Quicker on the draw...

Last night, I popped over to MGoBlog to check MGo.licio.us and saw this article from J. Brady McCollough (as Brian noted, a Michigan Daily alum) of the Kansas City Star and was struck by a quote, which I filed away to write up when I got home from work today.

Then I woke up and read this post, and I quickly realized my post was not only unnecessary, but also would have paled in comparison. Brian nails it, down to the quote that caught my eye and my general feelings on the topic. Anything I could add would feel superfluous.

Michigan, as a fan base, is exceptionally fortunate to have Brian. He embodies so much of what we, as Michigan fans, value and appreciate. It's a wonderful place to start, but it isn't the only place to go.

So as another season starts, go and look at what the Michigan blogs have to offer. Frequent the ones you appreciate, and make your voice heard when appropriate. It's unlikely you will be told down in front. And if you can't find what you're looking for, cook up your own. Find an angle, find your voice, and even if you're not very good when you start, keep trying.

Socratic Preview

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." --Socrates

I like to think I have gained some wisdom over my 29 years and 11 months on this planet. I've learned a few things. Some I have learned the hard way, some from watching the mistakes of others, and many from looking to history for guidance and made a best guess.

I feel the same way about Michigan football and my "prediction" going in to the season. Look at the evidence, look at the history, and see what I could glean. Some years (like 2006), I have been horribly wrong because I was overly pessimistic about Michigan's chances. Other years (like 2007), I have been horribly wrong because I was overly optimistic about Michigan's chances. So, what do I think going in to the 2008 season...

I have no idea.

Usually by this point in August, there's been a "heart/head" dialoge where I try to sort out what the fan in me wants as opposed to what my reading of the tea leaves suggests will happen. But last year changed everything, and then some.

The Horror proved that there's no way to know what will happen in any game on any given Saturday. (True story: I played something in the neighborhood of ten different seasons on NCAA Football 08 last year, at least enough to see what the first week would look like. Michigan's average margin of victory in those simulated games was 63 points.)

Oregon, the "Fell on Black Days' game, proved that you can't just make things better just because you want them to be better.

The Notre Dame game proved that no matter how bad things are, there's always someone out there very much like you who has it worse.

Penn State proved that the more things change, the more things stay the same...Sadly, so did Ohio State.

The bowl game proved that the future is a tricky thing, but letting the history end on its own terms is a trickier one.

So here we are, ten days before Michigan plays Utah. New coach, new offense, new stadium construction, new apparel manufacturer, new jerseys, new era...and yet, same helmets, same fight song, same banner, same Scandinavian fans more concerned about not losing than the joy of winning. What wins out, the past or the future? The future, it always does. The great thing about the future though, as John Kennedy, is that history is like a tide that relentlessly moves forward in which we can either hold fast or be carried away. Standing up for that which made Michigan football great before is the best way to work to insure that it will be in the future. But, it must not also be hidebound to tradition.

And so here we are...and I have no idea. My heart says 9-4 just to prove the haters wrong, my head says 7-6 or, gulp, 6-7, because there are too many variables. But in the end, I think it's 8-5 with a loss in the Alamo Bowl. And I won't even say that I hope I'm wrong. Because honestly, if I am, I think it's going to be much worse than that. But the thing is, I don't know anything, but I know I don't know anything. For once, I am comfortable with that.

Band Week Starts Up Again

Today is the day that signals we're truly in the home stretch before football season – the first day of Band Week. The new freshman reported today to start working with the rank leaders, section leaders, returning Drum Major Cody Martin, and Professor Boerma. In addition to signing out their instruments, they were out on the blacktop at Elbel Field for a pair of two-hour rehearsals. Congratulations to those who survived, and good luck with the rest of your week. We refer you back to our Guide For Incoming Freshmen, including the comments.

Good luck to all of you this week; you're going to enjoy it all through the exhaustion. These people will be your constant companions for at least the next semester, and you're bound to make some of your best friends throughout your college experience. Someone you meet this week? Yeah, you're probably going to be in their wedding.

(Three posts!)

New (Replica) Hockey Jerseys

(Two posts in one day!  We must be close to the start of the season.)

