Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all of our loyal readers.

It has been a rough year any way you want to measure it for Michigan fans. Our football team suffered thru another losing season and lost to the Buckeyes + Sparty again. We missed a bowl game for the second straight year. Our hockey team is bad and the basektball team sucks. Despite it all, we have had some fun. Here is a toast to better days ahead.

Go Blue!

Fired

The Alamo Bowl drama continues...

Texas Tech fired coach Mike Leach today, two days after he was suspended by the school as it investigated his treatment of Craig Jame's kid who was injured with a concussion. They handed Leach's attorney a termination letter just minutes before the two sides were to appear in a Lubbock courtroom for a hearing on the coach's suspension.

Ted Liggett (Leach's lawyer) said that Texas Tech general counsel Pat Campbell approached him outside the courtroom and told him : win, lose or draw in the hearing, Leach was out, effective immediately.

Your move Sparty.

Wallpaper Wednesday: Steve Breaston

This week I want to feature Arizona Cardinal WR Steve Breaston.

I doubt anyone (except maybe Johnny) expected Breaston to be anything more than a punt/kick returner in the NFL. Not so fast.... last year he broke out with a 77 catch and 1000 yard season helping the Cardinals to the Super Bowl.

Hail!

YO HO HO... A Pirate's Life for Me

Holy cow.

By the time they actually attempt to play the Alamo Bowl there may not be anybody left on the sidelines to participate.

Twitter from ESPN's Joe Schad:
"Mike Leach is alleged to have isolated a player in a dark closet for not practicing with a concussion."

Twitter from Mike Leach:
Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.
We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot,
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.
We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot.

No word from Sparty coach Mark Dantonio as he plans his next move.

Spawn Bowl Game Pick 'em update

We are 6+ games into the Bowl Season, and things don't look so well for those of you that picked the early games. Based on my records, Shorty The Beachcomber is the only Spawn Bowl Picker to actually select a winner so far. He selected Utah to win. WooooHoooo.

With Marshall leading Ohio 21-0 in the Detroit Pizza Bowl -- it does not look very good for Phil or Whet to get off the goose-egg. I seriously believe that Phil has a realistic shot at going 0-5. Ouch.

If you have not already done so, there is still time for you to make your picks. The rules are simple... pick any 5 winners (selections need to be in before the game starts) and the total points scored in the BCS game. Make your picks.

A Girl Scouts: Little Caesars Pizza Bowl

PIZZA ! PIZZA !
Oh, if only !!! We could been contenda's !!!

But no, today's bowl game (1 pm ET) features the green and white clad Ohio Bobcats versus the similarly clad green and white Thundering Herd from (we are) Marshall. Ironical, wouldn't you say??? Two green and white teams in our Pizza Bowl? bah humbug.

This game, while interesting from a football standpoint--given the strength of the MAC--actually has more drama trauma off the field. And I'm alllllll about the drama!

In case you haven't heard, Marshall's coach Mark Snyder resigned as Head Coach the day after their final game (a 52-21 drubbing by UTEP). Bummer dude. Snyder graduated from Marshall in 1988 and over his five year tenure produced a 22-37 record. Not what the Herders are used to, alas. John "Doc" Holliday will be their Head Coach Huckleberry now. Doc has been the associate head coach at (wait for it) West Virginia this past year, and was at Florida and NC State before that.
BUT....ol' Doc won't be coaching the team today. Oh no, that task will go to the Interim-Head Coach-For-A-Day Defensive Coordinator Rick Minter.

Lemme just digress here for a minute about Rick Minter.
The guy has a long history of coaching line backers from Arkansas, La Tech, NC State, and New Mexico State before going to Ball State as the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator from 1985 to 1991. In '92-'93 he was a Domer and helped the Irish to a #2 national ranking. Then he becomes the head coach at Cincinnati before heading over to Pete Carroll's factory in 2004. He went back to ND before ending up at Marshall as their Defensive Coordinator. Are ya sensing a theme here?????
Anyone else thinking that WEEEE need a linebacker coach???????
Hmmm....lemme see, he's been in Detroit for the week, he's gonna be out of a job soon.....Hire the man !!! How sweet would that be? Stealing from West Virginny and the Domers all in one????? Diabolical !!!

The Bobcats are the MAC East Champions, racking up a 9-4 record. The boys from Marshall bring their 6-6 record in Conference USA to the table. Here's ESPNs take on the game.

