This week we head back to 1975 when Lee Corso and the Hoosiers came to town. Of historical significance in 1975: This game was the last time Michigan Stadium had an announced attendance of fewer than 100,000 (93,857). So as Craig Barker suggests, should we blame Lee Corso? 1975 was the first season the B1G allowed teams to go to bowl games other than the Rose Bowl. And Michigan was invited to play the Oklahoma Sooners in the 1976 Orange Bowl. (And at that Orange Bowl, the Michigan Marching Band unleashed the epic JAWS formation!). This was a tough year to pick – of historical note on this day in U-M football lore: The 1997 Charles Woodson one-handed interception at Michigan State – the greatest play I’ve ever seen in any sport. The great Bennie Oosterbaan passed away in 1990. You can catch all of the This Week in Michigan Football History clips here…And don’t forget to catch it live Saturday on the KeyBank Countdown to kick-off on WTKA 1050AM starting at 11:30am. Follow MVictors on Twitter script: This afternoon we drop back nearly 4 decades to October 25, 1975 as the Big House welcomed the Indiana Hoosiers. Even your host Ira Weintraub, who was just a day old, knew that our friends from Bloomington had no chance to upset…
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The Reverse Dimple Rawlings Double Grip Football | Storytime with Sap
[Ed. Here’s another great Bo-era story from the mind of Dr. Sap.] Guest Post by Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis After Bo Schembechler left U-M to become the president of the Detroit Tigers he met Oakland A’s owner Charlie Finley. Finley liked to dabble in the unique as he was the inventor of the high visibility yellow baseball as well as the green and gold tunics the A’s wore in the ‘70s. The two talked about Finley’s new football invention – the reverse dimple football. Its enhanced grip was supposed to improve the accuracy of throws and increase the distance it was kicked. [more on the patent here.] The grip enhancement looked much like a golf ball’s surface and the leather looked something like this: Bo was intrigued and told Finley to go see U-M equipment manager Jon Falk in Ann Arbor…and that’s exactly what he did in the spring of 1990. The two hit it off and Falk agreed to try the new ball that Rawlings now dubbed the “Double Grip Football” with the 1990 Wolverines. Everybody liked it. The quarterbacks liked the grip and felt more accurate throwing it. The receivers liked the tackiness and the kickers felt it sailed longer when booted. Falk wanted to use the new pigskin against Notre Dame to start the 1990 season, but…
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The Willis Ward Protests (1934)
A breakdown of the campus-chaos leading up to and following the infamous 1934 Michigan-Georgia Tech game. U-M benched Ward and succumbed to Tech's demand to not play against a black player. Read on:
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Ufer Returns Saturday!
God bless your maize and blue fedora-covered ears, old Ufe returns Saturday! Continuing an awesome tradition, starting at 9am Saturday WTKA 1050AM will air another game from the Bob Ufer radio archives, this time the battle between the #11 ranked Michigan men and #16-ranked Michigan State at Spartan Stadium played on October 6, 1979. A huge thanks to the great Dr. Sap, a few clips from the game for you: So after weeks of ignoring those important in your life, tune in while you are making good with your spouse, friends, family or putting rake to leaf in the yard. Go Blue! Stats, as you can see Braylon’s old man carried the load. [more stats here] More on Bob Ufer here. Follow MVictors on Twitter there.
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Sights & Sounds | Michigan 18, Penn State 13
A few sights and sounds from the 2014 Penn State game including blue pants, a lightshow, Roy Roundtree pregame and much more:
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Getting Wild About Harrys | 1930 #TWIMFbH
For tomorrow’s evening affair, a trip back to 1930, a season that started with a double-header(!) in front of only 13,000 fans but was notable nonetheless. In that year coach Harry Kipke got things working and started a string of 4 consecutive conference crowns. October 11, 1930 was week 3 when his Wolverines faced defending league champ Purdue. This game also marked the debut start of would-be superstar quarterback Harry Newman. Check it out: [display_podcast] You can catch all of the This Week in Michigan Football History clips here…And don’t forget to catch it live Saturday on the KeyBank Countdown to kick-off on WTKA 1050AM or inside the Bud Light Victors Lounge starting at 3pm. Follow MVictors on Twitter
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Charity Schmarity (1931) | A Benefit at Michigan Stadium
In 1931 the Western Conference agreed to schedule a full slate of games to benefit a fund for the many Depression-era unemployed worker at the end of the season. The league also agreed the games would count in the tight conference standings.
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Curses and Clans
Bless you blogs. During bona fide crisis such as this we need thee. Read this #1: Craig at The Hoover Street Rag explores why we are cursed. (Because we are certainly cursed). A list of the possible curses: 1. President Ford2. Little Brother3. Herbie4. Tim Tebow5. The Yost Bleachers6. Clowney7. The Kraft Noodle8. Old 98 + 9. Chicken Dance + 10. Skywriters Example: Read this #2: Picking up on my 2011 post, Mgo-reader saveferris checks in with ‘The Clans’ and does an excellent job rolling through the state of mind of the clans, given the ugly state of affairs. Well done sf. Example: Follow MVictors on Twitter
