Mark in Lansing
I have no idea who this guy is, I hope he's a good guy, because I was listening to the WTKA roundtable podcast and he was the equivalent of D. Brandon talking on Michigan today in my view.
I'm not sure if he frequents MGOBLOG, but he seemed to be our mouthpiece today. He was clear, he was authoritative, he was persuasive.
Like I said I have no idea who he is I think they mentioned he might be a teacher, but count me in as a fan. I think he blew up Defran and Don and had them backpedaling on their previous stances.
If you haven't heard it yet it's worthwhile.
February 26th, 2010 at 3:10 PM ^
one last name.
February 26th, 2010 at 3:19 PM ^
The Snydawg?
February 26th, 2010 at 3:43 PM ^
Surely you don't mean Dantonio? He's always seemed very reasonable and sane. :)
Good news is that with Dantonio's inferiority complex, he's going to want to go out and commit a way bigger violation.
February 26th, 2010 at 3:12 PM ^
Yeah. Mark from Lansing is a fantastic voice of reason on WTKA.
You can tell he is a very careful thinking.
I wish more callers were like him and less like Phil from Detroit.
February 26th, 2010 at 3:34 PM ^
I've long thought that Mark from Lansing is one of the most reasonable callers on WTKA, and I'm glad he was included in the "Roundtable" today.
And, as the original poster notes, he did blow up DeFran and Defran's caddy (although I believe the caddy's name is "Ron from Ann Arbor," not "Don." There's another called named "Don from Ann Arbor" who's also consistently reasonable and should not be confused with Ron.)
Ron from Ann Arbor has always struck me almost as the polar opposite of Mark from Lansing. The overwhelming majority of his comments are of the tired-and-grumpy-old-crank variety. He starts out bemoaning the decline in some beloved institution and winds himself up until he's predicting the downfall of Western civilization.
What I heard him say today was no different. Apparently, the Golden Era of Michigan football ended the minute that RR gave the No. 1 jersey to a cornerback, and, the next thing you know, dogs and cats are sleeping together.
It's as though every one of his comments should end with " . . . and the music these kids listen to today -- it's just noise!"
Get off my lawn, indeed.
February 26th, 2010 at 3:37 PM ^
I will have to say I love when people use memories instead of like research. He said Mich has to get back to being Michigan where 9-3 is a minimum record that we were used to. I loved Lloyd but come on we had a bunch of 4 l seasons in there and everyone was pissed.
I think he is definitely part of the generational divide people talk about he sounds like the get off my lawn guy "Bo used to win 10-7 with defense". College football is not the same and we can't go back as much as we would like to.
February 26th, 2010 at 7:04 PM ^
College football has changed, and Bo did generally win with defense, but I think people forget how much his teams used to score on offense. Not that I remember, Lloyd was the first coach I knew, but I was bored during a day off work recently and did some digging through the Bentley Historical Library's athletic records. I put our scoring by season into a Google Doc, and did some decade averages as well.
During the 1970s, our defense gave up an average of 8.45 points/game, and our offense put up an average of 29.68 points/game. During the 1980s, defense gave up 13.86, and offense put up 27.58. Our offensive average has remained fairly constant for the past 40 years, but each decade our defense has given more points up than in the last.
February 26th, 2010 at 7:56 PM ^
It's not surprising that we've given up more points over the years; the combination of increased parity and more open offenses have caused scoring averages in general to increase. (However, that does not excuse the terrible defensive performances of that past two years.) The fact that our scoring average has been flat for four decades is the more damning statistic. It speaks volumes about our offensive innovation, or lack thereof, over that time.
February 26th, 2010 at 8:22 PM ^
And hopefully the next few years bring on the offensive innovation. Our scoring average hasn't risen above 30 points/game since 2004, it'd be nice to make that happen again in 2010.
Also, I think many people know this already, but 2008 and 2009 were the only seasons in UM history that more than 300 points were given up by our defense.
February 26th, 2010 at 3:15 PM ^
If you post on the fort at rivals, then you would recognize mark from his screenname dotman, He is a really great guy,
February 26th, 2010 at 3:51 PM ^
I won't say his full name, but he's a great guy. He's a Law Professor.
February 26th, 2010 at 3:21 PM ^
respected GBW and rivals poster.
February 26th, 2010 at 4:48 PM ^
I'll echo the sentiments here. Dude knows his sports, is intelligent as hell, and simply oozes reason and logic. Sounds like a great guy to boot.
And yes, for the love of God, that was RON from Ann Arbor on the round table, not Don from Ann Arbor.
February 26th, 2010 at 6:01 PM ^
Sorry for slipping that letter on you Don. I'm sure you're horrified at the slip up.
February 26th, 2010 at 7:30 PM ^
Naw, I think Ron would be horrified at being confused with me.
I've been hearing Ron call in for years as well. I think he loves Michigan as much as anybody else does, but he's always been a doom-and-gloomer on virtually every M-related topic he calls in about. I think it's just his personality. The ironic thing is that he could get pretty critical of Lloyd Carr back in the day, too.
February 26th, 2010 at 6:28 PM ^
because I drink Merlot-rather finished drinking my third glass of Merlot-and we like, reaally ckicked. I mean clicked. Gotta go to dinner, peace out...
February 26th, 2010 at 7:05 PM ^
I hope he does read these boards because I'd like to express my gratitude to him as well.
Every absurd point that Defran and Ron tried to bring up, Mark countered it with a very patient and well thought out, not to mention factual, rebuttal.
You could tell Defran was getting frustrated toward the end. He even brought up Mallett and Boren leaving as indicators that Rich is a failure. Even Ira was getting frustrated with Defran's absurdity.
