I just returned from a nice vacation in much warmer climates. On the way home from DTW (after enduring a power outage that locked me and many others inside the airport parking structure for 45 minutes—yes, they held us hostage while they figured out how to charge us for parking given cc’s wouldn’t process) I caught the end of the excellent Minnesota hoops game on WTKA. Catching up on reading, I got a big chuckle out of this line from Brian in the aftermath of the Wisconsin bank robbery: Not to dwell on a small monkey on a Caribbean island throwing a banana that turns into a tsunami because of chaos theory and wham(!) there’s a coconut in Crisler.. While I’m not going to make you suffer through all the photos from my family vacation, I thought I better post this shot of this small Caribbean monkey that walked by me last Sunday just before 9am, on his way to find a banana to chuck: I let regrettably let him pass. One more photo – here’s my pal Giles in front of Wayne Rooney’s getaway house Barbados: Rooney wasn’t there of course, he was busy doing this.
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Gearing Up for Augusta: Lion Kim Interview
From 2010-11 Michigan Men’s Golf yearbook – U-M Media Relations I recently caught up with Michigan senior golfer Lion Kim and he sounds like he’s ready. In about eight weeks Kim will tee it up at Augusta National against the world’s best golfers. Back in July the 21 year-old took down the field at the U.S. Amateur Public Links and took home both a magnificent silver trophy and perhaps more significantly, a slot in the 2011 Masters field. What are his goals for tournament? Did an owl bring him his official invitation to The Masters (like I hoped)? Will he represent Michigan in any way during the week? These answers and much more below. _______________________________________________________________________ I understand you’ve had the chance to play Augusta National for practice? Kim: Yes I have. I’ve made a couple trips down there to get some practice rounds in. Are you invited to practice if you are in the field? How did you arrange that? Kim: Once you earn the invite for the following year’s Masters you can just call in. When I called and introduced myself they quickly knew who I was and I asked if I could do a couple practice rounds. The rule is you can do as many practice rounds as possible, you just have to call a week before and…
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Inside Big Ten Icons
I appreciate all the kind words (and hair jokes) for the appearance on the Tom Harmon Big Ten Icons piece that has been running this week. A few folks have fired over questions about the episode and I’d thought I’d summarize those here. I addressed some of this and more with Sam and Ira on Feb 3 so check that out as well. I was contacted by the producer about a month ago. They were pulling together the episode and felt they needed more “voices” to add to the documentary. Keep in mind most of the interviews/comments about Harmon and the other pieces were collected a while ago. Angelique, for instance, was interviewed during the Big Ten basketball tournament last year—they shot her in an old gym in Indianapolis. My read is that they had a lot about how great/dynamic Harmon was, but not a lot of detail in the Harmon story. So—the producer asked around for names & John Lofy of Michigan Today and the great John U. Bacon suggested they contact me. The BTN folks also contacted Greg Kinney, the curator at The Bentley Library. They interviewed Kinney and I on January 25th at the stadium on the east side. (Kinney went before me and he was gone before I arrived). I’m seated in the first row of…
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Viva Michigan Helmet Stickers!?
Near the end of Wojo’s extensive Q&A with Coach Hoke was this exchange: Q. Many fans crave a return to old Michigan ways. You’ve talked about being tough in the trenches, having a pounding defense. What about the little traditions, like helmet stickers again? A. I don’t know about the helmet stickers yet. I’m gonna get some counsel from ex-players, from coach (Gary) Moeller, coach (Jerry) Hanlon. We are going to have captains, I can promise you. It’s a tradition many believe started with Woody Hayes and the Buckeyes in the late 1960s but thanks to the piece in Hail to the Victors 2010 by John Kryk (with Steve Sapardanis), we know that the tradition was actually started by Bo. Kryk described the scene in 1969 when Schembechler announced that the Wolverines would be placed stickers on their helmets after games: “Oh, like Woody?” a reporter asked. “Uh-uh.” Schembechler grinned triumphantly. “Woody got the idea from me.” Kryk goes on to trace the start back of the “big-play” stickers to 1965, Bo’s third season at Miami, OH (then still nicknamed the Redskins). They used little red tomahawks. Thanks to Sapardanis, here’s a breakdown of the Michigan helmet decals used to date: Count Sapardanis as one who would like to see the tradition return in fact he’s made a bold suggestion…
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Michael Taylor Wants His Cornflakes (WTKA audio)
Turns out the WTKA afternoon show on Thursday was just as exciting as the morning show. Michael Taylor dialed up Jeff DeFran and went off on a spittle-filled rant, furious about the hiring of Curt Mallory over Taylor’s preference Corwin Brown. Clip: [display_podcast] . Obviously Taylor knows something about the matter and has been in touch with Brown, who Taylor says is “hurt”. The former M quarterback more than implies race was a factor in the hire and he’s pissed. One point – Taylor goes on and on about supporting Michigan letterman and how there’s a recent history of the administration spitting in the face of letterman. Of course Mallory is a letterman. And did you know that Brown, Taylor and Mallory were teammates on the 1989 squad, Bo’s last season? I like Taylor’s contributions to WTKA – on Sunday (where has he been?) and with the occasional phone call. One thing I always struggle with is Michael’s oft-repeated stance that his status as a letterman/former football player provides him the trump card over anyone’s opinion in all matters pertaining to U-M football. Come on. Speaking of qualifications [nice segue] I’m disqualified from commenting on Mallory vs. Brown since I joined a band of ten merry, pickled students who spelled C-O-R-N-F-L-A-K-E-S on our chests back at a game in 1992. …
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Hoke Juke Box (Sounds Galore)
Several clips from Wednesday’s introductory press conference introducing Coach Hoke. (P.S. I see the #Hokeamania runnin’ wild on Twitter and elsewhere but I’m not feeling it. I’ll try to get on board by Friday’s hockey game, especially if we get a taste of Hoke Score-O.) For your mixtapes and tailgaters: [display_podcast] Follow MVictors on Twitter (so I can stay ahead of Rothstein) Related: The Clans. The Factions. Defined A Fragile Piece of History: Big Chill Ice Dave Brandon joins WTKA and WDFN (audio 1-14)
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You Love Chucky
In 2007 as the search to replace Lloyd Carr commenced, I set up 24 candidates in a silly bracket . After the votes were tallied there was one man remaining: Jon Gruden. Three years later, two dozen more candidates squared off late last week and over the weekend. Once again look who’s the people’s choice: I understand the appeal (I guess) but still I’m a bit amazed this keeps happening. You love this man. Marry him. Full bracket: More on Death March Madness II here. Thanks to the thousands who voted. Thanks again to Christian Sack, (icefins26 on mgoblog, or guy who rocks the Zack Morris/AC Slater avatar) who drew up the seedings and prepared a quick summary of each candidate.
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Death March Madness – Final Eight (Vote Now)
It’s time for the regional finals of Death March Madness. Thousands of votes cast have brought these final eight competitors together. Still alive is 2007 winner Jon Gruden with whom people have an inexplicable love affair. You can view the results of the first two rounds and have a look at the 2011 bracket. For a berth to the final four: [poll id=52] [poll id=53] [poll id=54] [poll id=55] More on Death March Madness II here. Thanks again to Christian Sack, (icefins26 on mgoblog, or guy who rocks the Zack Morris/AC Slater avatar) who drew up the seedings and prepared a quick summary of each candidate.
