Recent Comments

I don't think you should use an ancient clipping as support for "golden maize" when it also describes Michigan blue as "azure blue." 

Yes, it is a positive.  More!

This one was the opener against Virginia (and Tiki Barber) in which Michigan went down 17-0, scored 3 TD's in the 4th Q and on the last one had to wait for a ref to signal whether Mercury was inbounds or not.  I may or may not have sprained something in the celebration afterward.

These are my take on the % chances of M winning:

Alabama - 20%

Air Force - 100%

UMass - 100%

ND - 45%

Purdue - 95%

Illinois - 95%

MSU - 70%

Nebraska - 60%

Minny - 100%

Northwestern - 85%

Iowa - 80%

Ohio - 40%

Expected value, 8.9 wins rounded up to 9.

As long as you have a minimum price worked in somehow, it's the best way to extract maximum revenue.   I hadn't realized it was already being used though. 

Not to state the obvious, but Desmond's Heisman campaign was amazing.  I remember watching just thinking that every play should be run to him and he wouldn't ever drop a pass.  Grbac to Howard was the whole season that year.

I actually think this is the perfect spot for Albom to write.  He is a really good writer, and while he doesn't cover the day to day of sports very well he captures the whole of something like  Lidstrom's career perfectly.  Albom has perspective, and he can capture something human in just about any worthy story.  He couldn't do a UFR for anything, but he is certainly worthy to eulogize a life or a career.

Didn't think when I woke up today "I'm going to have to defend Mitch Albom a little", but there you go.

You forgot to mention "contact lens wearer" which I still find one of the most perplexing things ever.  How did/do we not test everyone's eyes once a year?  Dukes, York, Chesson, get thee to an optometrist please.

How is Indiana not #1?  They have nothing to be excited about, ever.  There is no joy involved at all.

While PSU is going through a tough time, they'll be back.  There is hope.  But IU?  Always sucked, always will suck.  (They don't even have a single football recruit at this point.)

It's a football disaster area.

I clicked through just because I didn't quite believe the concept.  But it's even worse than you'd think.  She probably knows that there's no crying in baseball, but I think this other team doesn't realize that.

Given my pic, I figured I should add that I hope he has

Sailed off through night and day,

And in and out of weeks,

And almost over a year...

This is a classic case of using stupid reasons to justify the real reason that you can't say.  And that is that warm weather teams don't want to potentially play at a cold weather site.  They all currently mostly play near home and don't want to give that up.

I think the B1G should stand firm.  Home games are the only way.

One other thought, who would want to go see a Semifinal, then turn around and head to the Championship Game a week or two later?  People will wait and see if they can just go to the Championship Game and semifinals might actually not sell out (even though the TV ratings would be through the roof.)

Just hope we win the B1G title.  That's all you have to say.  However that works out, hey, stuff happens.

Off we go, into the wild blue yonder, climbing high, into the sun...

I'm curious to know what Bacon thinks Michigan's 2008 record would have been if Lloyd had stayed.  Do Mallet, Boren, Arrington, etc. still leave?  Does that matter? 

I think this practice is despicable, but only because they yank the scholarship.  Frankly, I'd be fine with this:

1.  Coach brings kid into room and tells him he is off the football team as he's not going to see the field

2.  Agrees to continue a scholarship at the school, just not a football scholarship.  Also agrees the kid can be on the practice squad (or whatever is allowable without counting against the 85 limit)

3.  Has no problem (obviously) if the kid wants to transfer and try to make a team somewhere else.

Now there is a way that big-time boosters can put their money to work, scholarships for kids that tried but just couldn't make the team.

Am I a jerk for thinking that?  If so, why? 

M fans tend to be more independent and less into Groupthink than some other fanbases, at least when I went to school there. For example, it's easy to get ND students to ALL wear a green tee, they are open to Groupthink from the womb.

Michigan students, and particularly alumni, just tend to have a higher percentage that says, "screw your edict, I'm wearing what I want!" It's an independent streak that I happen to like. (Frankly, I'm amazed that the Maize-Outs have been participated in and as successful as they have been.)

Just my .02

I started typing "Uniqenam you ignorant slut" but just barely stopped.

Our mascot gets so many things right, here's a small helpful list:

1. It is unique. There aren't any other Wolverines in major colleges.
2. It actually has something to do with our state, the Wolverine State. It's not some generic "tiger" or "bulldog"
3. We don't have someone in a corked head running around, which is a good thing
4. A wolverine is a vicious animal with a mean streak, which is what you want in a mascot (you want a banana slug?)
5. It's my handle (enough said)

So I would counter that it's actually the BEST nickname in sports, or at least in the running.

