Unverified Voracity Must Not Have Excused You While You Touched The Sky Comment Count

Brian

WELL FINE THEN. Apparently Michigan earned the animosity of Jimi Hendrix.

This was the Rose Bowl immediately following the legendary '69 OSU game that put Bo on the map, FWIW. Hendrix seems uncertain of the team that beat Michigan, he just wants Michigan to lose. Join the club. The very happy club.

I admit it. I find Wisconsin basketball tolerable these days. I still kinda hate Bo Ryan for being an alien from another planet sent here to prep us for invasion, but once they reached the Final Four I wanted Wisconsin to win the national title last year. And now Frank Kaminsky explains why he passed on the NBA draft:

"I am at the pinnacle of my basketball playing career, at least in my eyes. I know the NBA has their crazy fans and all, but if you look at all of their games, there are games when teams like the Bobcats get hardly any fans, and it looks flat out boring,” he wrote.

“At the Kohl Center, we play in front of nearly 17,000 fans every single time we step onto the court. When we travel, we play in front of sell out crowds who absolutely hate us. Not because of who is on the team, but because of where we go to school. Who could leave that?”

Frank Kaminsky Gets It™. Frank Kaminsky for athletic director. Where? Anywhere. Texas. Definitely Texas.

Oh, Texas twit, we are going to have an unrequited hate. Via Get The Picture, Texas Guy Just In Charge Of Things For No Reason on the A&M series:

I wonder what would qualify as a compelling reason other than 111(!) games dating back to 1902.

But go ahead and play a game in Shanghai. That'll get your brand synergized.

Dude you're never going to get a girl like that. Move on to the next one. This is stalker behavior:

After extending the Season Ticket Holder renewal deadline, and a total of (15) emails delivered starting on March 14 as well as a voicemail left by Jim Brandstatter, the Michigan Athletic Department wanted to provide you one final opportunity to renew your 2014 Michigan Football season tickets to ensure you are once again a part of one of the most exclusive groups in all of sports.

One of the most exclusive groups in all of sports that begs you 15 times plus leaves a voicemail by Jim Brandstatter in the desperate hope you will renew your tickets. Oh and lets you have ONE LAST CHANCE to renew. All right. One more chance.

Seriously, this is your last chance.

Despite it being 2016, it's not too late to renew your 2014 season tickets!

At least I'm not alone? When Phil Di Guiseppe and Alex Guptill signed NHL contracts, I wrote rather bitter posts about their exits that garnered a number of sarcastic "tell us how you really feel" responses. Tell us how you really feel, Red Berenson:

"We were going good in the first half and then some issues started cropping up and we thought we had dealt with them, but there was an underlying current of animosity, and a division between certain factions. You'd like to think the leadership is strong enough - and we had good captains - that you can just bring guys together, but you have to have total buy-in and no matter how much guys like Mac Bennett, Derek DeBlois and Andrew Copp tried, they just couldn't get that."

I'm expecting hockey to have a refreshing season next year.

Hello, defenseman of the future. Hockey adds a commitment from Joe Cecconi, a kid currently in the USHL after a mid-season callup last year from a U16 junior outfit. Cecconi had nearly a PPG with his junior team before moving to the big (USA junior) leagues. Already 6'2" and nearly 200 pounds, the OHL fired an eighth-round pick at him despite considerable uncertainty about whether he would report. He doesn't appear to be on NHL draft radar.

As a mid-year '97, Cecconi is likely to come in next year unless Michigan has one of those "if X happens, this year, if Y happens, next year" deals. This is about all I could Google up on him.

Hockey rule changes. It sounds like college hockey is serious about going to three-quarter shields next year, which has been framed as a safety issue in the past and now apparently has USHL data to back it up. I continue to think it's at least partially driven by a desire to look more like the NHL and therefore help the never-ending blood war with the CHL, but if they've got data they've got data.

