Brandon MVP

Congrats to Brandon Graham for winning the MVP of the 2010 Senior Bowl. After impressing the NFL scouts all week in practice, BG continued to dominate in the actual game where he collected five tackles, two sacks, one tackle for loss and forced a fumble.

He played defensive end all week, but there is some debate on whether he will play DE or OLB on Sundays. His first sack was a classic speed move around West Virginia tackle Selvish Capers. Later in the game, he showed his strength while bull-rushing Ciron Black of LSU. He is such a bad-ass, he didn't even need to wear his mouth piece on one of his stops.

Hail!

Preview

The Spawn of MZone is very excited to get the opportunity to be the first to share the official 2010 MSU Football Media Guide with the world.

We obtained a preview image from one of our inside connections with the Sparty Athletic Department. After some quick negotiations, our insider graciously agreed to share the yet to be released cover on the condition anonymity.

As you may already know a media guide is program specific press kit, distributed as a book or binder. It typically features detailed information relating to the team's players, history, and statistics and in the case of Michigan State, the criminal records and prison terms for each and every player.

So long old friend

For some life lasts a short while,
but the memories it holds last forever.
~ Laura Swenson

There's a Hole In My Soul...
that's been killing me forever
It's a place where a garden never grows.
~ Aerosmith

HT: MGOBLUE photo galleries for the images.

Wallpaper Wednesday: Wings

This branding icon has been used by the athletic department over the last few years. I think it looks great. Very simple yet very effective. I also made a larger version for my 1680x1050 iMac here.

HT : GoBlueMichiganWolverine. I have been looking for a large & clear version of these wings make a wallpaper. Yesterday while I was doing a google search, I found one. Thanks guys.

Hail!

Sparty Hoops

Be strong in body, clean in mind, lofty in ideals

~ James Naismith

The Michigan State Spartan basketball team invades Crisler Arena tonight. I have very low expectations, but stranger things have happened.

Go Blue !

Playoffs Game Day Open Thread

photo HT: Michigan Football Saturdays

A few Michigan Men are still playing today:

For the Colts---Mike Hart and Marlin Jackson (on the IR)
For the J E T S JETS JETS JETS---Braylon Edwards, Jay Feely, and David Harris

For the Vikings---Big ol' Steven Hutchinson
For the Saints---Adrian Arrington and Jonathan Goodwin

You know what that means???
It means there will be a Michigan alum in the SuperBowl. A-gain.

SEC Helmet Makeover

As expected, last weeks B11 helmet make-over project generated a lot of opinions. It was by far the biggest visit generator since T9 launched this blog into the interwebs. Once the post was picked up by the popular UNIBLOGWATCH - the discussion on which designs were good and which designs sucked took place in several other places. It is pretty cool to watch something you created spawn all over the place.

I make no claim to be a credible graphics designer. I am just a guy with an internet connect, photoshop, a cool helmet template, and an obsessive personality. As the opinions flowed in, I decided to take a stab at our friends in the Southeastern Conference.

As I stated on the B11 project... the SEC has some great helmets and an actual change is ridiculous. This is simply a fun off season conversation starter -- and infinitely more enjoyable and productive than talking about recruiting. If you hate one or all of them, that is fine -- I will be happy to refund any money you paid to me to design these.

