So I’m listening to the WTKA ‘Fantastic Friday’ broadcast prior to the Alabama beat down. Former U-M kicker Phil Brabbs took a break from kicking cancer’s ass & called into the show. Naturally the topic of his splendid game-winning kick against Washington in 2002 came up. Then this happened: someone on Twitter pointed out that it was the 10th anniversary off that kick. After the obligatory sadness (I’m getting old) I realized that there’s really no reason that such dates and anniversaries should be sneaking up and biting us. So this week I pinged the brilliant Craig Barker of The Hoover Street Rag for help and away we went on this concept. We started plugging in key dates in the history of the football program – the good, the bad, birthdays, deaths, special anniversaries and milestones. It’s a publicly available Google Calendar and I’ll keep it as a page in the tabs above, and post the upcoming events on my sidebar (scroll down). Again, we have just started (177+ entries, some need tweaks) but I like what we have so far. And thanks to Craig – your entries are spot on and yes, I love this one. Check it out. For starters – Did you know Harry Kipke died on this day 40 years ago? Did you know ‘The Catch’…
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Brian Kruger discusses Black and Blue (WTKA audio)
If you missed it, Brian Kruger, director of the wonderful documentary Black and Blue joined Ira and Sam this morning on WTKA 1050AM to discuss the latest on this documentary and their effort to encourage the athletic department to honor Willis Ward is some way – in particular on October 20th before the MSU game. The State legislature is set to make the 20th officially “Willis Ward Day” throughout Michigan. This year would mark Ward’s 100th birthday as well – what a great time to honor him. Their petition to have Ward honored is live now, you can join me in signing on here. As Brian said in the clip, he’s not suggesting that U-M offer an apology all these years They are also still active in getting a copy of the movie in every school and library in the State of Michigan and are making great headway. If you are interested in getting involved as a sponsor or supporting this effort, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Brian. Need the movie? Get it at Stunt3.com or on Amazon.com. Here’s the audio of this morning’s segment: [display_podcast] Related: The Willis Ward Protests Follow MVictors on Twitter
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Living U-M Legacy: Interview with Michigan Senior Kelsey Kramer
Did you know that there’s a direct family tie to #87 Ron Kramer currently at Michigan? It’s true. Kelsey Kramer (left, with her grandfather) is a senior at U-M and the granddaughter of the man we will honor on Saturday prior the the kick-off of the UMass game. The 21-year old is a psychology major & was kind enough to chat with me about her about her grandfather, her thoughts on the unretirement, who she’d like to see don the #87 and much more. MVictors: Do your fellow U-M students know who your grandpa was and what he did on the football field? Kelsey Kramer: They figure it out eventually. I remember during my freshman year, my grandpa came to take me out to lunch. When I got back all my guy friends were like, ‘Who was that? That guy was huge!’ I told them it was my grandpa and mentioned that he used to play football here…and they went straight to Wikipedia & figured out who he was. They’d say, ‘Why didn’t you tell us he was a Hall of Famer and played with the Green Bay Packers..,’ and all that stuff. I didn’t really think about it—he was just ‘grandpa’ to me. I know many of the guys on the football team definitely know who my grandpa was.…
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The Art of Michigan Video
I’ve known U-M football archivist Art Vuolo for a while because he’s omnipresent. You can find him rolling tape at anything Michigan related—games, busts, award ceremonies, outings…you name it. While he doesn’t have a high res shot of me catching Brendan Gibbons’ Sugar Bowl game winner, he’s got just about everything else. Games videos, compilations and my favorite: complete games dubbed and synchronized with the Michigan radio broadcast instead of the clowns on ESPN/ABC/or NBC fergodsakes. And he often includes extra features. One of his finest is the 2011 Notre Dame DVD which includes all of the pre- and post-game ceremonies and celebrations, plus the halftime show. For the historians he’s got a collection of films with the call of Bob Ufer dubbed over (up until Ufe’ died in 1981). Yes, I said it: Ufer over the video. Everything doesn’t do this for profit. Like me, he does this for the love of it. Checkout the U-M Football collection here, and everything Art has to offer here.
