Tuesday, February 23, 2010

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.

Monday, February 22, 2010

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.

Friday, February 19, 2010

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

Monday, February 15, 2010

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 wondate lostHolderGamesWLT
11/6/186911/13/1869Rutgers2110
11/13/186911/30/1876Princeton111010
11/30/187611/28/1878Yale11911
11/28/187811/18/1882Princeton262114
11/18/188211/25/1882Harvard1010
11/25/188211/21/1885Yale272511
11/21/188511/12/1887Princeton171511
11/12/188711/24/1887Harvard2110
11/24/188711/28/1889Yale302910
11/28/188911/27/1890Princeton141211
11/27/189011/30/1893Yale373610
11/30/189311/10/1894Princeton8710
11/10/189410/24/1896Penn262510
10/24/189610/23/1897Lafayette131111
10/23/189711/5/1898Penn161510
11/5/189811/24/1900Harvard242211
11/24/190011/23/1901Yale131111
11/23/190111/22/1902Harvard131111
11/22/190211/14/1903Yale121110
11/14/190310/15/1904Princeton6510
10/15/190410/29/1904Navy3111
10/29/190410/7/1905Swarthmore3210
10/7/190510/13/1906Penn151212
10/13/190611/10/1906Swarthmore4310
11/10/190610/19/1907Navy9711
10/19/190711/9/2007Harvard3210
11/9/200711/7/1908Carlisle10811
11/7/190811/20/1909Harvard111010
11/20/190910/15/1910Yale5410
10/15/191010/29/1910Army211
10/29/191011/4/1911Harvard9711
11/4/191111/2/1912Princeton9810
11/2/191210/23/1915Harvard262312
10/23/191510/28/1916Cornell8710
10/28/191611/18/1916Harvard321
11/18/191611/25/1916Brown101
11/25/191610/27/1917Colgate321
10/27/191711/3/1917Brown101
11/3/191711/16/1918Syracuse871
11/16/191810/25/1919MICHIGAN541
10/25/191911/22/1919OSU321
11/22/191911/13/1920Illinois651
11/13/192011/19/1921Wisconsin8611
11/19/192110/28/1922Chicago431
10/28/192210/20/1923Princeton651
10/20/192311/10/1923Notre Dame321
11/10/192311/24/1923Nebraska211
11/24/192311/8/1924Syracuse7511
11/8/192410/17/1925West Virginia Wesleyan871
10/17/192510/31/1925Lehigh211
10/31/192511/26/1925Mulenberg (PA)321
11/26/19259/25/1926Villanova101
9/25/192610/2/1926Lebanon Valley (PA)101
10/2/192610/16/1926Penn State211
10/16/192611/27/1926Notre Dame651
11/27/192610/15/1927Carnegie Tech431
10/15/192710/13/1928Washington & Jefferson8512
10/13/192810/27/1928Duquesne211
10/27/192811/3/2028Geneva (PA)101
11/3/202811/17/1928Grove City2011
11/17/192811/9/1929Villanova8611
11/9/192911/23/1929Bucknell211
11/23/192911/15/1930Fordham871
11/15/193011/7/1931St. Mary's871
11/7/193111/21/1931Olympic Club101
11/21/193111/28/1931Loyola Marymount101
11/28/19319/24/1932San Diego Marines431
9/24/193210/1/1932Fresno State101
10/1/193210/15/1932West Coast Army211
10/15/193210/22/1932Stanford101
10/22/193211/11/1933USC131111
11/11/19331/31/1934Stanford321
1/31/193410/20/1934Columbia321
10/20/193411/17/1934Navy431
11/17/193410/19/1935Pittsburgh541
10/19/193511/9/1935Notre Dame321
11/9/193511/21/1936Northwestern10811
11/21/193610/16/1937Notre Dame4112
10/16/193710/23/1937Carnegie Tech101
10/23/193711/6/1937Temple2011
11/6/19371/1/1938MSU321
1/1/193810/8/1938Auburn3111
10/8/19381/1/1940Tennessee19181
1/1/194010/26/1940USC5212
10/26/194010/11/1941Stanford871
10/11/194110/25/1941Oregon State101
10/25/194112/6/1941Washington St541
12/6/19411/1/1942Texas A&M101
1/1/194210/31/1942Alabama651
10/31/194211/21/1942Georgia321
11/21/194210/14/1944Auburn431
10/14/194411/4/1944Georgia Tech321
11/4/194410/6/1945Duke761
10/6/194512/1/1945Navy7511
12/1/194510/25/1947Army151212
10/25/194710/2/1948Columbia651
10/2/194810/9/1948Harvard101
10/9/194810/23/1948Cornell211
10/23/194812/2/1950Army222011
12/2/195010/6/1951Navy2011
10/6/195110/11/1952Princeton1091
10/11/195211/1/1952Penn3111
11/1/195211/8/1952Penn State101
11/8/19521/1/1953Syracuse321
1/1/19539/18/1953Alabama101
9/18/195310/31/1953So. Mississippi541
10/31/195311/7/1953Memphis101
11/7/195310/2/1954Arkansas St6411
10/2/195410/15/1954Mississippi St211
10/15/195411/6/1954Miami (FL)321
11/6/195410/29/1955Auburn10811
10/29/195511/12/1955Tulane211
11/12/195511/26/1955Vanderbilt211
11/26/19551/1/1957Tennessee11101
1/1/195710/5/1957Baylor321
10/5/195710/11/1957Miami (FL)101
10/11/195710/19/1957North Carolina101
10/19/195710/26/1957Maryland101
10/26/195711/16/1957Tennessee211
11/16/195711/1/1958Mississippi9711
11/1/195811/7/1959LSU12111
11/7/195911/14/1959Tennessee101
11/14/195911/4/1961Mississippi201811
11/4/196111/3/1962LSU11911
