The Vault: Michigan vs. Seton Hall, 1989 (OT)

And now the exciting conclusion to last week's Vault. You know you were waiting for it. This was a joint effort between Craig and myself.

1:19:00	Last OT was in '63, which is quite a drought considering that they had 4 OT games in a 20-year span preceding that. Musberger tips us to his age by talking about the 3OT Cincy game in '61. Higgins controls the tip for Michigan. Rice hits a quick jumper in the lane with a guy climbing his back. "Two seconds too late" Billy Packer quips, and dammit, we are forced to agree.
1:19:50	Billy Packer rambles about the first OT game in NCAA history. Utah won, but we all lose.
1:20:16	Michigan plays really good defense for 40 seconds, only to see the ball kicked out to a wide open Andrew Gaze, who hits a wide-open three, his first field goal of the game. We'd yell get a body on him, but it was his first field goal of the game! Higgins rolls all around the perimeter and hits a big shot to put Michigan back up one.
1:21:00	Greene gets a WIDE OPEN three that goes off the back of the iron. Walker, however, gets the miss and the refs unfortunately get it right with a goaltending call on what would have been an EPIC block by Mills. You have to go frame-by-frame, but the ball does pass the peak of its arc.
1:21:30	Greene steals the ball and drives for a layup, but Mills hustles back to make the block this time. Higgins takes it quickly to the basket on the other end and draws a foul from Walker. Hits the first, misses the second. We're tied at 76.
1:22:38	Morton is left alone at the top of the key and drains a three which looks like a backbreaker as a fan, but Matt Millen still thinks he's gay.
1:23:07	They rotate the ball around the perimeter to Higgins, but his 3 is way short. Seton Hall switches to their "double high". 2:03 left, you're up by 3 and PJ is already trying to kill clock? OK, Dr. Goofy... T/O, Buccos. And now we get our first crowd shot of some early adopters of the Jack Sparrow line of menswear. HAAAAA! One of them removes his hook so he can clap. STAY IN CHARACTER, GENTLEMEN.
1:24:18	Morton drives the lane, draws some contact, but no call from the ref and Glen Rice comes up with a huge rebound that we swear ended up being the Sports Illustrated cover that week. Michigan brings it up and Rice gets nicely open near the top of the arc, but fails to knock down the shot. Higgins grabs the rebound and lofts one as he falls away near the block, but it won't go either. Rumeal Robinson immediately fouls Greene. Are we sure Michigan wins this game?
1:24:58	Brent and Billy are convinced Michigan is being stupid for not getting the ball to Rumeal, listing the litany of where it's going wrong, only to have Billy posit that he might be getting tired. Way to cover your bases there Mr. Packer. 1:17 left to go, and things are looking grim, but he bricks the front half of the one and one. Oh and look, now Rumeal has the ball in his hand!
1:25:37	Seton Hall plays good defense, even far out on the perimeter. Rumeal can't get a look, Higgins can't get a look. Mills finally backs his was in, steps out for the turn-around, and goes right over Ramos for the basket, which forces Seton Hall to at least take one more shot. Good effort all around there. 79-78 Buccaneers of the Intercoastal Waterway, 0:55 left.
1:26:22	The Pirates are killing time, but they have to deal with that 8-second difference between the shot clock and game clock. Morton gets into the lane, but he has to go up with four Michigan defenders around him and they don't call the (slight) contact with Rice, who collects the rebound. 0:10 left.
1:26:32	Rumeal sensing the urgency, pushes the ball coast-to-coast and Greene is just careless with his feet, thinking he's got this game in the bag. He knocks into Rumeal just enough to draw the whistle. PJ, to say the least, is displeased. Rumeal was in the process of getting rid of the ball to someone else for an open shot. Instead, we've got him on the foul line. On the replay, Rumeal's push of the ball down court is actually a thing of beauty, executing no less than two crossover dribbles to keep the ball away from slapping hands. The beauty of an explanatory replay. Oh yeah, in case we hadn't mentioned it, one of Rumeal's only weak spots? He's a 64% free throw shooter. Oh boy…Wait, even better, he's 57% for the tournament. BUT…he's 7 for 8 in the game. So that's something.
1:27:52	0:03 left. Rumeal on the line for the one and one. We're tied at 79 all. Rumeal's parents; very pleased. PJ Carlisemo and the small pelt on his chin; angry. Wait, check that, he's just calling out the play. Meanwhile, Steve Fisher looks so relaxed and mellow, it's like he's been road tripping with Bob Hope. Mike Griffin, who can be seen this summer in the upcoming Bourne Ultimatum, checks in and gives Rumeal a word of encouragement. Mrs. Coach is concerned in the stands. Rumeal's all alone on the line, everyone else is back by half court. It's the proper play, but it always looks strange. Rumeal nails the second one – his follow through arm-up looks triumphant and relieved all at the same time – PJ calls time out, and strike up the band. Mrs. Coach is dour until she sees herself on the Jumbotron, which we find kind of hilarious.
1:29:49	Michigan looks in the mood to celebrate, but they still need one more stop. During the time out, we get CBS staying with another round of the Victors. Someone in the stands has a "Say 'YES' to Fisher" sign, echoing the classic Michigan tourism slogan. Hey, Seton Hall has a band too. Who knew? They look kind of old, so I think it might be an alumni band. Oh it has to be alumni, because some tuba player's adorable 3-year-old is asleep on his shoulder.
1:31:27	We get the switch to the Seton Hall fight song, which I believe is the same song you hear at the start of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Wait, even better irony. We can see from the flip cards that among the songs in the Seton Hall arsenal is "Old Time Rock and Roll". Did Michigan have some Springsteen in the quiver just to balance the Michigan/New Jersey showdown on that one? And now you can actually hear the Michigan contingent signing "The Victors."
1:31:42	OK, so now Michigan will guard the inbound passer, Mills on Ramos. Obviously no one from Kentucky ever watched this game. Ramos makes a great pass all the way to the opposite arc where only Walker and Greene can get to it. Walker comes down with the ball, turns around and fires an NBA 3 over a player I can't identify, off the glass and into Glen Rice's hands. Steve Fisher casually walks down the sideline, cup of water in hand... (This is the part where my mom and I begin jumping up and down in celebration, even though it's way past my bedtime on a school night 2nd Grade! Woo! –GZ). The bars empty out onto South U, some of which won't have their windows in the morning. Final score: Michigan 80, Seton Hall 79. A full "Victors" plays in the background as shots of Michigan celebrating fill the screen.

And that's where the DVD ends, sadly, no "One Shining Moment", no interview with Bo or Glen Rice, just the end of the game.

Sub-40

Less than 40 days until college football season. Here are some desktop-sized images to whet the appetite. Apologies for the compression artifacts; blame Quicktime.

