The most comprehensive part, “The Fans,” is still forthcoming. Again, feel free to speakyour mind on the matter in the comments.

Not only are many of the Michigan cheerleaders lacking in the aesthetics department, but their ability to enhance the gameday atmosphere is seemingly nonexistent. They participate in many of the songs in which the band leads the students (doing “The Claw” with their megaphones during “Temptation”), but do little else. They have cheers that nobody has ever heard, and they don’t exactly make up for their novelty with catchiness. Moreover, they seem to feel like they are working, rather than having fun at the game (which, admittedly, they are, but when it’s your job to seem excited, then you had better do it). They rarely encourage the fans to make noise on opponents’ possessions, and when they do, it’s only by holding up signs that say “NOISE” on them, or even by having signs instructing people to perform the :shudder: God Damn 3rd Down Key Play Thingy.

A sad state of affairs was exposed at the Homecoming game last year, against Northwestern. Two old men who couldn’t have been younger then 70 did a better job exciting the students for 2 quarters than the regular cheerleaders did for the rest of the year combined. Merely by showing enthusiasm, they were able to get the fans in a frenzy, despite the dismal weather. They also introduced a new generation of students to the most amazing cheer I’ve heard in my time at Michigan, the “Rah Rah Rah Rah Rah Rah Michigan Michigan” chant (of course ending with the superfluous “Hooray!”). I can only hope that enough students remember this cheer next year, allowing it to become a regular occurrence at Michigan Stadium.

Watching ESPN Classic games featuring Michigan, it is easy to see that the cheerleaders of bygone days were far more enthusiastic than today’s breed. While the flying cheerleaders (AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME)will probably never grace Michigan Stadium again (seriously, someone please put video of these guys on Youtube), that doesn’t mean that the cheerleaders can’t positively impact the gameday experience for all involved.

Posted under Analysis

Long time no post, sorry about that.

While I was out of town, Carlos Brown reportedly broke his hand in practice, though WOTS is that he’ll be back by the beginning of the season.

Coming soon:

1) Position previews of the Michigan team
2) Appalachian State preview
3) Fisher Stadium construction update

For today, I’ll leave you with part 2 of “The Stadium Atmosphere,” this time relating to the cheerleaders. Are there such people as cheerleading nerds for me to piss off?

Posted under Blog News

On ESPN.com:

“Big East. The conference everybody loved to dismiss before 2006 is must-see TV this fall with three Top 25 teams (Louisville, Rutgers and West Virginia) and a potential sleeper (South Florida). The league is littered with Heisman candidates (WVU’s Slaton and Pat White, Louisville’s Brohm and Rutgers’ Rice) and great young coaches (WVU’s Rich Rodriguez, Louisville’s Steve Kragthorpe and Rutgers’ Greg Schiano).

Big Ten. Outside of Michigan, Wisconsin, Penn State and reloading Ohio State, few Big Ten teams have a legitimate chance of making the postseason. Michigan State and Minnesota have new coaches, and Illinois, Indiana and Northwestern continue to struggle. No wonder people are jumping off the Big Ten bandwagon.”

-Mark Schlabach

The Big East has 3 top-twenty five teams. Very neat. The Big Ten has 4. The Big East has a sleeper in South Florida (in the “others receiving votes” in the USA Today Top 25). The Big Ten has an “other receiving votes” as well, in Iowa, as well as a legitimate sleeper in Illinois, who has been stockpiling talent under Ron Zook, and returns 19 starters, including 9 from a defense that was, if not spectacular, certainly a bright spot for the team. (36.4% teams top 25 B10, 37.5% teams top 25 BL, with no top 5, and 1 top ten to the Big Ten’s 3)

The Big East has four preseason Heisman contenders. Michigan has 3. Wisonsin has one in P.J. Hill, one of Penn State’s skill position players on offense (Morelli or the electric but as-yet disappointing Derrick Williams) could be considered a candidate. Ohio State’s Beanie Wells will receive consideration. Juice Williams from Illinois is a human highlight reel – though he’ll have to stop allowing half of those highlights be for the other team if he wants to be considered. Indiana’s Kellen Lewis is a less electric, but also less mistake-prone version of Juice, and James Hardy is likely to catch touchdown passes over many a defensive back who can’t handle his 6-8-ness. The Big Ten returns 4 first and second team all Americans (would be five if Mario Manningham wasn’t hurt for a significant portion of last year – remember, until the injury, he was a legitimate Heisman contender, not just an all-american candidate). The Big East returns two first and second teamers, along with a third teamer, Rutgers tackle Eric Foster, their only defensive name on the list.

Great coaches? Who cares if they’re young. Give me Tressel over everyone in the Big East any day. In terms of recruiting, there is no better coach in America than Ron Zook (ok, except Pete Carroll, but he has a lot more to work with). Bret Bielema, despite being an asshole, took his team to a one-loss season in his first as a head coach. Oh, did I say don’t worry about age? He’s actually the second-youngest coach in America, only to conference foe Pat Fitzgerald of Northwestern.

