Der Alte

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Date	Title	Body
2 weeks 2 days ago	Section 20, row 87	Season tickets there for 25 years, saw a lot of great football --- direct sight lines to the south endzone, and high enough to see almost everything at the north end (with binocs). Desmond Howard's 1991 "The Catch" was a little hard to see because it was at the northeast corner of the endzone and these seats, as you know, are toward the southwest corner. I was convinced Grbac had thrown the ball too far. I lost sight of Desmond as ND defenders swarmed around him. I thought "no way could he have caught that." Then people in that corner of the stadium began whooping and hollering, the official raised both his hands in the air, and the rest is history. I only get up to AA for one or two games a year these days, but when I do I always glance over to s20 and see if I can find my "old row."
2 weeks 2 days ago	Take a Breath	Well the SEC and ESPN --- the last and biggest pieces of the college athletics puzzle --- have finally consummated their marriage.  This seems an appropriate time for college presidents and athletic departments to step back and assess where college athletics is and where it's going. Netflix just posted strong 1Q profits from --- in part --- renting movies over the Internet. Video streaming technology will only improve and, as more people sign up for it, more businesses will get into that market, given that the entry costs are not that daunting. Amazon is already in, and Apple, with more money that God, has to be looking at the video streaming market very closely.  And new-technology, new-product cycles are now so rapid that no one really knows how soon the day will come when consumers will ditch cable (many already have) and download and watch (and pay for) only what they want when they want it. The point here is that the business model on which the current college football cable TV networks are premised seems more and more like one from the VHS-era rather than the content-on-demand world unfolding before us. As we learned from the housing crash just a few years ago, nothing is so hot that it can't eventually cool down. It just might be that the SEC and ESPN signed their deal at the very height of the college athletics-cable network boom.
2 weeks 4 days ago	All-Kraut All-BIG recruits	Speight , Berger , Wiegers , Apke , Ulmer, und mein haupt (main) Mann, Pierschbacher! Geh' Blau!
2 weeks 4 days ago	Merci beaucoup . . .	for eliminating the Fighting Irish from your Big Ten rankings. They now reside in another conference (sort of) with their own schedule, which soon will not include the Wolverines. Notre Dame is totally irrelevant to any conference rankings you'd want to post.
3 weeks 3 days ago	Der Alte	Points are kinda like size --- doesn't really matter how big, it's what you do with 'em that counts.
3 weeks 5 days ago	Good for Blake	John B wouldn't use a scarce scholarship just to bring Blake back for a fifth year of scout team duty.  Blake undoubtedly understands this, and given his extra year of eligibility, hopes to land someplace where, as others have pointed out, he might play his way into a European gig. A win-win all around.
4 weeks 3 days ago	Mary Sue	From engineering about as good a resolution to the BB scandal as anyone could hope for to raising a gazillion dollars for Michigan, Mary Sue has been a fine president. Yes, we had that little 3-year hiccup with the wrong FB coach, but we can't blame that all on her. Mr. Martin had a lot to do with it. Best of luck to her as she enters her "golden years."
4 weeks 3 days ago	Eyes Wide Open	THJr perhaps more than anyone is aware of the uncertainties that await him as he enters the NBA draft. Most agree --- as do I --- that another year at M would not have appreciably improved his draft prospects. He has gone through the NBA vetting process and apparently is encouraged enough --- or not discouraged enough --- to feel he has a realistic chance to catch on with one of the 30 teams in the league. No doubt dad has counseled him as well. And dad attended almost every game, sitting there in his "M" stocking cap, watching his son play. One would hope that if THJr truly lacked an NBA-level skillset, dad would have been the first to tell him. I hope he makes it.
4 weeks 5 days ago	Famous Namesake	No doubt named for Blaise Pascal, the 17th-century French mathematician and philosopher who was one of the distant fathers of today's computers. Best of luck, Blaise. Regardless of how your football fortunes turn out, your college education will be among the best obtainable.
4 weeks 5 days ago	Fade to Green then to Black	For me, Notre Dame has become a subject of increasing irrelevance. I don't care if they are sort of in the ACC or sort of independent, or what they do. Now that they've dropped M from their schedule in the next year or two they can do whatever, and that includes who does the play-by-play for their irrelevant football games. Who cares?