The Vault: Michigan vs. Seton Hall, 1989 (Part 2)

Here we are again with The Vault, taking a look at the second half of the 1989 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship game between Michigan and Seton Hall. You might be interested to know that you can order it from at NCAA On Demand or from Amazon.

Halftime	Michigan has held Seton Hall to 13 fewer points than their average and has forced them to shoot a whole lot from outside, where they haven't connected.
0:36:13	Terry Mills comes over the top with an emphatic block. The Seton Hall player never had a prayer. On the other end, Mills finishes to give us a 39-32 lead.
0:37:20	Ramos looks frustrated, as he commits another foul, this time on the offensive end.
0:38:48	Never trust a man in a sweater-vest. (As true in 1989 as it is today. –CDB)
0:39:00	High-wire act on a Mills-Vaught 2-on-1 that just barely hangs together. Michigan's playing a big up-and-down game fueled by the fast break. That's a motion offense. I didn't know that was allowed in this state, especially during the Bad Boys era. (Given how Vaught was a little surprised by the pass, I don't think it was, they were just hoping no one would notice. –CDB)
0:40:32	BILL WALTON LOOKS LIKE CARROT TOP.
0:41:00	Seton Hall is opening up the offense a little bit, as Morton takes it the length of the court.
0:41:40	Glen Rice is dropping bombs, widening the Michigan lead to 49-37. A Seton Hall player flops on the other end (Upon review, it's Gaze), but it's a good no-call away form the ball.
0:42:20	The crowd roars as Michigan cleans up another offense rebound, this one by Mike Griffin. Brent thinks Michigan's size advantage is showing.
0:43:30	The amount of hustle Michigan is showing, getting to every loose ball, is one of those little things you love to see and I hope will be seen again at Crisler soon.
0:44:45	Big hip-check from Glen Rice puts him and Morton on the floor. Rice just flew sideways through the air, pretending to be going for the ball.
0:45:50	Billy Packer notes that Morton is wearing white "girdle pants" under his shorts. He then says "girdle pants" way more times than I ever want to hear. (It is disturbing to say the least. –CDB)
0:46:00	Mills lays out Greene and Rumeal takes it down low, pauses, drives the basket and finishes with a SICK reverse jam. Awesome basketball to watch.
0:46:50	Crowd shot of Rumeal's adoptive parents in their "MEAL TIME #21" shirts. This is the first time they've seen him play as a Wolverine. Someone donated their trip to Seattle for the Finals.
0:47:14	Shut up Brent, you'll jinx it! He's calling that the breaks are all going Michigan's way.
0:48:30	Ugh. Missed jumper, the rebound goes off Higgins's hands, right back into Walker's, and he hits the layup…but thankfully he traveled before he got hacked on the shot.
0:49:26	Seton Hall's climbing back into this thing. It's 51-43 with 11:59 to go as Rumeal's been sitting on the bench. Yikes, the Pirates have been tough as time winds down. They've averaged under 3 FG's allowed in the last 10:00 of the game or so throughout the tournament.
0:50:40	Gaze is playing soft. He hasn't hit anything from the floor, and he declines posting up after giving the ball off to his teammate.
0:51:43	Rumeal checks back in, so does Ramos. There are bodies everywhere after a partially-blocked lay-up. Griffin is assigned the foul, Michigan's sixth as a team, and Higgins picks up his own shortly thereafter. Morton makes both. 53-47.
0:53:45	Higgins makes up for it on the other end as he drops a wide-open 3 to push it back to 56-47.
0:54:50	CBS is having fun with their graphics package here, employing all sorts of tricks that have since gone out of style. The text telling you we're at the Kingdome flips its way out of sight, I've seen the box wipe before. It's the little things that let you know the director likes these "com-poo-tors." (It's the fun stuff that you can now learn to do in your high school radio and television class. –CDB)
0:57:30	Seton Hall has amped up their defense and Michigan's 3 for their last 14. Hi, Bo. Glen Rice downs a 3. Hi, Mrs. Fisher. Seton Hall gets two back on the other end, and it's 59-51 with about 8 to go.
0:59:20	Glen Rice's 72 field goals are a new NCAA tournament record. Sen. Bill Bradley sent the Pirates a telegram of encouragement, which sounds quaint in this age. Bradley and Lautenberg have a bet going with Riegle and Levin, as politicians are prone to have, and they're betting M&M's against Vernor's. This sounds like the type of bet I'd make with my brother or some neighborhood kid. (You can hear the contempt for the stakes of the bet in Billy Packer's voice. –CDB)
1:00:38	Morton goes coast-to-coast to bring Seton Hall back within four with about 7:15 left in the game. Rice can't get a jumper to fall and Morton comes back with a jumper of his own that drops. Two-point game with 6:37 to play.
1:01:30	Rumeal gets hacked on the whole body as he goes up under the basket. He rattles home the first free throw. He's only a 64% free throw shooter (!), but he gets the second half as well.
1:03:10	Morton's on the line again. Billy Packer notes "this Seton Hall team can bury you on the foul line." Back to within two, but Glen Rice is going crazy and drops a huge three that breaks Bill Bradley's tournament scoring record.
1:05:43	Good, tough play on defense from both sides as they trade possessions. Nothing comes easy. You hear the frustration in a very audible "Come on ref!" by one of the players. Billy Packer thinks we're putting up our shots too quickly, but there's 4:30 left on the clock and all we have is a 5-point lead in an up-and-down game.
1:06:22	What was a good sequence on D turns ugly at the end. Rumeal thinks he's going to get a charge and flops down on the court, opening up a clear path to the basket. However, from the prone position he strips the ball, but it goes right to Walker, who's hammered by Hughes to put him on the line. He hits both freebies. 64-61, with 4:07 left.
1:08:27	Seton Hall is playing defense like a pack of crazed ferrets, but Terry Mills hits a tough bank off the high glass to push it to 66-61. Oh, give me a break. Billy Packer attempts a huge stretch of a metaphor: Bo has said that interim coach Steve Fisher "will get the first interview" for the permanent spot. Packer asks if Bo would get the first interview to retain his job if he won the national championship in football. Do not speak lightly of a legend like Bo, Mr. Packer. Walker's name is apt, as he turns the ball over on a traveling call. And if not, he'd have been emphatically blocked by Mills.
1:09:19	Ramos gets a block inside and Morton beats his man to the ball and the ball to the sideline. He taps it to his teammate and executes a give-and-go that covers half the length of the floor for a dunk that's only contested after it's over.
1:09:50	Turnovers and Morton are killing us. One at half court leads to an abbreviated version of the Seton Hall offense, with Morton burying a jumper before we can get our feet set. It's a 1-point game, 66-65 with 2:30 to go, and we take a hurried three. Morton runs the floor and puts in a tough lay-up. We're trailing for the first time in a long while.
1:11:19	Rumeal's out on the three-point line, looking for an open teammate when they call him for five seconds without a dribble. Unbelievable, but it was a good call.
1:12:10	Vaught gets called for a tap reach-in on Walker way out beyond the arc. We're well into the penalty, and he hits the first, but not the second. 66-68, Seafaring Pillagers.
1:13:22	Musburger notes that the Wolverines have turned it over three of the last four trips down the court. Rumeal brings the ball up and passes to Glen Rice as he turns around knocks down a glorious, game-saving three with Gaze in his face with 1:03 to go. 69-68.
1:13:32	Morton starts driving, pulls up and takes a jumper from near the high post that's way short and Higgins gets it back for the Maize and Blue. 0:46 left on the clock, and we're looking to siphon some time off that. Morton makes a play for the ball, but ends up with the foul. Someone's dad is made entirely of eye-bags. 0:34 left and Higgins on the line, PJ decides to ice him. This cue is tailor-made for Parking Lot.
1:14:53	That sweet, sweet 3 from Rice made him the all-time scoring leader in Big Ten history. Higgins hits both shots, 71-68. Still 0:34 left on the clock and the Pirates push it up court quickly. Morton steps back alone and puts down a 3 with 0:25 left.
1:16:15	0:17 left, Steve Fisher has called a timeout. Failure to get Rumeal open on the in-bounds play immediately results in our LAST TIMEOUT being called, Future Chris Webber. CBS lets the band play a Parking Lot "Victors." as they just do a montage of faces of the evening, including Magic Johnson? (The pep band is in sweaters, and several have that old foam-front school baseball cap with the winged helmet design on it. It's all very 1989. –CDB)
1:18:58	Robinson in the backcourt brings it up, gives to Higgins, who has Rice at the arc, but the shot won't go. Overtime.