11/3/19621/1/1964Mississippi141112
1/1/19641/1/1965Alabama11101
1/1/196510/16/1965Texas541
10/16/19651/1/1966Arkansas651
1/1/19669/24/1966LSU211
9/24/196610/1/1966Rice101
10/1/196610/8/1966Tennessee101
10/8/196611/26/1966Georgia Tech651
11/26/196610/14/1967Georgia541
10/14/196711/18/1967Mississippi4211
11/18/19671/1/1968Tennessee321
1/1/19689/21/1968Oklahoma101
9/21/19689/28/1968Notre Dame101
9/28/196810/12/1968Purdue211
10/12/196811/22/1969OSU16151
11/22/19691/1/1970MICHIGAN101
1/1/197010/10/1970USC5311
10/10/197011/14/1970Stanford541
11/14/197011/21/1970Air Force101
11/21/197012/12/1970Colorado101
12/12/19709/18/1971Tulane211
9/18/197111/13/1971Georgia871
11/13/197111/27/1971Auburn101
11/27/19711/1/1972Alabama101
1/1/19729/9/1972Nebraska101
9/9/19729/23/1972UCLA211
9/23/197211/25/1972MICHIGAN981
11/25/19721/1/1973OSU101
1/1/197310/27/1973USC7511
10/27/19739/28/1974Notre Dame871
9/28/197410/5/1974Purdue101
10/5/197410/19/1974Duke211
10/19/197410/26/1974Clemson101
10/26/19749/20/1975Tennessee7511
9/20/197510/4/1975UCLA2011
10/4/19751/1/1976OSU871
1/1/197611/20/1976UCLA11911
11/20/197610/8/1977USC761
10/8/19779/23/1978Alabama1091
9/23/197810/14/1978USC211
10/14/197810/28/1978Arizona St101
10/28/197811/11/1978Washington211
11/11/197811/15/1980USC252212
11/15/19801/1/1981Washington211
1/1/19819/12/1981MICHIGAN101
9/12/19819/19/1981Wisconsin101
9/19/19819/26/1981UCLA101
9/26/198110/24/1981Iowa431
10/24/198110/31/1981Minnesota101
10/31/198111/21/1981MICHIGAN321
11/21/19819/25/1982OSU431
9/25/198210/9/1982Stanford211
10/9/198211/13/1982Arizona St431
11/13/198211/20/1982Washington101
11/20/19829/10/1983Washington St211
9/10/19839/17/1983MICHIGAN101
9/17/19839/24/1983Washington101
9/24/198310/1/1983LSU101
10/1/198310/29/1983Florida321
10/29/19838/27/1984Auburn541
8/27/19849/8/1984Miami (FL)211
9/8/19849/15/1984MICHIGAN101
9/15/198411/10/1984Washington871
11/10/198411/17/1984USC101
11/17/19849/28/1985UCLA5311
9/28/198510/19/1985Washington321
10/19/198511/2/1985Oregon State101
11/2/198511/9/1985Arizona101
11/9/198511/23/1985UCLA211
11/23/198512/28/1985USC211
12/28/198510/25/1986Alabama871
10/25/19869/12/1987Penn State761
9/12/19879/19/1987Alabama101
9/19/198710/3/1987Florida211
10/3/198711/7/1987LSU431
11/7/198711/14/1987Alabama101
11/14/198711/21/1987Notre Dame101
11/21/19871/1/1988Penn State101
1/1/19889/17/1988Clemson321
9/17/19889/2/1989Florida St1091
9/2/19899/9/1989So. Mississippi101
9/9/19899/23/1989Mississippi St101
9/23/19899/30/1989Georgia101
9/30/198910/28/1989South Carolina321
10/28/198911/4/1989NC State101
11/4/19891/1/1990Virginia321
1/1/19909/8/1990Illinois101
9/8/19909/29/1990Arizona321
9/29/199010/27/1990California431
10/27/199011/10/1990Washington211
11/10/199011/17/1990UCLA101
11/17/199011/24/1990USC101
11/24/19901/1/1991Notre Dame101
1/1/19919/14/1991Colorado211
9/14/199110/12/1991Baylor431
10/12/199110/19/1991Rice101
10/19/199110/26/1991TCU101
10/26/199111/16/1991Baylor211
11/16/19919/3/1992Texas Tech211
9/3/19929/19/1992Oklahoma211
9/19/199210/3/1992USC101
10/3/199211/7/1992Washington541
11/7/199211/14/1992Arizona101
11/14/199211/21/1992USC101
11/21/19929/4/1993UCLA101
9/4/199310/9/1993California541
10/9/199310/16/1993Washington101
10/16/199311/13/1993UCLA431
11/13/199311/26/1993Arizona St101
11/26/199310/8/1994Arizona651
10/8/199410/22/1994Colorado St211
10/22/199411/5/1994Utah211
11/5/199411/12/1994New Mexico101
11/12/19949/9/1995Wyoming211
9/9/19959/16/1995Air Force101
9/16/19959/30/1995Colorado St101
9/30/199510/14/1995BYU101
10/14/199511/24/1995Arizona St431
11/24/19959/7/1996Arizona211
9/7/19969/21/1996Iowa211
9/21/199610/19/1996Tulsa321
10/19/19969/6/1997BYU871
9/6/19979/20/1997Washington211
9/20/199710/10/1998Nebraska16151
10/10/199811/27/1998Texas A&M651
11/27/19988/28/1999Texas110
8/28/19999/18/1999NC State321
9/18/199910/7/2000Florida St15141
10/7/20001/3/2003Miami (FL)32311
1/3/200310/11/2003OSU651
10/11/200310/18/2003Wisconsin101
10/18/200310/25/2003Purdue101
10/25/20031/1/2004MICHIGAN431
1/1/20041/4/2006USC26251
1/4/20069/9/2006Texas211
9/9/20061/8/2007OSU11101
1/8/20079/29/2007Florida541
9/29/200710/20/2007Auburn321
10/20/200711/23/2007LSU431
11/23/20071/1/2008Arkansas101
1/1/200810/11/2008Missouri651
10/11/200810/25/2008Oklahoma St211
10/25/200811/1/2008Texas101
11/1/200811/22/2008Texas Tech211
11/22/20081/8/2009Oklahoma321
1/8/200912/5/2009Florida13121
12/5/2009Alabama11

