Here’s a remarkable wire photo printed in 1929 of a scene from the 1895 Michigan-Chicago game, held in the Windy City on Thanksgiving Day: It appears as though someone did a 1929 version of a photocopy, actually taking a photo of a photo to produce a copy. I cropped the shot above but in the full version you can see a finger holding down a corner of the old pic alongside a caption: Why didn’t they just use the original photo for this piece? No idea. Perhaps the papers required the images be in a certain size, format and/or medium. While the back of the photo says it was reproduced in 1929, it appears as though it ran (perhaps reran) in a 1931 piece in the Chicago Tribune which reproduced the old photo for an article on the life of legendary Chicago coach Amos Alonzo Stagg. Here’s how it looked in the paper: The caption reads: This is a view of the Chicago-Michigan game, Thanksgiving day 1895. You will note that the fans came in tallyhos, buggies and sleighs. It was played at Staff field, then called Marshall Field, after the donor of the ground. Michigan won the game 12 to 0. The GameDigging deeper, I recovered a recap of the 1895 Michigan victory from the Trib including some beautiful…
-
-
Spring Game Closing Comments
Rodriguez addressing the players after the game File this under Miscellanea, a few final bullets, photos and takes from the Spring Game: The punting was so brutal Rodriguez didn’t even have to be asked directly about it in the postgame news conference. He called it “concerning”. Yep. Let’s hope incoming freshman punter Will Hagerup lives safe and clean until August. Speaking of the presser, you can here the whole thing here. If you’re wondering, it was radio voice Frank Beckmann who asked the Pat White question which has got to be getting old for RR: [display_podcast] A few folks asked for a high res copy of the Denard making everyone blurry photo (above), here you go. I spoke to senior Greg Banks who won the great Meyer Morton award, presented to the player showing the most development and promise during spring ball. The history of this honor dates back to 1925 and as discussed here more than once, it was originally intended for underclassmen but don’t blame Rich Rod for changing this. Bo started to give the award to seniors and juniors, and for the past several years it’s been given exclusively to seniors. The official press release even calls it an award for “the senior football player…” Past winners include Braylon, Henne, Breaston, Jimmy Harbaugh and digging way back,…
-
Jimmy King postgame (audio)
I grabbed Fab Fiver and U-M hoops radio voice Jimmy King after the Alumni Game. King was a surprise add to the festivities but helped out the Maize team quite a bit, with a great TD catch and nearly pulled down a Hail Mary on the last play of the Alumni game. Should have a former hooper been allowed to join the fun? I didn’t hear any of the former players object and frankly who cares? He made the event more fun. I asked him about whether he kept his feet in bounds on the TD grab, the Hail Mary he nearly pulled in and on his experience on the gridiron (No, coach Moeller never asked JK to lace ’em up). Audio: [display_podcast] .
-
Denard’s Day
I took a load of photos but during the Michigan Spring Game but the best were of Denard Robinson doing his thing. It was his day and consider Brian’s take seconded: Robinson looks like a quarterback now. A running quarterback with rudimentary passing abilities, but a quarterback. There were zone reads and screens and rollout passes and a number of zippy seams that hit players between the numbers. When the offense broke down, Robinson made the concept of "pursuit angles" humorous. Putting him on the edge, as suggested by the coaches’ clinic tea leaves, puts the defense in a bind. His throws were all on a line but they were accurate aside from a couple mediocre bubble screens. Here’s sixteen in action. Please save the “Why don’t you marry him?” as I’m happily married. Wait, is he available? Ironic that everyone is blurry except the guy flying through the scene. [Ed. A few folks asked for a high res copy.] As Brian noted, he tossed a pair of soft screen passes but beyond that the passes were solid. That said, the follow through here is awkward unless he’s demonstrating that the Denard Meter is on high. He ended up turning this up field for a nice gain, but in this shot consider that he’s facing…
-
Pre-Spring Game (Photos)
Sights and sounds, prior to the Spring Game: FieldTurf fixed, only a minor trip hazard. Assume they’ll tighten this down before the UConn kick-off. A view of the club seating on the West sideline (where the old Press Box used to set). The hardest working man in radio: Ira Weintraub preps the radio set for the WTKA 1050AM live broadcast (in the freezing cold). Beyond the quarterback, guy #1 that needs to be healthy next season: David Molk. And guy #2, beast Mike Martin
-
Post Alumni Game: ‘64 Captain Jim Conley (audio)
I caught up with the oldest player on the field after the game, Jim Conley of the ‘65 Rose Bowl champs. He roamed the defensive backfield for the Maize team this morning and shared a few thoughts. Worth a listen, heavily tongue-in-cheek from the salty veteran: [display_podcast] Notable: I asked Conley about the lack of a QB on the Maize team: “It met my dreams, you understand? Because I hate referees, kickers and quarterbacks.” On the refs, who seemed to give the Blue QB (John Navarre) more than the allowed 5 seconds: “They had that Spartan Bob clock…they had 8 seconds sometimes.” On playing safety: “I moved better than I thought I was going to, to tell you the truth. I just wanted to show the fans that an old man can play free safety. If you’re a safety, you gotta sit back, look at the field, read the quarterback and go to the ball. And as you saw nobody threw in my area because I was there.” On the leap he offered up during his introduction: “I wanted to show people that I have that 42” elevation…”
-
Alumni Game Photos
Once again the Spring Game was preceded by a game featuring a collection of former players. The LaMarr Woodley’s “Blue” squad edged out Desmond Howard’s “Maize” (albeit clad in white, Dave Brandon’s first snafu at the helm). The game went down to the wire, with a Hail Mary getting batted around in the south endzone just out of reach of Fab Fiver Jimmy King. The pics: Two of the guys who received big cheers from the crowd, that’s Jim Conley on the left, captain of the ‘64-65 Rose Bowl champion squad flanked by the great Zoltan Mesko More from Conley in a later post, but he demonstrated his vertical leap on the intros to the delight of the 10,000 who came early to watch Desmond slipped in in a hoodie to coach the Maize squad Coach Rodriguez’s right hand man is Dusty Rutledge who helped organize the event, including handling some of the player invitations. Dusty did not play today. Fiver Jimmy King showing his moves before the game. He not only saw the field, he… …found the endzone for the white team with a great catch. I asked him about it after the game, he said he was very aware of where he was on the field on the play, and playing on…
-
Spring Up!
Happy Spring Game 2010. A little chilly yet this morning (still under 40 but rising). I’ll be out there for the Alumni Game before 11am and of course for the 1pm scrimmage. I’ll be taking photos, hopefully chatting with a few folks. There won’t be power or wifi available to the media so I’ll probably post what I have tonight. If I have something worthwhile I’ll blast out a tweet so follow me MVictors on Twitter. Don’t forget that WTKA will be broadcasting from the event, and those out of town can catch it online.