The Vault: Michigan vs. Seton Hall, 1989 (Part 1)

We've been away for a bit, getting caught up in doing summer-type things. Sorry. Here we are again with our next edition of The Vault, taking a look at the 1989 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship game between Michigan and Seton Hall. You might be interested to know that you can order it from at NCAA On Demand or from Amazon.

Start of the First Half (as written by CDB):
0:07	I forgot that Michigan's road to the Final Four that year was fraught with peril, whereas Seton Hall not only looks like world beaters, but they get their own cutesy graphics package to explain it to us. (The cannon they chose seems anachronistic. I don't think pirates with buckle shoes had breech-loaders –GZ)
0:55	I also forgot that I hated Andrew Gaze for many years after this game, and I could not explain why.
1:30	Mike Griffin is the name of the fifth starter on the 1989 team you can never remember. OK, I can never remember. (No, it's clearly "we" –GZ)
2:16	The simplicity of the court design strikes me as charming. It's actually not distracting as you try and watch the game.
2:49	Brent points out that Michigan resembles Syracuse, Seton Hall's Achilles' Heel in the Big East. I'm going to have to trust him on this, but clearly, the resemblance does not extend to a comparison between the hairstyles of Steve Fisher and Jim Boeheim. (PJ Carlesimo looks like a shaved bear, or maybe just like Zack Galifianakis. As if there's any difference. –GZ)
4:21	Bill Simmons keeps complaining about the use of non-traditional camera angles when covering the NBA, and yet, here's a long establishing shot for an entire possession. He's right though, the mid-court shot works best.
5:56	Seton Hall is playing some exceptionally tough defense. Not punishing as much as it is tough man-to-man. I'd say they're choking off the passing lanes for Michigan, but that's just a cheap joke at P.J.'s expense.
7:52	Sean Higgins just made a huge mental mistake by tossing to Rumeal Robinson back across the time line. Oy...
8:23	Sweet shooting stroke by Rumeal, but it's only a two...and then, turnover leads to a quick fast break and more Michigan points. 12-8, Maize and Blue, 14:16 left.
9:11	Glen Rice draws an offensive foul, and I guess I just forgot how amazing Rice was throughout this whole tournament, even if Brent makes a horrible "wild Rice" joke coming back from "commercial".
11:00	I forgot that Rumeal was a freshman non-qualifier, back when such things existed.
13:50	Just sort of a sloppy sequence here. Nothing to add, I just hadn't written anything in a while. Seriously, the sloppiness continues for about two and a half more minutes. Rumeal had a 2-on-1 and decided not to make the pass which would have been an easy layup and couldn't make his own shot drop.
15:41	Mike Griffin looks like Opie Taylor's older cousin, while Ramon Ramos looks like he's 50.
16:51	First gratuitous iso shot of Mrs. Fisher in the stands. Michigan's cleaning up on the offensive glass.
17:26	Nice pass by Griffin inside to Rumeal. Brent notes that it feels like Robinson is headed for a huge night. I am loathe to disagree.
18:43	For all of the Fab Five's many flaws, we can thank them for saving us from the tyranny of short shorts and t-shirts under the jersey in basketball.
19:11	Seeing a Seattle with the Kingdome in the skyline just feels strange to me.
20:57	Seton Hall's on a 9-0 run, and in comes Demetrius Calip for...Higgins. 12-0 run now for the Pirates. Yar.
21:52	Apparently Andrew Gaze's father is the John Wooden of Australian basketball, and now Billy Packer is on a rant about the use of rent-a-international players. I don't think he's wrong, but if you look at what ended up happening, Andrew Gaze was the exception rather than the rule. I am left to wonder whether or not Andrew Gaze's father is bigger than Wayne Bennett in Brisbane (Not twenty times bigger! –GZ).
23:47	In watching these older games, I miss the constant score bug. In writing these notes, I've lost the score and it's tricky to pick back up where it is.
24:14	The smallest man in Division I basketball is named Mookie. I find this amusing. (I'm just amazed that the Charlotte Hornets existed in '89, and that Muggsy Bogues was playing for them –GZ)
25:16	Glen Rice just is a sharpshooter, even if it was just a 2.
25:51	I'm now convinced that Andrew Gaze and Christian Laettner share a hairstylist.
26:26	Have you ever, in your life, met or heard of another man named Loy?
26:57	It stuns me how much they actually called traveling back in the day. Another Michigan turnover, but we're tied at 28, with 3:46 remaining.
27:36	Ramon Ramos looks like a Puerto Rican Frankenstein. Seriously, he's scaring the small children. And Glen Rice, Deadeye again. Oh and they just pointed out that Glen Rice is closing in on Senator Bill Bradley's NCAA Tournament scoring record.
29:06	That was a great forced turnover by Michigan, followed by an awful bit of transition work and an even worse no-call.
29:37	Billy Packer was nowhere near as annoying in 1989 as he is today, but this could be a relative thing when paired with Brent. I'm just saying. (Having Brent on this broadcast has actually kept me from putting on this DVD at times. It's a national championship and Brent has dissuaded me from watching, he's that bad. –GZ).
31:16	Gratuitous Bo sighting #1. You get the feeling that Bo will become a leitmotif as this game moves forward.
32:00	That is NOT a "marvelous" story about Rumeal Robinson being abandoned by his mother in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is a nice story about the people who adopted him. Let's please be clear about the difference here.
33:49	Rumeal hits the front half of a one and one near the end of the half. Important for later?
Halftime	Michigan's up 37-32 at the half. We'll see what happens. (You can really hear the old snare rhythms as we fade out, with the reminder that Michigan has a long history of unflattering cheerleader uniforms –GZ)

