Photo from Sean @ SBNation Detroit This morning ESPN radio host Colin Cowherd will do his 10-1 EDT radio show from Ann Arbor, and later tape his Sports Nation TV show. Are you going? I’d love a few unique shots of the goings on if you are able. Cowherd and the Michigan blogging community have an interesting relationship thanks a well-publicized scuffle with the MZone, a very popular sports/pop-culture blog that disappeared a few years ago but has recently triumphantly returned. What happened? Cowherd ripped off material on an M Zone post but didn’t bother to mention where he got it. (And Yost and crew are aware that Cowherd is in town and have put the lock down on fresh material.) It wasn’t a trivial incident as Cowherd to this day points to the MZone as why he can’t reply to listener emails. Clip from January 2009: [display_podcast] Over the years I’ve become a fan of Cowherd’s radio show but can’t get with the TV show. (I saw him dressed up and talking like a pirate the other day during a bit. I hope he’s well compensated. ‘Dance, monkey, dance!’).
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Irish Bullets – Sights & Sounds | Michigan 28, Notre Dame 24 (2010)
A few takes across the board from the trip to South Bend. First off, most ND fans are very courteous and to me, it’s just a pleasure to go down there for games in this rivalry. I love the trip and it’s a big reason I’m firmly behind continuing the contract with the Irish. One thing that does suck about the trip is the Turnpike. It’s not so much the concern of paying the tolls—it’s getting through the tollgates. On the return trip the wait to get onto I-69 north was like 20 minutes+ at 10 PM. Going from the press box (with laptop, phone, TV and Fan Vision nearby) to sitting in Notre Dame stadium was quite a shock. My cell phone didn’t get any reception (then died trying) and with a scoreboard that basically shows time and score. I had no idea what happened to Crist and then rumors started to circulate around the crowd that he was poked in the eye. Someone even joked he should wear an eye patch. Above is a shot when the sun came out at the end of the game—I think there were about five minutes left when the clouds broke. I haven’t seen the telecast yet but I hear they got really sappy with their description of the scene. It was…
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Who Voted for Michigan, AP Poll Week 3
Again, this is effectively meaningless but interesting nonetheless. Note that Lesmerises dropped the Wolverines from #8 last week to #9. Fine by me—again, I think that’s way too high but I like the way the guy votes: Voter Rank Source Jon Solomon 8 The Birmingham News Doug Lesmerises 9 Cleveland Plain Dealer Chadd Cripe 10 Idaho Statesman Kirk Bohls 10 Austin American Statesman Brett McMurphy 12 Ray Ratto 13 Chip Cosby 14 Craig James 14 Kirk Herbstreit 14 Mike Hlas 14 Joe Giglio 15 John Niyo 15 Garland Gillen 16 Tom Murphy 16 Cecil Hurt 17 Chris Fowler 17 Doug Haller 17 Travis Haney 17 Dave Foster 18 Jack Bogaczyk 18 Kyle Veazey 18 Steve Conroy 18 Steve Sipple 18 Tom Mulhern 18 Wes Rucker 18 Bob Asmussen 19 Bob Condotta 19 Kyle Ringo 19 Kyle Tucker 19 Rob Long 19 Robert Cessna 19 Wade Denniston 19 Bob Hammond 20 David Jones 20 Desmond Conner 20 Ferd Lewis 20 Greg Archuleta 20 Greg Auman 20 Keith Sargeant 20 Matt McCoy 20 Tom Keegan 20 Jon Wilner 21 Lisa Byington 21 Manny…
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Moe’s Tailgate Contest Winners
The folks at Moe Sports/Underground Printing got a bunch of great entries for the "trick out your tailgate" contest and decided to do a couple things: Award three tailgates with custom shirts instead of just one as originally planned, see a breakdown below, and… Is considering awarding more winners as "tailgate of the week" this season based on the entries received. Details TBD. Drum roll, the three tailgates selected: Grand Champion Jason Freeman & John Baciak – "Grey Lot Tailgate" What they get: Forty (40) custom shirts made up and discounts to use at Moe’s for their tailgate members. They’ll be the official tailgate of the UMass game. What put them over the top? If you plan a theme this hard, you must be serious. I haven’t met Jason or John (yet) but you should know I likes me Irish fare: Tailgate Theme: ST. PATRICK’S DAY TAILGATE Description: With Massachusetts representing the state with the highest population of Irish Americans per capita, and with September 18th representing the halfway point to St. Patrick’s Day, this one was TOO EASY!!! We’ll be celebrating this cosmic Irish alignment of circumstances in true stereotypical American fashion: by wearing green t-shirts and beaded necklaces, drinking green beer, enjoying some corned beef hash, potato skins, and cranking up the Irish tunes! This will be one…
