Swimsuit Sunday: Title 9 Style

Andy left me with an onerous responsibility (and dilemma)....Swimsuit Sunday. Are you kidding me???? What am I supposed to do with that???

I'd chase all of our readers away if I REALLY put up the swimsuit pics I wanted. Tom Brady, Braylon Edwards, Kirk Maltby, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Brady, and all the Rugby guys from the calendar. Ouch it hurts so good.....

Then I thought, well, I could be completely wrong and post really unattractive pictures like the badasses found at TMZ but that's just cruel.

And then I thought, well, the most amazing bods that I've seen most recently also require that I confess one of my dirty little secrets.....I am a reality TV junkie. Big Brother, Top Chef, Project Runway, Real Housewives and the like are my own private pleasure.....

So, for your viewing enjoyment this Sunday, I give you Jonathan Waud (really, that's his name) from Make Me A Supermodel. He is one of the final three contestants but if he doesn't win it all, I just don't know what will happen. I mean water may run uphill or something.

Now, lest you guys start throwing tomatoes at me....I also watch Survivor---and I'm betting you saw Candace Smith on Tocantis and thought she was fiiiiine. Even if she is the former Miss Ohio USA 2003. (notice the need to clarify that Ohio is in the USA> classic)
So here you go:

Out

I am out. T9 has the wheel. Swimsuit Sunday and everything else is on her shoulders for now.

Early tomorrow morning I am flying with the family to Italy for 10 days worth of vacation time. Wife, 2 teenagers, and a ton of luggage. Pray for me.

I plan on drinking a lot of wine and don't expect to spend a lot of time connected to the internet, so posting from me will generally be light. I plan on taking a bunch pictures and expect to have some fun stuff to share.

Va l'azzurro.

We must protect this State

In case you typically ignore the World Wide Leader... ESPN is conducting a college football 50 state tour, starting with Michigan. This essentially has boiled down to a poll of the state's greatest teams, games, and players. The only choices are from Michigan and Michigan State. As of now there have been about 2300 votes cast.

The current leaders:
Best Team: 1997 Wolverines (69% of the vote)
Best Player: Charles Woodson (45% of the vote)
Best Coach: Bo Schembechler (74% of the vote)
Best Game: 1994 Colorado over Michigan (23% of the vote)
Best Finish: 1994 Colorado Stewart to Westbrook miracle (42% of the vote)

It is my personal desire to keep Michigan State buffered into the same younger and less talented sibling category as Central, Western, and Eastern Michigan. This appears to be happening. However, I really don't want or need to ever be reminded of the day Kordell Stewart silenced 100,000 people with a 64 yard scud witnessed close hand by Ty Law and Chuck Winters.

Please vote for the 2004 Michigan Michigan State Braylon Edwards game for both of these categories.

(HT: SiC)

Golf anyone ?

Special Thanks to MZone reader Greg for sending this one to us via email. I was in Las Vegas last week and it comes as no surprise that this kind of "service" exists.

Lady Golfers for Rent

A growing Las Vegas–based company called Play Golf Designs has started a fairway-beautification project...For a substantial fee, one of the company's roster of beautiful female professional golfers will play a round or two with you and your co-workers at a corporate outing, with your clients who need to be schmoozed or just with you and your buddies during a bachelor party.

Buffet open 24/7

You may have noticed that I added a new "thingee" on the sidebar of this blog. It only takes a couple of interweb clicks for me to get obsessed with something -- and today (well... technically yesterday since I am on west coast time right now) I decided to learn about DELICIOUS. I am hooked.

I have loved Brian's mgo.licio.us links for some time because... well quite frankly they generate a ton of hits for us when we get listed. So I decided to launch something similar for us to share the random bits of internet gold I find on a daily basis. It really is nothing more than my "buffet" links feature available all the time. The downside is that we don't get to read Whet's designed comments to keep us beat down, but I think the benefit far outweighs the downside.

If you have something cool and want to share it with the crowd, email it to us and I will take it under consideration for posting. Also, I may even share the SPAWN DELICIOUS password with T9 if she promises to not post links to every Tom Brady NFL comeback feature about to hit the net.

Game On !

