Diaries

BRAND NEW CHARLIE

When we last left our story, Charlie Blockham awoke to the sounds of
his mother telling him to get ready for school.  She also pointed out his hair,
which has grown to monumental proportions in the two months since the
strip has began. What's a full-headed boy to do?

(Click the image to view full size)  

I'm very proud to announce that we're doing something very different and
special this week over at the Blockhams.com and @TheBlockhams on Twitter,
affectionately and not-so-eloquently titled...

That's right-- The Blockhams Goes Temporarily Daily!!

For one week only we'll be honoring the hair and style of Ryan Van Bergen and others with AN ENTIRE WEEK OF BLOCKHAMS STRIPS!!  The young Blockham has embraced his new identity and the changes that have arrived with it... but what will happen when the new and imrpoved Charlie takes the act to East Pneumonia Elementary???

Join Michigan's only illustrated family as they explore the follicular exploits of Team 132 and beyond!  Visit www.theblockhams.com every day to follow the story and celebrate the phenomenon known throughout Schembechler Hall as #Flow. 

THE BLOCKHAMS™ runs every Tuesday here at MGoBlog, and at least every
Thursday on its official home page.  Also, don't forget to check out our newest
feature, Friday Roughs, a spontaneous low-end comic based on trending
Michigan events, available on Twitter and Facebook every Friday.

Follow THE BLOCKHAMS™ on Twitter at @theblockhams.

And do not forget to LIKE THE BLOCKHAMS™ on Facebook at www.facebook.com/theblockhams.  Hurry up, because new exclusive
Blockhams content is coming to Facebook and ONLY Facebook-- Visit now!

Finally, follow the one and only Ryan Van Bergen on Twitter at @VanBergen53.

[Ed-S: Bumped on a light day]

For a few different reasons I decided not to use a grade scale because each player is given different responsibilities by line. Brian Lebler deserved an A because he exceeded expectations, but how do you differentiate his A and Carl Hagelin's? It also helps avoid any kind of backlash I might receive from a player who decides to take a look at what I wrote.

Forwards:

Alex Guptill 

Pre-Season Expectations: Moderate/Low

Coming into the year Guptill was one of six freshman, his role was supposed to be checking for the next four years and here he is as your teams leading scorer.

Big Gup really came up big for the Wolverines as the season went along, becoming a balanced scorer and a huge presence in front of the net. He did not fall into the freshman slump like the others mostly because opponents refused to acknowledge that he was standing in front of the goal by himself, he was given as much space as he needed to tip and redirect pucks all season long.

Coming in labeled as a big man, Guptill showed that he also had college level stick skills from the start. A big man who can lead the rush is more than valuable to a team who loves to run the transition game.

Best Moment: The overtime goal that snapped a 7 game winless streak for Michigan against Alaska, the team would finish the season on a 12-3-3 run.

Chris Brown:

Pre-Season Expectations: High

The first diary I wrote about hockey was a pre-season preview, I thought that the hardest thing to replace from last years class was going to be the leadership of Matt Rust. We lost a gritty, hard working, team player but Chris Brown has stepped in and done a great job to fill the void.

Brownie provided the best defensive option of our forwards and was a well balanced player. He has great offensive skills, defensive ability, checking and leadership. He provided the anchor for a line that carried the Wolverines through the second half of the season and into the NCAA tournament.

Best Moment: Brown pulling the string on Miami defensemen Will Weber.

David Wohlberg:

Pre-Season Expectations: Moderate

Looking deeper into the stats Wohlberg had a pretty good season statistically, he cut down penalty minutes drastically, improved his +/- by double digits and needs three points to match his career high. Posted a 194-192 record in the faceoff dot (.503%).

The contributions David brings to the team are invaluable, but they get a little overlooked being behind Brown and Guptill. His passing definitely was a major asset for the top line, as his 16 assists tied for team lead among forwards.

Best Moment: Named to the All-GLI team for his tourney preformance.

A.J. Treais:

Pre-Season Expectations: High

It was an interesting season for Treais, who ended the season red hot but spent the first half shying away from the plays and not making much of an impact.

The Daily did a great article on A.J. and he talked about how much being over his playing weight effected his game. When he got himself back into shape he became a completely different player and the talk started to flow in about Treais finally becoming what Red always thought he could be.

After shifting the lines for the first half of the season, Treais fell into place with Di Giuseppe and Glendening to provide a reliable scoring option. He has passed his previous career highs in goals with 15 and points with 26, also improved his +/- by +15.

Best Moment: One timer snipe in overtime to send the Seniors out with a victory.

[After jump: The rest of the team] 

It might surprise everyone to hear that there is no concise, summarized data on Michigan athletic championships by team (this page is close, though, and was found after I completed the diary). This diary is, to my knowledge, going to be the first (crude) repository of Michigan's team and individual championship history by sport. I will include number of conference championships, latest year, and number of national championships as well.

