Happy Memorial Day

For most people, it is just another day off from work and the official start of summer. The original Memorial Day was in 1868, it was called Decoration Day. The purpose was to honoring the dead of the Union Army in the Civil War. Over time, the Decoration Day holiday was expanded to salute the fallen soldiers from both North and South. Eventually it was renamed Memorial Day and chosen to encompass all of this country's fallen in subsequent wars.

Like the old english "D" on the Tigers cap, I believe the United States Flag is a thing of beauty. I just wish the marketing scientists at Major League Baseball could prevent themselves from grafting these two masterpieces together into a hideous mess.

Surfing the Apocalypse

One of my favorite features in Sports Illustrated is This Week's Sign That the Apocalypse Is Upon Us. Nothing they can put in that spot can top this week's claim by SI naming Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett is the front runner for the #1 overall pick in the 2011 NFL draft.

ARE YOU F---ING KIDDING ME ???!!!???? I don't do facebook, but THIS popped up during a BING search. I think I would rather see Terrelle Pryor win the Heisman than that goofy mouth breather from Texarkana.

5 things I like less than John Gravallese

I went to bed on Sunday night frustrated with the sudden and soul-crushing end of the Michigan hockey season. As a Michigan sports fan, you learn to deal with things like this -- I just woke up and went on with my day looking to find something else to focus on. It did not work. I needed to understand how and why it came to this. At the risk of sounding too much like a Penn State football fan, I needed to know more about this John Gravallese character. A simple google search turned up something from US College Hockey Online about the source of my pain. This interesting article included this terribly ironic quote:

“I just get my assignment, pack my bags and show up.... I try to blend in and let the game call itself.”

Really? You have no idea how much I wish that was true. Instead of letting this ridiculous anger go too far, I decided to get creative and make a list of five things I like less than the "senior man in Hockey East"

1) Raw onions: Sorry Mom, I can't stand them. There is no quicker way to ruin a sandwich or burger than laying a tastless foul smelling mistake on it. I generally like vegetables, but adding raw onions to a mixed salad is a crime. Want to destroy a tuna salad? add chopped onions. Looking to ensure there is left over pizza? add raw onions. The strange thing is I have no problem with cooked/sautéed onions and eat them when offered. But the raw crunch of an onion is unbearable for me.

2) Mr Met: As a lifelong Phillies phan, I am genetically predisposed to loath anything connected the National League franchise in New York . I was an undergrad at Michigan in 1986. It was bad. As a rule, I accept sports mascots as part of the entertainment package of live sporting events. When you really look at him, Mr Met is just plain creepy. Why is he always smiling? Clearly he has not watched his team play for the last couple of years.

3) Snakes: I live in Texas. It is hot here. Last summer I pulled into my garage and stepped out of my car. Something moved. It was a small harmless garter snake slithering about a foot from my safely covered toes. I yelped loudly. I quickly jumped away. Once I realized how foolish I looked, I grabbed a tool looking to kill my nemasis. Much to his benefit, he was gone. I have not gotten out of my car in the garage without looking down since.

4) Mark Dantonio: Worshiped by FDFP writers and long suffering Sparty football fans for his bravado -- I see Mark Dantonio as nothing more than a boorish moron. Time and time again he has delivered. Just a few: His memorable moment of silence comment after the Michigan loss to Appy State. Whining about Michigan players celebrating a win. Responding to Mike Hart by making fun of his size. Openly cheering for Ohio State when his team needed a Buckeye loss to have a chance at the Rose Bowl. Saying he would be embarrassed by only 3 wins minutes after getting crushed at Penn State. Allowing Glen Winston to join practice hours after being released from jail.

5) The wave: I refuse. It was fun the first couple of instances I saw it happen at Michigan Stadium. But that was in the 80's. Enough already. Pay attention to what is going on in the game. Stay focused on being loud and creating a home field advantage. Let it die.

Phew, I feel better.

Being Manny

The hits just keep on coming.

This morning Manny Harris officially confirmed what most Michigan fans already knew: He was leaving early for the professional ranks (note the choice of words, I did not say the NBA). He is hiring an agent. He will not be returning to Ann Arbor for his senior season. Ho hum.

