MGoBlog & Friends trip to Cleveland - A recap
This past Monday Brian, Seth and John U Bacon traveled to Cleveland to speak to the Northern Ohio Alumni Association about the coaching change and all things Harbaugh. The event was a sell-out with over 120 people in attendance despite our fair city getting three inches of snow that day. The MGoBlog team + John U were joined by ex -Michigan All American "Big Ed" Muransky and a surprise guest the immortal (and he is immortal if half the stories told about him that night were true) Team Captain Andy Cannavino.
Brian kicked off the program with an excellent summary of what we can expect from the team offensively next year (power, more power and hopelessly confused opponent safety's) as he showed us what Stanford did and why it worked so well. John U Bacon gave his insight on the coaching change and they dynamics that led up to us getting Harbaugh and had the room laughing hysterically with the best Bo impersonation I've ever seen. Ed Muransky & Andy Cannavino told "back in the day" stories that were classic Bo and compared the teams they played on (mucho successful) to last year's (not so much) and gave their insight as to why things turned out the way they did. Seth did an excellent job moderating the panel and keeping both the presentations and questions from the audience moving along.
For me the biggest scoop of the evening was the general revelation on the part of Muransky and I think John U (sorry I don't have this down exactly - by then I was several Dogfish 60's into the evening) that Harbaugh actually DID have a verbal agreement to coach here back in 2011 but a series of screw-ups and missed opportunities led him to taking the 49ers job and that Hoke was somewhat of a desperation "oh shit.....now what do we do" hire.
After the panel was done with their presentations the guys hung around and watched the first half of the National Championship game with everyone. For those of you concerned about potential for problems with the Buckeye faithful - we were in a separate room quite apart from everyone else so all was peaceful on that front.
I know the group down here was thrilled with the presentations and turn-out and wants to make this an annual event - either at the beginning or end of the season. Thanks again guys for making the trip! And lastly I got a chance to meet several of my fellow posters (Magnum PI, Wave and others) which was really fun.
Here are some pictures from the event:
Brian & the panel
Crowd shot
Me, Brian, Andy, Big Ed, John, Rick (President of Alumni Association), Leslie (Alumni Association executive who did a ton of work down here for this event amoung others) and Seth
Brian, John U, Me and my better half. FWIW - if you ever get a chance to have a beer with John U Bacon you need to do it. He is one of the nicest, funniest and all around good guys I've ever met.
Seth!
Me and a guy who doesn't lurk OR post on the blog yet has this license plate. Don't ask me why.....
January 15th, 2015 at 1:59 PM ^
Looks like it was a fun event. It's just too bad the score wasn't different for the game.
January 15th, 2015 at 2:04 PM ^
screw-ups and missed opportunities that prevented Harbaugh from taking the job back in 2011?
January 15th, 2015 at 2:27 PM ^
Basically not moving rapidly with an actual contract. There was allegedly a verbal agreement in place but Brandon delayed in getting him an actual offer and during that delay the 49ers moved in and made one he took because he didnt know if Michigan was serious or not.
January 15th, 2015 at 2:58 PM ^
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January 15th, 2015 at 7:25 PM ^
Maybe Bacon didn't want to embarrass Brandon? I mean they were working at the same school back then.
January 17th, 2015 at 9:20 AM ^
If so, such punch-pulling would seriously undermine Bacon's credibility. But maybe it's just that Bacon didn't learn this info till later.
January 17th, 2015 at 12:17 PM ^
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January 16th, 2015 at 12:18 PM ^
he didn't know if Michigan was serious or not??!?
JFC, if that's not the worst indictment of Brandon...how does that happen?
January 15th, 2015 at 2:50 PM ^
This does beg the question of how long would Harbaugh have stayed here WITH Dave Branding at the reins, doesn't it?
I know we all heard a lot of rumblings that Harbaugh wasn't coming here from San Fran so long as DB was here but that likely wouldn't have been the case in 2011 when Branding was still a relatively unknown quantity.
January 15th, 2015 at 9:49 PM ^
DB would have taken credit for all of Harbaugh's work. Ugh. Ick. Eeeeew.
January 15th, 2015 at 3:30 PM ^
Bacon's stories were great but he totally teased us that there'd be a new book, then wouldn't tell us what he's writing it about.
January 15th, 2015 at 9:51 PM ^
Asking him to write a book about Michigan basketball and John Beilein. There's hardly any books on the subject. I have only seen the Fab Five book and Basket Case, which is about Bill Frieder's time at Michigan.
January 16th, 2015 at 1:32 PM ^
There is also Mission Accomplished!, about the 1989 team.
