Steve "Dr. Sap" Sapardanis mustered the strength to deliver his decals following Saturday's debacle. Read on for a jolt of positivity (the good kind) if you need it.
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Why We Hate The Paul Bunyan Trophy
We covered a lot of ground including the odd origins of the Paul Bunyan Trophy (the nine foot wooden sculpture awarded to the winner of the Michigan-Michigan State game since 1953). And why Michigan fans have never really cared for it until now. We also touched on the 2020 Minnesota game, the Little Brown Jug (naturally), the fickle mood of Michigan fans and much more.
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Sights & Sounds | Michigan State 35, Michigan 11 (2014)
Recently stock market talking heads like CNBC’s Jim Cramer have expended a lot of calories talking about finding the “bottom”, meaning the point where the collective nastiness out there (Ebola, ISIS, etc.) has punished stock prices and it’s safe for investors to jump back in. Said another way, it’s the point where things stop getting worse and start getting better. He even made a list: If you felt great when we (yes I said we) scored a touchdown against Michigan State, congrats, you’ve reached a personal bottom. For this football program, I’d like to think that Saturday was the bottom but I don’t think we’re there yet. There’s a list but I can’t bear to write it down. A few suggestions for you: 1. Season over 2. New coach named 3. Signing day 4. Rival fans stop feeling sorry for you. 5… Arena: A couple of notes for you: * Spear-gate – Who gives a crap?* #ChadTough – This was nice – well done MMB and MSUMB: Mood Update: The Mood Index, the metric trying to gauge how great it is to be a Michigan Wolverine. It’s not: Uniform Update: Nothing timeline worthy, but you have a couple of guys (at least early on) wearing the white Team 135 undershirts with the State of Michigan logo (with block M on…
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Paul Bunyan is Home – Sights & Sounds – (Michigan 12, Michigan State 10)
Decals and Photos here. State deserved to win last year; Michigan deserved to win this time. Bite sized game takes: Drew Dileo is getting a lot of praise but give the line and Denard mucho props on that play that set up the winning kick, and of course for the stretch (above). I give the State defense a lot of credit. Gallon had an uncharacteristic drop (sure, the ball was behind him but you hardly ever seem him drop the pigskin), but MSU’s defenders made 3 or 4 solo tackles that prevented touchdowns. I join many others in giving Dantonio props for the showing some piedras on the fake punt. I don’t blame him so much for trying the play action on the last drive. He took a calculated risk to win the game and I think it was worth a shot. Notre Dame won the game on a pass late in the game a few weeks back. The only thing I would have told Maxwell – if the receiver was absolutely not there, make like Denard and tuck and run. Misc: On rivals. Still lots of talk out there about where Michigan State ranks amongst Michigan’s most important opponents. While rivals can change over the decades (ask Chicago and Minnesota if you can find someone old enough—or me, Kryk…
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Not Smooth – Postgame Photos (MSU 28, Michigan 14)
More later but just a few postgame photos. Frustrated guys above, happy guys below (your medicine):
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Rescuing the Undeniably Ugly Paul Bunyan
From deep in John U. Bacon’s Three and Out, check out a few great lines delivered by Rich Rod before last year’s rematch with the Spartans. Here’s RR talking to the team after displaying a picture of the Paul Bunyan Trophy: “The ugliness of that trophy is well documented. It’s undeniable. But Paul’s ugliness is only acceptable when we have it. “They’ve had Paul for two years now. Who knows what they’re making Paul do? Probably taking him around to every damn frat house on campus and doing God knows what to him.” They laughed. “Poor Paul! He needs to be rescued!” Rich Rod’s speech was great but he didn’t rescue poor Paul and sadly he’s been in East Lansing longer than Gilligan was on the Island. Go Blue! Rescue Paul! Get Three and Out here – it drops October 25th.
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Welcome to Missourah
Before the season most expected Michigan to lose four to six games (me) this year so sitting at 5-1 at this point shouldn’t be shock. But when drilling down at each game, losses vs. UConn or Notre Dame or even at Indiana were stomachable. But if you insisted during preseason that one of those losses would be to MSU you’d get a little cringe from anyone, definitely from me. That hurt. Monday I wrote, "you could argue that the future of Michigan football is in the balance" on Saturday’s game. That was admittedly a tad strong but given the manner of the result, the scales just tilted against the future of Rich Rod in Ann Arbor. There’s plenty of opportunity, starting Saturday, to tip things back. This morning you’ve got a fanbase of M fans, as in Missourah, as in ‘show me’ this team can hang in the Big Ten. Sights and Sounds Check out my pregame photos here. I’ve been trying to post these just as the game starts so if you like this kind of thing, head here early in the first quarter during home games if you want to check them out. Includes former captains Mark Messner, Jim Conley, Denard and more. One of those pregame shots included the Screaming Eagle parachute drop which I think is…