	South Carolina: This one is easy. I have a soft spot in my heart for the Gamecocks because I met my wife in Columbia while she was a student at TheUSC. When Lou Holtz took over the program in 1999 he put them in the current fUGLY white helmets. Make the bad man stop.
	Auburn: The current with Auburn helmet, while not as bad as South Carolina's is still white and boring. Especially when you consider the existing alternate logos they have to work with. I went with the orange face-masks as a tribute to Bo Jackson. Without question, he is the best athlete I have ever seen in my life.
	Georgia: This is one of those cases where the existing design is perfectly fine, but in this project everyone has to participate. I know UGA wore something similar to this in 2009 against Florida. I considered using one of the many Bulldog logos they have, but knew I was going to use a one for Mississippi State, so I just stayed with the Packers "G".
	Mississippi State: I have never seen this particular Bulldog logo before I started this project. Not too bad. Certainly an improvement over the generic M with a state ribbon they use today.
	Mississippi: Working with a southern school that calls themselves the "Rebels" is a mine-field I would avoid in real life. I originally placed stars on a block M, but decided it looked too much like the stars and bars for my taste. Before the hate mail starts flowing in from Ole Miss fans... you are right, I don't understand. I never will.
	Arkansas: I think the running pig logo is so cool I wanted to keep it. I realize silver is not an official school color, but is an acceptable neutral color when you don't want to use black or white. Plus, anything I can do to throw off Ryan Mallett off his game is alright in my book.
	Kentucky: Yes, this one looks similar to the basketball schools in my B11 project. Their current alternate logo is far too busy, so I decided to come up with a whole new look.
	Vanderbilt: I was planning the standard star with a block V on a black helmet. Then I found this alternate Commodore logo and absolutely fell in love. This one is far and away my favorite in this make-over project.
	Tennessee: Because the Tennessee shade of orange is so much like sherbet, this could potentially look very humorous on TV. However, if it works for Florida, it should work for Tennessee. That being said, the UT logo with the state outline is much more distinctive than the current block T.
	Louisiana State: The current LSU design is a classic, but when they wore gold throw back helmets this year, and it also looked great. In addition, I tinkered with a purple version of this design, but decided I liked the gold model much better.
	Florida: For years I have wondered why Florida does not use that fierce looking Crocodile Gator logo on their helmets. Moving to a blue helmet is s far better option than those white things they wore against Florida State and the SEC championship game.
	Alabama: This is the design I expect to generate the most response. Yes, I understand there is no reason to change the classic look of the Crimson Tide. This is just for fun. I really wanted to work in the elephant here, and I even tried a scary houndstooth design. But the traditional A looked best to me.

I will restate this so my intention is clear: I DO NOT think that the teams from the SEC need to change their helmets. This is nothing more than an conceptual off-season conversation starter.

Which one do you like the best? Which one is the worst? What ideas do you have to improve any of the current or proposed helmets?

Lane Kiffin Sewage Center

Sadly, this is a real story from Knoxville:

Knoxville attorney Drew McElroy has filed paperwork with the Knoxville City Council's Public Properties and Facilities Naming Committee to rename a waste water treatment plant the "Lane Kiffin Sewage Center."

McElroy said after driving down Neyland Drive and seeing all the history, it hit him. Renaming the Kuwahee Wastewater Treatment Plant would be the best way to let Kiffin know he understands why the coach left.

McElroy says he wrote the $262 check for the application fee and mailed it to the City Council's Clerk last week.

"We don't have to rename the entire facility after him, just a part of it," he said. McElroy conceded just a cesspool at the facility would be enough to satisfy him.

Somewhere a West Virginia booster is pissed they did not think of such a brilliant idea.

Wallpaper Wednesday: Rick Leach 1977

On October 1st 1977, the 5th ranked Texas A&M Aggies made a rare trip north of the Mason Dixon Line to play the 3rd ranked Wolverines.

Michigan had started the season ranked #1 but they had been so unimpressive in beating Duke 21-9 and Navy 14-7 that they were demoted to third. Texas A&M was coming into Ann Arbor after an impressive win against Texas Tech in Lubbock. Most everyone expected Rick Leach's Wolverines to get rolled. It did not quite happen that way.

Michigan led 7-3 at halftime. They came out of the tunnel in the second half and produced 34 unanswered points to win 41-3. Of course WolverineHistorian has highlights on YouTube: 1st Half and 2nd Half.

Hail.

BGs Sunday

1) Wake up
2) Get some breakfast
3) Head down to Crisler
4) Pick up a Silver football trophy
5) Watch Michigan upset UConn

6) Work out to get ready for the NFL draft

NFL Playoff Thread

The Expanding Universe

Warning: This has nothing to do with sports, but I thought it was a pretty cool description of mind blowing concept.

So you might imagine in your mind an infinite universe in which in the beginning, everything was close together.
Everything moves farther and farther apart, but it's just as infinite at the beginning as it is at the end.

If you don't want to sit through the class, you can borrow my notes....

