From the RR rally

He repeated his "all in" mantra, which he has made the unifying slogan of the program and said "everybody else that's not all in -- the hell with them," to a raucous cheer.

To hell with me, huh? To hell with you! How do you like that?! I wanna tell you something, anybody says anything about Iowa better be prepared to back it up, pal. I'll give you a fist-full of Iowa naiveté right in the puss! How about that?

NCAA and Michigan

I don't have nearly the strong opinions about whether the NCAA report was "devastating" or "not a big deal", but I have a few thoughts:
1) The U (Brandon, Coleman, Rodriguez) is clearly trying to downplay things, and it seems a bit disingenuous. We'll see if I'm reading that wrong.
2) Clearly, RR and his staff did things that were wrong, and the Freep was right.
3) Regardless of when RR leaves (which will likely be before the 6 years of my original prediction) the consensus will be that his hire/tenure has been a mistake. We'll see how long it will take until that time comes.
4) Brandon's comments during his first interviews after he was announced AD that everybody has to be on the same team and we don't need a splintered Athletic Department/Michigan Family, etc. was just made even less likely after the announcement today.

Miracle on Ice

30 years ago today Terry Aicher and I were among the the last "athletes" left in a gym in Sault Ste Marie Canada. The UP games were in Soo Canada in 1980, Terry and I were teammates on the 7th grade Gladstone Basketball squad (we would finish out of the medals).

Our host family apparently forgot about us and Don Pfotenhauer (the long time Athletic Director) was working hard to find us a place to stay. He overheard a woman looking for 2 skiers from Iron Mountain and when they were nowhere to be found Mr Pfotenhauer stepped in and asked if "2 basketball players from Gladstone would do?"

While we were waiting they announced over the PA in the gym that the US hockey team had beaten the USSR in what would be dubbed the Miracle on Ice. But like everyone else, I've seen replays of the game especially the closing seconds. Al Michaels "Do you believe in Miracles?" is in my opinion the best announcing clip I've ever heard.




I do remember some of the other games. I remember watching the opening game against Sweden where the US scored in the last seconds with an extra skater to tie the game. Our family had never really watched hockey before those games.

Sad News about Boilermaker Bob

Looks like Purdue is going to be changing the image of Boilermaker Bob soon... This is just another bit of insight I've gained from the Uniwatch Blog

one trophy post to rule them all

Here is the full hopefully unbroken chain of college football's traveling trophy from Rutgers in 1869 to Alabama in January 2010:

