[UPDATE 7/14 – Friend of blog Craig Ross contacted Loeffler, details here.] Wow, a ‘97 Michigan championship ring, after an earlier auction of a ‘97 band fell through, is up on eBay. And the seller claims the original owner of this ring was former Michigan assistant coach Scot Loeffler. I believe he was a grad assistant on the ‘97 squad and squeaked into the team photo: It’s Scot with one ‘t’, eBay and Bentley! Per the auction description: YOU ARE BIDDING ON A MICHIGAN WOLVERINES NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYERS RING 1997 ROSE BOWL RING ENGRAVED INSIDE SCOTT LOEFFLER MICHIGAN WOLVERINES Loeffler went on to be quarterback coach for Coach Carr, then over to the Detroit Lions when Rodriguez came in, and is currently on Urban Meyer’s staff in Gainesville. Scot, you can leave town, play for Urban Meyer Wiener, and even try to steal our recruits but… don’t sell your 1997 Championship ring!! My only question about this (beyond getting Loeffler to comment and I emailed him). The ring is truly engraved “SCOTT” with two “t’s”. If so, just maybe the ring was misengraved and he was issued a corrected ring – and somehow this one ended up in the hands of a dealer. Doubt it, because this seems easily corrected: The auction of Loeffler’s ring ends July 19. Bidding currently…
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Coach Carr to Retire Sept 1
Via U-M Media Relations.
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Interview: John Pollack of ‘Save the Big House’
On Wednesday fans and media will get a good look inside the nearly completed renovation of Michigan Stadium. While there’s seemingly been an overwhelming positive reaction to the new digs by fans, you may recall that the project had its opponents. The most vocal was a group named Save The Big House, led by longtime U-M fan and Ann Arbor native John Pollack. The group received much attention in the media including this piece in the New York Times. Pollack, 44, formerly a speechwriter for President Clinton and Rep. David Bonior, suggested that the needs of the athletic department could be met via an alternate design. His team proposed a less costly plan that would expand seating, add bathrooms and the upgrade the press box without adding premium seating or suites: savethebighouse.com Pollack is the author of the book Cork Boat and resides in New York these days. He was kind enough to answer a few questions about the (nearly) finished project. For the record, a couple things here. I told Pollack right off that I disagree with much of his stance about the renovation. And if I count as a U-M historian, I’m firmly with Bacs, John Kryk and the others who argue Fielding Yost would support this project based on what I know about the man. This said,…
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“Good putt, Alice.” “Nice drive, Mr. Feely.”
Saw this via retweet from @mogblog today, apparently former U-M kicker Jay Feely hit the links today with Detroit-born rock icon Alice Cooper. I was going to ping Feely for a photo but voila, Feely went ahead and posted a shot on his Twitter feed from the pro shop at Sweetgrass Golf Club in Harris, MI: Cooper is an avid golfer, in fact, his Wikipedia page dedicated righteous real estate to address this: Cooper has on several occasions credited golf as having played a major role in helping him to overcome his addiction to alcohol, and has even gone as far to say that when he took up golf, it was a case of replacing one addiction with another. The importance that the game has had in his life is also reflected in the title to his 2007 autobiography, Alice Cooper, Golf Monster.
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Michigan Stadium Gates Open July 14
Joyeux Quatorze Juillet! The public is welcome to view a portion of the renovated Big House next Wednesday from 6am to 8pm. Also, for those out of town, Ira Weintraub and Sam Webb will broadcast live on WTKA 1050AM from the stadium that morning, guests include AD Dave Brandon. Full press release from the athletic department: Michigan Stadium Open to Public Wednesday ANN ARBOR, Mich. – With the start of the college football season just two months away, the University of Michigan will open the doors to Michigan Stadium on Wednesday, July 14, to showcase the renovations to one of college football’s greatest stadiums. The one-day event will run between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. “The Michigan Stadium renovation is something our entire athletic department is proud of,” said U-M Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Dave Brandon. “I want to invite the public to see what was envisioned and how it all came together. It is spectacular.” The east side structure will be open to the public, and the only accessible entry point will be on the south side of the stadium through Gate 2. Once inside, fans will proceed to the steps or elevators in the southeast tower to gain access to the structure. There will be no access to the east side upper concourse, east side lower concourse or…
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1997 Champion Ring update – No sale
For those following the eBay auction of the 1997 Championship ring, the auction appeared to have closed with a winning bid of $5,250.00. I reached out to the seller hoping that he’d consider putting me in touch with the buyer. The seller replied and there is no buyer: the transaction did not go through, we probably will be relisting the ring on ebay soon.
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Bo Through the Years
Nice done by Ace over at the The Wolverine Blog, a compilation of shots of General Bo extracted for team photos over the years. I love it. First, in every shot it looks like Bo got down actually coaching just minutes prior to the photo: messy hair, shirt collar ruffled a bit, sometimes wearing shades! Next, I love the old coaching shirts through the years often with those classic 2D helmet logos. Finally – Bo’s got that great Gary Sinise smile. Check out the video below and check out Ace’s commentary here. As Ace mentions, my previous post and video of Fielding Yost taken from team photos was an inspiration for his new vid. Here’s a look back at that:
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Stadium Bridge is (still) Falling Down
Anyway, earlier this week the challenger Lesko rattled off a few complaints by those around town including the state of the Stadium Boulevard bridges. Many fans of course use the structures to get to the stadium on football, basketball and even hockey (parking at Crisler is a good way to go) gamedays. Since March 2009 the city reduced the available driving lanes down to two (from four) for safety reasons. They still aren’t fixed and the city has been turned down for federal funding to this point.
