Recent Comments

No, it wouldn't be.

because the time he supposedly "stood up for" one of his players against a newspaper's criticism and made the famous "I'm 40" rant was a complete sham designed to create the effect that he's willing to look crazy to defend his players.  There were some enlightening follow-ups with the actual player at issue who said Gundy basically screwed him over repeatedly during his career at OSU, and constructed the "I'm 40" rant specifically to make it look as though he had his players' backs.  If I could keep my eyes open at this point, I'd do some Googling and find the cites, but suffice to say Gundy isn't as bad as this Lunt episode makes him look.  He's much worse.

would certainly beg to differ vis-a-vis "things would go back to normal" after the death penalty year.  

The idea that PSU's sanctions were worse, as bad as, or even within an order of magnitude as severe as the death penalty is just... wow.  Mind-boggling.

because your avatar kinda distracts my eyes from the numbers.  

After watching the highlights, what does a kid have to do to get a 6th star?

was arguing with anyone in the comments section of anything.  No one has ever been persuaded of anything in a website comments section.  Ever.  Right?

Oh, wait...  crap.

This made my morning.

Chris Rock had this bit where he talked about how the father in the Jackson family used to beat his kids.  "I understand whooping Michael.  And I definitely understand beating La Toya's ass.  But why you gotta hit Tito??  TITO NEVER HURT NOBODY!"

As for Hand, sounds like a kid with his feet firmly planted on the ground. Good for him.  Hope we don't lose him to Southfield.

where I genuinely believed the refs repeatedly lost the game for Michigan.  Not just here or there, but all over that game with the pass interference calls and such.

Still, LATERAL THE BALL TO BREASTON ARRRRRRRRRRGH.  The one time the refs kept the hankies in the pockets (at least to call it on Michigan, Nebraska was flagged for too many on the field ala Stanford).

you've never followed the Detroit Lions.

..about playing the "didn't get into Michigan" card on Sparty. Fair point. Damn you.

-getting into Michigan St,, realizing you're probably going there

and

-realizing you forgot to bring your matches to the after-game couch party

Ask Heiko to write this on a slip of paper and hand it to Gorgeous Al next time he sees him.

It's such a douchey thing to say, yet still funny... sometimes I think the Michigan motto should be "Michigan: We're Almost As Arrogant As You Think We Are"

Going to take me a while to get used to that one as I'm so used to seeing Jibreel. They're both anglicized to "Gabriel" if memory serves. Anyway, I reiterate my point. Damn, ESPN white dude. The Brady Bunch thinks you're awkward around people of color.

and that ESPN talking head might just be the whitest of them all.  He made Andy Griffith look like Tupac.

We all want the Hand, but the Hand is tough to get.  You've got to get the Hand right from The Opening.  For once in my life, I'd like Hand.  I have no Hand.  None.

Also, I echo the sentiments of exmtroj expressed below.  Thanks Jinxi.

Driesbach even did me a solid and lobbed it to Hayes in my corner of the endzone for the win.

The only other thing I really remember from that day was that it was the worst sunburn I've ever gotten in my life.  Holy Hell it was hot and UV-intensive that day.

was the Baseball Furies.  Best made-up gang ever.  Cool uniforms. Not very good at fighting.

Your avatar is, like, all fancy and stuff.  Damn, that's sweet.

You know, so they only show plays where Denard is getting a touch so we don't have to sit through all the regular Jacksonville Jaguars crapola?

to just start calling the kid "Towelie"?