"I will always appreciate the college game and what it has done for me, but playing professional basketball has always been a goal and I feel it is the best time to pursue that. I will always be a Michigan Wolverine at heart and bleed Maize and Blue forever."

Great. Thanks for the memories Manny. This is going to be viewed as sour grapes from a Michigan fan denied the opportunity to watch an improving senior led team next year. It is not. I don't watch basketball much anymore because of things like this. Don't get me wrong... from what I have witnessed, I generally like Manny Harris. I like his game. He is a pretty good basketball player. He was the best, by a wide margin, Michigan had on their team over the last 3 seasons. I recognize and admire his skills. I also acknowledge his dream and desire of playing and making millions in the NBA. But at some point, reality needs to set in for everyone. The real story is this: Manny Harris has decided to sit at the end of an NBA bench and/or tour Europe with a pro basketball team for the next 3 years.

I am no NBA scout, but someone has done this kid a disservice in telling him he is ready to guard Kobe or LeBron. In my uninformed opinion, the chances of Manny Harris becoming a productive NBA player are about the same as the Michigan basketball program sweeping aside Tom Izzo's grip on the state's hoop dream. Over the last decade I have seen waaaaaay too many above average college basketball players believe the NBA is their destiny. And now it looks like Manny Harris is one of them. NBA ready players carry their college teams deep into the NCAA tournament. NBA ready players win big games. NBA ready players beat their rivals consistently. NBA ready players finish the game before pounding on their chest in celebration. NBA players make their all conference first teams.

I am going to miss Manny Harris. I wish him well. I just hope he adjusts well to living and playing in europe.

On notice. Not so double secret probation??

Aw crap. Really Rich?? Really.
I can't even think of anything funny to say......

I'm just going to poke my eyeballs out

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!!

Helicopter Parent. A Girl Goes Off.

So, at the risk of getting flamed by all y'all-- I just can't keep quiet about this whole Mike Leach vs. Adam/Craig James (and by proxy ESPN) thing.

Seriously.

You call your Dad during practice to complain about how mean Coach is and then your Dad, who happens to be a mouthpiece for the largest sports media machine calls "foul" resulting in the firing of your Coach???? WOW.

As if that weren't bad enough then ESPN pretends to be all journalistic and keeps bringing it up, using the bowl game that Craig James is calling to allow him to comment about how hard this has been on his family....



Add to that the release of cellphone video from Adam...by of course ESPN....

Ok, really???? A cellphone video? How many other kids who get 'punished' by a coach have the opportunity to publish that stuff on ESPN?

Then ESPN pretends to have Reese Davis interview Leach...


Here's Texas Tech's version of the room:


Flashback to when Brian Griese was a player at Michigan and Poppa Griese was also on TV as an announcer. Anyone remember Poppa Griese commenting on all of Brian's issues on and off the field?? Nope.

How about Eli Manning? Anyone remember Poppa Manning going public when Eli threw a hissy fit about the draft ??? Double Nope.

Apples and oranges you may say, but honestly, I think that this is an entitlement issue. Adam James grew up the son of Craig--Mr. SMU hotshot and ESPN darling. And kids these days have instant access to everyone and everything. They continually text one another and their mommies and daddies are in constant contact--and think that they know best and can tell teachers, coaches, bosses etc. how their child should and shouldn't be treated....

It's called Helicopter Parenting and it's ridiculous. (the link takes you to a Time Magazine article). And it probably cost Mike Leach his job----which, in all honesty, I'm guessing he's not too broken up over.

Even if they make us cry like babies.....

Defense?

We don't need no stinkin' defense.
Fun with numbers:
a) Michigan has the worst D in the Big Ten
b) We have been outscored 75-12 in the second half of the last THREE games
However.....
check out the comparison data. I've highlited the stuff that just makes no sense whatsoever.

