Unverified Voracity Is Incredibly, Unbelievably Good At Ice Dancing
Pyongyang would be proud. While Brandon Graham continues to kill opponents at the Senior Bowl, the other enormous Michigan star in attendance is reportedly struggling. These are lies. I can tell:
Michigan P Zoltan Mesko ruined the punt return drills by being unable to kick the ball far enough to allow a return more often than not (my rough count was 2 returnable out of 7), and his kicks consistently bounce backwards or straight sideways.
I'm sure this person meant to say Mesko ruined the drills by punting the ball into low Earth orbit. Either that or Jeff Risdon—if that is his real name—of RealGM is a compulsive liar who lies. These are the only two options.
That goes for you, too, "Chad Reuter":
This year's class of specialists is not very strong, and Michigan's Zoltan Mesko has been rated as the top punter on the board most of the year. However, his punts have lacked height and spirals, rarely turning over to gain maximum hang time and distance. He'll need a strong game performance to regain the confidence of scouts.
During the game on Saturday, Mesko will shank a punt that nails both of these fellows in the head.
Yost Hall of Fame. You know the monster Swedish flag that's taken up residence in Yost?
Yeah… it's homemade. Engineering sophomore Rob Eckert's mother is a hero of the people:
“I asked my mom around Christmas time when I saw her if I could borrow her sewing machine," Eckert said. "She was like ‘What are you making?’ I (told) her I was making a Swedish flag, a big one. And my Mom made it for me for my Christmas present.”
I assumed that someone had purchased it off EBay or something, but it was a modern-day Betsy Ross. Someone get her a medal.
Expansion bits. Nominal Chicagoland/Illinois sports blog "Frank the Tank's Slant" has turned into an all-Big-Ten-Expansion-all-the-time sort of place, and it continues its long-running series with an analysis of the main thing: money. The Slant is a weird combo of useful information and totally bats conclusions like "Pitt is a ridiculous idea" and "a 14-team conference is worth spending 1000 words discussing."
I think the bats conclusions come from an excessive focus on money and only money. Pitt doesn't expand the BTN footprint but does make sense in a zillion other ways from academics to providing Penn State an actual rival to geography. A 14 team conference might make more money on average but is a nightmare on the field. Money is important—it's one of the many reasons Iowa State is not a candidate—but it's not everything.
Elsewhere, evidence that Missouri will give the Big Ten a good hard look continues to mount with a KC Star article on Mizzou's willingness to make a move. The main issues are Mizzou's century-long membership in the MVC/Big 8/Big 12 and the hit the Tigers would take in Texas, one of their main recruiting hotbeds, when they don't make regular trips to Tech, A&M, etc.
As always, it's dolla dolla bill ya'll making the most compelling case in favor:
“Illinois and Indiana will make $9 million more from its televisions contracts this year,” Alden said. “Arkansas and Mississippi will make even more. That’s our comparison. In five years, they’ll have generated almost $50 million more than us without selling a ticket.”
If Mizzou is willing to go, I think the additional markets they bring outweigh Pitt's superiority in basketball and academics.
You find a playlist 100,000 people can agree on, we talk. Maize n Brew Dave makes a case for improving the Michigan game day experience re: piped in music. My solution is simple: find Special K and have him transfer to Michigan State. His solution is removing stuff like "Lose Yourself" and "Don't Stop Believing" because while he likes piped in music "only when it's good." He suggests this playlist instead:
Guns n Roses: Paradise City, Nitetrain, Welcome to the Jungle
Motley Crue: Kickstart My Heart, Dr. Feelgood
AC/DC: Thunderstruck, Back in Black, Shoot To Thrill, Highway to Hell, Hells Bells (Defense only), Rock n Roll Train
Motorhead: Ace of Spades
Quiet Riot: Metal Health (opening scream only)
Metallica: Enter Sandman (Defense only)
KISS: Detroit Rock City
Problem: all this music sucks so hard. It's generic. It's played out. It's being RAWKED at an ECHL arena right now. And oh my god:
So how bout "Breakin the Law" by Judas Priest for penalties? "Why can't we be friends" for personal fouls? "Mama's little helper" when the refs screws us? "Sympathy for the Devil" when Tressel's around? "Play that Funky Music White Boy" for Tate Forcier and the "Speed Racer" Theme for Denard Robinson? This stuff isn't rocket sciene.
Dave is Special K. I can (barely) tolerate Don't Stop Believin'. When Special K plays Bob Seger at ear-splitting volume during a critical review I want to die. If he started making stupid little jokes about on-field events when I am on the verge of a panic attack it would make me want to stay home and that would make me feel terrible. The arrow on this points exactly one way: Joe Louis.