Date won	date lost	Holder	Games	W	L	T
11/6/1869	11/13/1869	Rutgers	2	1	1	0
11/13/1869	11/30/1876	Princeton	11	10	1	0
11/30/1876	11/28/1878	Yale	11	9	1	1
11/28/1878	11/18/1882	Princeton	26	21	1	4
11/18/1882	11/25/1882	Harvard	1	0	1	0
11/25/1882	11/21/1885	Yale	27	25	1	1
11/21/1885	11/12/1887	Princeton	17	15	1	1
11/12/1887	11/24/1887	Harvard	2	1	1	0
11/24/1887	11/28/1889	Yale	30	29	1	0
11/28/1889	11/27/1890	Princeton	14	12	1	1
11/27/1890	11/30/1893	Yale	37	36	1	0
11/30/1893	11/10/1894	Princeton	8	7	1	0
11/10/1894	10/24/1896	Penn	26	25	1	0
10/24/1896	10/23/1897	Lafayette	13	11	1	1
10/23/1897	11/5/1898	Penn	16	15	1	0
11/5/1898	11/24/1900	Harvard	24	22	1	1
11/24/1900	11/23/1901	Yale	13	11	1	1
11/23/1901	11/22/1902	Harvard	13	11	1	1
11/22/1902	11/14/1903	Yale	12	11	1	0
11/14/1903	10/15/1904	Princeton	6	5	1	0
10/15/1904	10/29/1904	Navy	3	1	1	1
10/29/1904	10/7/1905	Swarthmore	3	2	1	0
10/7/1905	10/13/1906	Penn	15	12	1	2
10/13/1906	11/10/1906	Swarthmore	4	3	1	0
11/10/1906	10/19/1907	Navy	9	7	1	1
10/19/1907	11/9/2007	Harvard	3	2	1	0
11/9/2007	11/7/1908	Carlisle	10	8	1	1
11/7/1908	11/20/1909	Harvard	11	10	1	0
11/20/1909	10/15/1910	Yale	5	4	1	0
10/15/1910	10/29/1910	Army	2	1	1
10/29/1910	11/4/1911	Harvard	9	7	1	1
11/4/1911	11/2/1912	Princeton	9	8	1	0
11/2/1912	10/23/1915	Harvard	26	23	1	2
10/23/1915	10/28/1916	Cornell	8	7	1	0
10/28/1916	11/18/1916	Harvard	3	2	1
11/18/1916	11/25/1916	Brown	1	0	1
11/25/1916	10/27/1917	Colgate	3	2	1
10/27/1917	11/3/1917	Brown	1	0	1
11/3/1917	11/16/1918	Syracuse	8	7	1
11/16/1918	10/25/1919	MICHIGAN	5	4	1
10/25/1919	11/22/1919	OSU	3	2	1
11/22/1919	11/13/1920	Illinois	6	5	1
11/13/1920	11/19/1921	Wisconsin	8	6	1	1
11/19/1921	10/28/1922	Chicago	4	3	1
10/28/1922	10/20/1923	Princeton	6	5	1
10/20/1923	11/10/1923	Notre Dame	3	2	1
11/10/1923	11/24/1923	Nebraska	2	1	1
11/24/1923	11/8/1924	Syracuse	7	5	1	1
11/8/1924	10/17/1925	West Virginia Wesleyan	8	7	1
10/17/1925	10/31/1925	Lehigh	2	1	1
10/31/1925	11/26/1925	Mulenberg (PA)	3	2	1
11/26/1925	9/25/1926	Villanova	1	0	1
9/25/1926	10/2/1926	Lebanon Valley (PA)	1	0	1
10/2/1926	10/16/1926	Penn State	2	1	1
10/16/1926	11/27/1926	Notre Dame	6	5	1
11/27/1926	10/15/1927	Carnegie Tech	4	3	1
10/15/1927	10/13/1928	Washington & Jefferson	8	5	1	2
10/13/1928	10/27/1928	Duquesne	2	1	1
10/27/1928	11/3/2028	Geneva (PA)	1	0	1
11/3/2028	11/17/1928	Grove City	2	0	1	1
11/17/1928	11/9/1929	Villanova	8	6	1	1
11/9/1929	11/23/1929	Bucknell	2	1	1
11/23/1929	11/15/1930	Fordham	8	7	1
