Unverified Voracity Clarifies Lemon Bet Comment Count

Brian

Seven interceptions, heat from the fans, lots of running to come.  Sounds familiar, but it's 1982.

"Wild man" Mike Boren also features in the pregame. Via WH.

The lemon bet. A few weeks ago Mike Farrell tweeted that Yuri Wright's top two were Colorado and Michigan, to which I responded that I would eat a lemon and put it on the internet if Michigan lost Wright to CU*. I'd rather have a super athletic, if raw, corner than do this, so this quote($) from his trip to Boulder is a relief:

“I wish they would have picked a different weekend [ie, not finals] for me to come out there, but I still had a good time for the most part. I know it’s a good school.”

A small relief. I mean, I'll believe a guy with options like Michigan and Notre Dame going to Colorado several years after I see it.

*[FINE PRINT: Lemon will be consumed if Wright ends up signing with Colorado AND Michigan is still pursuing him at the time of his commitment. If M picks up Armani Reeves and stops going after corners, bet is void. To prevent this from being weaselly, this will have to be a direct quote to that effect or something from Sam Webb.]

(caption) First-year Michigan head coach and Big Ten football coach of the year Brady Hoke addresses a record crowd of nearly 1,600 Michigan football supporters at the 91st Annual Michigan Football Bust presented by the M-Club of Greater Detroit at Laurel Manor in Livonia. Photos taken on Monday, December 12, 2011.  ( John T. Greilick / The Detroit News )</p>
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Detnews

Bust bits. The football bust transpired without hand-holding or weeping and with a minimum of Rodriguez hur hur that was made awkward when players thanked Rodriguez during speeches. There was one notable newsbit:

LIVONIA -- Michigan football coach Brady Hoke said at the team's annual bust Monday that he does not expect linebacker Marell Evans to return next year.

The fifth-year senior from Richmond, Va., has not played this year. Hoke, who declined throughout the season to elaborate on the situation, revealed at the banquet that Evans had eligibility issues because of "a twist of fate" resulting from his transfers.

You can remove the vague possibility Evans is on the team from your scholarship calculations. Also Molk made certain people feel bad:

"Going through what we did for five years … it's hard to put into words truly what it means and truly what we've been through," Molk said Monday night at the Laurel Manor. "Because frankly, I don't think there's many people in this room or in this country that understand. Unless you've been a fifth-year senior here, you don't know. You didn't live it you didn't feel it, you didn't see the pain, you didn't hear the anguish, you didn't hear the hate."

Take that, guy I threw an empty water bottle at after the Toledo game. You probably think Demanding Excellence is what got Michigan back on track. I hate you so much.

Q: How many times will people make the joke about Fred Jackson having coached Tom Harmon? IIRC, Rodriguez (of all people) was one of millions to get that zinger off. It is as traditional as Fred Jackson proclaiming all tailbacks to be Olympian gods.

AnnArbor.com has the fullest rundown of things that were said.

No sale, literally. If you're still looking for Sugar Bowl tickets, Virginia Tech has a deal for you:

As of Monday evening, Virginia Tech had sold a little over 9,500 of its 17,500 ticket allotment to the Sugar Bowl, a number that  is only slightly higher than the 9,200 the school announced last Friday. So it's clear ticket sales -- at least through the school -- are slowing to a crawl at this point.

I bet Kansas State would have done better.

I've seen many a tweet about Kansas State and Arkansas' rush on Cotton Bowl tickets as proof that the Wildcats should have been chose for the Sugar Bowl instead of the Hokies. Kansas State reportedly sold out its 12,500-ticket allotment before the bowl was announced. Tickets are so in demand for the Cotton Bowl that the cheapest on StubHub are going for $219.99. Only the BCS title game ($1,299 for the cheapest seat) is a tougher ticket right now of the bowl games.

Andy Bitter suggests that's a factor of the distances—Dallas is driveable for both fanbases, but they're enthused after a big year and VT is coming off a hammering in the ACC title game.

VT is struggling in part because resellers are currently undercutting VT by two to one. An interesting note from Bitter: the ACC now picks up the tab for unsold tickets once schools get over the 8k mark. At least the risk the bowls have migrated from themselves to the teams is being spread over a greater number of institutions these days. Still: scam, scam, scam.

First halves maybe some. Your impression that Tim Hardaway spends many first halfs chilling, relaxing, maxing all cool are accurate. Via Wolverine Nation, Hardaway averages 5.2 points in the first half and 11.2 in the second. That's… more scoring in the second, there.  I'd be fine if M started every game with a possession on which Hardaway is given those double high screens and given the green light to shoot if he comes open for a three. There are points in the first half when it feels like the offense bogs down because Hardaway isn't being enough of an option.

This is going well. This has no relation to anything you care about except the tenuous connection I can make between all bad coaches and Charlie Weis, but man does Randy Edsall remind you of an even less accomplished Charlie Weis or what? One of the early warning signs that Weis's colossal dickishness wasn't a Parcell-style asset was when starting defensive end Ronald Talley, a guy with almost no competition on the depth  chart, transferred. To Delaware.

