One Last Saturday

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​Freezing temps. 4:15am wake up call. In line at 5:45am. In a folding chair staking claim on the 7th hole green at 6am. Gates open at 7am. Tailgate.

It was a truly amazing turnout for a game with limited tickets and freezing rain in the forecast.

The tables were once again filled, this time with amazing Mexican themed recipes. Thanks to all that brought food, drinks, etc.

In lieu of a banquet, Godfather presented the yearly tailgate awards at the tailgate. There were so many awards given out, there was just no cataloging them individually. But everyone looks forward to the coveted birdhouse award, this year given to the most improved tailgater. This year's winner was Greg Bush. Greg, who is also known as "Greg not Craig," really stepped up his participation this year, and became an integral part of our tailgate. Thanks and congrats to Greg.

The End.

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​The season started with hype that was unachievable, a loss for the ages that was unbelievable, and a beat down by Oregon that, in the Big House, was inconceivable. "Lloyd should step down!" the legions of fans shouted as the town burned down around them. At 0-2, and with 4 consecutive losses, this was the end of everything we believed in, everything that defined Michigan Football in the modern era. This was it. Over. Done. No bowl game. No chance at... anything. Three standouts that made a mistake by returning. A group of seniors whose careers so far had been defined by not being able to finish, now fell flat on their face at the start.

Only ashes remained.

But from those ashes rose determination. A new focus. New goals. And a new season, the Big Ten season. It's not what you wanted from this group. And it's not what this group wanted. The cards, as they say, had been dealt, but Michigan made the decision to play their losing hand in lieu of folding. They scrapped and clawed their way though the Big Ten, and they did it in every way possible. Occasionally, they won by playing the way that they were expected to play back in August. Other times, they won despite playing down to their opponents. They won without Henne. They won without Hart. They won without Henne and Hart. They had comeback victories, blowout victories, bad victories, and good victories. For eight weeks, they were resilient, if not brilliant. Belief replaced grief. For years on end, the number next to the name each week that we took for granted became something we coveted. #24 Michigan...#19 Michigan...#15 Michigan...#13 Michigan... It was all going so well. But it would all end so badly.

A trip to Wisconsin wouldn't fulfill the July prophecy of a game for the Big Ten title. Michigan made what seemed to be a conscious decision to rest and wait for the Buckeyes. They, for all intents and purposes, threw a college football game to be healthy for Ohio State. We could never have imagined the impact of that decision, because we couldn't imagine falling to the Buckeyes for a 4th straight season.

Saturday, an icy drizzle blanketed an enthusiastic 111,900 fans. Fans that hoped for a spirited and victorious send off for a group of young Michigan men, and a legendary Michigan man. It was not to be. There would be no storybook ending. The clock struck zero with the score 14-3, but the game was over long before then. An anemic offense would keep Coach Carr's feet on the ground as he exited the field. The only thing that would be carried off on this day would be heavy hearts and broken dreams. Carr jogged, head down with the rest of his players, back to the locker room. Due to Illini heroics the previous week, the Wisconsin loss would become the loss that kept the Wolverines from a shared Big Ten title.

Less than 24 hours later...

From SI.com

Lloyd Carr walked into a team meeting Sunday only to be met with silence.

He exited the Schembechler Hall meeting room and entered again, this time receiving thunderous applause from his Michigan players, most of whom understood the announcement that was coming.

A day after Michigan suffered its fourth straight loss to rival Ohio State, Carr informed his players he will retire after 13 years at the helm of a program he guided to a national championship and five Big Ten championships.

From the New York Times

It's sad, the sophomore lineman Steve Schilling said. He's a good coach and we're definitely going to miss him. But he's still going to be around. He told us he enjoyed his time here and that he had a lot of great memories.

Carr is expected to take a position within the athletic department of the university where he has spent the past 28 years. When Carr walked into the team meeting he was met with the silent stares of his team.

Schilling recalled Carr saying: I'm going to walk and come back in and want you guys to act like you have a heartbeat. Nobody died. He was then greeting with an ovation and given a standing ovation after his announcement.


And so exits Coach Carr. Certainly not in the way he wanted, but on his own terms nonetheless. For now, the program is left without a serious tie to the Schembechler regime. The new image of Michigan football is one of uncertainty. Who will be the coach? Will the offensive and defensive coordinators remain? Who will front a Michigan offense devoid of leadership, without Henne, without Hart? Will we ever again beat the sweatervest? Is this the end...or a new beginning?

Answers start Monday at 10am. See you at the Bowl Game.

The Weekend Roundup: "One More" Edition: 11/13/07

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​'Tis Ohio State week. And as poop stained as the marbles may be, this Saturday is still for all of them.

What you may have missed over the weekend while you were "bringing the heat."

Madison Wins Again

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​They get us every time. No, not on the football field, where the Badgers 37-21 victory managed to increase their win-loss record to just 12-48 all time against us (and just their 5-21 at home). It's in the war on the streets. It's in the bars, the pubs, and the restaurants that Madison manages to outshine the rest of the Big Ten. Make no mistake, they will out drink you, they will out eat you, they will out party you. And they don't care if they win or lose, or if there is even a game.

