WolverineHistorian posted the second part of the epic 1997 Michigan-Ohio State game held in Ann Arbor.  Just an incredible game; enjoy the highlights: You can view Part I here.

Another solid call into WTKA from U-M football raconteur John U. Bacon talks about the recent headlines with Justin Feagin and up the road in East Lansing with Glenn Winston, about the perception by those outside the program of Rich Rodriguez (“Rich, in some circles, can not win for losing.”) and more.  As always, worth a listen: [display_podcast] Sorry for the distortion – I spliced the podcast to “cut to the Bacon” and dropped some audio quality in the process.

From the Free Press, the reinstatement of MSU football player Glenn Winston has sent A.J. Sturges, the hockey player Winston assaulted, over the edge.  Sturges’ statement on the matter was posted in full on freep.com.  An excerpt: I now look at myself as naïve. I believed that the people involved in the assault, and those at MSU charged with handling policy, would do the right thing. They haven’t. Me and the other victims have not received any form of apology from Glenn Winston. Nothing. He has not acknowledged to us in any way the damage he caused. While this fact remains ignored, I cannot allow myself to believe that his debts have been paid, or even understood. While the victims of his actions still recover from what he did, Winston’s obligations have been deemed fulfilled by the football program and athletic department. I think his immediate reinstatement after a shortened jail sentence in my opinion is the wrong decision by our athletic program. Obviously an interesting situation that’ll evoke a few emotions on the Green side of the house, perhaps even moreso than when Jimmy Harbaugh took a shot across the bow at old Blue.   This is unique in that the blast is coming from a student athlete at the same school. So, while I don’t have all the facts…

No, Brian Cook of mgoblog is not going to be the new co-host alongside Sam Webb, he just jumped on for a segment on WTKA 1050AM to talk a little football and promote the wonderful Hail to the Victors 2009 preseason football guide. He highlighted some of the content of the book including noting a few submissions from a bunch of studs (you know, Dooley, Bacon, Ross, etc., etc.)  He also ran down his take on the Big Ten slate. Worth a listen, here’s the audio: [display_podcast] Get HTTV ’09 here.

Sad to learn that Saline native Vince Helmuth is transferring from the Michigan football program.  I interviewed him earlier this year in part for a piece for the Saline Reporter, and talked about his transition from fullback to defense tackle and the challenge in making such a switch.   I might reach out to him to understand what drove the decision and I’m guessing it’s about playing time. He obviously wants to play or he wouldn’t have tried to make the move to defense.  In the interview he was also excited about the prospect of his brother Gabe walking on the program this year: MVictors: I hear your brother Gabe is going to walk-on? Helmuth: He’s in the process of reviewing his options. I’m pretty sure he’s going to walk-on, but not totally sure. I want him to do what he’s comfortable doing. Coming in as a walk-on you’re signing up for five years and I want him to make that decision, I try to stay out of it. I’ve been as hands off as I can, besides saying if he comes here we’ll be cool roommates, and all that stuff. I hear that 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…

Just kids having fun, right? I made it through the police report and it’s pretty sad.  One thing that struck me: when the police plucked Justin Feagin from Schembechler Hall on July 23rd and hauled him to the station, the cops told the sophomore he could leave any time, “did not have to speak” and that he wouldn’t be arrested (at least not then).  Despite this, he went ahead and apparently told them everything.   I’m not sure whether he knew this was the end of the line or just didn’t understand the gravity of what he was admitting.  Whatever it was, he might have saved Michigan a lot a hassle by coming clean.  Once Rodriguez learned what was said he no doubt summoned Jon Falk to clean out Feagin’s locker. Feagin claims he was doing another student a solid—trying to help him out of financial trouble by getting him some coke to resell.   Dude, how about collecting some pop cans?  But enough on Feagin who’s obviously got some stuff to work out, I assume will have some legal battles ahead and blew the opportunity at a first class education.  Sad stuff for a young guy. Beyond the obvious misread on Feagin’s character by those who brought him to Ann Arbor, here’s hoping that this incident inspires a little more self-policing…

As mentioned on these pages earlier, Michigan insider co-host Andy Evans is leaving the WTKA 1050AM morning show and moving away from the radio business. He wasn’t the most popular personality on the station.  I know many folks who didn’t think much of the 9-10am slot often anchored solo by Evans and it definitely wasn’t the same caliber show sans Sam Webb. This said, I think Evans was getting better and did some commendable things while at WTKA: * Web services/podcasts.  I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure Evans was instrumental in getting WTKA to post podcasts on a regular basis.  If he wasn’t the driving force, I believe he made a lot of this happen at least in the beginning.  And despite the occasional jab at blogs Evans mentioned this site a couple times on air and even posted a link to MVictors on WTKA.com.  Very appreciated. * Countdown.  Evans did a wonderful job orchestrating the Countdown to Kick-off show inside the Bud Light Victors lounge.  I watched him first hand facilitate this event at it’s no trivial task, with so many guests and experts popping in and out not to mention having to perform over the din of the beer-soaked masses under that tent.  Here’s Evans in action, the tall gent third from the right: * Red…

Announced this morning at around 8AM, WTKA Michigan Insider morning show co-host Andy Evans is hanging up the microphone and moving on.  Sam Webb will remain and indicated they will be looking for a new co-host for the Ann Arbor-based morning show.  Evans typically kicked-off the talk show each morning, then flew solo on the 9-10AM slot.  More later.