big tennnnn!

PREVIOUSLY in this vehicle where we draft Big Ten players and make fun of each other:

Rounds 1-3: We are summoned by Brian and duly take all the quarterbacks before he can draft one.

Rounds 4-7: Suddenly Heiko goes full Millen with the receivers

Rounds 8-12: Seth nabs Kovacs, Brian gets revenge.

Rounds 13-17: We all start reaching for Wolverines HARD.

Rounds 18-22: Doctor Vorax is revealed.

The teams are defended, readers vote, pre-season All Big Ten Team is chosen, receivers are lamented, Googledoc spreadsheet of handiness is created, offense/defense at the midpoint.

Your bloggers are rejoined at the conclusion of the 2012-'13 season in the conference room of a fictional paper company in Scranton, Pa., the "Electric City." A man in a brown suit enters, smelling of beets…

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Good morning, [makes quote fingers] M-Go [/fingers] Editorial Team,

It's a new year, which means it's time for your annual performance reviews. Since your office manager is not here at this moment, I Dwight Schrute, have taken it upon myself to uphold and undertake this most sacred of office rites.

Who am I? Well I'm the assistant manager of MGoBlog. I've been Brian's #2 man since 2005. We’re like one of those classic famous teams. He’s like a cross between Mozart and Greg Mattison. And I’m like…um…Mattison's friend. No. I’m like Butch Cassidy and Brian is like Wolfgang Amadeus Greg Mattison Beilein Iron Man Schembechler. You try and hurt Brian? You’re gonna get a bullet in your head courtesy of Butch Cassidy.

Unfortunately you bloggers were too incompetent to keep any records, thus I was sadly left with only one comparative metric by which to base any raises or bonuses. You see it seems earlier this year you all picked fantasy teams of Big Ten players as a way of getting out of writing a real pre-season all-conference article. You called it the "Draft-o-Snark," and thought it was pretty funny. Well who's. laughing. now?

Oohh didn't take it seriously? Greg Davis was coaching some of your players? A med student ran off with all the other quarterbacks before you thought take one? Boo. Frickin. Hoo. FACT: if a bear is attacking you and the only way you can defeat it is by driving 80 yards for a touchdown, the bear doesn't care if your only QB was turned into a tailback by an ulnar nerve compression. Because he's a bear.

THE TEAMS:

Pos	The Aceconsin Cheesebenders:	Brian Cook's Flyin' Zooks:	Dr Heiko and the mad fitzmillens:	Seth's Smurfy Spread n smurfs:
QB	J. Vandenberg, IA	N Scheelhaase, ILL	B. Miller, OSU	D. Robinson*, M
RB	Montee Ball, WIS†	LeVeon Bell, MSU†	T. Martinez*, NEB	R. Burkhead, NEB
Swing	James White, WIS	Fitz Toussaint, M	James Morris*, IA	J. Gallon, M†
WR	Devin Smith, OSU	J Abbrederis, WIS	Kyle Prater, NW	Kenny Bell, NEB†
	Kain Colter, NW	Martin-Manley, IA	D. Gardner*, M	R. Roundtree, M
	Keenan Davis, IA	M. Gray, MIN	D. Arnett, MSU	Kofi Hughes, IND
TE	Stoneburner, OSU	C. Fiedorowicz, IA	Dion Sims, MSU	J. Pedersen, WIS
OT	R. Wagner, WIS	Taylor Lewan, M	Fou Fonoti, MSU	M. Schofield, M
	Havenstein, WIS	J. Mewhort, OSU	Ben Cotton*, NEB	J. Sirles, NEB
C	T. Frederick, WIS	Stankiewich, PSU	B. Vitabile, NW	James Ferentz, IA
OG	S. Long, NEB	Ryan Groy, WIS	Patrick Ward, NW	Graham Pocic, ILL
	Brian Mulroe, NW	C. McDonald, MSU	P. Omameh, M	Ricky Barnum, M
DT	Ondre Pipkins, M	Beau Allen, WIS	Jordan Hill, PSU	J. Hankins, OSU
	Will Campbell, M	A. Spence, ILL	Steinkuhler, NEB	K. Short, PUR
DE	C. Meredith, NEB	R. Hageman, MIN	Craig Roh, M	Marcus Rush, MSU
	W. Gholston, MSU	John Simon, OSU	M. Buchanan, ILL	L.Thomas*, MSU
LB	M. Mauti, PSU	D. Morgan, M	M. Bullough, MSU	W. Compton, NEB
	Mike Taylor, WIS	D. Allen, MSU	K. Demens, M	G. Hodges, PSU†
	C. Borland, WIS	Jake Ryan, M	R. Shazier, OSU†	J. Brown, ILL
S	Supo Sanni, ILL	D. Stafford, NEB	C.J. Barnett, OSU	Jordan Kovacs, M
	I. Campbell, NW	C. Bryant, OSU	Isaiah Lewis, MSU	T. Gordon, M
CB	J. Adams, MSU	B. Roby, OSU	J.T. Floyd, M	J. Johnson, PUR
	R. Allen, PUR	T. Hawthorne, ILL	D. Dennard, MSU	Micah Hyde, IA
	C. Avery, M	B. Countess, M	C. Norman*, MSU	Stoudermire, MIN
K	Dan Conroy, MSU	Mitch Ewald, IND	Brett Maher, NEB	Drew Basil, OSU
P	C. Webster, PUR	A. Maxwell*, MSU	D. O'Brien*, WIS	B. Buchanan, OSU