Expansion

As the dog days of summer roll around, we're firmly lodged in the part of the year filled with nothing but rampant speculation and "What If?" scenarios. One of the things that comes up from time to time is the subject of Big Ten expansion. It's a more prominent topic than usual this year after the way last season's SEC championship game was such a blatant Gary Danielson tongue-bath showcase for Florida, likely putting them in the title game after USC stumbled and Michigan was left idle. Expanding the Big Ten to twelve teams would give the league a final opportunity to put eyeballs on their teams. Of course, there's always the little matter of who and how to clear up, which is where we come in. We'll take a look at some scenarios for Big Ten expansion.

Staring at a white sheet of paper, with no idea who the twelfth team would be, I'd divide the conference up like this:

Vaguely West	Sorta East
Michigan	Ohio State
Wisconsin	Penn State
Iowa	Purdue
Michigan State	Illinois
Minnesota	Indiana
	Northwestern

I'd allow each team to protect one cross-divisional game so that it would always appear on the schedule. That would allow Michigan/OSU to remain fixed on the schedule while making the divisions less lopsided (And nobody would be able to duck both Michigan and OSU anymore). Michigan State would lose their yearly showdown with the Buckeyes, but they could preserve their "rivalry" with Penn State (as represented by the Land Grant Trophy). All the other rivalries are taken care of, with the Wisconsin-Iowa-Minnesota cluster all in the West, Michigan and MSU in the same division, and the Purdue-Indiana-Illinois-Northwestern chain in the East.

The divisions aren't perfectly even in terms of difficulty, but the constraints of rivalry and distance don't appear (to me, at least) to offer any easier alternatives. It also has the benefit of being at least reasonable for both football and basketball, which is something to consider. Now let's start fiddling with candidates to fill that slot. Something further to note is that any school joining the Big Ten must also join the Committee on Insitutional Cooperation, the Big Ten's academic analog, and the standards to meet there aren't easy. The CIC is focused on research universities and member institutions hand out 15% of all PhD's awarded nationally.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame is probably the best fit for the Big Ten, much as it pains me to admit it. They're strong in football and basketball, they're another hockey program, and they've got scads of money. It isn't easy to slot them into the divisional format, however, as they have ties on both sides of the divisional ledger, no matter how you choose to split things. If push came to shove, however, I'd imagine they'd choose to join the West, keeping the rivalries with Michigan and MSU intact, while protecting the cross-divisional game against Purdue.

Notre Dame in the Big Ten makes us, hands down, the most powerful conference in the nation. The downside here is that suddenly the West is a hideously difficult division to come through unscathed. The SEC East looks over the wall and thinks, "Dude, that's rough." Ohio State would love this arrangement.

In the end, this is never going to happen. Notre Dame keeps raking in money from their NBC contract and their BCS losses, so they have no incentive to join the conference for a considerable time to come, and joining the Big Ten would likely hamper their attempts to recruit on a national basis.

The Big East

As established by the ACC, the Big East is a willing source if you're looking to raid a major conference. It's allegedly on the rise, based on the performances last season by Louisville, Rutgers, and West F'in' Virginia, but they still lag far behind the other BCS conferences. It's still primarily a basketball conference, with football decidedly being the weak sister there, so schools that are serious about contending would likely be willing to consider a move. If any Big East team joined the Big Ten, I'd move Northwestern back into the West division and just let them protect the Illinois game.

Syracuse – It fits the academic profile of the Big Ten and it's had a decent football program in the past. Facilities have gotten run-down and they've lost recruits because of it, but they've begun re-investing. They're a basketball powerhouse, and would likely make the already very competitive Big Ten East even better.

Why It Won't Happen – Jim Boeheim was one of the architects of the Big East. They'll leave over his dead body. For another matter, Syracuse is in the middle of nowhere. Travel time and costs for non-revenue sports would be significant.

West F'in' Virginia – An established team both in football and basketball, the 'Eers have a dedicated fanbase. Morgantown isn't that far away from most of the teams in the theoretical Big Ten East, and the football team would certainly shore up their division.

Why It Won't Happen – WFVU doesn't really fit with the academic outlook much of the Big Ten shares. Even Ohio State has been investing heavily in raising its academic profile, and it's borne fruit. Not to mention the reputation WFVU's fans have as couch-burning firebugs. Again, we already have OSU and Michigan State. DO NOT WANT. Then there's the matter of Bob Huggins coming home to coach the basketball team, which is its own disaster waiting to happen.

Pitt – The Pitt Panthers haven't done much to speak of on the football field recently, as the Wannstache has yet to work any magicks at Heinz Field, but they did make the Fiesta Bowl a few years ago with Larry Fitzgerald. On the basketball court, however, they've been among the elite teams in the Big East and of the nation. They're worthy academically and located well within the Big Ten's current geographic footprint.

Why It Won't Happen – There's a lot of bad blood between Pitt and Penn State, specifically with Joe Paterno. Pitt and PSU are/used to be rivals in football, but the series hasn't been played since 2000, each side citing a different reason for its cessation. The bottom line is that Penn State wants two home games for every one away at Pitt, and the Panthers aren't going to take that deal. Pitt also has trouble filling Heinz Field, drawing only an average crowd of 40,000 (The only worse Big Ten figures belong to Indiana and Northwestern). I'd imagine it would improve with Michigan, MSU, PSU, and OSU within easy driving distance, but it could be another impediment.

Louisville – A program on a steep rise in football and a basketball power, Louisville has shown a willingness to make the conference leap before, as they've only been a Big East team for one year. If not for a painful loss at Rutgers, they would've been in the conversation for the BCS national championship game. Louisville is south of the current Big Ten, but it's not that far from most of the teams.

Why It Won't Happen – Louisville's football prominence is way too new for the Big Ten's taste. It's quite unlikely that administrators would be that distracted by the new shiny thing.

Other Options

Iowa State – The other Iowa D-1A school, they'd fit in at the bottom of my theoretical West and they're already a major-conference school.

Why It Won't Happen – ISU's athletic department has an operating budget HALF the size of Iowa's and they're a perpetual Big XII bottom-feeder. We already have an Indiana, Ames is not easy to get to, and they aren't academically compatible.

Miami University – It gives the Big Ten an Ohio-based rival for Ohio State, it's another hockey school, and it fits very well with the academic profile of the Big Ten.

