Recent Comments

He averaged 25 points per tourney game coming into this game. He was 3 for 16 and we lost the game. Ugh.

It's pretty common knowledge that a large percentage of engineering students are foreign-born. When I was in grad school, I was the only American-born GSRA in an office of 11. One of the good things about UofM is that it attracts the best and brightest from around the world. However, our immigration policies make it difficult for those students to stay in the US after graduation and contribute to our economy. Another problem is the job situation in Michigan. I was born and raised in Michigan, and would have loved to take a job in the state after graduation, but my opportunities were in California, Texas, and the East Coast.

how did two Kansas fans get tickets behind the Michigan bench? What's up with that?

I think Barkley's commentary on Mitch McCrary [SIC] was spot-on.

I'd keep it exactly the way it is. My pet peeve is Dick Vitale complaining about how unfair the jump ball rule is. Well, if a short guy ties up a tall guy, and they jump it up, the tall guy will win the tap. That's unfair to the short guy. Why should he be penalized for being short? The way the rule works now, if you tie a guy up, your team gets the ball half the time. That makes sense because you didn't gain possession, you only shared the possession.

There is no such thing. Someone called me out on that and they were right. Don't believe me? Check here:

http://statsheet.com/mcb/referees/ted-valentine/conferences

Where does Mike McGee belong on your list? He's our second leading scorer all-time without the benefit of the 3 point line. I vaguely remember Hubbard. McGee was the first UofM basketball star that I followed, so I'm a little biased.

Heiko has also been missing from the front page lately. He posts more of the straightforward reporting stuff, but we're in the off-season so that's to be expected.

The distinguishing characteristic of a blog is that there is no editor to filter the writer, so I think Seth's response is reasonable. If you want a safe site where everything is sanitized and anything edgy is deleted, don't read a blog.

isn't that redundant?

First, I didn't notice the first touch after multiple viewings, until it was pointed out in this thread. To me it looks like he's trying to tap her on the shoulder, but his fingers get a little too far. I don't see any grabbing going on, except for the mysterious hand that grabs her waist at the end. I think the old idiom "discretion is the better part of valor" applies here and the post should just be deleted.

I played tackle football in 7th and 8th grade, 30 years ago. Back then, hitting with your helmet was called "spearing" and resulted in a 15 yard penalty. I'm amazed that people complain about penalties being called for "helmet-to-helmet" hits, because when I played, that was a penalty, regardless if the player was defenseless or not. When I played, we had knee pads, thigh pads, hip pads, and tailbone pads. Players today, particularly in the NFL, don't wear any pads below the waist, so naturally, they are much faster and their hits are that much harder. So two changes I would make would actually be to make the game more like it was - vigorously enforce the no spearing rule, and make players wear pads.

I got hit once in practice by our middle linebacker, he was a grade above me, and about 30-40 pounds heavier. My whole left arm went numb, I fumbled the ball because I had no feeling in my arm, and I got cussed out by a coach for fumbling. I realized then that football was a tough game. I kept playing because I enjoyed the game, but that was an eye-opener.

I have an 8 year old son. So far, he hasn't shown an interest in playing football. I would have to think long and hard about letting him play. Does that make me a hypocrite? Maybe, but my son and his health comes first. If someone else's kid wants to risk their health, that is their business, as long as the information is out there.

Somebody mentioned soccer. The youth leagues around here don't let players use their heads for fear of concussions or head trauma. I wonder about the adult soccer players who take kicks from goalies 2/3 of the way down the field off their heads. I can't imagine that's much different than boxers getting hit in the head repeatedly, leading to the punch-drunk phenomenon. Every sport has risks involved - my wife tore her calf muscle playing badminton, and I lost two teeth playing that game. You've got to live your life though.

High in Transit? Sounds like Brady is complaining about pad level again.

