Glad to hear that HBO’s documentary on the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is now available on DVD. You can get a copy here from Amazon.com or head over to your local Borders. I really enjoyed it; here’s my review from last November (with a few tweaks): ———————————————- With the hype building for Saturday it was a great night to watch the premiere of HBO’s first documentary dedicated to sports: The Rivalry. Initial review by those that at pre-screening event was that it was slanted toward the Buckeyes and didn’t mention Lloyd Carr. I went in with an open mind: – The content definitely slanted toward the Buckeye side of the house. I’d say the last half of the piece was 80% focused on Ohio State fans and Woody Hayes. – Overall it was well done. While they didn’t have any mention/picture/video of Lloyd Carr, they didn’t exactly spend a lot of time on Tressel. But the Carr omission was a little weird. I mean, they showed footage of John Cooper and a lot of Earle Bruce, but and didn’t mention Carr? – The quotes from Bo were great. They talked about the gold pants that each OSU coaches and players gets if they beat Michigan (and later show up on eBay). One thing that never occurred to me is that Bo…
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Scouting the Iowa Hawkeyes (2006)
A couple of weeks ago on eBay, a seller offered up what was described to be a folder belonging to a Michigan coach. The photos were blurry, but the description claimed it belonged to someone on the Wolverine staff and held diagrams, notes, plays, and whatnot related to the game against the Iowa Hawkeyes held October 21, 2006 in Ann Arbor. Michigan won the game 20-6 thanks to a solid defensive effort and a strong game from Henne and Hart. If you read Brian Cook’s Hail to the Victors 2008 before the season, you got a little insight into the Carr coaching staff with the wonderful article titled ‘Rock Star’ by author Craig Ross. Ross wiggled his way into a quarterbacks’ meeting led by former QB coach Scot Loeffler, here’s a snippet: Loeffler: “What are the boys doing to us? Chad Hen-ne. (It eventually becomes clear that “the boys” means “the defense.”)Henne: “They are skying us and we are in chili with a dino.”Loeffler: “Rock Star!!!!” Ross later described his head as all this was happening: My head was spinning. I was trying to write notes as quickly as I could and still pay some attention, trying to learn something from what was going on. I was lost. It was hopeless. It felt a bit, perhaps exactly, like Ross after…
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Final takes on the Gopher Snare
A few random takes on Minnesota, closing out the week: * Man, I can’t believe Tim Brewster didn’t rush things a little bit down the stretch. After watching Michigan control the ball in the final minutes of the game it’s clear it wouldn’t have mattered, but Brewster walked off the field with all three timeouts, right? And as the ESPN guy kept pounding home, they had no sense of urgency on offense in the fourth quarter. I don’t blame them for kicking that field goal, but they needed to get some hustle on. * Speaking of down the stretch, after all we’ve been through this season I caught myself watching the clock on every play. I wasn’t convinced we were going to win this thing until a few minutes to go. * Angelique suggested there might be a quarterback controversy this morning. I’m not sure about that–yes, Sheridan looked great but I’m still much more comfortable with Threet back there if he’s healthy. * A few in the local media have suggested that Michigan has given up in games, thrown in the towel, dialed down the effort. I haven’t seen it. In fact, during the Michigan State game one of my takeaways is how somehow these guys think they’re bad. Not bad meaning bad but bad meaning good. I mean…
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I promised myself I wasn’t going to cry
AP Photo
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Slick Nick Sheridan
To the victor goes the spoils, look who was seen with #8 in Minneapolis after the game: So let’s get down to it:* Sheridan played great, not just good. I, like you, expected a train wreck today so give him a lot of credit.* His final passing stats don’t do justice (18-30, 203 yards and 33 rushing). He played smart, he protected the ball, and actually threw a handful of very nice balls downfield, at least two of which were flat out dropped by the receivers.* Give Sheridan half the credit, the rest to Scott Shafer and the defense for protecting the Little Brown Jug, which will now be held in the familiar confines of Schembechler Hall until November 2011. How ’bout dem apples!:
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Jug Deal: Win One, Get two Free
The original Little Brown (White?) Jug, from Historic Michigan Football Photos. HT: Caught this nugget on Sam Webb’s show this morning and it really hurts. The winner of Saturday’s battle will keep the Little Brown Jug for not only a year, but until November 5, 2011 (!). Bollocks! Yes, due to the way the schedule shakes out the Wolverines and Gophers don’t meet for another three years. Thankfully that game is in Ann Arbor (kick-off time hasn’t been determined quite yet). That’s our jug! As Lloyd Carr reminded everyone last year, we bought it, they stole it. It’s ours–let’s keep it. Should we fail, it’ll be the longest stint that the jug’s been in Minnesota since a four year stretch from 1960 until Michigan won it back in 1964. Previous to that, Minnesota’s great Bennie Bierman-led Depression era teams held the receptacle from 1934-1942.
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Braylon’s Bad Bet
Recall that earlier this year former Michigan WR Braylon Edwards made a friendly wager with his workout pal Michael Phelps: JUNE 26 – ANN ARBOR, MICH. …Edwards was sure this was taking his fitness to another level. So he and Phelps made a friendly wager. “For every gold you win in Beijing,” Edwards told the Olympian, “I’ve got to score two touchdowns this year.” ——— AUGUST 16 – BEREA …Phelps called Edwards from Beijing soon after he won his final gold medal and reminded him of their bet. “I got eight,” Phelps said, “so that means you’ve got to get 16 touchdowns this year.” “News flash,” Edwards said. “I did that last year. I’ll give you 17.” News flash, it’s not looking so good for Bray. His mere three touchdown catches this season with seven games remaining mean Edwards better put up a truly Phelpsian performance and haul in a couple per game from new quarterback Brady Quinn. If last night was any indication, it’s not looking to good. Quinn and Edwards hooked up just once for fifteen yards.
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Index is no Joke
A comment on the current Power Index from reader ‘M Fan’: You’re joking, right? Your “power index” has Michigan ranked ahead of Purdue? By what logic??? I suspected this all along, but obviously, this index is idiotic. Response: Nope, this isn’t a joke this is very serious. The Big Ten has approached me* about using the Index to determine the order of bowl selections after the Rose. Read ‘How it Works’ and note a few things to understand: A team that is .7 of a point ahead of another team isn’t really “ranked” ahead of the other. Statistically it is insignificant. Both teams equally blow. M Fan’s implied argument is that Purdue beat Michigan last week, therefore how on earth could Michigan be slotted higher than Purdue? This isn’t the AP poll. The index asks the pollsters to rate each team in the index against each other each week as if they were going to meet on a neutral field. If you came away from that game Saturday thinking that Purdue was clearly the superior team, that’s fine, but that’s not what the guys in the index saw. Most, including me, believe a game on a neutral field would be a toss-up. (At least today). Finally, I still get notes/comments suggesting that this is a clearly Michigan-biased poll, which might…
