Unverified Voracity Has Pipes
Caris smash. Caris LeVert came to Michigan after a high school career spent as a mizzenmast. I'm saying he's thin, people. That's the joke. Or at least he was thin. This year's edition of Michigan basketball player is all swole now:
Yes yes, Irvin and Walton are also adding weight (Irvin's up to 215 from 200) but I be like dang Caris. Let's check in with his senior year of high school…
![hsboys-pick-north-12-10-art0-glbf79mo-1hsboys-picknorth-01-jpg1[1]](http://www.umhoops.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/hsboys-pick-north-12-10-art0-glbf79mo-1hsboys-picknorth-01-jpg1.png "hsboys-pick-north-12-10-art0-glbf79mo-1hsboys-picknorth-01-jpg1[1]")
…during which he probably ripped off and reattached his arms nightly. Caris is also a legit 6'7" in shoes, so he is tall and large and is hopefully poised to rip it up this fall.
Freshman dimensions. Basketball has posted a roster. It lists:
- Kam Chatman at 6'7", 210
- DJ Wilson at 6'9", 210
- Ricky Doyle at 6'10", 250
- Aubery Dawkins at 6'6", 190
- and MAAR at 6'4", 200.
Doyle's weight is a positive. Michigan's going to need him to bang, and he's now the heaviest guy available—Donnal added ten pounds but only got to 240. Meanwhile, uncertainty about Max Bielfeldt's status for next year is all but gone: they've ceased listing him as a redshirt junior and now have him as a senior.
Fireworks nyet. I'll have a column type thing about this tomorrow, but to recap the most important completely trivial news of the week: the Michigan regents shot down the athletic departments proposed fireworks for the Miami (NTM) and Penn State games despite separating the votes. Mark Bernstein's criticism was the most pointed:
“We are not Comerica Park, Disney World or a circus ... ” Bernstein said. “I love Michigan football for what it is ... and for what it is not. It remains and should be an experience, a place that resists the excesses of our culture; intentionally simple.
“The fireworks should be on the field, not above it.”
I probably wouldn't have gone with "resists the excesses of our culture" but the overall sentiment is one I can get behind. Mostly I just want Michigan to be like itself, to maintain a separation from other options. Not because those are necessarily worse*, but because a bright line between Them and Us is inherently valuable when you're trying to gin up some fake-ass tribalism.
This is the most fundamental divide between myself and Dave Brandon: he wants to copy the Best In Class Leaders because that's the only thing he's ever been able to do. He could no more start a business than I could be athletic director, because every attempt would be Chipotle 2 or Also Applebees or Pretty Much Still Ponderosa. His one strategy for success is to do the thing that everyone else is doing.
Anyway. The new president is being carefully neutral about the whole situation…
“Personally, I didn’t have an opinion,” Dr. Mark Schlissel, who started his job this week, said Friday during a press conference with the media. “Having never attended a game there, I didn’t have a sense of the cultural aspects of it. The band marching out, I’ve never seen. I’ve never seen them at a halftime show. I don’t have context to really say whether fireworks matter or not. I didn’t really feel like I had a valid opinion.”
…but the message sent by the regents is clear. This is an organization that has just been sued because they decide things in private meetings and show up to vote things in unanimously. During the 116 votes previous to the fireworks there were eight instances of a regent voting no. Brandon just exceeded that in a single day.
The opportunity here was to provide a vote of no confidence without shooting something down that's actually important, like the budget. I mentioned that I thought a number of people towards the top were discontent but unlikely to do anything about it in the most recent mailbag; I must have underestimated the disdain.
Is this the beginning of the end? I'm not getting my hopes up just yet.
*[They are of course sometimes worse.]
Back on the market. Onetime Michigan target and temporary SMU commit Matt McQuaid, a shooting guard out of Texas, has reopened his recruitment.
For a second there it looked like McQuaid was very serious about Michigan, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the two parties reconnect. Everyone seems like a backup plan for Jalen Coleman at the moment, but if Coleman does do the weird thing and pick a Notre Dame program that hasn't really gotten off the ground under Mike Brey, Michigan wants to make sure they've got options. McQuaid is a pretty good one:
McQuaid is arguably the best shooter in the class of 2015 -- and he strengthened his case last week at the LeBron James Skills Academy, when he shot lights-out from 3-point range against the best high school players in the country. There were at least two games in Las Vegas where I didn't see McQuaid miss an outside shot. He can make shots from deep and is also capable of knocking down contested shots.
He's 6'5", so visions of Stauskas are dancing in various heads right now.