Hail.

Curmudgeons at NCAA may kill emerging sport for women...SAND VOLLEYBALL

Oh yes gentelmen, this could be a Title IX legislative disaster of epic proportions.
Back in April 2009, the NCAA added Sand Volleyball as one of its emerging sports for women---along with the other revenue-risky sports of equestrian, rugby, and squash.
As you can imagine, allllll sorts of snickering and bickering started over sand volleyball.....
The New York Times is reporting today that the NCAA will vote soon to kick sand volleyball off the list !!!! W T F

And guess who is leading the pack??? The BigTeleven ! along with Duke, Stanford, and Clemson.
Our own volleyball coach says this to the NYTimes:

"But Mark Rosen, the volleyball coach at the University of Michigan, opposes sand volleyball because he says it puts schools in cold-weather states at a disadvantage. “If a school in the south has both programs and one in the north doesn’t, it forces me to lose a recruit or ask my athletic director to spend money where he can’t spend it elsewhere,” he said.

Rosen said many northern schools will end up playing a majority of their games on the road because it will be too cold at home to play outdoors in March or April.

Schools that want to override sand volleyball also question how many new scholarships will really be created. Initially, cash-strapped schools may ask indoor volleyball players and coaches to play sand volleyball as well.

“When you start double-dipping, you’re not adding,” Rosen said."

Like Baseball, Softball, and Track don't need to find warmer climates to play in come spring!?
Oh no, this is a much bigger issue than weather.
This is an affront to women's sports!!! This is clearly one more slap at female athletes everywhere, and must not be tolerated!!

Dynasty ?

For those of you that have not seen it, here is this weeks Sports Illustrated cover. This my friends is the SEC PR MACHINE running without a restrictor plate. Somewhere, Gary Danielson is pleasuring himself like a fourteen year old boy holding the annual SI swimsuit edition.

I am no expert, but I am pretty sure a team needs to win more than one straight championship to be considered a "Dynasty". I don't remember the 2001 Baltimore Ravens or the 2003 Florida Marlins ever being awarded this type of praise. Sure, Alabama had a nice team this year, but after the BCS game I am not convinced they are the BEST team in the country. Yes, I said it.

Maybe the good folks from Sports Illustrated meant to put "Lucky". As in.... considering they allowed a true freshman QB to hang late into the 4th quarter, Alabama sure is lucky that Colt McCoy was injured in the BCS title.

Wallpaper Wednesday: NFL Defensive PoY

In a vote that was no surprise, Charles Woodson was named The Associated Press NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Chuck received 28 of a possible 50 votes from a panel of media members.

It's the first award of its kind for Woodson, who earned his second straight and sixth career Pro Bowl bid this season and was named NFC Defensive Player of the Month in three of the four regular-season months. CW is the first cornerback to win the award since Deion Sanders in 1994. The award was first instituted in 1971.

BigTeleven Makeover

I don't need to tell anyone here that the image of the Big Ten has take a hit over the last couple of years. Historical failures in the Rose Bowl and recent memorable flops have added fuel to national discontent. Add in the generalized perception of over sized slow players, Ohio State losing two straight BCS games, Michigan falling into the college football abyss and the wild fire is blazing.

The flash point for this happened in November 2006 when Michigan and Ohio State were both undefeated and ranked #1 and #2 in the polls. Following an epic (and painful for me) contest there was a lot of talk of a BCS title game rematch (I wanted nothing to do with a rematch). The SEC PR engine (cough, cough, CBS sports) started up hasn't slowed down since.

The recent conversations about adding a 12th team and a championship game got me thinking: What would a B11 makeover look like? I decided to start with the helmets. Rather than just choose a few, I decided to include everyone. I realize that in most cases, a change is ridiculous. But hey, we are in the off-season and content is hard to come by.

I know, I know... I have too much time on my hands. In any case, I would be interested in hearing which of these you like best, which one you think is the worst, and any additional concepts or ideas you may have.