Dave makes this argument for piped in music:
The best example I can give is the Jagr-led Washington Capitals* … whose PA dude put together the most awesome montage-collages of heavy metal/death rock this pathetic planet has ever known. That Caps intro would melt your face right into your beer cup. … They knew their target audience and they fed it guitar heavy ROK like you'd feed makrel to a trained seal. We ate it up.
So… let's think about knowing your audience. At Michigan Stadium you have a vast variety of Michigan fans, students, and alums ranging from 18 to 80. Maybe 5% of them grew up driving a Camaro and rocking a rat-tail. "Knowing your audience" this is not. Keep the eighth-grade sense of humor ("boners!") and your 1985 hair metal where it belongs—everywhere else on the planet—, please, and let's go back to the things Michigan fans can actually agree on: Temptation, War Chant, Let's Go Blue, The Victors.
The thing that bothers me is that I really loathe the piped in music and, from the reactions I've gotten it seems like a lot of people do. For the people who hate it, the music ruins one of the few pristine sporting events luddites have left. For people who like it, it's just another opportunity to hear the same fifteen seconds of that one song you hear fifteen seconds of everywhere else. The cost to one group greatly exceeds the benefit to the other.
Rooting interest. I admit that I have no plans to watch ice dancing no matter what personal connection I have to it—I could be actively participating in a routine and be screaming "SWEEP" at my slingbox-enhanced smartphone—but others might be less curling-obsessed so it's worth mentioning that two current Michigan students are the sequined Brandon Graham and slightly-less-sequined-but-still-pretty-damn-sequined Brandon Graham of ice dancing. They are Meryl Davis and Charlie White:
White and Davis, both native Metro Detroiters, are University of Michigan students and die-hard Wolverine sports fans.
They're about to become very famous, as they head into the Olympics as the No. 1-ranked ice dancers in the world. White, a sophomore who has not chosen a major yet, and Davis, a junior in cultural anthropology, could become the most famous Michigan students in the Olympics since star swimmer Michael Phelps.
That's pretty remarkable. This bit goes beyond remarkable into the bizarre, though: the third-place team at nationals, and therefore the third Olympic qualifier, consists of fellow Michigan students Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates. Four of the six competitors for the US at the Olympic ice dancing competition will be Michigan undergraduates. Bates and White are freakin' housemates. I bet one dollar the four hit the ice at Yost during an intermission sometime before the year is out.
So, yeah, Tanith Belbin and Anonymous Partner can fall in a ditch. I want big, sequined block Ms on the medal podium.
Ask Vlad Emilien anything! Seriously. However, he will sometimes answer incorrectly:
Who wins: Mike Barwis or Chuck Norris?
i dont really know maybe chuck norris
Lies!
Has Barwis ever brought his wolves to workouts?
no
More lies!
There's a couple of interesting responses, though. Molk is the "strongest, hardest working" player on the team, and this oddly grammatical question shoots down the idea that a lingering knee injury kept Emilien off the field:
Hey Vlad, Just curious, did a lingering injury keep you off the field last year? Did it affect your play? A lot of us expected to see more of you and that was the rumor. I'm looking forward to seeing you play next year. Thanks for making Blue proud!
to be honest i dont know why i wasnt playing... my coach told me he felt i wasnt ready yet
Also…
Sammi Sweatheart or Jwoww?
who is these people lol
So there you go.
As Brian suggests, age may make a difference, and as a 1968 alum, I am certainly no longer young. However, to me piped in music is just a bad idea regardless of what is played. It is just artificial noise. I would rather strain to hear the MMB, which at least keeps up the traditions that are such a big part of Michigan football. One commenter suggested that Caps games are a good example of effective use of piped in music and another commenter suggested that Fedex Field uses it and maintains the same sort of consistent sellouts that we experience at Michigan Stadium. Having recently attended a Caps game with a much younger nephew, I can tell you we both came out of the Verizon Center cursing the crappy piped in music that does little more than make your ears (and after a while, head) hurt. While adding nothing to the game (which the Red Wings managed to lose in the closing minutes on 2 very weak goals allowed by Osgood), it did much to detract from the experience. As to Fedex Field, while the tickets sell out, primarily to businesses, there are always a lot of empty seats, and no amount of piped in music is going to affect that very much, one way of the other, in this town. What affects the no-shows at Fedex Field the most is that the Redskins stink.
JACK1968
Yes the students still use the who cares chant. It's, "WHO CARES, YOU SUCK!" with backs turned reading a newspaper. The Students are what make Yost so awesome!
