TICKETS

My tickets arrived yesterday.

I'm pretty much putting all of them on the market. Price on the ticket for most. A little more if someone wants to buy both tickets for ND or OSU.

openers

If you look at it as where I would want to go see a game, I'd have to go for Hawaii or University of Thailand.

nadm

2010 opener

So the Angel of the Bighouse reported that the 2010 opener will not be a team from the 4 rumored and will likely be a team that will make changes to its current schedule.

http://apps.detnews.com/apps/blogs/bigtenblog/index.php?blogid=1549

So that opens it up to what 60 or so schools. Who would be a preference to you. Add in if you were guaranteed to go to the away game rematch in 2011.

What do we know - it is a BCS school (Does that include the Mountain West now?), it isn't Virginia, Pitt, Duke or Oregon St.

Going conference by conference:
ACC: Don't really think any teams are an intruiging match-up - so I would have to base my choice on going for the return game. Boston is a great city so BC wouldn't be bad. I've never been to the Carolinas so any of the Carolina (UNC, NCSt, Duke, Clemson) schools would be good too. I guess I'd go with 1. UNC, 2 Clemson, 3. BC then the rest...

Big East: Not really compelled by any of them. I guess WVU would be the most fun - but I would likely be afraid to go to the return game. So let's go with Rutgers original home of the All-Time College football cup.

Big 12: Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska are the immediate interests. Any of those along with A&M would be the best return trips. I'd pick Oklahoma, M has the least recent history with them. Just that 1976 Orange Bowl comes to mind. Texas would be 2nd because of that crazy big hd screen they've got then A&M then Nebraska.

Big Ten: Minnesota and Northwestern are of the schedule - I'll take the trip to Minnesota's new stadium as the follow up.

Pac Ten: It would be fun to see USC outside of the Rose Bowl. Outside of that I would go with the Arizona schools. 1- USC, 2- Arizona, 3- Arizona St, 4-Stanford, 5-Cal

SEC: Seing any non-Vandebilt, non-Kentucky, non-Mississippi St team would be great. The Les Miles conection might give LSU an edge. The return trip to Tennessee or Ole Miss might be able to overcome that. 1- Ole Miss, 2- LSU, 3- Tenn, 4-Auburn, 5-any of the non 3.

I guess my main choices are based more on the return trip. If you take that out... I'd pick Tennessee. It is a big name - but not one I'd chalk up as a no chance to win..

tressel

While listening to some of Tressel's interview (waiting for the part he supposedly said something about Michigan), I could only think of one thing: If I didn't think he was a crook, I'd think he was great. He presents himself so well. He answers questions honestly. He seems like a good guy. I have no doubt he would be easy to get behind, even if he didn't win. Maybe he is just being slick, but then again RR has a bit of the slickness, too. It will be interesting to see how I feel about Rodrig once he starts winning.

big ten media day

I listened/read/watched a little bit about what various coaches said about things, and I realized they asked the same questions about things like:
-scheduling later in the year
-a playoff
-expansion of the league
-Zoltan Mesko (actually, they just asked Rodrig about this)
-the weak big ten

I wonder if the same reporters asked the same questions each time?

wtka

I can't argue with anything you say. From what I've seen, the consensus prediction for MSU is 4th place. The regional writers probably like Dantonio more than the national media, thus they are saying 3rd. How is that a crazy idea? You'd have to be a senseless homer to think that M could possibly beat MSU up there in East Lansing this year. er, um. I mean you'd have to have a lot of confidence.

WTKA Sparty obsession

Sam Webb and Andy Evans went MSU crazy again this morning. Apparently the Beg Ten Media released their top 3 conference teams - Penn St; OSU and MSU. Additionally, Spartan linebacker, Greg Jones, was the preseason defensive player of the year. According to the TKA duo, these things are impossible. Michigan's 3-9 season last year taught them nothing about the breadth of possibilities in college football. Now I haven't done a whole lot of homework on this yet - but I certainly wouldn't say there is "NO WAY" MSU could finish 3rd. That the "Free Press and the News have become Saprtan homers."
Might as well say they will never play in the Rose Bowl again...

canadian football playoffs

No, it isn't time for the CFL playoffs yet. They are only in week 4, I think. But, I had to tell you something about the strange crossover rule they have in determining who makes the playoffs in the CFL. If you go to their website, they use this long explanation, but ultimately it works like this.