Why It Won't Happen – They have an itsy-bitsy li'l football stadium that only seats 30,000. Maybe they'd grow into a 50,000-seater, but that's a bit of a stretch to make, and Oxford is in the middle of nowhere. The academics are nice, but we already have a Northwestern.

IU's Terry Hoeppner: 1947-2007

Sad news from elsewhere in the Big Ten today, as Indiana head coach Terry Hoeppner has died due to complications from brain cancer. In his two seasons with the Hoosiers, the team was 9-14, but last year it seemed like a program on its way back from the Big Ten cellar. They beat Michigan State, they beat Iowa, and they came within a single win of making their first bowl game since the '93 Copper Bowl. For the first time in a long time, IU had to be regarded as more than a functional bye. It was no secret that he'd already undergone treatment for a brain tumor, and Hoeppner had recently announced that he'd be missing the 2007 season, but I'd really hoped to see him back on the sidelines in '08. Our condolences go out to the Hoeppner family.

This marks the second straight season the Big Ten has lost one of its own. Almost exactly a year ago (June 29), Northwestern's Randy Walker suffered a fatal heart attack. Pat Fitzgerald took over, but the young team never could put anything together. It seemed like every step of the way they had to stop and mourn their lost coach, as other teams and the media wanted to honor Randy Walker. In one final connection, both men were also former head coaches at Miam of Ohio, Hoeppner succeeding Walker after the latter took the job at Northwestern. Along with Bo, that makes for three representatives of the Cradle of Coaches that have left us in the past year.

IU Coach Hoeppner passes away (We Are The Postmen)
Ind. Football Coach Terry Hoeppner Dies (AP)

More Baseball Than You Can Shake an Aluminum Stick At

Beavers Eliminate Wolverines:  The baseball team went down in two straight games Sunday and Monday. Putnam pitched the game of his life on Sunday for the Wolverines, taking a no-hitter down to the last out in the top of the 9th. A walk, a sac bunt, and a weak single were enough to get the only run across the plate, the only run of the whole game, and Oregon State won 1-0 (See Blue Cats and Red Sox for a much better recap). Even a perfect game isn't enough from your pitcher if you can't score your own runs. Monday's game wasn't close, as the Beavers advanced with a sound 8-2 victory, and the season is over. Thanks guys, it was a nice run to watch, and that Vandy series will be a classic for years to come.

Teh NCAA Is Stoopid  During Louisville's 20-2 demolition of [cannon fodder] at their Super Regional, a credentialed reporter from the Louisville Courier-Journal was ejected from the press box for live-blogging the game. The NCAA cited its exclusive relationship with ESPN and decided that live-blogging was a violation. I want to know what terrified pack of lemurs they have for a law firm that they'd decide live-blogging constituted a breach of their agreement, and I'm not alone. Jon Fleischaker, the Courier-Journal's attorney, talked to Rick Bozich for a story in today's paper, and delivered this quote that ended up on Deadspin.

Once a player hits a home run, that's a fact. It's on TV, everybody sees it. They (the NCAA) can't copyright that fact. The blog wasn't a simulcast or a recreation of the game. It was an analysis.

Guy has a point, I'd say. As Craig pointed out repeatedly last night, a live-blog isn't anything more than reporting with a much shorter lag. Even the fastest live-blogger can't keep up with the action as it happens, so it can hardly be labeled a broadcast. Another point that's been hit on is that the NCAA is only going after bloggers in the press box, that it's theoretically just fine to live-blog the ESPN feed. Myles, this is stupid stuff.

One other impact that Deadspin caught is that CSTV had been planning on live-blogging every College World Series game, and now can't. "This is an outstanding decision by the NCAA, because it denies coverage of a signature event to a fanbase that might want to read it."

Weekend Update with HSR

1). Michigan baseball's magical weekend...or not.

Brian pretty much nails it, a complete 180 from last Monday, losing a no-hitter with one strike left (and missing golden opportunities to cash in some runs earlier in the game) leaves Michigan down one game in the best of three. I'd write more about tonight's game, but I am worried that the NCAA might break into my house and bust up my laptop for LiveBlogging.

2). No Cinderella run for HSR in the Ladies... tournament

I lost. I mean, not badly. We garnered 31% in our game, but for the love of Mike, we were up against a blogger in eye black! I mean, come on! Clearly, the voters went for supporting freedom.

So, it is with great pleasure that we throw our support here at the HSR behind Caesar himself, Brian Cook from MGoBlog. The man has a good shot, let's back him up.

Beyond that, have a great week, and we'll see you soon.

The Ladies... Hot Blogger Bracket and Shameless Self-Promotion

We here at the Hoover Street Rag are usually not ones for self-promotion, but when something is in the name of good fun and our very honor is on the line, we make an exception. (OK, I do, I don't know how Geoff feels, but I'm pretty sure he's got my back on this one. I also feel bad that this is our 100th post. But it's just the way the numbers fell.)

As some of you may know, the blog Ladies... began their long-awaited Hot Bloggers Bracket today. One of the many entries is yours truly, CDB. Why? Because the Ladies... are a group of Deadspin commenters who I have come to know over the last year and who are consistently hilarious, so in the name of good fun, I entered. I earned a 19 seed in the NL West. Out of 22. I'm not going to lie, that stings a little. I know I'm not the best looking guy, but remember, this is about hotness, and hotness can include things like wit, charm, guile, and the ability to string together several humorous sentences in a row. Nevertheless, my competition, HG from You've Been Blinded is currently stomping me like a narc at a biker rally. He's wearing eye black, how can I possibly compete with that?

(P.S.: I do not know HG and in reading his site today, he's a rather talented blogger with keen insights and well written pieces. We will not mind losing to him if it comes to that. This is not about him, however.)

And then it struck me.

Michigan has more living alumni than any University in the United States. What if I make this not about defending my honor, but the honor of our beloved University? What if I told you that I am the ONLY Wolverine blogger in the region, would that change your mind? What if it weren't me you were voting for, but all of the Michigan bloggers out there? All of the Wolverines?

(Of course it's worth noting that Caesar himself, Brian from MGoBlog, is the #9 seed in the Campbell Conference and really, if anyone deserves Michigan fans love, it's clearly him, but just play along. Oh and vote for him. Someone has to defend our honor, and he's at least a single digit seed.)

And what's worse, we suspect that part of our low seeding may have come from the fact that we openly questioned the SEC's Supremacy Complex (I had to submit a piece of writing from HSR and chose "Quag-Meyer", my effort to explain why Urban Meyer is a whiny bitch). Are we really going to stand idly by and allow the SEC and its apologists to continue to hold over our heads that they are the only true conference? No, we must rise up and defend our sacred honor, the right of good Midwestern people to watch some of the best college football in the country week in and week out! A vote for me is a vote against all of the MSM tyranny that tells us that the Big Ten isn't good enough when we know better!

