The Pony up in the Michigan Press Box Craig James called the Western Michigan game for ABC on Saturday and apparently saw enough: he’s All In with Michigan and Rich Rod. James is one of the few from the national media pool who vote in the weekly AP college football poll.   He not only put the Wolverines in his top 25 this week, but he slotted them #18 right behind Notre Dame.  ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit is waving the a pale ‘Kinda In’ towel, slotting Rich Rod and company at #24. Yes, ABC featuring Matt Freakin’ Millen will be calling the suddenly giant game this weekend against the Irish but I don’t think they needed James’s vote to boost interest.  The announcement that Millen would call the game was made back in July, sending ticket prices soaring:

Check out the auction of a “1900’s” era paper megaphone, outfitted with the words to Varsity, The Yellow and Blue, and the chorus to The Victors.  It’s not quite in tip-top shape (perhaps one of Zoltan’s ancestors rolled on top of it), but it’s still pretty cool

I started to take a peek at my DVR of yesterday’s game and I made it about three seconds in.  We nearly lost our pre-season All-American and Ray Guy candidate punter Zoltan Mesko in what would have been an embarrassment on par with Appalachian State.  I stood about foot away from Mesko seconds before this happened (here’s proof) and I can tell you he was pumped up.  Clearly stoked to lead the team onto the field with the seniors this season, he seriously overcooked the leap to the M Club banner.  Here’s how it looked:   Stills with analysis: #1 The aw-shucks moment: He probably realizes this might be trouble, caught more of the banner than he wanted, now just hoping he can land it. — ——————— #2 Despite being a Romanian, there’ll be no Nadia Com?neci-esque landing here today.  Way too far on his heels, heading for disaster. ———————- #3 Now down on all fours, Mesko realizes this not only looks bad in front of 100,000 live and millions on TV, he’s got 119 guys barreling behind him with only slightly less vigor. ————————————— #4 A glimmer of hope, he gains some footing and he wasn’t crushed by the guys directly behind him.  Still might get worse before it gets better. ————————————   #5  He remarkably manages to avoid…

All Access! A quick rundown of my first behind the ropes with media access for an actual game.  I covered the last two Spring games including a chance to check out the press box earlier this year, but the gameday experience is obviously quite a different scene.  10:00am EDT – I shared a few thoughts on what fans should bring to the stadium last week, but gearing up for media coverage is a different animal.  Along with PC and power, I brought in phone, digital camera, audio recorder, Flip Video camera, and all the associated power and transfer cords.  The media are supposed to present themselves as neutral observers (Bob Ufer excluded), so I donned a white golf shirt. 2:30pm EDT – After hitting the always excellent 1050AM WTKA Bud Light mVictors Lounge for about a half-hour, I walked around the stadium and Crisler Arena, heading into the Big House via the media entrance outside the tunnel:  2:45pm EDT – After getting a few shots on the field (see all the pre-game photos here) I headed up the press box.  There are four levels of the press box: 1. Guests of the Regents, 2. Main Press Level, 3. Photo deck (including several TV booths) and 4. Radio (Brandy/Beckmann etc.).  The spring game was a free-for-all as far as seating but obviously, that won’t fly for the games.  I set…

After the game the media assembled at Crisler Arena in a small room where they obviously do press conferences but apparently where they also film Inside Michigan Football, the pre-game coaches show that replaced Michigan Replay (and tons of folks are desperately imploring Google this morning to explain what happened to their beloved postgame show:) Michigan brought out Tate Forcier, Denard Robinson, Rich Rodriguez, Obi Ezeh and Junior Hemingway. A few observations and notes from the conference, hopefully with a little different perspective than what you get in the traditional media: Forcier: Forcier reiterated that he doesn’t get nervous and it shows.  He gives off the air like he’s been here for years, in fact when talking about the first touchdown he said, “the crowd helped us, as always.”  Yep, just like in the Spring game when he needed a boost! Robinson: Denard Robinson was asked if he was surprised by the speed of a college defenders.  He replied by noting that he comes up against fast guys in practice like Troy Woolfolk and Boubacar Cissoko, except he wasn’t clear on how to pronounce the surnames of these gents.  Woolfolk was “Woolfork”, and he gave up on Cissoko after the “Sis”.   I point this out not to suggest the Robinson is slow (he’s actually really fast!) but rather as an…

A few more photos, this time starting from the kick-off (a view from atop on the photo deck), from on the sidelines near the end of the game, at the press conference and finally, back at the stadium after the fans have left: And don’t miss the post-game video of the celebration below the student section, with the team signing The Victors.  Click here. Related: All in Access: Western Michigan Pre-Game (Photos, Video) The Michigan Difference WMU Honorary Captains

A few photos from the field and the press prior to the Western game.  A good idea of what it’s like to shoot down to the Go Blue banner.

Almost as awesome as sweatshirts with the sleeves cut off: Much more tomorrow, but couldn’t sign-off without sharing this: Related: All in Access: Western Michigan Pre-Game (Photos, Video) The Michigan Difference WMU Honorary Captains Follow MVictors on Twitter.