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Long and sappy minddump…

Long and sappy minddump incoming... I'm one of those non-alum lifelong Michigan fans - my parents moved to Ann Arbor from Mexico right after they got married for my Dad's Masters, and they raised us (me and my 2 younger brothers) as rabid M fans.

I was a freshman at Rice in 97, and covered the football team for the Thresher all 4 years I was on campus. I remember watching the Colorado opener in my dorm's common area and vividly remember it dawning on me that we had a shot to win it all. 

I went to A2 to cover both of Rice's visits from the press box. My parents had taken us to multiple games at the Big House growing up, but for this aspiring sportswriter there was a sense of arrival for me that I was "working" from my favorite team's press box. 

My Rice friends couldn't understand why I was rooting for M in both those games. I remember telling them it'd be briefly fun for Rice but that M had national title aspirations. Some of those same friends rooted for M on Monday, because of me and my family. 

For that 2000 Rice game, my roommate and I conspired to make him a sports columnist (I was Thresher Managing Editor by then) so that he could come up to A2 with me and cover the game on a press pass. He ended up doing his MBA at Ross about a decade later. On Tuesday morning, I ordered his kid (my godson, and a nascent M diehard) a national championship t-shirt for a belated Xmas present. 

Anyway. I love the Thresher but (don't tell anyone at Rice) I always thought the Backpage was lame. 

I teared up a few different…

I teared up a few different times earlier tonight but now I'm bawling. Thank you, Brian, and thank you everyone who has ever been part of the MGoBlog universe. 

Woah I've eaten there

It's decidedly not-bad considering the whole "Mexican restaurant in Paris" thing.  I never would've gone there on my own, but I was a poor grad student working an unpaid interniship and somebody was buying. That was 2002. I'm surprised/impressed it's still around.

Not Kubiak

Kubiak was NOT well liked in Houston. He should have been fired after the 2010 collapse (4-2 start; 2-8 finish), and even during the 2 playoff seasons he was considered a liability by much of the fanbase. He's also very much in the "dinosaur" mold with a lot of the things that would drive us (and Brian) crazy -- game theory, clock/TO management, challenges, EOH/EOG strategy, 4th-down decisions, etc. He's a walking disaster in every one of those categories. Texans fans would either laugh at or feel very sorry for us if we hired Kubiak.

Jeff Goodman/CBSSports say they're staying

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/22097547/michigans-mcgary-robinson-both-returning-to-school

Wait we have to do this again

Wait we have to do this again on Monday? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

The most annoying fans were a

The most annoying fans were a family of 4 Michigan fans behind us, who spent the last 90 minutes insulting Bellomy and telling everyone around us how screwed we're gonna be next year.



Nebraska fans were unfailingly nice. I was slightly disappointed at the atmosphere at the game - I expected it to be more intense, but it was surprisingly laid-back when it wasn't 3rd down. Still, awesome experience and would absolutely come back.

Yep, I'll be there. We bought

Yep, I'll be there. We bought tickets online a couple weeks ago, ~200 each including fees. Prices had actually come down a bit, 2 months ago looked like they'd be 275+.

Looks like Neb -2.5, seen

Looks like Neb -2.5, seen that a couple places this morning.

That was my exact reaction

That was my exact reaction too. So fired up now.

For the craft-beer inclined...

 

There's a good and growing craft beer scene in DFW. Local breweries to look out for are Deep Ellum, Peticolas and Rahr. Other worthy Texas breweries that distribute up there include Jester King, Ranger Creek, Live Oak, Karbach, Southern Star, & Austin Beerworks. 

Good craft beer bars include a couple of Flying Saucer locations, as well a Gingerman. There are others, of course, but those would be standouts.

Also, 2 great beer-friendly restaurants are Meddlesome Moth and Common Table. Both are worthy for the food alone, but they are both great beer joints as well.

For more details, the Beer Advocate travel guide is a great resource. If anyone has any further questions about beery stuff, I'm happy to help. I live in Houston but will be driving up for the weekend.

I think I have the exact same

I think I have the exact same jersey as Brian. It's a good conversation starter with the kids at Yost: "Yes, I really did order this from a catalog. Yes, my parents wrote a check for it." Then they call you "sir".

posted from iPhone

Thanks, just knocked out the latest The Wolverine podcast.