	Illinois: This one is the most simple and obvious needed change of the group. The hideous orange version the current Illinois helmet is embarrassing. I know the NCAA would have a problem with using the Native American imagery, but I don't care. I also don't think the non-existent Illini Indian tribe would either.
	Northwestern: I have nothing against the current Northwestern helmet, but this is a complete overhaul project and everyone needs to participate. I went through a couple of iterations of this before I just settled with the simple text design. The actual Wildcat logo is an amateurish drawing and did not work for me.
	Wisconsin: I am a big fan of the mascot paw track. Not many people know this, but Wisconsin actually uses a Badger Paw as a trademarked logo. I included the classic Wisconsin "W" to eliminate confusion on which school is wearing these helmets.
	Michigan State: Sparty changes their design a lot, but they have never used anything other than a green helmet (in the modern era). After attempting to design a black helmet and a silver helmet using a Spartan image, I settled on this white version. MSU uses the state of Michigan on their basketball court.
	Minnesota: Of all the helmets in this project, I think I like this Gopher one the best. In fact, I had to stop myself from using other cartoonish mascots for more schools because I loved this one so much and did not want to dilute its awesomeness.
	Purdue: The Boilermakers rolled out all black helmets for the 1989 and 1990 seasons, but for the most part they have always been a gold with the Purdue "P" team. The smoking train logo is way cool and should be used more.
	Indiana: Indiana is one of the more difficult teams in the B11 to work with graphically. There exists no Cornhusker like cartoon Hoosier and there really isn't an alternative to the standard interlocking IU logo. Quite honestly even that looks like the greek letter psi. So I just made something up using a block I and the state of Indiana.
	Iowa: I think the current Iowa Hawkeye logo is one of the best primary trademarks in the NCAA. As such, I saw no need or had no desire to change their outstanding and distinctive design.
	Penn State:This when I expect the rotten tomatoes to start flying. From what I can tell, the current simple white helmet is as important as Joe Paterno himself. I went with the equally bland blue helmet with numbers as they had from '68 to '74.
	Ohio State: Before I start getting death threats over the loss of the Coors Light Silver Bullet design - you need to remember the Buckeyes wore scarlet helmets during 1966 and 1967 seasons coached by Woody Hayes himself. I resisted the temptation to put the cartoon version of Brutus and kept the chronic atta boy stickers.
	Michigan: I realize I am biased, but I think the existing Michigan helmet is a work of art. Attempting to make-over the winged helmet is like asking someone to augment the Mona Lisa. It just doesn't feel right. My first idea was to design a wolverine version of the USFL Michigan Panther helmet, but I couldn't get it right. So I just reversed the colors and turned my head away in shame.

HT: Davidson at Chris Creamers Sports Logos Forum for the incredible helmet template.

1/14 edit: This post has generated a lot of interest (and hits). As you expect, everyone has their own opinion. Just so my intention is clear to anyone reading this -- This is nothing more than an conceptual off-season conversation starter. I DO NOT think that the teams from the B11 need to change their helmets (except Illinois). As a conference, we have some of the best helmet designs and color combos in the country. I was just playing around. If you don't like what I have done, fire up your computer and share your own ideas.

For my next project, I may do an SEC helmet makeover next just to see if I can piss them all off too.

Beware of the Angel of Death

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.

~ Norman Cousins

Warning to all college and pro football fans reading this blog. I am the Angel of Death for any and all football teams I root for. This weekend has finally convinced me of this simple yet terrifying fact. For those that know me, I don't need to mention what has happened to the Michigan program or the Detroit Lions franchise. This weekend I cheered for, in order: Bengals, Eagles, Patriots, and Packers. Each and every one of them... GONE.

Be afraid. Very afraid.

Swimsuit Sunday - Wildcard Sunday

“Sunday is the golden clasp that binds together the volume of the week”

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Go Patriots!

NFL Playoffs

Now that the college football season is really over, I need to turn my attention to something until baseball arrives. The good news is the NFL playoffs start today and will run until early February. I will only have a couple of weeks of watching hockey before the college baseball season starts down here in Texas.

According to MGoBlue.com, Michigan's 24 NFL playoff players/coaches is the largest for any school. Not bad for an irrelevant football program scratching and clawing to get back to a mid-December bowl game.

