The husband of the Shari Acho, the co-director of the Michigan Athletic Department’s “Academic Success Program”, unleashed on former QB Jimmy Harbaugh today via the Sports Review Magazine website. In the piece, James Acho takes shots at Harbaugh and does mention his wife’s key role in the athletic department. If Harbaugh’s statements about steering athletes down lighter academic paths are true, Shari Acho would have a key role (along with Sue Shand, the ex-wife of former WTKA morning host Dave Shand..I can’t shake the guy!) in fulfilling the process. The other part of Harbaugh’s shot at the AD’s office was how Michigan turned its back on players once they left the program. I don’t know the specifics of the Academic Success Program or of its role post-playing days but anyway you slice hit Harbaugh’s words hit folks on State Street pretty hard. Some of James Acho’s shots are below the belt. He features a couple images to make light of Harbaugh’s 2005 DUI arrest, and includes a photo of Harbaugh’s wallet that he apparently left behind at a bar a few months ago. To show that he isn’t purely bitter at Harbaugh, Acho does acknowledge that Jim is a world-class pretty boy: I’ve met Jim Harbaugh before, at a coaching clinic, and he is a nice guy. Handsome sonofagun, too.…
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Must Not Lose to These Guys
This week’s Tuesday’s Question piece on collegefootballnews.com asked panelists to ‘Give three things you’re absolutely sure of going into this year’. John Harris provided this take: ….no university recruiting video will ever be worse than the Appalachian State “Hot, Hot, Hot” video. Just go to You Tube and feel the heat. Check it out. It’s unbearable to watch yet you can’t look away: Elsewhere in the piece, columnist Richard Cirminiello offered that he’s 98% sure that… Michigan will lose a game this year that it’s not supposed to. Yeah, the Wolverines are all the rage in the Big Ten and the offense will be nifty, but that offense wasn’t enough to overcome a defense that got ripped by Ohio State and USC late in 2006. You know, the same defense that’s trying to replace its best pass rusher, run stuffer, linebacker, and cornerback. I guess my question to Richard is to define a game Michigan is not supposed to win this year from where we sit. I mean, just like almost any year, isn’t Michigan supposed to win every game save possibly the bowl game? Each year the Blue are favored in just about every game with the occasional exception of Ohio State or Notre Dame, right? To suggest that they’ll probably lose a game isn’t a stretch. Even if…
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Big House Cleaning
A few quick takes and updates for you: Shand vs. Martin: Bill Martin was served with papers and they were accepted by the University. The school hired the firm of Butzel Long to defend Martin in the case. [More on the Shand firing here] Tickets Arrive. Ahh, always a great day. Season ticket holders have their tickets in their greasy hands. This year is definitely special with an incredible home slate including Oregon, Penn State, Notre Dame and Ohio State. Dantonio Shines at JDRF Walk. Most of you know that MVictors.com is a huge supporter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). The JDRF recently added a charity “walk” in East Lansing after years of having big walks in Ann Arbor and Warren. Former MSU coach John L. Smith was a big supporter of JDRF and new head man Mark Dantonio really impressed over 1,000 walkers on the banks of the Red Cedar on Saturday by not only showing, but walking and taking some time for a few pictures. More on Hart vs. Harbaugh. I spoke to a former M player at a wedding this weekend in west Michigan. He actually hadn’t heard all the details of Harbaugh’s comments and Hart’s blast back, so I broke it down for him. While he acknowledged he had a lot of respect for…
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NFL sees Brett Favre in Henne?
Check out this beauty on ESPN.com. The Todd McShay piece called out eight key characteristics that make a college QB desirable to NFL teams and found that our quarterback resembled a certain feature in the great Green Bay legend: 2. Durability Best in the NFL: Brett Favre, Packers Best from 2007 draft class: Brady Quinn, Notre Dame Best of 2008 pro prospects: Chad Henne, Michigan (Sr.) Rarely, if ever, misses games due to injury. He is a flexible athlete and will play through pain. Works hard in the offseason in order to maintain great stamina, strength and conditioning. Take: I’m sure it is nice to be listed in this piece and to be mentioned in the same sentence as Favre, but ‘durability’ to me seems a half compliment. It basically says that Henne survived his time here up to this point and started a whole lot of games. I’m sure Henne would prefer to be listed under any one of the other categories especially Presence/Leadership [see Tom Brady]. And before anyone gets carried away the other guy compared to Favre was Mr. six pack abs.
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Michigan’s First Night Game | The Debut as a Nocturnal Eleven (1944)
On May 1st of this year the athletic department published a press release announcing that the 2007 game at Illinois would be played at night. The presser also listed the history of Michigan’s games in prime time. It all started in 1944 with a game under the lights at Marquette and the Blue didn’t play another for nearly 30 years. Digging further, I bought an archived copy of the 1944 Chicago Tribune which published a piece covering the game. The article provided a summary of the game and provided a glimpse at sports writing back in the day. Written by Charles Bartlett, the Tribune piece reads more like a play-by-play than a modern game summary. Here’s the headline and a small taste of Bartlett’s writing style: Call to Marquette Sports InformationI contacted the Marquette sports information department. One of the challenges in digging up data on this game is that Marquette stopped playing football in 1960. Michael Whittliff of MU suggested I try looking at the library’s collection of yearbooks. Expecting to find nothing, a review of the 1945 ‘Hilltop’ yearbook paid off big time & yielded a game photo: In case you can’t make it out, the clowns on the yearbook department added the caption “May I have the next Waltz, please?” under that photo. Bentley Museum Comes ThroughGreg…
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Jamie Morris on Sports Inferno
Jamie Morris called into the Sports Inferno with Terry Foster and the underrated Mike Valenti and they posted a podcast of the interview today. Here’s a link to the full audio (10 minutes), here are some of the specific quotes from Morris: On Harbaugh: “Everybody throws stones at this school.” “These comments were geared at Bo.” “If Bo was alive today he’d of got on a plane and whooped Jimmy’s butt. Because that’s not true…what he said about Michigan.” “He said ‘it’s not about Bo.” “If you’re man enough to say those comments, you should have said it when Bo was alive.” When Morris called Harbaugh…”He wanted to focus on the 38% graduation rate.” “He used to have a contact here at the Athletic Dept., but obviously he doesn’t anymore.” On Hart.. “Mike Hart feels the same way about his school that every other man should feel about his school.” “…he felt Jim Harbaugh crossed the line.” “He wanted Jim Harbaugh to hear him.” Interesting, Morris admitted that Hart’s comments were “not classy”. Agreed. “Michigan goes as Mike Hart goes.”
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What is a Michigan Man?
What is a Michigan Man? A brief discussion and a definition provided by former U-M and NHL hockey player Dave Shand.
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Carr, Hart Fire Back at Harbaugh
Analysis of Mike Hart and Lloyd Carr reacting to Jim Harbaugh's comments about his experience at Michigan - shots fired!
