Check out this Depression Era ticket application from Michigan State College to purchase tickets for the 1933 game in Ann Arbor
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Exclusive: Dave Shand Responds to Questions
Recently fired WTKA morning host Dave Shand addressed a few questions via email today. I’ll comment later but I wanted to get these out there: MVictors: Did you have any indication at all (prior to last week) that there were a group of folks looking for you to be fired? Shand: No indications anything was wrong. The show was going great. MVictors: Any guess what comments struck the nerve? I heard you go hard at the deans of the U-M schools a week or so ago. And you called out one by name. Do you think this had anything to do with it? Shand: Three things were brought up in the meeting with Ryan Curtis our special promotions director and Brian Cowen, our program director. 1. My ex wife in an associate athletic director at Michigan. Bill Martin thought talking about our divorce on the air was disrespectful. 2. I criticized [named omitted] the Dean of Kinesiology for being incompetent. I taught Sports Law there for 6 years. She never even knew who I was or what I taught. And there are only 12 people teaching. This [was said] was in the context of what makes Michigan great. It’s not the leadership or the deans but the great teachers and students. 3. The last thing was when I made fun…
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Shand Quoted Again
Finally some more from Shand on the firing, since he gave his first statement on the matter to MVictors.com on Saturday. Dave reached out to daveshandfans.com yesterday and provided another quote, and a little more detail. daveshandfans.com also provided some commentary, but here’s Shand’s quote: “Thanks for all your support. It has been a fun ride. Apparently the Michigan athletic department and some older alum and ann arborites did not appreciate my brand of humor and threatened the station. Nothing I could do.” Nice work. We still have a bunch of questions.
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More Questions On Shand Dismissal
Since we posted Dave Shand’s comments on his firing from WTKA this site has been getting peppered. I think this is a testament to the loyal fan base Shand developed in the area. While there are two sides to every story you can bet without an inquiry from a legitimate media source we won’t be hearing from Bill Martin’s office. While Shand is certainly one to rattle some cages, I don’t believe anyone questions his character: he’s an unquestioned ‘Michigan Man’, a former M player, coach, NHL’er, an attorney, and of all things, on the current payroll as a lecturer on sports law within the department of Kinesiology on campus. Not convinced? Check out this piece that ran in the Michigan Daily last summer. This whole situation begs so many questions. I’ll start with Shand’s ties to the athletic department. You have to assume Shand has a strong relationship with Red Berenson. What does Coach Red think about this? I gathered from listening to the morning show that Lloyd Carr is supposedly listed as a reference on Dave’s resume – what does Carr think? Remember the kind words Coach Carr had for former WTKA afternoon host Dennis Fithian when he was let go? I’m sure Carr’s intent was also a blast at WTKA. With so many close direct ties to…
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“Bill Martin Had Me Fired”
UPDATE Monday 4/30: Shand responds to MVictors questions, click here Original Post: An effort to reach out to recently fired WTKA 1050AM talk show host Dave Shand paid off. I asked Shand for his understanding of what happened. Shand replied, “Bill Martin had me fired. [Martin] did not like some of the things I said on the show and threatened to pull Michigan football if I stayed. The station caved.” I asked Shand if he had any issue with posting these comments on MVictors.com. He wrote back, “Not at all. It’s true and was confirmed by our program director.” Oh boy. I reached out to a source (which we’ll leave unnamed) from the local media to comment on the situation and whether this crosses the line of censorship. Here are the thoughts that were shared: WTKA and Michigan have a business relationship. WTKA pays Michigan for the right to broadcast Michigan sports. Michigan has the right to approve the broadcasters who do the coaches shows, as well as the play-by-play broadcasts that appear only on WTKA (such as women’s basketball, baseball, etc.) Now, that doesn’t give Martin the right to hire and fire morning hosts, but it certainly gives him leverage with station management. One could argue that Michigan sports is integral to WTKA’s very existence, which gives Martin even…
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Kiper’s Final Mock Draft…
Has Leon Hall going #10 to the Texans, Alan Branch dropping to #21 to the Broncos.
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Dave Shand Sacked?? WTKA Does it Again
I was working in the snake pit this week (Columbus) and on the way home I got a call that Dave Shand was let go from WTKA 1050. A call to the station confirmed it. While we don’t know the circumstances, Shand the just about the only thing of value on that tired station. From what I understand they actually got some ratings and for those who suffer through local morning radio know that Shand brought something special: a real ex-professional athlete with great stories, legit perspective on the sports world, a sense of humor and sharp opinion. So it’s a mystery right now. Ann Arbor News sports columnsit Jim Carty got in contact with Shand and got a minor reaction from the station manager: Local radio host Dave Shand was fired following Monday’s broadcast of “In The Locker Room” on WTKA (1050 AM) and, according to the station’s general manager, will be replaced by a new locally produced sport talk show to be announced later this week. “I have no idea why,” said Shand, a former University of Michigan hockey player and local attorney. “The (ratings) were stunning. Our show was No. 2 in the market in the morning.” General manager Bob Bolak said he could not discuss personnel decisions, but confirmed WTKA will be announcing a new morning…
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Open Call for Stadium Ushers
I just caught this little ditty on mgoblue.com. Apparantly the U has an opening for Stadium workers this season and is meeting with applicants on June 2. You can read the whole story here, but in sum: The University of Michigan Athletic Department will be holding an informational meeting for anyone interested in joining the Michigan Stadium Game Operations Team at home football games. Positions open include ushers, ticket-takers, and bag-check attendants. If interested, please show up at the Junge Family Champions Center on Saturday, June 2, at 10 a.m. I suppose it would be ok to be an usher but I imagine just like seat requests, the prime usher positions are in between the end zones. I’d be interested to see how many positions open up. As far as ticket taking….I’m not sure I’d want to be the guy taking tickets from the pickled masses pouring in from campus or from the golf course. Bag-check attendants? I’m not sure if that means you’re the narc stopping people from smuggling in contraband, or you are literally checking bags somewhere in the stadium but either way it is a big no-go for me. While we’re on mgoblue.com, does anyone understand why they leave up all the old content and notices for months? Just looking at the site now, you’ve got the…