I don't officially think this qualifies as "breaking news", but I got the new M-Den catalog today and right there on the inside cover are the new adidas replica hockey jerseys (list price: $80)

Interestingly, this inverts recent tradition of having the Block M on the home white jersey and the arched Michigan on the blue road.

The white looks like there is room to put a front number under the lettering. (Also, is it just me or is that a huge registered trademark symbol there?) The striping on this jersey does not match the other two, but also gives it the look of an older Michigan jersey, 1960s vintage, as we can see in following photo of Red from page 156 of Blue Ice (credited to the Bentley Historical Library).

The navy road jersey looks nice, the white middle stripe seeming to be a little thinner than on their Nike predecessor.

The maize third looks relatively unchanged, (see photo of returning senior defenseman and captain to be Mark Mitera below) save the fact that of the authentic vs. replicas last year, the maize was the most distinctly different .

A few things we don't know yet, such as what font the names and numbers will be in as yet (last year using the Bears' number font and the Red Wings' lettering font) nor if the players will be wearing the "Dazzle Fabric" as they have the past few years.  We also do not know if adidas will be embossing the years of Michigan's nine NCAA titles on the inside shoulder and stitching a patch that says "Watch For Flying Pucks" into the interior hem.  All of this will come in due time.

All in all, no worries, it looks nice.

Our Helmet's Got Wings!

(As seen on Awful Announcing, originally posted at I Want my BTN.)

This is the latest Big Ten Network ad called "Recruiting". Though usually I find the prospect of considering what a coach says to a potential recruit to be mildly disturbing, the comedy factor here is just brilliant. Watch, and then come back for analysis/observations after the jump:

Observations:

1). Coach Rod's lapel pin is, easily, the biggest of the 11 coaches. The Block M just pops.

His chin rub does give the feel of "What is it going to take to get you into this Ford Flex today?"

2). Mark Dantonio gets slot three (Just after Sweater Vest and Wizard Hat, but ahead of ZOOK and JoePa).

In his second shot, he proceeds to scare the hell out of me. The way he says "We've got a great program here" is half-Marine Corps recruiter, half Daily Affirmation.

You just know that John L. would have slapped himself, the kid, the camera man, and the plate of brownies. Meanwhile, Coach Carr would have just lulled the kid with his laconic Tennessee-born charm and told him he was "tremendous".

3). ZOOK is very low key in the ad, but just wait until they talk about water skiing. That or it's just a patented Zook mind trick for, to show the real thing on television would be considered an unfair advantage for the Illini.

4). Pat Fitzgerald feels a little bit like a Northwestern version of Herbie. It's just a purple Herbie vibe.

5). Suits 10, Polo Shirts 1. I know it's your last season Mr. Tiller, but come on, you've gotta dress the part.

6). Coach Rod, so confident in the fact that "You know, we're the winningest program in history" he can snag one of the brownies off the table while saying it.

7). I love JoePa. I mean, he clearly is like your great uncle who was way more fun than your grandpa and always had better stories and you were just bummed that you only got to see him once a year at the family reunion.

8). Effective communication tip #98: When pointing out that your school's offensive philosophy will be changing to the spread, make sure you gesture appropriately with your hands to sell it.

9). Joe Tiller: "We're the cradle of quarterbacks!" Sure, but just don't mention that Kyle Orton went there.

10). Oh who is that guy who replaced Hep? Come on....Come on,,,,Bill Lynch! That's his name. Sorry about that IU.

11). Kirk Ferentz, man who clearly does not want to be there.

12). I like Fitzgerald's "I thought you told me you want to be the best" switcheroo motivational technique. Don't sell, challenge the kid to prove himself to you with you providing the tools to do it.

13). Zook: "You like Roses?" The answer to that is yes, which is way more than most Illini can probably say at the moment.

14). Coach Rod: "Look, our helmet's got wings!" I just get the feeling Coach Rod doesn't know what to do with himself. After all those years of trying to sell living in Morgantown and selling West Virginia as an up and coming program, he now gets to sell Michigan. It's like selling the iPhone, the hype is built in, you just need to make sure the customers stay happy and the press stays positive.

14a). As Awful Announcing correctly posits, you just know that Coach Rod uses that exact line as a selling point, and that it is a major selling point.