I was going to do a "Know your Foe" for Alabama for the WCWS game tonight. But I just didn't have the research time or the interest in the history of Alabama to follow thru. I did find this interesting story : all but four buildings for the original University of Alabama were burned to the ground in April of 1865 by Union Troops led by Brigadier General John T. Croxton. This was the same month the war officially ended and seemingly there was no real reason to do it... expect just prior to the start of the Civil War (in 1860) the state government of Alabama transitioned the University into a full-time military academy supplying trained officers to the Confederate Army. Pay back is a bitch.

Rather than spend hours researching other nuggets of Alabama's rebel and racist past -- I chose instead to focus on the positive and make a special WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES wallpaper.

Go Blue !!!
Beat 'Bama.

Do we have a girl on the football team ?

Did I miss something ?

I am on a constant watch of good pictures for future wallpaper creations. The morning I was looking through some images from the Spring Game and I ran into this image on MLIVE.

At first glance this looks like a non-distinct picture of Brandon Graham waiting in the tunnel before the start of the spring game. You can see Zoltan Mesko to the right. However if you look to the left of Brandon - it looks like we have a girl in a helmet.

WTF ? I know what T9 looks like and there is no way she would have been able to keep this secret from me. I am an equal opportunity guy. If this girl has some skills and can help us win more than 3 games in 2009, I am all for getting her on the field. I would have thought that Rich Rodriguez would have made a bigger splash with the first lady wolverine football player.

Edit: I went back and looked at this Detroit News Image and there is no sign of her running under the M GO BLUE banner with Zoltan and Brandon.

Wallpaper Wednesday: Chris Perry

Regardless of how well he has performed in the NFL (he was released by the Bengals a couple of weeks ago) -- Chris Perry will always be one of my favorite Michigan running backs. My enduring memories of him include the 51 carries he had against Sparty and his 2 clutch second half touchdowns against the Buckeyes in 2003.

I know the Lions are happy with Kevin Smith in their backfield, but I can tell you I made Chris Perry into an all-pro with the Lions in Madden.

Softball College World Series

Congrats to the Michigan Softball team for punching their ticket to the Softball College World Series. The fifth-seeded Wolverines beat Baylor 8-1 and 7-1 in the Super Regional (best two-out-of-three series). This is our first trip back to the Women's College World Series since the 2005 National Championship season. It was an important win for the program, because ensured that every player who has come through the Michigan softball program since 1992 will have reached at least one College World series.

Sophomore first baseman Dorian Shaw provided all the offense we needed in Game One. She tied a school record with 3 HRs. In Game Two, Sophomore Jordan Taylor struck out 13 Bears clinching the Super Regional win.

Our first game is scheduled for Thursday against Alabama. We will need all the offense we can deliver. Alabama’s Kelsi Dunne threw two no-hitters in their Super Regional games against Jacksonville State. Yikes.

Sunday Swimsuit - Danica Patrick

Sorry for the delayed post today. T9 is away for the long weekend -- and well, I just plain forgot about my duties for Swimsuit Sunday.

This magazine cover has been sitting on my coffee table taunting me for a couple of weeks now (My wife reads it). I never pay that much attention to the magazines she reads, but this picture is stunning. I gotta tell you, I don't think I can find anything I don't like about it.

While I was watching SportsCenter tonight I saw that Danica Patrick finished 3rd at the INDY 500 today, which is the highest finish ever for a woman.

So congrats to Danica - and thanks for the cover.

All American Word Cloud

I was playing around yesterday with WORDLE. If you have never heard of it, it is a online toy that allows you to make "word clouds" from text you provide. I took the all time All American list and put it into the text box.

Warning: Playing around with this can be a time and productivity killer.

A Girl Scouts: Softball Super Regional

photos from mgoblue.com

Whoa Nellie!!!!! Hutch and crew have done it again. The 7th ranked, and 5th seeded, Michigan Softball team has made it to their 5th Super Regional (in row!), hosting the Baylor Bears this weekend. You can watch the game on ESPN this Friday at 8pm, but I thought I'd give you a head's up about who and what to watch for. (besides Andy's imaginary GF at 3rd) Fun fact #1, Friday night's game will be Coach Carol Hutchins' 1500th game with The Maize and Blue. Yeah. ONE-THOUSAND-FIVE-HUNDRED. oh, and her teams have won over 1100 of 'em placing her winning percentage at 78.3. Yeah, she's BEAST. And a nice woman to boot.

