Unverified Voracity Gonna Rage Some Cajuns
Best ever. Wolverine Historian assembles 15 minutes of Keith Jackson clips, and it's as glorious as you'd think.
"my spine is still tingling" -Ace
WH's magnum opus? To date.
Get the brooms. Congrats to the softball team, which swept through their regional in three straight games. Michigan opened the weekend with a 5-0 shutout of Valpo, did the exact same thing to Cal the next day, and took out the Bears again to close out their 16th regional title.
Michigan gets Louisiana-Lafayette this weekend at Alumni for the right to go to the WCWS after the Ragin' Cajuns upset LSU. Michigan beat ULL earlier this season in Florida 3-1. That was ace vs ace as Driesenga faced off against ULL's Jordan Wallace, who was 31-7 this season with a 1.73 ERA and four Ks to every walk issued. A two run Ashley Lane homer was the difference.
ULL proceeded to stomp through the Sun Belt before falling into the elimination bracket early in their conference tourney; though they pushed through and took WKU to a winner-take-all final they could not get the job done in that. That didn't seem to affect them, as they also swept through their regional without giving up so much as a run.
Michigan should be favored, I'd guess.
Notable things said during the takeover. WTKA's annual Mott Takeover was Friday and raised almost 100k for the eponymous children's hospital. It also was an opportunity for people to say notable things on the radio. The reddest of the red meat came from Steve Everitt. Brady Hoke's pet viking took the opportunity to blast Kirk Cousins for something innocuous he said two years ago and dump on "Notre Shame," no doubt causing a tweed-jacketed Notre Dame alum driving through town to bite down so hard on his pipe that it cracked. Meat for the meat god!
In news-ish substances, Roy Manning reiterated that Jake Ryan was on track for a midseason recovery and talked up his potential replacements. On Beyer:
"He's done a great job, he really has," Manning said of Beyer. "The transition was seamless for him. He did the things that made him successful in the past. That kid really is a sharp kid. Probably one of the hardest working kids -- I think most people on the team -- hardest working kids on the entire team."
Curt Mallory noted that statements around here that nickel is really a 12th starting spot are neither balderdash nor horsehockey:
“He got the majority of the reps at the nickel back,” Mallory said of Thomas on Friday during the Mott Takeover on WTKA-AM (1050). “That position has been played in the past by not only Courtney, but also Thomas Gordon. That really is a position that’s a starting position. Our first year, I believe Courtney played 400-some snaps at that position alone.
"(Thomas is) going to be a contributor -- we’re expecting him to be a major contributor, more so at the nickel back position and we’ll see where he goes from there.”
Also, yeah, Thomas has already locked down a starting job. Borges talked up Kyle Kalis and did vaguely imply that Glasgow had a slight edge for the LG job:
"The depth chart is still in pencil there, but one guy who took the next step was Kyle Kalis," Borges said. "When he came in, he was just not ready to play yet. It was overwhelming from the systematic perspective. Not so much physically. Kyle from the first day to the last day (of spring practice) really improved his game. He's a powerful kid who can run-block and is learning the techniques better in the passing game.
"And Jack Miller, our center, did a really nice job. He's in a competitive battle with Graham Glasgow, but he kind of answered the call, so I think he's going to be a factor. Left guard, Graham Glasgow, will be part of the mix there, coupled with Ben Braden, who's as talented a lineman as we have."
Chances Michigan brings in a transfer QB are dim, so it's on Shane Morris and the other guys coaching him up:
"You can't coach him -- that's your problem, is you can't coach him," offensive coordinator Al Borges said last week. "But our kids can coach him. So if he goes out there in some offseason workouts, there's no rule against Devin Gardner showing Shane Morris what to do.
"He'll have to get it through osmosis a little bit."
This is kind of a strange thing, to think a Cass Tech player is underrated. If you'd like some confirmation that Delano Hill is pretty dang fast, he ran a 10.8 100 meter at state regionals a few days ago while also anchoring Cass's 4x100m and 4x200m relays, both of which finished first.
That is not quite Denard's 10.44 from his high school days, but it's not bad for a guy who's nearly 200 pounds and is likely to play safety. Add it to the pile of reasons to think the guy is being sold a little short.