Old stuff. Wolverine Historian takes on 1986 Iowa:
Straight shooter. I may disagree with a lot of what Bob Bowlsby thinks but I can appreciate that he's not Bill Hancock:
"Enforcement is broken," he said. "The infractions committee hasn't had [an FBS] hearing in almost a year, and I think it's not an understatement to say cheating pays presently. If you seek to conspire to certainly bend the rules, you can do it successfully and probably not get caught in most occasions."
He probably thinks it's possible to fix that, and that's where we differ. I do wish someone in attendance at Big 12 media days had heard this…
"It is hard to justify paying student-athletes in football and men's basketball and not recognizing the significant effort that swimmers and wrestlers and lacrosse players and track athletes all put in," he said. "Football and basketball players don't work any harder than anybody else; they just happen to have the blessing of an adoring public who is willing to pay for the tickets and willing to buy the products on television that come with the high visibility."
…and asked Bowlsby how much harder he was working than the assembled press corps.
Etc.: Scouting Tyus Battle, Jalen Coleman, and Prince Ali at the Peach Jam. The Game will not be at night, because frostbite. CJ Lee looks back at his time at Michigan after taking an assistant spot at Marist. A preview of the band programs this year. I'm not enthralled with the idea of trying the sing-along thing again. Peppers and Funchess feature amongst the most watchable players this year.
I like lists of sports memories that include bad stuff, because bad stuff happens. So props to the Daily Gopher for including Mike Legg (and Holy Cross) on their list of Gopher hockey moments.
Just to play devil's advocate, there's a fine line between maintaining tradition and being left behind. The blue hairs and alums love the traditional college football atmosphere of their youth, but the younger generation (including recruits) may leave the same experience underwhelmed. Now, Dave Brandon may be pretty tone-deaf in some of his moves, sure, but it's hard to argue that just continuing to do the same thing because that's what makes us different is a viable long term strategy in and of itself. We, as fans, need to give constant feed back on what works (UTL) and what doesn't (Bumblebeez unis), but IMO ludditism isn't the right answer either.
and along those lines, if tradition is so sacrosanct, how did those sky box additions ever get approved and what is it with all those lights? Night games at Michigan, should no tradition be protected?
The skybox additions were approved because they were very well done and fit perfectly into the overall facility architecture. They look like they've been there for years and are extremely simple. Even the lights are simple and clean...nearly invisible. There is a way to modernize without compromising.
Right, I agree it's a fine line and people where differ on where it is. I bet lots of people hate the huge video scoreboards, but I love them. The problem seems to be the AD is tone-deaf - or more likely doesn't care - to what most of his base is looking for. Who are they catering to? I've yet to figure that out.
Or when they contain useful information and not 2 second marriage proposals.
I calling it breaking with tradition. I could understand a new pressbox, the old one was new when I was new, but the other elevations really do detract from the original, traditional, bowl. The skybox additions were approved because of $$$$ and keeping up with other college football programs. That they are also aesthetically pleasing, to some people, was merely a consideration.
the problem is that DB and the athletic department in general cannot strike the fine line between maintaining tradition and making the right moves to modernize the program. Like, yes, we now have uniformz, but they are almost universally disgusting. Like the Under the Lights 1 uniformz, you decide to get with the program, but you do "throwback" uniforms that were not a throwback to anything and really looked kind of ridiculous if we are being honest. And now we are having our 3rd night game and it still has a "title." By doing modern things but doing them in an awkward way you are alienating both traditionalists and those that want to see the program move into the future. The old guard doesn't want it anymore because it is too outside of the box and the new guard doesn't want it either because the boxes that are checked are the wrong ones or at least presented in an awkward, uncomfortable way. Michigan football is the person who tells a joke and feels the need to explain it afterward if they did not get sufficient laughter to make them feel comfortable. They are trying to do "new stuff" but have such little confidence that they are choosing the right things that they marginalize their efforts, so as to say, "no, that went exactly how we wanted it to, you just did not understand what we were going for." The Flyover East Lansing is a perfect example.
Of course Wahoo can speak for himself, but I don't see that he's a luddite. He's not saying saying "new = bad". I hear him (and Brian) saying the exact same thing you are--unique is good. Whether it's new or old, I don't want something that copies every other stadium in the nation.
The wave was new in 1983, but it was instantly awesome at the time because it was unique to Michigan (ok, and Washington). The "C-Ya" cheer at Yost was new in 1990 but it was instantly awesome at the time because it was unique to Michigan hockey (ok, and Duke basketball). Sweet Caroline is not awesome anywhere but maybe Fenway Park. Seven Nation Army is not awesome. There's nothing in either of them to appeal to "blue hairs" or to "recruits".