99% sure we'll be there

Just about talked ourselves (my dad, 2 brothers & me) into driving over from Houston. Hopefully get in the 2nd.

Somehow I missed this thread

Somehow I missed this thread live. A million thanks to MVictors Greg for sending us this way during last night's Bust CIL.

+1

Be ready to wait for a table, the place is tiny (like, 8 total tables tiny). Worth it, though.

Cooter Brown's

I wholly endorse the Cooter Brown's rec. It's relatively Michigan-friendly, too -- I've made it my home bar for Michigan games when in NOLA, and every time we've been on prime TV real estate, usually with volume, and always with a decent contingent of other folks in maize-and-blue. I watched the 2010 Bowling Green massacre there while chatting with a fellow MGoBlogger.

In addition to Rick's, the

In addition to Rick's, the only other one on Bourbon that I would recommend is Scores. The $10 Coors Light bottles and the $15 ATM fee (& $100 max withdrawal) are negatives, but otherwise it's a huge step up from the other strip clubs on Bourbon (which tend to be gross, both on and off the stage).

If you have a favorite Russian Imperial Stout...

To borrow from Brian's guide to A2, anyone who is into craft beer MUST go to Avenue Pub. This is one of the 5 or so best beer bars in the country, full stop. Super laid-back, very reasonable prices (last time I was there they had $5 Cantillon Gueuze on draft), unbelievable beer list, pretty decent food & just a great place to hang out and drink. I can't recommend this place highly enough.

I"m just glad it's the Sugar

I"m just glad it's the Sugar in NOLA. Now just need to convince myself to make the short trip from Houston. Would've been much easier to convince my Houston-alum wife if the Coogs hadn't choked on Saturday.

Tremendous. I had to walk

Tremendous. I had to walk away from the computer very quickly as I finished reading this. Dust storm in my living room.

Are any bars open early

Are any bars open early enough for breakfast and beer before a noon kickoff? We're getting into town late Friday night, so I'm not sure we'll be able to get food/drink together for a tailgate. Thanks.

Pregame bar?

Any recommendations for a pregame bar for breakfast/drinks? We're getting into town late Friday night, so not sure we'll be able to secure tailgating provisions.

Apologies if this has been asked before every home game ever. I searched the board for a while but couldn't find any relevant threads.

Thanks.

Alumni Club site confirms

Alumni Club site confirms Brother Jimmy's Union Square, as well as Professor Thom's.

Is Brother Jimmy's Union

Is Brother Jimmy's Union Square still the place to go? Headed to NYC this weekend & need a place to watch the game. Thanks.

The Q&A was last nite, and it

The Q&A was last nite, and it wasn't any good. My buddy didn't get to ask a question, but it looks like it wouldn't have been much use. Here's his recap:

"Turned out to be kind of lame. Basically, it was about how to transition from corporate america to colege sports. But he didn't answer half the questions people had, including things like, 'Shouldn't the NCAA treat college sports more like a business and maximize value for its players etc.?'

Basically, he answered in generalties and dodged every hard question."
 
Anyway, thanks again for all the suggestions. We now return you to your regularly scheduled bubble watch programming.
Thanks for all the

Thanks for all the suggestions & responses. I'll report back after the luncheon -- probably to say that there was no Q&A after all.

Ugh

I've only read the first series so far, and it literally made me feel sick. So so frustrating to think that we had them there for the taking early on. Comforting in a way, but also exceedingly frustrating.

It has been Metallica's intro

It has been Metallica's intro song for 25+ years. It is spine-tinglingly awesome every single time.

Very true, perspective is

Very true, perspective is important here. Saw a stat earlier today: only 4 teams have advanced to the round of 16 in each of the last 4 World Cups (Brazil, Germany, Italy and Mexico). Obviously you don't group Mexico among the true contenders -- but what does that say about the countries who do consider themselves contenders (Argentina, France, England, Holland)? If even they find it tough to get past the first round every time, then you know how big a deal it is.

According to the bookies, the

According to the bookies, the US is expected to finish 2nd in the group and then lose in the Round of 16 against an opponent TBD. Mexico is in almost exactly the same boat.