But the law school's been getting major largesse lately from Warren Buffett's sidekick at Berkshire, UM alumnus Charlie Munger. He gave $3 million just for... wait for it... lights in the UMLS reading room.   Granted, that's a lot of light bulbs, but still.  He gave another $20 million for upgrades to the Lawyer's Club residences.  I'd imagine when the day comes to execute his will, UMLS might just end up being named the Munger School of Law. That might take a nine-figure gift, but seems possible.

any inference on the part of the listeners is their own profane minds at work.  

how David Terrell ended up being such a washout in the NFL.  The guy was a man among boys in D-1.

those are very thoughtful comments as rants go.  But there really is something to be said for moving on quickly; I thought it was a terrible mistake for Boston to have essentially surrendered  by shutting down the entire city for a day and sending the message that a 19-year old hiding in the bushes (or boat) with a couple of kitchen-made IEDs and a handgun could bring an American city to its knees so easily.    To my mind, that suggests a tempting reward for others of a similar chaotic bent.

We're already largely immune to murders that don't have such a theatrical narrative, even on a large scale.  There are roughly 15,000 murders per year in this country, and the victims are usually just as innocent as the marathon victims.  If someone steps into an office and shoots 5 people dead tomorrow in Topeka, Kansas, it won't be ignored, but it probably won't be the lead story on the national news, either.  That's where we are, and if that's too dark a place, the other extreme of total paralysis would seem to be equally off the mark.  The Brits during the Blitz (of "Keep Calm and Carry On" fame) were remarkable in trying to maintain normalcy in-between raids; the Israelis are as good as any people in the world at shrugging off attacks without capitulating to the fear.  I think they've got the right idea.  When you move on, you send a message to would-be attackers: we're not going to freak out, so don't get it in your head that you're going to make our society stop in it's tracks. 

It shouldn't slide into callousness, though, totally agree.  You can do both: move on, and be compassionate.  The victims aren't numbers, they're human beings with stories and families, and that goes for innocents here, there, and everywhere.

For me, moving on usually means a visit to this site, my personal great escape.  Plan B is usually Wolverine Historian vids on YouTube, usually wins over Ohio.

This is a much better solution than trying to balance it out.  Programs rise and fall, but we'll be on the same level of difficulty as Ohio regardless.  All we wanted was an even chance, and this is it.

Leaders and Legends, we hardly knew ye.  Actually, I didn't know ye at all.  I deliberately forced myself from remembering which was which, and my stubborn obstinancy has been validated.

Cheers, obstinancy!

so instead of knocking off a convenience store, you can just, you know, buy your smokes and Cheetos or whatever instead of pulling a gun on the clerk.  Does anyone get the feeling this is some new category of "thrill terrorists"?

What a world.  This is why I need Michigan sports as therapy.

"Speight is going long over the middle... the tight end is there!  Helm's deep!"

BOOM!  Tolkien'd!

Woj is reporting that Taylor Lewan will enter 2014 NFL draft.  Anonymous source with knowledge has confirmed.

Actually thought they played better tonight in many ways than against Florida.  What a ride this season has been.  Yes, there is such a thing as a noble defeat, and this was it.  Phenomenal effort against a great opponent playing at an incredibly high level and getting the lion's share of breaks.  

Great representation of Michigan.  

Go Blue

We're all Sparty now, as they say.

"Down in front, mothafucka!"

(see second to last)

That being said, this is easy.  Blue Shirt Guy for the win.

It's indecent.  You should ask someone else to do it.

At 1:00

When they started the replay, I didn't watch, not because my stomach can't take that kind of thing, but because really have a problem with the choice to show it.

I personally think it's an affront to the kid's dignity to show the replay.  We're such a nation of voyeurs that think there's some entitlement to see everything that exists on film, but f that, there's no "right to know" or particular newsworthiness to real-life horror.  This isn't  covering war or a terrorist attack where the carnage is genuinely a part of understanding the scope of the story.

Sure, it impacts the game, but it's the fact he's not going to play that is the newsworthy part, not the nature of the injury.  Certain things are simply over the line.  A bad rolled ankle?  OK, we've probably all been there, makes you cringe but it's not such a huge deal.  Theismann, Lattimore, even Fitz, frankly, were too much.  

Sensationalizing gruesome injuries just pisses me off.  I know (KNOW) no one on this board is going to post a pic or link to a vid.

