On Wednesday fans and media will get a good look inside the nearly completed renovation of Michigan Stadium. While there’s seemingly been an overwhelming positive reaction to the new digs by fans, you may recall that the project had its opponents. The most vocal was a group named Save The Big House, led by longtime U-M fan and Ann Arbor native John Pollack. The group received much attention in the media including this piece in the New York Times. Pollack, 44, formerly a speechwriter for President Clinton and Rep. David Bonior, suggested that the needs of the athletic department could be met via an alternate design. His team proposed a less costly plan that would expand seating, add bathrooms and the upgrade the press box without adding premium seating or suites: savethebighouse.com Pollack is the author of the book Cork Boat and resides in New York these days. He was kind enough to answer a few questions about the (nearly) finished project. For the record, a couple things here. I told Pollack right off that I disagree with much of his stance about the renovation. And if I count as a U-M historian, I’m firmly with Bacs, John Kryk and the others who argue Fielding Yost would support this project based on what I know about the man. This said,…
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Stadium Bridge is (still) Falling Down
Anyway, earlier this week the challenger Lesko rattled off a few complaints by those around town including the state of the Stadium Boulevard bridges. Many fans of course use the structures to get to the stadium on football, basketball and even hockey (parking at Crisler is a good way to go) gamedays. Since March 2009 the city reduced the available driving lanes down to two (from four) for safety reasons. They still aren’t fixed and the city has been turned down for federal funding to this point.
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1997 Michigan Championship Ring for Sale!
The seller claims the band belonged to a “well-known player” and is asking $5,999.99: It’s certainly not the first Michigan football ring to be offered up on eBay and heck, it’s not even the first time someone’s sold a ‘97 championship ring. Maybe this is the same one just placed back on the block. Other rings that have been up on eBay over the past couple years: 1986 Rose Bowl Ring: This prompted a few follow-up posts, the first speculating on the original owner and then another, after a teammate confirmed my sleuthing. 1977 Championship Ring: Not as pretty as the others, but painful to see. 1980 Rose Bowl ring: Probably the wildest story, a ring alleged to a salesman sample bearing the name ‘McCartney’ on the side prompts a note from former Michigan and Colorado coach Bill McCartney’s wife Lyndi, asking that the ring be returned to her husband. I think the seller is reaching the $6K figure. I’m guessing this would be closer to $2K-$3K item but you never know if a big shot will swoop in to grab it.
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Michigan captain Whitey Wistert’s ID (1931)
Here’s an auction of the U-M student identification card for the 1931-32 school year for the first of the legendary Wistert brothers: Francis Michael ‘Whitey’ Wistert: As the card indicates, Francis was a Chicago native and after graduating from high school worked in a factory building radios. A decision to tag along with a classmate on a visit to Ann Arbor effectively kicked off the Michigan-Wistert tradition. Several online references claim Whitey had no football background before coming to Michigan, but he is enshrined into his high school Hall of Fame for “Baseball and Football”. Oh and yes, he could also play some baseball—he was named Big Ten MVP his senior season. Whitey anchored the line for Harry Kipke’s back-to-back national championship squads in 1932-1933, and the 6-2, 210-pound stapping lad was named All-American in ‘33: I’ve written on the Wistert Trio before but in a nutshell, each played football for Michigan of course, each played tackle, each wore 11, all three made it into the college football Hall of Fame and they are the reason you won’t ever see another U-M football player wear jersey number eleven. Also included is an ID from 1938 when Wistert returned to assist Harry Kipke and his staff:
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Tom Izzo joins Jim Rome (6-17 audio)
The interview starts off a bit slow but Rome gets into the LeBron questions and Izzo’s future near the end. Izzo normally has a raspy voice but he definitely sounded worn down – no wonder. Of note: It might be a Dumb-and-Dumberesque chance, but when asked, Izzo did leave the door cracked for another look at the NBA. Izzo dropped a U.P. reference in there, which has got to leave JR scratching his head, no? Izzo revealed a big driver to his looks at the NBA is to challenge the notion that college coaches can’t make it in the NBA. His pulse picked up a bit during that discussion. Rome didn’t go into the media/coverage subplot here and I was a little surprised he missed that. In 11 minutes he had room to hit that and usually JR is very in tune with what’s being discussed locally. I was hopeful Izzo would make mention of, “Those nerds on The Red Cedar.” No go. Audio: [display_podcast] Related:
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Fielding Yost’s New Packard (1927)
Check out this wonderful signed photo of Fielding H. Yost posing next to a vintage car in front of the original Michigan Stadium press box (photo above).
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Adam, What about My Jug?
I'm not seeing many plausible scenarios where we keep all of our rivals, especially considering OSU and Michigan would likely end up together in most realignment scenarios. So my question for you is, will I ever see the Little Brown Jug again? The quality of my week depends on your answer.
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Dave Brandon joins The Huge Show (audio)
And talks about you-know-what. Worth a listen, about 13 minutes of audio: [display_podcast] HT: mgoblog user UMICH1606