A vote for me is a vote for the sacred and holy traditions of Michigan athletics. The winged helmet, the chants at Yost, pinch hit home runs to win NCAA Baseball Regionals! Of the Victors, and the MMB, of Bo, and of the the poorly lit morgue that is Crisler Arena, (wait, scratch that last one...) A vote for me is a vote for everything you love about Ann Arbor on an autumn Saturday, of as it was, and again it shall be. A vote for me is a vote for the memory of three Heisman Trophy winners, for Bullwinkle antlers, and for Ty Law knocking the ball down in 1994! This is who we are, and what we should be about.

We are proud, we are strong, we are Michigan, and we must rise up to defend that which we hold most dear by voting for the only true Wolverine (that we know of) in the region, CDB. Let us make sure that we truly are the Champions of the (NL) West!

Ladies and gentlemen thank you for your time.

Vote here

Trash talking commentary here

(Paid for by the committee to get CDB at least a respectable margin of defeat in the bracket.)

Youneverknow...

When former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Joaquin Andujar said that was his favorite word in English, you captured the essence of why so many of us love baseball. Youneverknow.

By all rights, what happened last night at Hawkins Field in Nashville should have never occurred. A Michigan team which had slumped down the stretch, which had blown a golden opportunity to close out the national #1 seed Commodores the day before, and was now facing a raucous and hostile crowd of Tennesseans, looking for anything to be happy about in Nashville sports this spring, between PacMan Jones and the possible move of the Predators, they shouldn't have had a chance. But there they were, manufacturing runs early, getting an Eric Rose sac fly to go up 1-0, and then getting a moon shot by Regional MVP Nate Recknagel, who dropped a home run over the left field wall and onto the roof of Memorial Gymnasium to make it 2-0. (It should be clear, it wasn't Mantle-esque, because the gym is rather close to the field, but it was a heck of a home run). And even when the tide turned against them, when the heart of Vandy's order rallied the Commodores in the bottom of the eighth, well, it began to feel as if the Wolverines run was about to end.

It certainly felt that was in the top of the ninth when, after a lead off walk to Kevin Cislo, Vanderbilt brought in David Price, the best pitcher, perhaps the best player, in the country, a player off whom opposing hitters were hitting a mere .199 and who had 192 K's in 132 innings pitched. After getting the sac bunt to advance Cislo to second, Michigan's next two hitters were made to look silly by Price's heat and control. He blazed Vandy out of the ninth. Adam Abraham had come in from third to work in the eighth and there he was again, trying to get Michigan to hold fast against a rising tide. He held them and the game went to extras, with Michigan still facing the looming specter of Price.

The inning that followed would have to be considered improbable and unlikely at best, and downright absurd in most cases. Price, who looked so in control in the ninth, was now facing Alan Oaks, a little used freshman pinch hitter who was only batting because Michigan had lost the DH when Chris Fetter was pulled in the seventh, went yard against Price. It wasn't the same epic bomb that Recknagel hit, but it cleared the fence and put Michigan up 4-3. Every pitch was more intense now, every moment amplified in meaning and intensity. Vandy had one more chance in the bottom of the tenth facing Michael Powers, who came into pitch for Abraham, who returned to third base. Powers looked like a beaten man when Vandy's Pedro Alvarez hit a hard shot to left, only to be robbed by Derek Van Buskirk (a moment of conjecture here. Vandy's game write up seems to believe that Van Buskirk robbed a double, where as it looked like he saved a home run to me. The important thing is that he did it.) Two outs later, Michigan was through, Regional Champs.

An unlikely outcome, but, youneverknow. CDB

Baseball Survives a Late Night in Nashville

The baseball team had a tough game last night that didn't even start until about 11:00 EDT, but they battled through the darkness to take a 4-3 victory over Vanderbilt. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Vanderbilt's DH, Parker Hanks, lined a solo homer near the 400' mark in center field. Michigan came right back in the top of the sixth. Jason Christian got a leadoff single and Kevin Cislo was drilled in the back by a pitch. Eric Rose put down a terrific bunt that was supposed to be a sacrifice, but he beat out the throw to first to load the bases for Nate Recknagel. Vandy's outfield was playing at a shallow depth, and Recknagel exploited it, lining a bases-clearing double to right center. Rose was really on his horse and came sliding home right on the heels of Cislo to beat the throw.

But Vandy wasn't done. The Commodores advanced runners to third in the sixth and seventh, and Wilson got himself out of those innings, but Vandy's Matt Meingasner went yard with a two-run shot in the eighth to tie things up. The Wolverines went back to work in the top of the ninth. Adam Abraham singled in the leadoff spot, Doug Pickens had a sac bunt, and Derek VanBuskirk would've driven him in if not for the nice jump Vandy's right fielder got on his liner. Abraham took third on a wild pitch, and Christian drew an unintentional intentional walk on four straight pitches to bring up Cislo, who took a sharp grounder through the hole at short for the game-winning hit. Vandy threatened in the bottom of the ninth with a pair of two-out singles putting runners on the corners, but Abraham earned the save by striking out Ryan Flaherty.

Big win by the Wolverines, who'll play again today. They need to take one more (on two attempts) from the winner of today's Vanderbilt-Austin Peay matchup. As I type, the Commodores are up 6-3– scratch that, 6-4 on Austin Peay with two outs in the bottom of the third. The Wolverines' game is set to start at 7:00 CDT (8:00 EDT) tonight. Good luck, guys.

Pick Six: Hitting For Contact

Full credit for several of these must be given to mgo.licio.us, just as valuable to the Michigan fan as MGoBlog is.

1. Softball bows out. We would've seen more of the three-game series against Baylor if the CSTV app didn't collapse into buffering every 15 seconds, but maybe we're glad we didn't. Lorilyn Wilson and Nikki Nemitz got rocked 9-0 in the opening game, Wilson taking the start and the loss. The Wolverines clawed out a 3-0 win Saturday to stay alive, but went down 4-0 in the rubber match. Baylor's top pitcher is a beast, not allowing an earned run for the series, and 1B Ashley Monceaux had 5 RBI, more than Michigan as a team.

2. Michigan gets at-large bid to NCAA baseball tourney. A season that began with a great deal of promise (and a Big Ten regular season title) fell apart down the stretch and into the Big Ten tournament. Getting swept out of the tournament when you're the #1 and hosting, well, it's a little embarrassing. That left the boys just shy of the magic number of 40 wins, but they still managed to get a #2 seed. But not all #2 seeds are created equal. Truth is that they're essentially the #32 seed nationally, playing in Nashville against the #33 seed in Memphis (which, you know, wouldn't have a small home crowd advantage), and even if they win, they then face national #1 seed Vanderbilt. We guess we're saying that if you're a Michigan baseball fan, don't build your weekend around breathless updates from Vandy. All of that said, Michigan is building something nice here, and with the facilities upgrades on schedule to be completed for next season thanks to the generosity of the Wilpon family, this could be, hopefully, the beginning of a return to baseball glory for Michigan.

