Member for

14 years 8 months
Points
1390.00

Recent Comments

Date Title Body
Has Gardner been working out

Has Gardner been working out or has he been limited by his injury?  If he hasn't been working out a lot, his eight pound weight gain might not be good weight.

The feds are investigating

The feds are investigating half the universities in the country thanks to new politically motivated rules that have been forced through.  It's doubtful anything will come of this.

he's just taking it easy so

he's just taking it easy so he has lots of gas left in the tank for another final four run.

You are a prince among men. 

You are a prince among men.  I wish we could change the sad state of IP law in this country.

Are you sure OW doesn't mean

Are you sure OW doesn't mean Other Worldly?

You guys are seriously

You guys are seriously sheltered or just don't have dirty minds at all.

Hibbert played on the phrase "Lebron had me stretched out".  Obviously in a basketball context he means Lebron put pressure on him to guard him while he had to stay near the basket to defend.  After the words "stretched out" left his lips, he realized his choice of words could mean that Lebron, a man, could be stretching him (Hibbert) out, that is increasing the size of his anus by penetrating him anally, you know, like homos do.  So he dropped the phrase, "no homo".  I laughed because I have the mind of a 13 year old.  It's a pity more people don't.

This makes me like the guy

This makes me like the guy and makes me think that the best part of getting old is that one day I'll be an old man who says whatever he pleases and people will laugh it off.

Gee is way bigger than Ohio State.  He's someone who has lead numerous universities successfully and improved every one of them.  I think it's great that someone is so good at his job and so well respected that he can say what's on his mind without repercussions.

There are dozens of reasons to hate Ohio State; Gee's comments aren't one of them.

This is horrible.
wolverine

This is horrible.

wolverine historian and mgovideo:

Have either of you tried using a Chinese site like http://www.youku.com/

They may not comply with takedown requests.

I can't read Chinese but someone here must know how.  Maybe you could write a tutorial and wolverine historian and mgovideo could try it out.

This is all about media

This is all about media markets.  They should just sell out and get Texas so the BIG conference (yes, BIG should be its new name) can have access to 8 of the 11 top media markets in the country.

1. New York (Rutgers)

3. Chicago (BTN HQ, NU, UIUC, alums from everywhere)

4. Philly (PSU)

5. Dallas (UT-Austin)

8. DC (Maryland)

9. Atlanta (GaTech)

10. Houston (UT-Austin)

11. Detroit (UM/MSU)

 

www.nielsen.com/.../tv/nielsen-2012-local-DMA-TV-penetration.pdf

He was super nervous for the

He was super nervous for the first half and it was a little difficult to understand him.  I also wasn't a big fan of the "why I stayed" topic.  The second half was excellent though.  It's great to see an introvert come out of his shell and get comfortable speaking to larger audiences.

I think this is pretty sad. 

I think this is pretty sad.  This basically says that at Stanford, a couple years of good play (that didn't even result in a conference championship) are so rare and highly valued that they're more important than the school and the program.  I hope something like this never happens at Michigan.

Why is he an idiot?  Sure

Why is he an idiot?  Sure she's a bit skeletor looking, especially when spiking a volleyball but for a 50-something coach, he's doing really well for himself.

Doesn't Brandon have millions

Doesn't Brandon have millions in pizza dough?  He could easily pay himself less if he wanted to.

If Michigan scheduled a top

If Michigan scheduled a top I-AA/FCS team or a mid-tier I-A/FBS team NOT named App. State and lost to them, it would be even more shameful.  If Michigan beats App. State, they will even the all time record at 1-1.  I think Michigan should make a 4-1 home/away deal with them.  The more we play App. State, the better.  I'm completely fine with Brandon's decision.

I echo the suggestions to try

I echo the suggestions to try to find a good deal in Chicago and take public transit to the game.

If you really want to get up to the game fast, I recommend the Metra (a commuter rail service) that can get you from downtown Chicago (the Loop) to Evanston (Central Stop) in less than 30 minutes.  This is much faster than the more colorful and pungent L.  You can buy a 5 dollar round trip ticket.  The only hassle is that the Metra runs once an hour on the weekend so you might be in for a bit of a wait on the way back from the game.

Check out

http://metrarail.com/content/metra/en/home/maps_schedules/metra_system_map/up-n/schedule.html

If you really want to stay cheaply "north of Chicago" your best bet would be the Travelodge or Courtyard in Glenview (20 minute drive to Evanston).  But you'd be hard pressed to pay less than $70 there.  You'll have a much more pleasant stay and have better access to dining and shopping if you stay in Chicago and with some luck might even get a $100 deal on a hotel room.