Defran also said that RR should have adapted to his personnel better in year 1, and that's what the "Good coaches do." Well then, in Bo's book he starts out one of the early chapters proclaiming that he did it his way from day one at Michigan, and that's what you have to do. I guess Defran would then define Bo as a bad coach.
Anyway, I hope Dotman does read this. I tried making a thread thanking and praising him on the Rivals boards, but it got nuked in about 30 seconds.
Cheers Dot. Wish I could buy you a beer through the internet.
February 26th, 2010 at 7:39 PM ^
I used to listen to him when he had a morning show on WTKA, and he always seemed reasonably sensible and I liked listening to him. He was not one of those spittle-flecked mouth breathers that pass for sports talk hosts on so many other stations.
For some reason, all that reason and common sense has just left him when it comes to RR. I don't mind if somebody says that RR should be fired for 8-16 or three conference wins in two years, since those are facts on the field. I may not agree with it, but at least it's based on fact. It's when Defran and so many of his callers continue to bring up the ridiculous off-the-field BS (of which "RR drove off Boren and Mallett" is a prime example) that it gets painful, since those two fraudulent notions are so easily countered with real facts. Defran just seems to want to disregard those pesky things.
February 27th, 2010 at 10:24 AM ^
I find it odd that he purports to be a 'Michigan Man' but will not support the Michigan program right now. That a guy in his position, a voice of Michigan football, will spew out such poison against the program he professes to support. His sensibilities would make more sense if the team failed to improve after next season, or if malfeasance justifed believing the program was going in the wrong direction. I can't believe he can't see he is essentially saying, 'Hey, I'm only supporting the Michigan I want to support' and that he is in cahoots with the haters who want to bring Coach Rod down at the cost of damaging the program itself. I cannot believe a grown man in his position is not supporting the team through thick and thin, that someone who bleeds 'Bo' puts his desires ahead of 'The team, the team, the team'.
February 27th, 2010 at 2:22 PM ^
A little time spent with Bo's book and some time spent contemplating their navels would probably result in a deep depression. I have a tough time getting WTKA on the way to work, but I did catch the broadcast. Mark from Lansing did a fine job.
February 26th, 2010 at 7:54 PM ^
DeFran is the most UNentertaining person on the radio. and say what you want about Ron, but at least he's not Greg from Saginaw.
February 26th, 2010 at 8:31 PM ^
Defran is really the hater of the bunch. Anything Rich does is under scrutiny. Ron at least seems to be semi-reasonable despite his biased beliefs. Mark was able to reason with him a bit, I felt.
Defran isn't even willing to entertain talent issues. His only counter is that we have more talent than Toledo, therfore Rich is horrible. Yeah, well, we had more talent than App St. and 2000 Northwestern too.
Defran brings up Mallett and Boren, then when people try to mention that Mallett wouldn't even return a phone call, or that Boren walked off the field during conditioning because he was being forced to run instead of being allowed to drive a snow plow, he just raises his voice over whomever is speaking to do away with it.
I too used to like him back in his morning show days. But I think that was mostly because I hated Wickett.
February 27th, 2010 at 12:12 AM ^
Lol, good ole Mike Wickett. Went to Specs Howard with him. Definitely has always had his opinions and wasn't afraid to say what he thought.
February 27th, 2010 at 9:33 AM ^
Wickett used to show up drunk at the Arena ALL the time. After I graduated, got a job, and had all sorts of time and money on my hands, my friends and I lived at the Arena on the weekends.
Wickett would always show up absolutely shit faced. Sitting in the corner all red faced. We'd make fun of him. Ah good times.
February 26th, 2010 at 9:10 PM ^
Mark in Lansing is great and all... but nothing can touch Marcus in Detroit.
or True Blue Tom's daily calls about non-revenue sports. Does he still call in to talk softball and field hockey?
February 26th, 2010 at 9:28 PM ^
AJ or JJ in Lincoln Park is a one man wrecking crew.
February 26th, 2010 at 9:34 PM ^
Marcus? you like Marcus? uhhhhg i can't stand his calls. i've never heard a guy talk so much about basketball but never really saying anything.
TBT is a riot
February 27th, 2010 at 10:22 AM ^
could be the worst radio caller EVER!!! the first time i heard him was on 1130 in the mornings and he took forever to get to the point so i would changed stations until he was done... he would call into valenti and foster every now and then and it was more of the same, but he and mike would get into some good arguments... then mike started giving him a time limit to get to his point... but you're right he does a lot of talking about nothing and when he is done i always wish i could get that time back in my life...
February 26th, 2010 at 9:42 PM ^
that is still bitter that he got shitcanned at WJR a decade ago.
If you really want a laugh and get him good and pissed off, call in and take a potshot at NASCAR.
February 26th, 2010 at 11:49 PM ^
I hope they do that again I really liked it. I wish they could have had more time to talk about football though.
February 27th, 2010 at 10:50 AM ^
I agree that he can be pretty long-winded, but I've actually learned a little bit about basketball from his calls. That tells you I didn't know shit from shinola about the game to begin with, and still know a tiny bit more than that, but at least it's something.
At least Marcus doesn't subject us to diatribes about how disrespected Willie Heston is, which is the constant complaint from one of the other regular WTKA callers mentioned in this thread. Get over it, man. Jesus.
February 27th, 2010 at 12:03 PM ^
I used to hate when Marcus came on because he comes off as such a know-it-all. I don't mind him so much anymore. Seems like a good guy. I used to like Mark-from-Novi, but now he bothers me. The day after NSD he's calling in to ask about some junior cornerback from Timbuktu. I think he's trying to either impress or stump Sam. I turn off the sound when that guy comes on to do his Bob Ufer Meechigan stuff. Give it a rest, man. Phil from Detroit is stupid, but good for a laugh. Mark was great; DeFran came off as an asshole.