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Date Title Body
Another long term position coach...

Mike Levenseller was the WR coach at Washington State for 20 years, 1992-2011 - he came in during the early days of Mike Price, stayed on when Price left for Alabama (!) and DC Larry Doba was promoted, then kept his job when Doba was fired and Paul Wulff came on.

It was only upon the arrival of the Dread Pirate Leach last year that Levenseller saw a pink slip.  At which time he moved into the same job eight miles down the road at the University of Idaho for the 2013 season...

What I just realized

As I am watching this game, it occurs to me that I saw both of these teams in person earlier this season.  Back in September, I saw FIU play at Maryland when I was in DC for a week.  I also drove down from Ann Arbor to catch some mid-week MAC-tion, Toledo vs Bowling Green, last month.

This raised two questions in my mind...

1. Am I the only person in the country that can claim to have attended games of both of these teams this season (prior to tonight?)

2. Do I need to enroll in a 12 step program due to my obvious college football addiction?

Holy cow

Just turned the game on, and it's not even close!  3-0 and H. Saad just hit the cross bar - remarkable.

Golazo! Golazo! Golazo!

Goooooooaaallllll!

That was neat.

Classy fans

So this isn't about the team.... but in responding to the death of the UMass band director, the crowd (especially students) gave the Minutemen band a warm reception when they took the field, and roundly cheered them after they performed.  It was completely appropriate and deserved.  Nice job Michigan fans.

Lloyd Carr approves.

(Nods head violently)

I hate the traffic control setup they are using on Plymouth with the fire of a thousand suns.  It makes me so glad that I do not live nor work on that side of town.

Alma Mater wins

I grew up in Corvallis, OR and was a die-hard Beaver fan - family had season tickets to multiple sports, never missed a football game, etc.  Then I went off to college 500 miles away in Idaho (just in time for the Beavers to start winning games), and my passion for OSU (NTOSU) was never the same.  I still follow them, but I don't care like I do about the alma mater.  In rare instances when the play each other, I root for Idaho.

Then of course my wife moved me to Ann Arbor so she could continue her medical training, and now I haunt mgoblog late at night and count down the hours to each week's UFR being posted... so who knows if I'm a good example to go by.

No more football at Northeastern

As of the end of last year, they dropped their football program.  So I guess it makes sense that there would be a lot of transfers from Northeastern into other New England area schools.

http://www.4sportboston.com/2010/01/football-era-at-northeastern-ends/

See mgoblue.com

Per the schedule posted there, the BG game is a noon start on "ESPN or ESPN2"

http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/sched/mich-m-footbl-sched.html

Great stuff

Man, for 10 months I've been seeing that "She might be in Tangier" post at the top of the blog and wondering when new content might arrive.  This was a welcome addition to my morning reading...

He is like trying to hold a beach ball submerged underwater. Eventually you just lose. You are working against one of the principle dynamics of the universe: Denard Robinson is fast. If you’re behind him it won’t end well.

Awesome.

Utah State

It is a minor point, but it seems unlikely that USU would end up near the top of the Mtn West standings, as they are currently a member of the WAC.

Only @ Hawaii

The waiver to add a 13th game is only in years that you play at Hawaii, not if they come to the mainland to play you.  That's why in any given year, half the teams in the WAC have a 13 game schedule and half of them have a 12 game schedule.

TC West's schedule

That is one weird schedule they put together - start the year with five straight home games, then finish with four on the road.  Is that typical, or some kind of weird quirk this year?

It is a Done Deal

Per the Salt Lake Tribune, BYU going independent is now a "Done Deal" - check it out here:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/50131959-77/byu-football-wac-mountain.html.csp

As someone that did their undergrad studies at Idaho, I am completely in favor of this move for selfish reasons.  It raises the profile of the WAC for basketball (and for football if they get the 4-6 games per year against BYU that are rumored), and it screws BSU who are now left with a Mountain West conference that really isn't any better than the WAC they just left.

Awesome.

Idaho

Everyone else is seeing a clip of the Idaho Marching Band in this post, right?  Doesn't quite compute.

I do encourage everyone to watch the clip though - if for no other reason than to see the sousaphone section and their unique sartorial selections.

