Via an email from Joey Held of the PR firm Hill and Knowlton: One of our clients is adidas, and this weekend, in honor of 9/11, several schools are wearing special “Stars and Stripes” jerseys. Michigan is one of those schools, and it’s our job to make sure the media knows about it. Judging by straw poll of instant retweets, 65% hate it (or hate the USA), 30% love it and 5% just like to retweet stuff. But they aren’t changing the jerseys: Update #1: Per this tweet, perhaps we can dial it down a notch? May only affect those on the sidelines, per Kansas athletic department: This Saturday, college football coaches and sideline personnel at the University of Kansas and other schools, will honor the men and women that help keep America safe by wearing the Stars and Stripes Collection by adidas. On-field staff will wear the red, white and blue themed apparel and headwear to celebrate, honor and thank those who have served the country. The full list of adidas universities participating includes: Cincinnati Kansas Louisville Michigan Nebraska Notre Dame NC State Tennessee Texas A & M Wisconsin Update #2: I asked Joey Held at Hill and Knowlton to clarify his "jerseys" comment in the note based on the Kansas press release. Indeed, he checked and it’s…
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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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eBay Watch: Hand Him the Hustler Award (1990+)
While Wolverine fans tend to toss any great individual performance that occurred during a loss in the circular file, there are a few that stand out. One of those is tailback Jon Vaughn’s 201-yard rushing performance in Gary Moeller’s coaching debut, a thrilling 28-24 loss in South Bend in 1990. Thanks to eBay, we now also know that Vaughn had a little more than game film and the occasional ache/pain to remember that great effort. Evidently Vaughn was the game’s ‘Offensive Hustler’: Yes, apparently Coach Mo not only dealt out helmet stickers, he also handed out Little League second place trophies for individual efforts. Per the auction description: Very rare one of a kind John [sic] Vaughn offensive hustler award for the game on sep 15 1990 vs the notre dame fighting irish. The trophy stand approx 14 inches high. The trophy does have some wear in areas. Please note that this trophy does not specifically mention his name. However i just recently purchased a memoribilia [sic] grouping from John [sic] Vaughn. Vaughn earned more prestigious honors at the end of the season, particular co-Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. Against Moeller’s advice, Vaughn bolted to the NFL after the season and had a short career in the bigs. Other Hustlers eBay Here’s a couple other guys who deserved…