TEAM STATISTICS                        MICH          OPP
--------------------------------------------------------
SCORING.......................          320          264
Points Per Game.............         32.0         26.4
FIRST DOWNS...................          204          187
Rushing.....................          111           84
Passing.....................           85           90
Penalty.....................            8           13
RUSHING YARDAGE...............         2083         1583
Yards gained rushing........         2438         1866
Yards lost rushing..........          355          283
Rushing Attempts............          431          369
Average Per Rush............          4.8          4.3
Average Per Game............        208.3        158.3
TDs Rushing.................           27           17
PASSING YARDAGE...............         1957         2350
Comp-Att-Int................   143-256-10    194-323-9
Average Per Pass............          7.6          7.3
Average Per Catch...........         13.7         12.1
Average Per Game............        195.7        235.0
TDs Passing.................           12           13
TOTAL OFFENSE.................         4040         3933
Total Plays.................          687          692
Average Per Play............          5.9          5.7
Average Per Game............        404.0        393.3
KICK RETURNS: #-Yards.........      45-1087      46-1030
PUNT RETURNS: #-Yards.........       23-228       17-104
INT RETURNS: #-Yards..........         9-74       10-107
KICK RETURN AVERAGE...........         24.2         22.4
PUNT RETURN AVERAGE...........          9.9          6.1
INT RETURN AVERAGE............          8.2         10.7
FUMBLES-LOST..................        25-12         11-4
PENALTIES-Yards...............       52-454       59-508
Average Per Game............         45.4         50.8
PUNTS-Yards...................      45-2010      60-2222
Average Per Punt............         44.7         37.0
Net punt average............         41.5         32.6
TIME OF POSSESSION/Game.......        26:35        33:25
3RD-DOWN Conversions..........       54/133       58/157
3rd-Down Pct................          41%          37%
4TH-DOWN Conversions..........         6/15          4/8
4th-Down Pct................          40%          50%
SACKS BY-Yards................       17-116       23-146
MISC YARDS....................            0            0
TOUCHDOWNS SCORED.............           42           30
FIELD GOALS-ATTEMPTS..........         9-11        18-23
ON-SIDE KICKS.................          0-1          1-1
RED-ZONE SCORES...............    29-41 71%    31-36 86%
RED-ZONE TOUCHDOWNS...........    23-41 56%    18-36 50%
PAT-ATTEMPTS..................    39-40 98%   26-26 100%

SCORE BY QUARTERS     1st  2nd  3rd  4th  OT     Total
--------------------  ---  ---  ---  ---  ---      ---
Michigan............  121   88   34   77    0  -   320
Opponents...........   64   65   64   65    6  -   264

So why am I so aggravated and frustrated by this team???
Because, as Brandon Graham points out, they ARE better than their 5-5 record.
They completely implode, making mental mistakes and blowing assignments. Ok, I'll give you that they are young but
why did Robinson sit Ezeh and Mouton for most of the first half???? Do they mail in it that much that the freshmen and
walk-ons behind them deserve to play more??? GACK if that's true. Where's the discipline and concentration?
It's like they are all trying to do way too much, instead of playing within the scheme.
Why is that? Here's my theory.....

RR's coaching is suspect. He is good at X's and O's --you can see flashes of brilliance when the offense clicks,
but he uses a "slap-sorry" style of management. How many times can he scream at his coaches without their
authority, credibility, and confidence being eroded? If you were a kid, would you want to watch your head coach
bust the balls of your position coach or coordinator? When would you lose confidence in the whole thing?

RR is also stubborn as shit. No sense of strategy---he just keeps calling the same shit over and over. There are
minimal adjustments at the half and because we play with a limited set of plays, once those are spent, the
other guys know exactly what we are going to do. Denard comes in for ONE play---and is stuffed. Why? Because
they've got a spy on him every time he steps on the field.....stoopid.

Purdue rightfully rolls their QB out and away from whichever side BG is on....play after play after play. Where's
the adjustment???? There isn't one. IT'S MADDENING. Didn't these guys play high school ball???

Ok, and so then I go back to the numbers. Which show a lot of scoring on the offense. And absolutely no defense.
And I try to say, oh they are young. Oh we need one more year. Oh don't pick on the kids.
But seriously......I just can't understand it.

Anyone else understand what the hell goes wrong every game???
Please enlighten me.....

There is no healing.....

The wheels have come off the bus.
I too must put myself in 'time out' for a bit
I'll be back when the rage recedes

COWBOY UP people

We all agree. Yesterday's performance sucked.
But, as Andy said, we are NOT going to turn into a bunch of guys and gals who rag on a group of 18-20 year old kids.