* Player out of position (e.g. half of Heiko's team). Bolded dudes = consensus All Big Ten picks from us. † = All-B1G tie.

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Question number…the first. Pick a player nobody drafted whom you should have. Any Wolverines? [we split these up so we don't all shout "ROBINSON…NOT THAT ROBINSON!"]

: You mean Allen Robinson of Penn State who led the conference in like every receiving category whom nobody thought to take despite like 13 receivers being drafted?

Never heard of him.

: I would have made up a rule to prevent Heiko from taking Taylor Martinez with his second pick. And... um. Oh God. I would take Matt McGloin instead of Scheelaase. BIG TENNN. Penn State's Kyle Carter was instantly the best TE in the league, though I blame Greg Davis for assassinating Iowa's passing game for part of that, and Venric Mark was both an All-American punt returner and an incredibly dangerous plain ol' running back.

: We also managed to overlook an impact defensive lineman from an unlikely source—Minnesota's D.L. Wilhite, who tallied 8.5 sacks this year, just 0.5 off the conference lead. Quinton Washington is the clear candidate for overlooked Wolverine.

: We probably dipped too far into the Michigan well to be honest, though Roundtree is 100% worth it if the only catch he made all year was the Northwestern one.

I made Heiko cover Allen Robinson so he could stew over all the useless receivers he drafted early. Also so I could cover Nebraska's senior DE Eric Martin, whom his teammates call "Caveman" because he burrows under offensive like he does bloggers' metaphorical radars. The senior had 56 tackles, 16 for loss, and 8.5 sacks and an additional 14 hurries, not to mention batting down a bunch of passes (amazing since he's only 6'2) and once hitting Russell Bellomy so hard it crushed my soul. I wish to Denard I'd decided to draft him instead of...

Now you jump, when I say.

"Have you ever wondered what our current Michigan basketball roster would look like as an old-school 1970s hoops squad?" --FabFiver5. More hoops wallpapers by jonvalk, et al.

'Tis the Season. So I meant to take a picture of this but you guys filled filled a poor woman's entire office (as in the computer is on top of an Amazon box) with gift donations for Adopt a Shelter, which is tomorrow. I still need some volunteers if you're free in the morning and wanna help throw a Christmas party for homeless kids.

I also inadvertently opened the flood gates for good causes going on this holiday season.

• Athletic Angels: This is Barwis (eeeeeeee)'s foundation that is doing something similar to the above but is donation-based, providing a catered dinner, clothes, and some toys for impoverished kids in metro Detroit. Their party is next Thursday. Video of the 2010 event.
• Merit: David Merritt stopped by to plug his new venture that's kinda like those feel-good shoes everybody has nowadays, where they make fashionable clothing and 20% of every purchase goes toward a scholarship via the Jalen Rose thing.
• Big House Big Heart: Brandon responded in AA.com about the Big House Big Heart Champions for Charity run he nixed, explaining he'd rather the university run it than a for-profit organization. People in this thread say the profit is small but I don't know where those #s are coming from; the greatest evidence that Brandon is just being a grinch is the event's director is all like "if they want it they can have it and we'll do all the work anyway; it's for charity!"
• People for Hoops Information Against Starving Dylans: UMHoops did their annual drive to keep them viable and made their it. I miss the old hardwood look but love everything else they've done with that place. Now about that photo above…

Bacari calls them his motivating shoulders. There's one floppy-haired coach's head that's still unused next to (director of basketball operations) Travis Conlan on the far right and FabFiver is taking suggestions; I vote S&C coach Jon Sanderson.

Yeeeeah. This man is going to kill me. Just like our dominating Big Ten team is going to murderate a puny SEC team, says ClearEyesFullHart in his Arkansas preview. BIG TEN! That's it for the cagers in the diaries, now back to the world where our conference has five 'N's.

[After the Jump, the BIG TENNNN! that was, Meeting South Carolina, and the Best of the Board]