Yeah, this

I think I am currently 7 or 8 issues behind on SI - they keep piling up, and I don't seem to be able to find the time to read them.  Yet I refresh this site every few hours all day long....

Masoli

He is such a study in contradiction - his repeated run-ins with the law are well documented, yet at the same time he received a bachelor's degree in just three years (one at community college and two in Eugene).  I don't recall seeing a player with that type of pedigree before.  Good luck to him, I say.

I think a game at Dodger

I think a game at Dodger Stadium would have a healthy AL fanbase.  There are so many people in LA that are from somewhere else, they'd buy up the tickets and arrive in their Yankees/Red Sox/other AL gear.  

I have been to Dodger vs Angel games in both stadiums, and visiting fans travel fairly well both ways.  There are perhaps less Angel fans at Dodger Stadium, if only because some Angels fans might be a bit reluctant to leave Orange County comfort for the trip to downtown LA to sit in the Left Field Pavilion with the great unwashed.  But they'd brave it for the all-star game.

Monty Python's Black Knight, right?

That is who I figured it was a reference to, in which case I think it is perfect.

Have at you!

Tacopants

While I fear his future presence on the field and perpetual eligibility, I still laugh whenever Tacopants comes up.

I don't know if that was a

I don't know if that was a crippling error (overthrow in bottom 6th)... but it made you look a little prescient.

 


So my question is why,

 

So my question is why, at some point, the pings didn't start getting cc'd to Bill Martin?  If Draper sees that Martin is cc'd, and thus his boss knows that the football admin isn't doing their job, perhaps that spurs him and his staff into action....  what would stop Van Horn from going up the ladder with these problems?  That's how bureaucracy works, amirite?

Maybe it's a sign that getting Martin involved would have been futile, and compliance knew it - I don't know.  I do feel confident that if DB was around in 2008, he would have been made aware of these issues, and he would have fixed it.

Hmmm....

Looks like an Idaho plate to me.  Specifically someone from Lemhi County - the first two letters of ID plates indicate the county in which the car is registered.

 

Columbus vs Ann Arbor

I grew up on the west coast, and when my wife was finishing up medical school in California and interviewing for residency, she visited both UM and OSU hospitals.  I went on trips to both programs with her.

I preferred Columbus.

In my defense, it was a bigger city, better job prospects for me, and having lived on the left coast my whole life I hadn't gotten the memo about the "Worst State Ever".

She overruled me and ranked UM first, where she eventually matched.  Which is yet another reason why I love her so much.

It's good to get that off my chest.

Entry draft vs. Futures draft

So from following the links, it looks to me like Lessio was taken in the USHL entry draft, as opposed to the futures draft as Brian states.  I don't claim to really understand the difference, but perhaps someone can comment on that and whether being selected in one versus the other changes his likelihood of matriculating.

I second this post

I'm a registered civil engineer, and I can't recommend that you tackle a bridge yourself.

One solution that's a little easier to handle (mentally at least) would be something like a corrugated steel pipe arch culvert. You can get them in very large diameters and you'll know they will hold up to vehicular loads as long as you install them according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Here's one supplier...

http://www.jensenbridge.com/csp-info.html

Comedy Central - doesn't look

Comedy Central - doesn't look like they've indicated a time yet.

http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/futurama/index.jhtml

Legend

When asked in future
days, Have you beheld greatness?
Reply: Yes, Hunwick.

Road trip indeed

Time to turn Memorial Coliseum into Yost Southwest

http://www.memorialcoliseum.com/events.aspx/ncaa-ice-hockey-midwest-reg…

Interestingly, Red seems to disagree

Here's his quote from AFTER the win last night:


On goaltender Shawn Hunwick ... "I think he's earned a spot on our playing roster. I don't even like small goalies -- I've always been a big goalie fan..."

Of course, he goes on to say that what he really likes is a goalie who battles, and that's what Hunwick did, etc.

A couple other thoughts

First, I think the UM band was a good bit larger than NMU's - the easiest comparison was sousaphones, and UM had twice as many of them.

Second, I think it is reasonable to imagine that UM would have stronger musicians, both because there are many many more students to draw from at UM and because they likely draw more talented musicians to Ann Arbor than Marquette.

