Celebrate!  Excerpted, mostly, from my piece in Brian Cook’s wonderful Hail to the Victors 2009: November 20, 1909: The Jug toting Gophers Michigan was now 5-1 and suddenly back in the conversation of who was to be Western champion. Standing in their way was undefeated Minnesota, U-M’s powerful former conference foe. Six seasons prior on October 31, 1903, the Gophers famously battled the Willie Heston-led Wolverines to a 6-6 deadlock in Minneapolis. It was the first time Yost walked off a field without a victory since he arrived in Ann Arbor in 1901. Michigan also left something behind that day—their water jug. The legend goes that Fielding Yost asked Minnesota to return the jug sometime after that 1903 meeting and was told he’d have to “win it back”, but there’s little evidence that this actually occurred.* Other accounts claim that just prior to the 1909 rematch, the Gophers proposed that the receptacle go to the victor and Yost and Allerdice quickly agreed. One thing that is clear: the teams would play for the Little Brown Jug for the first time a century ago this November. Thus far in the 1909 season, Minnesota had rolled through its schedule unscathed overpowering opponents by a margin of 152-12 including back-to-back shellackings of Chicago and Wisconsin. Gopher coach Henry Williams was cautiously confident the…

Check out this pin apparently dating back to the inaugural Rose Bowl held in Pasadena.   If truly dated to this period and this game, the souvenir will likely attract a few bidders: The face of the badge certainly looks dated, with an older style block M and the rounder pigskin.  The ‘rah-rah-rah’ sentiment is found on other items from the period but unfortunately, there’s no mention of Rose Bowl, Tournament of Roses, or Pasadena so all we’ve got is the seller’s claim: It was worn that day by a young Michigan student from Ann Arbor, Wilfred B. Shaw. Not only did he experience one of the greatest days in Wolverine Sports History but he went on to serve his alma mater as General Secretary of the Michigan Alumni Association! The pin was acquired from hobby legend Frank Nagy nearly 40 years ago. Shaw also wrote a few books in the day, including a few collections of Michigan history.  His book, ‘The University of Michigan’ even contains a brief mention of the Rose Bowl game: This game was special for many reasons.  For starters, as it was the inaugural ‘Tournament of Roses’ football game, this was the start of the bowl tradition we know today.  Maybe most important to Michigan fans, it was this day during Fielding Yost’s first season at…

“Too Tough”.  Words from the great Glenn E. ‘Bo’ Schembechler, when reviewed the 1997 season schedule that featured games against Colorado, Notre Dame, Iowa, Michigan State, Penn State, Wisconsin and of course Ohio State. As you can guess, this edition of eBay Watch is inspired by the 1997 slate of game and the auction of a pocket schedule for that season currently up for auction: The seller is asking for a minimum bid of $14.99 for this little beauty.  I’d say that’s a little much for a former freebie but we’ll see. If you don’t know how the 1997 season ended up, you probably wouldn’t be reading this site but it looks a little something like this.  So instead of looking back to the end of the season, I’m going to look back to the 1997 preseason. A friend of mine [thanks DH] sent me a copy of The Wolverine 1997 football preview issue, which of course took a look ahead at the upcoming tilt.   The editors wisely chose Mr. Woodson for the cover, with the headline ‘DOUBLE TROUBLE’.  I was a subscriber back then and I remember getting this issue. As mentioned one of the hot topics was the schedule itself.  In the season prior, the opponents on the ‘97 schedule went 83-47, the second-highest opponent winning percentage coming…