(HT: Justin at MLive) Check out this brief exchange with Fab Fivers Jimmy King and Jalen Rose, in studio on ESPN’s First Take from yesterday. How would the 1992 all Freshman version fare against John Wall and Kentucky? No doubt, boo, no doubt! I love that Jalen refused to stop his preamble about the aura of the Fab 5 despite Skip Bayless repeatedly cutting in. Sidenote: Word on the street is that Jimmy King will be at the Jim Rome appearance at Northville Downs this Friday afternoon and is trying to drag a few other Fab 5’ers with him – nice! Sidenote #2: Speaking of Michigan-Kentucky, memories of when Jalen and crew were sophomores naturally focus on the 1993 Final Four and the Webber timeout. Lost in that is the incredible semi-final game on Saturday against Jamal Mashburn and the Wildcats. It was unbelievable. I was there about 20 rows behind the bench and it remains one of the best games I’ve seen.
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Bo’s Calling Card (1983)
Check out this cool old business card from the desk of none other than General Bo Schembechler, complete with 313 area code and The Big House as a backdrop: Except for the maize stripe up top, that’s a MAN’s business card, people. I can see Bo jamming that in some recruit’s chest, telling him to only call when he’s ready to come to Michigan. According to the seller, Bo delivered the card to him in 1983 when he was being recruited by the Wolverines. I reached out to the seller who confirmed that Bo’s charms worked, and he played for Michigan in 84-85. “I actually blew my knee out in the Monday practice after the Washington game in ‘84”, he told me via email. “Bo came to see me in the hospital on the day my girlfriend was also visiting.” After checking out the scene, Bo told the seller, “I should have known you’d have a f***ing broad in here!” Bo was a beauty. Why is he selling the card? “Knowing that Bo had left us I thought someone who never got to know him would like to have some of these items, so I listed them on eBay to see if there was anyone interested.” He’s also selling his offensive playbook from the 1983 season. The auction of Bo’s…
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Football Returns tomorrow
I’m pretty geeked to get out there to see the 2010 squad. Practice starts tomorrow and I’m going to try to swing by this week to get some insight along with a few photos. Not a surprise, but Media Relations advised that neither Rodriguez nor the players will comment on the NCAA investigation during the spring and possibly into the fall. Naturally I expect a few in the media to either ignore this or ask anyway. We’ll see what happens. Note: Rich Rodriguez will be joining Ira and Sam on WKTA 1050AM at around 8:20am tomorrow morning and WTKA will have audio from his presser at Schembechler Hall tomorrow. Check back in, hopefully I’ll have a few pics and clips from the opening day. Don’t forget, the Spring Game is April 17th, starting at 1pm.
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What A Woman! Rose Bowl Queen (1938)
Here is another great wire photo, this time from the late 1930s featuring my dream girl. It’s the Tournament of Roses Queen Barbara Dougall posing with her crown holding a team photo of none other than Fielding Yost’s first and perhaps finest team, the 1901 squad that started the Point-A-Minute reign of terror at the turn of the 20th Century.
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Jim Rome to Visit Detroit March 19
Word is out that in a couple weeks uber popular sports radio host Jim Rome will be making a rare visit to affiliate station 1130AM WDFN. On March 19th, Rome will do his show from the WDFN studios in Farmington Hills then bolt over to Northville Downs to meet listeners, advertisers, a few celebs and media titans. This won’t be Rome’s first visit to Motown. I know he stopped in for Super XL and local fans might recall one of his (now defunct) ‘Tour Stops’, held at the Palace back in 2003: Rome working the crowd at The Palace in 2003 I dropped into the Tour Stop event with my wife (bad idea). I’ll always remember when Ernie Harwell came out on stage, the interview and the rabid fan reaction, and all that….but I also recall that Rome spent a good portion of the show apologizing for dropping an f-bomb before Ernie came on and felt horrible after he realized the old legend probably heard it. The March 19 event should make for an interesting afternoon given that the beer flows cheaply and in bucket-sized cups at the Downs & the first round of the NCAA tournament will be in full swing. Toss in Rome along with a few thousand 25-45 year-olds lead by ‘Emilio Textavez’ and you can bet…
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No Freeze Out
A big thanks to Marty Bodnar and the M ticket office for hearing my plea & for doing the right thing—> taking care of the hockey season ticket holders as part of The Big Chill game at the Big House next year. Light blue’s for you: Looks like they’ve reserved quite a few ducats for former players and if this thing is to scale, apparently they’re expecting every living dude who has strapped on the skates for the Maize and Blue to show. Speaking of tickets, plenty available for this weekend’s first round battle in the CCHA tournament and it’s do or die. What are you waiting for? Grip your tickets, get over to Yost. Students are gone so make sure you’re there.
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Harry Bennett’s Castle
A quick follow-up on my post from this weekend on Harry Kipke and some of the troubles he ran into in the late 1930s. The muckety mucks on campus accused Kipke of running with some foul characters, namely Henry Ford’s henchman and enforcer, Harry Bennett. Bennett lived just down the street on Geddes and reader John F. sent me this link with several nice photos of the castle, including the bizarre tunnel that lead to the his pets lions and tigers. Enjoy, photos via retrokimmer blog:
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Rough Seas for Coach Kipke (1936)
The fall of Michigan coach Harry Kipke.