Unverified Voracity Talks Uncertainty Comment Count

Brian

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Sponsors with benefits. Hotels: there are none on gameday unless you want to stay in Canada or Ohio. These places are inconvenient. Few people even speak English. Houses: Ann Arbor has many, lots of them right across the street from Michigan Stadium. Money: can be used to convince people in these houses to let you borrow the houses. Thus your crew of 8+ people can stay in the same, convenient place.

You are probably entering URLs that seem likely candidates to host such a service as we speak. Your fingers ache, your keyboard smokes. Well, enter nonexistent website URLs no longer. You can use Money to avoid Hotels at Gameday Housing, which not only benefits you but also the site. A bonus: mention MGoBlog when you sign up (in the "you heard about us from" box) and they'll take 50 bucks off your first rental*. You can lock down accommodations for Michigan State for about what a hotel would run you, except instead of a hotel room you get a house. Doing so also supports the site.

*[Fine print: only valid until the end of 2012, can't combine with another promotion, one per user.]

2011 photo spectacular. Max starts an excellent thread of favorite pictures from last year:

F1cRfl[1]

No sources are listed, unfortunately. Everyone should be shoving the metadata in their files so people can credit back if so inclined.

Troubaaaargh. The Daily's Matt Slovin reports that Jacob Trouba has a 200k offer from the OHL sitting on the table and that this is a source of OHL-related optimism in re: guy breaking his commitment to leave. Again. Kitchener denies this because kids in the OHL get 45 bucks a week only. It's not a professional league, man. You have to believe us.

We'll see how that goes. It's a chunk of cash, but for a guy who's likely to sign a max rookie contract in a year or two it's not a life changing amount. Insert usual bits about how Something Must Be Done, but what? It's clear the OHL doesn't care about its own rules, and the NHL is never going to step in, so what can be done?

UPDATE: Trouba has again reiterated he will play at Michigan.

Werner something. You're probably aware that Joe Paterno's legacy is even further tattered after the release of emails that imply the university administration was about to go to some sort of police-type organization that would have put Jerry Sandusky's crimes to an end until Joe intervened on Sandusky's behalf. But are you aware of the contortions many on the Penn State rivals board are willing to undertake to maintain their worship?

I Would Like to Pose a Question to the Board
Reply


Let's see who can answer this question.  Bear with me -- I have a point to make.  Here it is:

The human body consists of 99.9% of something.  What is it?

[several posts in which people respond.]

Congratulations! Three of You Got It.
Reply


The answer is empty space.  Now, on the face of it, the answer is absurd.  How can the body be empty space?  Well, because atoms are empty space.  Vibrating energy (I think) is what gives things solidity (this is a quantum physics deal, so I can't elaborate).  But, here's the point.  It is absolutely PREPOSTEROUS to claim that the human body is empty space, just as it is preposterous to claim that Joe Paterno was not involved in covering up Jerry Sandusky's child abuse.  Yet, the human body really is empty space; so why can't Joe Paterno not be involved in a cover-up, particularly since no one yet has forwarded any evidence of such?  It is a supposition that Paterno was involved, just as it is a common supposition that the human body is not empty space.

This guy has a future as a noir defense attorney.

Meanwhile, Vijay comes out of retirement to re-evaluate the "Grand Experiment." 

If this really happens… If Wisconsin's nonconference scheduling goes from sad to decent, yes, Virginia, strength of schedule will be a big deal in the new playoff world. Alvarez is talking about it, at least:

“If you want to be a player (in the national championship equation) and strength of schedule is going to be a part of it, then you really have to consider (a different approach),” UW athletic director Barry Alvarez said.

That might explain why UW football coach Bret Bielema disclosed on his Twitter account this week that he’s reached out to his Notre Dame counterpart Brian Kelly about a possible series with the high-profile independent. Bielema is targeting openings for 2018 and ’19 when Michigan drops off the Irish’s schedule.

It might also explain why Alvarez disclosed this week that there were recent discussions, orchestrated by ESPN, about matching the Badgers against defending national champion and Southeastern Conference power Alabama at a neutral site.

Alvarez, who handled scheduling when he coached the Badgers from 1990 to ’05, said Bielema countered with an offer to play a home-and-home series with the Crimson Tide — no specific years were discussed — but that Alabama coach Nick Saban declined.

That's all talk now. I have a hard time seeing SOS becoming important enough to overrule our current how-many-losses ranking system except in intraconference instances like last year's Oregon-Stanford hypothetical controversy, and if that's the case Wisconsin will continue its steady diet of cupcakes. Something to keep an eye on, at least.

Mario. He got suspended that one game and was kind of frustrating at other times, but Mario Manningham could play, yo:

In other Wolverine Historian bits, he captures the 1994 Minnesota game.

