What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon, don’t you think? Bullets: It has been amazing to witness the young guys, especially Morgan, Hardaway & Morris, maturing and improving since the start of the season. It’s tangible progress before our eyes so hats off to the entire coaching staff and of course the team. I actually give some credit to the M fans for the Maize out. As I like to say, Wolverine fans are really good at “Wear Whatever You Want-Outs” but horrible at Maize-outs. I thought the place was about 75-ish percent maize which is about as good as you are going to get. I was a student during the Fab Five era when we used to wait out hours to pile into Crisler and pack the place It had that feel yesterday. Speaking of the Maize-out: the always sharp-dressed M assistant Bacari Alexander looked sharp in his brown suit, but what do we need to do to get Coach Tweet outfitted in an all-Maize ensemble?? Sharp! Those on Twitter might have seen a barrage of “HALOL!”. I’ve been asked by a few folks what it refers to. It’s a common tag on Coach Alexander’s tweets which I presumed to simply be an emphatic version of “LOL!”. Sunday morning Bacari confirmed this: I expected the students…
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Bo Enjoys Beating Spartans (1974)
I love this wire photo of Bo Schembechler that popped up on eBay recently. A photog caught Schembechler in the final few minutes of the 1974 game against Michigan State. Bo is hunched down and he appears to crank out a slight grin as he gazes up at the stadium clock. Love it: Let’s hope we get a similar grin from Coach Beilein at Crisler this afternoon.
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Darius Morris Joins Shep (WDFN audio)
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.
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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.
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President Gerald Ford Snaps the Pigskin! (1974)
Check out this shot of President Ford at a Portland, Oregon charity event
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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.
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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…
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Gearing Up for Augusta: Lion Kim Interview
From 2010-11 Michigan Men’s Golf yearbook – U-M Media Relations I recently caught up with Michigan senior golfer Lion Kim and he sounds like he’s ready. In about eight weeks Kim will tee it up at Augusta National against the world’s best golfers. Back in July the 21 year-old took down the field at the U.S. Amateur Public Links and took home both a magnificent silver trophy and perhaps more significantly, a slot in the 2011 Masters field. What are his goals for tournament? Did an owl bring him his official invitation to The Masters (like I hoped)? Will he represent Michigan in any way during the week? These answers and much more below. _______________________________________________________________________ I understand you’ve had the chance to play Augusta National for practice? Kim: Yes I have. I’ve made a couple trips down there to get some practice rounds in. Are you invited to practice if you are in the field? How did you arrange that? Kim: Once you earn the invite for the following year’s Masters you can just call in. When I called and introduced myself they quickly knew who I was and I asked if I could do a couple practice rounds. The rule is you can do as many practice rounds as possible, you just have to call a week before and…
