Best news I’ve heard all week: If you’re a Michigan or college sports history buff, you’ve got to read this. Author John Kryk found this 110-year old piece describing the epidemic in the divided Michigan fan base, check it out.
-
-
Gil Thorp needs Botox
So over the weekend a gent named Neal Rubin for popped up and wrote this piece on Rodriguez in the Detroit News, basically talking about how much of an a-hole Rich Rod is. Normally I wouldn’t bother to say anything – it reads like a bad sports radio call – but after basically calling Rich Rod a slippery, money-grabbing phony, he went here: Fielding Yost didn’t sign contract extensions and then flirt with other schools to extort raises. Actually, despite this being a completely different era in college sports, Yost maneuvered quite a bit with his contracts and with U-M. I know FHY on some level—he was a very savvy negotiator and businessman, go read The Big House–so when I saw this I got a laugh. I asked author/historian John Kryk [Natural Enemies], who’s in the process of writing the definitive history of Yost and his Point-A-Minute teams, and he shared this on the topic: “No matter how long Yost’s contract was (one-year, two-year, five-year) in his first decade, it was always a source of relief in Ann Arbor every late-Nov/early-Dec when he announced he was for sure coming back. Occasionally, there were reports he was considering an offer from, say, Wisconsin — or from the East. One year he even boldly and publicly disputed the wording of his contract…
-
This Week in 19th Century Michigan Football!
Here’s the last entry* in ‘This Week in Michigan Football History’ to be played Saturday on WTKA 1050AM’s Key Bank Countdown to Kick-off pregame show before The Game. It’s probably the most unique segment in the series as we go back — ALL the way back – to the 1800s and talk about the game played on this day in 1883 against Stevens Institute, the first game ever played against Racine College and a few key facts from the underappreciated 19th century. I hope you enjoy it: [display_podcast] Thanks to reader Scott B. for pointing out to me the tie to George Jewett, the first black player in Michigan (and conference) history, and the current team. Believe it – according to U-M Media Relations, freshman DB Courtney Avery is a descendant of Jewett. I’m digging for some better details on this. The sponsor of This Week…is Wolverine Beer so here’s where you can find it and you can hear all of the This Week… clips here. * Exclusive: We might to special hockey history segment for the Big Chill so look out for that.
-
A Century Ago: 1910 Michigan Football through the Words of The Daily
Recently I visited the outstanding U-M Bentley Historical Library to wade through the pages of the Michigan Daily archives from fall of 1910. Here’s a brief look back at Fielding Yost’s tenth season at the helm of the Wolverines: Preseason: Expectations were high coming into 1910, as the previous season Yost’s men became the first “western” team to knock off one of the traditional eastern foes when they defeated Penn 12-6 in Philadelphia, in a game not as close as the score indicated. They added a 15-6 win in the season finale over Minnesota and Michigan made claim to the mythical title of “Champions of the West”. The 1910 season would prove a bit rockier, as Michigan was still settling into their status as an independent. Seven games were scheduled for the year, including four against rivals that are quite familiar a century later: M.A.C (later MSC then MSU of course), Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Minnesota. Here’s how the season went, through the words of the U-M student newspaper from the fall of 1910: Game 1: vs. Case, Ann Arbor, October 8, 1910 The 1910 slate started on October against Case, the Wolverine’s foe in the previous four season openers and a team that nearly spoiled the 1909 season. Yost squeaked by 3-0 that season and hoped to put…
-
Forty-Nine More to the Left Column (1939)
Look at this 1939 wire photo of Michigan’s Grand Old Man, Fielding H. “Hurry Up” Yost looking at a team photo of his dominant 1901 squad. Yost is pointing to the great Willie Heston but it’s not clear why: Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time a wire shot has shown up on eBay featuring someone holding a photo of Yost’s dominant 1901 squad. Back in March, I did a short post on a Rose Bowl beauty queen from 1938 holding a large photo of the point-a-minute squad: Here’s one thing I didn’t notice in that March post. In the team pic featured in the wire photo of the beauty queen and in today’s auction with Yost, the writing on the ball held by captain Hugh White reads “550-0”. But in the official team photo (obviously the original) at the Bentley Library page for the ’01 squad, that ball reads “501-0” (right): Back in those days, the team gathered for the team photo after the season, to not only take the picture but also to select the captain of next year’s team. Michigan was undefeated and outscored its opposition by the 501 to nothing margin—at least up to that point. So they snapped the photo but they had one more game to play that year and which was…
-
This Week in Michigan Football History: Yost, President Coolidge and the 1926 Wolverines
Here’s the next entry in ‘This Week in Michigan Football History’ to be played tomorrow on WTKA 1050AM’s Key Bank Countdown to Kick-off pregame show before the Indiana game. This time we head way back to October 2, 1926, for the season opener in Fielding H. Yost’s final year as head coach, and the last season the Wolverines would play at Ferry Field. You get a little history on Yost, on the state affairs on the construction of the new stadium (it was a mess), and on a special trip out east where Yost and the boys met President Calvin Coolidge. The sponsor is Wolverine Beer so here’s where you can find it, or check out the Beer Wench’s Blog. I’m still waiting to have my first Wolverine beer, perhaps someday soon. You can hear all of the This Week… clips here.
-
Broken Records
The offense continues to pile up yards and tripping up team records–the media relations folks will be busy today updating the record book. A few notes: * The team fell just six total yards short of passing the team record for total offense of 727 yards set last year against Delaware State. * You heard that Forcier set the record for passing efficiency (minimum 10 attempts), something they do track. Here’s who he passed: * 65 points is a mighty number, but to crack the top five all time Michigan will have to get really close to triple digits. Four times Yost’s point-a-minute teams exceeded the century mark, with the high remaining ‘The Mountaineer Romp’ in 1904 when the Wolverines doubled Saturday’s tally: * Of course the record for fewest punts was tied as Will Hagerup only saw the field in warm-ups (and not even that much then). This happened three other times according to the books: * Ahh, the obligatory history nerd nitpick. The books cite the most punts by an opponent as Ohio State with 21 during the awesome 1950 punt fest, the Snow Bowl. I strenuously object, like Demi Moore in A Few Good Men. Media Relations might argue the punting statistics don’t go back that far (understood), but it appears the Gophers punted 25 times in…
-
Historical Context of Denard Robinson, 2010 Notre Dame Game
Given that John Kryk, author of the definitive history of the Notre Dame-Michigan rivalry Natural Enemies, is a mere email away, I had to get his thoughts and observations on the game. This marked the 19th time Kryk has watched the game in person and that’s exactly half of the 38 games played all-time between two schools. A few thoughts from Mr. Kryk: The only Michigan players I’ve seen that are so potentially and routinely electrifying [as Denard] are Anthony Carter and Desmond Howard (in that order). This is no fluke. The drive to open the second half vs UConn was mostly Denard completing 3rd-down after 3rd-down pass, not Denard running for first downs. And the winning drive Saturday was almost all on Denard’s arm, not his legs. He’s a quarterback, not a deluxe running back who keeps defenses honest with his throw. In fact, he tears ’em up with his throws. This game reminds me what Lloyd Carr once told me about the greatness of this series — that neither team will ever play its greatest game of the year, because it’s too early in the year, but because both teams play so hard in this game, and it’s early, you get more killer mistakes. Thus more momentum swings, thus more exciting games. It was the seventh time in…
