Unverified Voracity Are Is People Good U Comment Count

Brian

Condolences. RIP Jon Hoke, Brady Hoke's father.

All hockey nicknames end in an "-ie" sound so let's just call him Dali. Shwn Hunwick's life story reached clock-melting levels of surrealism yesterday when a flood of current, future, and former Michigan hockey players started tweeting out congratulations on Hunwick's NHL debut. His father understandably thought this was a hoax:

“I thought he was pulling my leg. He’s kind of a prankster,” Rich said. "When I realized he wasn’t joking, it was just an incredible feeling.”

As did the security guy at the Blue Jackets' arena:

A 2003 Ford Ranger pulled into the players’ parking lot on Wednesday at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Assorted hockey gear, two small goalie leg pads and a winged helmet sat in the bed of the pickup truck.

The newest member of the Columbus Blue Jackets opened the window to speak to the lot attendant.

Shawn Hunwick told the attendant that he was here to be the back-up goalie.

“I don’t think he really believed me,” Hunwick said. “But then he radioed up to somebody, and they said I was good.”

As did Ira Weintraub of WTKA. The fact that most of the congratulatory tweets were hash-tagged "midget" didn't help.

But lo, it was not a hoax. Wearing #31, a winged helmet, and his block-M-bearing goalie pads, Shawn Hunwick was the backup goalie for the Blue Jackets last night. There's evidence and everything:

shawn-hunwick-blue-jackets

With Blue Jacket goalies dropping like flies Hunwick may get signed for the duration of the season.

Q: is there a Hunwick Effect?

His powerful goalie repellent saw multiple touted prospects flee for the sanctuary of the OHL and Bryan Hogan twice suffered injuries that opened the door for him. It's possible his effect extends to nearby pro teams. Not only are the Blue Jackets ready to sign anyone who's available but Detroit started Ty Conklin last night thanks to injuries to both Jimmy Howard and Joey MacDonald. If emergency Blue Jackets starter Allen York suffers a lethal hangnail, Hunwick's ability to get on the ice can only be occult.

The Jackets' official site has a long profile to go with the Daily one linked above and this other Daily one.

BONUS CBJ IS A MESS NOTE: Jack Johnson has set franchise records for TOI twice in the last week, breaking his record of 31:25 yesterday by logging 32:26. Those are Torey Krug levels.

He needs your help. Will Hagerup's immortal animated GIF is up against a runaway golf cart in the GIF bracket's final four. He must not be defeated until the final, where even a partisan like myself thinks Rollerblading Raptors Mascot is a worthy challenger. I mean…

2009_medium[1]

…every time. Gets me every time. I really need to stop watching it. Okay one more time. Okay one more time. Okay one more time. I think I need an intervention. 

I ARE PROUD OF U AND TINK U SULD R BE HAPPY. Good lord, the Hollis thing. If you are living under a rock—even more than the tail I think it's the derp derp derp of the mouth that makes it—you should know that yesterday Trey Burke tweeted out something frustrated about making a decision and MSU's athletic director revealed himself to be a lolcat:

My advice believe in YOUR heart & mind, everything else is interference. People seek u out is better than those that seek u.

Yes, MSU's athletic director tweeted unsolicited advice to ignore unsolicited advice and toppped it off by writing "people is". Also I just punched that into twitter and found he had three more characters to spell out at least one of those "u" abominations, both if he dropped the period. The parody twitter account was inevitable, if sadly lacking in laughable grammatical errors.

The fact that MSU's AD appears to be a lolcat probably shouldn't be a surprise:

17398649[1]

That's MSU agreeing to road games against WMU, CMU, and Eastern, though it's not like we have much of a leg to stand on what with The Horror II on the docket and Brandon tweeting out something in response that, while about 10% as foolish, was unnecessary.

Moral of the story: athletic directors should not exist outside of press conferences. Also,

17398908[1]

In other Trey Burke stay or go news. Chad Ford's flat response to a Q on Burke's draft status:

tb (chicago)

Trey Burke's draft stock?

Chad Ford
  (1:43 PM)

Second round. He should go back to school

There is no hedging there. About the only thing he could have said that would have been more encouraging would be "…for six to ten years."

I don't get it. Dabo Swinney, who I want to call Dabo Dabo Doo but will not, wants spring practice to end with a scrimmage against another team:

It’s an idea that has been kicked around before. Here are the basics of Dabo’s proposal: College football teams have the option of a spring game against themselves or another team. If you play another team, it must be both an out-of-conference team but also one within a reasonable driving distance. The coaches will agree upon the rules of the scrimmage in advance.

“Personally, I think it would be a good thing for college football to do,” Swinney said. “College football takes in a lot of money. I think it would be an opportunity to give something back to your school or a charity."

I guess that would be okay, but I like Rich Rodriguez's idea to institute a preseason game against a I-AA foe as an annual event much better. That gives you another game, gets rid of the annoying bowl eligibility stuff, allows you an opportunity to get some preseason kinks out, and can be put in that week in late August when nothing's happening. And since it's a scrimmage no one can beat you.

The best part about all of this is new Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin's response to the idea:

"Dabo wants a jamboree? Why not?"