BMI is most useful as a rough

BMI is most useful as a rough proxy for body fat percentage for "normal" people, that is, those with average levels of muscle mass.  It's utterly useless when it comes to analyzing some of the most muscle laden athletes in all of sports.  An analysis based on penis size would have equal usefulness.

Can't wait for the phrase

Can't wait for the phrase "all in" to fade from the Michigan football lexicon.

I don't understand why anyone

I don't understand why anyone would cite turnover margin when talking about an offense since half the stat relies on defensive takeaways.

If we ignore games against non-conference opponents of highly variable quality and focus on  games against its Big East peers, WVU's offense was mediocre at turning the ball over under Rodriguez (5th in 2006 and 5th in 2007).  As soon as Rodriguez left, WVU jumped to the top of the pack (1st in 2008 and 2nd in 2009).  To me, this indicates Rodriguez ran an offense that was explosive against most everyone but was especially turnover-prone against teams of similar quality (i.e. conference opponents.)

This sounds similar to the performance of the offense in 2010 at Michigan: explosive against non-conference opponents and inconsistently explosive and highly turnover-prone in conference.

Exactly!  This is the right

Exactly!  This is the right way to recruit: grab the best instate players early and start picking off the top available Ohioans next.  Obviously, Tressell's downfall makes the second step easier than in the past but following the Mack Brown approach to recruiting is a recipe for success.

I'm too snooty to attend a

I'm too snooty to attend a pro sporting event.

Jerseys should be worn by

Jerseys should be worn by kids under age 10 or cute college age females at games/tailgating.  All the threads complaining about the Adidas and "Under the Lights" gear skates right over the fact that nearly everyone looks stupid in jerseys or college logo apparel.

P.S. Yes, I'm that guy next to you at Crisler or the Big House wearing a sweater or button down.  And I'm not even old.

Maybe the little girl should

Maybe the little girl should grow longer arms.

What an awful diary.  You

What an awful diary.  You should have called it "Michigan's Adventures in LaLa land" or "A Highly Selective Alternate History Based on Personal Fandom."

I can think of a couple

I can think of a couple reasons why Michigan's very early class ranking shouldn't be compared with final rankings of year's past:

1.  Some of the early commits will be 2-3 star types who are just thankful to get Michigan offers and want to get in early before their spots are filled.  4-5 star players are willing to survey the scene and consider their multitude of offers.

2.  Rivals tends to shuffle uncommitted recruits upward and committed recruits downward to build more interest and hype as signing day approaches with headlines like "UNCOMMITTED 5 STAR VISITS WEST COAST!! JOIN AND PAY TO LEARN WHICH PAC10 POWER IMPRESSED HIM!!!"  They always claim changes are based on senior year performance though.

I didn't have a chance to read all the replies so apologies if I'm repeating points already made upthread

Exactly.  People lose all

Exactly.  People lose all sense of perspective in trying to defend Rodriguez.  In Carr's final three years (2005-2007), Michigan finished with the 19th best winning percentage overall.  Among BCS conference teams, they were 14th!  Think about that.  Only 13 BCS teams had better records than Michigan during Carr's worst years.

If you spot Rodriguez a mulligan for 2008 and look at his 2009-2010 record, you'll find Michigan finished with the 47th worst record among all teams and only 15 BCS teams did worse.  Yes, it's easier to count how many teams did worse than Michigan than to count how many were better!

The takeaway point is that Carr's worst years were as good as Rodriguez's best years were bad.  Try wrapping your head around that.

Title IX effectively sponsors

Title IX effectively sponsors a slave labor system where teams of primarily black male football and basketball athletes subsidize comparitively less athletic primarily white men and women playing olympic sports.  And for all their trouble, the football and basketball players graduate at pathetic rates compared to other athletes.  It's a sad state of affairs.

In the second half of Carr's

In the second half of Carr's career, Michigan owned the 11th highest winning percentage in college football (BSU doesn't count).

http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/records/calc-wp.pl?start=2002&end=2…

That is quite successful by any definition.

 

He was the top rated

 

He was the top rated PASSER in the B10 last year.

 

O RLY?

This may come as a surprise

This may come as a surprise but the offensive coaches don't care about Denard's sucess and happiness.  They want to score points and win games.

You don't understand, brah. 

You don't understand, brah.  Rodriguez offered 3 star diamonds in the rough who were destined to be the equivalent of 5 stars in his system!  Totally, dude.

