Unverified Voracity Hopes To Eat Again Comment Count

Brian

Eatin': taken. One of our new MGoShirts is this:

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I was sent the usual batch of ideas to thumb up or thumb down and thumbed this one up because I'd either missed or forgotten the fact that Martavious Odoms had put together a charity for a hurting city of Pahokee with a shirt based around the same concept. As the kids who are now about 35 say, my bad.

We've taken the thing down for now and are in the process of reaching out to Hope For Pahokee so we can put it back up and donate the proceeds to them. I'll let you know when we get cleared.

Ufer. A recut version of a Ufer thing I've posted before.

Honor Willis Ward. The Michigan State game marks the 78th anniversary of the Georgia Tech-Michigan game that saw Tech protest the existence of Willis Ward. Gerald Ford had to be talked out of quitting the team after Ward was benched; Michigan won 9-2, defeating racism forever*.

Anyway, the state legislature is making October 20th Willis Ward day and the filmmakers who have been publicizing his story are trying to get something together for the Michigan State game. It seems like this would be one of those things where you talk to someone in the athletic department and he says "of course," but must not be since the guys behind the idea are assembling an online petition to help bolster their case.

Hit it up. More details are available at MVictors.

*[Probably. I haven't done a whole lot of research on this point.]

Oh my God run around in circles yesss. Sunday Morning QB returns. Matt Hinton's still writing for a couple of other outlets, so its glory may not reach the heights of long long ago but at least now there is a place for Hinton to put the things that are 1) very good and 2) not likely to end up on the Yahoo front page because they're not viral™. See: a comprehensive overview of the have-nots. Bookmark/RSS away.

This is more like it. Indiana just announced a student loyalty program that actually seems worthwhile:

Under the new priority seating system, students earn -and have earned– priority points while they are in school by purchasing men’s basketball and/or football season tickets each year. To reward the most loyal student fans, the 3900 students with the most priority points heading into the 2012-13 school year will be guaranteed the lower bowl seats for the highly anticipated North Carolina game on November 27, 2012.

IU students earn priority points while they are in school by purchasing men’s basketball and football tickets. Students receive 5 points each time they purchase season tickets with a maximum of 10 points per year if they purchase them for both men’s basketball and football season. Also new this year, students will have an additional opportunity to earn loyalty points by attending the games for which they have tickets, or making certain their tickets are used by other students. One point will be given for each game attended or each time an individual ticket is scanned at the gate. Only the original ticket holder can earn loyalty points for the use of their tickets. The more loyalty points a student earns, the better chance they have of obtaining the student tickets allocated for post-season tournaments (NCAA, Big Ten Tournament, etc.). Student point totals for purchased season tickets are automatically transferred to alumni point totals following the student’s graduation from IU.

They also base ticket availability at certain other premium games on their points. No check-ins, a tangible reward that really matters to the students in question (sweet seats and good tickets) and is not a t-shirt.

Oh, man. The MZone makes a thunderous return by rounding up videos of Alabama fans on Youtube.

I'm not sure about anything anymore.

Yes please. The SEC is loosening their rules for in-stadium video replays, but why did they have this one in the first place?

In the past, the SEC had a one real-time replay policy for all plays in all sports.

These companies that suck up digital rights and try to monetize them are all pretty bad—try explaining fair use to one—but XOS is the worst by far. Anyway, the SEC is now going to allow replays from the TV network broadcasting the game (again, why prohibit this?) during reviews. I'm guessing that decision is to prevent biased home-field folks from ramping up outrage by selectively picking favorable angles. It makes sense.

The stated reason for the change is to keep fans coming to games by making the in-stadium experience not worse than sitting at home. Here's hoping Purdue and other schools that have trouble selling out ram this through in the Big Ten.

Um? Brady Hoke has a much different take on the new kickoff rules than any I'd seen before:

On the new kickoff rules: "I think as it plays out, there will be a little more we all learn. You try to use the NFL model from a year ago the best you can. The one thing you learn from the NFL, guys are taking it out of the end zone 8 yards deep. I think you’ll see more of that. Personally, if we can get the ball or give the opponent the ball at the 25, that is something I’ll be happy with."

Why would you run the ball out eight yards deep? Because the kick return guys can't get there in time? I'd be surprised if there was that much of a difference. Certainly not enough to justify a KO attempt where you have to make it 33 yards to break even. Touchbacks ho.

Plead down. MLive's Kyle Meinke just tweeted this out:

Michigan RB Fitz Toussaint, facing operating while intoxicated charge, pleads down to operating while visibly impaired

A quick googling turns up a bunch of sketchy law firms, but the Michigan site has the various penalties for these things and OWVI looks almost identical to OWI. Still assume that Toussaint is suspended for Alabama and Hoke is playing silly fun games with Nick Saban, who is totally fooled.

Etc.: Chantel Jennings Mike Rothstein on Desmond Morgan.

