From my inbox, thought I’d pass this along. Greg Kinney, the great curator at the wonderful U-M Bentley Historical Library forward this cartoon last week and I love it. It was stored in one of the athletic department scrapbooks: The gent on the left is disgraced Michigan football player James Joy Miller, who was dismissed after the 1909 season for failing to properly register and attend classes. The scandal made it all the way over to the New York Times and Michigan ended up apologizing to each of the teams they faced that year. Cook is explorer Frederick Cook, who reached or (claimed to reach) the North Pole in 1908, months ahead of the guy credited with it – Robert Peary. At one point he promised to the King of Denmark that he would submit all the detail of his reports and findings to the University of Copenhagen. He submitted a report, but not all of the detail the school was expecting and this happened: In late November, drawing on his diary, he completed his promised report to the University of Copenhagen. (He chose not to send his diary to Denmark for fear of losing it.) In December, the university—whose experts had been expecting original records—announced that Cook’s claim was “not proven.” Many U.S. newspapers and readers took that finding…
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Big Ten Tie-Breaker Rules
I get a lot of hits on this search phrase thanks to a post from a couple years ago. Here’s the latest Rose Bowl tie-breaker rules. Also, latest Bowl Projections here. (FWIW: I don’t like using the BCS standings for anything, especially rules determining league standings like rule 5-5 below, [and 4 and 6-6]). Rose Bowl. Unless ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the final BCS poll, the conference champion shall participate in the Rose Bowl. The championship shall be determined on the percentage basis of conference games (tie games counts ½ win and ½ loss). If there is a tie for the championship, the Rose Bowl representative will be determined as follows: An ineligible team shall not be considered in the standings for determination of the conference representative. If there is a tie for the championship, the winner of the game between these two teams shall represent the conference. If there is still a tie, or if the tied teams did not play each other, the representative shall be determined on the percentage basis of all games played. If there is still a tie, the highest-ranked team in the final BCS standings shall be the representative. If more than two teams tie for the championship, the same selection procedures shall be followed with the following exceptions: If three…
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Sam McGuffie Update
photo: riceowls.com You’ll recall Sam McGuffie transferred to Rice, sat out last season but now he’s in action for the 1-5 Owls. He their leading rusher (399 net yds or 57/game, two TDs) including 309 in the last four games, and the Owls’ top receiver (28 catches for 254 yards, one TD). The stats sheet also lists him with 10 punt return yards on zero attempts which is pretty damn cool. (Add that phantom punt return to the mix tape.) While he sat out football last year he immediately joined the 2009 Rice track team & did work: From the photo above, looks like he’s also offering free admission to the ladies for his one man gun show. And I’m sure he’s still logging onto his favorite defunct website. Follow MVictors on Twitter
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Bo Rolls into Berlin (Navy 1976)
Here’s a program to the 1976 Navy game: A selection of a few other Navy-Michigan programs from the U-M Bentley Library program database: On Saturday from noon-3 WTKA 1050AM (and I assume WTKA.com) will be replaying the original Bob Ufer radio broadcast of the 1976 Navy game. If you’re cleaning out the garage or mowing the lawn I suggest you tune in. Old ‘Ufe practically wore out the scoring horn in this one, as #1 ranked Michigan put up 70 points on the Midshipmen, the most since 1905, and it’s a radio call to remember. Incredibly Bo’s Wolverines actually trailed with just over a minute to go in the first half before taking the lead. In a span just over 5 minutes in the third quarter sophomore QB Ricky Leach accounted for four touchdowns, two on the ground and two in the air, and shortly thereafter Ufer nearly keeled over with excitement as he tended to do. Based on the WTKA promos, after the 70th point Ufer likens the feat to “rolling into Berlin”! A few props are in order here. First, Ira and crew at WTKA for continuing this tradition. Next, my pal and M history buff Steve Sapardanis of Guts ‘n Glue for recommending they reair this game. Finally, audio and video archivist Art Vuolo, Jr., [see…
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A Century Ago: 1910 Michigan Football through the Words of The Daily
Recently I visited the outstanding U-M Bentley Historical Library to wade through the pages of the Michigan Daily archives from fall of 1910. Here’s a brief look back at Fielding Yost’s tenth season at the helm of the Wolverines: Preseason: Expectations were high coming into 1910, as the previous season Yost’s men became the first “western” team to knock off one of the traditional eastern foes when they defeated Penn 12-6 in Philadelphia, in a game not as close as the score indicated. They added a 15-6 win in the season finale over Minnesota and Michigan made claim to the mythical title of “Champions of the West”. The 1910 season would prove a bit rockier, as Michigan was still settling into their status as an independent. Seven games were scheduled for the year, including four against rivals that are quite familiar a century later: M.A.C (later MSC then MSU of course), Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Minnesota. Here’s how the season went, through the words of the U-M student newspaper from the fall of 1910: Game 1: vs. Case, Ann Arbor, October 8, 1910 The 1910 slate started on October against Case, the Wolverine’s foe in the previous four season openers and a team that nearly spoiled the 1909 season. Yost squeaked by 3-0 that season and hoped to put…
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Banished from the Big House
Prior to the Iowa kickoff I heard from good sources that the athletic department revoked some premium seating privileges as a result of unruly behavior from certain fans during the Michigan State game. Tonight I spoke to Dave Ablauf from media relations who confirmed that two individuals had their tickets in the premium seating areas revoked due to consumption of alcohol inside the stadium. Ablauf said they reviewed the incidents with fans seated near the offenders and ultimately made the decision to take away their tickets. He added that premium ticket holders sign an agreement that clearly states the beverage policy. I think that everyone is clear on the alcohol policy but it sounds like a few folks got out of control and earned it. Ablauf wouldn’t confirm whether the offending fans were rooting for Michigan or for Michigan State, instead stressing that the alcohol policy applies everywhere in the stadium to ticketholders and their guests.
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Restoring Yost
Those in town may have noticed some crews working on the outside of Yost Ice Arena again this year. It raised an eyebrow from me, given the issues they had last season which caused the postponement of a game and given the timing—why would they be working on it during hockey season? Fear not. I spoke with Matt Trevor in hockey media relations who told me the work is simply "masonry restoration and cleaning." Trevor advised they did some of the work over the summer, and continue to work their way around the building. I also noticed the cement ‘M’ in one of the corners was removed: I asked Trevor if they were <gulp> changing any of the design. Once again, fear not. "They’re just cleaning and restoring what’s there," he told me.’
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Same here
Iowa 38, Michigan 28.