5 weeks 4 days ago	Well that was kinda my thought	Darius's NBA stats:   Career Season Averages Year Team G GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% OFF DEF RPG APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG 11-12 LAL 19 0 8.9 0.429 0.444 0.667 0.1 0.7 0.8 1.1 0.1 0.0 1.00 0.84 2.4 12-13 LAL 46 17 14.1 0.389 0.365 0.649 0.5 0.7 1.1 1.5 0.5 0.0 0.93 1.13 4.1 Career -- 65 17 12.6 0.396 0.375 0.652 0.4 0.7 1.0 1.4 0.4 0.0 0.95 1.05 3.6 This year he's averaging <40% from the floor and about 4 PPG. Gotta wonder whether the Lakers will resign him. And the point is that he was a great college PG. So take note, all you Kobe-wannabes: as good as you were in college, you might not make it in the pros.
5 weeks 4 days ago	NBA Developmental League?	Doesn't the NBA have some sort of developmental league where coaches can teach players with potential to play the "NBA way"? When Darius Morris was drafted by the Lakers I saw he only played a few games (19) with the parent team during the 2011-2012 season. Didn't he spend most of that season playing somewhere else? This season he's with the Lakers, but not seeing a lot of PT --- a Spike Albrecht-like 14min/game. Of course when you're playing behind Steve Nash and whoever else the Lakers have in the backcourt, you won't get a lot of PT right away. Morris was not a lottery selection, so maybe the idea was that he would hone his skills with some obscure team (no doubt at a much small salary compared with the "varsity") and then join the big guys. Anyway, my point is that if Darius had it to do over again, might he have opted for at least another year in AA and maybe improved his draft (and earnings) potential and possibly avoid a developmental-league stint (if that's what happened)?
5 weeks 4 days ago	Daft Draft	The NBA "drafts" (i.e., selects) individual players from a pool of eligible applicants. Most NBA gurus describe this year's "draft" as "weak" --- that is, not a lot of high-quality applicants. This view apparently encourages a number of college players who might otherwise stay an extra year or so to apply now. Oladipo might be one such player. He would probably be selected in the draft regardless of when he declared his eligibility, but he thinks he has a chance to go higher this year, given the perception of a weak applicant pool. Good luck to him, and like many here I won't miss him when M next meets the Hoosiers. The problem is that the "weak draft" perception coupled with the strong run through the NCAA tournament might get some M players (e.g., GRIII, McGary) thinking about declaring their eligibility as well. This is where the accumulated NBA wisdom of "Dad" Hardaway and "Dad" Robinson as well as "brother" Horford might help. Such former and current NBA stars might help convince these kids that another year or two in school could boost their NBA value more than it is currently, with just their one year in college and their appearance in the NCAA championship game.
5 weeks 5 days ago	Rebound reduction redounds to loss	One of the standout stats was the rebounding difference between the first and second halves. Accoring to UMHoops, In the first half M swept the defensive boards at an 83% clip. In the second half they managed only half that. After the first half Pittino packed in his bigs who rebounded most of UL's misses and put back many of them for scores. I understand Beilein has recruited a 6-9 kid from Toledo in next year's class. That should provide some rebounding help.
5 weeks 5 days ago	Henry VI, part 3	The harder matched, the greater victory.
6 weeks 4 hours ago	Help Offense	Can we really expect U of L, like Syracuse, to go 3 for 14 (21%) from 3-point land? Syracuse is not comprised of great shooters, but they gave M a great assist by shooting so poorly from outside. This woeful performance helped to offset a similarly bad (i.e, nonexistent) shooting night by Mr. Stauskas. We need Nick against U of L. But during the tournament Nick's shooting woes seem to have occured every other game. My recollection is that he was off against KU, caught fire against FL, then was off again against 'Cuse. He's due on Monday night.