The argument still holds even

The argument still holds even if you include non-conference games.  Michigan was 24th in scoring defense in 2007 and plummeted to 84th in 2008 despite playing a significantly tougher non-conference schedule in 2007.  And the defense was hardly decimated in 2008.  It was littered with 4 and 5 star players with at least a year of starting experience.  Even if one takes into account the coaching change, that's doesn't explain the enormous dropoff.  Had Michigan's defense been mediocre in 2008, say finishing in the middle of the conference, I could understand.  But it didn't.  It was pushed off a cliff by a head coach who brought not the "best staff in the country" as he loved to proclaim, but incompetence.

Yeah, something always seemed

Yeah, something always seemed a little odd about him.  His blog says he has a 1230 SAT, which is respectable for a two part SAT but a 22 ACT which corresponds to a 1030 SAT.  Yet he supposedly took calculus as a sophomore in high school which is impressive even for a real math geek.  He's undoubtedly sharp by any measure and off the charts intelligent for a top D-1 prospect.  Nevertheless, I could never reconcile his test scores with his grades and academic achievments.  He might simply be a bad test taker or his high school was grade inflated and not at all rigorous.

Are you suggesting that

Are you suggesting that Michigan's defense wasn't bad in 2008?  Rodriguez took a unit that finished second in the Big Ten in nearly every statistical category in 2007 and drove it off a cliff.  In 2008, they finished tenth in Big Ten scoring defense, passing defense, rushing defense, and total defense.  Immediately upon arriving at Michigan, Rodriguez abdicated at least 40% of his job (assuming offense is 40%, defense is 40% and special teams is 20%).  The problems of the "decimated defense" only kicked in during the following years when the lack of recruiting, injuries, and attrition led to the debacles of 2009 and 2010.

You left out an even more

You left out an even more likely possibility: consistently poor defensive position coaching and a scheme pushed from the top down that didn't work.

Look at the depth chart on

Look at the depth chart on offense: http://michigan.rivals.com/cdepthtext.asp

Every single starter was in his third year in the system with the exception of Lewan, who displaced an older player, and Denard.  That's plenty of time and experience to get to the point where the offense isn't incompetent for long stretches against every decent opponent and to stop leading the Big Ten in turnovers by a substantial margin.

"He had two of the fastest

"He had two of the fastest players in college football and did nothing but run them straight into the line every play."

 

HMMMM

I don't think the offensive

I don't think the offensive line was soft but on the few occasions per game when they lined up under center and tried to run out of the I-formation, they were very ineffective.

I'm just honored to post on

I'm just honored to post on the same board as TomVH.

WON'T ANYONE THINK OF THE

WON'T ANYONE THINK OF THE PAHOKEE PIPELINE?

He will be tailgating outside

He will be tailgating outside the CBS College Sports studios on signing day to support his coach.

There is only one way to win,

There is only one way to win, the pure, the divine, the ONE SPREAD.  Without it, we will fall into darkness.

I'm bookmarking this thread

I'm bookmarking this thread for that purpose.

Rittenberg is a good blogger

Rittenberg is a good blogger generally but don't expect him to analyze anything involving numbers well.  Here, he's hamstrung by ESPN's awful recruiting rankings and more importantly, he doesn't analyze the worth of star ratings in a rigorous fashion.  Look to Yahoo's Dr. Saturday who found 5 star recruits were four times more likely to become All-Americans than 4 star recruits who are in turn three times more likely to become All-Americans than 3 stars.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Star-Power-…

Recruiting rankings don't predict the future but they are the best metric available and those who shit on them do it at their own peril.

P.S. Just because Yahoo bought Rivals, don't think Hinton is a shill for Rivals.  He has been publishing such analysis since his days as an independent blogger.

I hope the phrase "all in"

I hope the phrase "all in" fades quickly. 

Saying Smith is the best

Saying Smith is the best running back because he had the most production is like saying Kovacs is Michigan's best defender because he had a lot of tackles.

I haven't been keeping up

I haven't been keeping up with things.  What's the status of Cardale Jones?  Any chance he ends up at Michigan?

Ohio might be a third world

Ohio might be a third world state but they have physical therapists there.

It wasn't the halo that

It wasn't the halo that bothered me but the words on it.  Why do we needed to be reminded of the school's fight song every time we enter the stadium or drive by?

Bro, you don't seem willing

Bro, you don't seem willing to let the main thing be the main thing.

You seem confused.  Mattison

You seem confused.  Mattison was the DC at Florida from 2005-2007 under Urban Meyer.  He recruited this guy