3. Kelly Baraka is gainfully employed with the Kalamazoo Xplosion of the Continental Indoor Football League (Mascot: Xplodey the Coyote. No, seriously). We're glad for Baraka that he's no longer literally working at McDonald's, like he was last year. The Xplosion play their last home game of the regular season this Saturday, 7:00PM at Wings Stadium. Fear not if you can't make it; the Xplosion's 8-1 record guarantees them at least one home playoff game (HT: MSC).

4. Brian's Big Ten Network fisking is a must-read about something that, in the abstract, isn't a bad idea, but is lurching into existence in as disastrous a manner as possible, fueled by the hubris Jim Delaney's been dripping everywhere.

5. Crisler could get minor updates for 2007-08 season. We could not be more excited. The reality is that Michigan was not going to quickly get a new basketball arena built quickly, or is there even, necessarily, the money or desire to do so. However, there isn't anything fundamentally wrong with Crisler Arena that could not be seriously improved with some TLC. The lighting thing is huge. Crisler Arena has always looked poorly lit on television and it's a dark and shadowy place when you go there to watch a game. We're not saying it has to be Florida bright in there, but bringing in some experts to make the changes needed to make Crisler look better on television could be a small but important step to improving recruiting. The sound system upgrades are just an additional need. We just hope it doesn't mean that additional speakers mean additional calls for NOISE! NOISE! LOUD NOISES! The band is there for a reason.

6. Braylon Edwards pledging $1 million to fund scholarships. We realize that this is kind of old news, but we just wanted to take a moment to salute Braylon Edwards, one of our favorite Michigan players ever, for making a major financial commitment to improving the educational opportunities for deserving students. We realize that many athletes do good work like this and stories of them are put out there, but in an era where so many NFL players are being help up in the media as exemplars of bad behavior, it's nice to see stories like this. We're hopeful that this kind of thing can make a real difference in the lives of these young people.

HSR Field Trip: NCAA Softball Regional

Photos from MGoBlue.com, Chris Schwengler and Amir Gamzu

The softball postseason is upon us, with the team looking to repeat 2005's triumph at the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City. As the overall #9 seed in the tournament, the Wolverines earned the right to host a regional in Ann Arbor, which was held this weekend. Louisville, Oregon State, and Eastern Michigan filled out the four-team bracket of the double-elimination regional. I couldn't make it to Michigan's Friday night opener against Eastern (which they won 3-0), but I sat in with the Alumni Band for our other games.

Saturday opened with a rain delay, sending us into Oosterbaan to wait it out. What makes softball different from other sports I've played for is that starting pitcher Lorilyn Wilson was the one to tell us our new start time. To be fair, football, basketball, and hockey don't usually have rain delays, but softball seems to have a tighter relationship with the band.

Lorilyn Wilson: Pitcher/Meteorologist

For the most part, Wilson had a good day against the Cardinals. In the first, she got her first pair of outs relatively easily, but then the Louisville shortstop managed to just turn on a pitch and drive it over the left field fence. She looked rattled after that, but a coach's visit to the circle settled her down and she imposed her will on Louisville for the next four innings.

Meanwhile, Michigan took back the lead on their next set of at-bats. Back-to-back singles and a Louisville error got the first run across and a Teddi Ewing base hit brought Maggie Viefhaus home. They then cracked the game open in the fourth with a big two-out rally. Rebekah Milian drew a walk, Samantha Findlay singled, then Angela Findlay (her sister) put an RBI single into center, bringing up Tiffany Worthy. Worthy took a nasty foul tip right on her thigh, walked it off, and then deposited the 2-2 pitch into the Louisville bullpen to clear the bases and score three.

Worthy's home run was the game-winner, but Louisville tried to make it interesting. Lorilyn was looking gassed in the 5th, allowing another solo home run to lead off the inning and then loading the bases on a walk and consecutive(!) hit batters. Freshman Nikki Nemitz came on to put out the fire, allowing one run on a sacrifice fly, but avoiding the big inning that had been brewing.

That was it as far as scoring went, and the Wolverines came away with the 6-3 victory. It wasn't the end of the second-guessing, though. Louisville elected to keep their best pitcher in the game even after it became 6-1, even though they must have suspected a loss might be in the cards, and thus would need to play the Oregon State/EMU winner for another shot at the Wolverines in the final. Instead of resting her for that game, they gambled that they'd either find a way to beat Michigan or that Pitcher #2 would be enough to handle the Beavers or Eagles. Things didn't work out that way, as the Beavers prevailed in both of their Saturday games to get their shot at the Wolverines.

In Sunday's game, the Michigan wasted no time in jumping on top of the Beavers to a tune of 5-0 after the first inning. Rebekah Milian hit a one-out single right through pitcher Brianne McGowan's five-hole, which really seemed to rattle her. Sam Findlay took her from an 0-2 count all the way to a walk, then she took Angela Findlay's hit and threw it to second base, where no one was covering, as the play was either at third to get the lead runner or first to get the hitter. She then walked Tiffany Worthy to load the bases, bringing up Maggie Viefhaus, who sent the 2-0 pitch deep to center. GRAND SLAM! The Oregon State centerfielder, Natalie Johnson, saw her playing career flashing before her eyes and leapt up the fence going after the ball, but she wasn't going to reach it without a ladder (Not that she didn't try her best. Her teammate in right had to rush over and grab her legs to keep her from tumbling down on the other side).

The Wolverines added a run in the second, with Viefhaus again coming through. Her base hit into right let Angela Findlay score from second and gave the band an easy music cue for "Hawaii 5-0." The third was a tough inning, as Michigan managed to load the bases with no outs, but let the Beavers get away, wasting the opportunity on infield grounders and a pop fly. However, they did tack on another run in the fourth when Molly Bausher's bloop single to left gave Michelle Weatherdon enough time to score from second.

And that was it. I haven't mentioned what Oregon State did at bat because they didn't really get anything going. Lorilyn Wilson had eight strikeouts, no Beavers made it past second all day, and only two made it that far. She just mowed them down all afternoon in a dominating performance.

The Victors

The Wolverines are off to Waco, TX to take on the Baylor Bears in the NCAA Super Regional starting Friday, with a shot at making the Women's College World Series. The real question is whether they have a chance at repeating their awesome run through the 2005 tournament, and it's one I'll leave for an upcoming post, as this one is way too long already. For now I'll just say that college softball is a lot more fun than is commonly known, and that being part of the Alumni Band is the best way to experience it.