Let's rename all the positions. My suggestions:

Nose Tackle - "Tip of the Bloody Spear"

Defensive Ends - Legion of Doom

Mike LB - The Reaper

Sam LB - Souldrinker

Will LB - "Weakside" doesn't cut it. Not tough enough. This should be the Abominable Linebacker

Deathbacker - Deathbacker

CB's - Anthrax

Safeties - Rabid Snarling Dogs

I think part of the reason this isn't done is forecasting the price for every game gives you a lot more of an opportunity to get it wrong. Any type of administrators hate getting it wrong. If they set the price too high for game X and didn't sell out, for example, that would look really bad. So it is much easier to set the price for a season and end up in the same place.

Not to mention, look at how many years the Big Ten has had 2 teams in the BCS. That (in the minds of the AD's) validates the current scheduling strategy as a good one. We get screwed by seeing less good games, but they keep those revenue streams up.

We have Instant Replay bascially because of JoePa's whining during our 11 year role as their Maize and Blue Overlords. It then spread to the rest of college football.

I almost never miss Michigan football, ever. The list of what I've missed since 1984 is extremely short, and only includes parts of 4-5 games.

We were up by 2 TD's in the 4th, and I had something going on that was important (who can remember now?) I remember distinctly thinking "well, we've got this one in the bag, and even if Miami were to come back, would I really want to see that? Ha ha. That's not gonna happen." I quit watching and left.

So I missed it.

I was so young that I only remember using all my nonexistent telepathic powers to somehow make that FG *miss*. Needless to say, my powers stink.

The Big Ten has about 6-7 teams go to Bowls every year, which means they split up a decent sized pot. ND would get that guaranteed every year, but still probably come out a touch behind over a long span.

OTOH - Wouldn't they pick up a decent amount from the Big Ten Network, assuming it makes money? And money from a conference championship game (which would suck, but would definitely happen.)

Well written and well thought-out. The concept of him being a return specialist is interesting. Maybe RR will give us something next Feb to indicate his thinking, maybe we'll have to wait longer to find out.

Personally, it still seems like a reach to me. I hope the kid proves me way, way wrong.

Allow me to sum up your position:

1. Nobody should follow recruiting
2. For God's sake, if they do, they shouldn't have any opinions on it
3. If they have opinions on it, under no circumstances should those opinions conflict with the coaching staff, who is so right that they are unquestionable in all things great and small
4. Opinions should be kept to themselves unless they agree 100% completely with ShockFX (if they are only 99%, response on that 1% will be swift and severe, with a lot of !!! and CAPS to emphasize frustration with ALL THESE DAMN IDIOTS!!!!) - This one is from your general comments, not the OP
5. In recruiting, there is a rigid, inflexible order to things and the Michigan supporter should not aspire to be better than (I'm guessing here) 15th? Complaints are only acceptable at 20th and below. (Again, could have the number wrong, you were a little vague on your actual expectations.)
6. Finally, you believe that posting about people who post on recruiting is somehow less of a waste of time than posting on said recruiting. (Otherwise, why bother?)

That about cover it?

My understanding is that the O-line is always running to the line of scrimmage, but it would be in the 4th quarter that it would really hurt the morale of the defense. (In a "we're so in shape, we're still running when we don't even need too!" way.)

They were certainly running in the spring game.

What I am saying is that the system will evolve and Dileo will, in all likelihood, be less effective in whatever it evolves to.

Maybe he will be an amazing player. But I think the chances of that are slim, and based on that can't understand why the staff accepted his commitment so early or didn't make it conditional. From where we sit with what we know, it seems like a reach.

I happen to think this one recruit was a reach, and explained why I thought the staff made that decision. This is clearly a debatable point that two reasonable people can disagree on.

I never intended to imply that the coaching staff didn't realize they could get better athletes with more defined (less risky) potential. They clearly understand that. What I'm implying is that *they still believe Dileo, et. al. are premium players in their system*. They have yet to make that shift into what the best system is for the level of athlete they can now recruit. It will take a couple of seasons before those two variables stabilize.

For example, does Smith really know what a potential Michigan QB is? Not yet. He won't know until Forcier is a senior. The point being, more changes than just the kid. The kids capabilities drive the system, and vice-versa. Right now, the coaches are working with an outdated model of what the offense is. I believe that's why they offered this guy, AND why I think it was a mistake. They believe he is perfect for a system that will be outdated when he's ready to play in it.

I really believe in 2 years, RR will scratch his head and wonder why they recruited him, but right now he would say "look at him! He's an ideal slot receiver for what we run!"

I'm not entirely sure that is a compliment, but I'm taking it as one. Thanks.

We have a basketball program?

Just kidding, it is great to see us finally back.

Something changed, because he came to Michigan to play behind Ryan Mallet. Only fortune even thrust him into a starting role this early in his career. I kind of doubt he thought he really could unseat him. (He couldn't unseat Nick Sheridan to start the season.)