Comments

TorturedClassof11

August 28th, 2012 at 2:44 PM ^

Regarding the IU lower bowl seating for students purchasing and actually attending games, the AD (I'm assuming it's the AD) has done this in the past for basketball. Students who buy season tickets and actually use them for the crappy OOC games get priority into Maize Rage for later-in-the-season games like MSU, Duke, Kansas, Ohio etc...

Would be nice to see this implemented for football too though

Butterfield

August 28th, 2012 at 2:55 PM ^

Thanks for handling the #Eating situation the way any true Michigan Man would.  I can't help but think that Tay Odoms will be floored by the gesture and opportunity this will present since, I would imagine, this blog reaches a whole heck of a lot more people than does Hope for Pahokee's site. 

myrtlebeachmai…

August 28th, 2012 at 3:16 PM ^

the opposite of how you did?  Your notion of how a Michigan Man handles things, compared to your execution smacks of irony.  Perhaps next time, try handling it directly (like via the e-mail suggestion someone made) in a more composed, patient but to the point manner on a personal level, rather than trying to blog up the blog publicly. 

lexus larry

August 28th, 2012 at 4:34 PM ^

Hey, Roger.  I can call you Rog, right?

Actually, I've emailed Brian directly in the long ago (~2 years) regarding the lolmsm (and their declining circulation, and fairly putrid number of hits on their websites), and we exchanged a couple emails directly on the subject.  With an appropriately descriptive subject line, you could have gone straight to the top via email.  I, for one, understand why you went the other route, and understand how you thought your actions there should have been sufficient to get the awareness raised at another level. 

Issue closed for most of the board, I'm sure.  Let's hope for a pleasant update regarding MGoArmy, Tae and the Hope for Pahokee org.

 

Butterfield

August 28th, 2012 at 4:38 PM ^

Put yourself in Martavious Odoms shoes for a second.  Imagine you are a guy from a place where 32 percent of the population is living below the poverty line.  Imagine you're fresh out of college and want to make a difference. Imagine the way you decide you can help is by raising funds through sales of a t-shirt.  Now imagine that someone takes your product, refines it, and sells it for profit.  Maybe you have heard about this new shirt, or maybe you haven't and are just wondering why sales of your charity shirt have dropped off significantly...  Would you have wanted people to support you and your cause?

Is it possible to scream too loud when it comes to these types of things?  Regardless of whether a  change is made because of an email or board post or airplane flying a banner, does it matter so long as the end result is what everyone can agree is right?

mgoblueaustin

August 28th, 2012 at 5:38 PM ^

What would a Michigan Man do? - in response to your second paragraph. 

The point is you're not dealing with a tryannical monster behemoth corporation which is all evil and sinister; you're dealing with Brian and the guys from UGP.  Why don't you stop defending yourself, admit that you overreacted and celebrate the fact that in the end the right thing was done?

Plenty of us have eaten a good plate of crow on occasion when we screw up, myself included.  The "Michigan" thing to do is to admit it like a man and grow from it.   

Butterfield

August 28th, 2012 at 5:54 PM ^

Would emailing Brian directly been the best solution?  Yes, in hindsight.   However, there clearly was a breakdown in communication that, if it had not happened, would have made both the email and post unneccessary.  There is simply no way that everyone associated with the site, particularly Six Zero as it was his diary, just missed the comments in the original thread.  I checked that thread religiously for six days, hoping to see some reaction from the administration here before deciding to post to MGoBoard.

Let me be very clear, though.  At no time, in no way did I believe Brian or MGoBlog was purposfully malicious in an attempt to harm Hope for Pahokee - it was more a question of frustration caused by inaction over a period of time. 

myrtlebeachmai…

August 29th, 2012 at 12:06 AM ^

"Now imagine that someone takes your product, refines it, and sells it for profit."

Sure seems that your whole schtick has been a"concern" over just that - that someone took an idea purposely for the sake of exploiting it for their own fame/gain/whatever.  Yes, six days is a while, but we're not talking about an endless amount of time here. 

Also, while I sincerely hope Tae's cause is raking in the charity dough, I seriously doubt that his shirt sales are in a position to "see a sudden drop off in sales" .  You've gone out of your way to sensationalize your ideas.

Finally, not every end justifies every means.  This (six days or whatever) was not "dire" circumstances.  There were numerous paths you overlooked or didn't pursue, that anyone with any degree of tact would have, especially before going all righteous on everyone.  The "clear breakdown in communication" was your own inability to think out appropriate conflict resolution..

