In March I posed this question – Are any original Michigan Stadium bonds out there?  Given the lack of comments on the post and emails (none) on this matter, I’ve only confirmed that there are loud crickets in Ann Arbor.  An email from Brian at the great U-M Bentley Library this week was pretty enlightening (and a little discouraging) as far as the prospect of one of these being out there: UM records show most were redeemed.  Not only redeemed, but also destroyed by burning: A March 17, 1955 document states: The Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics … hereby certifies that it has proved the following described documents and has caused same to be completely destroyed by burning them to ashes in the presence of the undersigned witness. (1) Stadium Bonds issued by the Board in Control … numbered 1 to 3000, inclusive, except bond numbered 2393, together with all unmatured coupons attached thereto, all of said Bonds thus destroyed having previously been paid in full, duly retired and cancelled. . . . ”     HO Crisler Marcus Plant Norma Bentley I thought you might be interested in this information.  I’d love to know if there are any Bonds that weren’t redeemed and are still out there, but like I said, there couldn’t me many.  I think there were…

[ed.  Enjoy this guest post by James Dickson of AnnArbor.com.  James offered to post his coverage of this event on MVictors and of course, I was thrilled.] On Saturday night, the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund held its second annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The Gridiron Greats fund came about in 2007 to assist players from what former Detroit Lions DT Roger Brown called the “B.C. Era” – Before Cash – and has granted upwards of $2 million to former players and their families since its founding. 14 men were inducted into the hall of fame, mostly men who played or coached for the University of Michigan, Michigan State, or the Detroit Lions at some point in their careers. Among the inductees were legendary Detroit Lions Lomas Brown and Lem Barney, broadcaster Pat Summerall and headliner Mike Ditka, who has served as the public face of the nonprofit since its founding. Four Michigan Men were inducted into the Hall:  Lloyd Carr, former head coach, and retiring associate athletic director, “The Specialist” Bob Chappuis, war hero and star of Michigan’s 1947 national championship-winning team, John Greene, an end under coach Fritz Crisler who went on to break barriers as a Detroit Lion, and Michigan’s new athletic director David Brandon. Lloyd Carr Without Lloyd Carr, the University of Michigan would have to…

T. Clemons gettin’ paid, no need to hit roaches today with that Raid As heard on the Michigan Insider this morning on WTKA, former Michigan WR Toney Clemons joined the Armstrong and Shapiro show on Denver’s The Score 1510AM radio.  Clemons, who transferred to Colorado last year, was of course was one of the players who corroborated some of the Freep’s practicegate findings. Given the opportunity to take a swipe at RichRod (including the help of a leading question and a “dude”), Clemons surprisingly went the other direction: “A lot of people from the outside looking in, they don’t understand that he really did have to rebuild.  When he came in a lot of guys left due to transfers, a lot of guys graduated out.  He’s running a whole different system and, you know, he’s right, he needs a certain type of player to run his system.  Big Ten Schools just need pro style offenses, they bring in big, fast guys and he likes the quick, speedy guys so he really had to rebuild.  A lot of people don’t understand that he lost a lot of talent due to transfers and graduation.” “I wish them the best.  I have a lot of friends on that team.  I still love the Big Ten and I got a lot of friends who…

This really caught my eye tonight, it's an award given to the 1919 Michigan baseball team celebrating their conference championship.

  That’s Chumley from Pawn Stars – the internet is great I just chatted with Aaron Herdez of Herdez Pawn in Phoenix, AZ.   He’s the nephew of the shop owner and was willing to talk about the status of the Scot Loeffler 1997 Michigan championship ring that showed up on eBay.   To recap, once word was out that former Michigan assistant’s ring was stolen, the authorities were contacted and the eBay auction was pulled.    A few different MVictors readers reported contacting Loeffler directly (or through family members), confirming that he wanted the ring back and was upset at some of the neg bombs flown his way, implying that he sold it.   A few quotes from Herdez on the situation: On Loeffler:  “He didn’t call it in stolen, he said he lost it and then he changed his mind.”  “We don’t know what really happened.” On how the store treats items like this that come in the store. “We do a police report for everything that comes into the store.” What is the status of the ring?  “It’s not for sale and it’s already been seized [by the police].  If I want it back I’ll have to take it court.” On how they came to own the ring:  “Everything we get comes from customers that walk into the store.” When they…

Check out this beauty.   A quick Friday edition of eBay Watch features a postcard, circa 1927, with a cool view down the endzone aisle inside the freshly built Big House.  Most photos of the stadium are from above or from the air, but this cat went Ansel Adams on me, click to enlarge:

The twin comedy duo The Sklar Brothers are Michigan grads and it’s always a good listen when they guest host the Jim Rome Show.   They were back at it on Wednesday. Usually laced into the madness is a Michigan reference or two and they didn’t disappoint: [display_podcast] And I love they used the Michigan version of his last name before it changed to “JHY” after he transferred to North Carolina. (HT: Thanks to Matt for the podcast)