15). "Come to Penn STATE!" Through gritted teeth, JoePa closes the deal! He's also getting very close to where you need a subtitles for him.

16). Your face time winners: Perhaps not surprisingly, it's "master recruiters" ZOOK! and Coach Rod, who each make five appearances.

Least seen coach? Surprisingly, Coach Tressel makes just three appearances in the whole ad, but he does lead things off. Tiller and Ferentz also check in at three. Given the brevity of his shots, I think we have to go with Coach Ferentz here.

Lloyd Carr likes the MMB

Some love for the band from Lloyd Carr after his appearance in Grand Rapids last night:

"I'm going to be somewhere in that stadium. I don't know exactly where," Carr said. "But I'm looking forward to listening to the band, and I'll be interested to watch the student section. You know, those kids raise a lot of cane [sic] down there in that north end. I'm going to enjoy all the pageantry, as well as watching this team play."

(HT: GR Press)

2008-2009 MMB shows

• M vs. Utah "The Who" Show (incl. I Can See For Miles, Who Are You, Pinball Wizard, Won't Get Fooled Again)
• UM vs. Miami of Ohio "Boy Bands" Show
• UM @ Notre Dame "Boy Bands" repeated
• UM vs. Wisconsin "Cody Martin's Day Off" Show (Ferris Bueller skit show)
• UM vs. Illinois (Homecoming) "Jersey Boys" Show
• UM vs. Toledo "Modern Rock/Pop" Show
• UM vs. Michigan State "Trains" Show (plus a combined performance with the Spartan Marching Band)
• UM vs. Northwestern "America Rocks" Show
• UM @ Ohio State "America Rocks" repeated

My one hope for the season is that, at some point, Professor Boerma Rickrolls the crowd.

"The Big House" book review

So on Thursday I used a power failure to finish up reading The Big House: Fielding Yost and the Building of Michigan Stadium. I thought I would share a couple of thoughts about the book.

Let me begin by saying that I do think that if you have any interest in the history of the Michigan football program, this book is a definite must read. The prose lacks a certain lyrical flow, but it is more than made up for in the exceptional level of research done. Drawing from Yost's letters as coach, AD, and his personal correspondence, along with extensive excerpts from The Michigan Daily, Dr. Soderstrom gives the reader an exceptional view of what it was like to be a Michigan football fan in the 1920s.

Which leads me to one of my favorite things I drew from the book: In 85 years, Michigan football fans (and college football in general) has changed immensely and at the same time, very little. There were academic wailings about the quality of student that was brought in to be a part of the football team, concerns about a stadium "arms race" among colleges, the concerns over professionalism and its impact upon the sport, concerns about student rowdiness at games and on road trips, the concerns about students using football games as an excuse to get drunk, and my personal favorite, the Daily repeatedly calling out the Ferry Field crowd for its lack of vocal and enthusiastic support for what were some great Michigan teams. So much of college football handwringing today is really nothing more than variations on a theme.

I also enjoyed the insight into Fielding Yost. We need never question where the popularity of the phrase "Michigan man" came from. It's clearly a Yostism. In dozens of letters and speeches, his focus was on the "Michigan man" (and woman, Yost's willingness to embrace a co-educational university and equality in physical education for women is a recurrent theme in the book.) I was also impressed with Yost's tirelessness, particularly in his advocacy for building Michigan Stadium, and the obstacles he was compelled to overcome to build it. Indeed, even the reminder that before it was Yost Ice Arena, it was Yost Field House is worth the time devoted to it, the first Field House in the country.

All in all, I enjoyed the book because I have an interest in the subject area, and the level of research more than made up for any other failings of the book.

Have a good weekend.

Viva La Vida: July 2nd, 2008

Welcome to Viva La Vida for July 2, 2008.

This will be an occasionally recurring feature where I post roughly quick hit points that I have not been able to get to that I did want to discuss.

1). Life in Technicolor

I am reserving judgment on the new uniform issue, because I am not sure that anything out there is official. I have maintained for a long time that as long as they do not touch the home uniform, I really am OK with any wackiness they may want to try on the away uniform, within reason. I also trust that adidas' contract with Michigan is as much about Michigan enhancing their brand as it is adidas enhancing the Michigan brand. But hey, clearance sale at the M-Den for the current jerseys. Plenty of Harts, Hennes, and Manninghams left.