Not that I ever need a reason to cheer for the demise of Jerry Jones, but the only NFL team with out some sort of Wolverine representation is the Dallas Cowboys.

Games today:
4:30 EST. New York Jets at Cincinnati Bengals.
The Jets have Kicker Jay Feely, LB David Harris, and WR Braylon Edwards. The Bengals have TE Carson Butler, LB Dhani Jones, CB Morgan Trent, and CB Leon Hall.

8:00 EST. Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys.
The Eagles have WR Jason Avant. The Cowboys suck.

Games on Sunday:
1:00 EST. Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots.
The Ravens have Assistant coach Andy Moeller and LB Prescott Burgess. The Patriots have LB Shawn Crable (injured), LB Pierre Woods, and QB Tom Brady.

4:40 EST. Green Bay Packers at Arizona Cardinals.
The Packers have Assistant coach Mike Trgovac and all around badass Charles Woodson. The Cardinals have DT Gabe Watson, DT Alan Branch, and WR Stevie Breaston.

Hail !

Spawn Bowl Game Pick 'em FINAL standings

Here is the final standings for the Spawn Bowl Pick 'em contest. Congrats to HMBFossil. Despite the fact he was the last entry for our little contest he was able to select four winners and the closest BCS point total. If he did not already hate him, GoBlueBob has a very good reason to loath Nick Saban. Normal coaches would have just sat on the ball with a 10 point lead less than two minutes left. If Saban wasn't such an ass in allowing his offense to score again -- GBBob would have had the correct BCS number and taken home the trophy.



HMBFossil: let me know what you want to do with your newly acquired space on our sidebar.

Is there a game tonight?

Whet wants an open thread. So let it be done.

F the SEC
Hook 'em Finland.

State Champs

Congrats to the Chippewas of Central Michigan. Last night they won the GMAC Bowl over Troy. It was an exciting double overtime win. The victory was the first for a Mid American Conference team in a bowl game since 2006. CMU QB Dan LeFevour was the catalyst once again leading the team to a last minute score and scoring a touchdown in the first overtime. He will get a chance with some NFL team next season, no doubt.

As weird as this may sound... with this win Central also cemented their claim as the best football program in the state of Michigan. This year they beat Sparty, Western, Eastern AND won a bowl game. When you taken into account that Sparty beat us (again) this year, it is hard to argue. I have nightmares about what LeFevour would have done to our secondary this year if we had played them.

Bowling update

Congrats to the Iowa Hawkeyes for the impressive showing last night in the Orange Bowl. The win ensured the Big Ten will have a winning record in bowl games this year. Personally I don't think conference bowl records mean anything, but maybe it will silence the Big Ten football critics for a couple of weeks. If you consider the conference was a FG away from winning 2 more bowl games (Minnesota and Northwestern) things are looking much better than they were a year ago. It is safe to say that Sparty was the only dark spot in an otherwise good bowl season.

Not many people remember, but Iowa was a miracle (in the form of two blocked FGs in a row) away from an Appy State like meltdown in the first game of the season against Northern Iowa. The Hawks dominated the entire game at the line of scrimmage against Georgia Tech. I am biased, but I think Navy runs the option attack better than the Yellow Jackets. It would be interesting to see if they could do better against the Iowa D. I do not look forward to seeing Mr Clayborn next year in Michigan Stadium.

Speaking of impressive, how about that fake FG attempt by Iowa in the 4th quarter ? The flip from the holder to the kicker was as innovative as I have ever seen. He essentially got off his knee before he caught the snap and flipped it thru his legs to the slow (but sprinting kicker). It did not work, but it still as awesome. Watching the play made me ponder two things:

1) Why do the refs not blow most fake FGs dead when the kneeling holder catches the ball ? He is technically down.

and

2) Why do the refs not call intentional grounding when a team spikes the football to stop the clock ? The QB is still inside the tackle box and the ball never makes it past the line of scrimmage.

Anyway, with two games left, here is the Spawn Bowl Pick 'Em update. According to my records, no one has a chance at a perfect 5-0 record. It has come down to Hemlock and myself (and possibly others). I am hoping for a lot of points in the BCS game.