A likely one-of-a-kind piece of Michigan football history popped up this week on eBay: a program from the Michigan vs. Lehigh game held October 31, 1896, in Detroit. It’s incredible and you can see the full auction here. The item is owned by Brian who runs umichfootball.com, a site dedicated to Michigan Memorabilia. Definitely check it out. Brian bought this beauty from an antiques dealer in Michigan and he’s listing it for a cool $4,000. I’d love to know how much he paid for it! Whether someone buys it this week or not, he must be making out pretty good here. As for the game itself, the Victors-to-be prevailed 40-0. Chicago Tribune described the game as such: Michigan was nervous in the first half, and three times lost the ball on fumbles, once when it was but three yards from the Lehigh goal. After the men got warmed up, however, they played without blunder and had the Lehigh line practically at their mercy. You can read the full Tribune article here, as usual, there’s always something special about these ancient sports articles. Michigan had an exceptional season in 1896 as Michigan’s win against Lehigh continued an undefeated run. The week later the Wolverines edged Minnesota (pre-Little Brown Jug) 6-4. Home wins over Oberlin and Wittenberg set up a showdown with…
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Paperless Preview Project, bookmark this page
Great stuff pulled together by Auburn blogger Jerry over at The Joe Cribbs Car Wash. Here’s his explanation of what it is: ….a (hopefully) collaborative attempt at providing a single, convenient reference page to anyone looking for team preview information as we approach the 2008 college football season. Links to previews for all 120 D-I teams are included below, organized alphabetically by conference, with BCS conferences listed first. The PPP seeks to include links to as many worthwhile free team previews as possible, be they from mainstream sports sites, college football blogs, newspapers, or wherever. Check it out here. Of course if you get only one non-free preview of Michigan’s 2008 Season, Hail To the Victors 2008 is a must buy and you can buy it for the value of the cans in your garage. Elsewhere: Check out the new M blog, the Wolverine Liberation Army. It’s a deadly blend of Old School and Fight Club and definitely worth a look. I’m on board, and even erected a little message to the Ann Arbor elite this weekend:
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ESPN Ann Arbor is Titletown segment (YouTube)
Thanks for wolverinesFTW for this. I’m not a fan of these type of all-time lists but if nothing else, we gained a nice video compilation and a visit from the ww leader on campus: You can vote here.
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“Only 8 of you? That’s all you got?”
Sounds like a freshman end on the Hawkeyes gave the Iowa police all they can handle on Saturday: Defensive end Riley Reiff, an incoming freshman from South Dakota, was arrested after allegedly leading at least eight Iowa City police officers on a 20-minute foot chase, multiple media outlets reported. The 19-year-old pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of public intoxication and interference with official acts. A few takes: * Eight cops? How many officers are on duty in Iowa City on a given summer night? * This story was posted Sunday. So let me get this straight- all this happened on Saturday night/early Sunday morning??: a) got drunk and did something wrong b) was chased and caught by 8 cops c) was arrested, booked and charged d) pleaded guilty and that’s that? Swift Iowa justice I guess. Jeez, I wish the issues in Ann Arbor were settled this tightly. You avoid the double public sting from the arrest itself, and then with the follow-up court date(s). I read elsewhere that all this will cost him $562. Umm, if I went on such a rampage I’m guess I’d be cleaning the Big House after games for the next decade. Jokes aside, he’s a young kid, glad he may get a break on this one. Elsewhere: According to a blurb in the Miami…
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Dave Brown 34th Wolverine Enshrined into College Football Hall of Fame
Congratulations to the late Dave Brown who joined 19 other coaches and players into the College Football Hall of Fame today. The two-time (’73-’74) All-American defensive back was inducted alongside JoPa and Doug Flutie. But you wouldn’t know about it because there is minimal local coverage [Freep] including no mention on mgoblue.com? What’s the deal? It’s not like the athletic department isn’t on top of things: there’s a mention of Dan Deirdorf winning an award for broadcasting. Brown is the 34th individual with Michigan ties to be inducted. I don’t have any memories of Brown since I was a wee lad when he took the field, but it’s clear he had some skills in the defensive backfield (9 career interceptions) and was a fine punt returner (11.1 career average). He co-captained the great 1974 squad that finished 10-1 and 3rd in the final AP poll. The lone loss that season was the 12-10 defeat at the hand of the Buckeyes. Here’s his full bio on his new college football hall of fame page: Dave Brown was the leader of one of the most successful and yet frustrating periods in Michigan football history. The Wolverines posted a 30-2-1 record, tied for three Big Ten conference titles and never went to a bowl game. The defensive units on which Brown played were…
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Michigan Fan Day? Probably
Update: It’s going to be 8/17, more info here. At the 2008 Michigan spring game, Rich Rodriguez was asked by an M blogger whether there’d be an opportunity to meet the players this year a la’ the Fan Day events during the past few seasons. Coach Rod said there would be something in August, in conjunction with the team picture day. He also mentioned the possibility of something else during the summer but that ain’t going to happen. Here’s the short audio clip from the spring game presser: [display_podcast] There hasn’t been an announcement yet but that’s not unusual. Scrolling through the press releases from last year it looks like the Fan Day was announced a couple weeks before it was held on August 25, 2007. I lobbed a call in media relations and asked about if this was going to happen. In Fort Schembechler form, the short answer I received was ‘maybe, no announcement yet’. I asked about where it would be held if it were a go, again, really nothing except for they’d have to see what facilities are available. My sense is that this is a go (it’d be foolish not to, especially after closing the spring game), it’s just a matter of making it official. Update: After posting this I got a note from Bruce Madej…
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Phil Steele on 97.1, Webb talks Newsome rumors (audio)
The audio of college football guru Phil Steele on Valenti and Foster. A lot of stuff you already know but a couple items of note: * Projects Michigan in the Alamo Bowl vs. Nebraska. * Sees Utah as a major test [agreed] and Steele picks the Utes to take the Mountain West conference. * Says Michigan is currently a 3 point favorite over Notre Dame in Vegas, but thinks the Irish will be better than folks think. [display_podcast] Elsewhere: Each morning at 7:40am Sam Webb provides his recruiting round-up and started off again with Kevin Newsome. Click here for the clip. Webb is holding firm that there’s no info that leads him to think Newsome isn’t sticking to his commitment. Webb spoke to his parents as recently as yesterday. Newsome’s brother did attended the Va Tech summer camp and Webb advised that coach Frank Beamer did ask his brother about Kevin. [Sidenote: Someone needs to tell Webb what the phrase ‘in lieu of’ means – he says it all the time as if it equates to ‘in light of’]. Sklars do Jungle: Don’t miss Michigan grads the Sklar Brothers on Jim Rome’s radio show Friday 7/18. Here’s a clip from last time where they interviewed Coach Rodriguez.
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Back of the Line
mgoblog announced the adds/drops to the BlogPoll including a note: NOTE: With the departure of three Michigan blogs I can now lower the cap on voters per team to four, and have done so. Bollocks.