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Like MVictors. Win Bacon.
The publisher hooked me up with a free copy of the paperback version of John U. Bacon’s Three and Out. Read it already? Well, the new release has fresh content in the form of the Afterward, which looks back on Hoke’s first season, offers some final thoughts including Bacon’s response to some of the reaction to the book. Want one? For starters it’s easy, just like MVictors on Facebook. I’ll select a winner from the new likers (likees?) this weekend. Already a like MVictors on Facebook? Don’t fret, there’ll be something for you as well coming up. Follow MVictors on Twitter
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Kramer Just Being Kramer
I hope you had a chance to check out the piece on Bennie Oosterbaan that I contributed to Saturday’s game program. If not, I’ll post that in full on these pages in days to come. I will also have a story on #87 Ron Kramer in this weekend’s UMASS program and I think you’ll like it. Several of his friends helped out including former Lions teammate Tom Nowatzke, longtime Detroit TV and radio broadcaster Bob Hynes, and the widow of legendary U-M athletic director Peg Canham-Keeley. Speaking of Mrs. Canham-Keeley, I met her a few years back while I was doing a segment on the official Michigan Football Tailgate Show. She was standing behind the set and I noticed her necklace—a 1970s-era M football ring (inset)—and had to learn more. I led to this MVictors post from back in 2009. Anyway, Canham-Keeley and I swapped a few emails & I couldn’t quite fit all of her thoughts on Ron Kramer into the program piece. So here are a few bonus memories and thoughts on the truly one-and-only Ron Kramer, #87: “The funny thing is though when I first met Ron back around 1975 I couldn’t stand him. My first impression was of him taking a can of beer, taking a bite out of it, drinking the beer in one gulp…
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Remaining Calm (Michigan 31, Air Force 25) | Sights & Sounds
At halftime Coach Mattison told Doug Karsch “..they’re getting us on the same play..”. Above (click for poster size) is what it looked like all day. Hats off to Air Force and I’m not taking anything away from the Falcons. As you know, they ran that thing to perfection. It seemed the U-M corners did their job – engaging the block, containing the corner and forcing the run inside. It’s just that the inside was a gaping hole you could fit a Stealth Bomber though..let alone any one of Sam McGuffie’s brothers. That was close. If Air Force could have done something/anything else, namely, toss it downfield more than 15 yards, or execute a fake kick, or execute a real kick, I think we’re 0 and 2. On the other side of the ball, it’s amazing how numb we’ve become to Denard’s exploits. Denard’s performance seemed to be an afterthought on postgame the talk. We untie our shoe laces, compose songs and videos about how much we love the young man, and sleep in #16 jerseys but I just get the sense that his performance yesterday was met with a fat yawn. Four TDs and 416 total yards, 200 each on the ground and air and those 2 ridiculous scoring runs? I get that it’s coming off the Bama game…
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Dr. Sap’s Decals
Ed. Dr. Sap is back with his decals for week 2. I added the Editor’s pick and Fan award this week. Here are the picks from Week 1. Back when Bo was coaching the Michigan Football team, he awarded decals for individual as well as TEAM accomplishments. He also selected Champions each week. Not only were the obvious categories (offense, defense, special teams) selected, but Bo also made it a point to recognize the not so obvious ones – Scout Team Champions and Team Hustlers – each week. It was just another masterful way to recognize and motivate each player, regardless of position and class, to further the cause of THE TEAM. Below are my choices as well as a Uniform Champion. With all the tweaks to the Michigan uniform recently, I’ll weigh in on what’s cool and what’s not. OFFENSE DENARD ROBINSON – did it all on offense for UM. Ran for 218 yards and 2 TDs and threw for 208 yards and 2 more TDs. DEFENSE JAKE RYAN – did #47 proud by making plays at the beginning of the game and on the last drive for Air Force by knocking down their last pass. SPECIAL TEAMS BRENDAN GIBBONS – his 31-yard field goal made it a touchdown game instead of a field goal game – BIG difference.…