Other potential changes:

  • Death to ties. The NCAA wants to explore way to get more W/L decisions, seemingly without resorting to shootouts. There's no solid proposition on the table; 4-on-4 and longer OTs are possibilities, as are—ugh—shootouts.
  • More reviews. There's a proposal to expand the ways reviews can be used to check if goals are legit and if penalties warrant five-and-a-game. Hockey reviews are generally less odious than basketball ones since they're infrequent and about things that have a huge impact on the game, but it seems like they've got all the critical stuff right now and expanding it is reaching the point of diminishing returns.
  • All neutral zone faceoffs at center ice. Faceoffs at the offside dots are kind of stupid for the attacking team if they win them. This is more a product of the fact that hockey offsides is clumsily implemented.
  • Penalties for delay when you can't change. In favor.
  • Fewer hand-pass whistles. Apparently there were too many inadvertent deflections called hand-passes last year.
  • No leaving your feet to block a shot. Linked article says that's unlikely to pass, FWIW, but that's an effort to create more offense "in a time where goals are already at a premium." I'm pro-offense but that seems like it takes a hustle play out of the game for debatable returns.

There are a couple other extremely minor proposals.

image

MSU game plan

As always when hockey rule changes come up, I rant against how restrictive offsides is and proclaim it's time to admit goalies have won and expand the nets. There are a hundred ways to make offsides better; my current proposal is to triple the width of the line (the line is both part of the neutral zone and the offensive zone) and create a passive offsides rule like there is in soccer. A guy can be offsides without a whistle as long as 1) he is not impacting the play and 2) he immediately moves to exit and re-enter the zone.

As far as goal size goes, with modern butterfly goalies the only way to change the paradigm is to make sitting back and waiting for a shot to come in a worse play than it is right now. Teams like MSU play a six-goalie style in the defensive zone these days, because it makes sense. Dropping save percentages three or four points would swing things back towards aggression. Expand the nets by the width of the goalposts to get 2-3 more goals per game. It sounds dramatic, but really it's the least dramatic option to get scoring up. Everything else proposed is either a weak measure that won't do anything or a radical overhaul. Expanding the nets is just hockey with slightly different equations.

Etc.: Talking with DJ Wilson. Women's tennis has lost in the BTT final for the fifth straight year. Ouch. Instead of tweeting out your outrage about people saying "furst amundmunt," just tweet this XKCD. Jordan Morgan's suddenly the belle of the ball.

Comments

uminks

May 3rd, 2014 at 6:39 PM ^

was the team young JH followed as a child. We annihilated that team several times during the 50s into the mid 60s. So, I'm not surprised JH wanted Michigan to lose, no matter who they were playing.

JeepinBen

May 2nd, 2014 at 2:34 PM ^

There must be some kind of way out of here

Said D Green to D.G.

There's too much confusion

Can't get 1 yard we need

D'fensive line, blow by our guys

'Backers flow free-ly

None can block on our O-Line

Tackle-over's killin me... yeah yeah

No reason to get excited

D.G. softly spoke

there are many ribs among mine

that are most likely broke

But you and I we've got to play

Even through broken feet

So let us not talk falsely now

Defense is bringing the heat

Galapula

May 2nd, 2014 at 2:41 PM ^

"No reason to get excited,"

Brian said in his post.

There are many on mgoblog,

Who think our home schedule is a joke.

Since 2008, we've been through that,

And now it's 20-late

So let us not talk Rose Bowl now,

And pretend we don't play Appalachian State.

bronxblue

May 2nd, 2014 at 2:55 PM ^

Listen, the ticket office just figured you might have been stuck in the bathroom the last couple of weeks and hadn't checked your answering machine.

JeepinBen

May 2nd, 2014 at 2:58 PM ^

If you haven't heard Jimi's "Johnny B Goode".... find it now

 

Deep down Michigan near A-squared,

Way back up on Stadium and Main

There stood a Big House made of earth and wood,

Where lived a Florida boy name Denard (not Spain)

Who never ever learned to throw the ball so well,

But he could run that thing like ringing a bell.

[Chorus:] Go Go

Go Denard Go

Go Go

Sholace Robinson

He used to carry the ball and avoid a sack

Or run past Notre Dame like he ran track.

Oh, the Irish used to see him running up the yards,

Beatin them in poker like they had no cards

The People watch the game, they would stop and say

Oh my that little Florida boy now he could play

[Chorus]

Molk told him someday he will be the man,

And you would be the leader of Sugar Bowl Champs.