As a matter of fact, both of those things I mention as traditions are remarkable in that the athletic department tried to put a stop to them, but they became part of Michigan Tradition despite the athletic department, not because of them.
If Michigan had set off fireworks after every touchdown, they might as well have recorded a toilet flushing, played it backwards over the loudspeakers 80 times a game, and called it a "Wolverine Roar" just like Penn State did to create their lion roar "tradition".
I think the AD wants to create and control the "tradition" rather than let the fans create and own it themselves. Yost was great when I was there because I felt like the fans were a huge part of the show and the fans got to create and own this fanfare. The fans weren't told when to chear by the announcer "that's another lions FIRST DOWN". The fans knew to tell those cheating bastards c-ya, they knew that the opposing goalie was both a sieve and ugly and his mom called us a lot. The band director danced and the fans decided when this was acceptable (3rd period game in hand). And the fans thanked the announcer for informing us with 1 minute left. The only time this was recognized was on special occasions and the announcer played along and understood how sacred and special a "your welcome" could be.
Fans group think will come up with traditions a hundred times better than any MBA sitting in a group think marketing team can think of. Especially when you have as many creative students to bounce off of. The AD really needs to mainly supply the canvas and allow the fans take care of the rest (with the help of a band).
I fully agree with the idea of a fine line. It's not an easy one to walk. I think the skyboxes are a perfect example of respecting that line. It's a big change, but it was respectfully done and people understood the need and accepted the effort to make it work. DB's throwing a lot of stuff at the wall to see what sticks. That's always going to result in some good things and some bad, but in the end, more problems than it's worth. The idea that it is, in fact, a fine line, necessarily demands a great deal more careful consideration than Brandon appears to be giving it.
+1 is coming as soon as I get to a physical keyboard.
I get what you're saying, but I don't agree entirely with the conclusion.
It is clear Brandon does know he's competing with the Pistons, the Lions, and the TV. However, I do think he understands that Michigan football is differentiated from the rest of the marketplace.
He believes that the real fans are truly loyal and will keep coming back as long as the M Club banner is unfurled 6-8 times per year, the band plays The Victors, and the football team plays well*. He wants the marginal fans who decide to buy one ticket each year and is designing his strategy to appeal to them. He comes from businesses like mass marketing and pizza, which require a lot of gimmicky marketing tricks to pull in marginally interested consumers.
I'm in the Bay Area now. I'd be more likely to go to an A's game that had fireworks or something similar because my young kids would be excited for it. I think that's Brandon's strategy.
I'm no fan of alternate uniforms or piped in music, but I think Brandon sees these things as necessary to bring in those marginal fans who don't really care about Michigan and are just looking for a fun event. Ironically, as we continue to not be good, those marginal fans become more important to the AD's bottom line.
*He can't really control the football team's performance.
Doing "new" things and doing them poorly. Sure, fireworks after the game might pull in kids, the White Sox do it all the time and in that thread most people thought it was no big deal.
But during the game? After a touchdown? How about the band plays the Victors after TDs?!?!
That's what Brandon's missing. Any school in the country can set off a firework - only Michigan can play the best fight song in the land. Anyone can make ca-razy new uniforms, only Michigan has the winged helmet (and Delaware...).
I think that we have missed DB's line to: It's it's not broke, break it!
Princeton University, where the winged football helmet was designed by a coach named Fritz Crisler who decided to travel west to coach a team that played in Ann Arbor, Michigan, says, "Hi!"
hiring Michigan Stadium wasn't at capacity? Come on now.
Go back and watch the video of the 2009 OSU game. Brandon was hired about 1.5 months afterwards.
Should be front page'd.
Edit: was in reply to Wahoo.
I'm kind of a band geek and have always enjoyed the Michigan Marching Band at halftimes of games. When I was younger, I enjoyed the band as much as I enjoyed the football. Now for the old guy reminiscing part: the band isn't what it used to be. What used to be the best marching band in America is now in the bottom half of its own league. They're boring and unimaginative. Revelli, the band director back in the day, was the Bo Schembechler of band directors, supposedly, and was a tough SOB who demanded and got the best out of his band. The marching band for the last 20 years I'd say has gotten worse each year. I wish the administration paid more attention to the band. Seeing it fall from prominence and be replaced at the top by the likes of Ohio, MSU, Wisconsin, et al is (drum) majorly depressing. I'd rather have a kick-ass marching band than piped-in music and fireworks anyday.
