NOVEMBER 10, 2006 Today in the mail I received a package from the Michigan Victors Club. The letter contained a DVD titled “2005-06 DVD: A Tribute To Your Support & Commitment for Michigan Student-Athletes”. I gave it a quick watch on my PC. It recapped the 2005-06 athletic season and some of the main events. It was certainly well packaged, some of the highlights: – A quick brush over the 2005 football season, touching on the big wins over Iowa, PSU, and Michigan State. – An emotional interview with the Michigan baseball coach (who was brought to tears) discussing his Big Ten Championship team. – A look at some of the new building on campus, including the new academic center. – A clip of a rain delay-induced “dance off” between the Michigan and Wisconsin softball teams. So why does the Victors Club distribute this media? I assume it is a) to make us feel better about donating to the Victors Club, and b) a soft touch before giving half the Victors Club members the bad news (that they won’t be BCS Championship tickets)?? :)
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Why Ball State Might Matter (or Not)
Ball State nearly Shatters 2007 SeasonSALINE MI, Sunday 5 November 2006 What appeared to be a mere nuisance (almost an annoyance) on the 2007 M Football schedule, Ball State proved to be more than just a walk-over. With under 3 minutes to go in the game, Brady Hoke’s Fighting Jars had the Wolverines on their heels. The 109,000 on hand were on their feet, urging Michigan to stop them – yes, to stop Ball State! So what does all this mean? Let’s look at both sides of the coin here, why this could mean a lot, and why this might not mean anything. Why This is a Disaster: Here’s a few reasons why this is a really a disaster– Michigan almost lost to Ball State. To Ball State. They had to ball on the 2 yard line and could have easily punched it in, and got the deuce. Anything can happen in OT, although Michigan has never lost in OT. – The secondary looked brutal, albeit it was second string guys. Was this a look at the future of our secondary?– Could this come back to bite Michigan in the polls, and thus drop Michigan out of the BCS rematch scenario, assuming they lose to the Buckeyes?– While most of the damage happened against the 2nd string defense, the first…
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Herbstreit on Breaston “Worthless” Comment
Explains what he meant by “Worthless”, regrets choice of wordsANN ARBOR MICHIGAN NOVEMBER, 3 2006 Here’s a summary of the ESPN chat with college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit, explaining his use of the term worthless to describe Michigan WR Steve Breaston. Rick (New York): When you call Steve Breaston “worthless”, and promise to meet Eddie George at his restaurant for the OSU “victory party” over U-M, don’t you lose your credibility as a national journalist? I bet you don’t even have the guts to answer this question. Kirk Herbstreit: First of all, I did not call Steve Breaston worthless. I called his production in the Michigan offense worthless since his freshman year. That was probably said more out of frustration for Steve and wishing that he were more of a factor because of his ability to make big plays. I really regret that the newspaper painted me into a corner, making it look as if I called Steve worthless, which I never did. And I would never call any player worthless. But the facts are the facts and he has not been involved in this offense consistently since his freshman year. Kirk Herbstreit: The other thing that really ticked me off about that article was the headline that said that I feel that the Michigan defense will fail against Ohio…
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Michigan Man: Bob Ufer 25 years later
Remembering Bob UferRecognizing the legendary Michigan Man 25 years since we lost himANN ARBOR MICHIGAN OCTOBER 26, 2006 I learned today on WTKA 1050AM that this marks the 25th anniversary of the day we lost the legendary Michigan broadcaster, Bob Ufer. He truly was one of a kind. Hated by our rivals, loved by everyone from children to the elderly, his memory goes on in the tapes, DVDs, and even mp3s out there that reset his classic broadcasts. Judging from the phone call today into the radio show, he made a strong impact on many of the folks around this community. Here’s a website dedicated to people’s favorite memories of Ufer. He is of course most known for his radio career, and many know that Ufer lettered in track for the Wolverines. Did you know: -Bob Ufer grew up in Mt. Lebanon, Pa., a suburb of Pittsburgh.-Ufer played freshman football at Michigan in 1939.-Ufer excelled at Track & Field at Michigan. He broke numerous Michigan records and, in 1942, shattered the World Indoor record in the 440 meters. It stood for 5 years. At one time he held 8 Michigan track records. He was certainly a candidate for the Olympics had World War II not canceled the games in 1940 and 1944.-In 1946, a year after he began broadcasting Michigan…
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Do you want a M/OSU BCS Rematch?
