Coach Beilein has dismissed Jerret Smith from the Michigan basketball team. This makes 3 players that have left the program since Beilein became coach. K’Len Morris and Kendric Price left for personal reasons.

Posting on football pending when I have time to sit down for a minute and do it.

Posted under Basketball

Arrogant. Detached. Dispassionate. Michigan fans.

Fans of other schools have always criticized Wolverines for simply not caring as much as they should. With the largest stadium in the nation, Michigan should have the largest home-field advantage. Instead, the fans sit on their hands, dropping Michigan below (at least) Ohio State and Penn State in its own conference. Despite Lloyd Carr’s recent struggles, there was little public clamoring for his head (regardless of what national media like to assume was happening, and decide to state as fact). All points to a Michigan fanbase that is exactly as its detractors claim: They just don’t care.

However, 2007 changed everything. Lloyd Carr’s Wolverines lost their season opener. Again, Michigan would be removed from national title consideration by the end of September. Oh yeah, that loss came to 1-AA Appalachian State. Carr, previously invincible because of his national championship pedigree, started to hear some calling for his resignation. A blowout loss to the Oregon Ducks only heard the calls intensify.

Were Michigan fans actually showing some passion for their school?

Fast forward to November 19th. Two days after his fourth consecutive loss to Jim Tressel, Lloyd Carr announced his retirement. He was heaped with praise for all that he did for Michigan, while fans acknowledged that it was time for him to move on.

When it became clear that Les Miles may be interested in the Michigan job (no, not in 2001, but when it actually became available), fans knew who they wanted to lead the Wolverines back to perennial Big Ten titles and National Championship game appearances: the man in Baton Rouge. After two weeks of posturing, it appeared inevitable that Miles would rule Bo Schembechler’s kingdom.

Then it all fell apart. Following ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstriet’s assertion that Miles would accept the job, the LSU coach held an impromptu press conference prior to the SEC title game to announce that “I’m the head coach at LSU. I will be the head coach at LSU. I have no interest in talking to anybody else.” Michigan fans, long criticized for their disinterest did something novel: they flipped the fuck out.
Fans called for the head of Bill Martin, and demanded that Lloyd Carr step away from the coaching search. They organized marches against Martin, and even started an online petition in favor of Miles, where more than 1000 people have pledged more than 100,000 total dollars if Miles is the next coach at Michigan.

While there have been some ad hominem attacks of Carr Martin, and even Miles, the Michigan fan base if finally showing a passion for Wolverines football. Without going batshit insane like Arkansas fans, the maize and blue clad supporters have shown they really care. Now it’s time to prove that on game day as well.

Posted under Coaching

Jake Long Guitar Hero.

Posted under Coaching

Witnesses in the Ann Arbor area have reported to Varsity Blue that the Michigan Athletic Department’s official website, MGoBlue.com, recently began looking “unlike itself.” Varsity Blue, acting on this tip,sent an investigative team to the site.

Upon arrival, suspicions were confirmed. MGoBlue, formerly functional, unique, and aesthetically appealing, has been stripped of these key features. Instead of the previous design, which could be described as “pragmatic, yet cute,” the site now features a near-replica of the CSTV format (used for such sites as those of Notre Dame and Michigan State), which observers have noted “makes my eyes want to kill me” and “sucks.”

Varsity Blue will provide further details in this story as they unfold.

Posted under Blog News

Happy (early) Halloween.

Posted under Misc.

If Michigan were to win 12 straight games, and lose in the National Championship game, fans would be upset. The expectations at Michigan are such that anything less than a national championship will inevitably lead to disappointment.

This article on ESPN’s Page 2 most definitely applies to Michigan Wolverine football fans (and college football fans on the whole).

In college basketball, this may not be the case. When George Mason reached the Final Four in 2006, they were upset to lose, but simply making it that far was an accomplishment in and of itself. Is it time for a culture change? Are people taking sports too seriously? I don’t know the answer, but it’s certainly worth thinking about.

Posted under Analysis

As I may have implied (or even stated outright, I don’t remember) in this space, I am currently interning for the Big Ten Network for a semester. I have also interned in the past for ESPN, and for the past two weeks, I have worked for them again. The quality not only of the product, but also of the working environment between the two companies is night and day.

Working for the Big Ten Network (I’ve done it once this year, for the Appalachian State game) is not good at all. When I work for them, I’m honestly embarrassed to be associated with such a poorly run organization. The supervisors have no fucking clue what they’re doing, and employees doing work that is contracted out don’t show up (or, more likely, the BTN forgot to hire some).

ESPN, on the other hand, is run smoothly. Fair enough, they’ve been around for 20-some odd years, compared to the BTN’s 1. However, I could literally step in and do a better job than many of the production-side employees at Big Ten Network than they do. The same could not be said for ESPN. When there is nothing for a runner to do at ESPN, it is because there really is nothing to do. At Big Ten Network, there is work to be done, but the supervisors just have no clue what the hell they’re doing.

ESPN is organized and efficient, and the Big Ten Network is, like, shitty.

Posted under Misc.

Thanks to Brian’s link to College Football Resource, we have been afforded the ability to figure out some of the good non-conference games that we could have seen if not for the scourge of I-AA opponents. In the sake of bowl eligibility, money, and various other reasons, I-AA teams have been added to the schedules of many teams. To fix this, the NCAA must eliminate (or reduce) the ability of teams to schedule tomato cans.

Here are some of the non-conference matchups you won’t see. When picking them, I paired teams with similar prestige levels, geographic interest, or other reasons (i.e. The Michigan-Hawaii game on Sept. 1 was going to happen, but was nixed by Hawaii’s athletic department, as they are trying to sneak into the BCS this year, and didn’t want to risk a loss). When all the most interesting possibilities were used, I just paired up the remaining teams, which still allows for some paycheck games (Florida-Louisiana Tech comes to mind). Obviously, matchups between two teams in the same conference were not allowed.

Aug. 30
Boise State-Louisville
Cincinnati-New Mexico State

Sept. 1
Air Force-Kentucky
Fresno St-Rice
Michigan-Hawai`i
Indiana-Vanderbilt
Florida-Louisiana Tech
Maryland-Texas A&M
North Carolina-South Florida
Northwestern-Ohio U
Alabama-Ohio State

Left out:
Southern Miss

Sept. 8
Arizona-Kansas
Connecticut-Georgia Tech
Idaho-Northern Illinois
Illinois-Iowa St
Pittsburgh-Purdue

Left out:
Army

Sept. 15
Alabama Birmingham-Baylor
Clemson-North Carolina St
Georgia-Wisconsin
Kansas St-South Carolina
Kent St-Marshall
Louisiana-Lafayette
Memphis-Nevada
Oregon St-Rutgers

Sept. 22
Central Michigan-UTEP
Eastern Michigan-Tulane
Hawai`i-Western Michigan
Mississippi St-San Diego St
Missouri-Virginia Tech

Left out:
New Mexico

Sept. 29
Boston College-Oklahoma St
Bowling Green-New Mexico St
San José St-Texas Tech

Oct. 6
Arkansas-Toledo

Oct. 20
Brigham Young-Minnesota

Nov. 24
Houston-North Texas

There are still a few weeks where there is only 1 I-AA matchup, or the two I-A teams are in the same conference, but still, this is a far more compelling schedule than the way it shakes out in the real world.

Posted under Analysis

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

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.