It seems like that rule generally holds true, except the #1 team in the country is usually protected by the refs. I wonder what would have happened if we played ohio after the new rankings came out, reflecting Duke's loss. Maybe we get another call or two? I think other conferences take care of their #1 teams moreso than the B1G does. But that's just my opinion.

Wolverine in a bag, right?

When reporters interview someone, make a statement, and say, "talk about that." Not a question, just an invitation to "talk about that." Why even have the reporter there? Just hand the guy a mic with instructions to "talk about that."

approves.

I guess we switched from Adidas to ACME and no one noticed.

I intended to write that first paragraph in yellow text, but couldn't figure out how to get the text editor to do that. Apparently, the MGoTextEditor is more intelligent than our athletic director. I will say in his defense, the jerseys probably looked fine indoors, it's just that nobody thought to see what they looked like in natural light, or during a really sunny day in Florida. I lived in Michigan for 26 years, and remember those cold, grey winters when all you wanted was just to see the sun shine to remind you that a life-giving force existed in the universe.

I'd replace the skull and bones with a block M, otherwise, very well done.

The "Going 1-A" article quotes a professor from Transylvania University.

http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept////baskmen/baskmaa/grantaa.htm

Gary Grant came to Michigan in 1984 and made an immediate impact on Wolverine basketball. Excelling defensively, he was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 1985 sparked Michigan to a 26-4 record and the Big Ten Championship. Nicknamed "The General," the 6-3 Grant later developed the offensive skills to make him the best two-way guard in college basketball. The first Big Ten player to score 1,000 points, pass for 600 assists and collect 200 steals in a career, Grant earned numerous accolades including: consensus All-America honors in 1988, AP and UPI Big Ten Player of the Year in 1988 and All-Big Ten honors in 1987 and 1988. Grant is Michigan's all-time leading assist man with 731 for his career and 234 for the 1987-88 season. He holds the career and season record for steals (300, 86 in 1986-87) and also ranks fourth in career scoring (2,222 pints), third in career field goals (896) and third in career three-point percentage (46.11%).

I'm too young to remember the '76 team that went to the Final Four. So the top teams in my memory are the '89 National Champions, the two Webber Fab 5 teams, and last season's B1G champions. I think the '12 team dramatically over-achieved. The Fab 5 teams didn't win the B1G regular season or the National Championship. So this year's team has the potential to meet or exceed the '89 team. I've been wondering lately how the two would match up. My memory of the '89 team is a little shaky, but I'd compare them like this:

Burke > Rumeal, Rumeal was a horrible FT shooter, and wasn't much of an outside shooter either. Burke is becoming quite the master of the pick and roll.

Hardaway > Higgins/Griffin, Higgins was incredibly talented, but didn't match up to the hype. We'll always have the Illini game putback, but I think the way Hardaway has improved his rebounding this year gives the edge to Hardaway. Griffin was just a guy.

Rice > Stauskas, as good as Stauskas has been, it's still early in his career, and I don't see him putting up ~180 points over a 6 game tourney run. Plus, Rice was an underrated rebounder.

Vaught > GRIII, they are vastly different players, so it's hard to compare, but Vaught was a great rebounder and had a nice touch from 15'. Who knows, by the end of the season I might change my mind on this one.

Mills > Morgan, Mills was Kevin McHale-like with all of his low post moves, and Mills also had a nice touch. Morgan gets most of his points from others creating for him. Mills could get his own shot.

Beilein > Fisher. Fisher was an underrated coach, as evidenced by his success at SDSU, but I often thought the '89 team was lost on offense.

'13 Bench > '89 Bench, I don't really remember the '89 bench. Beilein has lots of options on the bench this year. That might give a slight edge to this year's team. Might. There's still a lot of season to play.

What would it mean to me if this year's team won it all? Too early, man, too early, but the thought makes me smile.

I'll  believe Minnesota is Wisconsin's rival the first time I see a Muck Finnesota T-Shirt.

