As part of WTKA 1050AM’s Key Bank Countdown to Kick-off pregame show, I’m taping a new segment this season called ‘This Week in Michigan Football History’ sponsored by Wolverine Beer. Here’s Saturday’s version where we looked back to September 11, 1976 – the season opener against Wisconsin. Ira had a few Bob Ufer calls from the game and we worked them in (I got chills), hope you like it: [display_podcast] Here’s where you can find Wolverine Beer, or check out the Beer Wench’s Blog (and yes, that’s a real thing). I’ll be posting each of the This Week… clips here.
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Joe Montana Chills the ‘Rudy’ Legend
Dan Patrick asked former Notre Dame quarterback Joe Montana about the story of Rudy Ruettiger story, of course immortalized by the film ‘Rudy’: Montana, who played on the 1975 Fighting Irish squad with Ruettiger — appeared on DirecTV’s Dan Patrick Show this morning and said of the flick, “It’s a movie remember … not all that’s true.” After a dismissive sigh, Montana undermined some of the main storylines in the movie saying, “The crowd wasn’t chanting … nobody threw in their jerseys.” Montana acknowledged that the real Rudy did play in the final home game … and did get a sack — but stated that when the players carried Rudy off the field, they were “kinda playin’ around … I won’t say as a joke, but playing around.” Joe finished, “He worked his butt off to get where he was … but not any harder than anybody else.” Here’s the audio clip of Montana debunking the Rudy myth: It’s not the first time I’ve heard many a liberty was taken with the Rudy story. (HT: Ira at WTKA for pointing out the clip.)
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I Think it was the Fourth of July
What a day at the Big House yesterday but it’d be a much different feeling and memory had the team fell flat. Off the Field: Artwork: I love that they honored the national championship teams with these larger-than-life displays. I didn’t get a chance to get over to the east concourse but plan to before the next game. This from the west concourse, very nicely done: Commemoratives. The renovation pin is a nice item for fans and the game program is off the hook. Some of the history features were very well prepared expect one—the section on the Little Brown Jug. Page 27, bottom right: Dating back to 1909, the battle for the Little Brown Jug is the oldest trophy game in NCAA Division I Football Subdivision. OK. That’s ok to say “1909” if they meant to say when the teams started playing for the trophy. That’s correct of course. But it continued: Heading into that 1909 contest, Michigan was undefeated in 28 straight games as it headed to Minneapolis.. Ugh. They were describing when the jug was bought and left behind in Minnesota and that was 1903 of course, in the midst of Yost’s point-a-minute teams. In 1909 Michigan rolled into Minneapolis on the heels of a furious “one” game winning streak, albeit an all-timer—the great victory over Penn…
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Early Pregame Photos: UConn Game (Field, Pin, Bottle, Device)
A few early shots from the game as fans trickle in. Why not? I’ll also be down on the field for pregame and post so stay tuned and follow me on Twitter. First, the stadium and field because it’s about that today: The commemorative water bottle (hey, that’s a cool shot!): The commemorative pin. Yes, ‘Shoe, I took it out of the plastic, a little bigger than a quarter: Hey, I’m going to give the Fan Vision video unit a test drive. My sausage fingers might distort, but it’s the size of a DSI, a little bigger than an iPhone:
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"We got it done." Dave Brandon on WTKA (09-02 audio)
WTKA welcomed Dave Brandon with Handel’s ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ on air this morning. Brandon said he got a lot of nice emails last night and was clearly happy how things ended up. Here’s the audio, give it a sec to load: [display_podcast] A few notes: "I’ve run public companies for the last 22 years. I’ve gotten pretty good at managing expectations. A way to exceed expectations is to manage them [laughs]. We were in a situation where it was absolutely unclear what the ultimate decision was going to be and I wanted to make that known that it was unclear and the fan reaction was very helpful and very important." He joked that he had 2006 U-M graduates emailing him explaining the importance of the OSU-UM rivalry. "I knew that.." "I don’t know how you lay it out any better for Michigan." "We came out of this really, really well." On determining division rivals. Brandon said they "went back and forth" but in the end, decided that overall conference record wins division. Tie-breaker is head-to-head, division record, then BCS rankings. [Take: I don’t like using BCS rankings in tie-breakers. Why let that goofy-assed system determine what we do in our league?] On the Notre Dame rivalry. "We’re going to contract out several years, probably to 2014 or 2015.." There’s a "handshake…
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Jug-ists Rejoice
This blogger rejoices over the news tonight. So does this guy (below). That’s Louis J. "Doc" Cooke, longtime Minnesota administrator who started Little Brown Jug rivalry by suggesting the teams play for the crock in 1909: If you’re not ready to rejoice, take in the entire Little Brown Jug lore series: Part I: What Really Happened in the 1930s Part II: Spinning Myths Part III: Getting it Right Part IV: 2013: A Space Quandary Part V: Red Wing Roots Part VI: Is the Greatest Trophy in College Sports a Fake? Part VII: Open Questions Follow MVictors on Twitter
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UConn Pregame Festivities—What to Look For
I had a chance to talk to a few folks at Media Relations about Saturday’s pregame activities. It’s suggested you get into your seat at least 20-25 minutes prior to kick-off to be safe. It won’t be a drawn-out process as there’s a TV schedule and of course a football game to be played. Here’s what you can expect (bulleted by design, specific order not certain): Video piece on the Stadium project Video piece on Brock Mealer Ribbon cutting (with Bill Martin, Dave Brandon, the Regents) Brock Mealer will lead the team out, walk under the banner. The team will follow. Looks like two flyovers (sounds like MGoShoe has it right.) TBD – but possibly some type of pyrotechnics(!)? There will also be set video pieces throughout the game In and around the concourses there are a few new items (I’m not sure how much of this was in place for Fan Day): The Michigan Stadium ‘Art Deco’ lettering is now on the east side of the stadium, and Bruce Madej encouraged folks to check that out along with the goings on around the rest of the concourses. He wasn’t sure if the other lettering set was going to put on the west side. There is also new permanent artwork in the concourse areas "honoring teams and award winners." Other…
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Schembechler Hall Lockers – Still Available
A must have for any man cave, Michigan shrine, office, garage and/or living room (if you aren’t married). Details: Full size locker, with combination. We have proof of authenticity, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the ultimate Michigan Football memorabilia collector. It could be a very long time before they change lockers again. Locker numbers still on them. Dimensions: 36? wide x 24? deep x 74-3/4? tall Weight: About 200 lbs – free pick-up in Detroit It seems a local demolition company cleaned out the locker room and was granted rights to take away the lockers. Get this—they actually crushed one of them before someone came to their senses. The company is based in Detroit and they’ve still got some to sell. Interested to buying one of these to round out your shrine or for a gift? The seller was asking $800 earlier this year but shoot me an email, he might do better: One recent buyer sent over this pic. He got the #7 locker and went with the Drew Henson theme. Looks great, although I think a few Ricky Leach and Chad Henne fans are scratching their heads:
