five decades ago in 1962, as head coach Bump Elliott and his struggling Wolverines were about to get a boost as they faced Illinois in Ann Arbor. Team 83 had but a single win in 6 tries, and was shut-out 3 times. They clearly needed a lift, and they got it from an unlikely source: head Michigan hockey coach Al Renfrew and his wife Marge. According to Meechigan historian John U. Bacon, in an effort to raise the spirits of Bump’s men, Marge sewed a maize ‘M’ on a large sheet and presented it at the Friday practice. The players liked it so coach Coach Elliott agreed to have it propped up in the stadium tunnel before the game played on this day 50 years ago. After Bump’s men prevailed 14-10 over the Illini– the banner, needless to say, was here to stay. According to Bacon it moved to midfield the following season where it has become…
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Mud Bowl Preview
The SAE Mud Bowl is Saturday, my sources (HT: GV) tell me the home team will face FIJI in the annual slopfest. I’m still unclear if two teams of ladies will entertain during halftime. Game time is around 9am and I’ve got the early line at FIJI –6. The visitors feature quarterback Ben Fry, a standout in high school at Grosse Pointe South who was also on the U-M varsity roster last year. While success on a regular field doesn’t always translate to the mud, I understand Fry is quite a weapon. We’ll see. The event benefits Mott Children’s Hospital once again this year. Follow MVictors on Twitter
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The Finished Product
Once again I had the honor of witnessing the finishing touches on the Minnesota-Michigan game. Monday afternoon artist Jil Gordon painted Saturday’s tally on the Little Brown Jug under the watchful eye of the jug-bearer, longtime U-M equipment manager Jon Falk. (If you missed Angelique’s piece on Gordon last week, check it out here.) Here’s a few photos from Schembechler Hall: Jil was also able to get her hands on the replica inside the SH museum and tighten up the scores on that beauty as well: The Space Quandary. So the big question of course is what to do next season, as today Jil filled up the last slot left on the old crock in the current grid configuration. Options, ideas, et cetera have been discussed on these pages before. My gut: they will add new space for scores above the Ms, a single short column above, and a pair of columns below. All told you can record around 32-38 additional scores that way. Maintenance. A couple folks noticed in a tweet today that one year was blanked out. Explanation: When she updates the jug, Jil will occasionally (and thankfully) do a little maintenance. The 2001 cell was a bit choppy – it’s all good now. Data. In the 93 games in the series (and I’m counting 1903 because the…
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Greg Skrepenak’s Regret
You may know the story of former manster OL Greg Skrepenak, a two-time All-American and captain of Gary Moeller’s 1991 squad. He was sentenced in 2010 to serve 24 months in a federal prison after he pled guilty on a corruption charge while serving as a County Commissioner in Pennsylvania. He was freed in June. In the mail today I got my latest copy of LSA Magazine. It’s very well done so I usually thumb through it. In the back I spotted Skrepenak’s photo along with this piece he composed titled, Adding It Up. A snippet:
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Twelve is a Quarterback’s Number – Sights & Sounds (2012: Michigan 35, the Gophers 13)
So I’m following Brandin Hawthorne into the TCF Stadium tunnel after the game as he toted the jug back to the locker room. I got a slight bump from someone passing by and it was enough to jar my iPhone out of my left hand. As I was turning to grab it, a saw that a U-M player was already reaching down, in stride, and calmly scooping it up off the cement. Devin Gardner, who had just finished up an interview, handed me my phone. I thanked him and I mumbled something like, “nice game.” I’m not sure if there were any elderly ladies needing an escort on a crosswalk but I’m certain Gardner was there for them as well. After a frightening start, Gardner was amazing. I’m amazed that he can spend basically one week preparing for this game and do that. Yes, I realize it was The Gophers and like everyone else in this fanbase I’m prone to oversteer after any win, but that was remarkable. So that is the 5-star guy that everyone was salivating over out of high school. Because he’s so cool, I’ve theorized that Gardner is the type of person who needs to get pissed or face a challenge to really get going. In the postgame, I asked Hoke about it and he basically…
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Gopher Game Photos
Check out more postgame jug photos here, and of course pregame shots here. Slash! Gardner heading here: Gardner and Capt. Robinson comparing notes Gopher drumline adding some pageantry Gang tackle. There are few extra legs and feet in there somehow like the Iwo Jima Memorial Deep sigh. Guys, it’s hard to take the ‘No More Minnesota Nice’ thing seriously when you flash the hearty double thumbs up next to Mandy Pepperidge – who herself looks like she just found a box of puppies. And memo to the guy below: I know Gangnam Style is irresistible but you made a commitment when you put on that shirt and the eye black. I haven’t seen the reply yet but this is the play where Roundtree wrestled the catch down near the goal line to set up the score. Would love to see a little more of Wrestlin’ Roy the rest of the way. Here he is telling the back judge what was up: Until just now, I thought there were merely cute little helmet cozies on the back of the bench, certainly worthy of a post here for many reasons. Upon further review- they are actually hooked up to a propane-fueled heating (or cooling?) system. Gophers know how to deal with the elements, that’s for certain.…