Pants Party! (Part 1)

Geoff:  On Friday (and well into Saturday), Craig and I represented the Michigan blogging community at the Deadspin Midwest Pants Party in Chicago. What follows is a horrifying tale of baseball and karaoke and goblins. OK, fine. Not goblins. Or "horrifying". Rather the opposite of that, in fact. But the other two stand.

Ducking out a little early from work, I managed to get to the traffic jams of the Dan Ryan by 4:30 CDT and I even made it to our pre-game destination, Schaller's Pump, by 5:00. I was ready to join the pants partiers inside, when...they all literally walked out the door as soon as I opened it. It was just like high school pep band when our director would finally cue up a song just in time for play to resume. Everyone fell into place for the obligatory group photo, and I snuck into the back row.

This is what people from the internet look like.

At least I was in time for the walk over to US Cellular Field, just a few blocks away. Lady Andrea (of Ladies... and DeadOn), because she is a sweet and nice person, noticed that I was not someone she'd met, so she came over to talk to me. Let me tell you, it's really weird introducing yourself by your internet pseudonym, especially when it relates in no way to your real name. "Hi, I'm Geoff, or 'The Bad One'" doesn't sound like anything normal people say. PS – Believe the hype:

Look! A girl!

Our intrepid organizer, PeteJayhawk (who deserves massive, massive thanks for all of this) led us over to our gate. We had patio tickets, so in this big cafeteria-like space under the right field bleachers we had all the beer, wine, and food we could eat and/or drink, which meant I had more beer spilled on me than any time since I was an undergrad, but it was all good. Across the table from me, Tuffy and JB* kept finding orphaned beers, so we gave them good homes.

Eventually Craig (aka Yostal) showed up, released from the clutches of the AP test, and started making the rounds. The crowd at the table started thinning out, so the two of us figured everyone had gone up to our seats. We were a little surprised, then, to find our section almost completely empty on into the third inning. Silly us for focusing on the game when free beer was still at hand. Even when everyone showed up, we were kind of far away from a lot of the regular commentariat, but that gave us a chance to meet some other fine folks, like Rany Jazayerli of Baseball Prospectus and a Michigan State fan in a Tigers cap whose name may or may not be Joe. One of the benefits, though, of showing up early was that we saw our shout-out on the scoreboard (The message? "DEADSPIN").

The game itself wasn't bad (it ended 2-1, Sox), but it wasn't that exciting without a dog in the fight. A home run ball landed as close to me as any I've had in baseball – it came down about a section away from us – and we mocked the Royals for their two errors. Craig was heckled for his Tigers cap, and it was nice to be able to respond with "SCOREBOARD! SCOREBOARD!" to that. Craig would me like to mention, though, that the "LET'S GO BUCKEYES!" directed at me was out of line, since we were at a baseball game, after all.

After the game let out, the police seemed determined that I not go the way I wanted, and so I wound my way through the South Side up to our hotel at McCormick Place, where we dumped our bags and caught a cab. We'd been given a vague location for the bar we'd be post-gaming at of "Damen and Milwaukee" and the address of "1540", which we gave to our cabbie, a shriveled old white guy. He asked where we were from. To Craig's "Outside of Detroit," he replied, "Detroit? Hellhole." Your service industry employees, ladies and gentlemen! Even better? He dropped us NINE BLOCKS from Damen and Milwaukee, and left us with no idea where to go once we realized that. We did find it, but we took the looooooong way around.

The Greatest Generation makes for lousy cabbies

It was all worth it, though, when we found everyone at the Pontiac Cafe on the corner of Pierce and Damen, arriving just in time to watch Lady Andrea rock Scandal's "Goodbye to You" for live band karaoke. I recommend you just go over to Ladies... for her write-up and pictures, because there's no way I can do any better. I'll wait...

...Finished? Good.

I'd like to commend Craig for his performance of U2's "Desire", which was an inspired change from Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me." I signed up for the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K.", but was skipped by the head karaoke dude, which is a terrible injustice, as my version was going to be PHENOMENAL**. We stayed at the Pontiac Cafe long enough to close the joint down. Some Deadspinners were in favor of finding a 4AM bar, but Craig and I had to be up and out of our hotel before 10:00, so we caught a cab back to our hotel (much better, though even this guy told us that Detroit was "full of gangs").

In the end, it was all over too soon, I barely got to talk to half the people I met, and I can't wait for the next edition. Deadspin commenters are remarkably cool people, and I hope to hang out with them more in the future.

---

* The "*" in "JB*" is part of his screenname
** By which I mean "somewhere between terrible and adequate"

Pants Party (Part 2)

Craig: 
It was 2:19 when the final bell rang and I could get out of work, but not before I changed out of my khaki pants and high school official polo shirt into a maroon number and some long khaki shorts. Getting on the road at 2:45 EDT, I began blasting towards Chicago as quickly as good sense and the legal limit would allow, and I was doing great until I hit Marshall and a huge construction backup that largely stemmed from people not understanding the concept of zippertooth merging. The entire drive to Chicago was just a race in my head between where I was on I-94, what time it was on the clock, and where and when I wanted to be. I made it, but not before the temperature had dropped nearly 35 degrees since I had left SE Michigan!

One of the stranger moments of sitting with a bunch of knowledgeable sports fan is the mini-conundrum that erupted from a random stat placed on the board, showing that between 2000 and 2007, the White Sox had the best overall record in the AL Central. Given where we were sitting in the outfield, our collective vision was blocked from seeing whom the bottom two teams were, and Geoff and I presumed that the Tigers were bringing up the rear of the AL Central, whereas the rest of the group presumed it was the Royals, only for us to collectively realize that no one was completely sure (some research upon my return to SE Michigan indicated that it was in fact the Royals bringing up the rear)

A note on my karaoke performance: I am not at all musically gifted, and I know this, so that is why song choice was so critical in this regard. "I Want You To Want Me", while a great song, is much more about the awesome interplay of the whole band as one in it, and has a really tricky fast word section "Feelingallalonewithoutafriendyouknowyoufeellikedyin..." whereas "Desire", well, no one is actually going to be able to sound like Bono, but you can try and hit the inflections and the nuances of the song and can pull off something reasonable. I was also aided by harmonica accompaniment for the last section, which was pretty cool as well. Sadly (or really, THANKFULLY), no video exists of my performance, so we cannot prove or disprove my thesis. I also want to say that Geoff would have rocked "Anarchy in the UK" hard, since so few songs are in his deep range, he knows where his bread is buttered. And it still would have been less terrifying for Geoff to sing "I am an Antichrist" than Will's entire performance.

Was it a perfect trip? No, but what is? In a world where GZ and I are both used to pinpoint planning and control over every aspect of what we're going to do in the collective, this was some minor chaos. But, minor chaos breeds stories to tell, memories to have, and things upon which perhaps to improve the next time. We met with a great group of people who didn't disappoint and who welcomed all comers in like a demented family reunion. Going in blind, it was much more than for what I could have hoped.