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Brian, your blog has turned…

Brian, your blog has turned to shit.  
 

Many of us can hardly stand to read the comments any more.  
 

Flame away, MFers

buh bye

https://www.broadcastify.com…

https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/2344/web

East Landfill public safety broadcast.  It's funny, but it's not. 

My son got the #SigningDay…

My son got the #SigningDay email as well!  He’ll be second generation (my wife is ‘96 grad, I’m ‘92 grad)  He wants to join the M Marching Band - he’s a composite 5* ranked trumpet player.  He also plans to major in Aero Engineering. Got his brains and musical talent from my wife, but his love of All Things Michigan comes from me.  Go Blue!

bang me Gaelic style

BangMe.jpg

bang me Gaelic style

S P O R T S  Blog

Take that…

S P O R T S  Blog

Take that gratuitous political shit elsewhere, please.  You do it over and over again and it's getting old.

Where's my bat?

I think…

Where's my bat?

I think better with my bat.

Plus, I'll take it with me to Col-slum-bus this year.  Gonna' need it.

(No subject)

Enjoy and share!

"The only thing missing from Urban’s statement and Zach Smith’s ESPN interview Friday night was the Ohio State marching band dotting the ‘i’ on lie."

giphy.gif

https://media.giphy.com/media/DB2ZmXMxtYOHAPK6OD/giphy.gif

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https://media.giphy.com/media/i2BrzVvr5ZwYhLqhMf/giphy.gif

A hi-res still image can be found here.

And, for no particular reason, there's this: [email protected]

That's it exactly!  Money >>…

That's it exactly!  

Money >> Integrity

OSU has a $3.5 billion dollar endowment, but still it's apparent that a potential $38 mil liability is worth more than the supposed ideals and honor of a major university.  

Hoping #12

Hoping #12

Here's a quote I like (from…

Here's a quote I like (from NYTimes):

"Even one instance of harassment or hazing or assault is one too many”

- OSU President Drake, when firing the OSU band director Jon Waters

They spent 2 months investigating a complaint from a band parent regarding hazing (much of it sexual in nature) in the OSU band.  The crap had been going on for years (as I'm guessing it goes on in some form in most college marching bands?).  The band director was on the job for less than 2 years at the time of the complaint.  Canned his ass.  

Let's see them explain and justify this one away and NOT fire Urban.

Gene Smith is screwed.

My…

Gene Smith is screwed.

My bet is that Urban and that POS Zach Smith spent some time on burner phones yesterday getting this story straight, OSU lawyers drafted that weasel-ass statement, and in the end all the shit is going to land on Gene Smith's lap.  He'll be fired, Meyer will get a BS 3 game sorta-suspension, Zach Smith has been well paid off by the bag men.  Problem solved.  

And I could have puked when I read the statement "I never punched my wife".  

This is a farce. The President & Regents of OSU will show no integrity. OSU really is a shitstain institution.  I could be wrong.  But I'm not.

My Nephew's girlfriend had a…

My Nephew's girlfriend had a class with him last fall. She said he was a really nice guy and very smart.  Hope he does well.  

Waiting to see if Urbz will…

Waiting to see if Urbz will throw his wife under the bus.  I read that she's likely to get fired from her OShitstainU teaching position for Title IX reasons bc she apparently didn't report this.  She's going to have to claim she didn't tell him in order to back up his very public story, right?  I'd like to listen in on their little conversation this evening (after Urbz is done chatting about the grandkids with the OSU AD).  But I like the "my wife and I don't speak since I nailed that cheerleader" defense better (hat tip).

Late to the banging...

Bang me cornholio

Ain't going to happen

DJ down by the river

Diamond Dave, indeed

AAGO in past few years

I've noticed a couple of things about AAGO parking the last few years (been parking there for, I think, 18 years now) - the course seems to get more trashed every year by fans, particularly sparty and bucky fans but, really, everybody.  I can't remember it being this bad back in the earlier days. People leave their sites totally trashed, I see people intentionally damaging the course with vehicles, Craig (one of the groundskeepers) tells me that the mowers regularly hit metal spikes left in the ground, etc.  I've often wondered at what point AAGO will say "screw it" and not park people (probably never, too much $$ for sure).  BUT, it is apparent that they are becoming much less tolerant, tightening up the rules and making new rules.  So I guess it doesn't surprise me that I got a big, long-time season pass holder "screw you, read the fine print" from them for the Minnesota game.  It pisses me off that they will no doubt park members for this game, why can't they park the season pass holders (how many are there, a couple hundred at most?).  We're not the ones trashing the place.  / OT rant

Well...

Well, we did do the nose.

