Unverified Voracity Gets Served Comment Count

Brian

disregard-shoelaces

Shirtpocalypse. So if you've gone to the MGoStore you've noticed that there isn't much of it left. This is why:

We have been ordered to remove many MGoStore designs by the University of Michigan. They feel that these designs violate NCAA compliance rules as well as certain University trademarks. As a thank you for your support of Brian, MGoBlog, and the MGoBlog Store, receive 10% off any purchase at www.moesportshops.com by using the code: mgoblog10

Thank you for your understanding and support and we appreciate your patience as we figure all of this out and continue to provide you with unique apparel. Go Blue!

This is extremely frustrating, but Underground sells licensed apparel and has no choice but to comply. It's not quite as bad as it looks since they threatened but did not actually C&D a number of designs that were pulled yesterday, including stuff like "Worst State Ever"; these will return shortly. Anything player-specific, no matter how oblique, is out unless it's an officially-licensed #16 jersey. We can't do anything but stew about it, unfortunately. Sorry for the lack of warning.

The one thing you can do is take pictures of those stupid t-shirt stands (you know, the ones with "MICHIGAN DRINKING" shirts) that ripped off several MGoDesigns when they have player-specific merch and send it to the U. They deserve pain, too.

Big Ten Hockey less a possibility, more a certainty. Barry Alvarez, always the first guy to tell the world about potentially seismic changes in conference realignment, on Wisconsin's position:

“I don’t know the logistics — how long it takes to get out of a league, all of that — but I sense that we will move in that direction,” UW athletic director Barry Alvarez said Thursday.

Madison.com also cites a source close to the process saying the same thing:

“There’s going to be Big Ten hockey,” assured a source with intimate knowledge of the process, adding that 2014-15 is the target point for introducing the new league although he said “it could happen sooner than that.”

College Hockey news says it's "nice" Penn State made noises about cooperating with college hockey but the tea leaves were easy to read: "BTHC is inevitable in 2014."

A six-team league would presumably play 20 conference games, leaving 14-16 nonconference games for the defectors to spread out amongst former league-mates. A ten-team WCHA featuring Denver, Colorado College, and North Dakota would still be a power conference, and a nine- or ten-team CCHA (depending on whether they reconsider Alabama-Huntsville) would still have new arenas and elite coaches at ND and Miami to guarantee themselves respectability. Hopefully any move to Big Ten hockey will make an effort to preserve existing programs with scheduling agreements and guaranteed home games for the Ferris States and Northern Michigans of the world; the last thing college hockey needs is more programs folding.

One thing that's being kicked around that you probably won't see: Notre Dame in the BTHC. The Big Ten is not going to throw Notre Dame a bone if they don't have to, and making that move would further damage the leftover CCHA schools I assume everyone wants to protect. I bet Michigan still has a home-and-home with them most years, but they aren't going to be in the conference.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Steve Breaston in two questions. Via the Arizona Republic:

Question: Do you have any hidden talents none of your teammates knows about? You know, like can you play jazz flute?
Breaston: I can write. I'm a writer. I post a lot of stuff on my fan page on Facebook. Oh, and I can bend my thumb behind my knuckles like this. Look.

Q: Pretty cool, but that's a little creepy. Did you have some sort of freak accident as a kid or what?
A: No, no. My thumbs are just like that.

Also, Breaston's favorite baseball team is Pittsburgh. Jeez.

Optimism from Massachusetts. Except not really:

Q: What's the best case/worst case scenario for UMass? In other words, what needs to happen for the Minutemen to win? How does a blowout happen?…

A blowout seems more plausible. UMass hasn't faced a good dual-threat quarterback in a while, and if Robinson gets going early, things could unravel fast. The Minutemen can't afford to turn the ball over. Naturally, if they can avoid falling behind early, their confidence goes up. An early hole could drain their belief in their ability to win pretty fast.

It's so nice to have people saying things like this, even if they're a I-AA beat writer.

Etc.: The MZone's Know Your Foe returns! This is just like when we used to go to bowl games! FSD talks to Denard's mom, who says he runs like Grandpa, which is a terrifying thing to think. Tom reports that 2011 OL Chris Bryant and his 2012 teammate Jordan Diamond will be unofficial visitors tomorrow. I will remind you about this again but Phil Brabbs is having a fundraising event in Chicago for the Indiana game.

Comments

SanDiegoWolverine

September 17th, 2010 at 2:58 PM ^

Bummer, however if I set up a shop in Tijuana and make MGOSHIRTS is there any chance the University can do anything about it?  There's no way all these awesome designs can go to waste.  I'm probably not industrious enough to do this but if we can do some "off-shore" shirt making and throw the cash back at Brian that would benefit all of us.

ish

September 17th, 2010 at 3:07 PM ^

we still ought to be able to get a lot of shirts back, like the "space, bitches, space" shirt and the shoelace shirt.  using his nickname should not be enough for them to prevent you from selling the shirt.  in the meantime, sad face.

M-Wolverine

September 17th, 2010 at 3:11 PM ^

...why were they pulled?

And I wouldn't have linked that Breaston Article, to give it pub:

Q: OK, let's move on. Do you remember when you got your first football uniform?
A: It was peewee and I got No. 16. It's funny, though. I was a soccer player and one day we were racing and one of my old coaches said, "Do you want to play some football?"