This year's squad is 44-10 overall, 17-3 as the Big Ten Champs and poised for a run to Oklahoma City thanks to their big leaders on the mound and their big bats on deck. (you thought I was going to say something else, didn't you? pigs...)
Nikki Nemitz, #44, the left handed Junior ranks 6th in the nation with an ERA of 0.89 and was this year's Big Ten Pitcher of the Year. Her sophmore relief and double-digit K Queen is #7 Jordan Taylor.
The freshman phenom wearing #5 is Bree Evans. This left fielder batted .500 in the Regionals at the #1 spot and leads the team with 16 stolen bases. Just call her "Nike" as she flashes by the bases. Shortstop Tedi Ewing provides senior leadership on this young team along with her classmate over at 2nd, Stephanie Kirkpatrick.
Other big bats include those wielded by Catcher Roya St. Clair who has 27 RBIs to her credit. Dorian Shaw, who is a fixture at 1st, can launch it too having smacked 11 homers in each of the last 2 years. She loves going long over the left field fence.
But you have to watch all of the women on this team, as Maggie Viefhaus (who's house??? Viefhaus!!!) Andy's vision at 3rd isn't an All-Big 10'er just cuz she's pretty. (even though Andy voted like 500 times...) Adding to the firepower, right fielder Angela Findlay has a .403 batting average over the past 25 games.

You can consider this series with the Baylor Bears a bit of a grudge match. They lead historically 5-3 overall, and ousted us in the 2007 Super Regional for their bid in the 2007 College World Series. Payback time, ladies. Payback!
The Lady Bears are 40-20 this season (11-7 in the Big 12). Maybe one day Andy can do a Know Your Foe about this team from WACO, Texas---but until then, here's what you need to know.
Kayce Walker is their big swinger with a .413 batting average. The freshman from Franklin, Texas plays in the outfield. Power hitters for Baylor include senior third baseman Brette Regan, with 9 over the fence and 30 ducks brought home, and freshman shortstop Bree Hanafin has 7 homers and 31 RBIs. Their best pitcher is a leftie freshman,Whitney Canion posting a 27-16 record, with 414 Ks and a 1.78 ERA.

NO JINX NO JINX, but the Wolverines are undefeated this year at the Wilpon Softball Complex NO JINX NO JINX, so I have high hopes for this series. I'll be in attendance Friday night so I'll be sure to wave. I'll be the hottie with the baseball cap and the sunglasses.
If Michigan wins this series it will be their 9th trip to the dance. Games 2 and 3 on Saturday and Sunday will also be televised on ESPN at 2:30 pm and 4:30 pm (if needed).

Wallpaper Wednesday: QBs

The 2008 season not withstanding, the Michigan football program has been blessed with an incredible string of quarterbacks.

In my football watching lifetime, it started with Rick Leach and continued with Jim Harbaugh. Tom Brady overcame the doubters (and the Drew Henson fans) and Chad Henne started four seasons. Sandwiched between you have Steve Smith, Elvis Grbac, Brian Griese, and John Navarre.

I have no idea how well incoming freshman Tate Forcier is going to do. Based on what I saw at the Spring Game, his future looks bright as long as he stays healthy. I can only hope that he continues the tradition of great Michigan offensive leaders.

Headless in Ohio

Local Ohio police are on the lookout for the person (or persons) that beheaded the statue of former US President James Garfield this weekend in Hiram.

The sandstone statue dates back to 1914 and was recently placed in front of the new Hiram College Garfield Institute for Public Leadership building. It is unknown whether the head could be put back on the Garfield if it is found.

Garfield was a student of the college from 1851 to 1853 when it was still known as the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute. Later, he served as principal of the school, teaching Greek, Latin, mathematics and geology. He left the college in 1861 to serve in the Civil War were he became a US General. He had the second shortest tenure as a US President (6 months and 15 days). He was shot 4 months into his presidency and died from the wound 2 months later.

Fearing the potential of "copy cat" crimes, local Pennsylvania police are standing by with loaded weapons.

