While Notre Dame will be Michigan’s guest for the first night game at the Big House, did you know it was Bo Schembechler’s 1982 Wolverines who played in the inaugural battle under the lights in South Bend? The Irish upset the 10th-ranked Wolverines 23-17 on that historic evening in front of 59,000 fans at Notre Dame Stadium. But that ’82 game wasn’t the first time the Wolverines played at night, as that tradition started nearly 70 years ago. On September 23, 1944, Fritz Crisler’s Wolverines traveled to Wisconsin to play The Hilltoppers of Marquette in a game that kicked off at 7 p.m. As part of the war effort, Michigan had several players on the roster as part of the Navy’s “V-12” training program. To enhance the supply of college-educated officers, the Navy rolled out V-12 in 131 U.S. schools. Those enrolled were considered active-duty personnel, required to adhere to strict military rules and discipline. One of those rules prevented any member to be away from the “base” (the campus, in this case) for more than 48 hours. To accommodate the 48-hour rule and to play a game on the road as far as Milwaukee, Fritz Crisler’s crew left Ann Arbor at around 1:30pm Friday afternoon and arrived at Marquette that evening. Crisler held a brief practice under the lights…
-
-
Hoisting A Legend
Author Bill Roose was kind enough to send along an excerpt from his new book on Desmond Howard titled, “I Wore 21: The Legend of Desmond Howard”. The book is dropping this week around Ann Arbor and will be available at the game on Saturday. While we’ve all seen the famous photo of Desmond making ‘The Catch’, how about this shot from page 69 of I Wore 21 of Howard celebrating with the lineman and the madness over in the student section? Look at the faces of the guys running up to him: Side note: I’m probably in that photo somewhere, over to the left. It’s up there with Woodson’s 1997 interception in East Lansing as the greatest Michigan catch I’ve witnessed. Here’s a clip from chapter two, Grbac talking about the play: Quarterback Elvis Grbac is still amazed by what Howard did that day. “I threw the ball up and it was really incomplete, to tell you the truth,” Grbac said. “Then at about the 5-yard line, Des looks up and he goes into another gear and absolutely runs by the corner and there are not too many guys who can do that. “That was a catch that just propelled him through the entire season, because now once we got inside the 20-yard line, people were like, ‘OK, what’s…
-
The Eleven Jugsmen
From reader Daniel: I love reading the posts about custom Brown Jugs that readers make. In an awesome twist of fate, I found myself as the owner of a replica mini Brown Jug. Actually 11 of us did. One of my good friends got married in August. As a gift for all the guys who stood up, ushered, etc…he had replica Brown Jugs made. I had to pass these photos along. Right on, brother. Best wedding photo EVER: Like those guys didn’t get action that night. Check out these beauties: One disappointment: As an ordained minister in Jugology, I feel like I should have officiated this wedding. I case you are wondering, yes, all the scores are on there and it has the two spots awaiting the 2011 and 2012 games. Nicely done, gents! Consider yourselves in the Jug Brotherhood, Local 1903 along with: Brian Snider – 2011 post Eric Mierzwiak – 2009 post Mark Foster – 2010 post Dennis Dail – Post from earlier this year Related: Little Brown Jug Lore
-
Denard Goes Schutt
Nice try, Denard. I’ve got uniform spies everywhere but even I caught this one. This season Denard switched from a Riddell helmet, used the past two seasons, to a Schutt model this year. Here he is in 2009 with the Riddell: And yesterday (from the nice photo gallery put together by Brad at MnB Nation), here’s the Schutt. A quick text to uniform guru Steve Sapardanis confirmed the switch. Sap checked his notes and verified that indeed, Denard wore Riddell in the Gator Bowl but trotted out a Schutt at the Spring game and at the Under the Lights press conference. As I wrote last season, I’m partial to Schutt. These are the helmets that are reconditioned and painted in Oxford, Ohio each year by a man named Russ Hawkins at a company called Capitol Varsity Sports. More from my 2010 post: This May I asked Falk about how Michigan hooked up with Capitol Varsity and Hawkins and he told me relationship goes back to the mid-1960s. Falk was the manager for his high school team in Oxford and naturally they used the local company for their reconditioning services. This relationship followed Falk to college at Miami, OH when he handled the equipment under Redskins head coach Bo Schembechler. When he was reunited with Bo up in Ann Arbor in…
-
Man Cave Alert
A repost, the seller informs me he still has some in stock. A must have for any man cave, Michigan shrine, office, garage and/or living room (if you aren’t married). It’s a bunch of pre-locker room renovation lockers removed from Schembechler Hall. Check it out: 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 – costs about $250 to ship or 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 got a few left to sell. How much? The seller told me asking around $800 and willing to talk if you want more than one. They’ll even deliver in the Detroit area. Interested to buying one of these to round out your shrine or for a gift? Here are a couple higher resolution photos: For more info or to buy one if they’re still available, send…
-
A Nice Day for Football (Photos)
A few shots from practice today: Troy Woolfolk looking fit working with the DBs The boss was keeping a close eye on the kickers Open punting try-outs (not really) Denard grabbing the snap Denard hitting TE Steve Watson Related: Heading to the Third World Media/Fan Day – Photos Follow MVictors on Twitter
-
The Sharps Don’t think Michigan is so Keen
In last week’s WSJ, Darren ‘My Main Man’ Everson reported that the Vegas wise guys have pounced on the early release lines on two college football teams—Georgia, who they feel is underrated in the early lines—and your Wolverines for a different reason: Conversely, Michigan looks overrated to the experts, who are skeptical of teams that have a new coach. Of the five Michigan games on the list of available matchups, four have moved by at least three points because of action against the Wolverines—most notably the Notre Dame game. Once a two-point favorite, Michigan is now a four-point underdog. I just thought it was interesting, not a big deal. And there are many reasons not to give a crap about this (and FWIW, the underdog in the U-M-Notre Dame game has a ridiculously good record in the past couple decades). The bettors are reacting to the initial lines set by the book, so they are not necessarily saying Michigan is going to suck. Even if they did, as we sit here before U-M has even had a fall practice, I’m guessing most fans wouldn’t care. Check out the whole story here.
-
Do you have Anything in Light Bright Maize?
Mgo-reader J.P. sent over this question into mgoblog. Brian forwarded it my way for some level 2 support: Is it just me or is the ‘maize’ portion of Michigan’s uniforms–in all sports except Hockey–getting lighter? I see old games on BTN and remember from watching Michigan for the past 30 years that the maize used to be a deep, rich, gold/yellow. Over the past 10 years, the maize has gotten lighter and lighter to the point where it looks pastel now. This drives me nuts. I can’t stand the winged helmet that’s highlighter yellow instead of the richer maize. The pants look canary in color! This seemed to have started at the end of the Nike era and carried over to the Adidas unis. I’ve attached some pics. So, is it just me and the color remained the same? Is my eyesight getting worse? Is it the setting on my tv’s over the years? After a quick read I escalated this to a Severity One ticket and dispatched Michigan uniform guru Steve Sapardanis to resolve this. Take it away, Mr. Dr. Sapardanis: Disclaimer Let’s get this out of the way first: never, ever, ever go by the color you see of pics online, in mags/programs or even in photos – see these Harbaugh photos as reference: These two pics are…