6 weeks 3 days ago	Judge not lest you . . .	Back in the late 80s-early 90s my wife and I would regularly habituate an elaborate pregame tailgate. So elaborate, in fact, that Steve Fisher would regularly bring BB recruits by to sample some grub and to chat briefly with the tailgaters about what a great place M was. One such tailgate I particularly remember was when Fisher showed up with a tall kid from Country Day whose name by that time was familiar to all of us. Chris Webber was not just the most highly recruited high school kid in Michigan. He was probably the most highly recruited in the United States. In the brief time Chris mingled with us at least a dozen people --- mostly other kids --- asked for and received his autograph. Three or four attractive girls who apparently had been following him in his pregame progression hung on him like flies on paper. My point here is that in those days Chris's universe was light years away from yours or mine. He was used to people befriending him, doing favors for him, promising him stuff. His moral compass, such as it was, easily accommodated monetary advances from Ed Martin. In fact, we now know that even by the time I saw him at the tailgate he had already accepted a boatload of cash from Ed Martin. And yes, Chris continued to accept cash after he became a student-athlete at Michigan --- just another of the many favors people continued to extend to him. Was it wrong? Only by about a hundred different standards ranging from legal to moral to ethical. But to Chris and to his father Mace, the slope had become so slippery that they had little or no reservation about continuing to accept Ed Martin's money. Did Chris understand he was wrong to lie to the grand jury? Of course he did. Did Chris luck out when Ed Martin's timely (for Chris) death nullified the fed's case against him? You bet. Did Chris ultimately get off lightly? Yes, but that's what happens when you get lucky and have good lawyers. That's life. Chris paid his fine and performed his community service. But the championship banners remain tucked away in a Clements Library secret location. They will come out again only over Mary Sue Coleman's dead body. The University community suffered a great wrong from what Chris did and from what the other non-Fab Fivers who took money from Ed Martin did. Still, that was a long time ago. Ed Martin is dead. Robert Traylor is dead. The moving finger has writ. Let's just accept that what happened happened and let Chris rejoin the university family.
6 weeks 5 days ago	Rolling Thunder	The clip in which McGary sets the pick, receives the ball, and rolls to the hoop is one of the clearest examples of a "pick and roll" that I've seen. Thanks for posting this.
7 weeks 1 day ago	A cliche, but with a lot of truth	"Great players step up in big games." Watching Trey Burke last night evoked memories of Charles Woodson vs Ohio in 1997 --- one of the greatest games ever played in Michigan Stadium and the game that clinched the Heisman for Charles. If last night does't clinch POY for Trey, the people who vote for that award weren't watching.
7 weeks 2 days ago	Best Ever	I had the opportunity to watch Glen Rice during his entire M career when I had Crisler tickets. Glen Rice is the best pure shooter in M BB history. He cemented that credential during the 1989 M-UNC Regional Semifinal when he scored 34 points on 13 of 19 (.684) from the floor (no FTs).  Glen Rice was a great player and a great credit to M and the BB program.
7 weeks 2 days ago	Early Afternoon/Evening	The chicken entrails I consulted said the Sunday games will start early afternoon and evening. the entrails were a bit cloudy (and smelly) regarding the teams involved. But they emphatically indicated that whoever the teams were, Michigan has had a great run and Go Blue!
7 weeks 4 days ago	Bobby Hurley	Add him to the list of ex-Duke players who are now HCs. Hurley just took the HC job at Buffalo.
7 weeks 4 days ago	MSU	Definitely MSU. I grudgingly accept that Payne and Nix are two of the better post-up guys in the country. Izzo's a very good coach. He's not my favorite MSU coach --- that would be Judd Heathcote ---- and Harris and Appling are good, but would I trade either for TB? --- forget about it!. The Dukies are who they are --- they've made a fetish of coming up with boorish and inelegant BB-game chants. But then, I was in Madison in February. When TB went to the free-throw line at the student end of the court, those selfsame students chanted in unison: "Trey Burke Swallows." Bad student behavior at BB games is hardly limited to those in Durham, NC.