Remember how high we all were flying when we were 4-0? And when we once again made Jimmah look bad ???? And when Tater was shredding defenses??? That was fuuuun.

Yeah. What the hell happened?
I'll tell you what happened.
Football happened.
Fall semester happened.
The Big Ten happened.
And WE HAVE LOST OUR FOCUS.

Revolving doors at every position on the defense. Walk-ons, freshmen, and no safeties. But the D-line is strong. BG is a monster. Mike Martin is a young gun making his presence known. Ryan Van Bergen? Beast. Will Campbell in the wings. We need one more year back there to get it right. Coach Robinson is in his first year. Patience.

The offense??? At times, offensive. At times, slash and burn brilliance. This time last year, Tate would have been just about done with his season--thinking about high school playoffs and homecoming. Now? He's got to face one Big Ten team after another, each one of them more complicated than the next, and all happy to kill a Michigan Man with every snap of the ball. Erratic play from receivers and veteran RBs add to the chaos.
I predict that Fred Jackson will be gone at the end of the season. It was a nice run, Fred, but these guys can't hold on to the rock anymore, and they aren't finding the holes.

So, what to do??? WE WAIT. And we clear our heads, and we cowboy up.
For you coaches out there....how do you get kids not to quit???
I know I sure as heck want to quit. I'm pretty tired of getting up every week only to get dashed. I don't mind if we get beat, but to under perform and be full of mistakes that are simply pure football fundamentals??? bleck.
But, we've got to coach each other up and find a way to be positive.

We can't unravel, because there are 3 more games to play and we need just ONE win. And anything can happen.
I for one, want to be there to see it if it does.
Why???
Because I LOVE COLLEGE FOOTBALL
AND I LOVE MICHIGAN MORE.



I, am Title Nine.
I, am All In For Michigan.
I, am our new Bluto.
LET'S DOOOOOO ITTTTTTT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Little Big Horn Healing

I can't believe what I just witnessed.

This is bad. I have never been so down about being a Michigan fan. We went from being in complete and total control to getting blown out. All based on 2 plays that did not go our way. I refuse to become one of those people that rant and rave about coaching on the internet.

I need to take a break from this obsession. If anyone out there wants to take the wheel of this place for a couple of weeks, let me know. If T9 agrees, I will set you up as an author. I have nothing to say. I am done.

Reality Check

I want to apologize to anyone looking here for "healing" after the beat down we suffered on Saturday. My son is going away to college next year. One of the schools he is considering attending is LSU, so I took my son to the LSU/Auburn game so we could see the campus and experience the gameday atmosphere.

I did get to watch most of our game thanks to a very friendly group of LSU fans, a satellite dish mounted in a home depot bucket, and a 6:30CST kick off. If you are a college football junkie like myself, and you have never been to a game in Baton Rouge, I would strong suggest you do so.

When Michigan started the season with four straight wins -- everyone (including myself) was feeling euphoric. After the nightmare of 2008, we had returned to our rightful place amongst the top tier college football teams. The reality was something much different.

We lost to Sparty, but the feeling was still positive because we almost came back in miracle fashion and Tate was more than just an average exciting freshman. Then we lost to Iowa, but we could all still fell good, after all we lost to a top 10 team on the road by 2 points, and we turned the ball over 5 times. Even that was "respectable".

Things took a dramatic turn in the rain on Saturday. Before the season started, the Penn State game was not one I placed a "W" next to. Our fast start and improbable victory over Notre Dame had me believing this was a game we could have won. If a couple of things went our way, we could beat these guys. The thud you heard on saturday was Reality setting in.

It is time for a sanity check:
1) We are a very young football team. As such, there will be more mistakes, strange turnovers, bad decisions, and losses on the way.
2) We are a much better football team than last year. We have infinitely more talent playing at the quarterback position. Our offensive line is more experienced and more capable.
3) It is going to take some time to get back onto the national stage. There is no quick fix to this situation. Acting irrational or overly emotional will not help.

