For many of the legendary Michigan coaches and players, life after football has been pretty good. Some like Dan Dierdorf, Tom Harmon and Desmond Howard have ventured into the broadcast media, many others like Fielding Yost and Jamie Morris filled other roles within the athletic department. Of course Gerald Ford ended up in the White House. Many former M Men wrote books about or related to their craft. Bo Schembechler hooked up with Mitch Albom and John Bacon to publish bestsellers. This installment of eBay watch takes a quick look at a few of the books out there: Heisman Winner Tom Harmon: Harmon contributed to a few books but the one most widely seen on eBay is titled “Tom Harmon and the Great Gridiron Plot”. I assume he had some hand in the book other than lending his name, but the official author is Jay Bender. At any given time there are a half dozen of these books for auction so I assume it was pretty popular. I can’t find a full abstract or review on the book but I do see it was targeted for kids and I found this item description: STORY OF TOM HARMON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN TEAM WHO FIND THEMSELVES HAVING TO WIN THE CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP OR THEIR COACH WILL BE DISMISSED Shocking stuff…
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Borseth Goes Bob Knight
Thanks to reader Kelly for passing this over. Check out women’s head hoops coach Kevin Borseth going bananas after the game. Here’s the video: I missed the game and the press conference because I had a sock drawer to straighten out. I liked this guy when we hired him and I back the passion and the borderline John L. Smith loonyness you get here. I’d like to get Borseth and Mike Barwis together at a cocktail party. UPDATE 2/29: Jim Rome got wind and broke this down on his radio show..for about 10 minutes!. Rome noted that Borseth “Got his Mike Gundy on”. Rome added “I love this guy, whoever he is.”
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Searching for Jim Carty
I mentioned in a previous post that there’s a lot of speculation on what Ann Arbor News columnist Jim Carty’s been up to these days. Rumors were circulating that he was let go from the News or moved on are not true. Carty reappeared in the form of a blog post this afternoon but that hasn’t stopped folks from speculating on what he’s been up to. The word on the street is that he’s working on a piece related to the academic record and practices here at the University with respect to student-athletes, perhaps triggered by Jim Harbaugh’s comments last year. Looks like we’ll find out soon. I emailed JC and here’s what he had to say regarding his whereabouts: We’re all bound by the rules of our respective games. I’ve never worked at a paper that allows reporters or columnists to comment on work until it runs, so I can’t really get into anything we may (or may not) be working on. If I could, I would. What I can confirm is that I spent the last month or so on assignment for the paper, which is why I haven’t written. First time in about 15 years that I spent four straight weeks out of the paper and I missed the work, and the readers, very much.
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Olympic Pride “Palpable” in Canham Natatorium
Just opened this week’s issue of Sports Illustrated and there’s a cool feature on the various towns around the country that are the hotbeds for athletes training for the 2008 Olympics. In its article “The Road to Bejing”, Ann Arbor is featured as the nerve center of USA Swimming, led of course by our own world champion Michael Phelps. All in all, there are eight swimmers that could be swimming in Beijing currently crushing laps on campus. Per SI: Though the pool at Ann Arbor’s Canham Natatorium isn’t especially fast, the Olympic pride in the two-decade-old facility is palpable. The hallway of the back entrance is lined with glass-enclosed cases holding 72 swim caps from 11 countries, each cap with the name and flag of a Wolverine swimmer or diver who competed at the Games. On the far wall opposite Bowman’s office, a clock located below large Olympic rings counts down the time until opening ceremonies in Beijing on Aug. 8. The fractions of a second are extended to eight decimal places. Must be hard to read the right side of that clock. Like the tenths on the gas pump these days. The article also gets into what it is like swimming with the guy that will be the focal point of the entire swimming competition. Fellow Olympian Erik Vendt…
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Michigan Bunt Almost Yields Beaning
Hilarious stuff is coming through on the Wolverine exhibition game with the New York Mets. You may know that the teams tied 4-4 after a late Mets rally. What you may not have seen is that someone forgot to tell our boys in Blue that this wasn’t a real game. Apparently my main man Kevin Cislo tried to lay down a bunt to advance a runner in the 4th, and I guess that violates one of the countless unwritten rules of etiquette in baseball. Here’s the description from Newsday: Forget the Phillies. Billy Wagner nearly started a beanball war with the University of Michigan after one overzealous Wolverine tried to bunt on him in the fourth inning. With a runner on second and one out, centerfielder Kevin Cislo pushed his bunt foul. Wagner, clearly annoyed, shook his head a number of times, and Cislo wisely swung away, grounding out. Wagner said he couldn’t believe that Cislo, a junior, bunted. “If he got that bunt down, I would have drilled the next guy,” Wagner said. “Play to win against Villanova.” Asked about Wagner’s reaction, manager Willie Randolph laughed. “He couldn’t bring himself to drill the kid,” Randolph said. ” Nolan Ryan might have. Nolan or Roger [Clemens] may have done it, kid or not.” While the Mets viewed the game as…
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Justice! 1969 Team Photo updated
Just heard back from Greg Kinney at the Bentley Library [who also contributed to the great book ‘Michigan: Champions of the West] on the unidentified player in the 1969 Michigan football team photo. He’s satisfied with our findings and as a good archivist, did a little confirmation on his own. Here’s what Mr. Kinney shared with me: Thanks for the update on the 1969 football team photo. I’ve added Ed Woolley to the photo caption and roster database for 1969. He wore #96 and and that certainly appears to be the outline on his jersey in the 69 photo. He was not listed in the numerical roster in the 1969 media guide but is in the alphabetical listing and bio section. He switched from defensive end to tackle for his senior year, but did not letter. He is not listed in the game program rosters either. And in digging around site contributor Lew found this little ditty on Woolley, turns out his daughter was a member of the USA Field Hockey team. Here’s Abbey Woolley’s bio along with a salute to her dad whom she listed as the most influential in her athletic career, she added “He was a great athlete and a football player at the Univ. of Michigan.” I pledge I will keep fighting for truth, justice and…
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Dave Shand Case delayed once again…
A quick update on Dave Shand’s suit against Bill Martin Per Shand’s attorney Nick Roumel, Martin’s motion to dismiss the case that was originally scheduled for late November then moved to January 23rd then moved to today (February 26th) was moved again, this time to March but that too may need to be shuffled. What is going on here? Must I call upon the MVictors legal correspondent once again for an explanation of this madness? For all the posts related to Shand, click here.
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1969 Mystery Player Identified
Thanks to MVictors reader Don who helped name the missing player I found in the 1969 team photo [original post]. Per Don, it’s Ed Woolley from Pitman, New Jersey who in 1969 was a senior Defensive End under Bo. A quick scan of the 1968 team photo has Ed Woolley identified and it looks to me like Don nailed it. Judge for yourself: Turns out reader “Don” is Don Eaton, a former player and M Man who played under Bo. And it looks like he had some help. Here’s what Mr. Eaton sent to me: “I was a freshmen on the 1969 team. Freshmen were not part of the varsity team at that time. We served as demo-players throughout the weeks of practice. My close friend, Tom Weinmann, who sustained a career ending injury in 1968 actually identified Ed.” Many thanks to Don and to Tom. I’ve contacted the Bentley Library and requested they update the team photo. We can see Woolley’s career stats which include a few tackles during the 1968 season. Not sure why he didn’t see game action under Bo but that said, you’ve got to respect any student that is associated with the football program, whether they see game action or not.