As for the Swedish flag, that's awesome! Very cool Mom. Here's my contribution of Carl Hagelin. Taken in 2008 at Lawson Ice Arena.
My theory on goaltending is, when you see the puck coming... STOP IT!!!
"Money is important-but it's not everything" but "it's the dolla dolla bill making the best case in favor". Which is it? Which wins?
"the most awesome montage-collages of heavy metal/death rock". Is this even possible? It's not an oxymoron?
And I'd like to fall in Tanith Belbin's ditch...
That is all.
...I have shown him...a man without hope...is a man without fear...
The only two things gayer than Ice Dancing are Rhythmic Gymnastics and the Marching Band.
We rock in gymnastics, baton twirling, marching band,and ice dancing. It must be the chocolate milk.
I was in a good mood all day, drinking, had people over after class, life is good right? No. I have to come on here tonight and remember the shear ear pain that is RAWK music. It is the devil. Hell, the devil isn't that bad as the devil would not make me listen to Bob Seger being sung by ugly girls that should never sing, let alone open their mouths.
I had actually forgotten about it for the past few months, but son of a bitch, it had to rear its ugly head once again. As I type this I am giving the finger to the no longer there press box.
I have a Fandom Endurance III merit badge
Very cool Charlie White is a UM student, not a USC running back, but he looks too much like John Heder from Blades of Glory. I am digitally challenged. Can someone put their two pictures up next to each other?
http://www.mgoblue.com/genrel/012510aab.html
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm4177500416/tt0445934
The bottom picture of "Jimmah" MacElroy didn't come through but if you saw Blades of Glory, or click on the link, the golden locks resemblance is there. Perhaps these pairs could perform between periods of the hockey game at the Big House?
we're all planning on going to cold war ii. as well as the game tomorrow at the joe. so far, no invitations to skate at intermission haha. we need this win bigtime!
We absolutely need to put a ski mask style beat down on MSU this weekend. As for the Big chill game maybe you guys can do score-0 while doing a big jump? I'll be rooting for you guys in Vancouver although skating is a bit like NASCAR in that some of the appeal is the wrecks ( and then Dick Button crying " Oh poor Randy and Ty, what a tragedy...").
Were there ever any truer words spoken?
"The thing that bothers me is that I really loathe the piped in music and, from the reactions I've gotten it seems like a lot of people do. For the people who hate it, the music ruins one of the few pristine sporting events luddites have left. For people who like it, it's just another opportunity to hear the same fifteen seconds of that one song you hear fifteen seconds of everywhere else. The cost to one group greatly exceeds the benefit to the other."
I might have skewed the data, because I both "loathe" and "hate" the piped-in music. "Journey" and AC/DC weren't cool even when they were new. Now, nothing says "mullet" quite like a chorus of a Journey or an AC/DC song.
Those reporters are going to eat those words once the game starts.
a reference to the movie The Big Chill, written and directed by Lawrence Kasden, Michigan graduate.
and "Body Heat in the Big House" does work in quite the same way.
One of these clouds must have a Maize and Blue lining ...
How big will the Swedish flag be for the outdoor game? The Daily says it's called the "Big Chill in the Big House," what kind of name is that?
Precisely the same size, as flags do not grow when out of doors iirc.
"Gentlemen, this is a football."
- Vince Lombardi
was borrowed the movie "The Big Chill", which has several U-M connections.
One of these clouds must have a Maize and Blue lining ...
I'm against any piped in music. But if this must be done, at least do not parrot the songs every other team plays, such as "Hells Bells" for the defense and "Sweet Caroline" in any form. Let's pick something unique. How about "Tough It Out" by Webb Wilder for a goal line stand? Or "Why Do I Keep $%#@ Up" by Neil Young for a bad call by the referees? Not really on the Neil, but I make my point.
If the key really is "know your audience," just let the band do its thing and muzzle the Muzak.
It's so familiar.... I swear I've seen it somewhere before...
I keed!
...I have shown him...a man without hope...is a man without fear...
I'm against any piped in music. But if this must be done, at least do not parrot the songs every other team plays, such as "Hells Bells" for the defense and "Sweet Caroline" in any form. Let's pick something unique. How about "Tough It Out" by Webb Wilder for a goal line stand? Or "Why Do I Keep $%#@ Up" by Neil Young for a bad call by the referees? Not really on the Neil, but I make my point.
If the key really is "know your audience," just let the band do its thing and muzzle the Muzak.
And I'm sticking by my story about him being "born of a virgin" too.
