Oklahaters Be Hatin' Unverified Voracity Comment Count

Brian

The new Yost. Photos from inside the barn during its renovation:

yost_north_end[1]

The visual effect of those windows won't be as huge since games are invariably played after the sun goes down. It should be interesting all the same. Where do the NCAA/GLI banners go now?

(Via United States of Hockey)

Pipkins back on the field. The scare was only that. I have a good source who says it was just a stinger.

More Mealer. The Daily revisits Brock Mealer's ongoing recovery, finding this sign provided by Tom at Barwis Methods:

image

He's getting married. Article is a dust factory, be warned.

You guys should put together a banner. ND's secondary is verging on Never Forget territory with yesterday's news that projected starting quarterback Lo Wood* was lost for the season with an achilles injury. This leaves Notre Dame with two players on their roster who were recruited at CB. They've got a few more converted types.

The Irish Illustrated guys believe they won't move starting safety Jamoris Slaughter($) and will probably turn to true freshman KeiVarae Russell, a 3.5 star player who most sites ranked as a tailback (but did think he could play corner). Slaughter moves down to the nickel for them, FWIW.

*[Who you may remember as the nadir of Michigan's recruiting success against the Irish; Wood maintained Michigan as his leader for months before committing to Charlie Weis and Corwin Brown in June of 2009.]

Extra crispy? The Bylaw Blog thinks Oregon will get hammered by the NCAA for a blatant violation of the NCAA's prohibition against "impermissible scouting services" since Penn State means new era and the rest of the membership isn't afraid of getting nailed on vague technicalities since the NCAA now has a clearinghouse for permissible services. Intent is not relevant here:

What it means for Oregon is that even if the NCAA never proves that Oregon’s coaching staff intended the purchase of Lyles’ recruiting service to get them access to prospects or had much contact with Lyles, the school could still face severe penalties. All the enforcement staff might need to prove is that Oregon paid for a recruiting service that did not meet the requirements. The fact that prospects connected to the owner of the recruiting service enrolled at Oregon would be an aggravating factor.

Legally, the case sets up poorly for Oregon. Politically, the case sets up even worse. Oregon’s alleged violation can easily be cast as something most people want to stop: paying off a third party in order to secure a recruit’s enrollment.

I'm not hopeful but Infante knows this material a lot better than I do.

Adorable moppet is probably a part of a gang that smokes pipes and plots the overthrow of Kaiser Wilhem. State of Oklahoma, what is up?

Cooper_MichT[1]

Young Cooper Barton wore his favorite Michigan shirt to Wilson Elementary in Oklahoma City and was told it violated the Oklahoma City Public Schools dress code and was asked to turn the shirt inside out. According to the dress code, students are only allowed to wear Oklahoma, Oklahoma State or apparel from another Oklahoma-state school. …

"They should really worry about academics. It wasn't offensive. He's five," Cooper's mother Shannon Barton told News9.com. …

According to the television station, the dress code was created in 2005 as part of a way to rid schools of gangs and gang apparel.

Sounds like someone high up in the food chain of the Oklahoma City school system has a burr up his butt about Texas. Or this five-year-old passes for witheringly intimidating in Oklahoma.

Life imitates terrible jokes. Ace told you that camp sleeper commit Channing Stribling is "blowing up," as the kids say, after a strong two-way performance in his opening game of the season. But Tom just posted an article at Wolverine Nation($) that contains.. well:

“I see more Ohio State fans in my area than anything,” he said. “My pizza man came by and saw I had my Michigan shirt on and he said he was an Ohio State fan and yelled, ‘Go Buckeyes!’ ”

I don't even to know how to add anything here.

Etc.: STUFFING THE PASSER. Gasaway has an insider article on ACC/Big Ten Challenge opponent NC State($). The Daily breaks down the hockey roster. I am extremely dubious of Guptill anywhere but the top line, but otherwise solid. Smart Football on packaged run/pass concepts. The NCAA is considering radically altering the structure of football staffs by allowing non-coaches to find and contact players. I'm not the only person who doesn't like Dave Brandon's vision for the AD.

Comments

jmdblue

August 21st, 2012 at 4:30 PM ^

irritating as hell in almost every case, but I do like the patches (although like #1, I don't necessarily think they should always be issued).  The patches promote the history and the brand without the obvious item (read jersey) to jam down our collective throat at $90 a pop.  Only down side I see is how a future "47" or "98" or "2" will happen now that the players who would become "legends" revert to former legends' numbers for their last year or 2.