And, of course there are two more games today too---
At 4 pm Eastern the Meineke Car Care Bowl pitting, well, um, Pitt against North Carolina.
And, at 8 pm Eastern the Emerald Bowl where Boston College has to face a pretty pissed of Trojan team.
Should be a great day !!!
Enjoy the football and the leftovers. Oh, and trying to figure out how to put all that Christmas shit together......

Spawn Fantasy Football - Playoffs

It has been a while since we have had a Spawn Fantasy Football update. The regular season ended with six teams advancing to the playoffs.

At this point, I think it is important to recognize both the Bursely Busses and the 9 Finger Freaks as the only two teams in the league to not advance. It is pretty hard to not make one of the six spots in an eight team league, but they did it. Both of these franchises displayed an incredible amount of fantasy football stupidity throughout the season. BRAVO !

The top two teams got a "bye" last week (Defenstrators and Smooth Operators). Congrats to both of those teams for dominating our league. If there is any interest, I would like introduce you to the owner of the Detroit Lions. He can use your help.

Last week we had two playoff games to decide who moves on to play the leaders. Game #1 featured He Hate Me led by Peyton Manning against Sleeping with the Enemy led by Donovan McNabb. Big point days by Manning, Chad Ochocinco, and Adrian Peterson made this one a blow out. Sleeping with the Enemy could not overcome the mountain of points despite the heroic efforts of McNabb and Reggie Wayne.

This game is a perfect example of why I never want to play fantasy football again. I know this will anger many fantasy football players, but what is the point? Reggie Wayne delivers a big day for one team, but it doesn't matter because Peyton Manning gets a bunch of points for the opposing team. I would much rather root for teams than individual players. He Hate Me advances to play #1 seed Defenstrators with a 116-90 win.

Game #2 featured Zoltan's Heros against BigAssHam. This one was a little closer, but Brett Favre let BAH down while Phillip Rivers and Jamal Charles both posted 20+ points for Zoltan. 102-90.

How ironic is it that BigAssHam is defeated by a random average NFL player having a huge game against the Cleveland Browns -- and the Browns win? Zoltan moves on and will face #2 seed Smooth Operators.

Ho Ho Ho

Wallpaper Wednesday: Chad Henne

Life has gotten in the way of blogging and original wallpaper creation. Here is a nice one of Chad Henne with the Dolphins.

Although I would like to take credit for this one, I did not make this. I found it. Here. Thanks GISH.

Adios Donovan

A good example of why NFL agents in general are slime bags and Drew Rosenhaus in particular is the devil. I am pretty sure Bo would have killed him sometime last night.

"I am confident in my abilities to play any receiver at the next level, I am hoping to be drafted in the first round."

I know I am biased but instead of listening to Rosenhaus and "hoping" to go in the first round -- why not stay, have a great senior season, and ensure you go in the first round.

I don't get it.

A Girl Scouts: New Mexico Bowl 2009

First up this bowl season is the New Mexico Bowl pitting the (8-4) Fresno State Bulldogs against the (6-6) Cowboys of Wyoming.
First, I'm loving both logos. Seriously.

This game pits the WAC vs. The Mountain West and I think we will be in for a treat.

The Bulldogs have Ryan Mathews at RB. Who you say??? Well, stealth Ryan Mathews averages a bit over 151 yards per game, and tallied up 235 against Boise State. He also ran all over Wisconsin, Illinois, and Cincinnati. Heck, he even has 7 more yards this season than Toby Gerhart. Fresno State's ground game is 7th in the nation overall. So get ready for some smash mouth football from Pat Hill's gang. But, the QBs from Fresno State are no slouches either. In fact three former Bulldogs currently play in the NFL--the best of which is David Carr. Current QB Ryan Colburn has lofted 18 TDs this season, the longest for 92 yards. On the defensive side, watch Moses Harris, a finalist for the Moses V. Campbell award (the Academic Heisman). He didn't win it, but did get 18K in scholarship monies to finish his MBA. Not too shabby........

The cowpokes' MVP, however, seems to be their head coach Dave Christensen--I mean, he is front and center on their media guide......This will be Wyoming's first bowl appearance since 2004. I have no comment in that regard since our sorry butts are sitting at home without our own bowl game to travel to for the second straight year. sigh.
Their QB is also a true freshman, Austyn Carta-Samuels (check out his blog: austyncartasamuels.blogspot.com) , and their best RB is a guy named Alvester Alexander, another freshman, out of Houston. He is listed as 5'11" and 200 pounds..... They've started 7 true freshman (the only teams starting more believe it or not are Texas A&M with 11, and Eastern Michigan at 8 and Tulane with 9.

