It sounds remarkable like all the shotgun posts lately. Between D-Line and Linebackers. Interested in the round table. This thread could be posted weekly, because everyone's not going to read it at the same time/rate. But that's where I am, currently.
mine a lot. It's worth it.
But there are more errors than usual - not sure what was up on the editing side. A couple of graphs list Bo's last name as "Shembelcher", a couple pictures are mis-labeled (I believe a picture of Taylor Lewan says it's BWC, and a picture of Hoke is supposed to be Borges).
I'm sure the actual content is stellar as usual, but I haven't gotten through too much of it yet.
The "Lewan" picture.
Just finished it today. It was a great read and is well worth it.
As a first time MSP reader (I found out about it on this blog), it is a bit different from preview issues I'm used to but I've only read The Wolverine preview issues in years prior. The writing is a bit quirky. Lines like, "Greg Robinson attempted to turn the blitzing, maniacal, confusing 3-3-5 into the world's biggest and least effective Xanax ad..." are clearly very opinionated yet funny and probably summarize what a lot of us were thinking...
Despite the homer lean to most of the writing, I read the entire thing at the beach this morning and it has a ton of good info. I'll probably order it next year, just because I'm a sucker for reading anything and everything about Michigan football.
Go Blue!
Just an FYI - It's available in stores now. I picked a copy up at Walmart last week.
Insert Walmart Wolverine joke here.
Does anyone know where its available in Ann Arbor? MDen possibility?
Terrelle Pryor is.
I've gotten mine in past years from Borders (not yet this year).
You better hurry.
I have always gotten mine at Krogers. However, so far they haven't had it this year.
Actually I think it has regressed significantly. Brian needs to stop patting himself on the back, get some new contributors and step up.
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<br>I thought The Wolverine preview was much more informative.
As a long time reader of the Wolverine and new to MSP, I found MSP's writing better, more crisp (and more opinionated) but overall a much better read.
Each has a purpose...I do wonder from time to time what the longest winning streak UM had was or the point differential was in 1904, so The Wolverine comes in handy...but commentary is strong with MSP.
I'm about halfway through and am enjoying it as usual. But I'm someone who will grasp for just about anything about Michigan football, as long as it is done relatively well.
Brian's stuff, which is a good chunk of the first 30 or so pages, is not going to be "news" to readers of the blog (you'll hear many of the same comments and ideas and see some of the same graphs, etc). But what can we expect? If he's got something great, he's not going to not mention it on the blog.
The rest of the stuff is mostly written by other people, and so far that's been pretty good, and history suggests the rest of it will be pretty good too. Totally worth $15 or whatever, but then I'm dying for anything Michigan right now.
agree with others.... not as good and needs some fresh writing.
I enjoyed it as usual. There was only one or two articles that I did not read. RBUAS has reached a point that he needs to be labelled very clearly as fiction. I skipped that piece.
I thought the addition of the Football Outsiders guy and the Smart Football guy was excellent. Ramzy wasn't as irritating as he normally is on Eleven Warriors. The historical piece from 1911 using old Daily's was quite humorous.
As far as football reading in July, it still easily clears the hurdle for the modest price. Maybe since it is old media, Cook tends to moderate his opinions more reasonably in HTTV rather than the more fire-breathing style he uses on the blog.
Needs to stop living off being a Fed Ex guy for a helmet. What exactly makes him any more qualified to comment on Michigan Football than the rest of us?
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<br>And which article was Ramzy?
But I don't think Craig Ross is a very good writer.
Isn't that interesting. What the point of that drivel, other than one paragraph ("I'm disillusioned"), I have no idea. I think Brian far over-estimates how many people are as doom and gloom as he his. Even the majority of the gloomy have gotten over it by now.
I thought the paragraph about how under RichRod he'd stopped paying attention to wins and loses and fell in love with the intricacies of the offense was really good. It crystalized a problem that I think that happened to a lot of Michigan fans--including Brain Cook, to some extent.
I think there is a segement of the fanbase that loved RichRod's offense so much that they've lost site of the big picture of W/L and even if the offense was doing its job.
But yeah, the line from Ross about maybe 'the worst isn't over yet' was over the top. I don't see how anyone could expect that under Hoke Michigan will fall below the depths of 2008.
Yeah, I thought the Craig Ross piece was self-indulgent and whiny. Aside from that I thought it was jam packed with good info. Much better than any of the garbage I'd picked up from the supermarket in the past at least.
... Although, I can't compare it to past iterations of this particular item (this was my first).
It's not the greatest. It's always a little skimpy on information about the players themselves and overly long on diary-type pieces that are kind of interesting, but once you've read them once, you don't feel a great need to read them again. I agree that a lot of the contributors are nothing special as far as writers or football analysts. There's not a ton of information that you wouldn't get from just reading the front-page articles regularly.
I find The Wolverine's preview issue more user-friendly, with its little profiles and headshots of every player (which is nice when you see some guy come into the game for the first time and you're like "Who?"), although you obviously don't get much in the way of opinion there.
To be frank, I see it more as a way of giving a little money to keep this site going than as a great resource for the season. (Which, in all fairness, isn't a bad reason to pick it up - and I have for that reason.)
But in the never-ending quest to prove the alternative media gives you more than the norm, I expected a bit more then front page retread and more post-malaise whining and statistical looks at how great the offense was. There were 2 articles on that and one on Borges and zero in Hoke. Maybe instead of making fun of them they should be shooting for an interview or something. (And I'm not sure that after just glancing at Misopogon's start to the roundtable that when I read the rest it won't be 3).
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<br>You're the second guy to mention the Wolverine...is it out? I used to get it for free and stopped when it wasn't, but hearing good things again I went to Borders and couldn't find any. I'm think the MSP version is going to be a quick read. I might have to compare the two on the rack next year. $10 for Emo is $15 too much. (Plus S&H).
I heard about it for the first time on this site and ordered it. Honestly, it's good but the writing is nothing amazing. It's definitely worth picking up to get your Michigan and football fix though. My favorite line by far as of yet- "We include Notre Dame in the Big Ten rankings because it annoys them."
I love it. Iowa doesn't get much in the way of Michigan season previews so the purchase is worth every penny for me.
But there is not enough about Michigan football.
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<br>/NEEDSZMOARFOOTSBALLZNOWWW!