 

MGoShoe

August 21st, 2012 at 4:33 PM ^

...to the Rothschild/Cook critique of Brandon but the level of opprobrium leveled his way here continues to be off putting. I think (hope) they learned their lesson with the uniforms last year and we'll be able to settle into a more stable time with fewer changes to the (historically) oft changed road jerseys. And legends jerseys may seem like a cheap trick to some, but it sure seems like a more effective way to honor Michigan greats than a no longer viable jersey retirement program. The other stuff is pretty much weak sauce. UTL and The Big Chill? Come on, people.  

JeepinBen

August 21st, 2012 at 4:58 PM ^

He's said that he wants "WOW" moments, and so far those have worked well. But how many of those "WOW" moments can they do? If we do a night game every year, each one can't be some variation UTL XI!!! until we get bored. Opening the season in a few years will be interesting for sure... but there have been other things he's done too. Don't get me wrong, the new scoreboards are great, new Yost looks great, new Crisler looks great. He sure is doing the big things really well and the coffers are full, but Brandon really seems to be a "Get the base riled/angry" and "get us in the news in any way possible" AD. Cases in point:

The band/Dallas - had Brandon quietly floated the idea of having the band sponsored by boosters I'm sure that he could have got it funded. The band was always going to go, he just didn't want to pay for it. It was in the contract that was signed that our band would be there. It was a dollar issue. And he got it funded, just pissed off some people in the process.

The mascot bruhaha - It was july and he got Michigan on the opening roll of ESPN by making a stink (and doing NO follow up) about a mascot. Again, no harm done, besides pissing people off in the middle.

Ticket Prices/Ads in the Big House - He's done a testing ground for some of this with ads for "events but not Football games". Spring game ads. Big Chill Ads. etc. and he's come out saying "I can't have ads, so your tickets will be more expensive". Fine, I don't want ads, but it grinds people's gears.

Special K - Since the players like the music, whatever, but hire someone who wont play "build me up buttercup" before huge defensive plays late in The Game. The AD has obviously signed off on this.

Jerseys - IMHO we could have a new away football uni every year and I wouldn't care. But enough with the 1 off commemorative jerseys. Including Dallas in our last 13 games we will have worn 7 jerseys. Ridiculous. The UTL jerseys worked. So of course, do it 5 more times!!!!

Again, he's done the big things well, like the buildings and rolling out lacrosse, but he's mishandled a lot too. And mishandling the little things can piss people off .

Oh, and  I forgot this being all over the stadium constantly:

I realize all of these might not be Brandon's call, but he's the AD, he gets the credit and the blame

M-Wolverine

August 21st, 2012 at 5:35 PM ^

I've said I think he didn't handle the band thing smoothly. Behind closed doors, he'd probably tell you the same thing. Because the PR mess was very un-Brandon-like.

Mascot thing was dumb, but just seeing if people would freak (they did) was probably his intention.

I'm not sure ticket prices is any more Brandon than Michigan. The biggest percentage increases were under Martin. Major price raises AND seat licenses. You're not going to get an AD who's not going to do that.

"Specal K"- I don't know why he continues to get the blame for it, unless it's the fact he hadn't abolished it. (And I'm guessing the majority of feedback he gets likes it). It started because Rich Rod wanted a more fired up atmosphere, and Martin instituted it, not Brandon. If anything Brandon has made it better, because we don't get AC/DC as the team comes out on the field, we get the video then The Victors. And Brandon got the rules changed so the band could be mic'd. But I don't think the blog is ever going to shake its fist and say "curse you Rich for all that RAWK!!" Because Brandon is the scapegoat for all things we MGoDon'tLike.

And the jersey thing WAS too much. We'll see if they keep it more reasonable, or they go back and do it anyway like last year.

snarling wolverine

August 21st, 2012 at 5:54 PM ^

he's come out saying "I can't have ads, so your tickets will be more expensive".

He has? When did he do that? (I'm not attacking you; I just don't recall him saying that at all.)

I agree with some of the criticisms of him, but I think they're a little harsh in this article. His "marketing instinct" may lead him astray at times, but give him some credit - he has listened to the fanbase on a few controversial issues, like the mascot, band trip, and Ohio game scheduling. The athletic department has not always functioned that way.  There was certainly no fan input into the infamous "halo," for instance.

denardogasm

August 21st, 2012 at 4:55 PM ^

I was about to post this exact thing.  I disagree with everything in the article except the bit about the changing jerseys.  The whole thing seemed a little Snyder-esque to me, as in trying to make a big deal out of nothing.  I see absolutely no problem with UTL or The Big Chill.  Both were huge successes.  There's nothing wrong with advertising.  No one would have cared nationally if it had just been referred to "the first night game in Michigan history," and to suggest as much is absurd.  That game probably got as much hype as The Game in 06 despite having two modestly ranked teams rather than the number 1 and 2 ranked teams in the country.  I'd say that was pretty much a genius move by Brandon.