11/15/1930	11/7/1931	St. Mary's	8	7	1
11/7/1931	11/21/1931	Olympic Club	1	0	1
11/21/1931	11/28/1931	Loyola Marymount	1	0	1
11/28/1931	9/24/1932	San Diego Marines	4	3	1
9/24/1932	10/1/1932	Fresno State	1	0	1
10/1/1932	10/15/1932	West Coast Army	2	1	1
10/15/1932	10/22/1932	Stanford	1	0	1
10/22/1932	11/11/1933	USC	13	11	1	1
11/11/1933	1/31/1934	Stanford	3	2	1
1/31/1934	10/20/1934	Columbia	3	2	1
10/20/1934	11/17/1934	Navy	4	3	1
11/17/1934	10/19/1935	Pittsburgh	5	4	1
10/19/1935	11/9/1935	Notre Dame	3	2	1
11/9/1935	11/21/1936	Northwestern	10	8	1	1
11/21/1936	10/16/1937	Notre Dame	4	1	1	2
10/16/1937	10/23/1937	Carnegie Tech	1	0	1
10/23/1937	11/6/1937	Temple	2	0	1	1
11/6/1937	1/1/1938	MSU	3	2	1
1/1/1938	10/8/1938	Auburn	3	1	1	1
10/8/1938	1/1/1940	Tennessee	19	18	1
1/1/1940	10/26/1940	USC	5	2	1	2
10/26/1940	10/11/1941	Stanford	8	7	1
10/11/1941	10/25/1941	Oregon State	1	0	1
10/25/1941	12/6/1941	Washington St	5	4	1
12/6/1941	1/1/1942	Texas A&M	1	0	1
1/1/1942	10/31/1942	Alabama	6	5	1
10/31/1942	11/21/1942	Georgia	3	2	1
11/21/1942	10/14/1944	Auburn	4	3	1
10/14/1944	11/4/1944	Georgia Tech	3	2	1
11/4/1944	10/6/1945	Duke	7	6	1
10/6/1945	12/1/1945	Navy	7	5	1	1
12/1/1945	10/25/1947	Army	15	12	1	2
10/25/1947	10/2/1948	Columbia	6	5	1
10/2/1948	10/9/1948	Harvard	1	0	1
10/9/1948	10/23/1948	Cornell	2	1	1
10/23/1948	12/2/1950	Army	22	20	1	1
12/2/1950	10/6/1951	Navy	2	0	1	1
10/6/1951	10/11/1952	Princeton	10	9	1
10/11/1952	11/1/1952	Penn	3	1	1	1
11/1/1952	11/8/1952	Penn State	1	0	1
11/8/1952	1/1/1953	Syracuse	3	2	1
1/1/1953	9/18/1953	Alabama	1	0	1
9/18/1953	10/31/1953	So. Mississippi	5	4	1
10/31/1953	11/7/1953	Memphis	1	0	1
11/7/1953	10/2/1954	Arkansas St	6	4	1	1
10/2/1954	10/15/1954	Mississippi St	2	1	1
10/15/1954	11/6/1954	Miami (FL)	3	2	1
11/6/1954	10/29/1955	Auburn	10	8	1	1
10/29/1955	11/12/1955	Tulane	2	1	1
11/12/1955	11/26/1955	Vanderbilt	2	1	1
11/26/1955	1/1/1957	Tennessee	11	10	1
1/1/1957	10/5/1957	Baylor	3	2	1
10/5/1957	10/11/1957	Miami (FL)	1	0	1
10/11/1957	10/19/1957	North Carolina	1	0	1
10/19/1957	10/26/1957	Maryland	1	0	1
10/26/1957	11/16/1957	Tennessee	2	1	1
11/16/1957	11/1/1958	Mississippi	9	7	1	1
11/1/1958	11/7/1959	LSU	12	11	1
11/7/1959	11/14/1959	Tennessee	1	0	1
11/14/1959	11/4/1961	Mississippi	20	18	1	1
11/4/1961	11/3/1962	LSU	11	9	1	1
11/3/1962	1/1/1964	Mississippi	14	11	1	2
1/1/1964	1/1/1965	Alabama	11	10	1
1/1/1965	10/16/1965	Texas	5	4	1
10/16/1965	1/1/1966	Arkansas	6	5	1
1/1/1966	9/24/1966	LSU	2	1	1
9/24/1966	10/1/1966	Rice	1	0	1
