Check this out. Michigan football maven John Kryk took screen shots of the stadium cam poised on the east side of the Big House renovation last summer. All told, you’ve got 114 frames spanning from June 28, 2009, to September 19, 2009. Love the progression of the construction, the shifting of the cranes & the flags and especially the different shades of color on the facade: Refresh the page to watch it again. Follow MVictors on Twitter.
-
-
"We got it done." Dave Brandon on WTKA (09-02 audio)
WTKA welcomed Dave Brandon with Handel’s ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ on air this morning. Brandon said he got a lot of nice emails last night and was clearly happy how things ended up. Here’s the audio, give it a sec to load: [display_podcast] A few notes: "I’ve run public companies for the last 22 years. I’ve gotten pretty good at managing expectations. A way to exceed expectations is to manage them [laughs]. We were in a situation where it was absolutely unclear what the ultimate decision was going to be and I wanted to make that known that it was unclear and the fan reaction was very helpful and very important." He joked that he had 2006 U-M graduates emailing him explaining the importance of the OSU-UM rivalry. "I knew that.." "I don’t know how you lay it out any better for Michigan." "We came out of this really, really well." On determining division rivals. Brandon said they "went back and forth" but in the end, decided that overall conference record wins division. Tie-breaker is head-to-head, division record, then BCS rankings. [Take: I don’t like using BCS rankings in tie-breakers. Why let that goofy-assed system determine what we do in our league?] On the Notre Dame rivalry. "We’re going to contract out several years, probably to 2014 or 2015.." There’s a "handshake…
-
Jug-ists Rejoice
This blogger rejoices over the news tonight. So does this guy (below). That’s Louis J. "Doc" Cooke, longtime Minnesota administrator who started Little Brown Jug rivalry by suggesting the teams play for the crock in 1909: If you’re not ready to rejoice, take in the entire Little Brown Jug lore series: Part I: What Really Happened in the 1930s Part II: Spinning Myths Part III: Getting it Right Part IV: 2013: A Space Quandary Part V: Red Wing Roots Part VI: Is the Greatest Trophy in College Sports a Fake? Part VII: Open Questions Follow MVictors on Twitter
-
Official Michigan Release on Divisions, Schedule
Via U-M Media Relations. Needless to say I’m real excited they slotted Michigan and Minnesota together to preserve the Little Brown Jug rivalry, and more importantly, they stopped the overthink on the Ohio State-Michigan timing. Great stuff. Michigan Announces 2011 and 2012 Conference Football Schedules CHICAGO, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference office announced tonight (Sept. 1) the football division alignments and conference schedules for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. The announcement was made during a live Big Ten Network special at 7 p.m. EDT. The University of Michigan will compete in a division that features Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern. The other division consists of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin. Each school will play the five institutions within its division and will face three teams from the other division, including one cross-division matchup guaranteed on an annual basis. Michigan’s protected cross-divisional rival is Ohio State. “The Game,” regarded as college football’s greatest rivalry, will continue to be played as the final contest of the regular season. The winner of each Big Ten division will meet in the inaugural Big Ten Football Championship Game, to be played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind., on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. The championship game will determine the Big Ten champion and the conference’s participant in the…
-
UConn Pregame Festivities—What to Look For
I had a chance to talk to a few folks at Media Relations about Saturday’s pregame activities. It’s suggested you get into your seat at least 20-25 minutes prior to kick-off to be safe. It won’t be a drawn-out process as there’s a TV schedule and of course a football game to be played. Here’s what you can expect (bulleted by design, specific order not certain): Video piece on the Stadium project Video piece on Brock Mealer Ribbon cutting (with Bill Martin, Dave Brandon, the Regents) Brock Mealer will lead the team out, walk under the banner. The team will follow. Looks like two flyovers (sounds like MGoShoe has it right.) TBD – but possibly some type of pyrotechnics(!)? There will also be set video pieces throughout the game In and around the concourses there are a few new items (I’m not sure how much of this was in place for Fan Day): The Michigan Stadium ‘Art Deco’ lettering is now on the east side of the stadium, and Bruce Madej encouraged folks to check that out along with the goings on around the rest of the concourses. He wasn’t sure if the other lettering set was going to put on the west side. There is also new permanent artwork in the concourse areas "honoring teams and award winners." Other…
-
eBay Watch: Bid on Michigan Media Avalanche, Cure Cancer
Thanks to a tip from loyal reader James Joseph, check out this pile of Michigan and college-football related material (programs, media guides, books and more) currently up for bid on eBay. Better yet—the proceeds from the auction go directly to support the Cancer Kicker himself—the great Phil Brabbs. Editorial: Dude, I know it’s to cure cancer, but selling your copies of Natural Enemies and Bo’s Lasting Lessons? Those books are sacred! Here’s the full lot of items:
-
Mud Bowl Moved to November 6
Per a source at SAE, due to a student break during Homecoming (October 16), the annual Mud Bowl game will be played November 6. Bummer. Not only is it three weeks later (and colder), this game should be played on Homecoming weekend. Related: SAE Mud Bowl 2009: Recap & Photos Kids Having Fun: Mud Bowls and Protests
-
Desmond joins Sklar Brothers on Rome (08-27 audio)
’94 Michigan grads Randy and Jason Sklar guest-hosted Jim Rome’s radio show Friday and as they do, brought a little Michigan feel to the show. In the second hour they were joined by Desmond: [display_podcast] They discussed the timing of the Ohio State-Michigan game, the BCS in general, Reggie Bush giving his Heisman Trophy back and NCAA violations, on the upcoming season, his sleeper team in the Big Ten (Wisconsin), and the outlook for Michigan and Rich Rodriquez (needs 8 or 9 wins, or seven with Ohio State), "no doubt in my mind they will score points." Howard also joked about Bill Martin disappearing earlier than originally expected. Love the outro music.