2). Cemeteries of London

It was announced yesterday that Michigan Replay is no more. This saddens me as a traditionalist but by the same token, I don't know that Coach Rod was going to have the same level of hilariously awkward banter with Jim Brandstatter that Lloyd Carr did, but still, I think what I will miss most is the third quarter snippet of the theme from the 1972 film Across 110th Street, which also served as the theme to Michigan Replay for lo these many years.

3). Lost!

If you have not already picked up your Phil Steele preview guide, you'll want to do so as soon as possible, lest ye be lost for the upcoming season. His preview on Michigan is alternately dour and hopeful, in that, yes, he does not expect Michigan to match last season's nine wins (but who among us actually does?) but he also thinks that "the streaks" will remain alive, which is well, kind of important.

4). 42

The only Michigan player to win All-America honors while wearing #42 is Billy Taylor. He's among Bo's first players at Michigan and has a pretty amazing life story which you can read about here.

5). Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love

Little known fact: Logan, better known as Wolverine, is a follower of the Shinto faith, as seen here.

(Yes, it was a stretch and yes, I do apologize, but it was the first thing that made sense when I typed "Wolverine Japan" into GIS.)

6). Yes

If you're going to propose to your Michigan fan girlfriend, I highly recommend doing it in Ann Arbor. It works out quite well from my experience.

7). Viva La Vida

We here at the Hoover Street Rag would like to wish a happy 71st birthday to one of our favorite people in the world, 2008 College Football Hall of Fame electee John Cooper. Coach, we miss you. A lot. Even if we're Facebook friends with you.

8). Violet Hill

If you have not seen Varsity Blue's photos of the Michigan Stadium construction, you should, it's pretty awesome (I was over there on Monday and was going to mention how impressive it was, but the slide show is worth several thousand words.)

9). Strawberry Swing

If you have not had a shake from Pizza Bob's recently, you really should do so. Go get a BTB and then walk down a couple of doors and hook yourself with a shake.

10). Death and All His Friends

I'm thinking about adopting the line from the song as my Michigan mantra for the forthcoming season: "So come over, just be patient, and don't worry." I don't see it working, but you know, it's July, I can maintain a level head right now.

Thanks for reading. Have a great week!

Craig

Wordle

Wordle, in its own words, "is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text." Naturally, I fed The Victors into it.

Softball Does It With The Long Ball

26 runs scored, 5 allowed, 4 grand slams, 3 wins, 2 shutouts, 1 regional title captured. Softball turned in a dominating performance over the weekend, slicing through Wright State, Notre Dame, and Kent State to advance to next weekend's super regional.

All weekend, the Wolverines found ways to create big innings to pull away from their competition. In the opener against Wright State, Michigan dug themselves a 4-0 going into the bottom of the 3rd and were still down 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth when the Wolverines' bats exploded. Angela Findlay led off with a single, her sister Sam walked. Maggie Viefhaus flied out to left field, but pitcher Nikki Niemitz drove Angela Findlay in with a single and then Dorian Shaw was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Roya St. Clair was lifted for pinch hitter Marley Powers. All she did was hit a grand slam to center. A note from MGoBlue.com: "Powers is now batting .833 (5-for-6) in bases-loaded scenarios this season with three grand slams and 16 RBI." Holy crap.

Now, as awesome as a home run is, it can be a rally-killer. The bases are clear, so the defense doesn't have to account for that. No matter for the Wolverines. Teddi Ewing and Ali Giampaolo hit consecutive singles, while pinch hitter Angie Danis walked. Having batted around, Angela Findlay lined out to short. With two outs, Samantha Findlay drove in another run with a single. Maggie Viefhaus then stepped to the plate and drove Michigan's second grand slam of the inning over the wall in right center, putting Michigan up 13-5 and triggering softball's mercy rule. It was a ten-run inning.