10/1/1966	10/8/1966	Tennessee	1	0	1
10/8/1966	11/26/1966	Georgia Tech	6	5	1
11/26/1966	10/14/1967	Georgia	5	4	1
10/14/1967	11/18/1967	Mississippi	4	2	1	1
11/18/1967	1/1/1968	Tennessee	3	2	1
1/1/1968	9/21/1968	Oklahoma	1	0	1
9/21/1968	9/28/1968	Notre Dame	1	0	1
9/28/1968	10/12/1968	Purdue	2	1	1
10/12/1968	11/22/1969	OSU	16	15	1
11/22/1969	1/1/1970	MICHIGAN	1	0	1
1/1/1970	10/10/1970	USC	5	3	1	1
10/10/1970	11/14/1970	Stanford	5	4	1
11/14/1970	11/21/1970	Air Force	1	0	1
11/21/1970	12/12/1970	Colorado	1	0	1
12/12/1970	9/18/1971	Tulane	2	1	1
9/18/1971	11/13/1971	Georgia	8	7	1
11/13/1971	11/27/1971	Auburn	1	0	1
11/27/1971	1/1/1972	Alabama	1	0	1
1/1/1972	9/9/1972	Nebraska	1	0	1
9/9/1972	9/23/1972	UCLA	2	1	1
9/23/1972	11/25/1972	MICHIGAN	9	8	1
11/25/1972	1/1/1973	OSU	1	0	1
1/1/1973	10/27/1973	USC	7	5	1	1
10/27/1973	9/28/1974	Notre Dame	8	7	1
9/28/1974	10/5/1974	Purdue	1	0	1
10/5/1974	10/19/1974	Duke	2	1	1
10/19/1974	10/26/1974	Clemson	1	0	1
10/26/1974	9/20/1975	Tennessee	7	5	1	1
9/20/1975	10/4/1975	UCLA	2	0	1	1
10/4/1975	1/1/1976	OSU	8	7	1
1/1/1976	11/20/1976	UCLA	11	9	1	1
11/20/1976	10/8/1977	USC	7	6	1
10/8/1977	9/23/1978	Alabama	10	9	1
9/23/1978	10/14/1978	USC	2	1	1
10/14/1978	10/28/1978	Arizona St	1	0	1
10/28/1978	11/11/1978	Washington	2	1	1
11/11/1978	11/15/1980	USC	25	22	1	2
11/15/1980	1/1/1981	Washington	2	1	1
1/1/1981	9/12/1981	MICHIGAN	1	0	1
9/12/1981	9/19/1981	Wisconsin	1	0	1
9/19/1981	9/26/1981	UCLA	1	0	1
9/26/1981	10/24/1981	Iowa	4	3	1
10/24/1981	10/31/1981	Minnesota	1	0	1
10/31/1981	11/21/1981	MICHIGAN	3	2	1
11/21/1981	9/25/1982	OSU	4	3	1
9/25/1982	10/9/1982	Stanford	2	1	1
10/9/1982	11/13/1982	Arizona St	4	3	1
11/13/1982	11/20/1982	Washington	1	0	1
11/20/1982	9/10/1983	Washington St	2	1	1
9/10/1983	9/17/1983	MICHIGAN	1	0	1
9/17/1983	9/24/1983	Washington	1	0	1
9/24/1983	10/1/1983	LSU	1	0	1
10/1/1983	10/29/1983	Florida	3	2	1
10/29/1983	8/27/1984	Auburn	5	4	1
8/27/1984	9/8/1984	Miami (FL)	2	1	1
9/8/1984	9/15/1984	MICHIGAN	1	0	1
9/15/1984	11/10/1984	Washington	8	7	1
11/10/1984	11/17/1984	USC	1	0	1
11/17/1984	9/28/1985	UCLA	5	3	1	1
9/28/1985	10/19/1985	Washington	3	2	1
10/19/1985	11/2/1985	Oregon State	1	0	1
11/2/1985	11/9/1985	Arizona	1	0	1
11/9/1985	11/23/1985	UCLA	2	1	1
11/23/1985	12/28/1985	USC	2	1	1
12/28/1985	10/25/1986	Alabama	8	7	1
10/25/1986	9/12/1987	Penn State	7	6	1
9/12/1987	9/19/1987	Alabama	1	0	1
9/19/1987	10/3/1987	Florida	2	1	1
10/3/1987	11/7/1987	LSU	4	3	1
11/7/1987	11/14/1987	Alabama	1	0	1
