2011: The Year of the Wolverines

Eds-[As in all of us]: Bumped from boards (!) for awesome. May 2012 be even better!

Finally for all us Wolverines fans, we have a year we can look back on fondly and anticipate the future (mostly in regards to football and basketball).  Here's a little picture page-ish post recollecting the past 12 months.  I hope you enjoy.

January:

After starting the year out unauspiciously, a new era of Michigan football took hold on January 11th as AD David Brandon introduced us all to....

...

and the now famous Hoke-point.

The Hokester brought along his buddy

which was encouraging to most, but some people were still

.

On the hardwood, the cagers started the season off right with a win over

only to go on a 6 game losing streak, including 2 narrow losses to the #2 and #3 teams in the country. 

People were starting to question

.

But Ann Arbor Torch and Pitch Fork closed it's door for the year after the Wolverines marched into Breslin Arena and ended the Spartans beloved "Days since....." calendar, forcing these assclowns

to have to scrub each other's prepubescent chests.

Get the **** off my court.

February

After just 3 weeks on the job, Hokester salvages a top20 recruiting class, including

          
 Brennan Beyer (SAM) | Frank Clark (WDE) | Blake Countess (CB)   

          
Delonte Hollowell (CB) | Desmond Morgan (WLB) | Matt Wile (K/P/KO)

...who either start or make signficant contributions in just their first year on campus.  We didn't know at the time, but these 6 turn out to be pretty damn good.

March

Meanwhile, the pipeline from Farmington Hills Harrison to Lansing is temporarily diverted west as

and

solidify their future by taking their talents to the good side.

Also in 

these 2

decide to go all

on some poor dude in a Colorado bar then flee the scene. The po-po apprehended them and sentenced them to 1 to 3 more years in East Lansing.

April

went to the NCAA finals, narrowly losing 3-2 in overtime to Minnesota-Duluth.

May

Memorial Day Weekend.  It's one of those days where you remember exactly where you were at that moment in time when

was "forced out" at Ohio State for repeatedly lying to his administration and NCAA. Turns out Cheaty knew about some shenanigans going on inside his program but didn't want to upset the winning apple cart, so he only told the owner of this car

and perhaps an FBI agent. 

Ding dong, the dick is dead.

At a team meeting to tell all the Buckeyes their coach had been fired for failing to monitor his program, which included massive memorabilia sales and trades for tatoos and questionable car deals, TP decided it would be a good idea to roll up in

with temporary tags.  TP would also be unceremoniously led out of Columbus.

Take that, Brutus.

June

In one of the saddest and most unbelievable tragedies I can remember, 16 year old basketball commit Austin Hatch survives his SECOND airplane crash. The plane went down in northern Michigan, killing Austin's father and step mother. In the first crash in 2003, Austin and his dad survived but his mother and two siblings were killed.

Thankfully, Austin's recovery has been nothing short of miraculous.  He may not play basketball again, but he'll be a Wolverine for life.

July

As a result of the aforementioned Buckeye shenanigans,

delivers another dong punch to the evil empire by switching his commitment from OSU to Meeeeeeeechigan. Buckeyes everywhere suck it.

September

FOOTBALL SEASON!!!

Finally all the speculation and predictions have come to an end and it's time to play some football. 

The boys take care of Western Michigan in grand fashion before 2 lightning delays force an early end to the game. 

Then the much anticipated

game.

Trailing 24-7 at the end of 3 quarters,

leads the Wolverines to a furious 28-point 4th quarter rally.  With 1:22 left in the game, Denard hits Vincent Smith on a screen pass that goes for 21 yards and the score.  The crowd goes nuts.  We win, we win, we.......................... fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu. Notre Dame pulls out the unthinkable and drives right down the field, and Tommy Rees hits a wide open Theo Riddick for a 29 yard touchdown.

. 

What a f****** drag.  God******. What the hell is wrong with our D? Screw you Mattison.  FU Kelly. God da.......

Wait a minute.  There's still 30 seconds left.  Who knows, right?  Anything can happen, right?  RIGHT?

Right!

Suck it Irish.

October and November

We lose to Satan for the 4th time in a row during a trash tornado, and inexplicably look bad against an average Iowa team.  But all is not lost.  We go on to beat Illinois, run a train on Nebraska, and then, FINALLY, after a decade of OSU dominance...

10-2 !

December

!

Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year.  All America.

Here's a list of other

Conference Champions from 2011...

• Field Hickey wins the regular season and conference tournament championship
• Women's Gymnastics
• Hockey
• Softball
• Men's Swimming and Diving
• Women's Tennis
• Men's Soccer wins the tournament title.

As Coach Hoke will tell you, it wasn't a "great" season because we didn't achieve our goal, which is the Big Ten Title. But after the last 3 years, and since 2006 frankly, this year has given us reason to be very optimistic for the future. I'm proud to be a Wolverine. My wife and I (also an alum) are fortunate to have a son who was accepted into UofM last week and hope he will grow as attached to this great institution as we are.

Thanks for the memories 2011.