There are 8 teams in the league, divided up in two divisions. The top team in each division gets home field advantage in their division for the playoffs. The second place team in each division gets a playoff bid. Then the top two teams of the remaining four get the remaining spot in each division. If the 4th place record of one of the divisions is better (not the same) as the 3rd in the other division, it gets the slot in the opposite division. That team will be 3rd in that division, even if it has a better record than the 2nd place team in its new division. 3rd plays at second. winner plays at first. firsts go to Grey Cup.

Interesting. Of course, 6 teams of 8 making the playoffs kindof makes the whole thing senseless. Since they have had the crossover rule, no crossover team has won a playoff game.

They say this allows them to keep more teams in the playoff hunt for longer, and allows, usually, the 6 teams with the best record to make the playoffs. Also, because they are still in divisions, they still have the division rivals, etc.

8-5

It is very optimistic. As I said, 8-5 is the highest I see in a 90% confidence interval.

prediction

That is way too confident. But, I'll take it.

Official M Football prediction (July Version)

As we move to within 45 days of the Michigan Football season, I figured I'd make an official (July with potential for change) prediction.

WMU W
Notre Dame L
EMU W
Indiana W
@ MSU W
@ Iowa L
Delaware St W
Penn St L
@ Illinois L
Purdue W
@ Wisconsin W
OSU L
Bowl (Champs Sports or Motor City) W
8-5

90% confidence interval puts M's record between 5-7 and 8-5. 100% confidence interval puts M between 4-8 and 9-4.

Michigan and MSU

I don't know if you've heard but MSU now "owns" the state for football recruiting. Unfortunately I have to hear Sam Webb and Andy Evans go overboard. They act as if there is no chance that MSU could ever become a dominant program again and that M could never fall back into their pre-Bo malaise.
I doubt the MSU faithful were too worried about M becoming the dominant program in the state early in Bo's tenure. M probably hadn't won twice in a row against MSU in quite some time. Duffy could get the best players in the state and had a pipeline to the south that M didn't have. It didn't take long for the Spartans to fall and M to become dominant.
I don't like to admit it, but this is a very critical time for the football program. Another bowl-less season will bring out more anger in the fans who suddenly "always doubted RR was the right choice." It would be interesting to see what how much pressure would come down on Martin. I hope we don't have to find out.

Bowl cup v all-time cup

I also updated the post about the all-time cup. I had to make some corrections from my initial post. Assuming we're correct with WV Wesleyan there is also a problem with Wichita St that I hadn't realized. They were non 1-A at the time and have since dropped their program so it is going to be very difficult to fill in the gaps.

EDIT: Found the gaps at Wichita St and it is not good. After beating Texas Tech, they lost the next week to Fort Hays State. Who lost the next week to NAIA Benedictine (KS). This is not good. It would be great if WVW could lose to some other major school and get us out of this mess...

I tried to do the all-time losers cup it gets stopped very quickly with someone losing to NYU. I found a web site on NYU football and they would have lost the cup (lost the cup by winning the game) to what I think was an Athletic Club...

bowl cup

I think this cup is much more important than the other one.

Unfortunately, 6-6 M will lose it to some 7-5 team in a December 28 bowl.

All-time bowl cup

As we discussed recently, Florida has the mythical all-time college football travelling trophy.
I also thought it would be a good idea to track the all-time college bowl trophy. Michigan's victory of Stanford in the 1902 Rose Bowl made them the original holders of the All-Time College Bowl Travelling Trophy - but then what happened.