Arrrgh, media.  Arrrgh, nation of voyeurs.  Best wishes, young man, I hope your surgery and recovery go as well as possible.

start around :30

when I saw the alley-oop in the final couple of minutes.  I was cringing when he tossed it up because it looked like a clear turnover, then suddenly Hops McWhitey jumped off a trampoline or something and almost stuck his whole arm down the cylinder.   Holy crap.  I've watched it 10 times and I still can't believe what I saw.

along the lines of "should we keep RR, or should we hire Brady Hoke?" . I'm pretty sure that debate never existed, but I'll leave it to the historians among us.

I grew up with SI in the household and kept a subscription myself until 1995.  That was when things reached the point where SI forgot to actually have any writers cover the second round of the NBA playoffs, one of the most interesting NBA postseasons ever.  They put Dennis Rodman on the cover and did a profile that didn't mention the ongoing playoffs.  Thought they might at least make a brief mention of Houston becoming the first team in NBA history to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win game 7 on the road vs. Phoenix.  

Maybe it's just me, but I think a weekly sports mag should, you know, cover sporting events played that week.  

Go to 10:03 and watch the glory of this play for the 100th time.  But this time, watch a pretty magnificent effort by bad guy No. 5 flying 50 yards down the middle of the field to chase the not-slow Jeremy Gallon out of bounds.

Does not seem to lack for football speed.  He may turn out to be a total dud, but I will never cease to be amazed at the annual ritual of NFL folks not trusting what they see during football games as much as what they see at this hokey track and field event.

It's fair to provide some feedback of this sort once in a while.  I find myself needing to do some web research now and again on certain memes and cultural references (e.g., "Game, Blouses" came up about 10 times before I Googled it to find out what the hell), but that's fine.  Brian and I are around the same age and I get most of his dated allusions that many younger readers probably miss, so it balances out.  His writing and analysis are brilliant, in my opinion.

The other writers are often fantastic, sometimes a little too cute (the OP probably identified a fair example of such), baseline droll, but I know what I'm getting when I come here.  I have a Rivals subscription and think the two sources complement each other wonderfully.  I go there for straight news and analysis like I'd get from an Uncle who's a company man. It's boring, but it's clear and insightful.  

I come here because it's quirky and eccentric, and the analysis of football has improved my insider knowledge of Xs and Os by leaps and bounds the past few years.  And the discussion boards here are 100x better, funnier, and full of characters I've come to know.

[edit:  after re-reading this post, I decided I really like the phrase "baseline droll" and my goal is to use it in casual conversation at some point later today]

But he's not Rich Eisen fast.

I missed that and had to go back.  A fitting end.  Or it could be played in reverse, with the bird flying into a cage, and we could call the video "OSU second half highlights."

from developing very real, meaningful feelings about him, especially if he pretend dies.  But if he pretend dies, I'm going to carry on posting, because Herm would have wanted it that way if he had been a real person.

BOOM!  TUIASOSOPO'D!!

You did violate the thingie about no politics, but it's a good lunch idea. 

Do you mean Count The Money?

is that on the inside, he's as joyful as Denard.

I believe he was also celebrating a Stauskas 3, but the Buckeye fans in the background didn't approve.

brought in to help losing political candidates with this advice:  you need to appeal to more voters.  

BTW, my recollection is that it was a graduate assistant at Florida, not a cheerleader, but no reliable source to back that up with.  I'm sure his wife could clear up the discrepancy.

some kid had shoes of a different color and decided to spray paint them.  Phew.  Oh well, first world problems and so on yada yada tradition yada yada. 

And they also had one of the better tweets during the blackout:

Re: the Paul Harvey God-made-a-farmer commercial, I thought they were setting it up as an Archer Daniels Midland political ad to continue farm subsidies or something.  In which case, the script should have gone something like:

"So God made a farmer.  And God got angry at the farmer's highly paid lobbyist... and lo, he did strike down the Iowa Running Backs with a vengeance.  And that's the rest of the story."