I think that this one is a no-brainer. The Bulldogs in a runaway. But it should be fun !!!

Spawn Bowl Game Pick 'em Contest

I was planning on creating an online contest to have you select each bowl game, but it just got too complex. One thing I have learned about this place: if you make it simple -- more people will participate.

So here we go...

Rules:
1) Pick the winners in any 5 bowl games. You choose which bowls.
2) Pick the total combined score of the Texas/Alabama BCS game.
2) Your entry must be made before the start of the earliest bowl game you have selected. The time stamp on your entry will be key.
3) Picks must be made as a comment to this post OR (for those of you that want to continue to lurk) sent to the Spawn email address.

We will take all the 5-0 winners and award the entry with closest the total combined score of the Texas/Alabama BCS game as the winner.

Winner gets honored on the sidebar (similar to the SpawnIcon winner).

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

New Mexico Fresno State vs. Wyoming	Albuquerque, N.M. University Stadium	Dec. 19 4:30 p.m.	ESPN
St. Petersburg pres. by Beef 'O' Brady's UCF vs. Rutgers	St. Petersburg, Fla. Tropicana Field	Dec. 19 8 p.m.	ESPN
R+L Carriers New Orleans Southern Miss vs. Middle Tennessee	New Orleans Louisiana Superdome	Dec. 20 8:30 p.m.	ESPN
MAACO Las Vegas Oregon State vs. BYU	Las Vegas Sam Boyd Stadium	Dec. 22 8 p.m.	ESPN
S.D. County Credit Union Poinsettia Utah vs. Cal	San Diego Qualcomm Stadium	Dec. 23 8 p.m.	ESPN
Sheraton Hawaii Nevada vs. SMU	Honolulu Aloha Stadium	Dec. 24 8 p.m.	ESPN
Little Caesars Marshall vs. Ohio	Detroit Ford Field	Dec. 26 1 p.m.	ESPN
Meineke Car Care Pitt vs. North Carolina	Charlotte, N.C. Bank of America Stadium	Dec. 26 4:30 p.m.	ESPN
Emerald Boston College vs. USC	San Francisco AT&T Park	Dec. 26 8 p.m.	ESPN
Gaylord Hotels Music City Kentucky vs. Clemson	Nashville, Tenn. LP Field	Dec. 27 8:30 p.m.	ESPN
AdvoCare V100 Independence Texas A&M vs. Georgia	Shreveport, La. Independence Stadium	Dec. 28 5 p.m.	ESPN2
EagleBank UCLA vs. Temple	Washington, D.C. RFK Stadium	Dec. 29 4:30 p.m.	ESPN
Champs Sports Miami vs. Wisconsin	Orlando, Fla. Florida Citrus Bowl	Dec. 29 8 p.m.	ESPN
Roady's Humanitarian Bowling Green vs. Idaho	Boise, Idaho Bronco Stadium	Dec. 30 4:30 p.m.	ESPN
Pacific Life Holiday Arizona vs. Nebraska	San Diego Qualcomm Stadium	Dec. 30 8 p.m.	ESPN
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Houston vs. Air Force	Fort Worth, Texas Amon G. Carter Stadium	Dec. 31 Noon	ESPN
Brut Sun Oklahoma vs. Stanford	El Paso, Texas Sun Bowl	Dec. 31 2 p.m.	CBS
Texas Navy vs. Missouri	Houston Reliant Stadium	Dec. 31 3:30 p.m.	ESPN
Insight Minnesota vs. Iowa State	Tempe, Ariz. Sun Devil Stadium	Dec. 31 6 p.m.	NFL Network
Chick-fil-A Virginia Tech vs. Tennessee	Atlanta Georgia Dome	Dec. 31 7:30 p.m.	ESPN
Outback Northwestern vs. Auburn	Tampa, Fla. Raymond James Stadium	Jan. 1 11 a.m.	ESPN
Capital One Penn State vs. LSU	Orlando, Fla. Florida Citrus Bowl	Jan. 1 1 p.m.	ABC
Konica Minolta Gator West Virginia vs. Florida State	Jacksonville, Fla. Municipal Stadium	Jan. 1 1 p.m.	CBS
Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi Ohio State vs. Oregon	Pasadena, Calif. Rose Bowl	Jan. 1 4:30 p.m.	ABC
Allstate Sugar Florida vs. Cincinnati	New Orleans Louisiana Superdome	Jan. 1 8:30 p.m.	FOX
International South Florida vs. Northern Illinois	Toronto, Canada Rogers Centre	Jan. 2 Noon	ESPN2
Papajohns.com South Carolina vs. UConn	Birmingham, Ala. Legion Field	Jan. 2 2 p.m.	ESPN
AT&T Cotton Oklahoma State vs. Ole Miss	Arlington, Texas Cowboys Stadium	Jan. 2 2 p.m.	FOX
AutoZone Liberty Arkansas vs. East Carolina	Memphis, Tenn. Liberty Bowl	Jan. 2 5:30 p.m.	ESPN
Valero Alamo Michigan State vs. Texas Tech	San Antonio Alamodome	Jan. 2 9 p.m.	ESPN
Tostitos Fiesta Boise State vs. TCU	Glendale, Ariz. U. of Phoenix Stadium	Jan. 4 8 p.m.	FOX
FedEx Orange Iowa vs. Georgia Tech	Miami Land Shark Stadium	Jan. 5 8 p.m.	FOX
GMAC Central Michigan vs. Troy	Mobile, Ala. Ladd-Peebles Stadium	Jan. 6 7 p.m.	ESPN
Citi BCS National Championship Game Texas vs. Alabama	Pasadena, Calif. Rose Bowl	Jan. 7 8 p.m.	ABC