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 wondate lost teamgameswlt
11/15/193011/7/1931St. Mary's871 
11/7/193111/21/1931Olympic Club1 1 
11/21/193111/28/1931Loyola Marymount1 1 
11/28/19319/24/1932San Diego Marines1 1 
9/24/193210/1/1932Fresno St1 1 
10/1/193210/15/1932West Coast Army211 
10/15/193210/22/1932Stanford1 1 
10/22/193211/11/1933USC131111
11/11/19331/1/1934Stanford321



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.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

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 wondate lostHolderGamesWLT
10/28/192210/20/1923Princeton6510
10/20/192311/10/1923Notre Dame3210
11/10/192311/24/1923Nebraska2111
11/24/192311/8/1924Syracuse7514
11/8/192410/17/1925West Virginia Wesleyan8710
10/17/192510/31/1925Lehigh2111
10/31/192511/26/1925Mulenberg (PA)3211

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 wondate lostHolderGamesWLT
11/15/193011/7/1931St. Mary's871
11/7/193111/?/1931Olympic Club101
11/?/193111/??/1931Loyola Marymount101
11/??/193110/?/1932San Diego Marines101
10/?/193210/15/1932Loyola Marymount101
10/15/193211/11/1933USC141211

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.

Monday, February 8, 2010

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.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Super Bowl Live Blog

Super Bowl Prediction

Kardashians 17 Kendras 41

but I'm rooting for the Saints

Saturday, February 6, 2010

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.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Robbing the Cradle

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

Thursday, February 4, 2010

"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...

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

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...

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

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

Oh, and Happy Birthday to Mike, too.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Shep and Sharp Poll

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

My answer: Huh?