Things were quiet for both teams through the first three innings of Saturday's contest against Notre Dame. With the Irish acting as the home team, Michigan got things going in the top of the fourth with a Samantha Findlay walk, a Viefhaus sac bunt, and a single by Nikki Nemitz, taking a break from pitching by acting as DH. Once again, Roya St. Clair was lifted for Marley Powers, and once again Powers homered. She's only a freshman, by the way, so Samantha Findlay should watch out for her home run records. Teddi Ewing then singled and was driven home when Ali Giampaolo tripled.

Michigan did it without the long ball in the fifth. They collected singles from both Findlay sisters, a double from Nikki Nemitz, and singles from Roya St. Clair and Teddi Ewing to put up a four-spot for the inning. Unlike Friday's game, it wasn't a walk-off, but a 1-2-3 bottom of the inning from the Irish gave Michigan the 8-0 victory in five.

Today's regional final against Kent State was another slow-starting affair. Neither team could get much of anything going. In the fourth, it took four walks issued by the Golden Flashes for Michigan to finally plate a run. Fortunately for the Maize and Blue, Jordan Taylor was throwing a one-hitter. Things finally broke open in the bottom of the sixth. Again, it was free passes to first coming back to bite Kent State. Both Findlay sisters and Nemitz walked, bringing up Dorian Shaw, who hit a grand slam to right field. Taylor finished her complete game shutout one-hitter without walking a single batter, facing only 22 on the day and collecting 11 strikeouts.

As the fourth overall seed in the tournament, the Wolverines have the luxury of staying at home this year for next weekend's super regional. They'll face the winner of the Knoxville regional. At the time of posting, the Lady Vols are up 1-0 on the Hokies after one, successfully executing a suicide squeeze (UPDATE: Virginia Tech used a four-run fourth to take down Tennessee 4-2. See you in Ann Arbor, Hokies).

Elsewhere at the Wilpon Complex, Michigan's baseball team took Northwestern down 11-2, setting a Big Ten record by winning 26 conference games this season. Ray Fisher Stadium will play host to the Big Ten tournament starting Wednesday, but Michigan won't see action until 7:05 PM on Thursday night.

Tournament Time For Softball

Last night, ESPN2 finally showed the Michigan softball team's exhibition game against Team USA from May 6. The Wolverines lost the game, but 5-1 is definitely a respectable mark to post against the best collection of softball players in the world. They even had runners on second and third in the bottom of the sixth, but Cat Osterman managed to get herself out of the jam.

This is the first time I've had a chance to watch th softball team this year, and for the most part they looked solid. It's weird seeing Samantha Findlay out at second base, but I trust Hutch to know what she's doing. Our pitching looked good, but not dominant. To my eye, Jordan Taylor's wind-up looks weird.

Finally, the Alumni Field renovation looks excellent. The team now has the kind of facility that it deserves. And it was great to see a raucous sell-out crowd for an exhibition softball game. Hopefully we'll have the same great environment when the Wolverines host the NCAA regional this weekend. I went to the one back in '05 and it was a blast; I'm now debating whether to make the drive in again.

Schedule for the weekend:

Friday, May 16
Game 1 -- #2 seed Notre Dame vs. #3 seed Kent State, 4:30 p.m.
Game 2 -- #1 seed Michigan vs. #4 seed Wright State, 7 p.m.

Saturday, May 17
Game 3 -- Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, Noon
Game 4 -- Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 2:30 p.m.
Game 5 -- Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner, 5 p.m.

Sunday, May 18
Game 6 -- Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 1 p.m.
Game 7 (if necessary) -- Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser, 3:30 p.m. Michigan's games on Saturday and (we hope) Sunday will be carried on the Big Ten Network. Game 4 would be streamed for free at BigTenNetwork.com.

Charity begins at EDSBS

This is a very simple call to arms:

1). Read this post from Every Day Should Be Saturday

2). See that Michigan is winning at the moment, but that Ohio State is hot on its heels.

3). Follow these five points:

I) Make a donation online to the American Red Cross, CARE, or the International Rescue Committee.

II) Email the donation confirmation to kevin@fanblogs.com and state your team affiliation by 8pm EDT on Wednesday, May 14th. BE SURE TO STATE WHETHER YOUR DONATION GOES FOR YOUR TEAM OR AGAINST ANOTHER. Either way it counts, but we want you to have some fun with it, too. (Author's Note: I'd rather we go pro-Michigan than anti-Ohio State, but it's your donation.)

