If that city is New York: I am going to be in your vicinity on August 26th at the behest of the UM Club of NYC. There will be drinks and such, and then I'll give a half-hour-ish presentation on the 2008 edition of the Michigan Wolverines.

Details here. It's at a bar called Metro 53.

Pre-registration is encouraged; it's $5 for folks who aren't already members of the alumni chapter. If you bring me an infant I will do a Heisman pose with it.

Hey, this is awesome. Former Michigan defensive end Rondell Biggs got caught with steroids, said they were "post-workout" pills, and he was assisting with Michgian's S&C program. Awesome! Let's throw ourselves in a lake of fire!

It's probably not that bad, though:

U-M football spokesperson Dave Ablauf said this morning that Biggs was employed as an hourly worker by U-M's football staff under former head coach Lloyd Carr, but was not retained when coach Rich Rodriguez and conditioning coach Mike Barwis took over the program after U-M's bowl game on Jan. 1.

Biggs had ten pills of a supply of 50, an amount that suggests personal use only, and had been working out with Barwis like many other former Michigan players. Hopefully this is just a fringe pro trying to make the NFL or AFL or whatever, and nothing more. Carty mentions that Carr was not exactly Barry Switzer when it came to the 'roids:

Whatever your opinion of former coach Lloyd Carr's won-loss record, he made it crystal clear where he stood on steroids, bringing in FBI agent Greg Stejskal annually to speak to the team about the risks involved with performance-enhancing drugs, gambling and other issues. Carr was absolutely no nonsense on these issues, and is probably heartbroken over Biggs, a player he held great affection for.

Chances this is anything other than the proverbial isolated incident: low.

Awesome. The "countdown to kickoff" videos posted at MGoBlue are, of course, super-fluffy but fluffy is good sometimes. In this one the defensive line guys all come off as nice kids who are ready to croosh silly foe like bug:

(strong possibility firefox users will not be able to watch this; direct link for the affected.)

This spurred Johnny into action:

Terrance Taylor threw up after the team's first practice, lost 22 pounds, and needed a night of intense reflection to keep him from quitting football. Will Johnson is bald, can reputedly bench press a sedan as many as three times, but approaches his final season quite aware - almost annoyed - that Michigan's offense is far from good, not close to adequate, and at quarterback could just as likely feature a naïve true-freshman that asks a lot of questions and throws more out of obligation than instinct as it could a transfer from Georgia Tech that's never taken a college snap.

There is a rest of it, and I hardly have to tell you you should read it.

Uh oh? The assumption was that once a Comcast deal fell into place the other major cable providers in the BTN footprint would quickly fall into lockstep. This has not so much happened. Talks with Time Warner were promising at first. Now not so much:

''We're a little concerned that the pace of negotiations with Time Warner may not allow us to reach an agreement in time,'' Big Ten Network spokeswoman Elizabeth Conlisk said.

Time Warner man, for his part:

''The serious talking doesn't start until the 11th hour,'' he said, ''and we're in the 11th hour.''

Jasso remained optimistic that a deal could get done.

Read those tea leaves as you will.

By the way, the BTN blasted out a press release on the second season of "Big Ten's Greatest Games"; it's in a diary if you want to find out when Michigan gets its turn. Braylonfest included!

Etc.: Rodriguez does a radio interview in Alabama.