Probably mentioned elsewhere, but all 7 B1G teams are underdogs. Look at it this way, the conference only has to win 1 game to exceed expectations.

One change I hope to see next year is for them to let Gardner audible. The contrast in that game was stark. Ohio took most of the playclock looking at our defense. We ran what was called, regardless of the defensive formation.

There were a few seasons at least, prior to PSU joining the B1G, where we played a full conference schedule, 9 games with 2 non-conference games. The problem with that was the 4-5 / 5-4 home road split, but with 10 conference games and 2 non-conference games it works out. Very few schools can demand the 7th home game. You need to be able to fund the buy-out games. M, Ohio, and PSU with 100,000+ fans can do that. The rest of the B1G likely can't (except maybe Nebraska and Wisconsin, maybe.)

The new logo has always been the greatest clue to the future of the league. After we take a couple years to digest Rutgers and Maryland, I predict we add two more teams and end up with these divisions:

EAST: Penn State, Maryland, Rutgers, 1 of Pitt, Syracuse, West Virginia

NORTH: Michigan, STAEE, Purdue, Northwestern

SOUTH: Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, 1 of Louisville, Missouri, Cincinnati

WEST: Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota

I would group the North and South into one conference/league (help, I'm running out of names for these groupings) to preserve a few rivalries, and group the EAST and WEST together. Strength-wise, it works out depending who the 15th and 16th teams are.

When I was a kid, the only sport in which MSU was arguably better than us was hockey, and then, fortunately, Red Berenson showed up and put an end to that nonsense.

My son was 6 days old when that game happened. What a way to enter the world!

My dad was staying with us because my mom was with my sister, who had just given birth 4 days earlier. Dad and I were watching the game, but had to go to Church because he was flying back on Sunday. We held on as long as we could, but eventually had to turn the radio off and go pray for a victory. I'm pretty sure we were losing in the 4th quarter when we turned the radio off. The rally had sort of started, but it still looked bleak. When Church was over, we got back in the car, turned the radio on, and were shocked that the game was still going. We hurried home and caught the end.

Some people remember where they were when Kennedy was shot. I remember dramatic M football games.

/my cool story bro

May the Schwartz be with you!

I've rooted for the Clippers since Loy Vaught played for them, and now they're actually good. Welcome aboard the Clipper bandwagon. There's still plenty of room.

I think they should give out the number to 3 players, one on offense, one on defense, and one special teamer, because there were three Wistert brothers who wore #11. I'd go with J.T. Floyd on defense just because his #8 doesn't stand out to me and Magnus would be pissed. On offense, I like Dileo, and for special teams, maybe Wile.

the nickname was given to the Bellomy to Funchess combination, and it wasn't meant to denigrate Bellomy. I mean, seriously, what is more satisfying than a good, hearty belch after a big meal? In some cultures, that's actually a sign of respect to the cook.

Everybody wins. The intern gets experience, Brian gets free labor, we get actual votes. Maybe we can get the EECS department to fund this as some sort of work-study project.

I made a bigger deal about that last season when we had a few guys show up every week, the prime example being 7A Brandin Hawthorne. When Gardner switched to 12, Hawthorne became the primary 7. I jokingly suggested we go with hexadecimal numbers to ease the crunch that retired numbers puts on the equipment manager. Whether planned or not, we have very few major participants sharing numbers this season.

Is Bosch league. Sorry, had to go there.

In the youtube Brian links to, Gholston is hit at 0:07 of the clip. They cut away from the live feed when it looks really bad, and he only wobbles to his feet with help at the 1:27 mark. Why do I feel like I'm analyzing the Zapruder film?

Every time I see that Stauskas jersey, it looks like the front of a jersey for the University of Stauskas. I imagine them being a Canadian school or playing in Towson's conference.

If I'm not mistaken, all those guys on the list ahead of him are LBs.

