A pleasure to join WTKA 1050AM’s Michigan Insider show this early this morning in the 7AM hour.  New host Ira Weintraub invited Brian Cook of mgoblog to run the show from 7-10AM and I joined them in the first hour with Craig Ross of Obscene Diaries and the Ann Arbor Observer joining shortly thereafter. After battling a few technical difficulties in the beginning, we got rolling.  Here’s a segment with me, Cook and at the end, Ross talking quaterbacks, quaterbacks, quarterbacks, Coke, Big House sound and more: [display_podcast] Here’s the rest of the WTKA podcasts from the morning, including later when Jon Chait, editor of the New Republic, Mike Rothstein of AnnArbor.com and the great John U. Bacon joined Cook to round out the day:   Chait Segment Bacon Segment Related: April 2009: The Future of Ann Arbor Journalism (WTKA audio) March 2009: MVictors hits the Big Show (WTKA audio)

HT: mgoblog, Word is out that former FB-turned-DE-turned-transfer Vince Helmuth will indeed land in the MAC, but not at Eastern Michigan as speculated here a couple weeks ago: I hear that [Vince’s brother] Gabe is going to end up at Eastern Michigan to focus on track—perhaps that’s where Vince is headed to join his bro and former Michigan defensive coordinator Ron English. Wrong! Now word is coming out of Oxford (and after a Google search, looks like Mark Snyder of the Freep was on this already, see the notes) that Helmuth will instead land at Bo Schembechler’s alma mater, Miami of Ohio.  Related:  Interview: Vince Helmuth

Having now some exposure to the life of a regular journalist you learn a few things.  One thing I’ve appreciated for a while, having done a few now, is the effort that goes into prepping, executing, transcribing and finally republishing an interview.  I grabbed a bunch of audio on Sunday but 90% of it won’t see the fiber-optic light of internet beyond the audio Rodriguez telling us that he’s planning to use three quarterbacks against Western Michigan. I ran over to catch Tate Forcier on the practice field after RR presser and found some sound worth talking about.  First notes: On whether he’s going to keep the “T.” of Forcier on his jersey now that there’ll be no “J. Forcier” rejoining the Wolverines.  We already know he will keep the T., but  interesting that Tate was actually curious about that as well. On why he ended up at Michigan and his brother role in encouraging him to give Ann Arbor a look. On living with his brother, who Tate says is staying in town to start his own business.  They have an apartment and Jason sleeps on an air mattress next to him.  [Sorry, no confirmation whether they are going to build a bunk bed a la Step Brothers]. Regarding Denard and competition in general, the freshman did admit some…

Rumor, gossip, unsubstantiated but it’s Friday night, right?  Word on the street is that Detroit sports radio station WDFN 1130AM may have won over the Clear Channel corporate brass that called for the clean-out of local radio shows back in January 2009.  If you recall, they wiped Sean Baligian, Matt Shepherd and the iconic Stoney and Wojo show from the schedule, prompting this piece of Photoshop gold: Stoney recently filled in for Mitch Albom on WJR and we know Wojo (above, eating something) is still around.  If true, could they be tapping the duo to return before football season? Take: Beyond that this is purely scuttlebutt, I doubt Clear Channel would go back to these guys unless they were able to negotiate a compromise on pay.  Stoney was jokingly known as the show’s “franchise”, hinting that he probably made a nice paycheck.  We’ll see.

Via AnnArbor.com: Jay Riemersma is drawing on his football past to generate support in his 2010 bid for a west Michigan congressional seat. The former University of Michigan and NFL tight end announced today that former Wolverine coach Lloyd Carr will campaign on his behalf on Sept. 17. Stops are planned in Holland, Grand Haven and Grand Rapids. Riemersma played at Zeeland High School before moving on to Michigan and then Buffalo and Pittsburgh in the NFL. He’s one of several Republicans seeking to replace Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Holland, who’s running for governor. Interesting a few levels.  First, that a former Michigan player is seeking office and swinging for the fences right off the bat.  He’s got a slick campaign website and Lloyd Carr will certainly give him a boost as the Coach seems to be increasingly revered as the days tick away. And while Carr is understandably supporting the man, most indications we have is that the our former leader leans very left, contrary his conservative mentor Bo Schembechler.  I don’t talk about it much on these pages but I spent a couple summers on Capitol Hill, first working for Senator Donald Riegle, and later for a guy will be watching this campaign pretty closely:  Congressman Fred Upton (R) from the west side of Michigan as…

[Ed 7/15/2010.  For Photos of the July 2010 Tour, click here] A great chance for the media to take a look at the new Michigan Stadium luxury suites and renovations.  We started with a brief presentation from in the Junge Family Center then toured both sides of the renovation. Bullets: Loved it.  First class layout of the suites and the view of the field is excellent. The suites were a little smaller than I figured but they are first class and really, there’s a lot of room.  Include a kitchenette, a “living” area with chairs, and the seating is top notch.  And you can open the windows of the suite for air, ambiance or to hurl toilet paper like in the 70s. If I heard it correctly, 70% percent of the suites are “sold” (I think that means they have committed deposits) along with 70% of the club seating.  Not bad considering it’s more than a year out and I image it’s hard for a lot of companies to commit to something beyond the current fiscal year.   We’ll see how things go over the next year. You might think that suite owners will surrender their existing season tickets because, duh, they’ll be in the suites.  I asked this question during the tour and the initial response was that many suite…

An interesting discovery during this evening’s media tour of the Michigan Stadium renovation project: the appearance Coca-Cola refrigerators and dispensers on the main concourse. And if I read the fountain logos correctly, the stadium will also feature Coke Zero from the fountain which is big.  It’s one of those issues that divides America but in my experience Coke drinkers seem to be more passionate about their brand. Michigan’s had a contract with Pepsi for quite a while now and it looks like those days are done.  How new is the change?  Not sure, but they haven’t tweaked the concessions price board on the concourse quite yet: Will they be swapped out for the opener?  We’ll see. More on the stadium renovation tour HERE.

Above, check out aMaize’n Blue Magazine, “The Magazine devoted to University of Michigan Athletics.”  The cover features Anthony Carter making a cut upfield and a story remembering Bob Ufer who passed away in 1981. First from the comments, reader ‘98xjwolverine’: aMaizen Blue magazine was created by Larry Paladino, and was the spiritual predecessor to The Wolverine magazine, covering all Michigan varsity sports. There were monthly issues, plus weekly newsletters during football season. Originally launched as GoBlue (or MGoBlue) magazine in January 1979, it changed to aMaizen Blue in Sep 1982 (thus the “inaugural” cover). Unfortunately, after changing publishers at least once, the magazine folded in Winter 1984. Subscribers were not reimbursed for issues due, as I recall sending some letters trying to get my money back. Thanks 98, appreciate that.    Also, from writer John Kryk, author of the book that’s required reading for Michigan and Notre Dame fans, Natural Enemies.  Kryk memory echoed that of 98xjwolveine, and added this detail on the weekly newsletter including an example: …during the football season you’d get weekly game reports in newsletter form — just four pages on thick white stock (i,e, one long piece of thick paper, folded in half to get four ‘pages’). [Attached] the four-page newsletter after the heartbreaking 1980 loss at Notre Dame. Here’s one of the pages of the…