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Tate Forcier – Media Day
A few words from me before quoting Tate. This guy stood in here today and got hammered with questions about missing wings, expectations and being called out by Woolfolk. He handled it all like a pro. He was humble, apologetic, and most of all, kept getting back to do whatever’s best for the team. Whatever happens from here give him credit for manning up and embracing this adversity. He certainly won points with me today. Here’s Tate: Does he feel like he’s been challenged? "Yes..He told me he was going to. And I think Coach Rod has done a great job at it and it’s only making me better. I can’t be made at it." What did he do to earn his helmet wings back? "Something my dad always told me, action speak louder than words. I just stayed quiet…and did all the work, and make sure everyone saw me doing the work…first one on the practice field and the last one off. Whatever it took. I got them back and I’m happy." His answer to the skeptics, that this team won’t improve: "People can think what they want. They don’t see what’s going on every day like all of us players do." Did he think he didn’t have to work as hard (during the off-season)? "I wouldn’t say that,…
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Denard’s Day
I took a load of photos but during the Michigan Spring Game but the best were of Denard Robinson doing his thing. It was his day and consider Brian’s take seconded: Robinson looks like a quarterback now. A running quarterback with rudimentary passing abilities, but a quarterback. There were zone reads and screens and rollout passes and a number of zippy seams that hit players between the numbers. When the offense broke down, Robinson made the concept of "pursuit angles" humorous. Putting him on the edge, as suggested by the coaches’ clinic tea leaves, puts the defense in a bind. His throws were all on a line but they were accurate aside from a couple mediocre bubble screens. Here’s sixteen in action. Please save the “Why don’t you marry him?” as I’m happily married. Wait, is he available? Ironic that everyone is blurry except the guy flying through the scene. [Ed. A few folks asked for a high res copy.] As Brian noted, he tossed a pair of soft screen passes but beyond that the passes were solid. That said, the follow through here is awkward unless he’s demonstrating that the Denard Meter is on high. He ended up turning this up field for a nice gain, but in this shot consider that he’s facing…
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Post Alumni Game: ‘64 Captain Jim Conley (audio)
I caught up with the oldest player on the field after the game, Jim Conley of the ‘65 Rose Bowl champs. He roamed the defensive backfield for the Maize team this morning and shared a few thoughts. Worth a listen, heavily tongue-in-cheek from the salty veteran: [display_podcast] Notable: I asked Conley about the lack of a QB on the Maize team: “It met my dreams, you understand? Because I hate referees, kickers and quarterbacks.” On the refs, who seemed to give the Blue QB (John Navarre) more than the allowed 5 seconds: “They had that Spartan Bob clock…they had 8 seconds sometimes.” On playing safety: “I moved better than I thought I was going to, to tell you the truth. I just wanted to show the fans that an old man can play free safety. If you’re a safety, you gotta sit back, look at the field, read the quarterback and go to the ball. And as you saw nobody threw in my area because I was there.” On the leap he offered up during his introduction: “I wanted to show people that I have that 42” elevation…”