Texas SHOULD Secede!!!!

Many of you may be aware that Texas' Governor Rick Perry, has been making all sorts of noise about leaving the United States of America. He claims that when Texas agreed to join the Union in 1845, that there was some sort of agreement that Texas could pullout at any time. Yeah. I've heard that one before.....I can just pullout.

psst Rick, it doesn't work.

(What can you really expect, though, from someone who thought that organizing a "tea bagging" campaign to protest government spending would be a good idea???!!!)

But then I got to thinking. What would happen if Texas left??? I mean would we miss the second largest state and it's 24.6 million residents?
Putting political proclivities aside, there are some important reasons for Texas to leave us and go rogue. It would be a GIFT to sports fans around the country.

If Texas goes, here's what it takes with it:

The Big 12. Gone are Texas, Baylor, Texas Tech, Texas A&M. Well hell, that would make everyone's life a WHOLE lot easier no???

Bracket Busters: Rice, TCU, SMU, and Trinity. C-ya!!!

Mark Cuban. Although David Stern might miss the income.

Jerry Jones. We'd still have SOAPnet.com so no big loss there.

The 40-72 Expansion Texans although this Lions fan is living in a glass house, so I can't say too much more about Houston's NFL franchise.

The Houston Rockets and take your heinous Red Blazers with you.

The San Antonio Spurs and their shark-jumping geriatricians.

The Dallas Stars who have been without an edge since the lockout.

The Texas Rangers between being owned by The Bushes and bushed by A-Rod, they are just done anyway.

and finally..........
The Houston Astros who are akin to the Toronto Blue Jays whether they stay or go.

There ya have it. My ten great sports reasons for Texas to hasta luego, scram, vamoose, ie beat it!

Sunday Swimsuit - Farrah

Today is my day to celebrate an old school swimsuit legend, Farrah Fawcett. This weekend NBC ran a special documentary about her battle with cancer. It was quite moving. I pray that Farrah and her family find peace and comfort as they continue this fight.

In 1976 this image became an american icon and one of the most popular pinup posters ever. I think every boy I knew from elementary school had this picture hanging in his room at some point. Also, if I had to guess, trillions and trillions of spermatozoon were released from captivity while analyzing at this poster.

Fun with numbers

With all the hugs, chest bumps, and numeric celebrations this week, including this billboard in downtown Detroit by a start-up web site Friends of Woody. By the way, excellent idea to drive eyeballs to your newly launched site, too bad you don't have any other content to share. Idiots.

I decided to do perform some number crunching of my own. I only pulled these from the top of my head. I would be interested to hear some additional ideas from you all. There are plenty of calendar countdown tools on the internet, I used this one.

	It has been over 50,000 days since Ohio State has outranked Michigan in academic prestige. Technically this one could be set to "infinity" (∞), but I decided to measure it since Ohio State opened its doors in 1870.
	It has been 14,419 days since Woody Hayes brought the "best team in college football history" into Ann Arbor and lost to former assistant.
	It has been 11,095 days since The Ohio State University has needed to fire a coach for punching an opposing player.
	It has been 6,383 days since Ohio State has had a native son return a punt for a touchdown against them and strike a Heisman pose.
	It has been 3,054 days since Ohio State has fired a Hall of Fame coach with an overall winning record because he could not figure out a way to beat Michigan.
	It has been 2,488 days since a former Ohio State football player has been arrested for disrupting and interfering with a flight crew causing an emergency landing of a commercial airline.
	It has been 1,229 since Jim Tressel has led his team to a bowl game victory.
	It has been 1,054 days since Art Schlichter has been released from prison.
	It has been 1,010 days since Maurice Clarett has been in custody.

Fail

I highlight Penn State, Michigan State, and Ohio State football players when they have legal problems. As such, I would be a hypocrite if I ignored when Michigan players run into issues.

Senior Running back Kevin Grady has been jailed for seven days after pleading guilty to violating his probation on his drunken driving conviction from last summer

Grady failed to properly report to his probation officers and failed to complete 24 hours of community service, among other violations. Rich Rodriguez has not commented.

Obviously, I don't have all the facts and background, but if I were the head coach, this would be the last straw with Grady. He would immediately be a "former Michigan football player". There is absolutely no excuse for failing to perform court ordered service hours.