11/14/1987	11/21/1987	Notre Dame	1	0	1
11/21/1987	1/1/1988	Penn State	1	0	1
1/1/1988	9/17/1988	Clemson	3	2	1
9/17/1988	9/2/1989	Florida St	10	9	1
9/2/1989	9/9/1989	So. Mississippi	1	0	1
9/9/1989	9/23/1989	Mississippi St	1	0	1
9/23/1989	9/30/1989	Georgia	1	0	1
9/30/1989	10/28/1989	South Carolina	3	2	1
10/28/1989	11/4/1989	NC State	1	0	1
11/4/1989	1/1/1990	Virginia	3	2	1
1/1/1990	9/8/1990	Illinois	1	0	1
9/8/1990	9/29/1990	Arizona	3	2	1
9/29/1990	10/27/1990	California	4	3	1
10/27/1990	11/10/1990	Washington	2	1	1
11/10/1990	11/17/1990	UCLA	1	0	1
11/17/1990	11/24/1990	USC	1	0	1
11/24/1990	1/1/1991	Notre Dame	1	0	1
1/1/1991	9/14/1991	Colorado	2	1	1
9/14/1991	10/12/1991	Baylor	4	3	1
10/12/1991	10/19/1991	Rice	1	0	1
10/19/1991	10/26/1991	TCU	1	0	1
10/26/1991	11/16/1991	Baylor	2	1	1
11/16/1991	9/3/1992	Texas Tech	2	1	1
9/3/1992	9/19/1992	Oklahoma	2	1	1
9/19/1992	10/3/1992	USC	1	0	1
10/3/1992	11/7/1992	Washington	5	4	1
11/7/1992	11/14/1992	Arizona	1	0	1
11/14/1992	11/21/1992	USC	1	0	1
11/21/1992	9/4/1993	UCLA	1	0	1
9/4/1993	10/9/1993	California	5	4	1
10/9/1993	10/16/1993	Washington	1	0	1
10/16/1993	11/13/1993	UCLA	4	3	1
11/13/1993	11/26/1993	Arizona St	1	0	1
11/26/1993	10/8/1994	Arizona	6	5	1
10/8/1994	10/22/1994	Colorado St	2	1	1
10/22/1994	11/5/1994	Utah	2	1	1
11/5/1994	11/12/1994	New Mexico	1	0	1
11/12/1994	9/9/1995	Wyoming	2	1	1
9/9/1995	9/16/1995	Air Force	1	0	1
9/16/1995	9/30/1995	Colorado St	1	0	1
9/30/1995	10/14/1995	BYU	1	0	1
10/14/1995	11/24/1995	Arizona St	4	3	1
11/24/1995	9/7/1996	Arizona	2	1	1
9/7/1996	9/21/1996	Iowa	2	1	1
9/21/1996	10/19/1996	Tulsa	3	2	1
10/19/1996	9/6/1997	BYU	8	7	1
9/6/1997	9/20/1997	Washington	2	1	1
9/20/1997	10/10/1998	Nebraska	16	15	1
10/10/1998	11/27/1998	Texas A&M	6	5	1
11/27/1998	8/28/1999	Texas	1	1	0
8/28/1999	9/18/1999	NC State	3	2	1
9/18/1999	10/7/2000	Florida St	15	14	1
10/7/2000	1/3/2003	Miami (FL)	32	31	1
1/3/2003	10/11/2003	OSU	6	5	1
10/11/2003	10/18/2003	Wisconsin	1	0	1
10/18/2003	10/25/2003	Purdue	1	0	1
10/25/2003	1/1/2004	MICHIGAN	4	3	1
1/1/2004	1/4/2006	USC	26	25	1
1/4/2006	9/9/2006	Texas	2	1	1
9/9/2006	1/8/2007	OSU	11	10	1
1/8/2007	9/29/2007	Florida	5	4	1
9/29/2007	10/20/2007	Auburn	3	2	1
10/20/2007	11/23/2007	LSU	4	3	1
11/23/2007	1/1/2008	Arkansas	1	0	1
1/1/2008	10/11/2008	Missouri	6	5	1
10/11/2008	10/25/2008	Oklahoma St	2	1	1
10/25/2008	11/1/2008	Texas	1	0	1
11/1/2008	11/22/2008	Texas Tech	2	1	1
11/22/2008	1/8/2009	Oklahoma	3	2	1
1/8/2009	12/5/2009	Florida	13	12	1
12/5/2009		Alabama	1	1

