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15 years 9 months
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Recent Comments

Date Title Body
Oh god

Let's not make fun of bad punting outcomes, no?

Alum If you are talking about Phelps, no, he isn't an alum. He came to Ann Arbor to train but never represented Michigan and only took classes because he had to in order to train with the team.
Times

Are times comparable across competitions in crew? Or do the conditions of each race make a big difference? That is, could one plug in the times from the race Michigan won and compare to the IRA final?

Most irreplaceable typo

in mgoblog history has to be "noise tackle"

Agreed

I think later in the voting we'll get an upset alert there. That flat, full-handed clap is subtly fantastic.

Chalk

People out here voting all chalk. Weak.

IMPORTANT SOFTBALL-RELATED QUESTION

Tomorrow is my first game as coach of my son's little league team. Is there a gender-neutral term for first baseman? I've never thought of it before, but I don't want to subliminallly crush the dreams of the girls on the team--especially because one is like our best player. In women's softball how are the players who play 1B, 2B, and 3B referred to? Help a sensitive Michigan Man out!

one-credit geology classes

Do they still have Dinosaurs and Other Failures? If you aren't sure, ask one of the hockey players; they'll know for sure.

Whateva Man

I think Redman could at least recruit well in Jersey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUuQwFvhSpk

Fab Five II

There was another class in those intervening 20 years, that had much less success than the Fresh Five: https://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1343962 Yet another reason, regardless of what you think of recruiting since then, to count the blessings of the last few years.

Really surprising

I'm blown away that harbaugh was not only the only sucessful NFL player, but really the only one on the list with any sort of NFL career at all.

Hmmm...

Remember when Beilein survived longer than another former WVa coach because he scrapped his system and adapted? http://mgoblog.com/content/known-unknowns-hoke-and-guys-west-virginia

Winter sports

I was on a winter sports team. I was home for Christmas once--and that was when our winter break practice location and schedule allowed us to fly home for a weekend. I had two spring breaks, but most of my teammates had none. I got to go home for Thanksgiving twice. There were classes I wanted to take but couldn't because they overlapped with practice time. I got up for practice on Saturday when kids on my dorm had only just gotten home. The point is, no D-1 college athlete has a normal college experience. And none would trade any of it for a week in Cancun.

TV? Where is that screen shot from? Is this being televised already?
and

manage to make honoring a scholarship offer sound like a horrible thing

"written"

The pieces on the Players Tribune are glorified press releases. Regardless of who actually wrote them, it's kind of a joke http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/09/derek-jeter-kevin-durant-deputy-publisher-players-tribune

Travel When I was in school the athletic department flew our team to Australia, Hawaii, and Colorado for training. It was allowed so long as we had a competition before we got back home (not necessarily at the destination and often perfunctory; once it was against one high school student). I don't know the language of the rule, but I imagine that's why the trip is allowed.





sidebar

Is he playing against the Kowboys with a K in that picture? Obviously endorsed by Krusty the Klown, right? How was this questionable level of competition not addressed in the write-up?

So close I really wish the title of this post was Where to Watch The Game in Denver When You're Dead
Air Force scholarship offer

There are no scholarships to service academies--because there is no tuition.

Manufactured rivalry

My brother went to Penn State, and it has been hilarious to listen to him complain about Maryland trying to manufacture a rivalry with Penn State.

Disappointing

Needs more Nefarious Eduardo, IMO.

YOUTUBE KNOWS IT IS GAME DAY

On the season finale of Mr. Robot last night there was an Alabama Shakes song. I looked it up today so I could listen on YouTube. Great song, so I just let the rest of the play list go while I'm working. I looked at the play list, and naturally there's some Black Keys and Lumineers and Mumford and Sons. But tucked in the middle of all that, there's the end of the 2011 UTL and a hype video called "The Team! The Team! The Team!." That is to say, EVEN YOUTUBE KNOWS WHAT DAY IT IS!

The Embassy?

If you know someone at the Embassy, that would be your best bet.