2000

Today is a day for Buckeye fans to celebrate. It has been exactly 2000 days since Michigan last beat Ohio State on the football field. 2000 days is a long time. There will be two thousand chest bumps and and two thousand high fives today. I think there may even be a parade through the streets of Columbus. Beating Michigan has become the normal course of events and it never grows old for the scarlet and grey legions.

Rather than argue that technically it has been five days since Michigan last beat the Buckeyes -- I will sit quietly and soak in the absurd celebration and the chest pounding and wait for the day that we all know is coming. It is coming. I promise you. It is coming.

In the mean time, we can chuckle amongst ourselves at their overwhelming narcissism. I found this article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer to be a perfect example of how recent success is clouding the perception of actual history:

"Since Thursday marks the 2,000th day since Michigan has defeated Ohio State in football, it's time to celebrate by delving into the storied past of the Buckeyes dominance of the Wolverines."

Dominance ? Oh really ? I may need to re-check the definition of dominance, but I am fairly positive that term is not an accurate description of this rivalry. Just in case anyone wants to check the facts, Michigan leads the all-time series with a 57-42-6 record. Ohio State can win the next 15 years in a row and still only pull even with history.

Someday we will win this game again. In the mean time, let them have their fun. Someday I will have fun too.

Wallpaper Wednesday: Zoltan

The wallpaper creation this week is dedicated to our punter Zoltan Mesko. He was arguably the best player on the team last year, and was named to the All Big Ten First team.

Although I would love to see him have a great senior year, make many All American teams, and get drafted in the first round of the NFL draft... I honestly don't want to see him on the field that often.

Late Night WINGS hockey Open Thread

It is going to be a long night for me. I have an early morning meeting, but it does not matter. West Coast playoff hockey time !!!

The Detroit Red Wings look to close out the Anaheim Ducks tonight in Game 6 on the Versus Network.

This series should have already been over, but I expect it to end tonight.

Anyone else out there ?

Softball Big 10 Champs

Congrats to the Michigan softball team. They won the Big 10 championship on Friday night when they beat MSU.

Junior LHP Nikki Nemitz struck out 11 total Spartans, including eight of the last 11 batters she faced.

The Wolverines finished the season at 41-10. They will host the NCAA regional tournament next weekend against Notre Dame, Miami (Ohio), and Cleveland State.

Sunday Swimsuit - Beyonce

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
~ Pablo Picasso

Beyonce Knowles from 2007 Sports Illustrated.

Terrelle's inbox

To: TPryor2@buckeyefootball.com
From: JBoren56@buckeyefootball.com

Subject: Overrated

Dear Terrelle,
The cookies and brownies in the cafeteria the last couple of days have been over-rated and not very good. I think you should not eat them and simply just give them to me. I will take care of them for you.

Thanks.

Your pal,
Justin

Unbiased Journalism

I would love to know the name of the Michigan Football player(s) that emailed Terrelle Pryor and told him he was "not that good and over-rated"...

Welcome home Larry Foote

Well... I got my wish.
Larry Foote is a Detroit Lion.
Larry Foote is now my favorite current Lion.
The Lions will win at least one game next year.

ESPN Link
Lions Press Release

As expected he signed a one year deal yesterday after being cut by the Steelers.

This just makes too much sense. Foote is a Detroit native. He was very clearly interested in coming back to play for the Lions. He has started every game for the last five seasons for the Super Bowl Champs. The Lions needed a middle linebacker. I am glad to see they got the deal done.

The only question I have left to answer is should I order the white or blue jersey ?

Wallpaper Wednesday: Rick Leach

Rick Leach was the first Michigan football player I could ever name. I was nine years old when he started at quarterback as a freshman for the Wolverines. In my perfect world, no one else should ever be able to wear that #7.

He was the first true freshman to ever start at QB for Michigan. For three seasons he was recognized on the All-Big Ten team. He was voted the Big Ten's Most Valuable Player. He was co- MVP in the 1979 Rose Bowl. He went 3-1 against Ohio State. He left Ann Arbor with all the career passing, total offense and touchdown records. He set an NCAA record for most touchdowns accounted for (82).