The goal at the start of the season was 6 WINS and a bowl invite. Looking at the schedule we realistically have a shot at winning the next 2 weeks. Neither of those games is a "gimme". If we are going to get to the 6 win mark and a bowl bid - we have to get one of the two.

Don't under estimate Illinois. I know they have looked terrible all year. I know Ron Zook is the village idiot. They still have a ton of athletes, they are playing at home, they have nothing to lose, and they kicked our asses last year. Expecting a win from our young team on the road is a risky proposition.

Purdue looks to be the most improving team week to week in the Big Ten. They took Notre Dame to the last minute and have already beaten Ohio State. Certainly not an automatic W.

The goal is still 6 wins. I still think we can get there. Anything more, don't count on it.

Game Day GACK.

Oh my. Epic Fail. So much head-shaking.....
Now Penn State is the real deal, and they are a great football team, but holy moly football fan---we WHIFFED on that game.
No execution. No offensive flow. No go.

I can't even really be mad. I'm mean how young are these kids??? First rain game. Crazy hype with the flyover and the opening TD, followed by complete collapse. I at least give Rich Rod credit for saying that this one was mostly on the coaches and that he was really disappointed.

4 turnovers today, which is one less than the 5 against Iowa. A safety? Molk gone. Warren and Hemingway kneecapped in one play??? oh. my.

The one shining star?? BRANDON. GRAHAM.

discuss....

Mr. Robinson's Defense

Poor Boubacar Cissoko. Wow--talk about out matched. I find it interesting that I have only empathy and love for Boo-Boo, while Morgan Trent still evokes only vitriol. Maybe it's because the W(S)LA has brainwashed me like Patty Hearst???? Nah. Mainly it's because Trent was obviously wrong wrong wrong, while poor Boo-Boo was just beat beat beat. And major props to the kid for NOT quitting and NOT backing down. He may be my new favorite player just because.


What I saw from the stands was a defense with lots of heart and fight and fantastic conditioning. The detnews found the silver lining too. The other thing I saw was the confidence in them shown by their coach who punted the ball back to ND late in the 4th. I was all for that move even though many weren't.
But I also saw that the deep support is absent and the linebacker play atrocious.

Here are the numbers courtesy of mgoblue.com
No surprise, but this was a heavyweight fight with the two teams going toe to toe. M scores 14 in the first, but then gives up 17 in the second. Gets 7 in the 3rd (while allowing ND only like 24 yards of offense?) and then allows another 14 points in the 4th. Mano a Mano all game long.

Check this out: (ND on the left, M on the right)

TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS...........      490      430
Total offense plays.........       72       71
Average Gain Per Play.......      6.8      6.1

wow.....490 yards given up to the opponent yet we still win????
I'll let someone else discuss the watershed/awesome coaching moments that got us over the top, and I'm still basking in the sweet joy of victory, but um....well, we gotta talk about the elephant in the room.

Run Defense: ND rushed for a net 154 yards, averaging 5.1 yards per carry. Ick!? Only Stevie Brown and Brandon Graham got TFLs but even then, they only backed them up for 8 yards.
but the real damage came on the....

Pass Defense: 336 net yards thru the air, with Jimmeh going 25-42-0 with 3 TDs. Average yards per attempt? EIGHT. Average yards per completion? THIRTEEN. And you wonder why Fat Charlie was throwing late into the game??? Why wouldn't you? You were getting first downs with almost every toss. Jimmeh was sacked only twice for a total of 9 negative yards. (oh, but how about a BIG shout out to our O line...Tate was not dumped once in the back field for a sack)
While Floyd and Tate killed, a few other receivers racked up catches as well...

Receiving        No.  Yds   TD Long
-----------------------------------
TATE               9  115    2   27
FLOYD              7  131    1   37
RUDOLPH            3   38    0   24
ALLEN              2   24    0   19
EVANS              2   15    0    8
GRAY, J.           1    7    0    7
KAMARA             1    6    0    6
Totals...         25  336    3   37

GACK!!!

