The athletic department swung open the Michigan Stadium gates today for premium seating tours. A big thanks to Mike for forwarding these over. Looks like they are putting the final touches on the placement of the new turf. Either that or they hired a Buckeye engineer to line up the letters in the endzone. Or the theme of the 2010 football season will be “Football is Goofy, right?”: Wide angle view from some of the club seating, east side. Not bad: And the club concourse, very nice and note with the widebody chairs suitable for fans young and old and thankfully, even Jedi Masters! Somebody gets it!
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On Newsstands Now (or Soon)
Announcement! A few items to look for outside these pages: Ann Arbor Observer: I’m honored to be appearing in the July issue of the prestigious AAO. I submitted a piece about longtime Michigan golf course Clubhouse Manager Charlie Green. He’s been working at the course since 1960 and I shared a few cool stories about the man and the course itself. The story will be in the ‘AnnArborite’ section and my spies tell me it’ll arrive in Ann Arbor homes as early as this weekend. Once it’s available online I’ll be sure to post a link. If you don’t get the Observer, order online. Oh, and it’s free to Ann Arbor residents. Hail to the Victors 2010: For some reason I was sent an advanced copy of Brian Cook’s amazing ‘HTTV 2010’ yesterday. It is the definitive preseason guide, packed with analysis, opponent previews and yes, history. I wrote a piece on the original Michigan stadium construction in the 1920s – I think you’ll like it. Many Bothan spies died to bring you this information so please read it. I’m sure HTTV will show up in bookstores around town soon but if you can’t wait, order it now here. I also appear in a short roundtable with some of the other HTTV authors. Based on the season predictions from the…
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Michigan captain Whitey Wistert’s ID (1931)
Here’s an auction of the U-M student identification card for the 1931-32 school year for the first of the legendary Wistert brothers: Francis Michael ‘Whitey’ Wistert: As the card indicates, Francis was a Chicago native and after graduating from high school worked in a factory building radios. A decision to tag along with a classmate on a visit to Ann Arbor effectively kicked off the Michigan-Wistert tradition. Several online references claim Whitey had no football background before coming to Michigan, but he is enshrined into his high school Hall of Fame for “Baseball and Football”. Oh and yes, he could also play some baseball—he was named Big Ten MVP his senior season. Whitey anchored the line for Harry Kipke’s back-to-back national championship squads in 1932-1933, and the 6-2, 210-pound stapping lad was named All-American in ‘33: I’ve written on the Wistert Trio before but in a nutshell, each played football for Michigan of course, each played tackle, each wore 11, all three made it into the college football Hall of Fame and they are the reason you won’t ever see another U-M football player wear jersey number eleven. Also included is an ID from 1938 when Wistert returned to assist Harry Kipke and his staff:
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M-Den Again?
As pointed out by a reader on this site, if you try to access the “official” Michigan store on mgoblue.com you are presented with a notice. It seems the partnership with the dreaded Texas outfit that runs the former mgoblueshop is officially severed. This morning I confirmed with a source at the M-Den that they are indeed having talks with U-M about renewing their partnership. This isn’t a shock as I’m not sure how many other firms can handle this and M-Den demonstrated in the past they could. Hopefully this works out and this business is back in local hands. Another great move you can chalk up to the leadership of Dave Brandon. He’s The Cleaner or The Wolf – problems come to his desk and then suddenly disappear. More on this later. [Ed. 6/22 – It’s official – M Den and Michigan renew their partnership.]
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Tom Izzo joins Jim Rome (6-17 audio)
The interview starts off a bit slow but Rome gets into the LeBron questions and Izzo’s future near the end. Izzo normally has a raspy voice but he definitely sounded worn down – no wonder. Of note: It might be a Dumb-and-Dumberesque chance, but when asked, Izzo did leave the door cracked for another look at the NBA. Izzo dropped a U.P. reference in there, which has got to leave JR scratching his head, no? Izzo revealed a big driver to his looks at the NBA is to challenge the notion that college coaches can’t make it in the NBA. His pulse picked up a bit during that discussion. Rome didn’t go into the media/coverage subplot here and I was a little surprised he missed that. In 11 minutes he had room to hit that and usually JR is very in tune with what’s being discussed locally. I was hopeful Izzo would make mention of, “Those nerds on The Red Cedar.” No go. Audio: [display_podcast] Related:
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Mail: MGOBLUESHOP blows, Ufer Plaque, M ring, HTTV ‘10?
I received a few emails over the past few weeks worthy of a post, here you go: That "Official" Michigan fanshop ….MGOBLUESHOP is terrible. They have not had any new items or updates for weeks. If you try to call the 1 877 phone number you get a prerecorded message saying the company is closed for a company holiday. Today the 1 877 phone is out of service. The university sure made a bad decision in going with this company. Bring back the MDEN!! – Dan A: That’s what I hear. Since I live in the area I do my shopping locally usually at the M-Den in the mall or Moe’s on campus. Yes, MGOBLUESHOP is was the official site of U-M but note that the local shops do have an online presence including M Den, Moe Sports Shops, or even blog-friendly Underground Printing. (Maybe they’ll even advertise on these pages some day soon, sheesh!) [Ed. Thanks to the comment by Gina, yes, I see a release on mgoblue.com advising they are changing store partners – great news!] I am wondering what has become of the plaque that used to be next to the entrance to the press box. It was of Bob Ufer, commemorating his 362 consecutive radio broadcasts. Surely it will be back at the entrance to the…
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Fielding Yost’s New Packard (1927)
Check out this wonderful signed photo of Fielding H. Yost posing next to a vintage car in front of the original Michigan Stadium press box (photo above).
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Terrible Tom Harmon Strikes It (1946)
Check out this auction of a wire photo featuring L.A. Ram Tom Harmon flashing a pose. And it’s just gotta be that pose, right? Right? Let’s make it so. Add it to the roll, with the legendary drop by Magic: And the Thanksgiving Day Thank-You-M’am by Chuck W.: The seller must have known he was on to something with the Harmon photo, asking a whopping $95 for it. I don’t think it’ll fetch that but we’ll see – I’m thinking more in the $30-$40 range is the right price. Thanks again to Dan for passing it along. If you’ve got a truly unique piece of Michigan memorabilia around the house or if you spot a cool auction, let me know.