Big Ten Network programming breakdown. A poster on BSD totaled up a month's worth of BTN programming this summer and came out with these numbers:

A quick breakdown of school and how many hours of programming they have, in order from least to greatest:

  • Nebraska 27.5 hours
  • Minnesota 32 hours
  • Northwestern 40.5 hours
  • Penn State 47.5 hours
  • Purdue 49 hours
  • Illinois 73.5 hours
  • Iowa 82.5 hours
  • Indiana 85 hours
  • Michigan 106 hours
  • Michigan St 108 hours
  • Wisconsin 127.5 hours
  • Ohio State 153 hours
  • Wisconsin and MSU benefited from frequent replays of the inaugural champinship game. OSU's edge on the rest of the field is a combination of football and basketball prowess that no one else is matching at the moment. The jump from Purdue to Illinois is… odd.

    Left tackles can't stand normal bikes. Via a TTB interview with Erik Magnuson:

    Magnuson[1]

    That is a 6'6", 300 pound man on a unicycle. Maybe we'll see him performing during halftime at Crisler next year.

    Etc.: Hardaway, Burke, McGary all second-round-ish NBA prospects at the moment, with Burke in that gray area between the first and second round. The 2013 class rankings are rejiggered: Walton, Donnal up, Irvin down a little.

    Sam Mikulak makes the Olympic team. Jeff Porter makes it in the 110M hurdles. Michigan alum Richard Kaplan is mayor of a small Florida town that is way into cricket. Brady Hoke returns to his old stomping grounds to out MANBALL Ball State's new coach.

    Comments

    French West Indian

    July 3rd, 2012 at 4:43 PM ^

    ...that I've ever seen were at Crisler.  One, a bunch of mascots (including Big Boy) haplessly trying to play a basketball game.  They couldn't dribble or catch the ball and the kept falling over.  I think the two teams combined for only one score.  It was completely ridiculous.

    Another one that I recall was some kind of acrobat family where the father lied down on his back and then proceed to flip & spin his little kids around with his feet.  Seemed like it might be borderline child abuse, but they were really skilled with what they were doing.

    How odd that I actually can remember halftime show but probably couldn't recall anything from the games themselves.  Anyhow, BIG man on a teeny, tiny unicycle would have a heck of a legacy to live up to!

    snarling wolverine

    July 3rd, 2012 at 5:09 PM ^

    Speaking of the PSU Rivals board, look at this post:

    My son went through the application process this past year and Joe was featured in everything the admissions office put out - video's, pamphlets, presentations.

    http://bwi.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=36&mid=156095131&sid=890&tid=1560…

     

    Unreal. I remember the booklet the UM admissions office sent me when I was in high school. Out of like 20 photos in the booklet, there was one of a Michigan football player, uncaptioned. I couldn't imagine them talking about the head coach in it.  PSU's cult of personality was like something out of an Eastern bloc country.

    MichiganMan2424

    July 3rd, 2012 at 5:21 PM ^

    I also think a large part of OSU's hours on BTN is due to the fact that they were on the losing end of a couple clasics from this year that have been played multiple times. Michigan football, Michigan basketball, Nebraska football, Purdue football, Indiana basketball, and Illinois basketball games have all been played multiple times, and OSU is on the losing end of each. Maybe I'm wrong and those numbers only account for games that represent the winning school, so those wouldn't count towards OSU's hours, but if not, that's a large reason as well.

    In reply to by MichiganMan2424

    DY

    July 3rd, 2012 at 8:39 PM ^

    coming in at the bottom doesn't surprise me at all being the new kid on the block. I was annoyed though this weekend while watching BTN's Best QBs of the 2000s. BTN shoehorned Eric Crouch into the #2 slot behind Troy Smith. I don't have a problem with BTN highlighting Nebraska's history but they only played 6 games against B1G opponenets during the 00s with Crouch at QB for 2 of those games. Crouch definitely deserves to be on someone's Best QB list but pretending Nebraska was in the conference then is pretty ridiculous.

    Ali G Bomaye

    July 3rd, 2012 at 5:52 PM ^

    I was at that 1994 Minnesota game with my dad, and my primary memory from that game was the catch by Walter Smith in garbage time:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XakgFGqSFPU&feature=player_detailpage#t=…

    Walter had been a team leader for the previous few years, and was devastated when a knee injury cost him his senior season.  Despite his injury, he served as team captain during the 1994 season - he was that kind of guy.  You can hear the crowd start chanting "Walter, Walter" during the play after his catch.  The entire stadium realized when he came into the game that this was it, and that he was giving up his chance to come back for a 5th year.