Presenting Randy Edsall's Maryland:

In a move that surprised no one, D.J. Adams announced his intention to transfer. The controversial running back had the class to wish Edsall and the program luck in a statement. Meanwhile, we're still waiting for Edsall's thoughts on losing the most talented tailback the team had after Davin Meggett. Heck, we're still waiting to hear why Adams was benched for most of the year.

Offensive tackle R.J. Dill — a starter and one of the team's best linemen — is transferring, too. Not only does it hurt the team from a football standpoint in the short run, but it also begs the questions: Who else is leaving, and who is going to come to College Park now?

Edsall went 2-10. Meanwhile, Freidgen coach-in-waiting James Franklin had something of a breakthrough year at Vandy and Maryland is dropping a bunch of sports after paying massive buyouts all over the place to hire Edsall and Gary Crowton. The yutz at Tennessee resigned in June, so Maryland's Kevin Anderson is now Worst Athletic Director In The Country.

In case you haven't seen it. Tom Crean's expression after Indiana hits their game-winning three against Kentucky is priceless:

Court rush approved. Indiana has spent some time in the wilderness after their disastrous decision to hire Kelvin Sampson (speaking of yutz athletic directors…) and this was a "OMG we're back" moment. Also beating #1 on a buzzer beater… yeah. That court rush is the reason everyone's so upset when people rush for dumb reasons.

Etc.: Dylan previews Arkansas Pine Bluff more thoroughly than they have ever been previewed before. The Pac-12 is not good at basketball. Floyd and Woolfolk are rehab BFFs. Why is the NBA stuck with the Hornets? Because of their publicly funded stadium.

Comments

GunnersApe

December 13th, 2011 at 2:01 PM ^

http://www.gobblercountry.com/2011/12/12/2631951/2012-sugar-bowl-virginia-tech-ticket-sales-stall-as-secondary-market#storyjump

 

"How does that compare for Michigan fans? Right now, it will cost them anywhere between $573 and $909 to fly out of Detroit, depending on how long they stay in New Orleans. Pretty comparable, but the Wolverines have sold over 14,000 of their tickets based on recent reports."
 
 

bluebyyou

December 13th, 2011 at 2:03 PM ^

Per a Washington Post article, there appears to be a couple of thousand tickets that are not yet sold.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/hokies-journal/post/virginia-tech-struggling-to-sell-sugar-bowl-tickets/2011/12/13/gIQAJocnrO_blog.html

 

That, though, doesn’t explain why Virginia Tech didn’t just open up ticket sales to the general public immediately following the Sugar Bowl announcement. Michigan, which reported Monday it had sold 14,800 of its 17,500-ticket allotment, sold 14,000 tickets on the first day tickets went on sale.

jdberkley

December 13th, 2011 at 8:42 PM ^

providing better seats is key here. VT's ticket office did itself no favors by doing an awful job of securing good seats for the 2008 Orange Bowl against Kansas. I can speak to this personally-- my father bought the family a VT-sponsored travel plan for Christmas, complete with tickets through the ticket office, only to find out our seats were in the top row of the stadium, and the buses VT arranged to take fans to the stadium that night were late and got stuck in traffic for over an hour. My father's been a VT donor for more than twenty years, and is a season ticket holder. There were scores of complaints made to the VT athletic department after that trip, and a lot of people vowed not to go through VT for bowl tickets again. There will still be a lot of VT people there-- many of them have just learned the hard way that organizing their own trips makes more sense.

Needs

December 13th, 2011 at 2:03 PM ^

That clip has everything you could want from the telecast of a buzzer beater. Reaction shots of both coaches? Check. Shot from behind play at court level to see reaction of IU bench and fans behind the basket? Check. Wide angled panorama from high in the arena to show 16000 people simultaneously throwing hands in air? Check. Gape-mouthed Kentucky fan? Check.

No doubt about the court rushing, either. 1. Beat #1, 2. Program resurgence, 3. Dramatic ending making court storming somewhat spontaneous.

jamiemac

December 13th, 2011 at 2:17 PM ^

Thanks for the Indiana clip

That was certainly a special moment for this Alum. The IU/UK rivalry is the hoops equivalent of UM/ND and there arent many other teams we'd rather beat than the Wildcats.

Its been a tough run for my two favorite college sports teams, MICH FB and IU Hoops......could they both emerge from this wilderness at the same time? I dont know, but seeing the Wolverines beat Ohio in football and IU beat UK in hoops within two weeks of each other has pretty much put me in a permanent state of holiday bliss right now

That court rush was epic on so many fronts. Thanks again for posting

 

Ziff72

December 13th, 2011 at 2:20 PM ^

I don't know all the particulars about Edsall, but I think calling him Weis is a low blow.

The guy is old school hard and appears to have some Bielema like dick qualities, but I think you have to give him some credit for building UConn football from the ground up and making them respectable.   That is a much bigger achievement than landing your fat ass in ND and riding some pretty good recruits to 2 decent seasons before you implode.

