Jim Rome has been off the air the past 2 weeks on vacation and a variety of guests filled in for the pimp in the box. Among them were frequest fill-in John Feinstein, along with Cheap Seats hosts the Randy and Jason Sklar, and first time hosts Stoney and Wojo of WDFN 1130 in Detroit. A few takes: – The Sklar Brothers seem to have a love/hate relationship with sports fans, but I definitely chalk the 1994 Michigan graduates up in the righteous column. Their schtick is a blend of pop culture and sports (not unlike the regular host Rome), and I like the way they bring it on the radio. A classic moment this past week was when they recalled a friend describing the smell inside the Philly Fanatic’s mascot head as an odor of “Jagermeister, Doritos and broken dreams.” They also let everyone know that Shane Battier’s head, when shaved, resembles the Michigan football helmet.
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Maize, Blue and My Adidas
Update August 2008: Inside the new jersey We learned this week that Michigan will drop its long relationship with Nike and suit up with Adidas gear in 2008. The deal is worth about $7.5 million in cash and uniforms, and fans will be able to start buying Maize & Blue studded Adidas gear next summer. While Nike is certainly the king of athletic marketing and team sponsorship in the US if not the world, Adidas has managed to capture a few high-profile clients such as the NY Yankees, Notre Dame & Nebraska football. And while Nike can boast the top athletes on its side (T Woods, Jordan, LeBron), Adidas has established a cultural following starting with Run DMC and its previous stranglehold on soccer. On New Year’s Eve 1997 a group of friends went to a show at the Viper Room on Sunset in Los Angeles that featured none other than Run DMC. What we were doing in LA on New Year’s Eve in LA? Of course, we were there to watch Brian Griese, Charles Woodson and the crew win a national championship about 20 hours later. Yes, the Hollis trio performed ‘My Adidas’.
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Jim Carty to Blog on MLive
AA News sports columnist has started a blog on MLive. JC explained the purpose of the blog in an email, “My hope is to go deeper than the column on some subjects, feature other subjects that perhaps don’t merit a full column, as well as foster more reader interaction on the web. The blog will, from time to time, contain exclusive supplemental content, such as the interview with Michigan basketball coach John Beilein that’s presently featured.” You can find the Jim Carty blog here and I’ve added a link on MVictors.com.
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Oden the Explorer
Having spent time working in Indianapolis and Columbus, OH, I’ve heard many stories about how great of a kid Greg Oden is…how he’s well grounded, intelligent and charitable. All this aside for a moment, he’s still a Buckeye so I couldn’t let this beauty pass without a quick blast. The likely NBA #1 pick made this week’s Sports Illustrated “They Said It”. He was asked about the prospect of living in the Pacific Northwest given that Seattle and Portland have the top picks: “I know it rains a lot. I know it’s close to L.A., and I love that. I want to go to L.A. and go to the beach.” This from a dude that spent the last year in a town named after one of the world’s greatest explorers. To put things in perspective, the beach in Miami, Florida is just about the same distance from Columbus as Los Angeles is from Seattle (around 1150 miles).
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JDRF Outing a huge success!
MVictors.com along with many sponsors and participants helped raise over $130,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation this week, at the 2007 JDRF Golf Classic held at Franklin Hills CC. Kevin Jones of the Detroit Lions was at the outing all day and even golfed 18 holes with his agent and a team including the webmaster’s brother Ron. Keeping it in the family here’s the MVictors webmaster’s nephew and godson Jack getting his Honolulu Blue KJ 34 jersey signed by the man that wears it on Sundays:
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Toledo added to 2008 Schedule
Bill Martin filled an open date on the ’08 schedule with MAC powerhouse Toledo. More. This leaves one more spot to be filled open the schedule for 2008, either August 30th or September 20th. So far the home portion of the schedule is pretty light other than Michigan State and Wisconsin, so here’s to hoping Martin steps it up a notch to give the fans something exciting.
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Carr’s Wash Yields $ and Info
Saturday marked the latest edition of the “Carr’s Wash for Kids” as the Michigan football team assembled at Michigan stadium to clean the cars of the good people of Ann Arbor. All told the gang polished 536 automobiles and raised over $175,000. Added to the total from the Takeover of WTKA 1050AM, the team’s efforts on Thursday and Saturday raised around $300,000 for the new C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. Here’s more on the hospital and how you can still support this cause. The Ann Arbor News dispatched a few folks out there including Jim Carty who confirmed a few interesting items: Arrington’s Steps Back: Not a big surprise, but Carty caught up with talented receiver Adrian Arrington who was at the Wash and confirmed he’s back on the team. His penance? 60 Straight days of running the steps of Michigan stadium. The stink eye for Harbaugh: Don’t know the specifics, Carty reported that Coach Carr didn’t have any kind words for Jim Harbaugh given his recent comments reflecting negative on the program. Carty wrote “Carr had no comment [on Harbaugh]..but made it clear he’s not happy…”. Oh, to have seen the look on his face as he grumbled “no comment”. Mallett’s Misery: Cocky freshman QB Ryan Mallett was quite the center of attention on Thursday and Saturday, as folks from…
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MVictors to Sponsor JDRF Golf
Ah yes, MVictors.com will be a distinguished beverage sponsor at this year’s Golf Classic supporting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). It’s a great event held on Monday June 11 at the beautiful Franklin Hills Country Club. Detroit Lion back Kevin Jones will be the honorary guest. Interested in helping out with JDRF? Email the MVictors.com webmaster, or contact JDRF Detroit or find a local chapter in your area. Here’s more about JDRF and its mission: JDRF is the leading charitable funder and advocate of type 1 (juvenile) diabetes research worldwide. The mission of JDRF is to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research. Type 1 diabetes is a disease which strikes children suddenly and requires multiple injections of insulin daily or a continuous infusion of insulin through a pump. Insulin, however, is not a cure for diabetes, nor does it prevent its eventual and devastating complications which may include kidney failure, blindness, heart disease, stroke, and amputation. Since its founding in 1970 by parents of children with type 1 diabetes, JDRF has awarded more than $1 billion to diabetes research, including more than $122 million in FY2006. In FY2006, the Foundation funded 500 centers, grants and fellowships in 20 countries.