The table has been edited to include regular season championships for sports with tournaments. After some thinking, that's the standard I decided to go with. I do include individual championships (tennis doubles and track relays are considered individual for this diary), with the exception of women's tennis, simply because I could not find the information. I would be happy to add them to the chart if someone can give me a total number of women's singles/doubles Big Ten championships. One more note before starting: for hockey, the Big Ten titles won during the 1960's will count towards the total number of conference championships. This is not meant to be a list of CCHA champions, rather a look at M hockey and their championship tradition.

All data was compiled from either the Bentley Historical Library or MGoBlue. There may be inaccuracies, simply because I'm human, or more likely one of the sources messed it up and my counting/notes were perfect.

It wouldn't be a diary without a...Chart? Chart.

Women:

Men:

On a related note, I had an idea for an MGoProject. I think it would be nice if we could work together and create a page for each Wolverine athletic team which could then be edited by other users for updates/corrections. If we did this in a standard form that included coaching histories, championship years, All-American/All-Conference selections, ect. we could put the pages into the User Created HoF and they would be easily accessible to anyone looking for information on a particular sport. I could volunteer to take several sports, and users could post on a team they follow closely (i.e. MGoSoftball could make the softball page). If that idea resonates with enough users, I'll create a template and post it as a diary, and we can begin. If you're interested, or want to tell me that it's a dumb idea, just let me know here

It was done on my iPad tonight after the loss. It's not my best work, but I feel it captures Zack pretty well.

And here's my Stu tribute...Again, these were done on my iPad, so the quality may be a little lacking.

EDIT: Fixed the gigantor size of the art that posting from the iPad wouldn't allow.

B10 Recruiting Wars  -  Season 13 - Episode 1

"Hoke Leaves B10 'Heartbroke' ";

Premise: A new day, a new season. The battles to be waged will be fierce, as Ohio has employed the mercenary  to replace the fallen icon, and those Spartans have started to turn on field success into off-field mediocrity. Against the tide stands Michigans Man, Brady Hoke.

Brady Hoke: I just want you young men to understand, this is a commitment to both your future and the Teams future. We as a coaching staff will give our  blood, sweat, and tears to make you the best Michigan Man you can be;  on and off the field.  We will not hand you anything, we will not take anything less than your best day in and day out. Earn every accolade you receive.  Work hard, play harder, and you will win at life and football."

Commits: "WE ARE IN."

Dantonio: *stomping around in cape and Sparta helmet screaming in Gerard Butler voice*

"I.. win ....ALL THE GAMES. This... is... MY STATE. This... is.... MY RECRUITING CLIN...   *whiny child voice* WHAT! This is my junior weekend!"

Hoke: *consoling petulant child voice*

 "Shhhhh.. there there... Keep it down, I'm busy taking your 'leans'.. you'll get some guys once my class is full. I promise."

Dantonio:  

Meyer: *kicks open door and somersaults into room throwing national championship-ring ninja stars*

"See my guns! I will run spread-n-shredd. I will  take ALL THE RECRUITS."

Hoke: "Oh you need offensive linemen…  I'll take Fox and Bosch."

Meyer:  " BRO! I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS!"

Hoke:

And so ends the opening episode of B10 Recruiting. Hoke has resurrected the proudest program in sports, and put the conference on notice that Michigan is MICHIGAN... fergodsakes.

U.S. News & World Report publishes those annual college rankings. They're not the only ones, and they're not even necessarily the best ones, but they're the rankings people most often use when talking about how our alma mater is better than everyone elses's alma mater and...I dunno do people talk about the USNews Rankings for anything else?

In the world of marginal and overly general rankings that lose 90% of their meaning six days into your career, Michigan is awesome at everything there too. Piggybacking on the article linked by Gameboy, and because it would have been too many inches on the front page for something I don't think matters all that much, here's the FBS schools who made the Top 400.

Note: Notre Dame is listed as a Big Ten school because it annoys them, and the Big East is not listed as a BCS conference because lol they're not.

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Items of Interest that Actually Mean Very Little:

• Texas A&M is now the second-smartest school in the SEC. Think about that for a second. We feel for you Vanderbilt!
• USN doesn't like private schools.
• What the hell does % of faculty that's international have to do with anything?
• Lol Notre Dame anyway.

The Big Ten and Pac 12 are pretty comparable, though since the last time I did this the B1G has closed the gap on a former Pac lead at the top; our bottom is still way stronger despite the drag of our only non-ranked, non-AAU program Nebraska. If USNews rankings (shown: just among FBS teams) instead of BCS rankings were used to create matchups for the future B1G/Pac Challenge or whatever they'll call the new real-game agreement, we get:

Horray for feeling superior to people for silly reasons!