Diaries

I know Brian hates this, but I think its fun to talk about the best player to wear a number.

 

My best 52...

 

Rod Payne, C, All American 1996

 

 

Very shortly, these will be moving to Wolverine Liberation Army (http://wolverineliberationarmy.blogspot.com) exclusively - but since Kevin Grady's story started here I will finish it here.

 

***Kent County Jail, Michigan***

 
MyFairGrady: well aint this just a bitch

MOboozeMOproblems: tell me about

MyFairGrady: coach mo?

MOboozeMOproblems: I know what you are going through, Kevin. 

MyFairGrady: man whatever happened to you after pimpslapping that waitress or whatever

MOboozeMOproblems: Well son, you don't get many chances to be a Michigan Man, fair or not. After I blew mine, I coached the worst franchise in the NFL to the cusp of the playoffs, got fired by a guy who can't be bothered to live near the team he runs, replaced by a doofus who couldn't coach a JV powderpuff team, and have spent the last half decade smoking cigarette butts collected from the trash outside Meijer and stealing half finished drinks from people in the bar. 

MyFairGrady: is that my future dawg?

MOboozeMOproblems: Hopefully not Kevin, hopefully not. Just pray you get another shot and don't mess it up. That is what separates the wheat from the chaff at this level. We all mess up, it's in how we respond.

MyFairGrady: so what ur sayin is i should break mcguffs spine

MOboozeMOproblems: Well, that might make you feel better in the short term - like downing a bottle of floor varnish because you ran out of gin. But in the long term, you should work hard - go to your friends houses to "visit", collect the change from underneath the cushions, and save up for a new bottle of gin. It might take a while, but you'll be much happier and spend far less time in the hospital.

MyFairGrady: i aint sure thats applicable 

MOboozeMOproblems: Sure it is Kevin. Think of every extra wind sprint, every extra squat, every extra fight with Coach Barwis and his polar bear, as another nickel on your way to that sweet, sweet bottle of gin.

MyFairGrady: he killed the polar bear cuz it was eating high fructose corn syrup

MOboozeMOproblems:  Now that's a man.

MyFairGrady: so you think ill get another shot coach?

MOboozeMOproblems: You never know. Coach Rodriguez seems like a decent man. But if you don't, you can always come play for me. I've got an offer to coach the expansion Battle Creek Potawotami in AFL3.

MyFairGrady: ill keep that in mind coach mo

MOboozeMOproblems: That's good, son. Work hard. Don't be a loser like so many others.  

DoYouSmellWhatBarakaIsCooking: yo bitches

DoYouSmellWhatBarakaIsCooking: ne1 got a light for this jay

 

Part III will continue later this week... 

 

Before you get riled up about the topic, I have the utmost respect for the guy. He got us that elusive National Championship in the modern era. He cared for his players and their education. And this is not a ND-esque "Ty Willingham is responsible for AIDS, economic situation in US and ND going 3-9 last year" hatchet-job either. But to be really objective, there are a certain things we Michigan fans should get excited or atleast a wee bit optimistic about the new era ( or the lack of Lloyd, rather )