Markusr2007
http://www.maizenbrew.com/
http://whencarcajousattack.blogspot.com/
Maybe I'm just reading between the lines here, but I think that the success of the Big 10 Network will provide incentive to the other majors to start their own network. All the Husker fans I know would sit and watch a 24 hour webcam of the lockerroom or something. I know fans that drive an hour to watch women's volleyball, etc.
So maybe all the Big 12 talk is really to pressure the conference to hurry up and create their own TV deal.
"Nobody’s a perfect person in the world. Everyone kills people, murders people, steals from you, steals from me"
http://stewartj76.blogspot.com
That's part of why the Big 12 conference commissioner at that time ended up leaving his job to run... the Big Ten Network. Texas wanted the ability to start is own cable network instead. It hasn't gotten off of the ground yet, so that's part of the reason why there might be a sense of urgency on the Big Ten's part to invite Texas before that happens (as Texas might look at the costs and time of starting its own network up and determine that it would rather be participate with the Big Ten Network).
I don't mean to seem disrespectful, but have you ever lived in Texas? Do you have even the slightest sense of the football history and traditions there, or how the in-state schools relate to one another? Surely not, because if the answer to either of those questions was yes, you would know that joining the Big Ten just isn't an option.
I don't live in Texas, but the feedback that I've received from pretty knowledgable UT alums is that they don't have any emotional ties to the Big 12 at all and they are very open to moving to either the Big Ten or Pac-10. Please take a look at how Texas ended up in the Big 12 in the first place:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/MYSA081405_3N_SWCbaylor_tech_1ca3e1c_...
As you'll see, after the SWC imploded, Texas approached the Pac-10 as its first option. Stanford rejected Texas, which killed the move because the Pac-10 requires a unanimous vote to expand. Texas then approached... the Big Ten. The Big Ten was interested but was in the midst of a 4-year moratorium after having just added Penn State. In both cases, Texas would've left Texas A&M behind (who was looking for the spot in the SEC that eventually went to Arkansas). It was only after all of that when Texas and Texas A&M approached the Big 8 to form a 10-team conference. Neither of them wanted anything to do with the other Texas-based SWC schools, but politicians in Texas got wind of the plan and supporters of Baylor (specifically then-Gov. Ann Richards) and Texas Tech forced UT and A&M to take those schools along.
So, UT was essentially forced to go to a conference that was its 3rd option with 2 Texas-based schools that it no longer wanted to be with. I'm not saying that Texas to the Big Ten is a probability at all - it could very well be killed by Texas state politicians. However, the University of Texas as an institution and a good portion of its alums understand that the Big 12 is not very stable, especially if Missouri (which represents the largest population base in the Big 12 other than the state of Texas) leaves. The prospect of Mizzou leaving is the catalyst for worrying that the Big 12 looks a lot like the SWC that broke down back in the 1990s. If you realize how incredible the Big Ten's TV and other conference-level revenue is compared to the Big 12 as of today, that's exacerbated even further with Mizzou leaving. That alone would get Texas to at least seriously consider the Big Ten to be an option.
Once again, I'm not saying that this is a probability. However, look at the history of how Texas approached the Pac-10 and Big Ten about 15 years ago. This isn't a situation where it can be passed off as the same as suggesting that the Big Ten invite USC or Florida. The Big 12 is much weaker and unstable than a lot of people realize (which is why schools like Mizzou would want to jump in the first place). If any Big 12 school might look to make a move, why should the Big Ten settle for anything less than the top school in that conference? By the same token, Texas dominated a weak SWC and was left scrambling when it broke down, so it will examine the Big Ten if only as a CYA measure.
Thanks for not going ballistic. There's just no way Texas politics could ever let it happen, IMHO.
You mean how Texas almost joined the Pac-10 and left those other schools?
Brian, seriously, it's all we have left.
Was Phelps really a U-M student, as that MI Athletics site claimed? I know he trained here, but I didn't think he was enrolled as a student.
wikipedia backs it up. he didn't graduate, as i understand it.
he was also, by all accounts (or at least my two nieces', who attended a swimming clinic he helped run) a gigantic dick.
Yes, he was a student here. He's pretty dickish, but no more I'd assume your average Olympic multimillionaire athlete is.
Phelps was a huge drunk while at UM. There was one semester where I was going out to the bar 5-6 nights a week, and I would see Phelps at the bar 3 or 4 of those nights.
It was kinda funny, he would always be sloppy drunk on random weekday nights.
YOU were going to the bar 5-6 night a week, and that makes HIM a huge drunk?
