ESPN analyst Todd McShay was asked this morning on SportsCenter to list the biggest disappointment in Sunday’s WR/QB/RB NFL combine. He offered up our own Mario Manningham primarily due to his poor 40 times of 4.51 and 4.59. ESPN reported that six receivers ran sub 4.4 40s including Appalachian State’s Dexter Jackson who put up the fastest time of entire combine at 4.28! Good to know that now. Please note that this is filed under stupidity, but the brief look I had at Mario’s 40 run made me think he’s got to work on his technique. I assume he’s had some coaching but on his first few steps off the line Manningham’s toes are pointed to the sideline. The fastest guys take a few short steps out of the box, everything pointed ahead to the tape. McShay did note that Chad Henne is making a good case for the third rated quarterback in the draft. Not a surprise.
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Jalen Rose Day YouTube from Crisler
A homemade video from the sidelines from this weekend’s Jalen Rose Day held during the Illinois game. The video quality is poor, audio quality is pretty good: Related: Here’s the audio from Jalen’s interview on WTKA on Friday.
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1969 Michigan-Vanderbilt Stub, Bo’s First Game
An interesting item popped up on eBay in the past week. It’s a torn ticket stub from the 1969 Michigan-Vanderbilt game held on September 20, 1969. Normally a non-conference game against Vanderbilt wouldn’t spark much intrigue but this one is special: it was Bo Schembechler’s first game as head coach. You don’t see a lot of 1960s era Michigan items up on eBay. Michigan football was a bit down, folks didn’t hold onto stuff back then and certainly, fans didn’t realize quite yet that they had a legend standing on the sideline. But some cool items have survived like the Vandy stub and memorabilia like this vintage ’69 pocket schedule with a great photo of young general Bo: As far as the game that day, Bo’s not-so-mellow men came out firing as the unranked Wolverines put a 42-14 beat down on the Commodores in front of 70,000 curious fans. The game was the first played on the artificial turf that new AD Don Canham used to carpet the gridiron, but I suspect that most fans wanted to get a good look at this guy “Bo”. Apparently, they saw enough as only 49,000 showed up the following week against Washington. The holder of this ticket stub didn’t get the best view of Bo as he was seated in row 88 on…
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Ultimate Michigan Football Highlight? You Decide
You like me have likely been suffering through ESPN’s tournament for the greatest sports highlight of all time (which inexplicably contains an entry with no actual footage and may have never actually happened: Babe Ruth’s called shot). I typically hate these things unless there’s some Michigan-related element to it (see Legg’s goal winning the ESPY). To make a bit interesting I rolled my head through the greatest highlights in Michigan football in the past 40 years or so. Several came to mind and I’m certainly missing some of your favorites. My favorite? See the pic that leads this story. I was in the upper deck in Spartan Stadium on the same side of the field and saw the whole thing. My head almost exploded when I realized what I had just watched. Here’s a poll and get your takes and feel free to add your own entry: {democracy} Here’s what I could find on the YouTube. Thankfully I witnessed each of these in person except for the great Wangler to Carter game winner and of course the Harmon ditty:
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Happy Jalen Rose Day!
Suggest you celebrate by opening the gifts in your black stockings in the morning, head to a late brunch then get over to Crisler for the 4pm tip against Illinois. Rose will be honored at halftime then sign for fans after the game along with some current players. Dig it!!
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McGuffie Featured on SI.com; A2 Housing Prices sealed it?
Incoming RB Sam McGuffie occupies the lead story on SI.com right, check it out. Mostly fluff, but it gets into the national signing day indecisiveness that scared many fans in Ann Arbor. Turns out this town’s plummeting real estate market had a hand in the decision: The coaching staff and parents at Cy-Fair threw a grand party for their college-bound athletes that Wednesday. Each player had his own cake. Lathrop’s featured a Texas A&M logo. Wesley Cobb, McGuffie’s backfield mate, had an Air Force Academy cake. McGuffie’s cake was black and white, with a blank spot reserved for either a Michigan or a Cal logo. There was only one problem. McGuffie wasn’t there. Friends’ and coaches’ calls went to voicemail. Lathrop’s mother knocked on McGuffie’s door, but no one answered. Inside, McGuffie huddled with his mother and father and tried to choose a school. Part of the deal, McGuffie said, was that his mother, father, brother and sister would move with him wherever he went to school. There was nothing keeping the family in Cypress, he said, so he wanted them to come along. McGuffie loved Cal and Tedford, but he also understood certain financial realities. According to Yahoo! Real Estate, the average home for sale in Berkeley this week costs $629,000. The average price in Ann Arbor is $228,500.
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Jalen Rose on WTKA (full audio .mp3)
It was great to hear Jalen talk a little bit about the Fab Five, their legacy and even about a certain football recruit this morning on the Michigan Insider with Sam Webb on 1050AM WTKA. He’s in Ann Arbor this weekend to be honored at Saturday’s hoops tilt against Illinois and says this is a tremendous moment for him [my thoughts on this]. Rose also talked about his thoughts on the University one day having the entire Fab 5 back on campus, the day he hopes happens before he, Ray, Jimmy, Chris and Juwan are using “canes and wheelchairs”. Here’s the full audio of the interview: [display_podcast] Jalen even gave an unsolicited plea for Terrelle Pryor to make the right decision and come to Michigan. Sweet Jesus, I thought the coaching search was a Death March! That said, it’s great to know that busy guys like Jalen are concerned enough about the school (and a sport they didn’t even play) to chime in. He clearly also follows the basketball team and likes what Beilein is doing so far. UPDATE: Check out Eric Lacy’s piece and interview on Jalen in the Detroit News. And a take from Rosenberg.
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News Investigating Athletic Department and Academics?
There’s some scuttlebutt around town that the Ann Arbor News is working on a big story related to the UM athletic program, specifically around academics. Sam Webb indicated this morning on WTKA 1050am that he’s heard such a story is in the works. Lead sports columnist Jim Carty hasn’t published anything recently and stopped blogging a while ago. It’s been so quiet that some folks in the nerdosphere suggested Carty was fired from the News. Not so according to Webb. Carty took some heat around town for asking a few questions in the wake of Jim Harbaugh’s comments last year regarding lower academic standards for athletes at Michigan. We’ll see if that’s where this is headed