BlueLotCrew

August 21st, 2012 at 4:46 PM ^

a boy?  I'm not kidding when I saw the pic, I thought it was a little girl getting flack for that shirt. If I were an administrator at that school, I would be more offended by the haircut.

jamiemac

August 21st, 2012 at 4:48 PM ^

I am still at a loss to determine just what exact tradition David Brandon is killing at Michigan

Unless its the tradition of doing nothing while getting old and boring

Geaux_Blue

August 21st, 2012 at 4:55 PM ^

you have the same gameday experience your father had, and his father had, and so-on. when you can bring in two Arena Football teams and provide the same gameday experience as you do Michigan, it's a problem. 

denardogasm

August 21st, 2012 at 4:58 PM ^

The only problem is that very little about life 100 years ago would excite kids these days.  People change and so do their preferences.  It's a different time.  Brandon's not doing everything perfectly, and could do a better job of bridging the gap between tradition and innovation, but to suggest that we should have the same gameday experiences as Herm had as a kid is just too stubborn.

Geaux_Blue

August 21st, 2012 at 5:11 PM ^

it's seein there's 100x more risk in changing than there is in staying the same. scoreboards were overdue. hashtags on the field though? wtf is #goblue going to do to generate revenue? i'm fully aware of the CRM potential and blablabla, i'm asking what does impacting the game experience do? it's not boosting ticket sales - UM has sold out for how long? i don't know an ounce of merchandise purchased due to Bieber playing during an injury timeout.

 

it's trying too hard to be the biggest show in Michigan rather than just being Michigan. that bothers me.

lexus larry

August 21st, 2012 at 5:04 PM ^

I still don't know how that made the game experience better or added more "WOW" to the event.  The games are fine with a modest amount of pageantry and sparkle.  Paratrooping/jetpacking the gameball in is fine, but not something anyone I know will point to as so memorable they remember which particular game it happened (10 years from now for jetpack man).

Not disagreeing with you, just a good place to suggest that some of the goofy minor professional league antics, in order to create noise or "buzz," may be ill-applied to Michigan football.

Geaux_Blue

August 21st, 2012 at 5:09 PM ^

i'd rather it just be good ol fashioned football and build my own traditions around that than to have the football change. the fact i KNOW i will hear Call Me Maybe 3x on the way to the game as i walk down State doesn't bother me - it's that i will hear it 3x before the final score is announced that bothers me.

Needs

August 21st, 2012 at 6:07 PM ^

One of the strange things that has seemed to happen with the music is the attempt to borrow ... I'm not sure if "traditions" is the right word ... but songs that are well known at other venues and incorporate them into Michigan Stadium. "Build Me Up Buttercup," from Wisconsin. "Sweet Caroline" from Fenway, "Don't Stop Believing" from the Joe, "Seven Nation Army" from European soccer venues, Penn State, and Ohio State.

Maybe this is simply because they work. Even "Build Me Up, Buttercup" had a lot of people singing along, and that at a key moment in a huge game. But it does strip away some of the unique experience of Michigan Stadium and transform it a bit toward "standardized sports venue."

M-Wolverine

August 21st, 2012 at 7:21 PM ^

They even asked for suggestions. Then as far as I can tell, took none of them. I know I suggested a couple that then became NFL staples.

I think the closest we came was "dynamite", and not be ause it's a classic to be stadium song, but because UTLs was so memorable. But not something that should be pulled out for regular in-game stuff. Rock out. But be original. (Which doesn't mean obscure)

M-Wolverine

August 21st, 2012 at 5:21 PM ^

It doesn't have to be memorable or a decade. Do you remember what happened in all your pre games when you were a student? Even if it was memorable, there's only a handful I remember. It's not supposed to be historic, just fun for that day. We kep paying more money, getting a little more for it doesn't bother me. But then I want one of those jet packs.

M-Wolverine

August 21st, 2012 at 5:17 PM ^

Your father had. You just like to remember it that way. Things have lays changed, we just don't see it that way when it was "our" change.

Quick, when was the last time you threw marshmallows at a game? Things change. Keep the good ones, throw out the bad ones.

M-Wolverine

August 21st, 2012 at 7:17 PM ^

I never did the TP, really. But tons of stories from my mom about it.

And yeah, I loved a good 'mallow throw in my day, but I don't really object to them leaving.

It's kinda like the naked mile...when it was a bunch of students (rowers first) doing it it was awesome. When it became the convention for the Midwest chapter of the Internet Perverts Association, its time had passed.