We did do the nose.  And the hat.

and the hat

37 James Smith

Most famous big eared hillbilly pic on the internet

Sorry James

Almost didn't post this one...

62 Mason Garrison is

Seriously, who throws a shoe??

Mason Garrison Random Task

8 Jarell White is

Theo Huxtable

Jarell White is Theo Huxtable

40 Ty Sponseller is

Boss, Da Plane, Da Plane!

Ty Sponseller Harve V

82 Wilson Huber is

Bad guy Ganz from 48 Hours

Wilson Huber is Albert Ganz

97 Ryan Jones is

Dewey!

Ryan Jones is Dewey

74 Kendall Calhoun is

Ruby Rhod in Fifth Element

Kendall Calhoun is Ruby Rhod

This guy

sure looks like McElwain:

Punter Jon Gould is

David Byrne

Note: I read on the floridagators.com site that this guy is a Hodgkin's survivor, so there's that 

 

sorta like this

Strength Coach Mike Kent

Is Izzy Mandelbaum:

Pete Finebaum

Because he's a member of ALL SEC teams, I give you Pete Finebaum as Flavor Flav (ask Sam Webb about this one...)

yes, I photoshopped this :)

Jake Allen is

The creepy dude in Scream:

 

Clemson v 'Noles, Nov 11!!

'86 Clemson grad, haven't been back to Clemson in 15 years. A buddy in Greenville is setting everything up (tix, tailgate, etc.). I'd rank Death Valley right up there with The Big House as one of the greatest football venues one can experience. Perfect football weather in SC in November.

Also going to Dallas, believe me that two road trips in a season are costing me big time here at home :)

Nope

Didn't get season tix yet. 

Did, however, get the FL tix.  My wife almost threw the envelope with those 11 tix away!  Looked like junk mail, tiny envelope, no indication of the mailing being from athletic dept.  Only reason she paid attention to the envelope is that it was thicker than your average junk mailing.

And the FL tix look like what you'd get for tix to a high school game. Not a real collectible ticket stub, but it will still hang proudly on the man cave bar along with the last 25 years of M football & basketball ticket stubs! 

While we're airing all of this...

I had a one nighter with the granddaughter of a very famous Detroit mafioso, many many years ago.  Not proud of it, but sorta' am.

Over the years...

When I was a kid, I would tailgate with my dad in the parking lot behind the old tennis courts.  He'd back up to the chain-link fence, pop the trunk, and we had our tailgate!  We'd usually walk down and follow the band up to the tunnel before the game.

These days, we go to AAGO.  Been parkign there for I think 18 years, getting the season pass for about 5 years.  We're always at the sand trap down the hill from the clubhouse.  We get there early (season pass gets you in half-hour earlier than general parking) and spend probably 45 minutes setting everything up (canopy, bar, grill, food tables, satellite/tv, etc.).  Sometimes I think my dad's way was much better!  It's a pain having to pack up before going in to the game, then set up again after the game only to have to tear down again and leave the course 2 hours after the game ends. 

We actually paid one of my nephews and his buddies to stay with our tailgate during a couple of games last year (they are poor UM undergrads) so we didn't have to pack up before going in to the game.  Worked out pretty well.

One thing I've noticed since I've been tailgating at AAGO over the last 18 years: people are way more abusive to the course than they used to be.  Between the tire marks and the trash left behind (looked like a trash moonscape after the Sparty game 2 years ago).  Quite a few thefts going on from tailgate sites a couple of years ago, didn't hear of many last year, though. Porta-Johns can get really rank, we started bring a portable shower tent to our tailgates a couple years ago and using it as our private outhouse. Always paint up the piss bucket in the opposing teams colors! Wondering when AAGO will decide it's not worth parking cars there any more (probably never, they'll just keep raising parking prices).

Funny piss-bucket story:  we, of course, had a Sparty logo piss-bucket at the game 2 years ago.  After the game, we emptied it and left it sitting beside the trash barrel.  A Sparty fan came along and said "hey, can I have this?" and picked it up and carried it off.  Hopefully used it to mix up a nice salty batch of sangria...   

Mine's always been

the sound of the horn echoing in the local gym at basketball games. 

My GM list

1964 Chevelle wagon (first car, never forget it; ultimately rusted in half)

1967 Corvair Monza hardtop (loved it, beat the hell out of that thing)

1972 Chevelle (GM orange w black vinyl hardtop; drove 2 yrs in HS, some numb nuts hit it while it was parked and totaled it my first year at college)

1989 Chevy Beretta (my first new car; 4cyl, 5spd manual, great car, taken out by a deer about a week after I sold it to one of my sister's friends)

1996 Cadillac DeVille (got this car when I traded my dad a 2001 Acura MDX with 40k miles on it for his caddy.  My wife was not happy.  Yes, I actually did this.)