January 18th, 2015 at 11:55 AM ^
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January 15th, 2015 at 6:09 PM ^
Take JUB's class. It isn't offered every semester nor is it always in the same department (Am. Cult or School of Ed), but it is an amazing class. You learn a ton, the speakers are great, and you may even get to have that beer with JUB ;)
January 15th, 2015 at 6:32 PM ^
in the "Brian and the Panel" shot:
MAN ALL THE BALLS
Classic.
Looks like it was a great event!
Thanks for sharing.
January 15th, 2015 at 6:55 PM ^
I'd just like to thank Dave Brandon for the last 4 years of ineptitude:
FUCK YOU DAVE BRANDON YOU DUMB SHITBAG.
January 16th, 2015 at 9:41 AM ^
something very similar.
Fuck you Dave Brandon. Motherfucker.
January 16th, 2015 at 3:18 PM ^
ALL THE FUCK YOUS ARE BELONG TO DB!!!
January 17th, 2015 at 11:37 AM ^
and Penn State
January 15th, 2015 at 7:07 PM ^
I know the past three years were painful! Hoke'so first year was a pleasant suprise! But I am glad that Harbaugh is hear now with Jim Hackett. Now that Jim had his taste of the NFL & Brandon is gone makes for better situation for the long run.
January 15th, 2015 at 7:21 PM ^
Please bring this road show to DC!
January 15th, 2015 at 9:56 PM ^
My favorite JUB Bo story involving Andy Cannavino.
January 16th, 2015 at 9:58 AM ^
That was great. Thanks for posting it.
January 16th, 2015 at 1:27 PM ^
It is amazing to see John U's speeches the second time around because he clearly has them down. You just need to wind him up and watch him go.
What was interesting about John's talk the other night in Cleveland though was that Cannavino was there and could add his own touches to the story. Cannavino confirmed the entire story, except that he said he was not nearly as confident in Bo's office as John gave him credit for. He was scared to death going in there.
January 17th, 2015 at 7:29 AM ^
on this dairy and the post by you baughlieve. wonderful clip from JUB, thanks for posting that.
January 15th, 2015 at 9:57 PM ^
I thought you would be older.
January 16th, 2015 at 11:07 AM ^
Fun time, thanks a lot for organizing!
January 16th, 2015 at 12:12 PM ^
Congratulations! You captured one of the rarest of sighting known to man: Brian sans the Michigan hockey jersey. Hold on to it. It may be worth something one day.
This looks like it was a fantastic event!
January 16th, 2015 at 12:30 PM ^
...stated that Harbaugh was on board in 2011 but a close friend of his said something to the effect of (in regards to Brandon), "you don't want any part of that."
I think we saw why this past fall.
January 16th, 2015 at 12:32 PM ^
"I got a hankering for some Doublemint Gum."
January 16th, 2015 at 1:31 PM ^
I really enjoyed this event and having the gang come down to my neighorhood. Thanks, MGrowOld for helping organizing this, along with Lesley and the others from the local alumni association board.
If any of you have the opportunity to see Brian, Seth, and John live in your area, please make an effort and attend. It will be well worth your time and they deserve to get a good turnout.
January 16th, 2015 at 1:40 PM ^
I feel like I've seen that blonde lady somewhere before...
January 19th, 2015 at 3:46 PM ^
porn maybe?
love,
jdon
January 19th, 2015 at 8:57 PM ^
I'm confused as to why she's wearing so much clothing.
January 16th, 2015 at 2:19 PM ^
Glad to see Seth doing his part to hold up the blogger stereotype.
For shame Brian for not dressing "Mom's basement" enough.
January 16th, 2015 at 3:59 PM ^
Come back to DC!!!!!
January 17th, 2015 at 7:30 AM ^
like many, i wish i'd been within driving distance of that event, as it had to be great fun. would've enjoyed seeing big ed again after all these years too.
January 19th, 2015 at 9:08 AM ^
I heard from some friends who attended that it was a good time. I wish I could have been there; alas it was a weekday evening with lousy weather and some parental obligations. JUB told the Cannavino story when he was here a few years ago promoting Bo's Lasting Lessons.
I got to chat with John Kolesar at that event. Kolesar is about seven years older than I am, so he was torching the Buckeyes during my most impressionable fan years. Plus he was a skinny kid from the Cleveland area who attended Michigan, and even though our similarities ended there, he was my hero. I think I did okay keeping it cool. He told a great story about how Woody Hayes was indirectly responsible for his attending Michigan, with an assist from a surprise source. John's dad, William Kolesar, was in high school when Woody got the job at OSU. Woody's zeal for juco players rankled the Ohio high school coaches, including William's coach at Mentor High, Lee Tressel. Tressel encouraged Kolesar to attend Michigan instead, which naturally led to John growing up a Michigan fan.
January 20th, 2015 at 12:15 PM ^
I was planning on going, but got sent to a business trip in Chicago. Can't wait for the next event like this, albeit under better circumstances (no OSU playing for a title).
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