Trophy final(?) update

I think this is it. I was able to do some homework this President's Day and tracked down the information that closes all the gaps.

Here is the portion of the table beginning with St Mary's loss to Olympic Club that now connects back to Stanford from 1931-1933:

date won	date lost	team	games	w	l	t
11/15/1930	11/7/1931	St. Mary's	8	7	1
11/7/1931	11/21/1931	Olympic Club	1		1
11/21/1931	11/28/1931	Loyola Marymount	1		1
11/28/1931	9/24/1932	San Diego Marines	1		1
9/24/1932	10/1/1932	Fresno St	1		1
10/1/1932	10/15/1932	West Coast Army	2	1	1
10/15/1932	10/22/1932	Stanford	1		1
10/22/1932	11/11/1933	USC	13	11	1	1
11/11/1933	1/1/1934	Stanford	3	2	1

Every plus seemed to have its own minus. The loss by Olympic Club to Loyola Marymount got us back into college football, only to have Loyola lose the next week to the San Diego Marines. The Marine lost right away to Fresno State - again back to a real college. Then Fresno gave it back to West Coast Army!?!? West Coast Army won again the next week against Univ of San Francisco, before getting us back to real college the next week in a loss to Stanford. From here it connects back to what we already had. I'll post the full updated list in the next post.

108,000 fans for the NBA all-star game?

How ridiculous is it that 108,000+ fans showed up at Jerry Jones's palace to watch the NBA all-star game? At times I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't watch the NBA. Then I saw a post on mgoblog that eventually turned into "the NBA is terrible."
The NBA is way too much 8 guys standing around waiting for the "star" to make his move.
If that many Texans had nothing better to do than shell out what I assume was big bucks to go to the NBA All-Star game, then maybe somebody should mess with Texas...

Where to Buy Cheap Longhorn T-Shirt

About 14,000 shirts touting Texas as the 2009 national champion have been sent to Haiti, where they will be given to earthquake victims. The shirts were printed in advance of the BCS title game and would've been destroyed had they not been shipped to the island nation.

Olympics

Early Saturday evening, I was planning to post about how much I despised NBCs Olympics coverage. Their commercial/talking head story to competitor ratio was ridiculously high. Then Saturday night they actually began showing short track speed skating finals and the women's moguls and very few breaks for "heart felt stories". Yesterday as well, they seemed to really show a lot more events.
I'll give them slack for now. Keep up the events, if there is nothing to show on weekend afternoons, then don't come on until there is something.

Traveling Trophy Update

I did some more investigation into the Mythical All-Time Traveling Trophy. As you may remember the first "problem" occurs when West Virginia Wesleyan defeats Syracuse in 1924.

The main databases used Horner and College Football Data Warehouse do not show all WVW games. Attempts were made to contact WVW directly but they have never responded.

Greg from MVictors discovered a loss that we had missed in an earlier draft. Last night I confirmed that loss was the first and confirmed the 7 victories in between via the WVW Student Newspaper.

Here is a table of the surrounding data:

Date won	date lost	Holder	Games	W	L	T
10/28/1922	10/20/1923	Princeton	6	5	1	0
10/20/1923	11/10/1923	Notre Dame	3	2	1	0
11/10/1923	11/24/1923	Nebraska	2	1	1	1
11/24/1923	11/8/1924	Syracuse	7	5	1	4
11/8/1924	10/17/1925	West Virginia Wesleyan	8	7	1	0
10/17/1925	10/31/1925	Lehigh	2	1	1	1
10/31/1925	11/26/1925	Mulenberg (PA)	3	2	1	1

This closes the book on the long debated WVW portion of the trophy's travels. The next are of "suspect" data is when St. Mary's loses to the Olympic Club in 1931.

Date won	date lost	Holder	Games	W	L	T
11/15/1930	11/7/1931	St. Mary's	8	7	1
11/7/1931	11/?/1931	Olympic Club	1	0	1
11/?/1931	11/??/1931	Loyola Marymount	1	0	1
11/??/1931	10/?/1932	San Diego Marines	1	0	1
10/?/1932	10/15/1932	Loyola Marymount	1	0	1
10/15/1932	11/11/1933	USC	14	12	1	1

The Olympic Club is a San Francisco area athletic club that played west coast college teams from 1891-1934. This makes it difficult to verify their full schedules.