Bowl eligibility might be little harder to come by if you face a schedule featuring four preseason top-25 teams, as well as another receiving votes, as Illinois and Michigan State must do (Minnesota and Northwestern miss only Penn State). Despite this, Illinois will probably be bowling. At least 5/11 Big Ten teams are mortal locks to go to bowls, and 2 or 3 more likely will. 4 Big East teams will be bowling, and it is unlikely that 6 make it, despite the fact that all but 2 Big East teams (Syracuse and West Virginia) play a 1-AA opponent.

Is it fair to say that the Big East is hot while the Big Ten is not? Certainly not. The real reason peopel are “jumping off the Big Ten bandwagon” is your moronic “journalism.”

Posted under Coaching

If you thought off-field incidents for Carson Butler, Chris Richards, Eugene Germany, Adrian Arrington, and rumored incidents for Mario Manningham and Johnny Sears weren’t enough for the Wolverines, you’re in luck! The Ann Arbor News reports that two Michigan players have been spending their time doing something other than bowling.

Redshirt freshman linebacker Obi Ezeh has been charged (and pleaded not guilty) to a charge of driving under the influence. This is the first ever trouble for Ezeh that has gotten to the public in his time as a Wolverine, and he will likely be suspended. Ezeh is the backup to Shawn Crable at the Sam position, as well as a player in the mix to gain some playing time in the middle. If suspended, his loss will be noticed, but (barring injury) not severe.

Redshirt sophomore wideout LaTerryal Savoy has been charged with indecent exposure, also (to my knowledge) his first strike. Depending on circumstances, that charge can be grounds for removal from the team, as it can imply some mental instability with the player. Regardless, Savoy was buried on the depth chart, no higher than the fourth wide receiver, and likely to be passed up by some freshmen as well. If he is suspended, it will probably not be noticed unless there is a slew of injuries.

Posted under Personnel

I feel compelled to write something about the BTN open house, but really nothing too much happened. Bill Martin wasn’t there, but I don’t think that is significant in any way. There were only 5 questions allowed and they were generally stupid or not pertinent.

The one question that really got a rise out the room was a little old lady who walked up to them microphone (which wasn’t working, yet everyone adjusted it to their height) and asked “Do you have a number where I can call Comcast and talk to a real person?” She was immediately surrounded by reporters because she was little, old and full of spunk!

The most entertaining thing to me, mainly because I have a unique (read: bad) sense of humor was a statement Jim Delany made during his speech. He is obviously not a politician since he doesn’t know how easily a quote can be taken out of context. The quote is:

We’re very happy to listen, explain and advocate for an idea that we think is awful…

In real life, he finished it with “important,” so he should have used the adverb instead the adjective .

Anyway, we’ll try to get the media from the open house soon. Just out of curiosity, would you people out in the Internet prefer the full video or an mp3 file of the event? The whole thing is about 45 minutes. Let us know in the comments if you have a preference.

Posted under Misc.

Per the request of “Anonymous” (who didn’t leave an e-mail address), here is a high-res version of the Media Day team photo:

Posted under Photo Album

Not a particularly illuminating event today, especially since there was a time crunch, but some interesting information nonetheless.

Big Ten Comissioner Jim Delany was there and bitched about SEC Speed for 20 minutes before BTN President Mark Silverman took the podium and gave interesting information. Some tidbits:

• The Big Ten Network will never show infomercials.
• To bitch at Comcast, call 1-866-WANT-B10, and they will be able to connect you to a live human.
• People who go to events like this don’t know how the cable industry works (Why don’t you just let Comcast carry it for free?).
• BTN will have both ESPN Classic-style straight replays of games, as well as produced pieces with interviews, etc. about past games.
• During the summer, mostly academic (i.e. University-provided but non-sports) content will be played, except, presumably, for replays of events.

Paul was also there, so he’ll probably give a little more insight later. Also, audio/video from the event is forthcoming, as is a bit of video from football media day.

Posted under Misc.

As originally planned, Utah was to fill the September 20th open date on the 2008 fotball schedule. This is no longer the case. Utah will instead come to the Big House on August 30th, giving the football team a bye week on September 20th. The schedule will look like this (C&P from MgoBlue):

Posted under Misc.

I apologize for the somewhat random order. If you want a hi-res version of any of these images, post in the comments and I’ll see what I can do for you.

No snarky comments for now.

Posted under Personnel, Photo Album

A couple quick things, and I’ll post a bunch of pictures tomorrow. I took 400, so after paring it down there should still be plenty.

• Brandon Graham lost a bunch of weight this summer. He looks to be in really good shape to play at the defensive end.
• Marques Slocum worked out with various other athletes while he wasn’t eligible to join the team – including Michael Phelps. Slocum is a huge guy, and it seems like he’ll be a major factor on the DL. Also, he said the reason he persisted to become a Wolverine was: “I didn’t give up on them because Coach Carr never gave up on me.”
• Manningham said his knee was fine, and he could have participated in spring drills, but didn’t as a precaution. He spent all spring watching film instead.
• Bryan Wright will kick off, and various players pegged him as the favorite to win the PK job.
• Greg Mathews expects to play a big role in the offense this year, especially with UM losing its leading receiver in Steve Breaston.
• Speaking of Breaston, he speaks to his cousin, incoming freshman Toney Clemons, every day on the phone. He is practicing well, but Arizona is too hot this time of year (hear that, recruits looking at southern schools because of the weather?).

Photo album tomorrow, and maybe some interview clips coming on the next slow news day.

Posted under Personnel