A notable reactions to recent posts on this site of note.  What Is Maize?  First, on a quick post about the new All in for Michigan towels, in the photo of Rodriguez holding the terrible towel I wrote this: While the range on the shade of navy blue on U-M gear is fairly tight, you do get quite a wide spectrum of maize.  This photo of Rodriguez is a great example.  The towel is closer to the gold, kind of older school, his shirt looks like a highlighter and the hat is somewhere in between.   Can we get a standard and stick with it? I realize such a standard was probably a stretch, given the 100s? of companies that manufacture U-M stuff.  Anyway, reader Zach added a pretty interesting comment with this link.  Turns out author Liene Karels actually looked into this topic for Michigan Today, digging back through time seeking some clarity on the standard. An excerpt, describing the goals of a committee assembled in 1912: The charge was to "determine the exact shades of maize and azure blue which would be suitable for the official colors of the University and embody them in some lasting form." Lombard’s committee searched out early diploma ribbons, dance cards from the 1890s and programs from various events, assembling an array of rich…

The Detroit News’ Angelique Chengelis joined Mike ‘Stoney’ Stone while he was guest hosting for Mitch Albom on WJR this evening.  It created a (..I promised myself I wouldn’t cry..) nostalgic reunion of the iconic Detroit drive-time radio segment on the old Stoney and Wojo show on WDFN 1130AM. First, your audio: [display_podcast] Stoney likes the Broncos plus the 12 or so points (me too). Angelique wasn’t shocked that Rodriguez mentioned the possibility of playing three quarterbacks because she hasn’t seen anyone separate either. In a weird way, Angelique agrees with Rodriguez’s decision to give them a shot.  She thinks Denard will come on in a package with Forcier. They talked about public sentiment, which they correctly noted is overwhelmingly in favor of playing the freshman. Co-host Ken suggested Nick Sheridan is a bit like Joey Harrington (after the fall), where no matter what he does he can’t win. Angelique walked around her house last night without shoelaces tied a la Denard to try it out with no luck.  Apparently Robinson ran track without laces on either. Chengelis went on about how Robinson reminds her of Desmond Howard. She talked about the chemistry among the coaches with Greg Robinson on board that wasn’t around last year under Shafer. Angelique doesn’t see Michigan challenging Ohio State until the Buckeyes’ visit in…

I’ve been cautiously called ‘not a liar’ on mgoblog for putting forth the Rodriguez quote on the three quarterback system yesterday, which is a bit like being called notsomuch of an a-hole.  For the record, here’s the audio snippet. [display_podcast] Seriously, I see both sides here in the perception.  I mean it’s a couple weeks out and Rodriguez clearly told the media he wouldn’t divulge the starter even if he had one (at this point).   I think Ladies Love Cool Larry (Lage) and others were justified in running with this because he answered that question so definitively and dudes, come on, the idea of seeing a three quarterback rotation would make anyone’s head do a Linda Blair.   After the Rodriguez said it I glanced over at friend-of-blog and author Craig Ross looking something like this (except I look more like Tom Cruise). Did some folks run with this a little hard?  Probably.  I checked my Twitter during the press conference just to see what everyone was doing and Angelique tweeted this “Rich Rodriguez just said he will play all three QBs in the season opener.”  I remember thinking that was a little extreme. Did RR eave plenty of outs?  Sure.   Was it media day and did he give the media some sweet chum to feast upon?  You betcha.   Are TimVB…

AnnArbor.com has posted some nice coverage of Media Day, including mucho multi-media.  Melanie Maxwell put a little behind the scenes video package together, including this shot of a certain reporter’s notebook: Who knew Wojo could read and write Urdu?  Speaking of random notes, Rich Rodriguez confirmed that Michigan will continue the honorary captain program, where they bring in three or so former players who spend the morning with the team and serve as…honorary captains.   Rodriguez told me they’ve come up with a list a potential honorary captains but wouldn’t divulge any of the names until they verify that they can make it to the games.

Rodriguez was peppered with questions for the first 10+ minutes of the press conference, eliciting a few jokes from RR about having plenty of other positions on the field to discuss.  A few notes on the qb-question barrage: “Quarterback position is still wide open”, and it may come down to how they perform in game conditions. When asked if for the opener, there’s a good chance each of the three quarterbacks (Sheridan, Forcier, Robinson) will take snaps, Rodriguez’s answer was, “Yes.  Yeah.  In what order and how many (snaps) I couldn’t tell you.  Right now all three of them look like they’ll play in the opener.”   I gasped.   [Update 8/24: Here’s the audio] He’s not worried about having a single guy to rally around, he just wants each quarterback to get better. He later said, when talking about freshman and freshman quarterbacks in particular, that Denard Robinson and Tate Forcier “are going to play as freshman.” Rodriguez noted that Sheridan “is battling right there with them,” and noted that he’s done a lot of work physically (in the weight room). When asked who started the intra-team scrimmage held on Friday, after joking that he “didn’t remember’”, Rodriguez admitted that he thought Sheridan took the first rep.  [HT mgoblog, some video of yesterday’s scrimmage is up on mgoblue.com here.] After the…

After the Rodriguez press conference the media had the chance to chat with the assistant coaches.  I bounced around a little bit (Fred Jackson was great, maybe more on this later) and listened to defensive coordinator Greg (Gerg?*) Robinson.  As you might expect given where the guy has been (he rattled off all the BCS conferences he’s worked in at one point and I think it’s ALL of them), he had complete command of the Q&A session.  He could go straight to the booth if he ever gets out of the coaching game.  FWIW. Anyway, one reporter asked him about the recent announcement that he’ll be coaching from the sidelines this fall.  Scott Shafer and many other coordinators do this from the booth of course.  I thought his answer was pretty interesting: Greg Robinson: Being on the field…especially now that offenses have gone to the no-huddle offense, you get two to three seconds longer to think and that’s an eternity in football.  You can make a quicker decision because you don’t have to transfer a call from upstairs to downstairs.  That’s an advantage. You are on the field, so when issues occur you can get to them quickly.  I’ve had a lot of experience coaching, and if I’m always upstairs always have to deliver the message [through another coach] sometimes…

Just a few photos from in and around media and fan day.  I actually didn’t stick around for the Fan Day event, but folks were let in prior to 1pm to queue up to meet the coaches and players.  I did pick up a couple of the ‘All in for Michigan’ terrible Towels and they’re more like Maize ShamWow’s, but hey, it’s for a good cause.  Enjoy the photos: Related: Media Day: Greg Robinson on the Field Level Advantage Media Day: The Stadium Renovation (Photos) Media Day: Rodriguez on the Quarterback position