music

Even with football back on a lot of our favorite places in Ann Arbor are hurting. Hoping to soften the blow a bit, we're partnering this fall with Underground Printing to do a t-shirt a week for the places we love. All proceeds go to the restaurant/bar/whatever.

Limited time offer: We'll keep the order open for a week (because ordering bulk means more for the institution). Previously: Good Time Charley's and The Brown Jug. This week: Nirvana's favorite music venue, The Blind Pig.

Apologies for the quality of my photos but the camera on my phone in the early 2000s was like that.

The Five Stages of a Night at the Pig:

Stage 1. Okay band, I've seen the flier.

Thank you for covering all the "Jobs to Save the Environment" fliers guys, but I'm starting to get concerned about how much of your budget is going to packing tape and staple guns.

Stage 2. The friend who really wants to go

"I've heard the lead singer goes absolutely nuts and the rest of the band is like, really into their craft and stare at him like an insane person the whole time," your buddy explains because he's too embarrassed to admit he spent a chunk of time in the fishbowl on the website for Bear vs. Shark trying to track down the name of the song they debuted the first time he saw them.

Stage 3. Taking an intellectual approach

I'm going to stand back here drinking my beer like their job is to impress me. I'm just moving to this so the band will think I'm into it so they don't get discouraged. Okay actually I'm going to come forward just because I want to check out that guitarist's pedal board because how is he even making that sound? Is the drummer screwing with time signatures? Man they really constructed this song well, I bet it's their hit. No, that was probably the album opener and THIS is their hit. Man this band has a lot of friends.

Okay this slaps.

"Hey guys I'm gonna go get another beer."

/slips over to merch table and buys their CD

/buddy had the same idea

/shots

Band: We need a member of the audience willing to shave their facial hair.

Seth:

Stage 4. 8-Balling with Band

Man, when you took out the beer bottle…

/dodges a dart

YEAH DUDE I DROPPED MY SLIDE UNDER THE AMP AND HAD TO IMPROVISE

You guys are amaaaaaaaaazing.

Stage 5. Before it was cool.

Oh I like that song from Shrek too. Actually I hung out with those guys once.

Anyway let's celebrate the Blind Pig. Get the shirt here:

If you missed it, I covered questions on basketball rule changes, hoops attrition under Juwan Howard vs. John Beilein, and a little off-topic stuff here. Today's mostly veers into OT territory. There may be some ska content. Skantent? I'm fine, everything is fine.

True Home Games

As someone who hasn't been able to attend games live for longer than the rest of us, what are you most looking forward to when you can go again? Any tips for enjoying games on TV when you're used to going live? #mgomailbag

— Ben (@JeepinBen) May 20, 2020

This is going to be a little different for me than many of you since I've been going to games for work, not as a casual fan, since 2011. Although that doesn't necessarily change the experience as much as you might think, my answer of "being able to have audible emotions again" doesn't apply to most people used to watching in person.

I most miss the parts of the experience you can't recreate at home. If they even bother to show them on television, the band's pregame performance, the drum major back bend, the team touching the banner, that moment when the crowd roars in anticipation as the national anthem ends—none of it hits the same. I miss walking my traditional route from my childhood home to the stadium, passing tailgate after tailgate along the way. I miss the people in the press box who've gone from colleagues to friends.

Most of all, I miss the rush of writing the recap while looking over the mostly empty field and trying to live-transcribe as they air the postgame presser on the press box televisions, or doing the same sitting in the Crisler Center press room while sorting through photos and pulling quotes from the coach statements and player breakout sessions. Those were among my favorite moments on the job.

you don't get this on the teevee [Eric Upchurch]

That said, there are parts of the home viewing experience that I greatly prefer to going to games. Those used to spending a huge portion of their weekend—or even an hour in traffic—traveling to and from Michigan Stadium may find the lack of hassle refreshing, especially when it allows one to consume a good deal more football that day. My couch is comfortable. There are no lines for the bathroom. I set the menu. I can check in on other games or even utilize multiple screens to watch them simultaneously. I can see replays that aren't in pore-o-vision and take advantage of my DVR.

If you don't feel too dorky doing it, creating your own viewing-at-home traditions helps make up for the loss of the in-stadium pageantry. The marching band has released several albums over the years and you can find a lot of their work on YouTube—I'll have this going at high volume before big games. Before I stopped drinking, I had a traditional postgame bourbon. I call the same friend after every game.

I also keep this in mind: there are a lot of Michigan fans and only so many have the privilege of getting inside the Michigan Stadium gates. I had a particularly fun way to watch games for eight years. Even if I never make it back, I'll always feel lucky to have had that experience. Keeping that perspective has made it a lot easier to enjoy, and appreciate, watching from home.

[Hit THE JUMP for the revenue sport athlete who would've been the best decathlete, a bunch of music questions, and a Beilein/Cavs/Michigan hypothetical.]

This week’s podcast is, as always, brought to you by the law offices of E. Jason Blankenship. Check out his shiny new site here.

Before getting to your mailbag questions, I screw up which episode of the podcast this is, then have an extremely important discussion about the Stadium article in which every FBS coach and athletic director named their favorite musical artists.

The mailbag covers:

• Did the team just hit its stride or was that a one-off?
• Is the old Harbaugh back?
• Which of the WRs return next year?
• Potential emerging freshmen.
• Dream home-and-home matchup.
• Whether Michigan will benefit from player getting paid above board.
• BioDome™ settings for particular circumstances.
• What to do when you can’t watch live.
• The ceiling for the basketball team.
• We end with your top five rain game lifehacks, which may be a week late for some (and their phones) but hopefully will help many of you in the future.

MUSIC:

• “400 Years (Jamaican version)” — Bob Marley
• “My Favorite Memory” — Merle Haggard

DOWNLOAD:

Link.

It didn't come close to past blowups when I used to be able to populate entire gif posts with him getting angry