Todd Plate's n…

August 28th, 2012 at 3:09 PM ^

Love the Ufer video. For those of us who grew up in the late 80's or early 90's, the music used during the first 3 minutes or so certainly adds to the nostalgia of the video. Same music that was used during the final scene of Wonder Years. Great Stuff.

kehnonymous

August 28th, 2012 at 3:10 PM ^

Another admittedly less admirable reason to buy the Eatin’ shirt:  OSU fans were pretty damn butt-hurt about the Eatin’ gesture our guys made in The Game (and in the Nebraska game as well) Some of them very cleverly used it to make allusions to Brady Hoke's eating habits.  (Get it?  BECAUSE HOKE IS FAT huuuuurrrrrrrrrrr)

JeepinBen

August 28th, 2012 at 3:17 PM ^

One thing that a lot of teams tried to do is have their kicker NOT kick at touchback depth. Rather than kick as far as possible (sure touchback) the kicker tried to kick the ball right around the goalline and as high as possible. This gave the coverage team the max amount of time to get down the field, and the returner isn't so deep that he automatically thinks "touchback". Thus, you've got a good shot to tackle the returner before the 20 (25 in college) and come out ahead on a kick.

I agree that returns will be mitagated. The NFL didn't move touchbacks on kicks to the 25 like the NCAA did, those extra 5 yards make a big difference.

sundaybluedysunday

August 28th, 2012 at 3:25 PM ^

That's a great strategy from a game theory standpoint but just the worst possible one from an injury standpoint. The coverage team has enough time to get up to 100% full speed while the returner just stands back there waiting for the ball. Yikes.



It would completely defeat the purpose of the whole rule, which makes you wonder why the NCAA doesn't think these things through.

JeepinBen

August 28th, 2012 at 3:44 PM ^

The NFL put it in to try to increase touchbacks, but coaches/teams just change their strategy and it's going to be just as bad as before.

The BEST Solution I've seen for the kickoff/injury situation is to eliminate the kickoff entirely (I believe this was suggested by Schiano).

After a score, the scoring team gets the ball with 4th and 15 to go on their own 35 yard line. (or whatever yard line where a punt is similar distance to a kickoff now). Under most game situations the "kicking" team will line up in punt formation and punt the ball, covering it just like a normal punt.

Under "onside kick" situations the teams can choose to go for it, 4th and 15 to go. They can fake punt, they can do whatever.

This makes onsides kicks more like normal football (and safer) and normal kickoffs punts (which I believe are safer).

FrankMurphy

August 28th, 2012 at 3:24 PM ^

Is that Alabama video a parody? I would imagine that most 'Bama fans who are zealous enough to wear body paint and rent an aerial banner to taunt Auburn don't have midwestern accents. 

Class of 1817

August 28th, 2012 at 4:31 PM ^

...Hoke has been. I'd be surprised if Fitz missed the first game.

Probably just the first half.

Which is unfortunate, I think, because I'm a masochist who likes taking the high road.

Regardless, GO BLUE!

Ron_Lippitt

August 28th, 2012 at 4:32 PM ^

...to remember Ufer on the radio.  I was a little kid, but I remember thinking that whatever this guy is so excited about must be REALLY exciting!!

Fast forward 40 years and here I am -- a complete Michigan maniac.  What I wouldn't give to have him back on the radio just one more time...

 

B-Nut-GoBlue

August 28th, 2012 at 6:38 PM ^

To me, Fitzgerald Touissaint is playing in this game.  I think there may be some gamesmanship going on, but I think Hoke intends on playing the guy. /pureconjecture

dragonchild

August 28th, 2012 at 7:38 PM ^

.  .  . that's just the obnoxious reporters being bitter that Hoke isn't caving into their downright stupid insistence to keep asking about it.  He even said flat-out that he's not comfortable talking about it, but they keep right on asking.  Look, I know it's the media's business to collect info, but it's insulting to think Hoke will finally crack the 1000th time he's asked.

Sorry, I digress.  Channeling my own inner Hoke, I think Toussaint will play -- but won't start.  He'll be forced to sit and stew for a series or two, maybe a quarter or even a half (depending on how well the team does).  The reason for this is that nothing is more agonizing to a player than knowing you can play and sitting on the sideline watching your team struggle.  Not that I think Michigan is cannon fodder for Alabama, but without Fitz they WILL struggle.

But the thing about these sorts of punishments is you can't tip your hand.  He's not keeping the scoop from us or the media; he's keeping it from Fitz.  Fitz isn't a dumb guy; he knows how to wwebsite as on the Internet.  If Hoke tells the media, he's basically told Fitz.  Fitz's punishment is most likely to sit on the sideline and stew, not knowing when he's allowed to play, while Hoke explains that he's watching what could've been if he was just a bit unluckier and got in an accident.  Sort of like "It's a Wonderful Life" where Hoke is Clarence.  For some reason the media is too blitheringly stupid to understand this -- I mean, I don't know what's really going on, but at least I have enough brain cells to know that Hoke is keeping Fitz in the dark.

I really doubt this has anything to do with Alabama or even deception.  Not that my conjecture is better than your conjecture -- well it is, but only because I'm awesome and stuff.