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It's the great Michigan…

It's the great Michigan academics double standard again. If an athlete were to attend Michigan as a freshman with SAT/ACT scores well below what the average student needs for admission, that's OK if the kid goes into one of Michigan's academic program.  But if a kid transfers into the same program from other universities, sorry, your credits from another school are worthless.

If you were an up and coming coach, would you accept the Michigan job with one hand tied behind your back due to the academic roadblock to say nothing about NIL money?

Successful use of the portal can rebuild  program quickly but not if the deck is stacked against you as it is at Michigan. This program will be starting at ground zero.

I thought this was the best…

I thought this was the best game against top competition, start to finish, Michigan played all year.  If they can continue to play future games like they did last night, they are going to be hard to beat. 

Megumin, I think your…

Megumin, I think your synopsis is accurate,

I finished watching the series last night.  I thought the depiction of Brady's trip to Michigan and his history was fairly accurate.  From what I have heard, he almost left Michigan.  There is the story with pictures about the episode relating to fan appreciation and how Brady had almost no one in his line while Drew Henson had a long line.

I also thought  that the story of how Brady and Bill Belichick grew apart was likely an accurate depiction of what took place.

Maybe Alford likes winning…

Maybe Alford likes winning...hasn't happened in Columbus for quite a while.

I don't think you need to be…

I don't think you need to be an insider to realize that in addition to the players having checked out, so have a majority of the fans. An empty Crisler and no one watching on TV is not a good thing when it comes time to pay the bills.

In this day and age where major college sports are all about the money, the revenue stream may talk loudly.

Having a lesser team win…

Having a lesser team win happens periodically.  It's been happening in the B1G West for as long as I can remember  the B1G with divisions.

What I like about it is that there is competition in the conference right up to the last game or two.

There is no way a team like PSU, having lost to us and OSU, should have another opportunity to be in a playoff.  That is going to be the case with probably 2/3 of the teams that are selected.

I'm one of those people who has thought less is more when it comes to the playoffs.  That Michigan-OSU game every year was for all the marbles.  Going forward that will no longer be the case. While my anxiety level may be lower, the importance of the game will be diluted.

Have a conference playoff. …

Have a conference playoff.  Do something akin to the NFL model of four team divisions and have the division winners play.  It would have been easier with sixteen teams.  Or go to 20 and have five team divisions with four divisions or 24 teams and six divisions.  Have the winners of the SEC and B1G play each other,

If you had 24 team conferences, you could have 12 teams in a playoff that matters and then the winners from each conference play.  

And if ND is not in one of those conferences, they can tune in and watch.

I think Klatt calls it right…

I think Klatt calls it right on lots of issues.  I listen to many of his podcasts and almost always agree with his perspective.

When you go 15-0 and 40-3 over the last three years, there are a lot of positives or you would not have had that level of success.

If you sued that miserable…

If you sued that miserable organization and included a TRO, I'd bet you would win.

A kid wants to go back to college and get better educated while playing for another year.

How Awufl!

I could write a long list of things that could be worse.

The NCAA is a dumpster fire that needs to meet a quick demise.

JJ's accomplishments speak…

JJ's accomplishments speak for themselves.  College football fans are a fickle bunch, particularly when they have had gotten their asses kicked the last few years.

I believe JJ has all the tools to be an excellent pro.  Let us not forget, he is only 21, If you want to talk about toughness, the Maryland game is an example of just how tough he is.  

Time will tell of course, but JJ has all the tools, the physical skills and the intangibles that are much harder to develop.

I would not bet against him.

If not them, who, Warde? …

If not them, who, Warde?  Ono?  

i have to believe that it wouldn't be Ono.  The direction being taken for the football and basketball programs' handling of NIL likely involves the top leadership of the University including legal, the AD and the ultimate decision makers - the Regents - a bunch of largely older people who fail to see how the athletic world has changed after the Supreme Court handed down its opinion re NIL. 

With Michigan's stance on…

With Michigan's stance on NIL and our policies on transfer students, I'd suggest that our regents  have exhibited dysfunction with respect to a few areas of college athletics. 

If cost were not part of the…

If cost were not part of the equation, would DJ's have the better product?

Zingermans also makes crullers and they are the best I have ever tasted.  I think they were $4.

The last two years have gone…

The last two years have gone from bad to worse.  Sometimes things just don't work out and this is one of those times.  There is no justification for Manuel to give Juwan another year. The program has reached embarrassment stage.

Between the results, Juwan's temper issues and now Sanderson leaving after a long, successful stint working with the program maintaining a status quo would be hard to justify.

I say this with no malice of any kind towards Juwan.  His tears of joy when he got the coaching job were very real, the tears of someone who loves his alma mater.  I am sure the pain he feels is deeper than ours. Having said that, change is necessary.