I'm not saying he was a prima donna, just that he wasn't coming to Michigan (realistically anyway) to be more than potentially a 5th year senior starter.

If you can't start the season ahead of Nick Sheridan in any system, you should rethink your NFL dreams. It is odd to have switched twice in 2 seasons. Still, hope it works out for him.

Maybe I'm not recalling the timing correctly, but didn't Threet come in to essentially ride the pine and back up Ryan Mallet for 3-4 years? If so, he wasn't coming to Michigan to be a 4-year starter, that opportunity kind of fell into his lap. More likely he was planning a possible 1-year starting gig in his 5th season. Guess he's had a pretty serious change in mindset.

Of course, the new offense and terrible O-line probably helped change that mindset, but still... this is a departure from the expectations when he came in.

USC has Burfict, Fanqupo, Flournoy, Harfman, Kennard and Vekihite. Only one of those sounds SP Islander to me, and I've never heard of the other surnames before.

For me, it was the last name on that one. Maybe you live in an area awash in "Flournoy"'s, but I'd never heard that one before. It sounds medieval.

So will Brian queue the crying children? Or will he roll with crying kittens? Or perhaps crying children holding crying kittens?

I had a pretty bad week all considered, and came to the site to hopefully have a laugh. Then I was greeted with this. It was like being kicked in the nuts with a Congressional Mandate.

I gotta think we can do better than "nuh-uh."

I did the following diary on 2002-2007 recruiting, and it has been far less successful than you'd think.

http://mgoblog.com/diaries/recruiting-analysis

I can't say I had any hard and fast criteria for the A/B/C, it was more gut than anything.  But the minimum for "A" would be multi-year starter at their position at slightly below average or better.  Hood contributed on special teams, but without starting at all at his position, he's not even a tweener.  He would've had to be exemplary in that role to overcome not starting, and he was solid at best as a special teamer.

Put another way, what would you think if I told you current recruit Shavodrick Beaver's career would be special teamer as a Jr/Sr, makes us laugh with hall-of-fame funny name, and sporadic 5th receiver?  We wouldn't have the current enthusiasm, that's for sure.  That's a "C" in my book.

I did transpose Minor and Brown.  My bad.  Doesn't change the totals.

 We could have a spirited debate on Watson, but it really wouldn't change the conclusions.  If it makes you feel any better, Gabe was one of the ones I spent the most time deciding on.  He's a strange case.  Starter, yes, but benched at one point IIRC.  Never really dominated like Alan Branch who followed him.  Perennially out of shape.

Just saying I can certainly see your point, but I decided on the whole I was unsatisfied with him.  And I didn't include being drafted one bit for anyone, only what I saw them do (or not do) in a Michigan uniform. 

Thanks for the feedback.

I evaluated strictly on on-the-field result for Michigan. 

I get it that you don't think Penn State adjusted.  I believe it was a combination of them adjusting and Sheridan not being good.  That's the only place we differ on that game.

If you don't think Illinois made successful adjustments, or think that prior games aren't relevant, that's your business.

There are clear parallels between the two games.  Your assertion that it wasn't the other team adusting to us, but a different QB or a hurt QB, could work for Penn State but not for Illinois.  Illinois is a good counter-example to your theory because it removes the variable.  Threet was fine that whole game.  Same result, early success and then carnage.

Yes, it is possible that the PSU result was all because of Nick Sheridan, but that then opens the door for what the heck happened with the Illini?  Or we go with Occam's Razor, and say that our coaching staff isn't terribly good at adustments this season.  Maybe there isn't anything to adjust too, the team just isn't that good.

Another support for the adjustments theory... we've scored 7 points in the 3rd quarter all season.  7.  I'm not entirely sure what that says, but it certainly doesn't support the argument that our coaching staff is comprised of evil football geniuses.  They are clearly being outmaneuvered, albeit with inferior personnel and not by Bret Bielema.

How could I forget the jet tracking?  That's a great point.  It cracked me up at the time that's for sure.

There is no way that RR is somehow "sacrificing" 2 wins (or any wins) with bizarro, substandard playcalling to somehow install his offense in a bid for future glory. He, and every other coach and player, are trying to win the game in front of them, period.

If they are running plays that don't work in games, they most likely worked in practice. And he would run a Wisconsin ISO based offense if he thought it would win more games, which he obviously doesn't. (Even the play with Mathews lined up ineligible has some purpose in RR's mind, otherwise he wouldn't use it.)

Look, if something doesn't make sense to us, I guarantee there's still some reason for it. Might be a bad reason in our minds, but there's a purpose behind it in the coach's mind. And the purpose is always, always, always to win the game. Never to set up some future thing on the possibility that might help you later.

For my .02, trying to get a block M anywhere in the logo will look forced.  It already has a distinct Michigan design in the Winged Helmet, so it's not like you have brand it to say which school it is for.

