• Cool Rod greets Ann Arbor alums

    April 18, 2008 /

    Last night Bill Martin and Coach Rodriguez kicked off their ‘On the Road’ tour to give Michigan alumni a chance to meet the new coach. The Junge family center between Crisler and the stadium was the venue, and props to the Alumni association for running a first class event. Coach Rod worked the room for a little while then signed autographs. Martin gave a brief introduction and Rodriguez spoke for about 20 minutes. He did a real nice job. Some old material, some new, but overall he did a real nice job. Like most coaches, I imagine that he hates this kind of stuff but it didn’t show. The only thing I would have changed? He didn’t take any questions, at least in front of the group. This said, he was very approachable before and after the event so it’s not like he did his 20 minutes and split. A few tidbits: * He made no projections for next season, he said his players will play hard and physical and joked that he can predict that he’ll play eleven guys. He did indicate that he’d be playing quite a few freshman on offense this year. * He touched on the Page Six items very briefly: his lingering WVU issues, the Ann Arbor News investigation, the ‘eroding family‘ thing, the recruiting…

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  • Season Ticket Renewals Arrive

    April 17, 2008 /

    1909 Season “Foot Ball” Pass In the mail today. A little less clutter in the envelope than usual, just the application ($375 per seat), an ad for their new radio device from live sports radio and a promotion for the 2008 student t-shirt from the mden*. Renewal deadline is May 16, 2008. The letter to season ticket holders takes some time to talk about the changes to the stadium to support fans with mobility impairments. My regular tickets are just out of the range of rows they removed for the new platforms; I’m curious as to where they put fans that were affected. Re: the ear device….I’m not sure if this the same company as Earradio, the company that had the thing last season. Either way, I still wouldn’t get one, although this version looks a little slicker. *Memo to M Den: How about an affiliate program for bloggers and the like? Goodness gracious.

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  • Local Coverage of Spring Game

    April 17, 2008 /

    Some of the hustling at Saline High on Saturday went into producing a few pieces for the local papers (Saline, Manchester). You can check them out here: 1. Rodriguez preaches patience at Michigan spring game: The main article on the game. It starts out with a little history by recalling Crisler’s Mad Magicians, introduces Rodriguez and takes you through a few observations on the game. 2. Sheridan Gets his Shot Figuring the Saline paper would want something on Sheridan. 3. Spotlight on Saline Just a brief piece on what some key folks (Jamie Morris, Coach Rod, Coach Shafer, Chris Balas of the The Wolverine) had to say about the Saline field and campus.

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  • On the Meyer Morton Award

    April 16, 2008 /

    The coaches did a nice thing at the start of the spring game on Saturday: they recognized the annual spring award winners. One of those presented was the Meyer Morton Award which went to senior Will Johnson. Here’s more from the official site, with the history of the winners and some history: The Meyer Morton Award, established by the ‘M’ Club of Chicago in 1925, is given to the football player who shows the greatest development and most promise as a result of the annual spring practice. Morton, a 1912 Michigan graduate, was a lawyer in Chicago from 1915-48 and served as a Big Ten football official for 23 years. This is the oldest individual award given by the football program and its winners include the late Gerald Ford. I actually found this pic of Ford with the award (1932) when researching a post after his death: You may have picked up this mention on the great mgoblog within Brian’s spring practice post today: Will Johnson won kind of a weird award for a fifth-year senior and returning starter to pick up. Brian’s right. It’s a little weird for a 5th year senior to be getting this award. I’m still digging for the reference, but I’m 90% sure I read somewhere that this honored was originally reserved for underclassman. Take…

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  • BCS Prize in Tatters, It’s Been Shattered

    April 15, 2008 /

    Urban Meyer’s Florida Gators are struggling a bit in 2008. First they suffered the beat down at the hands of your Wolverines in the Capital One Bowl, now this. Turns out there was a little mishap with the Sears Trophy. Yep, their prize for their 2007 BCS Championship win over the Buckeyes has seen better days: From USA Today: It may remain a mystery who actually destroyed the crystal football, which shattered after hitting the ground outside head coach Urban Meyer’s office. Florida has already contacted the company in Kentucky that makes the base of the trophy and imports the crystal from Ireland for a replacement. Florida associate athletic director Chip Howard confirmed the accident. The trophy was sitting on a coffee table outside of Meyer’s office while construction of new coaches’ offices is being completed. “It may remain a mystery”? I’d like to understand a little more behind that line. As if anyone can plop down outside Urban Meyer’s office and kick up their feet on the coffee table? I’m guessing they have a decent idea who broke the trophy. Reaching back on my Clue skills, I’d start with: – Professor Gatorade – In the Coaches’ Lobby – With a Cheerleader.

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