• Lloyd was really adamant about his methods. If coaches were things in an electronic lab, Lloyd was an inductor - extremely opposed to change. He really believed in his methods -- at every level. This will be the common theme in this entry. He was against change fractally ( if you zoom out in every scale, you could see Lloyd hated change ). He waited a whole quarter before he changed his offensive signals though someone alerted him that Northwestern is stealing his signals. He waited almost a whole game during "The Disaster" till he realized Mike Hart was picking apart the Appalachians. He waited until the bowl game till he realized that his 4th year QB in shotgun can pick apart a defense with his audibles.  Something to get excited about the addition of RR is, Rich looks for mismatches fractally. Be it a directional punt to nullify your returner or putting lighting fast small guys against your LBs / safeties or working your team out in the off-season, he looks for mismatches at every level.
• Mike Debord.   was an absolute disaster coaching Central Michigan. If there was one example of cronyism in sports, this was it. Debord was fired from Central Michigan but two years removed from that he finds himself coaching offense at Michigan. Even I can throw Rock, Rock and more Rock and I wish I was a friend of Lloyd. I hate Debord and Michigan fans aren't big fans of Debord and if you like Debord you are an Ohio State fan. This is a welcome addition by subtraction. Again, the first point manifests itself a little. When Lloyd fired Malone, he was incubating Debord and refused to look outside. Debord was coaching special teams and suddenly he's an OC. ( You have to go to the West Virginia to find special teams coaches promoted to HCs, but that's OT anyway )
• Belief about presence of a Running Game and a solid defense.  This was a comment made by someone in Victors Board. Lloyd played as if he had a solid running game ( in spite of opposing teams picking apart the Zone Blocking ) and a Solid Defense ( in spite of the defense getting gassed ). Rose Bowl against USC, Tied 3-3 at half. USC couldn't find any lanes running against Michigan. Steve Sarkisian and Lane Kiffin decide not to run again from the 3rd quarter. Lloyd sticks with his plan, hopes to score a field goal and hopes his defense can continue dominating USC's offense. Michigan's pass defense was picked apart by JD Booty. USC's pass defense was not even tested though Chad Henne, I think, may be better than the Stanford QB who beat USC next year.  Not to mention, Mike Debord says he hadn't seen certain blitz schemes from USC ever. Only Jay Paterno is probably worse.
• Not being gracious enough after losing / Press conferences.  I personally think that Lloyd was so devoted to Michigan and his players that he takes losing personally and is so disappointed that he's grumpy during handshakes and press conferences. Anyway, he doesn't really endear himself to neutral observers which is probably slightly worse for Michigan Football. Rich is afterall a snake oil salesman. http://runupthescore.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/ap02.jpg
• Special Teams. They weren't really special. When was the last time we blocked a punt ?  Brandon Minor is so not made for punt returns. Fake punts ? Fractally opposed to change.
• Performance against Ohio State. Just like whatever Penn State does falls into the lap of Michigan, Lloyd simply didn't have an answer for Tressel. Bad luck ( when he had the best defense, Troy Smith was winning Heisman ) or not, tOSU exactly knew how to beat Lloyd's teams. Now, if at all OSU has a weakness, it's defending Spread Option as evidenced by last year's Illinois game. And you can't find better Spread Option teachers than Rich Rod. Tressel is a wee bit nervous as he sent his assistants to USF this off-season to find out how USF beat WVU. Now this is a completely different Michigan team Tressel will face.. fact remains this won't be a Lloyd coached team.  As Rich gets players suited for his system and since Tressel doesn't run Spread Option (so his defense can't simulate exactly), when the top 2 athletic teams in the Big 10 face-off we can expect Rich to have his share of victories. ( Sidenote : Les Miles showed how to rattle Boeckman... Pressure him. )
• Strength and Conditioning. EEEEBarwis.

Again, this is just a one-side view of Lloyd. Lloyd's positives did outweigh his negatives, and someone should come up with that piece. Hope he has a great time representing Michigan in China.

Finally! My 2008 Football Preview from The Wolverine came in the mail! WOOO it's like 200 pages of pure Michigan Football Overkill. Almost the best Michigan Preview Mag....Gotta give the nod to HTTV, of course. I immediately started reading, and came across a really interesting blurb entitled "Front Seven Has to Rebuild Reputation". That, of course, is a hell of an understatement.  Here are few facts about the 2007 Defense:

• Michigan gave up over 200 yards rushing in the last three games of the year.  They hadn’t given up 200 yards rushing in three straight games in the past 10 years.
• They allowed 156.8 yards rushing per game, their worst showing since, get this, 1969!  Weird.
• They gave up 17 rushing touchdowns, the most since 1981 when they started tracking rushing touchdowns.  Strange that they didn’t start tracking rushing TD’s until 1981…..how hard is it to record rushing TD’s?  I digress…
• 7 running backs totaled over 100 yards against the Wolverines D…….whereas only 1 managed this feat against that dominate 2006 D……..resulting in…..
• Michigan giving up over 2000 YARDS RUSHING last year overall…the first time that has EVER HAPPENED.  Wow. 