7 weeks 4 days ago	Morgan's Time to Shine	The conventional wisdom seems to be that from the opening tip-off Kansas will do everything it can to get a couple quick fouls on McGary and get him on on the bench. Beilein, being the canny coach he is, held Morgan out of almost all the SDS game and all the VCU game because 1) Morgan's ankle needed a little more rest, 2) the team didn't really need him against SDS or against the Smurfish VCU lineup, and 3) McGary could use --- and earned --- all the minutes he played. Now Beilein and the team needs Morgan. He's the guy to body-up on Withey and Young and keep them from dominating the boards. Morgan on the floor will also limit McGary's exposure and therefore limit his tendency to foul unnecessarily. Horford will contribute in the paint as well, but for defense, the team needs Morgan on Friday night.
7 weeks 5 days ago	Just to underscore your point . . .	Of the VCU starting five, Reddic is 6'9" 235. The other four starters (Theus, Brandenberg, Daniels, Graham) average 6' 3 and 1/2". This goes a long way in explaining McGary's (and GRIII's) field day on the boards. Kansas, of course, is a much different team. Besides Withey the Seven Footer, Young is a 6'8" 195-lb senior. Both board very well --- McGary and GRIII will find the going a lot tougher Friday. The other part of Kansas's threat is experience. Of the starting five, four are seniors. They've been around for four years, they've been to the "dance," they know what it's all about. Even given all that, however, I'm more than happy our team has made it this far.
8 weeks 1 day ago	22-10	I had no faith that Miin would beat Cal, but firmly believed our friends in Madison would handle Florida Gulf Coast. I had Georgetown as an Elite Eight team, but Harvard and Colorado St past the first round --- who'da thunk it? My remaining sort-of Cinderella is Butler, whom I have in an Elite-Eight rematch with IU.
8 weeks 1 day ago	Adidas Gut!	Ich liebe Adidas, die Weltmark mit den drei Streifen. Sehr Gut!
8 weeks 2 days ago	Missing Link	Three of the BIG teams that stand a good chance of going deep into this tournament have at least one effective low-post guy: Zeller (he's OK in the low post, I guess), Nix and Payne at MSU, and Berggren at Wisk. The Buckeyes I don't know --- others here will have a better understanding of the kind of offense Matta runs, but it doesn't seem very low-post to me. Anyway, for the other three teams, the low-post is an intregal part of their offense. And yes, a low-post guy at M is the offense's missing link. I believe that if JB had someone like those named here, we'd see a lot more low-post scoring, more offensive rebound put-backs (I know M does pretty well in that category already) and kickouts to the three-point snipers.
8 weeks 4 days ago	Hegel Lives	For those who still remember some Hegel (not the SecDef Hagel, but the earlier Georg Hegel) the current situation in college athletics seems to be a thesis crashing into an antithesis, which is the O'Bannon suit. The tons of money college athletics generates has become concentrated among schools and among administrators' and coaches' salaries. The money doesn't in any way enure to the student-athlete, except maybe for a "four-year, full-ride scholarship." But often that scholarship ain't worth much. Maybe the cutting edge of the NCAA thesis is some kid at Alabama who receives a scholarship and signs the statement allowing the NCAA to use his "name or picture" in apparent perpetuity without compensation. We know from the excellent two-part series posted here that an Alabama scholarship offer is really just an invitation to try out for the team; it's basically revocable at will. Anyway, say during the season the kid is involved in one fantastic, highlight-of-the season play. But later Sabin recruits someone else who's even better at that position and the kid's scholarship isn't renewed. Apparently this goes on at Alabama. Nevertheless, ESPN runs the highlight incessantly and the NCAA uses it regularly to promote its product. The kid, meanwhile, receives nothing and either ends up at an FCS school or just flipping burgers somewhere. What happens then to the "we give a full-ride four-year scholarship and that's fair compensation for any student-athlete" argument? Can the NCAA continue to use a "name or picture" in perpituity when the athlete has been deprived through no fault of his own of the schlorship he was promised? As the O'Bannon suit continues and as the NCAA thesis crashes into the athletes' antithesis, the synthesis could become very interesting.
8 weeks 6 days ago	First Things First	But what "unis" will the Michigan team wear on Thursday? No doubt because they're Adidas they'll be awful, but which awful? Let's get our priorities straight here!

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