Wallpaper Wednesday: Tom Brady

Here is the second in my new series of NFL Wolverines.

Dance Fever

Here is the group my son's football team will play in the Texas High School State Championship Game in San Antonio on Saturday.

The Trinity High School Trojans (Euless, between Dallas and Fort Worth) like to dance the "Haka" -- an ancient war dance from the fierce Maori tribes of New Zealand. This is the same high school team featured a couple of years ago in a Gatorade commercial with Bill Parcells in a road toll booth.

A Man named Suh

Lions Open Thread at Baltimore

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before

~ Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven

Gameday 2009 - Army Navy Game

I am going to be busy with yet another week of Texas High School football playoffs. If you have never watched the NAVY/ARMY game, do yourself a favor and watch. There are no NFL prospects. These guys play football simply because they love the game.

Go Navy!!!

Beat Army AGAIN

Spawn Heisman Winner : Toby Gerhart

Congrats to Stanford's Toby Gerhart, he has won the Spawn Heisman vote.

It really wasn't very close, as he took almost 40% of the almost 300 votes cast. Toby had the lead from the start and never gave it up. Nadamukong Suh finished in second place in our voting with 32% of the ballots cast. Mark Ingram and Colt McCoy finished 3rd and 4th. Poor Tim Tebow only got 4 votes from our readers. Ouch.

I expect the ceremony tonight in New York is going to have a much tighter contest and may even produce a different result.

Did you know the Heisman is no longer awarded in the NY Downtown Athletic Club ? The club was less than half a mile south of the World Trade Center and suffered major damage in the September 11, 2001 attacks. The club never reopened, and declared bankruptcy in 2002. The ceremony went to the Yale Club and the NY Hilton, but now has found a home in the Nokia Theater in Times Square.

Brian Kelly to Notre Dame

Just in case you have been living under a rock, Brian Kelly has been hired as the new head football coach at Notre Dame. He will not coach his undefeated Cincinnati Bearcat team in the Sugar Bowl game against Florida.

I think Kelly is a great coach. He has done a great job at Grand Valley and Cincinnati. I have to admit, over the last two painful seasons I have thought many times about what he might have done in Ann Arbor. I am afraid he might just make an immediate and lasting impact in South Bend. I find it interesting that two former 'Nati coaches are now lined up as annual rivalry games for Michigan. I expect Kelly to be a little less abrasive than Douche-bag Dantonio, at least I hope so.

I understand that ND is a dream job for many college football coaches. But, how can a coach leave an undefeated team preparing for a BCS bowl game ? His players have every right to be pissed off.

For the record, I did not care for the way that Rich Rodriguez left West Virginia two years ago to come to Michigan. The storm following his departure is still a black mark on our program. I like this even less because RR's last WVU team was not undefeated and there was no apparent animosity between Kelly and UC. Shameful.

Discuss.

