On today, Jim Harbaugh’s 50th birthday, a nice time for another guest post from Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis. While it’s no shock that Bo Schembechler didn’t like to put it up in the air, check out this breakdown by Sap. Guest Post by Steve Sapardanis Woody Hayes taught Bo Schembechler a lot of football lessons. One that resonated with Bo was the importance of running and possessing the football. The thinking was establishing a powerful ground game would almost certainly ensure victory, because by the end of the game you would be able to impose your will on your opponent. When that happens, your opponent will have been morally and physically defeated. Besides, when you throw the football, three things can happen, and as Woody liked to say, two of them were bad. You think Bo forgot this? I pulled the passing stats for every game during the Bo era at Michigan (1969-1989) to see if there was any statistical correlation to Bo’s disdain for throwing the football and losing. Sure enough, I found something. In the 21 years that Bo coached at Michigan, his teams only attempted more than 25 passes just 23 times. The Wolverines lost 20 of those games. And before Jim Harbaugh arrived, Bo had lost 17 straight games when attempting more than 25 passes. In…
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Holy Moly! The Rosy Grail (1902 Rose Bowl Program)
There are certain pieces of Michigan football memorabilia that many would consider a holy grail of sorts. Really anything to do with the 1901 perfectly perfect season fits that bill nicely (I’m still kicking myself for not buying this 1901 season pass), and there’s probably nothing more precious than this beauty. Earlier this year local collector Ken Magee of Ann Arbor Sports Memorabilia snagged an original game program from the 1902 Rose Bowl, yes, the birth of the Granddaddy of the All.
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All-Inclusive Excursion (Michigan-Ohio State 1906)
Oh, I want this but it’s a little pricey for my blood. Recently offered up on eBay was this beauty: What you have here is a sign promoting a road trip to the 1906 game in Columbus against Ohio State. $3.25 bought you a round trip train ride leaving at 7:40 a.m. from the Gandy Dancer, getting you back in town at 11:40 a.m. drenched in tobacco and alcohol. I love it. And yes, your beloved Yostmen returned home on that evening of October 20, 1906 the Victors, pulling out a 6-0 in Columbus. A ruckus train ride no doubt ensued. Some other wild stuff on eBay right now: * A cane belonging 1896 Michigan center John Wombacher:
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Wearing the Game Changer
In The Shawshank Redemption, while recapping how Andy Dufresne walked through the prison wearing the warden’s shoes, Red asks, “I mean, seriously, how often do you really look at a mans shoes?” That’s probably fair, unless we’re talking about Billy Taylor’s Pumas of course. Many of you know this season I got to test drive one of the products of my sponsor MaraWatch. Unlike Andy’s shoes the watch was noticed—throughout the season I fielded compliments heading into the stadium, on the field by alums, and even up in the press box by my media buds. I also got to know the man behind the operation, Shashi Mara. We met a few weeks back in Ann Arbor and I got to see the whole collection and the different straps. The dude has a great story and an intense passion for his product—down to the finish on the underside of the buckles. I love it. Over coffee Shashi shared a sneak peek at a couple videos he was pulling together to promote the brand. They’ve since been finished and they are pure gold–here’s my favorite: Interested in wearing one? For the holidays they’ll donate 10% of the sale price to a charity such as the Charles Woodson Clinical Research Fund or the Blavin Scholars Fund. or perhaps something that’s close to you. …
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Seeing Seven Sign
I bumped into Ricky Leach last night when he was up at WTKA last night signing photo of he and Bo taken following the 1978 win over the Buckeyes. Last week on air Leach promised anyone who donated $50+ to Debbie Williams-Hoak’s Magic of Christmas campaign that they’d receive a personalized copy from Old #7 and he obviously came through. Here’s what he put on mine: Major props to Ira, Sam and the folks at WTKA for once again posting a record-breaking number of kids “adopted”..and hats off to saint Debbie for all she does in driving this great program. Follow MVictors on Twitter
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Don Lund Passes Away
Lundo (seated) and Bump Elliott up in the press box. Lund watched on the far south side of the press box each game (my photo) We lost a legend in these parts for sure. Via Media Relations: Former Standout U-M Student-Athlete, Coach and Administrator Don Lund Passes Away ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Don Lund, a former standout University of Michigan student-athlete, coach and administrator passed away of natural causes today (Tuesday, Dec. 10) at the age of 90. Lund was born May 18, 1923, in Detroit, Mich., and graduated from Detroit Southeastern High School. Lund was a three-sport star at Michigan, earning three letters each in baseball, football and basketball. His number 33 jersey is one of six retired by the Michigan baseball program. A star on the gridiron, Lund was drafted in the first round of the NFL draft by the Chicago Bears in 1945. The running back at Michigan decided to pursue a Major League Baseball career rather than a football career, however, signing out of Michigan with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945. He played two-plus seasons for the Dodgers (1945, ’47-’48) before joining the St. Louis Brown at the tail-end of the 1948 season. Lund returned to his hometown team, the Detroit Tigers, for the final six years of his professional career (1949-54). After finishing his major…
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…but we get up again
See you in Tempe? We need boots on the ground – I’ll be there.
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The Zero-Sum Game (Ohio State 42, Michigan 41)
As someone covering the history of this program I always love it when I see historic events unfold before us, and fortunately I get to see a lot of that following Michigan. Saturday was an all-timer and yes, I’m one of those people who can enjoy an epic game even if we come out on the wrong side. While many of you who watched the twists (and the result) of the 2000 Northwestern game no doubt hurled a remote or two during the game, I was in Evanston that day and while I was frustrated at times, in the end I was fine knowing I witnessed one for the ages. Damn I wish we had that two-point conversion back but I’m fine, even good. Most of all now I’m actually a little excited to see the bowl game and I’m not sure I could say that before kickoff. To the questions on the collective mind: > Should we have gone for 2? I liked the call, and I have trouble finding fans who disagree. I know you are out there, but it feels like most everyone liked the balls and more importantly, the call. If anything we should have gone for two earlier in the game as the nerds will tell you. > Like the play? I think most fans…