The other ball and stick game. Baseball squeezed into the Big Ten tournament as the sixth seed, not a bad accomplishment for Erik Bakich's first year. Michigan takes on Nebraska at 3:30 Wednesday (BTN) just a few days after taking two of three from the Huskers to close out the regular season.
After all, what can go wrong with drafting a touted point guard out of your home state? In news not at all likely to make me start watching the Pistons regularly for the first time since they traded Chauncey Billups—which still kills me, I mean broke-ass inefficient Allen Iverson cumong man—the Pistons have not even talked to Trey Burke:
Later Thursday, Burke is slated for at least six more interviews with pro squads.
Does he have one with the Detroit Pistons?
"No, I don't," Burke said Thursday. "I was actually surprised. But talking to my father (and agent, Benji Burke), he said some teams do that just to not let other teams know that they're interested (in a player).
"I don't know. I don't think they're going to bring me in for an interview."
Burke measured at 6'1" at the combine, which is a couple inches taller than I thought he would. That further bolsters his case to go near the top of the draft, so the Pistons potential lack of interest is likely moot anyway. Instead, Joe Dumars will pick the guy with the fewest eyebrows.
Etc.: home video of Michigan folks stopping in at Mott. Peyton Siva tells Burke the best block ever was in fact a block and not a foul. Jeff Withey changes his tune on Mitch McGary. Michigan won't break its Adidas contract. Well… yeah.
I'm embarrassed to not have already known what a way with words he had as a commentator.
Keith Jackson. The gold standard of college football announcers and a true gentleman of the game.
I mean, beyond the fact that by winning games at the end of the season when they don't matter so they most likely won't have a pick high enough to get Trey anyway (see Draft Tuesday), as you already pointed out, the Pistons are big on not tipping their hand and not seeing the guys they draft, or doing a last minute, night before the draft workout if it suddenly looks like a guy might slip to them. Not seeing Burke doesn't necessarily mean a lack of interest. I mean, this is a guy who drafted Mateen Cleaves for no apparently reason other than he played basketball in the state.
If there's anything we can take from watching clip after clip of Keith Jackson overlooking the field as the team waits to come out of the tunnel, it's the magic that's been lost with the sheer volume of RAWK garbage now being piped over that glorious anticipatory moment. It's a shame.
but feel compelled to register my agreement with this.
That anticipation, excitement and tension before kickoff, or at crucial moments in the game, is a beautiful thing that shouldn't have to compete with, and definitely doesn't need to be "augmented" by, some idiot at the controls of a big-ass PA system. The grandiosity of the event, captured so effectively by Keith Jackson, is cheapened by all that gimmicky crap.
But, the main thing to be taken from that video is just how great it was to have Keith Jackson in the booth, and how much he is missed on fall Saturdays.
needs moar "Whoa Nelly!".
I had the NCAA Gamebreaker video game sometime in the mid-late 90s on the original playstation. The disc got scratched and all the audio was screwed up. Eventually the play-by-play was reduced to Keith Jackson yelling "WHOA NELLY" randomly throughout the games. It was perfect.
I dont know what the deal is but it sure seems like in my lifetime the Detroit pro teams seem to avoid Michigan players like the plague. They dont mind the MSU guys as much (Kelser, Cleeves, Abdelkader, Stanton, ect) but when it comes to Michigan guys it sure feels like they would rather draft just about anyone else.
Did we piss off the General Managers of the Pistons, Lions, Red Wings en masse at a party or something? And it's been this way since I was kid in the late 60's so Michigan guys getting passed over for reasons unknown has a LONG history it would seem.
"Plenty of Wolverines on the Lions" - can you take at stab at identifying those that they drafted cause I'd love to hear which ones you are referring to.
And they wanted to draft Denard but what? They forgot to do so for the first four rounds and it only dawned on them after the first 134 players had been taken that he was still available?
Although I'm struggling to think of any others, so "plenty" might have been an overstatement.
Why didn't they draft him 3 picks earlier?