I'm more confident that Alabama is the TRUE holder of the trophy, but there is still work to be done.

big game recap

I thought the Colts third drive was key. They dropped a conversion pass on 3rd down. If they hit that and score another TD (a couple of "if's"), a 17-0 lead is a much bigger deal than 10-0.

Mike Hart's failure to get a first down on short yardage after the Colts goal line stand leads to 3 Saints points.

Obviously the onside kick, after Sean Payton had already gone for it on 4th and goal, showed the confidence he had in his team. E network star Hank Baskett misplayed the bounce for the Colts.

I was convinced that the Colts were going to tie the score prior to the pick-six. I just wasn't sure if there would be time for the Saints to try to score to avoid overtime.

I think the Saints kicker should have gotten some MVP consideration. Obviously Brees was a bigger "hero", but the kicker made 3 fgs over 40 yards and executed a successful onside kick.

CBS might run the best production of NFL. There were no digital robots and sound effects with every graphic (thanks fox). Other than the obvious ad for HIMYM, there were no crowd shots of CBS personalities (another Fox classic). Nantz and Simms are not perfect, but I think they're better than Michaels and whoever is on NBC, the ESPN crowded booth and MUCH better than Buck and Aikmen.

Super Bowl Live Blog

Super Bowl Prediction

Kardashians 17 Kendras 41

but I'm rooting for the Saints

Hockey game @ Camp Randall

The ice did not seem very good in the first period. I think the puck actually stopped on the ice a couple times. Hogan appeared to dig ruts down to the paint in his crease in the first period.
M was lucky to come out of the first tied at 1.

They seem to be playing better so far in the 2nd period.

M got a redirected goal about midway through the 3rd. The announcers never mention the redirection off the defenseman - they keep blaming the poor angle the goalie took.

Weak penalty call with about 5 minutes left leads to a quick PP goal to tie it up for the Badgers. A second weak call with just under 3 minutes left leads to a second PP goal (another redirection that the announcers miss). M loses 3-2. A win or a tie would have greatly helped their tournament chances. I would think they need to win the rest of their CCHA games to be in the mix.

Robbing the Cradle

I could criticize Lane Kiffin about this story
but I'd rather criticize USC.

"troubled" recruit

I blame mgobrian for my following of any sort of recruiting. I used to pride myself on knowing none of the players until they showed up on the first Saturday in September.

There seems to be quite a ruckus about last signee Demar Dorsey and his "criminal" past. On the "Michigan can do no right" side, you've got Drew Sharp and other "journalists" who can't understand why M would take a chance on someone with such a questionable past.

On the other side is the "doesn't everyone deserve a 2nd chance" mgodittoheads. To them anything outside of a blog is questionable and is obviously anti-Michigan biased!

Can't the truth be somewhere in between. Would you feel more comfortable if MSU had signed someone with two felony arrests on their record than Michigan? I would. At the same time, he was acquitted and had charges dropped. Dorsey said himself he thinks getting away from his home in Florida would be good for him.

At this point, I'll put my trust in the M coaches and hope that Dorsey really has learned from his past. This signing certainly will increase the pressure from some of the anti-RR crowd. I wonder if Harbaugh will be able to keep Dorsey when he takes over...

Lost

I was worried that after the 2nd replay of the explosion that the whole episode was going to be multiple "versions" of the outcome. I was glad there was no third replay.
I liked the cameos (Boone, Desmond, Arzt etc.) but get the feeling that this might be the only final season appearance for most of them.
It seems the Sayid is the new Jacob to counteract Locke is the new Man in Black seems a little too easy. Hopefully it is a little more than that.
I think it is obvious that everyone is better off on the island (well maybe not the people who died...) their lives in LA do not seem to be too exciting.
It will be interesting to see how much time is spent on their LA lives. Or if it will quickly get to them into realizing they need to fly back.
You need to get a lap top or a tv in near your computer so we can start Lost Liveblogging...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

...to my wife's Aunt Eleanor. I think she is about 82 today.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to Mike, too.

Shep and Sharp Poll

Which player would you like to see in a Tiger uniform?
Johnny Damon
Jermaine Dye

My answer: Huh?