Blow the play dead immediately if there is a flag thrown in the endzone on the offensive/kicking team so there is no advantage incurred by deliberately committing holds to kill time.

because that's the ball game if you throw it, and there's a plausible handfighting argument (plausible, I said), and we know you just don't get that call without blood being drawn at the end of a game...

...but as a Michigan fan that had to watch that Rose Bowl ref take his flag out then put it back in his pocket on New Year's Day 1998 after the Wash St. receiver shoved Chuck Wood to the ground on the late fly route... I say do your job and throw the laundry.  

At least this one wasn't quite as blatant as that shove.

and just assume he only obstructed turning the lights back on.

this gives the Niners more time to diagram a run up the middle on 3rd and long.

BOOM!  BORGES'd!

I kid, I kid, because I love.

but I'm upvoting anyway because it's the first-ever reference to "racoons scrotum" on MGoBlog of which I'm aware, and I enjoy new things.

so it's not quite clear what the conclusion is, but I don't have the link to the study.  Suspect this is something we won't have an answer until several more cohorts of long, long longitudinal studies are completed.

It was much closer to what we would consider rugby-style tackling today.  I'm not sure that looking at adults who played h.s. football in the 40s and 50s would be particularly illuminating to judge today's risks, where a couple of generations of players have grown up watching "Jacked Up!" videos and think leading with the head is the best way to play the game.

By the way, WSJ being what it is, does tend to call any investigation into workplace or even recreational risks as "nanny statism."  Just take it with a grain of salt.

Oh, and did that study quoted seriously find that there is no greater injury risk in youth football than other sports?  So they're saying kids who play tennis or basketball get injured just as often as football players?  Having played all these growing up... um, there's a credibility issue with that statement.

You're on board with it being a "dick" move, but not with "c*unt".   You're sexist.

And he's a classless asshole.

If Speight and Morris were outside a house and wanted to throw a football into the living room, Morris just winds up and throws it through the wall, but Speight looks like he might just toss it perfectly so it drops right down the chimney.

assuming Morgan can't play is the foul situation with Horford/McGary, especially since we haven't had a 50/50 call go our way in Assembly in probably 30 years.  Watching the IU/Purdue game, Zeller and Co. really attack the hoop with abandon and pick up fouls left and right.  Morgan is more disclipined about defending without fouling than either of those two.  

Was pleasantly surprised at Horford's comfort at finishing on the offensive end-- seems much more natural on offense than McGary's finishes.  

But holy hell, McGary on the boards, I drink to that.  Just wish he'd finish a little stronger so he's not getting blocked cleanly so often.

Really wish tip-off were earlier.  I'll be rigor mortis tense all day.  What a matchup.

when the purveyor of the snake oil actually wears a bona fide wizard hat.

I assure you, non-human proteins can be detected in humans using relatively straightforward ELISA assays on serum.  Maybe not in deer.

The only reason you wouldn't be able to pick it up is if the use was too long ago or it was never absorbed in the first place, which is quite reasonable, because sublingual administration of non-human proteins is not a good way to deliver them.  And that's good news, because let's just take the company at its word (the company with no scientists, just ex-cons selling crap)-- let's assume it's just loaded with IGF-1 that can (1) be absorbed (2) is bioavailable to cells expressing human IGF-1 receptor.

The BEST outcome is that it does nothing.  The more likely outcome is that elevated IGF-1 levels over an extended period of time are likely to cause prostate cancer.  

Holy crap, I can't believe this is still a story. 

Hope this is true, because as a DC resident, a UM game just a few metro stops away in College Park, MD every other year is fairly woo-hoo!  Even trekking up the coast to Joisey would be fairly convenient.  Crummy for traditional matchups against legacy B1G teams, I'll admit.  Also, College Park is a true crime-ridden hell hole.  But still... woo-hoo!

which I would think would dissuade any rational person who doesn't care to hear what RR thinks from clicking to read the thread.  I'll just scroll down now to confirm this.

---pause----

Oy vey.