You may find yourself posing as an extra in a reality version of Beerfest, neck deep in a liter mug of authentic German swill at the Essen Haus, thinking that no one is possibly having more than one. But when you order your second, someone from Madison has just guzzled their fifth to chase three bratwurst and a brick of cheese. Those liter mugs...the dishwashers can't get them clean fast enough. On the night we arrived, they were out of "the boots", which hold what I would estimate as twice as much as the liter mug.

You may also find yourself exploring the scene that is State Street. Nothing like the Ann Arbor version, Madison's State Street is more akin to Bourbon Street. I can only imagine what goes on when the weather is warm. But based on the outfits of your average coed, which were just north (or south, depending on where your standing) of naked...my imagination doesn't have much room to move around. They must hand out skirts at orientation...and neglect to warn people of the dangers of frostbite. There are lines at every establishment, and they appear long. However, the speed of the lines is uncanny, most likely due to the fact that there is amazing turnover of customers going to other bars. The options are nearly endless. You are only limited by your imbibing abilities. And no matter how well you think you handle the bottle...you are not ready to go toe-to-toe with these people.

Once you have filled yourself to the brim with cocktails, you may long for a little something to soak it up. In comes the street carts. They are everywhere, and there is a variety of cuisine, from Afgan Mediterranean to fried chicken and fish. It looks as if a street fair moved in to town. So many carts, all with lines, turning out food from midnight to 3am, and probably doing enough business on Friday and Saturday nights to make a living. Actually, though I've never spent a Sunday through Thursday in Madison, I doubt that it is all that scaled down...they probably do well every night.

The real evidence that drinking is the number one varsity sport at Wisconsin? It's the student attendance at the other varsity sport, football. With 11 minutes to go in the first quarter, about 50% of the student section sat empty. And while you may think they were all weak and nursing hangovers, the truth is that they were still drinking from the night before. Friday night bar hopping rolled over into early morning tailgating, and (gasp!) an 11am local kickoff. Nice.

Also inexplicably absent from the game...the Michigan Wolverines. Whether it was looking ahead, missing Mike and Chad, or a general lack of care about a game that meant little with regards to post season aspirations...it was a loss. And while it is disappointing that we are not going to be a recovery story for the ages, there is still peace of mind available to us next Saturday. In a year marred by the worst loss ever, that's going to have to be enough.

The Tailgate...nice and quick and simple. Having been discouraged by the "alcohol free zone" at our usual Madison site, we managed to find ourselves a new tailgate spot due to some cunning undercover work at the Essen Haus. The beanbag game made a road appearance as we filled up on kitchen sink breakfast burritos with sour cream and salsa, cheesy potatoes, brownies...and beer.

The Weekend Roundup: To the VICTORS Go the Spoils Edition: 11/6/2007

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​Much has been made of the "war of words" between Mike Hart and Mark Dantonio. For the second time this season, a coach has responded to comments made by Mike Hart. Isn't that embarrassing for the coach? I mean, what kind of headway can you make as a leader of men when you are bantering back and forth with a student-athlete in a "I know you are but what am I?" fashion. Perhaps there's a case to be made that Mike needs to grow up. Fortunately for him, he's young and literally needs to grow up. As for Harbaugh and Dantonio...they ARE grown up, and they are acting like a couple of bitches more interested in winning a conversation with a 22 year old than winning football games. The Spartans and Cardinal(s) are basically lucky to get the national attention they are getting from Mike shitting on them. Get that fellas? Mike poops, and the location of his poop becomes news. You sirs, you are just toilets. Shut up and win.

Of course, this topic has been run through the ringer in the blogosphere. I will direct you to the post by MGoBlog, which continues my streak of linking to MGoBlog pretty much every time I write a post. He has a good take on it, and also links to the rest of the good takes across said blogosphere. (Spartans, Your Profession is Loser - MGoBlog):

But seriously folks, the one thing the Michigan State program needed was a monomaniacal focus on Michigan. It needed a coach who would install a countdown clock to their eighth straight loss in the series. It needed a man who would stand up and say "you know what, guys? All those other games we play are stupid and we shouldn't try very hard in them." It needed a guy who would teach his resilient troops to follow his example by bitching to the assembled media a full two days after his team blew it again. It needed a man who could forge them into a cohesive unit capable of picking up critical personal fouls at the very worst time possible. See, the problem with Michigan State is that occasionally they enter the fourth quarter of games leading. And Michigan State needs a man who can blow that lead, preferably in really, really painful fashion.

Friends, Mark Dantonio is that man.


I dream of writing shit like that. Damn you mgoblog! Other takes on Hart vs. Dantonio to look at when you are not on a quest to find every abandoned Chi-Chi's in the nation: 

The rest of the news around the internets that you missed while building your ownCharlie Weiss Jabba the Hut.