If you read these pages you know I spend my share of time perusing the U-M Bentley Library, and last year I wrote a piece about how the Michigan athletic archives ended up at that great facility on Beal Avenue. Occasionally I stumble upon something worthy of the attention of library curator Greg Kinney. Last June I presented enough evidence to convince the library to change the recorded score of the 1909 Michigan-Syracuse game, giving the Wolverines an additional point. In 2008, with the help of some former players, a mystery player in the 1968 team photo was properly identified. Recently I found something that required another visit to Beal. It started a couple of weeks back when I spotted an interesting item in one of my eBay feeds. A seller offered up a page from a January 1899 issue of Harper’s Weekly featuring a photo of the 1898 Michigan football team: Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal as people sell century+ old (often reproduced) team photos all the time. But clearly, this wasn’t the formal team pic shot in a studio—it was more likely taken after a practice or a game on the field. The Bentley Library has published a variety of such alternate team photos over the years (here’s one of the great 1901 team, here’s one…
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Anything Can Happen: U-M Baseball
U-M baseball coach Rich Maloney joined Ira and Sam this morning on WTKA 1050AM and discussed the goings on around the baseball program, including the upcoming games against the rival Spartans. You can catch the audio here. Unfortunately the weather washed out today’s MSU game in East Lansing and I just learned it will not be rescheduled. They will try to play their game tomorrow and let’s hope they get it in– it’s The Price Is Right night and it’ll be in Ann Arbor. If you’re wondering why they aren’t bothering to reschedule today’s game or make tomorrow’s a double-header, well, due to a stupid scheduling thing these are technically non-league games. Just be thankful the coaches got together to make this series happen. Speaking of the Big Ten, during the Maloney interview Sam marveled over the state of the league standings and it is indeed quite a sight. Through Sunday, with six games left every place in the conference is there for the taking:
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Every Three Days
Last week when U-M SID Bruce Madej called into WTKA 1050AM to douse the rumor of a potential deal in the works to sack Rodriguez in favor of lighter NCAA sanctions, he half-jokingly wondered if there are people out there thinking, “Well it’s been three days, how can we hit Rich again?’” Ugh. Turn over the egg timer. Via a tweet from Mark Snyder of the Freep, former DB Morgan Trent is one of the NFL players profiled in the book Draft Season, which chronicles the story of four mid-round draft picks from 2009. Bengals.com provided a book summary and noted a claim by Trent that Lloyd Carr told him that prior to the draft, Rodriguez trashed Trent “to every NFL scout he could”": At the end of the book, Deren describes the scene with Lloyd Carr, the former Michigan head coach that recruited him to Ann Arbor, breaking the news to Trent that current head coach Rich Rodriguez did him no favors. “Rodriguez had bad-mouthed him to every NFL scout he could,” Deren writes. “Rodriguez claimed that Morgan was lazy, he had an attitude problem and he was a big reason the Wolverines finished with a 3-9 record…” Trent admits the words were “jarring,” and they were hard to understand given that he was so serious about his career…
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Man Cave Alert – Michigan Lockers return
The seller contacted me about these last year and he’s still got some in stock. They’re authentic Michigan lockers, taken from Schembechler Hall as part of the locker room renovation. They’ve got working combinations, etc., and are in great shape: This time he’s listing them on eBay, asking a cool $850 online. But… Psssst…want a deal? MVictors exclusive: email me (mail @ mvictors.com) if you’re interested and the seller will work out a special price. The lockers are available for pick up in the Detroit area.
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Off To The Shop
Spring ball is done but the work for longtime equipment manager Jon Falk & crew is not. I stopped by Schembechler Hall today and there was plenty of action inside the equipment room. Above you’ll find a look inside a sack of eight of the 64 winged helmets that were packed up and shipped out for testing, reconditioning and repainting today. Much more on this to come.
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Stealing Sir Charles’ Socks?
On the WTKA replay hour (2-3), they reaired a segment from the Dan Patrick Show. DP was chatting with Charles Barkley and they were talking about Webber’s famous (I think overrated) dunk on Sir Charles from years back. Patrick then asked him if he knew that Webber stole one of his socks back in the day, and Chuck wasn’t exactly sure what he was talking about. Some props to Patrick for remembering this nugget but while C-Webb did apparently steal socks and jockstraps (?) from the 1992 Dream Team, he specifically heisted one of Barkley’s shoes. Here’s my original post from 2008 and what really happened: ———————————————————————————— Check this out from Sports Illustrated this week [12/29/08 issue]. On the Dan Patrick ‘Just My Type‘ page, Chris Webber talks about his time on the practice squad for the 1992 Olympic Dream Team while he was at Michigan. IT’S NICE to know that even stars get nervous around their idols. Before the 1992 Olympics, Chris Webber was one of the players on a practice squad that provided opposition for the Dream Team. He shared a limo from the airport in Barcelona with Larry Bird. "I was shaking, calling him Mr. Bird," Webber said. "He was very nice. It was a 10-minute car ride. I said, ‘It was nice meeting you.’ He was…
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Interview: Men’s Soccer Coach Steve Burns
I recently had the opportunity to chat with Michigan men’s soccer head coach Steve Burns. Burns, an ‘89 U-M grad (Aeronautical Engineering), played in the late 80s when soccer had Club status at U-M, and he’s held the coaching reins since ‘92 including the last 10 years that the team’s been a varsity program on campus.
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You Don’t Know Bennie
Got a kick out this Bank of Ann Arbor ad in the Ufer Quarterback Club program from last night. I tweeted it out yesterday but thought I’d share: Related: Oosterbaan posts on MVictors