Putting aside for a moment who said it and for what motivation, one objective truth is that the proposition about many on the team at that time is almost certainly true.  Just sayin'.

10...9...8....7...6...5....

of certificated kittens.

would eventually allow me to shine on an internet message board someday.  That day has arrived.

It's just an abstract and not a full paper, so there's not much to it other than to say that the lab added the gene for IGF protein to skeletal muscle cells and then measured those cells for growth activity using a standard method (it's indirect-- they look for activity at a "transcription factor" called GATA-2 which ordinarily won't get turned from DNA into RNA, so when they see lots of it, they know the muscle cell is turned on).

So "localized IGF transgene expression sustains hypertrophy and regeneration in senescent skeletal muscle" is just a way of saying "we made IGF just in this one type of  non-growing muscle cell and voila, it started getting pumped up like Popeye eating spinach."

Given that they noted using "transgenic embryos," it's a good bet this was done in mice.  Yes, you probably guessed what that means.  Mice are now strong enough to take over the world.

I for one welcome our new murine overlords.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2012/story/_/id/8891779/super-bowl-xlvii...

And just per the Bernard Pollard quote, when I first saw the story, I thought he was referring to the collective future weight of lawsuits eventually dragging the NFL down.  The thought that the NFL will cease to exist someday because it isn't violent enough, to me, is off in fringe survivalist zombie apocalypse land somewhere as a real concern.

So, to your Q's:

1.  Yes, with reservations and encouragement to go with a sport you can play your whole life instead

2.  see above re: Pollard

3.  I think they're on the right track with taking away launching and moving closer to rugby-style tackling (I played h.s. football and college rugby, and had concussions in both, generally speaking the rugby tackling was more form-conscious and still very physical)

1.  "conference expansion" [in any context]

2.  This

3.  MOAR

4.  I CAN HAZ

5.  "NCAA close to announcing Miami sanctions"

But mostly "This"

They both get an inordinate number of layup attempts blocked, but Morgan at least has some slippery moves to get around under the opposite side of the basket for a layup.  McGary elevates so poorly I get the sense we're going to see many more of his shots get blocked.  Maybe by next year, after extensive off-season weights and such, we'll see him go up and finish with more authority?  Would also love, love to seem him work on a little baby hook, because he establishes such great position down low.

Love 'em both.  Agree with the consensus: keep starting Morgan and bring in McGary for oomph/spark and such, and probably roughly equal total minutes.  

Really pulling for Tree to make a roster.  Figures to be a bit of an uphill battle b/c his 40 time, but his hands, route running, blocking, and just about everything else are so solid one would think plenty of teams could use him.  The number of drive-killing drops in the NFL is ridiculous for players at that level.  Give me a reliable pair of hands anyday.

Also, Daffy Duck voice.

When you sign up to play for Notre Dame, aren't you more or less agreeing to a blanket, omnibus media shitstorm?  It's like dating Lindsey Lohan and griping about all the chaos and papparazzi.   

How is it that not one acquaintance, co-worker, roommate, friend, or family member of the girl in the co-opted photographs happened to see her picture all over the news in September?  Wouldn't someone have seen this story and said "uh... that girl ain't named Lennay, she isn't Manti Te'o's girlfriend, and she's definitely not dead"?

At least if MY picture showed up on the news as being romantically linked to a football player, and also dead, I'd kinda hope one of my buds would do me a solid and forward a link with the subject "for your immediate review."

But now that I think about it, it's been exclusively online, and he always has an excuse for why he can't meet up.  Man, do I feel stupid.  

At least my girlfriend Kate will give me some sympathy.  We're long-distance, but she sent me this pic, and is pretty smokin' hot:

you still talk to them on the phone once in a while, for conjugal phone visits and whatnot in a pinch.  That way, even if you're talking to a 20 year old who turns out to be a 56 year old, at least you're still in the right ballpark with gender.  It's called "voice verify," kids.

I mean, um, a friend told me this.  I assume it to be true since I don't even use the interweb.