I remember maybe 4 or 5 years ago when UConn was just starting to make some noise and I think Edsall kicked off a couple players for buying beer.  I want to say that they might have even been of age, but it was against team rules.   Everyone thought the program was going to melt down and they got even stronger.

Not saying I want him as my coach , but I think he deserves some time.  Maryland has consistently underachieved the last 5 or 6 years so maybe the kids need a little kick in the ass and they don't like it.  Sounds like it's a little like the RR situation.  The fan base didn't want him and the situation is turning toxic.   The media is all over him and I think it's making kids decisions to leave easier.

He's probably toast, but if death not an option I would take Edsall over Weis 100 of 100 times if we're talking about leading a college program.  I imagine he knows he made a big mistake leaving Uconn.

 

 

 

 

Erik_in_Dayton

December 13th, 2011 at 2:24 PM ^

I thought that what he did at UConn was one of the most impressive coaching jobs of the past decade or so.  Things sure seem to be coming off the rails fast at Maryland, though...B/c the internets are for rumors: I had a waitress in DC the other night who goes to Maryland and is friends with some of the guys on the team (assuming she wasn't lying).  From what she said, the team is pretty defiantly not on board with Edsall.   

now_a_hoo

December 13th, 2011 at 2:45 PM ^

I've now watched Edsall-coached teams twice in person. The first time was my freshman year at a CAA school, where we beat them handily, and it seemed preposterous that they were planning on making the jump to 1-A. Then this season I watched my grad alma mater, an ACC school, beat his Terps handily in College Park. This was ostenibly a rivalry game, and none of the nasty-by-reputation Terps fans even bothered to give me any grief.

That he was able to take a CAA also-ran and turn it into a Big East champion, and then can't manage to generate even token enthusiasm at Maryland is really astonishing. I can't see how this wasn't a disasterous hire both for him and for Maryland.

patrickdolan

December 13th, 2011 at 2:24 PM ^

I watched the UM/IU NCAA final in Ann Arbor. An Indiana boy and UM student, I made a boatload of money giving, as I recall, ten points. I grew up with IU hoops, and that didn't change when I enrolled at UM and discovered college football.

It's been a tough couple of years, worse for IU than UM. (Say what you like about RR; he was no Kelvin Sampson.) Michigan football and IU hoops are on their way back to where they belong. And, having watched the kids endure the suck of the last few years, I'm happy for them.

Yostal

December 13th, 2011 at 2:28 PM ^

VT fans, and I think rightly, are also pointing out that they've raised over $80,000 in the last week for the police officer killed in the line of duty during last week's tragic events on the Blacksburg campus.  You can kind of see where it's not that VT is being stingy as much as they're making a "priorities" argument.  

Naked Bootlegger

December 13th, 2011 at 2:36 PM ^

Crean's reaction is one of the best "Man-alive-am-I-surprised-did-that-really-just-happen?" faces ever.   He had a certain Muppets' Beaker-esque appearance.   It will kill me this year if we lose to a team coached by Beaker.

Ziff72

December 13th, 2011 at 2:37 PM ^

Brian mentioned that several players thanked RR, but I see no mention of it in any the media reports.  If anybody has  insight on any of the comments I would appreciate a little summary of your take if you were there.  Thanks.

M-Wolverine

December 13th, 2011 at 3:45 PM ^

But I really won't complain that KSU didn't get to fill the Stadium as we play them, vs. some school that won't send as many people as Michigan. I'm definitely ok with that.

WolverBean

December 13th, 2011 at 4:31 PM ^

The yutz at Tennessee resigned in June, so Maryland's Kevin Anderson is now Worst Athletic Director In The Country.

I think UCLA fans would be willing to wager Dan Guerrero is worse.

Dudeski

December 13th, 2011 at 5:20 PM ^

he makes it sound like the seniors were cancer-striken homeless single moms who were thrown in jail on false accusations. I mean, it must have been tough, the pressure, the coaching change and all. But they were still living in a preppy town getting a free college education to play a sport they love. Gotta see things in perspective. It must have been tough, but "no one in this country can understand me" sounds a bit sophomoric and narcissistic.

True Blue in CO

December 13th, 2011 at 5:30 PM ^

team include the father of "He who shall not be named" but it also included the father of future Wolverine Allen Gant. Seems like a long time ago for me playing in the Michigan Band watching A.C. change Michigan football forever.

BRCE

December 13th, 2011 at 5:53 PM ^

Desmond's quotes made me cringe while reading them on paper. If I was actually at the event, I would have been so embarrassed for him that I may have had to get up and take a fake bathroom break. Definitely should NOT be invited back to do anymore speeches but Brandon personifies the arrogance that this speech exhibited so I'm sure it's all good in the 'hood.

uminks

December 14th, 2011 at 3:37 PM ^

I never watched this game on television but was that Ray Lane calling the game?

If I did not have to work, I would definitely go to the Sugar Bowl.  I did not think about submitting leave from work for early January...since at the beginning of the season I did not think a BCS bowl was possible!  Hoke has this team well ahead of schedule. Next year a more difficult schedule may keep us out of a BCS bowl but you never know!