(mmmmm, my Michigan arrogance is fully functional this morning)

Woooo Washington

Perhaps, just perhaps, the Huskies will reach the Sweet 16 as I forecast on my bracket.

Yes please

I humbly accept the offer of a home and home with Idaho.

The Vandals promise to lose both ends with dignity and be appropriately slackjawed at the sight of a full Michigan Stadium.

How about ODU?

jamiemac's love for the CAA is looking good so far!

Ed Hightower sighting in the ND game

Is it wrong that I am so pleased about that team and that official matching up?

Go ODU, let's finish this.

Curse you for reminding me of

Curse you for reminding me of the taco stands. I miss them dearly.

This great taco hunt blog is highly recommended reading. Remember that the seedier the neighborhood, the better the tacos.

http://www.greattacohunt.com/

On the more expensive side...

My wife and I had a great meal at Lucques Restaurant on Melrose a couple years ago (we were living in So Cal at the time). It is one of the trendy WeHo spots where everyone in the place is more beautiful and thin then you are.

But the food was awfully good. http://www.lucques.com/

And definitely go to In-N-Out. Often. And learn about the "secret" menu, so you can feel like a local.

It's a big old drainage project

What, you don't track joint city/school district projects being built with federal stimulus money?

http://news.a2schools.org/?p=670

That's why Al Gore created the Internet

Because you can find pretty much every EPL game streaming online by going to a site like www.myp2p.eu

Wigan Athletic - Go Latics!

So I worked for a company in southern california for a number of years, and my boss (owner of the company) loved Man U. He goes overseas several times a year to attend games. One year, Man U was playing a lesser known team, Wigan, in the final of the Carling Cup, so I told him I was going to root for Wigan. After all, for Manchester it was just one more trophy in an overflowing case, but for Wigan it would be the greatest victory in team history.

Well a few months later after another trip to the UK, he said he had brought me back a gift... and it was a Wigan hat, which I still wear regularly. I have since added a Wigan scarf to my collection.

They struggle to avoid relegation in the EPL every year, but it makes the big victories much sweeter - like earlier this year when they beat Chelsea by two goals.

NSFMF

Remember that we did get one walk-on this year (Sayed) who had MAC offers. Plus, since fullback is not a position where we take more than the occasional player, the coaches could reasonably suggest that he'd find himself on the depth chart as a walk-on. Rodriguez loves him some walk-ons etc etc

Did Wayne Larrivee help write this article?

Troy Woolfork makes a surprise appearance in the discussion of Mr. Kovacs.

Why am I nervous about this?

I may have an Olympics related tv viewing problem.

Steam plants are great

My undergraduate campus, U of Idaho, also had one (which burned wood chips that were a byproduct from local sawmills). The university strategically placed the steam tunnels running across campus underneath sidewalks that had high pedestrian volumes, so that snow on those sidewalks would melt quickly. That was always welcome around this time of year.

So who living up north is

So who living up north is going to volunteer for Friday Night Lights duty this fall and do a little recruit stalking at one of Mr. Zettel's games? It's not every year Michigan offers someone that close to the 45th parallel.

Agree wholeheartedly on the

Agree wholeheartedly on the Dragon's Milk. My sister and brother in law are beer snobs that live in Portland, OR, and when I visited them for Christmas, that's what I brought them. Wow is it good.

Maybe they have different middle names

and we could get a middle initial in there, MIOB.

Yeah, I read Uni Watch too.

Definitely built with footings below the ground

As a registered civil engineer (yay I haz a stamp!) I think it's fairly clear... look at how the wall responds to the force of the truck - it starts standing straight (perpendicular to the ground) and rotates slightly, so that it stands at an angle.

If it wasn't anchored in the ground, the wall would have to stop the truck without the rotation - it would react more like a chain tensing. A bit like this...

These cable barriers are my favorite. Simple, inexpensive, and effective.

The Pit (McArthur Court)

in Eugene. That place is old, hot, and loud. Too bad this is its last year in service before U of O moves on to the latest glowing symbol of Phil Knight's largesse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McArthur_Court

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Knight_Arena

You can read her version...

The student had a published account of this incident in the Daily earlier this month:

http://www.michigandaily.com/content/personal-statement

That's where I first heard of it.