2003 GMC Envoy XL (had lots of problems w it, but it probably saved me and my dad's life when we were hit head-on on M36.  State Farm bought me a new one.)

2012 GMC Acadia Denali (again, some expensive quality problems, 140k miles on it and I'm very happy to have it now be the car that my son drives)

Considering a Cadillac XT5 lease right now for my wife, stay tuned.

Non GM: Ford Gran Torino, Merc Maverick, Cougar (convertible!); Honda/Acura: 2 Acura, 7 Honda

 

Loved that Olds wagon

This looks EXACTLY like my dad's company car circa 1978/1979.  Olds Custom Cruiser, right?  Me and a buddy drove it to Hilton Head on spring break our senior year from good ole Marshall High.  Got pulled over with open beer at a speed trap in upstate SC, had to pour all the beer out and go directly to the courthouse to pay a fine.  Met up with four other HS buddies at one of the guys' parents' Sea Pines condo there, trashed it for a week.  Invited about 200 people from the beach to a toga party and I think most of them showed up.  One of my buddies was an all state track athlete and I put a Jack Tatum hit on him playing beach football and knocked him out of the Twin Valley conference track meet the week after spring break.  Driving back on the twisty I40 route in that beast was a death defying feat, plowing that thing around the curves at 70/80mph+.  

My son is a HS senior next year and there is no way in hell I would give him and his buddies my car and send them off for a week.  It was truly a different time then.  It's a wonder we survived high school. 

Plz

I can haz pozbang

Another reason for Venables to stay...

If you've ever been on Clemson's campus I think you'd agree that it's one of THE most beautiful campii in the country.  I completely understand why Venables would want to stay with a powerhouse football program and keep his family in that area.   I took an extra year to get my BS there. My parents felt sorry for me having to take summer classes, but I had a great time sailing, water skiing, and golfing (I studied some, too)... ;)

Gotta go with my first car

1964 Chevy station wagon:

1964 Chevelle

drove it from 1978 to 1980, finally it rusted so badly that the body split at the B pillar.  DIdn't need a key to start it so it frequently disappeared from the student parking lot.  I  know first-hand that it could hold up to 12 passengers, drive through any plowed field, lay down a one-wheel burn-out patch over 20 feet long, drift all four wheels on a curve if you could find a newly-graded dirt road, pull a Dodge Coronet out of a swamp using a ski rope tied only to the rear bumper, hold 12 Schlitz Tall Boys in the glove box, carry a jet-ski on its roof, and catch the eye of out-of-town chicks as we cruised the gut in Marshall.  Best car ever.  I'm driving an Odyssey these days.

Loved the "Mister Two"

 One of my undergrad roommates had a new MR2 (1984? 1985?).  Man, we flogged that thing!  I remember that it would lift one of the rear wheels off the ground in hard cornering!  Engine would rev to about 7 grand.  I can't tell you how many times he spun that car out.  They don't make fun, small, dangerous, rear-drive cars anymore. 

Actually not the worst I've attended

I was there yesterday for a nephew's graduation (Poli-Sci, U.S. Marine ROTC!).  It was frickin' cold, but the program actually moved along and was at least interesting in a variety-show sort of way.  My nephew says that many of his fellow students were pretty disappointed, though. And, it was disappointing and somewhat bewildering that the promised "conventional" singing of The Victors at the end of the ceremony never happened. 1

This was not the worst graduation ceremony I've attended, however.  The worst was another nephew's graduation in Winter 2011, with Jill Abramson, who was then the editor of the NY Times.  Her speech was long, boring, a real downer message - and all about her.  But, it would have been a great drinking game for every time she said "I" and "me". 

I graduated in '92, and the speaker was Charles W. Moore, or so I'm told.  I don't remember much...  The prior year the speaker was Pres. Bush 41, the year after it was Hillary Clinton, both of which I'm sure were much more memorable.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but commencement should be about the grads; it should celebrate their years of hard work, serve to welcome them to the family of alumni out in the world, give them an optimistic and idealistic send-off, and challenge them to get out there and make their way and leave the world a better place.  Sure, tell a story, but remember that the audience is not there to see YOU.

If you want to torture yourself or just play along with the Jill Abramson drinking game, go here...

Congrats to all of the grads, get out there and kick some ass!

Jabrill sighting

A little OT: My nephew was at Coach & Four and says he thought he saw Jabrill drive by in a white Maserati.  Signing bonus?  Maybe mistaken identity?  Anybody else see/hear of Jabrill being in AA?  And, biggest question of all, why would he buy a POS Maserati?  Overpriced, last generation tech, terrible road manners.  Drive carefully, Mr. Pepper!