So what to do??? Luckily we don't face Golden Tate and Michael Floyd again. Golden Tate is listed at 5' 11", 195 pounds and Michael Floyd is like 12 feet tall and all muscle (6'3", 220#). Poor Boo-Boo (5'9", 177#) was looking up to him head and shoulders all day long. Coach doesn't have many other options in the secondary.
The linebacker core is comprised of mainly freshmen and sophomores with Stevie Brown (!?) as the only senior LB....
Basically I think that the defense is at least a year or two behind the offense and that Mr. Robinson needs to take the trolley to the Land of Make-believe for solutions....

Bottom line?? An EPIC win for a young young program. I don't buy the #25 ranking and I think that we still have a lot to learn, prove, and show. I'm thinking we are going to see lots of offense from the opponent this season. But I have a LOT of love all the way around, and I truly expect Mr. Robinson to figure it out.

Good thing we can score at will!!??

Cutting down on the drag

HT: EDSBS

Our boy Jim has hit the BIG TIME !!!!

Against all logic a Stanford donor has given $50K so Jim can quickly do his business and move on to the task of losing games in the Pac10. This is not sitting well with the rest of the Stanford Athletic Department. that is facing a huge budget crisis. Revenue generation has died, budgets have been cut, people have been axed. For gods sake.... Fencing is in danger of being cut.

To make things worse: Fellow Pac10 coaches Pete Carroll (USC), Rick Neuheisel (UCLA) and Jeff Tetford (Cal) don't have their own private reading area -- and I am willing to bet that Bo used the same potty as every one else.

Beware of the Three Headed Monster

This weekend I got a sick feeling in my stomach when I read the headline: Michigan’s Rodriguez plans to play 3 QBs in opener. The first thing I pictured was Nick Sheridan throwing an interception on the first play of the season and watching a Western Michigan Bronco defensive back return it for a touchdown. The pain and horror has returned.

I started to panic.... what if the new freshman quarterbacks are not as good as Nick Sheridan ?? What if the best QB on our roster is Nick Sheridan ? I can NOT take another season of this! Why do the college football gods hate me sooooo much ?

Finally I read the article, took a deep breath and relaxed. RR was joking. The AP needed a pull-you-in headline. RR was in coach-speak mode. He does not want to tip his cards to the Western coaching staff. It is better to make them prepare for TBD than any one specific player.

I tell you this: if Nick Sheridan sees any meaningful snaps during the upcoming game against Western Michigan, we are in DEEP trouble. If he sees significant playing time when either Robinson or Forcier are still healthy, we are in DEEP trouble.

Tainted Love

Andy beat me to the "welcome to the new world" post, and many of my friends in the know continue to gloat and say, "see, we told you that Mr. Martin sold you down the river. This Rich Rod guy is no Lloyd and he doesn't get what it means to be at Michigan...."
They just laugh when I suggest that Les Miles wouldn't be a collector of boy scouts either and that we have to give RR a chance....
The recent news surrounding the departure of Justin Feagin has left me saddened and somewhat disillusioned...and given the back story, I have to wonder if they aren't just a bit right.

But it doesn't matter, because gone are the halcyon days of family values and no advertising in the stadium and the domination on the field. And I just wonder how long, if ever, it's going to take to get that stuff back. And, I wonder if I'll cheer as loudly or as blindly.

Maybe I'm just getting old.

Normally I'm ridiculously fired up for football. I'd be reading and watching every pre-season preview media pablum there was. But I just can't get the gumption up. Now before you accuse me of being a fair-weathered fan, or someone who only cheers when we win I can promise you that is not the case. What I'm having such a hard time with is the ennui generated by scheduling games against Western, Delaware State, and EMU. Games which in days gone by would be laughers and an excuse to invite every friend and old roomate you could find to come up for the game and get stupid. Now, I have to hear other people's jokes about winning the opener and I'm worried we'll lose them all and Appy State will seem minor in comparison.

This wishful adherence of mine to the Michigan mystique may be akin to thinking that Mick Jagger is still hot---once there was this vibrant, powerful, commanding presence of a powerhouse. Now there is but a shell of that being with weakened strength and general reminders of what once was.
Time to move on.
Give it up.
Embrace the new.

Buy adidas?

So, I'll start by drinking the Kool-Aide and resuscitating myself on daily videos courtesy of RR and staff....COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF.
WOOT!!!
WOOT!!!
Woot?