From 1950 through 2013—63 years—the Lions have drafted a total of 15 Wolverines. Of those fifteen, I counted three —Terry Barr, Rich Strenger, and Jeff Backus—were drafted in the third round or higher; the vast majority were late-round picks who had no real impact with the Lions. Some were throwaway/let's take a gamble kind of pick, like drafting Michigan great QB Dennis Franklin as a WR.
Who has been good for Michigan basketball that the Pistons should have drafted? Are you going WAY back? Because back in the 88-93 years, the Pistons were really good and not drafting high enough to get most of those guys. And up until now, Michigan hasn't really had anyone worth drafting since. So I'm not sure they're passing on guys.
And isn't drafting hockey players from college a relatively recent thing? (In mass, anyway).
Russ Thomas seemed to go out of his way not to draft Michigan guys. And other than Backus the man who say go nameless seemed to avoid it too. Ones that stick out in my head was taking Aaron Gibson over Jon Jansen, and Charlie Batch over Brian Griese. (The latter of which may have equaled out to a push in the end, though even with Charlie still hanging around the league, he's played in less games than Griese did).
but considered the rather spotty success levels of the Pistons and Lions, i am ok with that.
did the pistons draft terry mills or did he just play for them forever? they also had loy vaught for a while.
To be clear, because it wasn't to me, that's 6'1" in shoes. This is from NBADraft.net...
Trey Burke -- There was some concern about Burke actually being 6'1 in shoes, but fear not, he's 5'11.75 barefoot making him a legit 6'1, and has terrific length with a 6'5.5" wingspan.
Is there any concern that a walk-on is beating actual scholarship players on the line?
This guy doesnt think so.
Glasgow is a year older than Braden and approximately the same size. Braden still has all summer as well. Bryant is still recovering from the injury. If Glasgow were beating out fully healthy scholarship upperclassman, I'd be more concerned.
I'm a bit concerned, because Glasgow was really bad last year.
Of course, this might just be coach-speak, because we've seen other guys they've talked up end up getting buried on the bench.
I agree. Nate Brink comes to mind.
I think that may be Borges talking up a kid who is legitimately competing, but should get passed if Jack Miller and Ben Braden come along like I believe they can and will. Also may be rewarding a hard worker who does things right and competes the way the like, hoping others catch on. In the same breath he talks about Braden being as talented as anyone they have - which would assumedly include Taylor Lewan. I'm not saying he'll be a top 5 draft pick, but earning that kinda hype usually translates to at least a starting spot sometime soon. I think the line will be just fine.
Ben Braden will start at LG.
...Jake Ryan:
Knee is looking better and better each day! twitter.com/JakeRyan_47/st…
— Jake Ryan (@JakeRyan_47) May 20, 2013
My knees have stayed clean, but my dad has had 2 ACL tears in each leg, his scars from the 1970s ACL repairs are massive in comparison. Hooray medical advancements!
The Pistons actually did request to interview Trye Burke at the combine, but they were denied. Each team only gets 18 interviews and they put in their requests and the NBA decides who talks to who.
Plus, Burke made a comment that he was already pretty familar with Dumars, and I'm sure the Pistons probably had scouts at most UofM home games.
And Dumars' son played with Burke, right?
I'm sure the Pistons have done their homework on him, and I wouldn't read much into the lack of an interview.
Not really, Jordan was with the team from around 2009 until he quit in September 2011 due to a nagging knee injury.
Trey would only have had summer workouts with him
Michigan football players are the only thing that can make nickle back sound cool.
Go Jake Ryan!! His status sounds encouraging.
I think the Pistons are definitely playing the "not interested" card with Trey. They could use a true PG that will make the whole team better and allow Brandon Knight to shift over to SG which is his more natural position. Also, while playing with the ESPN mock draft (not that it means much), they have Burke going to the Pistons if the lottery plays out just right.
Excuse my language but that was fucking awesome.
One other bit of info from Mott: Raymon Taylor ran a sub-4.4 forty as confirmed by Coach Mallory.
Cam Gordon sure looks the part of a SAM linebacker these days...
Damn that Dave Brandon and his messing with the uniforms!
is that nearly any team could have put that video together. USC, ND, Bama, heck, even South Dakota State football would sound awesome with his calling. He was so very good. Thanks WolverineHistorian for putting that together. Incredible.
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