Devin yes, but Denard was…

Devin yes, but Denard was never an accurate passer in HS...something in the mid 40% range if I remember right.  He did a bit better at Michigan but his passing skills were limited (relatively speaking.)  I always saw him as a slot receiver who would get lots of usage because of his running ability once he had the ball in his hands.

If you don't like snakes,…

If you don't like snakes, particularly venomous snakes, a good portion of the US is off the map.  .

It might be the taxes but it…

It might be the taxes but it sure as hell isn't the weather, Take 23 into Ohio and the road quality is instantly smooth and well maintained as soon as you leave Michigan.  I've driven through Iowa and Nebraska many times and have visited much of the Midwest on business and you just don't see the same problems as Michigan.  Whitmer's efforts have helped a bit but there is still a long way to go.

For a quality town, Ann Arbor roads seem to be some of the worst to say nothing about the unpaved roads in Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County.  

I say it all depends. After…

I say it all depends. After I finished my education, and this goes back a bit, I took two years off and moved to Aspen where I skied almost every day from Thanksgiving to mid-April.  I had skied for six years before then and was a decent skier. I started skiing shortly after college graduation. 

I like lessons, particularly group lessons.  Obviously group lessons are a bit more generic than private lessons but I found them lots of fun and met lots of fun people.  In Aspen, they used to have inexpensive clinics in January  for local people who were advanced skiers.  I took weeks of them over the time I lived there and afterwards.  A good ski school will place you in a group consistent with your ability.  Some folks advance faster than others.

As for snowboarding and skiing, I have done both.  As an expert skier it took three days of lessons and lots of butt time on the snow to get the hang of snowboarding.  I snowboarded for a while but then went back to skiing, not that I didn't like snowboarding but it seemed like I had reached an ability peak which I never felt skiing.

Both of my kids started skiing at age three and before they were teenagers were excellent skiers.  They switched over to snowboarding for a couple of years but both went back to skiing.

I recently moved from Ann…

I recently moved from Ann Arbor,  What I always liked about the town was that an awful lot of good things were very easy to get to including the Stadium, Yost and other athletic facilities. Until you need it, you don't appreciate how nice it is to have world class healthcare a few minutes away.  The food scene is obviously quite good for a small city.

If they would only fix the Fing roads.

 

Globe Life Field is a…

Globe Life Field is a beautifully done indoor stadium where the World Series winner Texas Rangers play in Arlington, TX, which is part of the Dallas Metroplex.  There is also the old Rangers stadium close by.   

The weather should be beautiful although if they are indoors, it won't matter. 70's and 80's which is only 20+ degrees above normal for this time of year.  

Very true, BKBlue,…

Very true, BKBlue, particularly when Michigan's war chest is a mere pittance compared to many schools including OSU.

I thought that things might change after Signgate and the the way Petitti treated Michigan.  I guess not.  Not only are we going back to falling on our sword instead of fighting as has been our history but our Regents are living in another age.  In the business world a dysfunctional board of directors can be voted out.

Maybe we should be looking at getting some new and more modern thinking regents elected.

This year was an exception…

This year was an exception until the 4th quarter of the NC game when we got tired of Washington hanging around.  Over the years too many playoff games are blowouts.

The problem with so many teams is you will get lots of bad games.  It has seemed for quite some time that only a handful of teams are at an elite level and even then, perhaps only one or two teams are truly elite. 

Don't know about anyone else but for my family December is a month where we have many social engagements to say nothing of how the NFL plays Saturday games on a couple of weekends. 16 teams?  Are they planning on playing four games the same day? How is this going to work?

 I think the best way to do a playoff would be to have the first few rounds in each conference to crown a conference championship.  Then have the conference winners do a four team playoff like what we have experienced for several years now.

And if ND is not in a conference, then screw 'em.  Do like everyone else or forfeit your right to participate.

A couple of things…

A couple of things scheduling can do.  Obviously a harder schedule could keep you out of playoffs and a loss of the financial upside as well as recruiting advantages that go with it.  A weak schedule keeps viewership down.  This last point doesn't mean much in a conference with equal revenue sharing, but I'd make a bet that when it comes time to pay players, revenue may be increased as a function of viewership.

We have a hard schedule and…

We have a hard schedule and OSU has the second easiest schedule and I'm sober enough to wonder if the fix is in.  This difference in strength of schedule makes me wonder again why we want to continue to be part of the B1G.  

Is this another way Tony Petitti sticks it to Michigan?  Where the F is Warde when it comes to making his voice heard?