Never having been in the band I can't really comment on how it all works, but from the standpoint of someone who has watched every halftime since 1997 I definitely agree that the quality has degraded quite a bit. Meanwhile you have Ohio State just doing awesome shows that appear on major news aggegrators. The Michigan Difference.
The MMB used to be so good and had such a vaunted reputation that when on the road they would intimidate the other team’s band just by showing up, much like Bo’s teams of yore. The MMB were bad-asses (in the marching band world) and few could match them in terms of pageantry and performance. They were revered. Now, except for the run-on and the opening fanfare/fight song, they stand in one spot, in some nonsensical shape, play some insipid song, move into another incomprehensible shape, stand still, and play another song. I’m not blaming the kids at all. It’s the band director. The kids will follow how they’re led. If Michigan strives for excellence in everything they do, as they claim, they'll hire a band director who will strive for and demand more.
I just googled the MMB page and found out that the band director was replaced in April of last year, and for the first time by a woman. She is Dr. Andrea Brown. Fingers crossed she’s better than the prior gentlemen who let the program wallow in mediocrity.
Now you kids get off my lawn!
I dont know anything about the politics of band but why has it happened? Who hires the band leader and why are we looking so behind the curve? I agree the OSU stuff gets tweeted on my timeline constantly all fall and I'm like uhh ... yeah we play Star Wars though.
Beyond that, I don't disagree. The MMB has slipped significantly since Jamie Nix, sorry to say.
I know that the band has to compete with piped in music, but I remember (98-03) when the band was totally interactive and I coule hear them. I loved when the smaller groups would head to the different sections and pump up the crowd.
I know there was a discussion by a couple band geeks (meant as respect, I played in band and jazz band in high school) who know more than I do, who spoke about other bands using more brass vs MBB using winds because in a concert setting it sounds better. I didn't much understand this. The main venue is on Hill and in the Big House. I want to be able to hear in that venue and think the band should be taylored to that atmosphere. Hopefully the band can come back strong.
You're upset that Brandon doesn't seem to understand that "This Is Michigan"?
Interesting dichotomy, given your noted disdain for that sentiment.
I looked back at the original "Fireworks Approved" thread on the board and it's funny to see how many people were saying, "Who cares? Post-game fireworks? No big deal...stop the whining." Then, we learn from the Regents meetings that it was in-game fireworks and shit got real. Brandon needs to look at his decision to simplify the Block M branding and apply that thinking to every (stupid) gimmick he thinks of. Simple, Dave. Simple.
Brandon thinks he's the smartest guy in the room, but he's clearly not. He's just a dude hanging out in the bottom of the barrel, waiting to see if the Tidewater Tides have any good ideas he can borrow.
“I have religiously attended (UM) football games for 50 years,” Deitch said. “I have not found that experience lacking of fireworks.”
I like that so many people are pointing out that it is not "new = bad." It is "unoriginal = bad" and "unique = good."
Also, I want to give some credit to Denard Robinson, not Dave Brandon for making UTL so memorable. I feel so many people equate the greatness of that game to it being at night... If the game ended at halftime, everyone would have hated that game. Night is nice and fun. But good football and electric comebacks are what make memorable experiences. That and a humble, 1000 megawatt-smile.
but that took some guts to put up the Holy Cross goal (Minnesota's App State). That'd be like me including the OT loss to Duluth in the title game, or the OT loss to Notre Dame in the '08 semis...or the OT loss to Cornell in '12....or the OT loss Miami in '11....etc
I was lucky to be at that Holy Cross game, and it was one of the craziest, most amazing, improbable, and electric things I've ever seen at a sporting event. The HC guys were flying about five feet every time they got checked. They were outgunned, outmanned, outsized, but strung it together anyway. Of course, it helped that there was an entire arena of Sioux fans screaming their asses off for HC, and the place duly exploded when the puck went in.
Brian is going to have 24 hour muppets and switch the banner to straight Kate Upton gifs.
The joke will be on him when Snooki is announced as AD the following day.
"He could no more start a business than I could be athletic director, because every attempt would be Chipotle 2 or Also Applebee's or Pretty Much Still Ponderosa."
Beautifully put. Or, in honor of a friend's son who just graduated from U-M with a theater degree and will have his own show staged off-Broadway:
If Brandon were a show tune, he'd be "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do ... Also."
I really don't get people who love bacon and who love burgers, but hate bacon on their burgers, you know what I mean?
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