Two stories related to the Stadium project have made it onto the front page of the Ann Arbor News this week. Today the News reported that some of the concerns over the construction noise were dying down, going as far as to publish a noise readings and on MLive.com, some actual “noise” from the stadium for your iPod: That fine, but I was a bit more concerned in this piece that headlined the Tuesday May 6 Ann Arbor News. The gist is that the University backed off its attempt to close a lane on Main Street to facilitate the renovation project. The thing that caught my eye was a quote midway through the story. The U-M spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham said that the lane closure wouldn’t jeopardize the near-term plan to have the stadium in shape for football this fall, but admitted that the plans to complete the gig by 2010 might be up in the air. Judge for yourself: U-M had planned to have the rest of the work finished in the fall of 2010. Cunningham said U-M is reassessing its construction schedule. “At this point, we’re looking at the construction schedule, exploring options, as to when and how the project can be completed,” she said. University officials had previously characterized the lane closure as crucial to their construction timetable…
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To Hell is Back
One of the things bloggers do when they’ve been away from the keyboard for a little while is check out site statistics. A quick scan of the incoming links revealed that my previous posts referencing my favorite Schembechler phrase are being peppered. It didn’t take long to find out why. As you may know by now you can thank Notre Dame head coach Chuck Weis for that: “I think the first opportunity they’re going to have to really make a statement is that day [Sept. 6 against SDSU], and then we’ll listen to Michigan have all their excuses as they come runnin’ in and sayin’ how they have a new coaching staff and there’s changes. To hell with Michigan.” ** Translated by Brian at mgoblog, who is fluent in Hutt Beautiful! I love this. Rich Rod is getting from all sides this off-season and I say bring it on. Any shot at our new coach just unifies the fickle Michigan fan base and gives a reassuring boost to our rivalries. Now we need Tim Brewster to announce he’s cleared a space in his office to display the Little Brown Jug and we’ll be all set. Referencing a Schembechler line is fine by me although I’m sure many would say that Weis would never dare say such a thing if Bo…
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Brandon Smith Signing Day audio
WTKA is doing a better job of uploading podcasts as of late, and it appears they’ve started to provided from beauties from the archives. I raved about this interview (where Brandon Smith makes several references to beating the Buckeyes) a few months ago but didn’t have the audio. Thanks to WTKA, here’s the audio:
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Kentucky Derby: Impress Your Friends
Want to get a little serious tomorrow with the Derby? I recommend this link on the official website that has the entire field. Click on a horse and you’ll be taken to you a page that has all the results, recaps and video of previous races. It’s perfect. It even includes details on the horse’s pedigree, recent workouts and observations from around the stables. While I’ve been to a few thoroughbred races in my day and witnessed two Derbys, my handicapping skills are on par with throwing a dart. That said, scanning the video of a few horses I must say I was impressed by how the 4 (Court Vision) finishes races and this might make a good box candidate for you. The current chalk Big Brown – 20 looks unbelievable in limited action and it’s tough to leave this horse out. The sentiment on the site blogs seems to be “sure, Big Brown could blow everyone away but he’s the favorite…” as if there’s a) a jinx, or b) it’s not cool to pick chalk. From what I’ve seen, I’d look to box up 4 and 20 and maybe toss in 10.
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Not again! Another Rose Bowl ring auctioned
Come on former Wolverines, these rings need to stop ending up on the eBay! This one’s priced at $3000 take it or leave it, Coach Bill McCartney’s 1980 ring sold for just over $2000 last year. This one isn’t quite as pretty as the 1980/81 version although it appears as though the top is a likeness of old Michigan stadium, press box and all, although it could be the Rose Bowl as well as there’s no tunnel. On the downside, the designer dropped the ball on one side deciding to go with a cute bear sitting on top of Jan Stenerud’s helmet.
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Rich Rod in Dearborn (YouTube)
Having been at the Ann Arbor version of “Rich Rod on the Road” tour, I can tell you that Coach Rodriguez added some material for the Dearborn version. User WolverinesFTW had a camera onsite and consolidated the talk down to under 10 minutes for your enjoyment: Good stuff, he did a nice job. And unless my peepers deceive, Coach is donning a tie for this go round. Coach Rod strikes me as a guy that only carries a couple ties in his closet and I don’t think the polish meets his shoes very often. Like I said before, some new stories and some old, but all good.
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SI’s Spring Game Coverage (Finally)
Murphy and Joe Schad (ESPN) talking with Threet Sports Illustrated finally released its recap of Michigan’s April 12th spring game at Saline High. Austin Murphy covered the game and to little surprise given the size (barely half a page) and its release almost three weeks since the final whistle, there’s not much that you don’t know. It did end with quotes from M legend Ricky Leach who told SI “This offense would’ve been tailor-made for me”, and added that, “the defense is going to have to really step up.” Murphy did give a mention to the Michigan nerdosphere: Three offensive linemen bailed out of the program, including returning starter Justin Boren, who transferred to Ohio State (and is known in the maize-and-blue blogosphere as Judas) I’ll take credit for that although in the M nerdiverse, the webmasters of this and a dozen other sites are huddled inside Apollo 15 listening to Ufer 8-tracks on a loop, orbiting BC’s Jupiter. And ok, maybe a Uranus.
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Harry Kipke and the Fall of 1934
In April 2008, an eBay auction popped up featuring a 1934 Michigan student ticket book. It actually had tear-away coupons for each event inside, most of which remained unused that season. According to the conditions written jacket, the tickets were to be used for athletic events in general but for football “reserved seating” in particular. As a U-M student in the early nineties, I recall we were required to use the coupon books and I thought this was primarily a means to stem the sale of individual games. Apparently, this wasn’t just a recent phenomenon as there was definitely an attempt by the University to crack down on anyone using these tickets beyond the rightful owner. The student was required to sign off on a set of conditions and the fine print within the ticket jacket included a strong warning: “If presented for admission by any person other than the owner the book will be forfeited, taken up at the time of improper presentation and full admission collected.” The owner of these student tickets certainly realized that there would be some challenges on the field in the upcoming season. Kipke lost three All-Americans (Charles Bernard, Francis Wistert, and Ted Petoskey) and a host of other key players. Sound familiar? The 1934 season is probably most recognizable for the presence of…