I suspect many players have…

I suspect many players have opportunities to leave which they don't exercise.  It continues to feel that Michigan is still fighting with one hand tied behind its back due to the continued presence of Manuel and a bunch of Regents still living in another time.

Speaking of Manuel, I just received from our AD an email catching me up on Michigan Athletics including the latest bit on NIL.

I hear you.  I was and…

I hear you.  I was and remain incredibly angry about the way signgate went down.  It besmirches a team that was where it was because of talent and hard work along with tarnishing the reputation of my university.  It seriously pains me to be called a cheater.

I have no love for Ryan Day and the rest of the coaches who joined him with Petitti.  Letting it go gets us nowhere. I wonder how those schools would feel if their TV revenue were reduced by 1/5.

Having said that, you are right. Negative thoughts are not a good thing to hold on to but I have never been good turning the other cheek when I feel I have been unjustly wronged.  After cursing out Petiti I went on to celebrate. It took a week to get the smile off my face.

With the new playoff…

With the new playoff schedule, teams playing in those games will skew the average viewership numbers way up.  If you included Michigan's two playoff games in those weekly averages, I suspect Michigan would have .been at the top.

During the middle of the signgate mess someone posted the percentages of viewership each team in the B1G was contributing to the conference total.  I think OSU was at 22% and Michigan at 18% and then things fell off quickly, even with PSU.

What this tells me is that from a financial perspective, if you really want to make the big dollars, you need to create a superconference from within college football and say goodbye to the B1G.

I'm in the Windows world at…

I'm in the Windows world at work but for everything else it is a Macbook Pro, iPhone and iPad.  Working on the same platform makes everything easy, although going back and forth to something on Windows is NORMALLY not an issue.

What Petitti did will never…

What Petitti did will never be over for me.  Screw that MFer.

I was at the NC game in Houston.  When the scoreboard went down to zero and we were the champs, after hugging my son, another Michigan alum, the first words I said were "screw you, Tony Petitti!"

I remain of the opinion that there is no reason to stay in the B1G and if we do stay, we should be asking for our fair share of revenue.

Fully agree.  JH pissed me…

Fully agree.  JH pissed me off by taking a few people who could have stayed at UM, like an S&C coach, but Harbaugh put in nine years and got us the ultimate prize which I never expected to see.

I wish him well.  I'll probably follow the Chargers more closely now than before.

I'm not sure how state laws…

I'm not sure how state laws could protect donors in Southern states from from Federal tax liability if donations were deducted and the entity receiving the gift didn't have Federal charitable status.

I was thinking of a $100…

I was thinking of a $100 million gift and go from there.  Endowment funds are typically invested a a certain percentage of the fund is distributed annually.  It would take some work but over a few years there would be lots of money being generated annually.  

The advantages this would provide would be significant as you wouldn't have to go begging every year once your funding is established.

Don't share this with your…

Don't share this with your insurance agent - your rates could rise.

I believe Ross has given…

I believe Ross has given slightly less than half a billion to U of M.

I have thought for a while that one way to pay players would be to set up an endowment specifically for that purpose.  A $100 million gift to the endowment would be a good start,  A couple of generous donors could give Michigan great recruiting and player retention advantages.

You need someone with a vision running the show to do something different and better, and our current regents along with our AD may have other ideas, or no ideas,

Couldn't agree more...so…

Couldn't agree more...so what do we do to expedite having Manuel removed?

That's the bottom line.

 

EDIT:  Where do the U of M Regents fit into this picture?

For me, in addition to…

For me, in addition to looking at the price, it is always about the quality of the image.  Seems that while there is a fair amount of 4K content available on various networks, when you compare what we get streaming to the 4K content on a 4k Blu-ray, it is night and day. 

I like YTTV and would have subscribed some time ago but the quality is not great. Quality images (and sound) take more bandwidth and that seems to be in short supply. 

Even with a salary cap,…

Even with a salary cap, would a player not be able to earn money outside of his "employment" as a student-athlete? 

As an example, we see Pat Mahomes and Kelce in all sorts of ads these days for which they are handsomely compensated.  I simply can't envision players voting to exclude outside income.

I think you hit the magic…

I think you hit the magic button with the word "expectations,"  Four years ago, no one would have expected we would go 40-3 over the next three years, beat OSU three times, win the B1G three times and the National Championship. In terms of Michigan fandom, that's like marrying the homecoming queen on a perfect June day and hearing you won the largest lottery in history all rolled into one. 

It simply can't be any better than that...ever again.  We could match that but it would likely be impossible to beat.

We got incredibly lucky.  A great coach, great players who stayed together through thick and thin, many of whom played way above their recruiting rankings and were part of a group that came on-board before NIL at a University bucking the trend of spending money to get the best talent.

