yes plz
Michigan vs. Notre dame
COLUMNIST: Michigan's jersey giveaway sets dangerous precedent
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Stumbled across this while perusing the interwebs this morning. Any merit to what this guy is saying?
Say it isn't so.
Please say that after what happened at Ohio State, the University of Michigan isn't letting its football players keep the throwback jerseys worn in the Wolverines' last-second victory over Notre Dame.
No athletic director who pays attention to the world, and conference, around him would say "yes" to such a request.
And yet, Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon, after checking with his NCAA compliance officer, acceded to the players' wishes. They get to keep the jerseys.
While this is not a violation of NCAA rules, it is a violation of common sense.
Don't people learn?
The mess at Ohio State, which cost football coach Jim Tressel his job and seems likely to put the Buckeyes on probation, began with players trading memorabilia for tattoos.
Several Michigan players say nothing untoward is going to happen, that they will keep the jerseys forever in order to preserve the memory of their victory.
OK. That's a nice thought. But why put temptation in front of players?
Does anyone think well-heeled Wolverines boosters will resist the urge to line players' pockets with cash while getting a "legacy" jersey to frame and hang on their den walls?
Even if you believe players have the right to sell whatever they are given, the NCAA disagrees. If you want players to avoid violating rules by selling jerseys, don't give them jerseys to sell.
Click HERE to read the rest of the column.
Q&A with AD Brandon
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**Note: Sorry if some of this is redundant with any other posts/diaries. I'm short on time**
I was able to attend the Alumni Association Tailgate before the Michigan-ND game today (great game)! AD Brandon did a Q&A session at it. I thought I'd pass on a few of his thoughts/answers. Nothing to earth shattering, but probably of interest to at least a few folks. I'm trying to provide the answers as quotes, but this was transcribed on my phone as he was talking, so it's bound to contain some paraphrasing.
From his opening remarks:
"We played Notre Dame in their first football game in 1887 (pause for drama) ... And we kicked their ass. (lots of applause, then somewhat sheepishly) I'm probably not supposed to use that language huh? (more applause and laughs)
"We (the AD's) redid the 2011 and 2012 seasons as Nebraska joined the conference. .. That was fun..."
Someone asked if Mike Martin was the best player on the defense:
"I think Mike Martin is incredible." Brandon then added some more fluff and never answered the question directly (but not unsurprisingly).
Someone then asked about miking the MMB:
"I will probably be chastised for telling this story: At a Big 10 AD meeting I proposed an amendment to allow bands to be miked and it was emphatically turned down. I kept pushing it and tried to convince the other AD's that it was about distributing the sound throughout stadiums better and not amplifying the sound on the field. Using my persuasive powers, we eventually got this amendment passed and now we've got the band miked. Now to head off any questions about the recorded music, we are planning on there being less recorded music now that the band can be heard better. "
Someone then asked whether expansion was over:
"There is a chance of going to more teams. The conference is still evaluating more expansion. This doesn't mean that there will be more expansion, but it is definetly still being discussed." Then AD Brandon followed this up with something along the lines of "Most of the teams that have been rumored have been discussed and in discussions with the big 10." <--- Note the last phrase here I do not remember 100%, but I had it in my phone notes. So please take that with a grain of salt.
Someone then asked whether OSU would always be the last game of the regular season:
Before he can answer there was lots of yelling from the alumni that the game needs to be last one, this did not happen for any other questions, so it was clearly is something folks care about. "We've got a mob here huh? (a few chuckles). Well the initial plan within the Big 10 was to move it to sometime earlier in the season. Gene Smith, the OSU AD, and I got together to convince the other ADs how important this tradition is and that some traditions should not be adjusted. Now I learned a long time ago to never say never. However, if The Game is ever moved from the regular season finale, then I will have failed at my job." [Edit: See JeremyB's comment on this response]
Someone asked if the conference name will change:
"The name of Big 10 will not change. It has a lot of market recognition. The logo may change after some market studies. " (this last response I paraphrased quite a bit).
Sorry this isn't really 'original' from the perspective of me creating it, but it seemed kind of long to put in a Board.
Someone slipped Herbstreit some blue Kool-Aid
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I don't really know how to take this, because although he's a buckeye, I typically think Herbstreit's take is meh, fairly objective. But it seems like he's on the kool-aid for us pretty hard against ND, while Desmond's enthusiasm is quite tempered.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5547646
I'm definitely in the camp with Howard, I was just a little surprised to see Herbie so high on Michigan after 1 game. Setting up his rivals for a fall maybe?
Notre Dame Game
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Hey Mgoblog community,
I am going to my first game at notre dame stadium, and was wondering if there is anything I should expect going to an away game, in a maybe hostile environment
Thanks
The Overturn: Debunking the Irish Image
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In his response to Brian's "The Overturn" post, MGoUser Irish went through the video and grabbed a screenshot that seems to make it very unclear whether the foot of feet went out of the bounds of recent memory.
Before we debunk, let's all remember for a second why we love Irish around here -- the guy rips a screenshot from video of the replays to make his case. The link to the comment where he did this is above and negged to all get-up. Please go back and give him some plusses for at least making his argument the right way.
Our question is how Irish got the pic below:
(click for larger)
and Brian got:
First of all, Brian's shot shows the heel down, and out of bounds. Irish's image shows the heel coming up. He missed the screen, if by the barest 'ieth of a second.
Second, the camera angle is too close to the ground, which hurts the depth you see this at.
All me to pull out my iPhone...
Okay, now, is this finger on or off the white sheet of paper?
...
...
...
Now, same finger, same paper, from above:
Is this finger on or off the white sheet of paper?
I swear on the Forcier I didn't move the finger. It's an optical illusion. Try it yourself.
My cousin (the one who made me a U-M fan) taught this to me at a Passover Seder* of yore: take a napkin and your knife. Now, put your head on the table, and line up the knife with the edge of the napkin. Now come up -- Ha ha, you missed kid! You must be blind (which is why you can't find the afikamen**)!
Regarding the weekend's schadenfreude...
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Not to be a buzzkill, but can we just all remember that the greatest thing that happened to Michigan football this weekend was the amazing win?*
Just remember the greatest thing that can happen to Sparty is a Michigan loss, but the greatest thing that can happen to Michigan is a Michigan win.
Let's not enjoy it too much until we play them. If we win, then we can talk all we like.
*-I do admit, I have this image of Dantonio up in his office, alone at his desk, sitting quietly. He pounds his fist on the desk and yells aloud, "I OWN this state! How did this happen?"