Rematch of Michigan and BuckeyesANN ARBOR MICHIGAN OCTOBER 26, 2006 A very common topic is the possibility of a BCS Championship rematch between current BCS #1 and #2 teams Ohio State and Michigan. The thought is that a close game during the November 18th Columbus battle would leave open the possibility of the loser not dropping too far in the polls, assuming USC and West Virginia lose somewhere along the way. I like how ESPN BCS-guru Brad Edwards addressed this in his weekly chat session on ESPN.com: Bill (Ann Arbor): If Michigan’s only loss of the season is to the #1 team in the country, why shouldnt they deserve a spot in the national championship game over the other 1 loss teams? Brad Edwards: Regardless of which team loses the Michigan-OSU game, there is an outside shot at a rematch for the national title, but I don’t think it could happen, barring extraordinary circumstances. For starters, the people who vote in the polls are basically deciding who finishes second, and as fans of the game, I doubt they would want to see a rematch unless there just isn’t another attractive one-loss team out there. Maybe a bigger point, though, is that it would be unfair to the winner of the game. Can you imagine if Michigan went into the Horseshoe…
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Running the Gauntlet: Iowa Recap
Hawkeyes Prove a Big Test to Sluggish WolverinesANN ARBOR MICHIGAN OCTOBER 21, 2006 The Blue grinded out another win in this perfect season, this time pulling away from Iowa in the fourth quarter. This completes a brutal stretch of games: Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Minnesota, Penn State, and now the Hawkeyes, all in consecutive weeks. Once again the defense created fits for the opposing offense and the M offense slowly wore down the opposing D. With this win, it is now very likely that the Blue will march into Columbus unscathed for a battle they are already calling “Armageddon”. While everyone is having a love affair with the 2006 Wolverines I’d like to share a few concerns. Here are the takes from the game along with a few nitpicks: – Shaky, Shaky. While they got it done, there were some tense moments out there, and the overturned fumble (and the awarding of the first down) in the fourth quarter proved huge. What’s right is right: Hart’s knee was down and he probably had enough for the first down. You couldn’t help but think about the quality of opponent here, with Iowa getting crushed by Ohio State at home and losing to Indiana. The Hawkeye D at the time looked dominating as it stuffed Hart and had Chad Henne running…
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The Winner By Knock-out
Wolverines grind out tough one in State College ANN ARBOR MICHIGAN OCTOBER 14, 2006 Michigan passed the biggest test of the season thus far, dropping Penn State for the eighth straight time by knocking out the Lions’ first and second string QBs. The PSU fans wore their lily whites in support of JoPa, and Lloyd Carr called it the loudest crowd he’s ever played in front of (sorry Oregon, but Carr would never acknowledge such an honor to a non-Big Ten stadium). Here are the takes on this game: – Sack Men. Seven sacks, along with 9 other Tackles for Loss, 2 quarterbacks knocked out. Penn State didn’t know what hit them. The third string QB had absolutely no chance, the screen pass for a touchdown was a fluke. Chalk this win up to the defense. The M ‘D’ remained the #1 against the rush in the nation, with all the sacks and the domination of Tony Hunt netted PSU negative yardage on the ground. Here’s a link I found from the official NCAA site that updates team and individual statistics very quickly, and provides comparisons against a team’s league and all the other NCAA teams. – Drops. If there was one downside to the game it had to be a the drops. Michigan had a few drops both by…
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Jim Herrmann’s Head
Speculation on Jim Herrmann’s demise, M defense’s return to dominance SALINE, MICHIGAN SEPTEMBER 23, 2006 Late in the second half, Tim Jamison came off the left end and had a free run at Wisconsin quarterback John Stocco. It was another sack for the Wolverines, who effectively brought a halt to the entire Badger offensive on Saturday leading to Michigan’s redemption of the famed Little Oaken Axe of Rosedale trophy. Michigan’s front four is flat out dominating play right now, bringing pressure to the QB and making the backs change direction. While it is still early in the season, Michigan has the #1 rushing defense in the country with teams netting just 18.5 yards/game. And while the Blue have yielded a moderate amount of passing yards, much of that was in garbage time at the end of the game. Ron English, after quickly resigning from the Chicago Bears this season after being offered the defensive coordinator job, has now transformed Michigan into a dominant bunch. So what happened to the man and his defense that once was the toast of the college football world, leading the Wolverines to the 1997 National Championship? Displaced defensive coordinator Jim Herrmann had a great team in 1997, led by an incredible group of linebackers and one of the greatest college football players of all-time in…