III) Results will be displayed at Every Day Should Be Saturday and Fanblogs throughout the week, with the final results shown by Thursday, May 15th.

IV) The winning school will have its colors displayed at EDSBS and logo/mascot shown on every page at Fanblogs.

V). Mondo important reminder: ALL DONATIONS MUST BE IN TO FANBLOGS BY 8PM EDT (5PM PDT) TONIGHT.

4). Profit (mostly in the human spirit sense, but still, you know, profit.)

Let's do this thing gang!

On Retired Numbers

This Joe Posnanski post got me thinking about retired numbers in other sports and the categories they fit into. College is a strange case, because I think you only have three or four years to evaluate a guy's contribution. I didn't even realize that we had any retired numbers for football until a few years ago.

No.	Player
11	Francis Wistert, Albert Wistert, Alvin Wistert
47	Bennie Oosterbaan
48	Gerald Ford
87	Ron Kramer
98	Tom Harmon

Of our guys, I think Oosterbaan, Harmon, and Kramer are easy to identify under the Greatness category. Oosterbaan was a three-time All-American in a time when I don't think freshmen were allowed on the varsity squad. Kramer was a multi-sport beast whose number was retired after his senior season. Harmon was Harmon; our first Heisman winner and the #1 pick of the NFL draft. The Wisterts were collectively 9-time letter-winners and 4-time All-Americans. None probably get it on their own, so you might argue an emotional component there. I don't know where you file Gerald Ford. His number wasn't officially retired until 1994 and he was never an All-American and his number was in wide circulation until then. It's mostly a recognition for his post-Michigan achievements, which isn't its own category in Posnanski's system. In the pros, the situation rarely arises where a guy has three or four good years, then leaves the sport entirely to go to law school and later becomes a prominent politician.

We do have the interesting situation where no one who played after 1956 has a retired number, and I like it that way. I like what the #1 jersey has come to mean, the recent flap notwithstanding. I like that #7 has some meaning of its own. I want the next guy who puts on #20 to understand what he's taking over. Michigan is a team with a history that stretches back to 1879, and the numbers in circulation make it a living history. The numbers mean different things to different people (#3 is always Marlin Jackson to me), but they're all Michigan.

Off-Season Musing

So, I am stealing an idea from Sports Talk Radio, but it's a fun one and since there's not a whole lot to talk about during the off-season, I thought I would have some fun.

On WDFN, SportsRadio 1130 here in Detroit, the drive time hosts Stoney and Wojo were "celebrating" the Detroit Lions' resigning of Artose Pinner by asking the question "Which average to mediocre Detroit athlete would you most like see to come back?" So, I am going to tweak it a little, and ask the readership this question:

"Which average to middling Michigan athlete from the past would you count among your favorites?"

(College sort of precludes the whole "returning" part of the question.)

Now, obviously, this means no Heisman winners, no All-Americans, no superstars, but rather, a guy who you miss because of what he brought to the table, even if they were not the most athletically gifted.

My answer after the jump. Yours in the comments, please.

My selection for football is Scott Dreisbach. This is largely a sentimental pick for the fact that it was his pass to Mercury Hayes that beat Virginia in the Pigskin Classic, but I remember writing about him as a high school senior, about how he showed flashes of brilliance.

But, thanks to some injuries, he Brian Griese got the call for the latter part of 1995 and when Dreisbach struggled, Griese rode to the rescue against Ohio State in Columbus in 1996.

Griese never relinquished the job in 1997, and when Dreisbach was a senior, he couldn't beat out some guy named Tom Brady for the starting job. But I always liked Scott, and mostly wanted to send him some love.

(Thanks to WolverineHistorian for allowing me to illustrate those points a little more readily.)

For hockey, it's Scott Matzka. Wait, wait, don't hit me! Matzka's inability to finish on breakaways was maddening in part because we saw him do it a number of times. He had six shorthanded goals his junior year, so we know it could be done. His eight career shorties are Michigan's all-time mark. He hustled, he was quick, and even if he could be frustrating, I always liked him.

So, that's me, what about you?