On Amazon now Keep an eye on Slate for assistance with watching as unintentional comedy
level of competition

Someone suggested Plocki over Golder because there is more competition in women's gynmastics. I'll second that and suggest Jon Urbanchek over Matt Mann for the same reason. The Ivys and B1G dominated swimming when Mann was there. Urbs (and yes, he is Urbs--not the football coach down south) winning a national title and keeping Michigan in the top 10 nationally is much more impressive when he was doing it, when all of the sprinters (who win in college) went to warm-weather schools--just like what Hutchinson has done in softball. (That's also why Bottom was such a great hire for Michigan. He is one of the best sprint coaches in the world, and Jon was able to stick around to help him "install the spread offense.') Jon's record internationally--putting medal-winning swimmers on national and Olympic teams--is also even more impressive than his college record.

Jersey Update

Did anyone else instinctively recoil and expect someone looking like a bumblebee under the "More Jersey Updates" heading? Dave Brandon, look what you've done.

NIT environment

I sat a few seats down from Robert Traylor's grandmother when Michigan played Oklahoma State, I think, in the NIT ages ago. That was a fantastic basketball environment.

Laettner vs. Hill

Grant Hill was the one who blew up when the Fab FIve doc first came out and wrote an whined in the NYT: http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/grant-hills-response-to-jal…

Laettner wasn't so upset when he didn't have his own movie to promote: http://www.sportsgrid.com/ncaa-basketball/christian-laettner-responds-t…

 

Relays Relays being double means that sprinters are really important to college swimming. That was traditionally a weakness for Michigan, until Bottom--one of the best sprint coaches in the world--showed up.
IU swimming In the 1970s, Indiana dominated. Mark Spitz went to IU. Their coach, Doc Councilman, was one of the all time greats. I think they were on probation for awhile--using scholarships from other sports for swimmers. But they were loaded.
sprinters?

I'm still blown away that we scored more in the 50 than the 500.

B1G swimming

Before expansion B1G had a really high percentage of schools with swim teams--only Illinois men missing. Even with the newcomers, we're still arguably the best at 10 men and 13 women out of 14 total schools. To compare the big 5 conferences: SEC: 10 men, 12 women out of 14. ACC: 10 men, 13 women out of 15.  Pac 12: 6 men, 8 women out of 12. Big 12: 3 men and 5 women out of 10.

Shoes

Michigan basketball should always wear black shoes.

pass

Carroll said that they were trying to waste a play, to keep the last timeout and run it later. So, yeah, mind fucked by Bellichek sounds about right. http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/seattle-seahawks-super-bowl-pete-carroll-russell-wilson-bruce-irvin-020115

Traditonally Ohio State has the second most NCAA team titles (behind Michigan), but none since 1962. OSU hadn't been a national power--or even a B1G title contender, for that matter--for awhile, but has become a much stronger program in the last 10 years or so.
My own vitriol

I wrote about this at Slate (http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2014/09/brady_hoke_mich… not a comprehensive look at the whole situation, but my two cents on Saturday. It wasn't fun on Saturday to have to explain to my son why everyone on the TV was mad at Michigan.

DC B1G

Last night was BTN night at the Nationals game. There were lots of boos when the stadium announcer mentioned Jim Delaney's name (he wasn't there) and, it seemed, the Big Ten in general.

a2

in addition to zingerman's for lunch, get a burger at blimpy buger and have breakfast on sunday morning at angelo's.  is pizza bob's still on state st.?  get a milkshake there if it's still around.  do they still have dollar dogs on hoover after games?  get one of those if they do.  rick's is fun if you are just out of college, but more grown up bars and restaurants are on main street.

sorry in advance

it's "pique his interest" not "peak his interest."  sorry.  i was a teacher; i can't help it.

i could swear i remember i could swear i remember banners for unofficial national titles before 1921, but i could be wrong. illinois does not have a men's program anymore, but iowa does. they have recently become state's only chance to finish in the top 10, but they have caps and goggles and everything. if you are going to write about the history of men's swimming, i'd spend a lot less time on dual meet records--which look impressive, but are ultimately unimportant--and a lot more time on the international success of the program. particularly recently, michigan's focus on distance swimming made it tough to succeed in the sprint relay-centric NCAA world (that might change with mike bottom) but the olympic and world success of the program has been pretty impressive. also, minnesota is probably the biggest rival now, although we will always hate indiana. thanks for putting swimming in the mgolimelight!
swimming the women's swim team wears these (http://www.mgoblue.com/swimming-diving-w/article.aspx?id=171228) great winged swim caps from time to time. that's the best picture i could find in a 15 second search, but i think you get the, um, picture.