Many people coming from miles around

To watch you run that ball when the sun go down

 

Maybe someday your name will be in lights

Saying Denard “Shoelace” tonight.

mGrowOld

May 2nd, 2014 at 3:06 PM ^

I continued to be astonished at the utter lack of any sort of actual customer service acumen our athletic department possesses.    They seem to truly believe they can bludgeon people into renewing through repeated emails and pre-recorded messages instead of reaching out and actually TALKING to the fans not renewing to ask them why.  Anybody who's worked for any length of time in front-line customer retention work knows that simply giving people an opportunity to be heard goes a LONG way in restoring trust and loyality but it seems we are actually going out of our way to ignore the issues of those leaving instead of addressing them.

I believe the number of non-renewals was around 9% which would I think would represent around 3-5 thousand unique inviduals who didnt renew (my guesstimate).  Instead of flooding our respective inboxes with ridiculous "last chance" offers and our voice mail with pre-recorded nonsense - why not hire a handful of students and CALL PEOPLE and actually talk to them.  They obviously have our number and they could do more good with a week of actual, human contact than 1,000 emails and a message from Bo himself would ever do.

 

lexus larry

May 2nd, 2014 at 3:26 PM ^

I thought for sure, in January, we'd have received personal calls at dinner time from "student-athletes" imploring our continued donations (not even a low- or mid-level marketing staffer, of which we now have dozens).  Nope.  Silence.  But I WAS told my last chance via AD email, (kind of like a MLB Steve Howe last chance) the opportunity to renew my PSD was the day before the pre-sale of Man U v. Real Madrid tickets...3 months after the original due date.

I think your guesstimate is pretty accurate for the 2014 renewal period.  Don't forget, the AD had PLENTY of tickets in hand prior to the 2013 season, and couldn't GIVE them away for that game against Akron last year, even with a healthy cut in prices to buy a 4 pack, get programs, hot dogs/drinks and a 3-D poster (at least one poster, possibly 4).

No worries, mate.  Cue the humble brag bras to ride to the rescue in mere moments, telling us how they'll increase their ticket purchases  THIS year, with THIS slate of games. 

Everyone Murders

May 2nd, 2014 at 3:59 PM ^

Was it his own vomit?  

#spinaltapped

Also, Jimi's words would hurt a lot more if they were intelligible.  His mumbling and addled delivery of the anti-Michigan blurb is a blessing, as it doesn't really diminish my enjoyment of his music.  If you want to piss me off, it helps if I understand most of your words.

TheNema

May 2nd, 2014 at 3:28 PM ^

Let me make this perfectly clear: I do NOT blame players for going early to the NBA draft. I hate fans that do. I like that Michigan is building a pipeline there. I will be thrilled if we can claim five first round picks in two years.

But does it strike anyone else that Kaminsky's quote is decidedly NOT like our recent players attitudes toward college basketball? They love Michigan and play their hearts out when here - no one can take that away. However, we've had four guys recently - Manny, Morris, Hardaway, Robinson - declare when being a first-round pick was not at all guaranteed. I won't count McGary in that because of the NCAA crap, but Burke almost left after his freshman year and would have been in that second-round risk category too.

Our guys aren't basking in college life - they are kind of looking to move on as soon as it is possible. Do you think the coaching staff promotes the idea of the league to them? They certainly would not be the only program to do that and I'd prefer that approach to Izzo's PLEEAASE COME BAAAAACK routine, but I don't see any "I just love college too much" quotes from guys choosing to become upper-classmen. 

ChelseaRick

May 2nd, 2014 at 3:29 PM ^

The class time, homework, tests, etc. on top of practice, travel and games. It has to be very tiring for these guys and gals. Then there is the NBA money and luxury travel. I think Kaminsky is a rare individual across the college landscape. I don't think we have a problem here at Michigan, not saying you said we do.

TheNema

May 2nd, 2014 at 3:36 PM ^

I know. The NBA seems like a better deal. I'd probably do the same thing in their shoes.

Still, there are plenty of guys who can and will make the NBA who want to be college veterans - for whatever their reasons. Just none of them seem to be here. Obviously Wisconsin has one now and Izzo has turned it into a signature lately (arguably to his ultimate detriment in recruiting).