Taking that a bit further -- Betfair.com gives the US the 12th-shortest odds on making the final 8 (4.4) and final 4 (11.5). A run to the quarterfinals would be unexpected but not completely unreasonable.

All these fun proposals are a

All these fun proposals are a great time-waster and brain-teaser, but there is absolutely no chance of any of them happening. We all know this, even if we'd like to pretend otherwise -- it'll be a mega-conference with 2 divisions and lost rivalries and all the other negatives that Brian discussed.

I mean....how can we expect these people to think outside the box, when they're the same people about to jam a 96-team hoops tourney down our throats?

I was under the impression

I was under the impression that only Tacopants can stop Tacopants.

Can we neg you into Bolivian

Can we neg you into Bolivian instead?

Thanks, TomVH

For actually picking up the phone and getting some info on this. Amazing how useful some bona-fide reporting can be.

I'm a bit late to the party...

...but, man, that was a great post. Obviously everything looks/feels/sounds better when we're reading about something that actually went right for a change, but still. I got chills.

I think it's safe to say that there is no other place on the planet where Thornton Wilder and college sports can intersect so poignantly.

Don't underestimate the incompetence

Of major daily newspapers. This kind of move is reactionary, misguided, rearranging-the-deck-chairs-on-the-Titanic, etc. It's awful. I feel really, really, really bad for copy editors at these papers -- they will have an impossible job trying to vet this stuff, but they will also have a ton of pressure to use it. There is no way this ends well.

Signing Day CiL went OK

Didn't it? I know DD wasn't our only target, but I think we came out of that day in decent shape.

Awesome

I hadn't spent a full work day refreshing MGoBlog since Demar Dorsey Day. This should be fun.

And already I have a knot in my stomach.

For some dumb reason

My favorite line in the whole post was "Unless Michigan's offense is so awesome it never punts, Hagerup will be deployed this fall."

Mr. Hagerup, welcome to Ann Arbor. Here's hoping you're rarely deployed.

And spring....

....is even closer.

I just want to say....

...how happy I am to see actual football discussion pointing to an actual football event coming up soon.

Totally agree guys

Former journalist myself (lotta good my Master's is doing me now), and it's guys like this that make me worry about the future of the industry.

You know what makes it worse? I know plenty of really good, hard-working, ethical, responsible journalists that are losing their jobs left and right -- and all the while, this hack has more than one media outlet sending him paychecks. It's sad.

Thanks, Brian

I spent all day refreshing the home page, just waiting for your Sharp post. Well worth the wait, you knocked it out of the park.

+1

It's only Thursday, we had half-assed UFRs (for obvious and understandable reasons), we won't see the PSU preview until tomorrow -- and yeah, this has still been an epic week in MGoBlog. This site makes me very very happy -- except for the 75% of the time I check the main pages, because there's no new awesome content.

Damn this site for setting the bar so high.

No

Greece hasn't quite qualified for the World Cup yet. They're one of 8 teams left in the European playoffs, half of which will go to South Africa. Greece play Ukraine in a home-and-home in November.

UT-OU country

Do I even have a chance? Comcast here in Houston also has the other game on BTN, and I can't imagine any sports bar will make room for us when UT-OSU will be on. Please please please let a stream survive...

Totally agree

This game is inevitably going to bring out the "UNACCEPTABLE" crowd. For them, 3-9 was UNACCEPTABLE, losing to Sparty is always UNACCEPTABLE, winning by less than 40 against MAC/NU/PU/IU/FCS-opposition is always UNACCEPTABLE, etc. Spare me.

For them, tomorrow is a no-win. If we win by 100, they'll yawn and nitpick. If we win by 40, they'll cringe and nitpick. If we win by 17, they'll yell and complain about everything. And if we win by 3, well, UNACCEPTABLE!!!!

As for me....I like the "don't get hurt, let's see Denard throw, let's get a look at next year's RBs, let's not show anything new and let's get ready for PSU" theme.

Yes.

Important distinction, at least as far as the Jinx Gods are concerned. Thank you for that.

Seriously

Between the ongoing (and epic) season preview, and the ongoing (and epic) Jihad the Second -- plus the usual recruiting updates, Unverified Voracities, etc. -- it's been a ridiculously awesome few days on MGoBlog. Hats off to Brian and crew, and please keep it coming. I so cannot wait for Saturday.