The coaches are largely gone, many of the superstars are gone and our schedule next year is going to be difficult. I'm OK with that.  I'm OK with what happens next.

The bottom line for me is in 2023 - 2024 we climbed Everest and came back down intact.  I was at the National Championship game with one of my Michigan alumni sons.  The last three years might be equaled but will never be exceeded.  My son and I have memories which will last a lifetime and I feel truly fortunate to have been a part of being a Michigan fan when we were the very best.

I can't speak for how things…

I can't speak for how things are in the inner circles of Michigan Athletics, but as someone who follows the goings on within Michigan athletics from the outside,  if things are hunky-dory, it would totally shock me.  

Manuel, IMO, is an incompetent hack who has managed to survive because of what largely preexisted before Manuel showed up.  Hackett brought Harbaugh to Ann Arbor, Beilein was there, Red was running hockey, Bakich was coaching baseball.

Harbaugh is gone, Howard without Beilein's players is a disaster, Bakich is gone and hockey remains a question mark - all under Manuel's watch.

I remain unconvinced that JH left solely to chase a Superbowl trophy.

NIL is a mess.

Warde Manuel needs to go and the sooner the better.

 

Because you can do something…

Because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

The Denard piece, written in…

The Denard piece, written in 2021, is a good read.  I assume Denard remains part of the Michigan recruiting staff?

Why does the University of…

Why does the University of Michigan and every other institution continue to have a relationship with this corrupt, inept organization.

Does the NCAA  have something untoward on every president?

We won the NC with players…

We won the NC with players who largely arrived before the NIL decisions and with a great head coach and some very fine assistants.  Perhaps Moore will be able to match that but I'm not holding my breath.

That great coach may have love for his alma mater but with the people he is taking, Herbert in particular,it's a bit difficult not to do some head scratching.

 The piece was well done and…

 The piece was well done and seems from the heart.  I was glad to hear that Donovan was the kid we all thought and hoped he was.

LOL...only 12.3% after 698K…

LOL...only 12.3% after 698K.  Add federal, state and Medicare and more than half his income goes to taxes.

JH may be taking deferred compensation and will be in a more tax friendly state down the road.  Some of that income may be put into certain retirement plans but funding amounts there are limited to about 300K annually.

He will be paying dearly for the sunshine.

So much for my love of Jim…

So much for my love of Jim Harbaugh.  It basically disintegrated after this move.  To be fair, maybe Herbert didn't want to be here but he signed a five year contract last year.  It is common knowledge that S&C coaches have a lesser role in the NFL than they do in college because many of the pros have their own personal trainers. 

This one hurts.

 You can't exist as an elite…

 You can't exist as an elite program with "diamonds" as a primary recruiting tool.  Some of those players will not turn out to be diamonds.

Even 5* or highly ranked 4* players may not reach their potential, but the odds are in their favor. JJ, Blake, Will Johnson, Donovan - all were highly ranked.

And of course NIL money.  The regents and others who are living in another time, need to get their heads out of their butts and realize that the game has changed.  We got very lucky with team 145, many of whom came on board before NIL and also had unusual team chemistry.

Hopefully, Sherrone is the…

Hopefully, Sherrone is the second coming of Harbaugh and then some, but is that not an overly exuberant expectation?

If one were to look up the backgrounds of each coach, it is truly night and day.  JH did very well as a college and pro player; SM has a small resume of collegiate accomplishments and that is being kind.  JH had a long and successful career as an NFL QB,  SM never played in the NFL.

JH's coaching career has been long and successful at every level including many years as a head coach.  SM's Michigan tenure as a position coach and then an OC has been excellent but short.  It is easy to attribute wins at PSU, MD and OSU to SM, but Harbaugh oversaw the whole script and put it together.

Another item is NIL money.  Many of the players on Team 144 were there before NIL. It is going to be harder to compete down the road with the attitude the University has about spending money.  

Would I be surprised if Coach Moore has the same success as Harbaugh?  Yes and here's hoping I am very wrong.

So true...I believe in the…

So true...I believe in the Harbaugh concept of meritocracy.  I could care less if every coach were black or white as long as they were the best persons for the job.  If that's Coach Moore, I am behind him 100%.

NIL causes inequality.  Some…

NIL causes inequality.  Some institutions have lots of money and some don't, That isn't going to change.

Michigan has lots of money available if it were to choose to spend large sums, but chooses to walk a different path.

From a legal standpoint, I see no easy way of avoiding antitrust issues short of setting up a union like the NFLPA. That would present its own set of problems, particularly when conferences share revenue equally - a horrible mistake if you are Michigan or OSU.

The biggest problem Michigan faces is its inability to separate the academic side of the institution from the athletic side.