By Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis In the 1970s player introductions for college football games were very different compared to the productions that they are now. There were no fancy graphics, no computer-generated backgrounds, and no animations some forty years ago. While the intros back then lacked the glitz and glamour of today’s game, they made up for it in uniqueness and creativity. In 1973, the player introductions for the Michigan-Ohio State game were announced over the Michigan Stadium public address system. ABC-TV’s Bill Fleming was live on the field and had the players run-up to the on-field camera as he announced their names to the sell-out crowd and national TV audience, literally minutes before kickoff. Those introductions were epic and captured the emotion of the moment. None were better than Michigan’s Curtis Tucker, Dave Gallagher, and Paul Seal’s introductions. A few years later, ABC decided to use video mug shots at the Friday walkthroughs for both teams instead of delaying the start of the game with on-field player introductions. This was relatively boring as the players were usually just standing there in their team-issued sweat-suits as the camera moved down the line, one by one. Then, in 1978, Michigan tailback Harlan Huckleby added a subtle coolness to his intro for the game against Notre Dame. When the camera moved in…
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Jim Harbaugh and the Pro Pigskin | Storytime with Dr. Sap
[Ed. Dr. Sap is back and offers up some Bo-era flavor that comes from the treasure trove that is the Sap archives. –G] Guest Post by Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis When Michigan quarterback Jim Harbaugh scored on a quarterback draw against Notre Dame in 1985, little did he know that a photo of the classic TD would spark an interesting discussion in the national media. As Harbaugh crossed the goal line that afternoon, Ara Parseghian exclaimed on the CBS broadcast, “A quarterback draw – great call!” The next week, Sports Illustrated captured Harbaugh’s scoring play under the title, “A Cure For Bo’s Blues”: A couple of SI readers took notice of the NFL football Harbaugh was cradling in the photo. They were inspired to write the editor and ask why a collegiate athlete was using a professional pigskin:As noted by SI’s ED/Sir, this question was addressed by the NCAA and the next year they decided to modify their college footballs that were used by Division I schools. So when Michigan played at Notre Dame in 1986 Harbaugh was throwing around the new AFCRT Wilson 1001: It was the same model, size and shape as the NFL Wilson – it now just had a different, less professional-looking, stamp on it. Of course everyone then was asking, “What the heck does AFCRT…
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Operating Instructions for your Harbaugh
Great stuff from Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee (HT: JP & GN). A snippet: Your Harbaugh does not function like other head coaches. An innocuous query about the weather, for instance, could trigger a florid quote from Admiral William Halsey. And yet a routine question about a running back’s knee injury may cause your Harbaugh to wince, pause and grimace as if a malodorous scent has wafted into the room. Your Harbaugh’s default in this instance is: “We don’t really talk about that here” or “I can’t get inside his body” or “He’s working through something.” This is a design flaw our technicians in California have not yet worked out. You may notice that your Harbaugh never shuts off. This is normal. [this –>] There are still a few bugs in the answer-response system. For instance, you may sense – due to a long pause – that your Harbaugh has completed an answer. You will begin to ask another question. You could be two sentences into your question when your Harbaugh suddenly continues his answer to the previous question. You will feel stupid. Do not be alarmed. This is normal. Full instructions (and warnings!) here. Related: Saving for Moe’s Business Time | Harbaugh Presser Photos Jim Harbaugh | Full Opening Press Conference Transcript Beautiful Day Will the Decals Return?…
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Saving for Moe’s
This was a highlight of yesterday’s presser for me: This time, we flew in, and they had a gift bag for the kids, hats, scarfs, sweatshirts, and that took me back to walking into Moe’s Sport Shop and looking at everything with big, wide eyes hoping you would get something. Moe’s Sports Shop gave us a 10- or 20-percent discount on coach’s families, and that’s what I would save my money for. I would cut lawns, shovel snow and rake leaves so that I could go to Moe’s Sport Shop to get a pair of basketball shoes or something with the block M on it. My kids were wearing, that and that took me back to a place. I know that feeling…and a tip of the hat to MVictors sponsor Moe’s for jumping on this one: Follow MVictors on Twitter
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Introducing Jim Harbaugh (Photos)
Photos from the introduction of Jim Harbaugh as the new Michigan head football coach, from Crisler Center: Harbaugh taking a break from family time to deliver Blue Steel. Or is that Magnum? Either way, after he gave me this look I had no choice but to split. And update: the winner on Twitter goes to Ace (/sigh): Runner up: weeee: Hackett’s “maize” watch. Lovely timepiece but not sure that’s a color tone I want to see on my beloved helmet or uniform. Harbs crushed more Diet Cokes than John Daly, probably to help soothe that raspy throat. Also note the U-M Club of Detroit M ring. Lloyd Carr showed respect by rocking the khakis. Saint Hackett Coach Carr and Captain Jansen More stuff later on. Related: Beautiful Day Will the Decals Return? Jim Harbaugh’s Top 5 Games at Michigan A Million Bites of Crow Follow MVictors on Twitter
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Jim Harbaugh | Full Opening Press Conference Transcript
All the press conference pics here Via mgoblue.com: Michigan Interim Athletic Director Jim Hackett Opening statement … “It’s great to be with all of you today. I want to welcome all the people who have come from all over the place to report this news. I want to single out some people here who are quite special and made a special effort to join us. You heard we have former coaches from Michigan in Lloyd Carr, Gary Moeller and Jerry Hanlon. The Michigan faithful will always stop to shake their hands and thank them for all they have done over the years for this great university. Let me do that as well as they unselfishly helped me in thinking through this coaching transition. All of these gentlemen coached under the late, great Glenn E. “Bo” Schembechler and with a simple phone call, we have Bo’s wife, Kathy Schembechler, here who made a huge effort during holiday break and snowstorms in Denver to join in this celebration today. Thank you, Kathy. “We also have here today Michigan regents Kathy White, Larry Deitch and Andrew Richner, all of whom have been so helpful in the process we constructed that resulted in this great hire. And while I am mentioning the top leadership at the University, let me also thank our president Mark…
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Beautiful Day
Did Pres. Schlissel sign off on this? Follow MVictors on Twitter
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Will the Decals Return?
So if Harbaugh is indeed introduced next week, a big question for Michigan uniform mavens concerns whether #4 will re-introduce the helmet decals. Bo actually invented the concept while at Miami, and brought them to Ann Arbor in 1969. Here’s a brief run down of the stickers over the years thanks to Dr. Sap: You’ll note above that the decals actually took a break in the mid-1980s during Harbaugh’s tenure, but did indeed return for his final two seasons, including his captaincy in 1986. We also know that Coach Harbaugh used them in Palo Alto: Coach Hoke was asked about this by Wojo back in 2011 and obviously nothing happened, but with Harbaugh? You’d have to think there’s a good chance we’ll see them on the field in 2015. What do you think? [poll id=”72”] Update: Amani Toomer chimes in with authority: Related: Harbaugh’s Top 5 games while at Michigan The full U-M uniform timeline can be found here. Follow MVictors on Twitter
