Awesome:
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Ricky Leach calls out Carr on WTKA (with audio)
This morning former U-M QB Rick Leach dialed up WTKA’s Michigan Insider with Sam Webb and Ira Weintraub to sound off about the report that Rodriguez backed off the claim that the team hit the highest GPA in team history. Leach painted it as another attempt by the media to discredit Rodriguez, another “example of people with an axe to grind.” But then Leach took aim at former coach Lloyd Carr, saying “I’ve had it,” asking folks to investigate where and with whom Carr sat at the Iowa game (translation: Carr sat with Iowa people and wore one of those corncob hats). Per Leach, with this act, “our ex-coach flipped a huge middle finger” at Rodriguez. Further, Leach implied that if and when folks dig around they’ll find that trail of the negative press on Rodriguez and this team will lead back to Carr. Here’s the audio of the call, thanks to WTKA: [display_podcast] . Quick take on the Iowa thing –> I don’t have a problem with Carr being at the Iowa game in a suite with Iowa people. I’m pretty sure when folks like Mary Sue Coleman visit other teams, like Michigan State, they are the guests of their peers across the sideline. Do they have a Michigan suite at Iowa and at other schools? Where are Carr…
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Mark Messner on WTKA (audio)
Former Michigan legend Mark Messner joined Sam and Ira on WTKA this morning. Overall he’s very pleased with the progress this season and with this team, on the quarterbacks. In the wake of the talk of Rodriguez yelling at Forcier, Messner recalled being yelled about by Bo and how he feels about RR blasting away (he likes it). Messner called in to help promote the auctions for the Pat Maloy Scholarship going on right now (including some items signed by Messner himself). Here’s the audio (it starts about 1 minute in): [display_podcast] . Sam mentioned my interview with Messner earlier this year when he talked about his recruitment; you can find that here. Update: A scoop for you. My sources at the Maloy auction tell me that next week’s honorary guest on WTKA to pump the auction will be the great Gordie Bell! Look forward to that.
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The Boot & The Blame
The media are now kicked out of practice for the rest of the season, maybe forever, thanks to someone who spilled the beans on what they saw during the 30 minute glimpse of practice afforded to the writers on Wednesdays. According to mgoblog: You know, I saw this Daily article detailing this new pitch play Michigan was working on, and I thought "that’s really cool, I wonder why more practice articles aren’t this specific": In a rotation that was repeated about four times, a quarterback and running back lined up to practice a simple outside pitch play. Though the play was basic, the pairings were different than usual. And then Michigan ran that pitch play to pretty good effect against Iowa and then Rodriguez closed practice for the rest of the year. Oh, that’s why. Brian also mentioned that “blogs” might have been mentioned, but don’t look at me, Homes. Unless…Rodriguez got wind of these little plays I showed diagramed on this site last week: If so, 1,000 apologies to RR, Angelique, Wojo and the rest. Related: Angelique talked about her understanding of the rules of what you can report from practices in the wake of the boot on WTKA radio.
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Hello, Angelique (WTKA audio)
The great Angelique Chengelis joined Ira and Sam today on WTKA’s Michigan Insider to talk concussions, Hawkeyes, substitutions, Denard, the media getting the boot from practice (and her understanding of “the rules”) and the Delaware State campus: [display_podcast] . Full podcast and all of the Insider podcasts here.
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Michigan Bowl Projections at the Midway
Photo: readers Amy and Jeff It’s been a while, huh? Where the major sources slot the 4-2 Wolverines in the 2008-09 bowls. Don’t book your flight just yet: College Football News/Scout.com: Insight Bowl 12/31/09 vs. Kansas CBS Sports: Champs Sports Bowl 12/29/09 vs. Wake Forest ESPN (Mark Schlabach): Valero Alamo Bowl 1/2/10 vs. Oklahoma State ESPN (Bruce Feldman): Champs Sports Bowl 12/29/09 vs. North Carolina Related: Consolidated BCS Bowl Projections for 2009-2010
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The Rift Reality, Part II
I see there’s a little bit of a freak out happening on this whole Forcier/Rodriguez rift nonsense. Do I think Forcier did and probably said something that pissed off Rodriguez? Yes, I think so but I think it’s more about what he was doing on the field. TATE!!!! Do I think this will carry over into next week? No, in fact I’m sure it’s already far gone and Rodriguez and Forcier’s coach-player relationship will be better for whatever miscommunication occurred. Do I think Forcier is the absolutely the #1 option at quarterback (despite the depth chart that still lists Sheridan as an “OR” haha)? For sure. Will Robinson get more snaps next game? Sure and I would like to see Robinson get more snaps against Delaware State to get more comfortable. The last pass was horrible but he’s a freshman (look at some of Stanzi’s passes- yikes) and it’s not like Forcier was having success delivering the ball to the wide-outs. I’m not concerned about any of this stuff at quarterback, but I can’t say that about the Boubacar situation, which Ira and I covered with Andy Mignery and Sam Webb on the WTKA pre-game show Saturday. More this morning from the Freep but note this is part reporting, part editorial: CISSOKO OUT? Rodriguez sounded pessimistic about Boubacar Cissoko’s future,…
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Ron Kramer Soars on the Michigan Hardwood (1957)
Hoops season rapidly approaches so next up on eBay Watch we’ve got a beautiful wire photo from 1957 featuring multi-sport letterman Ron Kramer trying to block a shot against Purdue: It’s a wonderful shot and offers a view of basketball inside Yost Field House in the 1950s, with digital scoring?. Michigan defeated the Boilers 66-54 on this February day thanks in large part to captain Kramer’s 17 points. And those hops are not just the result of the camera angle: Kramer was a high jumper on the track team and was known to trot over from the football practice field and smoke fools at the high jump in meets. He finished that basketball season as Michigan’s all-time leading scorer. Kramer is best known for his exploits on the gridiron of course, but I’ve heard that he had an unbelievable gift as a cager. His exploits on and off the field/court/track are chronicled in the book, That’s Just Kramer!