"Real n*gg*z do real things." -Braylon Edwards
Just curious over how long a period you saw that was he a big drunk on campus. I can't imagine doing his intense training with beer goggles. As far as him being a dick, he visited local schools and couldn't be nicer to the kids, including mine. Not saying any of this negative stuff isn't true, but it is a little surprising.
It is indeed true. Phelps had, shall we say, not the best reputation around campus. But, then again, he won a bajillion gold medals, so he has something to back it up.
Hear that Ryan Mallett?
But Falcon Seven, I'm decoupaging! If I leave now, it may bubble!
i said this once before in a thread a few days ago, so sorry for being repetitive, but:
the members of the ice-dancing house (myself included) read this here blog every day. we follow football more than skating.
go blue.
Snaps to Meryl! (They announced her and her partner won first in Nationals at Panhel on Monday)
BlueVoix: "mgolesbian?"
Tacopants: "Total myth."
is just kickass.
Do the fans still chant "who cares?" when the opposing teams get announced at Yost (shame on me for having not attended a Michigan hockey game since I graduated 10 years ago)?
Someone needs to jump on that quote from Vlad and make a "who is these people lol" sign for said occasion.
i think there was a discussion on this last season - the p.a. announcer no longer announces starting lineups.
At Yost, they still announce the lineups. And, as Brian recently pointed out (IIRC), the newspapers accompanying the "Who Cares" chant seem to be making a bit of a comeback. The discussion last season (again, IIRC) was that they weren't announcing lineups at the football games.
...totally missed the yost reference. or the "hockey game" reference. or the...oh, never mind. i'm an idiot.
I've always been a big fan of MGoBlog even as an Illinois alum. I agree with you that a 14-school conference is unwieldy and personally don't want to see that happen. The reason why I've discussed it at length is because there is a ridiculous number of people out on the Interweb that are completely convinced that this is indeed the Big Ten's plan (i.e. it would add Syracuse, Rutgers and Pitt or Mizzou, Kansas and Nebraska all at once). What I've tried to point out is that there is a limited scenario where the Big Ten would go up to 14 schools: if the Big Ten truly wants Texas, it might take Texas A&M as well to quell the possible political firestorm in that state and then a 14th member would be necessary on top of them. Other than that, I don't want or foresee a 14-school Big Ten.
I personally like Pitt, but there's been one thing that Jim Delaney and the Big Ten has made clear with expansion: a new school needs to add a new market (or in the case of Notre Dame, add a true national name). Pitt doesn't bring a new market because Penn State already covers it and you can't really call it a national name. It's sad because Pitt is definitely a lot better athletic and academic fit than Syracuse and Rutgers on a lot of levels, yet the lack of a new market is what will doom Pitt's bid from what the Big Ten has openly stated is the baseline criteria.
Anyway, the standard is who would the Big Ten add that wouldn't legtimately cause buyer's remorse if Notre Dame all of the sudden wants to join a conference in a decade. Do Pitt or Mizzou meet that standard? Nebraska? Texas? Anyone else?
Common sense please!
1. Texas will never be in the same conference as Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State! Why not add Florida, Boston College and Hawaii? Besides the pure logistical nightmare Texas' want to be the star of their division will keep them out of the Big 10.
2. Syracuse's big sport is basketball. Jim Boeheim in the most important person regarding Syracuse sports (even more then the AD). Boeheim built up Big East basketball into the most skilled and dominant conference in all of sports. Big East basketball makes SEC football look like Big East football. Boeheim will never, ever let Syracuse leave the Big East as long as he's alive. Maybe in 30 years Syracuse might leave but not before that.
3. Rutgers in the Big 10 would be really sad. Not only would we have Jersey shore trash in our conference but the novelty of having a conference in today's world that actually cares about academic standards will be ruined. No way do schools like Northwestern, Michigan, and Penn State allow another team into the Big 10 that doesn't care about academics. OSU already has no requirements for athletes, letting a school that has no requirements for students or athletes would ruin our superiority over the SEC, Big 12 and the Big East.
Rutgers is a serious academic school, at least at the level of doctoral research, which are the only academics that matter in terms of the CIC.
Now, now Rutgers student, no need to double post.
But Falcon Seven, I'm decoupaging! If I leave now, it may bubble!
Rutgers is a serious academic school, at least at the level of doctoral research, which are the only academics that matter in terms of the CiC.
M should tap the musical genius of Ann Arbor's own Ghostly International/Spectral Sound for some dj who could do the program justice. I'm pretty sure that Matthew Dear/Ryan Elliot/someone could come up with something original to rock the big house.
big house goes micro-house?