WolvinLA2

May 2nd, 2014 at 5:08 PM ^

I don't think the MSU argument is a good one here.  What legit NBA guys has Izza had that stayed?  I mean that stayed when they were legit NBA guys?  Harris stayed one extra year, but he was a fringe first round guy at best last year, and then jumped up his soph year, similar to Burke.  Payne was second round at best last year, and has now moved into the first with a very impressive year.  Other top recruits at MSU just never panned out enough to leave early, it's not like they were turning down the NBA.  

Kaminsky is one guy who made a choice different than most, but it hardly represents a culture difference.  And do we even know he would have been a first rounder?  I never heard reports of him being projected high.  It's likely that he's thinking "I wouldn't get drafted high enough so I'll come back" and then says "I love college too much to leave."  

Keep in mind that we don't know everything about Kaminsky's background and situation, and that can often come into play here.  A lot of people out here hypothesiized that Matt Barkley came back to USC because his family is wealthy, so one extra year of NFL money wasn't a make or break for him.  I know Lewan is from a very nice area as well, so it's possible that this allowed him to look at it from a viewpoint of "not just the money."  Darius Morris and Manny Harris are from not-so-nice areas, so the idea of making NBA money now may have been more compelling.  To over-simplify - ask a rich guy and a poor guy you'll offer them $1000 to do something stupid, and they'll often respond differently.  

Between Lewan and GRIII and McGary last year, Michigan often has guys who stay in AA when the pros is an option.  Kaminsky staying and GRIII leaving this year doesn't mean much.

TheNema

May 2nd, 2014 at 11:02 PM ^

You're way off. Harris and Payne were at very similar spots last year in mock drafts as they are right now. Payne did NOT improve his draft stock because the NBA has seen all they need to see by your third year. Harris as a fringe second-rounder last year? What?!

WolvinLA2

May 3rd, 2014 at 2:00 PM ^

Not true - you're remembering wrong.  Harris had a good frosh year, not a great one.  Certainly not one that had him a sure-fire first rounder.  And see if you can pull up only 2013 mock drafts.  They all had Payne in the middle of the second round typically.  

Erik_in_Dayton

May 2nd, 2014 at 4:57 PM ^

I don't think the staff promotes the NBA at all.  I always get the sense that Coach Beilein - because he's Coach Beilein - tries to be as neutral as possible as far as counseling guys and getting them good advice.  But I also get the feeling he wishes at some level that he didn't have to deal with the possibility of guys leaving early.  In some ways I think you'd be hard pressed to find a less likely guy to send five players to the NBA early in two years. 

blueinuk

May 2nd, 2014 at 3:36 PM ^

Somebody should post the Saturday Night Live video of Chris Farley trying out for Chippendales.  The one where he keeps trying to dance after he has been told 'no' repeatedly.  Maybe with DB's head photoshopped on?  "No Barney.  No.  We've made our decision..."  

JeepinBen

May 2nd, 2014 at 4:23 PM ^

I mean really, has to be one of the most misused lines in english:

If the house is a rockin - don't come a knockin!

Used by people all the time to talk about "do not disturb".

What's the next line? If the house is a rockin, don't knock just COME ON IN. Talking about a party here people...

taistreetsmyhero

May 2nd, 2014 at 4:19 PM ^

is at the pinnacle of his basketball career because he is one of the best in the league that he plays in, and will likely not find that success again in his career unless he goes overseas. That is what he meant to say, methinks.

FingerleBlues

May 2nd, 2014 at 4:28 PM ^

My dad saw Jimi play at the IMA in Flint back in '67 or so.  Apparently, he came out and started the show with "Wind Cries Mary" then some dick in the crowd screamed "You look like George of the Jungle" super loud.  Everyone could hear it as plain as day, according to my 'ol man. After the outburst, Jimi went behind his amps and acted like he was having technical difficulties.  Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell continued to play for a few minutes.  Finally, Jimi came back to the front, played "Purple Haze", then walked off stage.  Perhaps that is why he was anti-Michigan?

Sac Fly

May 2nd, 2014 at 6:55 PM ^

While Cecconi is an under-the-radar recruit, right now he's one of the most important commits in the class. Without him, Michigan's 3rd pair right defensemen in 2015 is Spencer Hyman, with no right handed replacement behind him.

Scout96

May 2nd, 2014 at 8:18 PM ^

It's because they usually get reported as undisclosed team violations, player is tested by own school, and to avoid a harsher year penalty, the player gets suspended during the tourney or if football for the bowl game.