As a baseball player he won the Big Ten batting championship as a junior and became one of the few athletes ever to become an All-American in both football and baseball. He was a first round draft selection by the Detroit Tigers.

Before you ask, yes I made a wide-screen version.

Bobby Scales, Major Leaguer

Dreams really do come true.

After 11 seasons in the minors, former Michigan baseball captain Bobby Scales has finally made it to the Major Leagues. He was called up by the Chicago Cubs after pitcher Carlos Zambrano went on the disabled list.

Originally from Southfield, Scales was one of two captains for the 1999 Michigan baseball team that won the B10 tournament in made it to the NCAAs. Bobby Scales was drafted in the 14th round in June of 1999 by the San Diego Padres. Last year he had his best minor league season for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs, hitting .320 with 15 home runs.

Fellow longtime baseball farm-hand Mike Cervenak was the other captain of that 1999 team. Cervenak made it to the big leagues last year with the Phillies where he collected two hits in 13 at bats. He is back in AAA this season.

Tappan Zee Family

I saw this today on Barstoolsports.com and had to share it.

Tappan Zee High School is a public high school located in Orangeburg, New York. Their basketball team finished with an 11-9 record and they lost in the first round of the NY State playoffs. This must be a family of short, awkward, tone deaf mutants.

Somewhere Sister Sledge and the remaining members of the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates are twisting uncomfortably in their seats.

Jim Delany does not agree with ME

The Big Ten commish says "No" to expansion discussion.

"The issue has come up with our football coaches a couple times -- with the extra week and if we did expand, would we be more competitive?

I would say in some years they might be right. But has it enhanced the competitiveness of the ACC in football? Has it enhanced the competitiveness of the WAC? I don't know.

Just because you have a championship doesn't make you more competitive. It's about coaching the players. The SEC game has been a marketing bonanza. I wouldn't discount that. But others have struggled with it."

I have one thing to say: Marketing is a verb.

It is this kind of stone aged thinking that is going to keep the conference down for years to come. Essentially the commissioner is conceding that the SEC players and coaches are better and the B10 is more like the WAC or ACC at this point. If I were a B10 Athletic Director right now I would either be looking for a new job south of the Mason Dixie line or organizing a coup.

We are... stoned

You have to admit that it wouldn't really be a football off-season without a couple of Penn State football players getting busted for smoking dope and/or beating the crap out of someone on campus.

According to our friends at Black Shoes Diary, this one likely includes starting QB Daryll Clark. No charges have been pressed. No names released. But the address matches the University listing for Clark. I can only hope that the other three players that reside in that apartment are also starters.

Penn State University police searched the apartment where four football players reside on campus the night of the spring Blue/White game April 25, court papers say.

According to an application for a search warrant, police wrote that around 11:10 April 25, university police responded to apartment 4103 in the Nittany Apartments complex on campus to assist residence life with dispersing a loud party.

As soon as they entered the apartment, police say they could see marijuana "in plain view" in the kitchen and smell it throughout the apartment.

Brilliant.

Penn State opens their season on September 5th with the Akron Zips.

Edit: Black Shoes Diary is reporting that Clark no longer lives at that apartment. He moved out in the fall. The directory was not updated.

Joe Paterno agrees with ME

Should the Big Ten add a 12th team and hold a post season championship game ?

I posted about the need for Big Ten expansion in December. It is refreshing to see that Joe Paterno agrees with me. There are soooo many things that are right with B10 expansion. The most fundamental is the competitive advantage the other conferences get heading into the bowl season.

Joe's remarks

"We go into hiding for six weeks, Everybody else is playing playoffs on television, You never see a Big Ten team mentioned. So I think that's a handicap. I've tried to talk to the Big Ten people about, 'Let's get a 12th team -- Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt -- we could have a little bit of a playoff.'..."

TP's new ink

It looks like Terrelle Pryor has some new art on his right forearm (HT: EDSBS via MGoBlog). Maybe this will help him throw the football with a little more success.

This has to be a recent addition because he did not have it at the Buckeye Spring game >>>

Not that it matters to anyone but him, but this seems like a strange choice for a kid that seemingly has aspirations to play football beyond his time in Columbus. I hope he plans on wearing long sleeve shirts for the rest of his adult life.