Move to the west coast, so that noon game begins at 9AM. You can watch it from bed. Maybe shower at halftime, maybe not. Follow schedule as above, but then catch the 7pm PST game between some PAC12 teams. After four games in one day, you'll be in a zombie-like trance, but it'll be worth it.

That game has "wow factor" written all over it. Plus, it's driving distance from LA so I'd be able to go.

Have you invested in a time share down there? You know with the current rules, it's going to be much harder for us to upvote you out of there like last time.

Just to clarify, "Keith" is not Keith Jackson. He's just your typical Michigan Man who wore maize-and-blue checkered pants to games and rented Winnebago's for road trips. Yes, he was my first MGoMentor.

The 1982 contest was the first night game in Notre Dame Stadium history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan%E2%80%93Notre_Dame_football_rivalry

Yeah, wikipedia, but I went to that game so I can vouch for the accuracy.

Combine the Jingo's with what Brian wrote in the preview column

Finally, three opportunities for me to look stupid Sunday: A rain of pulled pork falls from the sky. Walk-ons are deployed. The weather is lovely.

And I have to wonder what kind of strange diet he's been on.

Hoke says he's done his time, and the Judge and Prosecutor have accepted the plea deal. It's important to remember that Hoke is not the sole judge, jury, and executioner in this thing. People are saying, "trust Hoke" or "it's not severe enough" but that leaves out the fact that Hoke's punishments are IN ADDITION TO  whatever the state (i.e., the Judge) decides to do.

My brother blocked for Kinder at EL. I knew Kinder went to Notre Dame, but I didn't realize he made it to the NFL.

I noticed ABC/ESPN gave him the Elvis treatment starting in the fourth quarter. They only showed him from the waist up, but by then, the damage had already been done.

It's from last season. One of the Big Ten network announcers compared Martin and Van Bergen to trash cans full of dirt. I thought it was a terrible analogy because Martin was actually really quick. I think the point is that the D-Line was hard to move. This year's D-Line seems to be giving up plenty of real estate.

In a total team effort, you single out Vincent Smith? Really?

I will not let Vincent Smith become this season's Obi Ezeh.

Or is this an indictment of Borges?

What would your game plan be against that Bama defense? Run Denard 26 times until he's broken down and nothing remains for the rest of the season?

Or Touss for getting suspended for this game? 

Finish your beer and relax. Things will get better.

Baiting a troll is nearly as bad as trolling.

Seems like there were a few more MGoQuestions than normal.

If you really want to have an authentic throwback uniform, you've got to thicken up the wings on the helmet. Look at the size of those things.

The sound of one key jingling is similar to the sound of one hand clapping.

My Taco Pants t-shirt, or any of the Lloyd Brady shirts...

I think Magnus will look at that J.T. Floyd chart and say, "I told you so," yet you claim he was spectacular. I don't think an average of 8 catches for 95 yards is anything to write home about.

The other chart that is worth a thousand words is the Gerg 2010 DB usage disaster. You can say that he was forced into a 3-3-5, but common sense dictates that when a team is going with 1 wideout, you adjust your personnel so you don't get manballed to death. He never did. Was that because of the stubbornness of he who must not be named (sorry, reading to much Harry Potter to my son lately) or Gerg's fear of playing 4 frosh in the backfield and giving up the deep ball?

My mom used to work at MSU in the admin office. I'll never forget the day she came home from work and told us about the student named Latrina.

I'm in R&D in the electrical engineering field. There is a rule of thumb that says it takes ~20 years from first demonstration of a new technology (GaAs, GaN, etc.) until that technology is commercialized. I realize this is apples and oranges, but solar cars have been around for some time now. What is the endgame? Is it just to educate automotive engineers and continuously improve the technology, or should we expect to see solar cars on our roadways sometime in the future? If the latter, when?

Nash is 38 years old and averaged 31.6 minutes per game last year for PHX. If he gets 30 MPG next season, that leaves 18 for Darius or whoever gets the backup PG job.

You've got to admit, there is a resemblance...