McGary probably thought since he wasn't playing he wouldn't get tested, but since we dressed him for a game, NCAA chose to test him then. So it was probably a motivational ploy that backfired on us. Note during the regular season, most teams don't suspend their players for smoking weed, etc.

DY

May 2nd, 2014 at 9:27 PM ^

This concert ended up being part of the recordings used for the Band of Gypsys album and the band he played with after he dissolved the Exprience. Buddy Miles on drums and Billy Cox on bass.

mgobmer

May 3rd, 2014 at 9:27 AM ^

Kaminsky's decision, like each individual, is different. The guaranteed money at the end of the first round is significantly less than the lottery. And Kaminsky won't be forced to play/guard out of position like GRII and even Nik would. I bet Beilein gave these guys good advice and at least thought of their future at Michigan.

STW P. Brabbs

May 3rd, 2014 at 11:03 AM ^

Holy black-nail-polish shit, with the emo, Brian. Right now I'm just going to snarkily suggest that maybe you're engaged in parody of the woebegone fan , but before too long I might honestly wonder.

bigmc6000

May 3rd, 2014 at 1:41 PM ^

There isn't a compelling reason because the Texas fan base doesn't want to play A&M - at all. They still hate them but in terms of playing them they are dead to them.  

 

The only corrollary I can find is if MSU (the AD and other high ranking people) talked a bunch of sh!t about UM and then left to sell out to another conference.  I don't know about you but I really wouldn't give 2 sh!ts about playing them if they want to act like little divas. This is exactly why UT doesn't want to play them - they have always thought of themselves as one of the elite schools in all CFB but they don't actually have any success to base that on.  If there was a school that was the epitome of the phrase "delusions of grandeur" it'd be A&M.

 

Also, the UT AD is still loads better than what we've got even though you don't agree with him on some stuff. E.G. Check UT's "alternate" uniforms.

NoVaWolverine

May 5th, 2014 at 9:48 AM ^

Maybe Texas doesn't want to play A&M anymore because they're afraid of getting their ass kicked, at least until Charlie Strong gets himself established in Austin. While Mack Brown was petering out the end of his career, Kevin Sumlin has been building a powerhouse in College Station. UT will be lucky if their top pick in the upcoming NFL draft (Jackson Jeffcoat) goes in the 2nd round; A&M's will have 3 first round picks (Jake Matthews, Manziel, Mike Evans). Based on recent success, you could make a pretty solid case to rank UT third among the big-time college football programs in the state now, behind both A&M and Baylor.

As for A&M's departure to the SEC, let's keep in mind they weren't the only school disgruntled with UT lording it over the Big 12 -- Nebraska had already left for the Big 10 in 2010 for many of the same reasons surrounding league revenue sharing, etc. A&M's move was motivated by lots of things -- and no doubt a "let's get out of big brother's shadow" aspect played a big role. But A&M also wanted to build up the school's national profile outside of Texas, and determined that joining the SEC was a good way to do it. They also knew they could sell in-state recruits on the idea of playing in a better, more competitive conference than the Big 12 while still remaining close to home.

The Longhorn Network stuff was the last straw (remember -- they were pushing to broadcast Texas high school games involving UT recruits and verbal commits), along with UT trying to push A&M, OU, Ok St., T Tech, and Colorado into a Pac-16 super-conference that would've been a terrible cultural fit for most of those schools. I think many people at tradition-crazed A&M were at first skeptical about the move to the SEC, but if you asked their alums/fans now, I'm sure very few regret it.

As someone who comes from a family full of Aggies (there, my bias is clear now), I do regret the end of the A&M-UT series. It produced a lot of great memories, and featured the kind of deep mutual cultural/political/historical hatred, along with an underlying (very) grudging respect, that makes for a terrific college football rivalry. I hope someday they'll figure out a way to play again.

gwkrlghl

May 4th, 2014 at 10:40 AM ^

that there were cancerous factions of the team this year and those have since been purged. It's rare for people around here to call out individual players, but Guptill is the most disappointing Michigan player I've ever seen regardless of sport. Talented enough to be an All-American, but instead chose to waste his time here and drag the team down with him

I hope you're right about the refreshing season...if the D tightens up a bit then I think I agree