Sparty Week

​Your green goes in the bottom drawer this week.

Wins and losses are what counts, but Michigan did put up a solid effort Saturday night in Connecticut.  We've played the top of the ACC, the top of the Big East, and the top of the Pac-10.  We beat two of them.  Now we need to take down the best of the Big Ten, which consequently is our hated little brother.  So many things to win for, but getting ourselves back to .500 in conference play is priority one.  Add in this being the only game we play against the midget and his minions, and another ESPN game where the committee will be watching, and we find ourselves hovering in that area of "must win."  Finish strong fellas.

Plus, I really enjoy knocking off little brother in sports where they have a perceived advantage.

Quick roundup of the rest of the internet...

• Not a big wrestling fan, but I have to link to any article that has "Wolverines Dominate Spartans..." in the title. [Freep]


• Remember Larry Coker?  He's having trouble finding work since he was dismissed from the Hurricanes.  Now he has applied to coach a team that currently does not exist.  [Fanhouse]


• UCONN roundup from UMHoops.com.


• More on the next Pirates head coach.  [Freep]

The Big Finish

Some say we're back in the game.  I say we never left.

• Stokes


• More Stokes


• And More Stokes


• (William) Campbell and [J.T.] Turner are the top-rated players in the state of Michigan and Ohio, respectively. This is the first time that the Wolverines had the top-ranked athletes from both states since 2002: Prescott Burgess (Ohio) and LaMarr Woodley (Michigan).


• Michigan did well despite coming off their worst season since Bo Schembechler was in kindergarten. That reflects the tradition of Michigan football, Rich Rodriguez's recruiting prowess, and the blatantly obvious fact that every position on the field is up for grabs.


• Florida’s Scot Loeffler (the popular quarterbacks coach for Lloyd Carr and of the Detroit Lions last season) and who just joined Urban Meyer and the Gators last month, apparently tried to woo Turner to Gainesville in the past three weeks.

It's Like the NFL Draft...Only It's Children. Giant, 4.3-Forty Running Children.

​National signing day is here, which can mean a lot.  Scratch that, it DOES mean a lot.  Say what you want about the first year performance of Rich Rodriguez...the recruiting class that has been tentatively assembled by the snake oil wizard is tremendous.  Respect that, if nothing else.  If a few fringe non-verbals pull the trigger and LOI to the Maize and Blue...the hype machine will be full steam ahead.

Typically, the rich get richer on this day, as the best of the best from high school pick the best of the best football programs, continuing the cycle that keeps Utah outside of the BCS.

We are one of the rich...and we've got Rich.

We've morphed very quickly into a team that emphasizes national recruiting.  You can chalk up the perceived successful MSU recruiting class to the fact that we allowed them to have the home state.  Yes, the Big Ten can be won with a team comprised of the State of Michigan's finest.  But we didn't bring in Rodriguez to win the Big Ten.  And while we would be ecstatic at the idea of a Big Ten championship right now, that is not the ultimate goal here anymore.

Rebuild.  Eliminate Ohio State.  Win Bowl Games.  Win National Championships.  Yes, that order.  Yes, that's plural.

It all starts tomorrow....roundup of announcement times courtesy of The Wolverine.

Update (11:30am): Denard Robinson and Adrian Witty to Michigan.  Pearlie Graves to Texas Tech.  We are one step closer to no chance of Sherithreet.

Weekend Roundup, Signing Week Edition: February 2, 2009

​What you missed around the internet while you tried to become the next Sully...

• Lloyd Carr's (and my) alma mater, Riverview High School,  has hired a new coach with a State Championship pedigree and a passion for small town support, discipline, and a running game.  Good luck to Coach Jeff Stergalas...I look forward to seeing the changes this fall.


• The Super Bowl MVP is Santonio Holmes from Ohio State.  He's a real character guy, which, in Ohio State terms, means he's never brandished an automatic weapon.  He has however sold drugs, used drugs, and beat his girlfriend.


• Beilein educates the media about Manny Harris's unwarranted ejection.  It was complete crap.  However, even though the collapse seemed to come following his exit, I have trouble believing it was worth 18 points.  I guess you never know.  Either way, someone needs to take those officials to task.  Maize and Brew reviews the rule book.


• Michael Phelps hits the bong.


• Sammy the Owl got ejected from a game for roughing the referree.  This wouldn't be news, except that Sammy and I have a history.


• Signing day is coming this Wednesday.  Rittenburg says the late push might be huge for us.  Getting Denard Robinson would make us one step closer to never seeing Threet or Sheridan again.  Denard and his teammate CB Adrian Witty will announce at 11am on Feb 4th.


• Taj Boyd is not going to Ohio State.


• Nice local fluff on your favorite former walk-on cager C.J. Lee.


• Ian Gold talks about new Defensive Coordinator Greg Robinson.  He had a stint under G-Rob at Denver.


• Lloyd Carr speaks at an alumni club event in one of my favorite cities, Naples, Florida, and admits he's a closet Dolphins fan.


• If things keep going the way they are, Michigan hoops might find itself in the "other tournament."  No, not the NIT....the "other other tournament."

The End is What Will Matter

​These first half deficits are getting a little tedious.

These last two weeks have been horrible.

This Ohio State dominance in the two "money" sports has gone beyond pissing me off...now it's just, well...it just sucks.

There's a kind of "we've been figured out" feeling floating around, a feeling that goes back to the Big Ten opening spanking we took at the hands of the Badgers.  Not that the system we're running is futile, but is less than optimal with the horses we have in the race.  This coupled with our pre-Big Ten "superstars" often becoming mere mortals in the face of conference competition has given us the poor results we are enduring.  Results that seem more like the norm than beating Duke or UCLA.

But you can't take away the strides we've made.  You can't discard those victories.  Those are team builders.  And under Coach Beilein, maybe they can find a new way to get things on track.  Because if you start hot, and you end hot, no one will remember that you stumbled in the middle.

Nearly all of the big conference games are in front of us.  I hope, at the least, that it's an interesting ride.