Unverified Voracity Suddenly Hates Cartoons

Status. Another suggestion of Hart's health, this from the man himself:

"Yeah, I'm playing next week," Hart said after the game, heading across the field into the tunnel. Later he added: "Yeah, I could have played today."

Fingers crossed; I expect he'll go. Indications on Henne are murkier, and though at the moment I expect he'll start I think there is a nonzero chance he's unable to go.

Fine. Fine. Fine. Seven hundred people have sent this to me, so you've already seen this. But in an effort to stem the tide:

I dunno... I was hoping for more.

The Razor's Edge. Right, the Department of Education dropped a 42-page document of doom (pdf) on the athletic department yesterday. (Free Press article.) I've read many opinions; these are mine:

• Michigan is going to have to conform. Both Notre Dame and Ohio State ran up against this and had to conform; Michigan will be next.
• This will make the renovations more expensive, but if the Hero of Tienanmen Square is sipping champagne underneath a giant painting of himself, declaring victory, he's got another thing coming. More cost yields more motivation for the luxury suites. At worst this issue is orthogonal to the renovations.
• Thousands of seats will be lost to this. Combined with the seat-widening, the overall capacity of Michigan Stadium is going to drop unless additional seats are added.

The major issue, IMO, is the seat thing. It's long been a point of pride that Michigan has the largest stadium in the country. When the renovations were first proposed they featured a several-thousand seat reduction in capacity; this, met with hue and cry, was quickly repaired. A 7000-9000 seat hit would be tough to stomach.

Speaking of tHOTS, the New York Times again writes on the skyboxes at the prompting of Pollack. Please remember this whenever he or his ilk presents information:

Practically from the moment Martin submitted the plan for skyboxes, Pollack has been obsessed with defeating it.

Everything he says is aimed at that goal; things like "facts" are to be discarded when inconvenient. Pollack is a former Bill Clinton speechwriter and, like anyone who has crafted the things politicians say, is trained in the art of deception.

The really offensive portion of the Pollack campaign is the disingenuous assertion that the boxes will cost more money than they make. Occam's Razor screams that said assertion is preposterous: everyone has built them in a period when collegiate athletic revenue is skyrocketing. We are supposed to believe that Martin, and Bill Martin alone, has cobbled together a plan that will actively hurt his university. No possible motivation is provided for this, probably because it's hard to think of one other than megalomania.

Pollack is essentially a professional liar attempting to inflict the point of view shared by his particular social circle on the university at large. He's also breathtakingly arrogant:

Mainly, though, Pollack argues that the University of Michigan simply shouldn't be the kind of school that sells skyboxes to high-rollers; it should be better than that. "Michigan doesn't need to keep up with the Joneses," he said. "We are the Joneses." He added, "One of the great things about college football, especially Michigan football, is that it is a great public space — a place where autoworkers and millionaires can come together to cheer on their team."

Yep. Autoworkers and millionaires coming togeth--

Annual Gift Category - 2006 Results

Oops. That damn reality, always messing with utopia. Pollack is attempting to preserve something that no longer exists, if it ever did.

Historian. Michigan-Ohio State, 1991:

It's a 300-level class. Michigan zingers re: MSU countdown clock:

• Johnson: "I guess they can keep time. I guess if they need that for motivation, to get ready for the game, good for them."

• Cornerback Morgan Trent: "That's cool. Whatever, we know when the game is. So that's fine."

• Carr: "I can remember checking my watch just to make sure I knew what time it was. The only clock I'm concerned with is mine."

Michigan Against The World has a recap of great moments in the series.

Oh God. Unofficial MGoBlog cartoonist Joel A. Morgan sent in a doozy this week. Sadly, I don't know where he lives so I can't send him a bomb flower basket in appreciation:
So there you go. I'll be over here in this hole, hiding.

Etc. A conversion tale from the NYT; MVictors on the inspiration of 1898; MZone has the worst thing ever said by a member of the athletic department.