Team	Won	Lost	Record
Michigan	1/1/1902	1/1/1970	4-1
USC	1/1/1970	1/1/1974	1-1
OSU	1/1/1974	1/1/1975	0-1
USC	1/1/1975	1/1/1982	5-1
Penn St	1/1/1982	1/1/1986	2-1
Oklahoma	1/1/1986	1/1/1988	1-1
Miami (FL)	1/1/1988	1/1/1993	4-1
Alabama	1/1/1993	12/29/1998	3-1
Virginia Tech	12/29/1998	1/4/2000	0-1
Florida State	1/4/2000	1/3/2001	0-1
Oklahoma	1/3/2001	1/4/2004	2-1
LSU	1/4/2004	1/1/2005	0-1
Iowa	1/1/2005	1/2/2006	0-1
Florida	1/2/2006	1/1/2008	1-1
Michigan	1/1/2008

I guess we can be thankful that M didn't get a chance to lose the trophy last season...

Lebron, Vacation, etc.

About Lebron, I didn't really understand the hype about him when he was in high school, and I don't get it now. I don't get how anyone thinks they can control the media in these days of omninpresent media (internet, etc.). With that said, of course, I do wonder how that video hasn't popped up somewhere. Clearly, someone has some power somewhere.

We spent the entire weekend up north. The weather didn't really cooperate, but it was nice to be up there.

The more I look at M's schedule, the more I see 6-6. I really want to predict 7-5, but to do that I would have to think M will beat ND, which I don't, or to pull a win on the road against Ill, MSU or Wisconsin, which I don't, or to beat OSU or PSU, which I don't. But, it isn't that I am pessimistic. I actually think M will be much much better, and will not get blown out much and will play a lot of tight games. I just don't think more than 6 wins is possible. Sure, the overall schedule is easy if you give a value to each team and take the total. But on a game-by-game basis, M has a tough schedule. Playing two of the best teams at home is only good if you are good enough to beat them at home. Playing three of the mid teams (where you hope M is) on the road is horrible. Playing EMU, Del St., Ind and PU at home are easy wins.

testing scripts

Hello

Jim

How are you?

Sure would be nice to make an arrow &rarr

When are you coming to A²?

LeBron James sissiness

Apparently LeBron James got dunked on by some high schooler at his basketball camp. The video went up on youtube. Then Nike stepped in and somehow forced the video off youtube. I guess they don't want their 'bron'bron to look bad on the intertubes.

Vacation

Did you enjoy your trip up north? We were busy. The best part may have been kayaking up at Pictured Rocks. The water was pretty choppy at times, especially the closer you got to the rocks or when a tour boat went by.

We also went right kayaking right on Little Bay de Noc down from my dad's. We saw a bald eagle circling over the bay.

Sanford and Son

I didn't know he kept talking about it. When I heard that his wife asked him not to go to Argetina before his trip when he got caught, I was flabbergasted. I thought the entire idea of an affair was to have sex or to have companionship you don't get at home. It certainly isn't worth going to Argentina and ruining your career for sex, so he must have 'really liked' (in the 3rd grade way of 'really liking') her. Then, really, just get a divorce!!! Sure, the career could take a hit there, too, but does he really feel he is so powerful and above scrutiny that this wouldn't come back at him. I don't understand.



As for it being in the news, I don't care. I don't pay attention.



As for Michael, he may have been a freak, and whether you liked him or hated him, he was the biggest part of our the popular culture of our generation. I don't know if it makes me feel old, and I am not really mourning, but it definitely hit me in some way. I think it is just knowing that the things that were so commonly part of my HS/College years are truly disappearing. Not that there aren't good things about that, too.



We're heading up north, Me, My Wife and My Son (thus the Title) for the 4th and all of next week.



I watched some CFL last night. It is football (kindof) and I miss football, so I watched it. The plays they run are very spread option-esque, which makes sense because spreading out is easier to do on the large field. I think RR needs to get some pointers from the CFL coaches. Of course, that would probably result in a lot of illegal motion and too many players on the field penalties. HAHAHAHAHA. Never a dull moment.



But, seriously (kindof), there are two M players in the CFL. Kashama plays for Calgary and some OL named Wilson plays for Montreal. Those are my favorite two teams at this time. They played last night (I didn't catch any of that game) and Montreal won.



jiM out

Mark Sanford

Why doesn't this guy realize that there are bigger "news" stories than his affair. If he'd just shut up, the MSM would be able to concentrate all their efforts on the Michael Jackson saga.