    So here's the thing - I had forgotten which game this occurred in (I was 12 at the time).  Box scores from the early 90s are really hard to find, and Walter Smith isn't even listed in the available stats as having a catch in 1994 (someone must have forgotten to mark it down).  I had tried to figure it out, but was unable to do so until this video.

    This is one of my special Michigan Stadium memories, and I can't thank WolverineHistorian enough for bringing this back for me.

    WolverineHistorian

    July 3rd, 2012 at 7:00 PM ^

    USA Today has box scores and detailed game recaps starting from 1995 (Lloyd Carr's first season) to present.  But MGoBlue.com has box scores and all stats from pretty much any game ever played...

    http://stats.ath.umich.edu/football/gametot.php?gkey=487

    I've been told this game never aired on TV in Michigan.  Midwest Sports Network shot this.  It must have some Gopher network or channel back in the day.  The commentators are really rooting for Minnesota in that broadcast. 

    I do love that catch by Smith, though.  That's got to be the happiest 2 yard gain ever. 

    SFBayAreaBlue

    July 3rd, 2012 at 6:51 PM ^

    That's only if you consider a distributed field of electric wave potential to be empty space.  The particle model of the electron doesn't really give an accurate picture.  It's like that old fallacy that says if you try to walk through a wall an infinite number of times that one time you might get lucky and you can pass through because all your nuclei will be alligned correctly.  That's bullshirt.  You'd have to overcome the electric repulsion of that "empty space' which ain't ever gonna happen at walking speed. 

    WolverineHistorian

    July 3rd, 2012 at 7:08 PM ^

    Wisconsin scheduling non-conference opponents that have a pulse?  And Barry Alvarez brings up the need to schedule tougher when he built his legacy on scheduling teams like Western Kentucky and San Jose State?  So weird to even imagine. 

    Last season, a poster on the Victors Message board added up the results of every non-conference opponent Wisconsin has played every year from 1990 to present and it equaled out to a winning percentage of .318.

    Wisconsin scheduling a tough opponent is like an SEC team not oversigning or Buckeye fans not sucking.  It just doesn't happen.   

    MGoBender

    July 3rd, 2012 at 7:18 PM ^

    Is this Gameday Housing the people who kick students out of their house on gamedays to make a buck?  I know the students are aware of it going in, but still, I don't really like the practice.

    OMG Shirtless

    July 3rd, 2012 at 9:55 PM ^

    I believe he is referring to the landlords on campus who write clauses into the lease that require you to leave the house for certain football saturdays.   I had heard the idea being kicked around.  Don't know if it actually happened or not.  Unfortunately for our society, not all college students actually read their leases before signing them. 

    Ernis

    July 4th, 2012 at 12:46 AM ^

    Indeed. I recall filling out a deposit slip once, at the TCF on South U. A girl was next to me, doing the same, while on the phone with her mother. I couldn't help but overhear as her mother gave her step-by-step instructions on the process. The girl, incidentally, spoke in a very snotty manner. I distinctly recall her asking, "What do I put where it says, 'List Checks'?" ...apparently no response... "Hello? Hello, mom? UGGGGGGGH" (snaps phone shut).

    Somehow, she got into UM. When that dawned on me, while containing nigh-uncontrollable laughter, well that is the exact moment in which I lost all faith in humanity... and felt good about it, too. Though, I believe at the same moment, the mother may have neen overwhelmed with shame and committed hari kari.

    MGoBender

    July 4th, 2012 at 9:38 AM ^

     

    Explain to me how this is kicking students out of their house?

     

    "Kicking out" might be the wrong term.  But I don't think it's legit for someone to lease a house/apartment and then say "You can't park here on football Saturdays because I need to make the parking money" or "you cannot stay here on Saturdays because I rent the place out." 

    It's kinda like renting the same thing to two people at once.  The one customer may know it is going to happen and may agree with it, but that doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

    I know I'd be kinda upset to look at a house really close to the stadium and then be told I can't tailgate there.  I mean, that's the entire reason you'd rent a house in that area as a student.  And if it's late in the housing market, you might have to accept it.  We've all signed leases where we think certain parts of it are complete rip-offs but had no better alternatives. C'est la vie.

    But luckily it sounds like this company is using homes of "real people" - probably people who skip town on football Saturdays.  So, cool.

    Seth

    July 3rd, 2012 at 10:35 PM ^

    No they're not. I looked into that when we first made contact. The way you get on their listings is to volunteer your place for it so technically someone who has a game-day contract in their lease could sign up, but I doubt they'd get approved and listed. if you look at the houses available for each game day on their site none of them are where off-campus students typically rent, and they're all WAY nicer than any such houses.