Have a look at this can of Old Style beer featuring the great Elroy ‘Crazylegs’ Hirsch of Wisconsin.
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Fourth equals Third
Everyone right now (both ESPN folks, CFN, CBS) is projecting Michigan to the Insight Bowl. The key here is the Big Ten putting a second team into the BCS (which Michigan has a lot to say about). But there’s one thing I’m guessing all the prognosticators are missing. As I found out earlier this year, the Gator Bowl and Insight Bowl share the third and fourth pick of the non-BCS Big Ten teams: The Gator Bowl will share, with the Insight Bowl, the third and fourth pick in the Big Ten Conference after the BCS. The Gator Bowl and the Insight Bowl will each submit, to the Big Ten Conference, their team selection…Should each Bowl desire the same team, the selection order will be decided by the flip of a coin.. [from the Gator Bowl press release distributed to U-M media] I think most projectionators are still assuming that the Gator gets pick #3. That’s false. All these sources above assume two Big Ten teams will make the BCS and it’ll come down to Michigan and Penn State for those third and fourth spots. Assuming Penn State is the team of choice (JoePa’s last game, beat Michigan, etc.), then it’s likely both bowls will select the Nittany Lions it will come down to the coin toss to determine who gets…
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The Yost Gap Widens!
In this post last week I mentioned that I contacted the Big Ten about their listing of the all-time conference coach rankings by winning percentage. I noticed that Jim Tressel (.823) was on the right on the heels of Fielding Yost (.833): But Yost’s record included all 25 years that he was a coach but we know that Michigan wasn’t in the conference for a big chunk of his tenure. I reran the numbers after removing the years the athletic department lists as out of conference (1907-1918), and the Yost’s winning percentage jumped to .888—a tad out of reach of The Sweatervest. I shot an email to the Big Ten and was told they would look into it. This afternoon Scott Chipman, Assistant Commissioner of Communications, got back to me: We made the change in the weekly release and for next year’s media guide. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. My pleasure! The new weekly release is out and here’s the updated listing: Much better, no? Side note: my pal, writer & historian John Kryk (Natural Enemies) knows his history and argues that Michigan didn’t officially leave the conference until January 1908 (and thus the 1907 should be considered as in conference). The athletic department and the Bentley Library list 1907 as out of conference. I asked Greg…
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Burnsie Gets a Bath – Michigan 4, Penn State 1
Congrats to Justin Meram, the Saad brothers and the rest of the 2010 Wolverines for bringing Coach Steve Burns their first Big Ten soccer championship. Here’s a taste of Burns getting a bath: Make sure you check out the highlights when they are released, especially of the rocket off Meram’s foot for goal #2, the game-winner [Update: Highlights here]. Next up for Michigan is the NCAA tournament. Here’s the gang with the trophy after the game: If you haven’t, check out my interview with Steve Burns from before the season.
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Mark Messner Won’t Get Fooled Again (1988)
Check out this excellent postgame photo taken by the Freep in the moments after Michigan's 17-3 win over Michigan State. The photog captured a great shot of the aftermath of the game within the game, the battle between Spartan behemoth Tony Mandarich and Wolverine All-American Mark Messner.
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This Week Michigan Football History – Bo Won’t Get Spoilermakered – November 13, 1971
Here’s the next entry in ‘This Week in Michigan Football History’ to be played Saturday on WTKA 1050AM’s Key Bank Countdown to Kick-off pregame show before tomorrow’s battle against the Purdue. This time we look back to 1971, as third year coach was crushing opponents on both sides of the ball. Leading up to this game Michigan scored 124 points in the previous two games, and was holding teams to 5.1 points per game. Gary Danielson and Purdue were up next, and it wouldn’t be easy for Bo’s Wolverines: [display_podcast] . [Ed. One note: The final score of the game was of course 20-17 (not 23-30 as mentioned in the recording. Sorry about that.] The sponsor of This Week…is Wolverine Beer so here’s where you can find it, or check out the Beer Wench’s Blog. I’m still waiting to have my first Wolverine beer, perhaps some day soon. You can hear all of the This Week… clips here.
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Statement from AD Dave Brandon on Judy Van Horn
It’s confirmed that Michigan’s head of compliance, Judy Van Horn, will be leaving her post officially in January 2011. Here’s the official statement from Michigan AD Dave Brandon: “Judy Van Horn served the University of Michigan well during her nine years. We wish her well in her new career pursuits.” Van Horn started at Michigan in 2001, mainly overseeing the athletic department’s Compliance Services office. Van Horn currently serves as the University’s primary liaison with the Big Ten Conference Office, NCAA and Michigan’s Office of the General Counsel for compliance issues and is a member of the athletics department executive staff. She was of course a central figure in the NCAA investigation of the football program and the missing CARA forms.
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Countdown to the Big Chill at the Big House
The Big Chill at the Big House is just a month away and the athletic department has begun to distribute the tickets and they are sweet: The ducats are made of plastic (like a thick credit card) and come with a hole up top to hang from a lanyard or the plastic string they come with. Don’t have tickets yet? Stubhub has plenty ranging from $27-$109 all around the stadium: Of course the topic of the Big Chill will come up more and more as we approached the big day, and John Bacon brought it up to Tristin Llewellyn and the white-suspenders-and-pencil-thin-moustache-rocking Scooter Vaughn at The Arena on Tuesday on the Red show. They each played it down as just another game, but hinted things would be pretty special playing in front of all those fans. That’s certainly just what they are supposed to say, you can bet these guys are geeked. Other stuff from the coaches show: * ’81 alum Roger Bourne offered a few great stories and noted that the team used to stay over on road trips on Saturday night and tore it up in the opposing town (but had to be ready to leave 7am Sunday). Yes, there was an incident when a couple guys missed the flight home. * Red was out attending an NHL/college…
