Miscellaneous Minutiae, 11/20/12

This is the first one of these in a while. With school winding down for the Thanksgiving break, I should be able to get a few things up this week leading up to The Game. 

60 Minutes piece. In case you missed it (and you probably didn't), Michigan was featured prominently Sunday in a 60 Minutes spot on the state of college football. Nothing "new" was presented --yes, college football has always been about the money, even when it supposedly wasn't-- but it was interesting to see Michigan chosen as one of two representatives of the industry of collegiate athletics:


I would be lying if I didn't say that, on the heels of Saturday's smashing victory, that the part of the brain that sends out neurotransmitters telling you to be SO PROUD weren't firing as I watched Michigan run out under the banner, Kovacs make a Kovacsy tackle on the edge and the Big House crowd going wild. I honestly have not delved too much into the reaction to the piece, but I imagine there was some hemming and hawing about Dave Brandon saying the things that Dave Brandon is wont to say.

All I'll say is this: I have been generally supportive of Brandon, and plan on being so until something truly egregious happens. No, uniform experimentation, Legends patches and all the other mildly annoying but decidedly ancillary things that Brandon has engineered do not fall under this umbrella. My only criticism is his point that playing games in places like Dallas generates fan interest for games at home. Even I, the endangered species that is the DB supporter, cannot get behind this byzantine logic.

Again, this is nothing new, but it's hard not to feel a little bit queasy (okay, a lot queasy) at the mere notion of what college football actually is, outside of the boundaries of standard platitudes about the mythical student-athlete and all the other things that we like to think exist but don't. Unfortunately, Pandora is out of the box, and it's not going back in.

Speaking of the industry...via Kyle Meinke, Brady Hoke has dropped down to the 12th highest paid coach in college football, down from 8th. He is "only" making $3,046,120, down a couple of hundred thousand from last season. During the 60 Minutes piece last night, Nick Saban was asked whether or not he is "worth it" (re: his ridiculous salary).

Saban self-deprecatingly answered "probably not." I wonder what Hoke's response would be? "Wellll there's no question that cheese pizza is the best food that you have and in no way should chicken come into the equation and those great kids in the Michigan community that eat that pizza know what the tradition of cheese pizza means to this university and the fans and past eaters of cheese pizza." 

Obligatory expansion ire. So, Maryland and Rutgers. If anything in sports would inspire a lukewarm at best reaction, it would be this.

On the bright side, at least the Big Ten will finally tap into the college football haven that is New York City, where Rutgers University is in fact located. What's that? *Checks map.* Ah, I see.

This puts the conference at 14 teams, two away from attaining superconference status. If these acquisitions confuse you, just wait until the Big Ten makes the now seemingly inevitable move to 16 teams.

GIFs, Ohio State edition. Just in case you needed reminding, Ohio State is our rival and we do dislike them to a certain extent. Here's a GIF of David Boston looking like he's in a game of Fight Night (via Eleven Warriors, HT mgoblog), from the tremendous time-space known as "1997":

Good, good. Let the hate flow through you.

Big Ten basketball is not terrible hey let's talk about it. I haven't gotten into the college basketball season yet in earnest due to time-related reasons, but here's a very brief roundup of the Big Ten's performance thus far to give you a vague outline of how things have played out:

• Michigan: 4-0. Best team in the history of organized sports. Will win every game by no fewer than 84 points. The Wolverines take the floor at the World's Most Famous Arena Wednesday night against Pitt. 

• Iowa: 4-0. Hasn't played anybody of note, but this is a team that could make some noise this year. Roy Devyn Marble and now sophomore Aaron White are averaging 15.5 and 14.8 ppg, respectively. 

• Indiana: 4-0. Like everyone else, they've taken care of business against a bunch of nobodies. They were tied with Georgia at the half last night but pulled out a 66-53 win. As expected, they can definitely fill it up (#1 in ppg as a team coming into last night's game). The question that lingers from last season is whether or not they can actually play defense. 

• Nebraska: 3-0. Good start for the Huskers under new HC Tim Miles. Did have a close 2-point victory against Valparaiso, which is at least a known mid-major brand. 

• Purdue: 1-3. Easily the biggest disappointment of the conference to date. This is not a vintage Matt Painter Purdue team to say the least. I'm not sure where the points will come from with this roster during life after Hummel/Lewis Jackson. The Boilers have losses to Bucknell, Villanova (in OT) and Oregon State to their name already. D.J. Byrd as your leading scorer with 11 ppg is fairly grim. 