Q: So what did you say?
A: I said, "Yeah, but I just need a dollar so I can get some french fries and a pop from the concession stands." So he gave me the dollar and I ran home and told my mom I wasn't playing soccer no more.

Q: Hey, that turned out to be your first contract. What if he hadn't given you the buck?
A: I'd probably still be playing soccer. But I like baseball, too. I played that a lot and like to watch it.

Who'd have guessed all this time he was ineligible at Michigan for taking payment to play...

(I'm Kidding! Though, the way the NCAA is going nowadays....)

mmp

September 17th, 2010 at 3:13 PM ^

I assume that the Shoelace shirt falls under the anything player-specific, no matter how oblique, is out unless it's an officially-licensed #16 jersey? 

I really liked that shirt, was just slow on the trigger I guess. 

st barth

September 17th, 2010 at 4:26 PM ^

Yeah, I loved that shirt too and was tempted to buy it last year but didn't just because I have about 50 t-shirts already and I pretty much never wear t-shirts anymore.  Still, I'm feeling some regret on this one.

SanDiegoWolverine

September 17th, 2010 at 4:41 PM ^

I liked that shirt so much I just decided to buy it 5 minutes ago right here.  There's still about 70 or so designs available if you look around.  I hope they still ship it to me and I'm probably not helping my chances by blowing up my spot but give it shot and see if they ship it out.

Engin77

September 17th, 2010 at 4:07 PM ^

but where is MU going to go? WCHA with the Colorado schools and NDSU are a long way off, as are BC and the eastern schools. I'm a big supporter of Big Ten athletics, but I must admit I really like the CCHA mix of football rivals (MSU, OSU, ND) plus Hockey rivals ( MU, NMU, FSU, LSSU, ... ). Oh well, the price of progress, I'll get to watch alot more hockey on BTN. I just hope the Big ten Championship game doesn't move to Value City Arena.

big gay heart

September 17th, 2010 at 4:16 PM ^

I'm not sure where they would go. However, I'd expect a move towards the BTHC to cause a huge shake-up in college hockey, perhaps one even more widespread than the proposed UT+5 to the PAC10 this summer would have, theorhetically, caused.

LSSU is probably about as far from Oxford as ND. And, so many of the remaining CCHA teams are miserable travel destinations (as for as convinience), so perhaps traveling to somewhere like Denver might be more cost effective because it's a major metro area? I'm not sure.

Hockey is MU's main sport and that arena is a fucking palace, so I'd assume the school would be willing to do whatever it takes to get the best competition in there.

Blazefire

September 17th, 2010 at 3:52 PM ^

at the school over the shirts. I highly doubt they cared about the rather innocent shirtsMGoStore offered. Furthermore, I'm sure they hate  to upset a place like Underground Printing. Finally, they don't give jack squat about that little bit of cash.

The problem comes in where if they don't C&D on every little potential infringement, they lose legal standing when they DO need to. Then some jackhole comes along and has a shirt where a silhouette of a guy in a 16 jersey is fucking the silouhette of Brutus Buckeye in the ass, and they don't have good legal ground to make them stop.

SanDiegoWolverine

September 17th, 2010 at 7:07 PM ^

Six Zero, how are you feeling about this whole shirt thing?  You have a lot of awesome shirts and lot of them just got CAD'd.  It's questionable what ground they really have to do it but there's no sense in trying to fight Michigan's legal department.  Do you find another avenue to sell them or just design new shirts?

jmblue

September 17th, 2010 at 4:46 PM ^

I can (reluctantly) understand why the Shoelace and HE16MAN shirts would have to be discontinued . . . but what possible justification could there be for pulling the Worst State Ever shirt?  State outlines can't possibly be copyrightable material.

oriental andrew

September 17th, 2010 at 5:07 PM ^

How can UGP still have up a shirt like Best State Ever in a Michigan outline and not have up Worst State Ever?  I'm guessing it was more of a blanket "remove all the shirts except the Brabbs, Jalen, Brock, Lloyd (???), and MGoBlog shirts" kind of a thing and they'll sort out what can stay later.  I'm guessing WSE comes back.  Hulk Smash, Shoelace, HE16MAN, etc are gone forever.  

Engin77

September 17th, 2010 at 5:04 PM ^

For Steve Breaston to continue to be a fan of his boyhood hometown baseball team says alot about him. And he wasn't around to see Clemente and Stargell and the glory days. That's loyalty.

drlars

September 18th, 2010 at 7:33 AM ^

Using the players names was what made them unique, though I understand the University's position. Does that mean my 'Vlad the Impaler' is now a collecter's item?

Should have gotten the 'Death Roh' as well....

Even if MGoBlog couldn't actively promote it, shouldn't there be room on the internet for a site that features non-officially-licensed material?

(Sort of like the 'back room' of the Great Divide... that store in Flint that sold the 'half-UM' - 'half-MSU' stuff?

James A

September 18th, 2010 at 12:56 PM ^

Isn't is crazy how things that are seemingly unimportant can cause such an upheaval and disappointment. I realize it's probably copyright stuff but in the grand outlook of life what does it really matter?

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