If you can fit it in and make it look natural, then you're really good.  But if you can't, then just forget about it.

See?  Just another example of a Michigan football player thrown into life with no skills living in a cardboard box.  Someone call The Ann Arbor News.

I remember him.  His senior year was just before I got to Ann Arbor, 1991.  He was one of the first (maybe the first) 300 pounder.  I always think of him as the "prototypical" lineman prior to John Jansen.

Than the last one. You either had to lose the teeth or go all in, and I like the all in version.

My only nits at this point would be the thin blue lines that define the nose (they look drawn in and don't quite flow with the rest of the lines in the logo) and the eye shape might need to be adjusted slightly to make it look angrier.

I have to say I am a Block M guy for anything football related, but I could see this on an away hockey jersey in a couple versions.

I was wondering how you knew that!  Thanks for reading.  You and Wife32 are both of my fans.

While "offenCe" isn't technically a misspelling (I don't believe) it isn't the typical variant when used to describe a football offenSe. This is the nth diary to use the odd alternate spelling. Am I missing some inside joke or something? It always causes me to stumble when reading over it.

Yes, I suppose I have issues. (But it did take me about ten diaries to actually post something and ask.)

Off the top of my head I can think of three sequels, but they're all super-hero movies.  The Dark Knight, Spiderman 2, and Superman II.  (Gotta give it up for The Phantom Zone.)

I could probably think of some others.  (Like The Wrath of Khan... how could I forget Star Trek II?) 

I guarantee this sequel - Michigan 2009 will far surpass Michigan 2008. 

OK, that was really funny.  And probably verbatim what I'll be saying on Saturday.

I am so with you on Foucault's Pendulum.  What frustrated me was the sense when you finally got through it that you didn't gain very much but some vocabulary or jargon on the occult.  It was kinda like a Michael Crichton book where he didn't know how to end it (although unlike Crichton most of the time, he didn't go with the giant explosion.)

I loved that book!  I should probably go back and reread it.

For creating a post in the diary section.

Woodson is the only one I would nominate in my Michigan football watching lifetime.  He played on the field three years, which is more than most do.  His resume is amazing.  I'm surprised it hasn't happened, and I brought it up to point out that it's pretty difficult to make the case for anyone reaching that level with the way things are today.

I'm with QB Waggle... funny, but that buried the needle on the Creep-o-Meter.

It was 2003, and I would love to see that game again.  I have this superstition about taping big games, mostly because it ends in fiery doom.  Clearly that hasn't factored in at all from 2004-2007.  Why do the football gods not see my sacrifice?

Oh, I know exactly why you picked Gary D, his inane promoting of the SEC in 2006.  But that's just one moment of stupidity, whereas the rest of his career was well above average.  Mike Patrick on the other hand hasn't called a sober game in 15 years.  When I'm in the stands listening to the announcers on my very hot-to-the-touch headset, Mike Patrick will absolutely cause the most misery.

If this were about holding a grudge though, it's Gary D.  He blew any Michigan karma he might have had.

I've been to both Compton and USC's campus.  I threw that in there because they really do think they're in the hood... they're not.

Your argument isn't sufficient to determine if you are right or wrong.  Simply saying that they recruit the same as rest of the Big East, then claiming they did great in-conference with the same talent level is a straw-man argument.

I made no actual claims myself, except to suggest some ways you could actually check that claim out.  Looks like you did a bit up above, and I gotta say that's not too shabby.

Two points that kind of derail things...

1. The amount of success could be proportionately more than other conference juggernauts, based on the same level of talent throughout the various conferences. That would mean they were still getting "more" from "less" on a comparative basis.

2. You would really have to look at how the Big East fared compared to the rest of the BCS conferences, but in particular how WVU fared against non-Big East competition. That's how you would see if they did more with less. In other words, simply look at the games where they clearly had "less", and see how they did. The two I know of for sure are Georgia and Oklahoma, and that's enough for me. Michigan hasn't kicked the snot out of anyone but ND lately, and they're not Oklahoma.

I'm not even a really big fan of the Maize hockey jerseys, but I don't hate them or anything.  A maize football jersey would just not look good.  Cal, Oregon and West Virginia don't look classy in them, they look desperate.  For a program like ours that is as steeped in tradition... no maize jerseys.  Them's the rules.

Seriously, how can you improve on the blue jersey with the maize numbers?  Impossible.

Didst thou not see what I did to Nazi faces in Raiders of the Lost Ark?  You who are thin at safety should take My commandments very seriously!  [evil laughter]

 }:)

I take full responsibility for forgetting Alex Mitchell, which was an unforgivable miss by me.  It has been corrected.  Somewhere right now, Andy Moeller is smiling just a little and isn't sure why.

Also bumped the weather to "UCLA 2000."  I wasn't there, but people who were told me it was like being in the 4th ring of hell.