I miss...

pissing in the waterfall trough

TP and marshmallows

Ufer's game calls, the Bo "General George Patton" touchdown horn. 

The yellow "Michigan Stadium" letters on the roof of the press box (didn't realize they're still in the stadium, I assumed they were in Al Glick's basement)

The guy that looks like Truman Capote with the big M flag that would hit us in the face when he waved it.  Stadium security confiscated it from him 3 seasons ago.

Walking on the field with my son.  In the '90s, we lived on Maywood St., less than a mile from the Big House.  I used to take him to the stadium (first in a stroller, then on my shoulders) on Sundays.

I miss tailgating with my dad.  

Aerodynamics of various softball pitches

damn i'm terrible at typing.  Third time trying to post this

Similar to Bosch's post above, way more detailed... hopefully not tl;dr

Here goes:

Attach a softball to the chuck of a variable speed drill (drill a hole in the ball, glue in a dowel or screw in a cut-off bolt, try to get it as centered as possible, might ruin a few softballs trying to get one that spins in the drill without wobble), clamp the drill to a tabletop.  Get some dry ice (at Washtenaw Dairy!) or a cheap Halloween smoke machine.  Get a fairly bright backlight and a matte black or high contrast (green?) backdrop. Get a variable speed fan.  Make the dry ice or smoke machine produce smoke (careful, drop small chunks of dry ice in a pretty good volume of warm water), blow the smoke past the ball with the fan, spin the ball with the drill.  Vary the fan speed (simulates pitch velocity) and drill speed (simulates ball rotation).  Darken the room, shine the light on the ball (from below?), and take digital video of  the smoke against the backdrop as it goes around the ball.  

Hypothesis?  Maybe something about visualizing various pitches (drop, curve, screw, rise) based on pitch speed and ball rotation https://youtu.be/23f1jvGUWJs (need data, as stated above, google "Magnus Force, for example: https://youtu.be/8kVuKAqy_2k), types of turbulence around the ball, effect of seam orientation https://goo.gl/gjFrO4 (would require drilling several balls in different locations relative to the seams or, like in the youtube video, gluing a string around one side of the ball for an exaggerated effect), smoke over/under the ball indicating air pressure differentials, set the drill on an angle to show pure backspin vs side spin, etc.  Seeing effect of spit and tar on the ball might be fun too.  THis is where the sciencey part comes in, but I'm sure you and she can come up with something interesting!

Considerations? I googled softball pitch spin and it looks like top college players can pitch up to 1800rpm (30 rev/sec), I think drills will go up to 2000rpm (google the drill model number to get the RPM).  You'll probably want some actual pitch data.  Here's a link to some softball spin data for various pitches: http://www.revfire.com/files/Spin_Rate_Guide_-_SBO_v7 .  Not sure of pitch speeds (simulated by fan speed), should google that also.  One issue might be if the fan is blowing too fast you might not get a good smoke visualization.  A cheap 3-speed desktop fan will probably work, though.  If smoke is thick enough, probably not a problem.  But, if so inclined, you could rig up a model train speed controller to a battery powered fan (always available at Salvation Army store!) or just use different numbers of batteries in series to get a good range fan speed control.  If you want to accurately measure pitch (air) speed, get a cheap weather station and set it's Anemometer fan behind the ball.  There are also cheap (<$20) contact tachometers to measure ball spin RPM.  I would probably cut a hole in the backdrop and have the shaft on the ball go through it from behind, would make the video easier to shoot with the drill hidden behind the backdrop.  Maybe construct this whole thing in an enclosure, something like a refrigerator box laid on its side.  

I know, shut up already, quit drinking, go to bed ((R) a registered trademark of Toys-R-Us)

I have no idea if this would actually work, but it sounds kinda cool.  And I'm also not sure I passed middle school science.  But you do get to go to Washtenaw Dairy.

Good luck to her!  Some creative ideas on this board!

Dude ended up at Florida

McElwain quoted as saying "we have a great support system for him here" - meaning: "we'll keep the campus cops off his ass..."

Party on.

My money's on

Al Glick.  Actually his money.  My money ain't shit.

So...

If we're in the Quicky Lube bowl @ Ford Field next year you're happy?

Yes, being sarcastic.

But I do think college football is in a state right now where many traditions are being thrown out for the sake of TV money, media markets, corporate sponsorships, etc. The game is changing, I wish it was still Ufer calling the game and toe meeting leather at 1:05 but those days are loooong gone. So, nothing wrong with questioning all this shit at this point, I guess.

DB Izaiah Prouse-Lackey is ...