Via a tweet from Michigan associate athletic director Bruce Madej, the Sporting News ran down their top coaches of all-time in any sport.   Not represented?  Fielding Yost.  What a crock. The list was selected by a panel of Hall of Famers, coaches, and experts in various sports.   Several college football coaches, including Bo and Amos Alonzo Stagg, one of Yost’s contemporaries, made the cut: So I hate these off-season lists and the debate that ensues, but this one is at least a little interesting by introducing multiple sports.  Yost should clearly be there over most of these guys (including Bo, sorry!).  No, I’m not giving these hall of famers the satisfaction of creating a matrix comparing each of these guys (maybe next June) and proving that Yost belongs here.

Ah yes, a great day when that yellow envelope arrives…I received my 2009 football season tickets today.  The artwork is holding to the ‘All In For Michigan” theme, staying away from game action in favor of sights/sounds and the fans.  Here’s how they look: The run down: Western Michigan – A photo of Rich Rod, starting down the sideline looking less than thrilled.  Also appears to be fixing his belt or zipping up his brawn. Notre Dame – A Maize out (hard to ignore as the ticket was dipped in a maize glaze).  To the chagrin of those who hate the tradition key-rattling during big plays, it appears we’ve got a photo of such an instance here. Eastern Michigan – The scene after the Spring Game this year when Rich Rod led the team in The Victors at midfield. Indiana – Just the team running under the Go Blue banner. Delaware State – A line of female cheerleaders including major biochemistry (I think), although the shot is from behind with maize pom-poms covering their keisters. Penn State – Another Maize Out, this time with a crowd shot executing a maize out (or as close as M fans come to executing these ‘outs’). Purdue – Very nice.  The scene of the Michigan drum major leaping into formation after the band has…

I saw this first via a tweet from ESPN’s Pat Forde.  Apparently Rich Rod chatted it up with the multi-talented actor Jamie Foxx up at Gibson’s in Chicago last night.  New AnnArbor.com writer Michael Rothstein got some more details on the encounter: “He’s a great guy,” Rodriguez said Tuesday morning. “He’s obviously extremely talented. I’ve seen some of his work ethic and he’s one of the most talented entertainers in the country. So, it was neat. “…Hopefully, we can get up to a ball game. I’d love to see him again.” Rodriguez said Foxx’s father was a football coach and Foxx, who was born Eric Bishop, played quarterback for Terrell High School in Texas. The pair talked for almost an hour. All this brought up memories of when Russell Crowe came to Ann Arbor a few years back to give his buddy Lloyd Carr a lift [some context on this].  This exclusive photo from MVictors actually made it all the way to Hollywood gossip site PerezHilton.com thanks to two meddling gossip hounds at my house after the game: [as a sidenote: I love that the pointless back and forth between rival schools that dominates the comments of ESPN/Freep/Detnews also plays out on a Hollywood gossip site.] Anyway, the celebrity citing evoked a great story from Mesko on when Crowe visited:…

I try to keep tabs on ticket prices for the upcoming season especially for the big games. According to my sources at Stubhub.com, early this afternoon the ducats for the Wolverines’ September 12 game against Notre Dame spiked: Any thoughts on what happened? (HT: A tweet from UM Hoops) In unrelated news, former Lion GM Matt Millen gave the thumbs up to Coach Rodriguez and in Vegas, the 2009 Michigan’s over/under win total plummeted to 4.5 and ten people canceled their reservations for big house luxury suites. [poll id=32]

I believe this will conclude what’s become Michigan vs. Army at Yankee stadium week on MVictors, but had to throw this up.  Perhaps inspired by my posts on these games, a local seller has tossed up this beauty of a program up on eBay and is asking a measly 45 bucks (or best offer).  It’s the program from the 1945 game in New York and it’s got to be pretty rare.  Collectors (I’m am not) might want to grab this one.  Unfortunately Michigan was smoked in each of these games so that might keep U-M memorabilia hounds away. For more on the 1945 and 1950 battles againsts the Cadets at Yankee Stadium, click here.  View the auction of the program here.

So I got the final edition of the Ann Arbor News delivered today.  Geoff Larcom pulled together a nice compilation of memories in the opening section. . I relied on the paper less and less for information but still enjoyed getting it each day. Speaking of Larcom, he pulled together a few favorite headlines from over the years and cited one that mentioned a scandal in 1909: Yes, that pretty much the summary of what happened except while he’s listed as a part-time quarterback, the  regular 1909 QB was Billy Wasmund.   The scandal not only hit the pages in Ann Arbor, it made it all the way to the New York Times.  All this said, you need to pick up a copy of Brian Cook’s Hail to the Victors 2009 and read about the entire 1909 season including the exploits of Wasmund, captain Dave Allerdice and even the Joy Miller scandal. Meanwhile, the death of the News means the launch of AnnArbor.com, which is available tonight in its new layout.  The sports page is loaded up with some nice features including a mention of a recent post on these pages. New writer Michael Rothstein will be providing a daily compilation of the big stories surrounding U-M athletics, his first edition here including a few links out to fellow bloggers UM…

In response to my post about Michigan’s trips to Yankee Stadium, and in particular, the New York Times excellent recap of the exploits of the M Marching Band, check out these photos provided by reader Jeremy. Here’s the MMB depicting the Coney Island parachute jump ride: Here are the rest; great stuff and cool photos of old Yankee Stadium:

It’s that time of year.  Vegas has set Michigan’s over/under at an even 6 games.  (I’ve seen other numbers offering 7).  Remember the win total doesn’t include any bowl game or conference championships. Last summer the book had Rich Rodriguez’s first team set at 8 which I thought was a bit optimistic: I would have thought it’d be set a tad lower (was thinking somewhere between 6.5-7.5 before I heard it). It’s probably the correct median for betting purposes, I’d probably go on the high side of that.  I’m basing a lot of that on the success big time coaches have had in their second seasons in gigs like this (there was wonderful analysis in HTTV ‘08) and you’ve got to think things will be clicking a little better no matter who’s at the helm of the offense. Other totals of interest: Feeling really good on the Wolverines chances in 2009?  Odds to win the BCS Championship are at 150/1.  More odds from BetUS.com.