And attend all the games and watch all the ESPN my eyeballs can handle, and vehemently defend this house. Until the next dumbass thing happens...........
sigh.

Welcome to my Tainted Love affair.

Tragically Stupid

Michigan football practice started yesterday in Ann Arbor. There are literally dozens of stories detailing the highlights, including the competition for the starting QB spot. Personally I do not think there is going to be much of a competition. Barring injury, if Tate Forcier is not the starting QB when the season starts, I will be shocked beyond recognition. For the record, I also like the look of the new practice jerseys.

One thing that is going to linger over the season -- and Rich Rodriguez for a long time is the recruiting and departure of Justin Feagin. I have read the Detroit Free Press story and the entire Police Report.

This is a sad and stupid story.

From the outside, it looks like RR handled the situation in the appropriate way : dismissing the kid the instant he heard the details of the failed cocaine plot. However, there will be many that will point to this incident as further proof that RR lacks the moral character for the job. No matter what happens from this point forward, he will be open to questions regarding the "type of kid" he recruits.

A couple of observations on the Feagin story. Yes, he was a last minute add to fill a critical need after we lost out on a higher profile guy. But you can not automatically assume that RR turned a blind-eye to character issues in a panic. Justin Feagin was recruited by RR at West Virginia. He had an eye on the kid for a while.

I find it interesting that people are claiming that RR and the coaches should have known about Feagin's home-town legal problems. How is it that Rivals or Scout did not know about these issues ? We live in an era where recruit information and rumors flow faster than a Glenville Tarblooder sprinter. If none of the dedicated services that focuses on high school football recruiting did not uncover these, how is that we expect RR and staff to know ?

In a previous professional life, I spent some time dealing with minors and legal system. The rules and data you have available for adults does not apply. Arrests and judgements against minors are not public records, you can't just go to the police station or internet and pull up information. Any legal issues that Feagin had in Florida were likely "sealed" cases because of his age. Unless the kid himself disclosed the problems to a recruiter, there is no way to know.

The statement of "common knowledge" regarding Feagin's budding marijuana business is also going to linger. If I had to bet, this will be the slam we hear over and over again from our green and scarlet friends. Again the assumption that RR and staff "should have known" is the key. Considering there are about 100 kids on the team, I don't assume that the coaches know everything that goes on off the football field.

When I was in college I knew I guy that operated a pretty healthy grow-op in his dorm and later his apartment. It was "common knowledge" to those that were looking to smoke pot. He was never busted, eventually graduated and went on to a real job. One can only assume that "common knowledge" amongst students did not translate into common knowledge to people in positions of authority (like coaches).

Again, the stink of this situation is going to linger for a long time. I have no doubt that we will be ridiculed for the erosion of family values. My advice to any Michigan fan looking to respond: DON'T.

The stupidity of the Justin Feagin story happened. There is nothing you can do to make it go away. It is ours. We need to move on, win a few games, and the smoke will eventually clear.

Kissed by the Godfather of doom....

This from the freep.com:

Millen, the former Detroit Lions president, said he’ll be back in the state of Michigan early this fall, calling college football games for ABC.
He’s expected to broadcast the Michigan-Notre Dame game Sept. 12 in Ann Arbor. He's getting back to work as a college game analyst for ESPN/ABC, studio analyst for NFL games on ESPN and the NFL Network.
Though he’s still figuring out the college game, he has extraordinary faith in Michigan and head coach Rich Rodriguez. “What he’s trying to do, that’s a tough thing because he’s trying to change a whole culture,” Millen said. “What he’s trying to implement and putting in there is going to take time, No. 1, and you have to get the right players for what he’s trying to do. It’s a big change from what Lloyd (Carr) was trying to do. Lloyd had a great program, had a great run, and they went this direction with Rich. Rich will take a little bit of time, but when it’s implemented fully, it can be very explosive.
“Once he gets everything in place, all the pieces, it’ll be Michigan football. I have no doubt Rich will get the job done.”

Awwwww for crissakes. Really? Really? As if we don't have enough black crepe hanging around here, we have to get Matt Millen and his 'expertise'.
Armageddon I say.
Armageddon.