• Ohio State: 3-0. Again, early season caveats, but the Buckeyes did beat Washington to win the Hall of Fame tourney, so that's something. The Buckeyes do have a date with Duke coming up on the 28th. 

• Wisconsin: 2-1. 2012 is the year that will prove once and for all whether or not Wisconsin can really Wisconsin around and somehow go .500+ in the Big Ten without really having a point guard. Swing offense, yeah! Anyway, the Badgers took a pretty ugly loss on the road at Florida in between blowouts of Southeastern Louisiana and Cornell. The Badgers take on a ranked Creighton team on the 23rd.  

• Penn State: 2-2. Lost to NC State by 17 (who just got destroyed by Oklahoma State) and got bludgeoned by Akron in Puerto Rico, 60-85. They do still have Tim Frazier, so hopefully he will continue to enjoy doing everything, all the time. 

• Illinois: 3-0. The John Groce era is off to a nice start, if you ignore the fact that the Illini had to battle back from a 16-point second half deficit to beat Hawaii in overtime, 78-77. 

• Michigan State: 2-1. The Spartans took a tough loss to UConn on the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany (Read that sentence again...welcome to sports in 2012!) The Spartans bounced back to knock off Kansas in their next game, though. 

• Northwestern: 3-0. Same song here: three games, three blowouts. The only currently ranked team left on Northwestern's non-conference schedule is #24 Baylor. Given the Wildcats' struggles in the conference schedule, anything less than 10-2 in the non-conference probably means another year without a tourney invite for Carmody's 'Cats. 

• Minnesota: 4-0. Four meaningless blowouts. They take on Duke on Thursday before traveling to Florida State on the 27th. Oh, also, Rodney Williams Jr. is shooting a ridiculous 73.5% from the field. 

So, there you have it. Nothing of note so far other than Purdue looking like it could be very, very bad this season. Michigan, Indiana and Ohio State are, as the rankings would indicate, the class of the conference, and Michigan State will of course be in the mix as well. Wisconsin is probably in for somewhat of a down year, but a tournament appearance should still be in the cards, as I'm sure they'll find a way to somehow win 10 Big Ten games.

More? DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK.  "On the latest Sports Retort, how do Big Ten traditionalists make peace with the new, less-pedigreed teams headed for their conference, which now includes miles of Atlantic coastline?" AHHHHH. "How does the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry compare with that of the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers?" AHHHHHHH. 

Apropos of nothing, the line for the Iron Bowl currently sits at 'Bama -31.5 (I probably didn't need to include the "Bama" part). Auburn fans, welcome to Michigan football circa 2008. 

BHGP on Saturday...I know that feel, man. 

Miscellaneous Minutiae, 8/24/2012

Today marks the penultimate Friday before football season (well, technically it's the last, since there's a game next Thursday, but THIS IS a MICHIGAN blog, after all). To summarize my feelings on this development:

No foolin', that's basically what I look like every time I remember that football is nigh. Anyway, a quick note about this season on HTR before closing some more Dave Brandon-related tabs (and some other stuff) currently taking up space up there on my browser.

Site note. Since football season's warm glow is almost upon us, I figured it would be a good time to briefly mention what the tentative weekly plan for this here site will be. First of all, I'm starting grad school next month; unfortunately, this means less time to fritter time away on here. The 2011 season was pretty successful, as I found a way to get a post up on weekdays more often than not. That probably won't happen this season. If I do make an effort to post some thoughts, they'll have to be in a truncated form (if you've been reading this blog, you can probably tell that that is a problem for me).

Anyway, the most important thing is that my Monday game recap/general observations posts will not be appearing here this season. Instead, I will be doing them over at Maize n Brew, where they will appear every Monday at some point in the morning. I will make sure to provide a link here for convenience.

I will still make every effort to post some things with semi-regularity here, but, you know...priorities and all that. Anyway, this has been your official heads up! Moving on.

More Dave Brandon things. Puck Daddy talks about the effects of the NHL lockout on the city of Ann Arbor (and Detroit) if this work stoppage ends up axing the Winter Classic on January 1st, one of the NHL's biggest cash cows. Let's talk dollars and cents:

The local economy in Ann Arbor is also counting on an economic boost from an event that would draw as many as 115,000 fans. Ticket prices range between $79 and $279 with tickets being sold at seven different pricing levels.

Brandon said earlier this year that an average Michigan home game generates between $14 million and $15 million for local businesses, including hotels and restaurants.

Brandon expects the Winter Classic could generate even more money, which has been evidenced in recent years. According to the league, the annual winter outdoor game generates between $30 million and $36 million for host cities.