I'm on record right now as predicting a Lennay Kekua Foundation comes out of this.

http://youtu.be/Wc4LG33HFq4?t=1m29s

I forgot what the post was about.

Oh yeah, Oregon, Chip Kelly, Eagles.  Interesting, that.

how come I've never seen one of her entries get bumped to the front page?

And have a grand total of zero discussion thread posts to my credit.  I never read them, period.  I like Rivals for the straight news, and for the fact they separate out their speculation/whispers/rumors (usually in the "Inside the Fort" segments) about recruiting and such from their "straight" columns.    I find the discussion threads here to be much more fun, have a better sense of humor and esprit-de-corps, and generally agree with the consensus views more often than not.

Rivals does tend to be a bit more of a company line and never really questions the wisdom of the establishment the way Brian does-- and I think there's a place for both.  I guess you could say I read one for the party line, and one for dissent, and feel I've gotten a balanced picture at the end of the day.

I wish they'd get a better copy checker for the articles as they're often typo-ridden, but other than that, I'm pretty happy with it as a compliment to the content on MGoBlog, enough to keep paying the not-insubstantial price tag.

that the verb you thought of was "marry."  That so.... Utah of you.

esp. considering he achieved the near-impossible by being as good as he was without the benefit of all the reps, but if Gardner had been a bit more accurate on a few of those throws, we might have been looking at an all-time great performance by Gallon in the Outback.  Talking 200+ yards and 3TDs, maybe-- might have been up there with the Braylon Game.

will do a mashup of his plays vs. Clowney when it's time to negotiate the contract.

Would have said they should throw his ownage of Gholston on the tape as well, but the dude has fallen so far off the scale, it doesn't really prove anything anymore.

and probably earned a couple of million extra bucks over the course of the afternoon.  

On the optimistic side, Schofield came in and did a pretty decent job for a couple of series.  Is the thinking he goes to LT next year and Magnusson or another RS Frosh goes to RT, or something else?

That's affirmative, captain.

over Borges' second-half decision-making in the Ohio loss, and I've ripped him whenever I got the chance this season, but I have to hand it to him.  I thought he had a smart, creative game plan and deserved the win.  

When Devin has a whole spring/summer/fall as the No. 1 guy, with all those reps, he'll be a sight to behold and won't leave those same plays sitting on the field next year (e.g., all those throws to an open Gallon).  Borges put him in a position to make plays, and that's all you can ask the OC to do.  Gardner has so much natural ability, it's just a matter of polishing him up and we're in business.

Got Clowney'd at the end, but the dude is an NFL Pro Bowler playing on the wrong level, so it was bound to happen sooner or later.

Well done, Gorgeous Al.  Look forward to next year.

A lifetime of rooting for Michigan, and I've never found myself rooting for a single individual as much as I've come to root for Denard.  I was at the Western game for that amazing first play ever, at the UConn game for his breakout first start, at Under The Lights where I lost my voice, and many other great moments.

My favorite player of all time.  Will miss you, man.  Good luck in The League.

and say that we're looking for 2012 Iowa Borges, not 2011 Iowa Borges.  Because 2012>>>>2011.  What a fiasco that was.

Or are you just saying that?

"And you landed on 'McLovin'?"

"Yeah, it was between that and Mohammed."

"Why the fuck would it be between that and Mohammed?  Why didn't you just pick a common name?"

"Mohammed is the most common name on Earth, read a fucking book."

if you're going to piss on people, a high horse is probably the best place to be.  Or a tall horse, anyway, not the Western Michigan "high horse" mascot.

To wit:

Jeebus, that is one seriously high horse.

doesn't that suggest that he cares at least a modest amount?  Which he plainly doesn't?

I made the call.

technically, this should be titled "Hello, again, again"

completely missed GR getting whacked in the head as he went in the for the dunk-- at first glance, I thought it was just a graze, but you can really see his head snap back.  Ouch.

to drop a Dooce in the middle of a thread.

I would have guessed about 6 to 7.