The article goes on to tout how great the pass defense was last year, but, come on, how could it not be with the sieve like quality of our front 7???  Why would anyone bother throwing passes when the rush D is that craptastic?

Anyway, all credit for the stats goes to The Wolverine on this one, just thought I’d share this startling information.  I’m pretty sure Brian wrote a post on this before…..but maybe not?  I can’t remember. 

Now the 2006 defense, in all its glory, was mentioned here.  Who could forget that D??? Anthony Morelli certainly won’t…ha ha.  Not to give the 2007 D any leeway, but Jesus did we lose a butt load of talent from that squad.  When you think back, a good portion of the primetime talent on that team left for the NFL.  Just glancing at that list somewhat explains the god awful results from 2007: Woodley, Branch, Harris, Burgess and Hall are all in the NFL.  Woodley and Hall alone are two of the top defenders ever to put on the winged helmet…if you peruse the record book their names are as constant as those of Mark Messner and Charles Woodson respectively. 

The 2007 defense certainly disappointed.  Their failure is quite historically significant, and perhaps it says something about the great Ron English.  Perhaps he’s not all that we thought?  In 2006 he was the lord and savior, but maybe those kids were just so good that any bumbling buffoon could have done at least a respectable job of coaching them up.  2007 really showed how green English was and is as a coordinator.  Although he seemed to be really made out of that Bo mold… a tough, hard nosed motivator who the players respected, perhaps he was a little overrated.  I, of course, wish him all the best of luck in the future, but am excited about what Shafer brings to the program.  His past indicates that he will have one hell of a scary defense, hopefully giving us more moments like the indelible image of Branch walking away from a decapitated Morelli in 2006.

Charlie Weis doesn't make excuses. He has told us so many times. He has told us all the excuses he will not make. He also doesn't boast or brag. He lets the team's actions on the field speak for him.

Really?

No. He tells you he is not going to make excuses for x, y, and z. The problem is, by not offering valid counter excuses, he is making thinly veiled excuses without a scapegoat. When he tells us all the excuses he will not make, he in fact is trying to deflect critisism he knows is coming.

We all know about his quotes to let the team speak on the field and "to hell with Michigan!".

His latest gem is forcasting Notre Dame to win 9-12 games this year. Thats right, they could play for the Mythical National Champoinship with those results. I guess all you have to do is beat everybody. Why haven't all the other coaches thought of that?

Now I can hear the excuses now. "Every coach beleives they will win every game"...."Just trying to fire his team up"...."Motivation".....

These are all the wrong excuses. No respectible coach believes they will win most of their games. They worry themselves sick that they may lose every game. If you don't have that "looking over your shoulder" outlook as a coach, you are either arrogant, or ignorant. Maybe a little of both. Back in the day, Lou Holtz would tell you they would be lucky to beat opponent x, y, or z. Even if they were a High School practice team. Nobody believed him, and felt he was just paying respect to his opponents. The "thing" is, Lou didn't take anything or anyone for granted. Sucessful coaches do that. Lou did it, Lloyd Carr did it. Jim Tressel does it.

Charlie is respectible in his own mind. He is a legend in his own mind. Maybe his team will have the record he predicts. If so, I am sure he won't be smug about it. If not, I am sure he won't make any excuses either.

 

Sarcasm intended.

I found this link to the new Replica Adidas Jersey. You can see the detail a bit better and this strip on the back of the collar is more prominant...it's not the exactly the same as the authentic, but you get tthe idea.

 

http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/gametimeusa_2010_566949709