That is quite a bit of cash money for Ann Arbor, the U as a whole, and the entire metro Detroit area. Unfortunately, the lockout seems to pretty much be a sure thing, which is kind of mind-boggling (but is a post for another day and another blog); will it last through New Year's Day? If so, then that would just be the cherry on top of the moron sundae that has been this new round of CBA negotiations, talks defined by propaganda lobbed back and forth between a cadre of extremely rich guys guys and one of just plain 'ol rich guys.

How does Brandon feel about this potential outcome (i.e. no Winter Classic)? Here's how:

"Michigan Stadium has been dark and cold and barren every New Year's Day for the last 80 years. We're kind of used to that, and if something happens where they can't play the game, it'll be the way it's always been."

Take THAT people who think Dave Brandon doesn't care about tradition. See, he's all about "the way it's always been." Isn't that what tradition is all about? Like not making noise during games or complaining about quite literally everything as pretentiously as possible, some traditions should not be sacrificed at the nefarious Altar of Change. Speaking of traditions:

This ceremony might not happen at all this season and Gary Bettman is terrible (yes yes I know he's just representing his constituents i.e. the owners). That sound you're hearing is the evaporation of all of the NHL's post-2004/05 momentum.

Red Berenson has been awesome for much longer than you. Also from Puck Daddy, but the St. Louis Blues' "Essentials" post--a team-by-team preview type thing on PD--name drops our very own Red Berenson in the best goal section. The video:


The relevant text:

Red Berenson's sixth goal. The date was Nov. 7, 1968. The place was the Philadelphia Spectrum. The feat was Red Berenson scoring six goals in one game, the modern NHL record for most in one game. In 1920 someone with the Quebec Bulldogs scored seven on Toronto, but let's be fair. It was Toronto. Anyway, no other modern player has scored more than six and Berenson was the only player to score six in one road game. I'd write about a Stanley Cup winning goal or something. But that would be a really short paragraph with exactly zero words.

Not that this is anything new. Six goals in one game has to be the "Wilt scores 100" as far as hockey feats go, right (I'm asking you, reader)? A remarkable career for a tremendous player, coach, and man. I really hope he can bring one more national title before hanging 'em up. It really feels like he should have about five or six to his name by now.

Ringer, Bryant out for the season. There hasn't been much coming out of fall camp this year, and, for the record, I think that this is a good thing and good policy. Unfortunately, one of the few bits of actual news is not good. Chris Bryant, who redshirted last season and seemed primed to be a contributor and potential starter in the case of injury, and Kaleb Ringer have both gone down with injuries that will see them sit out the 2012 season.

Ringer enrolled early but was probably not going to be a factor this season. Bryant, on the other hand, is a bit of a bigger loss. Bryant went down with a fractured tibia...I'm not sure what the recovery time for that will be, but  I always get a little nervous about lineman getting hurt due to the potential for weight gain (maybe unjustified, but it is something).

Anyway, the line was already outrageously thin before this; losing a guy who would've played in some capacity is very, very bad indeed. Dear Mssrs. Lewan, Mealer, Barnum, Omameh, and Schofield: DO NOT  GET HURT DON'T MOVE DON'T GO ANYWHERE EVER OKAY THANKS.

Brandon on the band. DB talks about the Great Potential Band Fiasco That Never Was 2012:

"The band changed their mind," Brandon said. "They decided they didn't want to be in buses and they didn't want to play their way to Dallas and they came and said 'we're planning on coming to Dallas, everybody's planning on coming to Dallas, but we're not going to ride in buses we're going to fly in a jumbo jet and here's what it's going to cost.' "

Like I said when this little "family squabble" was first discussed: next time, take the bus, guys. I don't think that there's much reason to assume that this explanation is a lie or propaganda for the simple fact that somebody in the band could very easily just say "hey, that's not what happened." Contrary to what people think, I highly doubt that DB thinks that "all publicity is good publicity."

Either way, who cares. It's time to officially file this away in the shamefully overflowing "pointless and petty Michigan e-controversies" cabinet.

HEY DAVE (yes, one more). Nice marketing/PR stunt, pal! We all see right through you. You make me sick. 

(HT: mgovideo)

Of course, by all of the aforementioned I mean bawwwwww.

More? Dienhart went to practice yesterday, has some observations. UMHoops continues ranking the B1G's top 25 players; here's 16-20.

Enjoy your last football-less weekend (no, NFL preseason does not count)...Alabama and season preview stuff will go up here next week. Almost there.