Keeping up with the Kiffins

In an effort to keep up with the ever escalating war for the hearts and minds of high school football recruits the University of Michigan is pleased to announce their lineup of Wolverine Hostesses.

"Tennessee and LSU may attempt to lure young football players with pretty women and sexual favors - but we offer more experience, talent, power, and brain cells than any school in the country..."

Hail !

Wild night at the Small Planet

Sparty redshirt freshman Myles White was charged this morning with urinating in public. This is a 90-day misdemeanor coupled with a minor in possession of alcohol, it carries a penalty of $100 plus court costs. The incident happened early in the morning of Nov. 22 at the Small Planet nightclub. This was the same event in which now former Spartan Glenn Winston got into in an altercation with a member of the Iota Phi Theta fraternity.

The next night, Winston gathered his posse and things were continued with the Iotas.

Welcome to BabyVols

From the NY Times:

The N.C.A.A. is conducting a wide-ranging investigation into the University of Tennessee’s football recruiting practices, according to interviews with several prospects, their family members and high school administrators. A significant part of the investigation is focused on the use of recruiting hostesses who have become folk heroes on Tennessee Internet message boards for their ability to help lure top recruits.

And all this time I thought SEC football was so superior because they had faster and stronger players.

Wallpaper Wednesday: Charles Woodson

I am going to start a wallpaper series of prominent NFL Wolverines. I will start with Charles.

There has been a lot of talk about what a great year Charles Woodson has been having for the Green Bay Packers. Many people think he is going to be named the NFL's Defensive MVP this year.

Spawn Heisman Vote

2009 SPAWN Heisman

Who would you vote for ? Toby Gerhart Colt McCoy Ndamukong Suh Tim Tebow Mark Ingram Current Results

Game Day: Open Thread

Whoa Nelly !!!!
I don't know about you guys, but my day will play as follows:

Noon: Cincy v. Pitt
3:30: 'Zona v. USC with some Boise v. New Mexico State thrown in for fun
4:00: Tebow v. 'Bama like watching two trains getting ready to collide....
8:00: Texas v. Nebraska and Ga. Tech v. Clemson

put 'em alllll in the hopper and shake that BCS up !!!!

C'mon Man

I am sure that most you have already seen this, but it is so damn funny I need to add it here. No wonder Bobby Bowden decided to retire after this game -- he was tired of working with retarded players.



T9 EDIT:

And this c'mon man for Braylon....

Challenge complete

Congrats to the rest of the Big Ten Conference basketball teams (at least the 6 teams that won) for finally getting over the hump and winning the annoying ACC/B10 Challenge. Big Ten 6 ACC 5. Yippie !

Wisconsin beat Duke and Ohio State beat Florida State last night to secure the win for the conference. This was the first time in the 11 year history of "the challenge" that Duke lost.

This was the sixth time there was a one-victory difference. The ACC won 5-4 in 1999, 2000 and 2002, and it won 6-5 in 2005 and 2008.

Wallpaper Wednesday: Simple

I am out of town with my wife. We are spending the week in New York City.

I did not (read: could not) spend too much time on this one. I promise to make more of an effort in the coming weeks.

Eric Wilson: Grey Cup Champion

Congrats to former Michigan Wolverine Eric Wilson. His Montreal Alouettes won the 2009 Grey Cup (the Super Bowl of the Canadian Football League) last weekend. The win was the 7th Grey Cup for the Montreal franchise --the current club does not recognize the 1995 Cup won while the franchise was in Baltimore, but the CFL does.

In case you missed the highlights, it was quite a finish. Down by 2 points, the Alouettes lined up for a game winning field goal in the closing seconds, They missed it, but got another chance because Saskatchewan had too many players on the field. The Montreal kicker made the "do over" as time expired. The extra player has not been identified by the Roughriders. I would hate to be that guy.

Originally from Monroe -- this is not the first championship for Eric. He was a member of the 1997 National Champion Michigan Wolverines, although he was a red shirt freshman and did not play. He was a co-captain and the starting nose tackle for the 2000 Wolverines. He was a participant in four straight Michigan bowl wins (1998 Rose vs Washington State, 1999 Citrus vs Arkansas, 2000 Orange vs Alabama, and 2001 Citrus vs Auburn).

After leaving Ann Arbor, he has played professional football in both the NFL (Detroit and Miami) and the CFL (Montreal, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg). This season, he was a defensive tackle for Montreal (started in the Grey Cup game) and recorded 13 tackles.

Hail !