October 7, 2006 marked the annual renewal of the Michigan vs. Michigan State football rivalry. Typically this would have been one of the busiest days of the year for former WTKA radio host Dennis Fithian, but he was not in Ann Arbor that Saturday. He was instead about 40 miles down the road at Comerica Park for his new employer WXYT ‘The Ticket’ radio. Somewhere during the second half of the 31-13 victory over MSU, the Detroit Tigers were finishing off the favored Yankees 8-3 for a trip to the World Series. Fithian was there to cover it all for his new station. In the brutal world of sports radio, things have worked out well for Fithian. Each one of the Detroit-area stations in that market have seen significant turnover in the last couple years, WTKA in particular. The very popular former Ann Arbor drive time host was kind enough to speak with MVictors about radio, Lloyd Carr, Drew Sharp and even about reheating pizza. Here you go: MVictors: Let’s get right into it. Do you have any ill will toward WTKA for the way your departure was handled? Fithian: There’s no ill will whatsoever. A lot of people thought I was let go because of comments about the basketball program, especially when they didn’t make the NCAA tournament that…
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Big House Facelift: How it’ll look this season
The official football site published renderings of what you can expect Michigan Stadium to look like this fall. A smaller image is above; the site also included desktop wallpaper versions if you really want to spend some time checking it out. Did you think construction would pause once the season starts? I did but no sir. Check out this little nugget: While the stadium will be ready in September to welcome more than 100,000 fans each game day, construction work will continue Monday through Thursday prior to home games. “We will use Friday as a clean-up day for the game,” added Stevenson. “When the team is on the road, we are going to work seven days a week.” If you want to see some photos and video of the renovation, check out my previous post here from a visit late last year.
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USA Today on Yost Ice Arena
Great article in USA Today that ran yesterday. . Also I see Michigan Sports Center included it as a must-read in its quick hits yesterday. Agreed, this is a must-read and it’s the second major media source to feature one of Michigan lessor known facilities in a week. The current issue of Sports Illustrated takes you down the hallowed lanes within Canham Natatorium to check on Michael Phelps and other Olympic hopefuls. Now yesterday, USA Today ran a story on the great Yost Ice Arena. Some highlights: First, here’s Coach Berenson on his pitch to recruits considering where they want to skate: “What I tell kids is that if you want to go to the school with the nicest rink, go straight to Grand Forks, because (North Dakota) has the nicest rink,” says Berenson, 68, former NHL player and coach. “But if you want to play in a rink with a great environment and a lot of history, then you should come to Michigan, because Yost is a player’s rink.” More Berenson feeling the pain of a poorly dressed parent: Berenson recalls fans poking fun at an opposing parent about her “polyester suit.”“They got into where she shopped and started chanting ‘Kmart,’ ” Berenson says. “And they are all in sync. It’s amazing. I felt bad for the parent.” Host…
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eBay Watch: Former Legends think they’re Bill Shakespeare
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…