Hoodaddy Dabo wants a jamobree I tell ya. /boomhauer'd

Etc.: UMHoops kicks off postseason recaps with five low points from the season. That's the Michigan Difference right there. User Rabbit21 previews Air Force, his undergrad alma mater. Option option option. More exit talkin'($). People hate parking tickets.

Murdoch envisions an ESPN competitor, just like NBC envisions an ESPN competitor. I'll believe it when a major college football conference ends up on one of those channels and not before. Fox did grab the World Cup the instant ESPN figured out how to cover it really, really well. I'm still watching the raptor gif.

Comments

bronxblue

March 29th, 2012 at 1:13 PM ^

The tail deflation at the end of the GIF really makes it perfect.

I'm fine with Brandon tweeting back at Hollis, though it was probably not necessary.  Still, if an AD is dumb enough to tweet to a rival's athlete, I want the other AD to respond promptly and quickly in a similar forum.

Sac Fly

March 29th, 2012 at 1:17 PM ^

I haven't found any transaction news yet so ill wait until something solid comes out before saying it's offical. Hunwick posted this on Twitter a few minutes ago.

"It's been a whirlwind 24 hours. Excited to spend the next 10 days down here in Columbus."

harmon98

March 29th, 2012 at 1:29 PM ^

when Hunwick took the ice in Columbus with the winged helmet Bill Raftery put down his tumbler of scotch long enough to declare [to no one in particular] "Onions!"

M-Wolverine

March 29th, 2012 at 2:18 PM ^

Can't afford pads and helmets with your own teams logo for players you sign.  Even if if you don't carry some in every size, you can't have your supplier rush ship something?  Can't image the cost is as prohibitive as the embarrassment of those images.

I had to read it 3 times to get it, but I love how the Raptor gif leaked into the twitter part of the post.  

And not sure why the Brandon tweet was unnecessary (other than it was something David Brandon did, who apparently can do no right in some circles).  An opposing school AD commits what may be an NCAA violation towards one of his athletes....and he should just remain silent? I'm guess with all the people asking him about it, if he had said nothing, a lot of them would be all over him for not "defending our athletes" or something. Something needed to be said. It probably should have been by the NCAA, but I don't think anyone is holding their breath on that.

But damn, that Raptor gif is going to be tough competition.

Alton

March 29th, 2012 at 3:05 PM ^

You can't give a goalie a helmet off the rack and expect him to be able to wear it in an NHL game 3 hours later.  I'm sure they are working on fitting a new helmet (or re-painting his old helmet).

Pads are similar; they need to be broken in.  Also, the goalie is much better off with familiar pads rather than new ones, since he will be able to control the rebounds a little better if he knows what to expect.

 

M-Wolverine

March 29th, 2012 at 8:16 PM ^

Though they have to be broken in sometime, don't they? Really asking- do players break in more than one set at a time so if one breaks or something they have a game ready pair to put on? Otherwise they are just throwing on new pads. Don't get the helmet as much; not having played hockey, are they not inflated like a football helmet? What's the process of getting one "broken in"?

Neodoomium

March 29th, 2012 at 8:32 PM ^

All hockey gear is really stiff when you first get it, especially goalie pads. They break them in at practice where it doesn't matter that their mobility is limited in them. The helmet has specific sight lines and sits on your head a certain way that a new one takes some getting used to as well. They typically just keep painting over the same two until they need to replace them.

M-Wolverine

March 29th, 2012 at 9:34 PM ^

Do they break in two pairs at a time at practice, alternating or something? Because if something goes wrong with a piece of equipment during a game you don't want to be throwing on a completely new piece of gear.

El Jeffe

March 29th, 2012 at 3:27 PM ^

I think it's not so much that he should remain silent, but that he did it on Twitter, which, as far as I can tell, has an idiotic shit:sensible shit ratio that is asymptotically approaching infinity as it gains in popularity.

So maybe Brandon should, like, pick up the phone. Or call a reporter or something.

Raoul

March 29th, 2012 at 7:21 PM ^

In fact, Brandon did talk to Hollis, presumably by phone, according to this LSJ article. As that article makes clear, Brandon posted his tweet later, after he had talked to Hollis. Brandon's tweet wasn't so much a direct response to Hollis's tweet as a general comment about it and his conversation with Hollis.

yoshfriedman

March 29th, 2012 at 4:04 PM ^

who finds the idea of sean hannity or geraldo rivera talking basketball absolutely ridiculous? i think it could be the best thing to happen to unintentional comedy since... ever? 

i think this is the only way they could ever hope to compete with ESPN

NateVolk

March 29th, 2012 at 6:43 PM ^

David Brandon was the best hire in Michigan athletics since Bo.   His focus on taking what Bill Martin did in terms of maximizing the revenues available to the athletic department and expanding it, is setting the football program and all the other sports up financially for years to come. Plus he hired Hoke.

Because he won't fart away huge revenue and risk a totally unnecessary loss for the football team in non-conference road games to please a few fans with disposable travel income, he is the devil?

ThoseWhoStayUofM

March 29th, 2012 at 8:50 PM ^

I watched that raptor mascot face-plant about 25 times straight constantly laughing until it hurts so bad.... and I also have the hiccups now which causes extreme pain every time.  There should be a warning label on that GIF.