Mini-Roundup, Hightower Edition: 3/3/2009

​I know that Johnny Cleveland and I aren't the only people that have noticed that Ed Hightower referees every basketball game that appears on television.  I mean seriously, dude is everywhere.  Most recently, he did the MSU-Illinois game on Sunday, and followed it up with an appearence at Texas vs. Baylor tonight.  I could site in more detail his amazing schedule, but it is just too broad and too large to fit in the space of a blog post.  The internets are beginning to take notice of this phenomena, and the love/hate relationship between college basketball fans and Ed is burning up blogs across the nation.  No one, however, is supporting my contention...which is that, a la WWF referee Dave Hebner, there are two Ed Hightowers.  I hope I don't need to remind you that the Hebner twins cost Hulk Hogan his belt...

What then took place was (history has since proven) one of the most brilliant wrestling angles in the annals of the "sport." Twin referees, a bogus pin, the World Title wrongly changing hands -- twice -- and some of the most entertaining "rasslin" the world had ever seen. When "evil twin" ref Dave Hebner (or was it Earl?) cost Hogan his belt, ending Hogan's four-year long first WWF title reign, with Dibiase then immediately trading Andre (and his manager, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan) a briefcase full of cash for the WWF strap, the fans in attendance -- as well as those watching at home -- were enraged.

So the breadth of the wrath of Hightower has yet to be revealed.  Somehow, I thinkMoses Hightower is involved as well.  Yes, he's too big to be the twin, but he is a Sparty, and most of them are crooked bastards.  Someone needs to take a hard look at Spartan basketball over the last 10 years and cross reference it with games refereed by either of "the Hightowers"....or Bubba Smith.

Bullets...

• Hightower photoshop fun: Scout and Cyclonefanatic


• Official profile of the man behind the stripes.


• More Hightower from the Cedar Rapids Gazette.


• Hightower looking at himself...or is he?

Non-Hightower links of interest...

• The pic that has made it's way around the internet courtesy of MGoBlog...but really courtesy of Maker's Mark, has ruined me for MM and Ginger Ale.  Oh well, it was a chick drink anyway.


• Wolverine Liberation Army has come up with a more appropriate response.  BTW, the WLA is one hell of a blog that you should have on your daily browsing list.


• More Mallett.

Whoops

Those who stay will be champions.  Those who leave...drink.

Like a Moth to A Flame, I Am Attracted to #13's Blog

​There's no hiding my extreme fandom for the greatest Ohio State running back in history.  Immediately you are thinking...OMG, a Michigan fan likes Archie Griffin?  Nope.  I have nothing but disdain for him and his two Heismans.  So, Eddie George?  Ha.  Don't think so.  I'll see your 104 yards and raise you Biakabutuka's 313.  My fav...Maurice Clarrett.  He won the Buckeyes the 2002 National Championship, challenged the NFL's rules to try to enter the draft after his Freshman year, gave a revealing interview about the inner workings of Ohio State athletics, and he is decidedly pro-Israel.  Unfortunately for Mo, Israel was not exactly pro-Clarrett, and that is what took him from us in 2006, out of the public eye, and into Toledo Correctional, where he'll be eligible for release in 2014.

I have often wondered how I, as a person so drawn to the life and times of Mo-C, was going to be able to get by until then.  I sometimes find myself sitting in my family room, bottle of Grey Goose nearby, whacking my coffee table with a hatchet, pondering my own existence while wondering what Mo is thinking or doing at that exact moment.  Has he made the other inmates his bitch?  Or has he succumbed to the sisters for in house protection, an extra squirt of toothpaste, and a poster of Lil' Kim.  He is just a 40 minute drive down US23 from The Big House, at a real life big house, and yet I know nothing about his daily activities.  With bunk beds, he and his cellmate must BE ABLE TO DO SO MANY ACTIVITIES!

And then it happened.

Could it be?  Could this be real?  Maurice Clarrett...blogging about life in the clink and offering up daily affirmations?!?!?!?  It can't be real.  It just can't.  The good Lord couldn't possibly want to bestow such a blessing upon me as a Michigan Clarrett fan.  I am not worthy.  He's letting us all inside The Mind of Maurice Clarrett (HT:Deadspin), and I couldn't be happier.

To be honest, if it does get proven fake...I'm still pretending it's real, just to get by.

Bubble Boys

​It was a buyer's market outside of Crisler tonight.  Turns out Purdue was the freebie end of a buy-one get-one promo put on by the masterminds in the athletic department several weeks ago.  Average Joe-the-Sometimes-Fan sat home listening to the rain while holding a free ticket, pondering whether or not to make the trip to Crisler, akin to Cameron sitting in the car trying to decide if he should go pick up Ferris Bueller.  The combination of fan indifference and the students on Spring Break left a good amount of empty seats despite the SOLD OUT sign in the window by the ticket office.  We had six people, one ticket.  And while one guy was trying to sell his upper deck seats for double face value, there were people next to him passing out their extras like flyers in the diag.  Well, maybe it wasn't that easy.  But we all got in...to a "sold out" game...for a grand total of zero dollars.  I think I even spotted Brian Cook mulling around outside the arena, but you can never know with all the kids sporting the bearded long-haired "Cook Look" these days.

Senior night.  Pay your respects.  JeVohn Shepherd, CJ Lee, and David Merritt...ya, not really an all-star cast send off, but we've had worse.  We've said goodbyes to Sherrod Harrell and Hayes Grooms before.  But never before have we wanted so badly to say goodbye.  Not because of the caliber of the senior players, who against the odds not only found playing time but played integral roles, but because we have no desire to see these guys play another game in Crisler.  Seeing Shepherd, Merritt, and Lee at Crisler again means NIT, and we want something else.

We took a giant step toward the dance today, perhaps even taking the edge off of the Iowa debacle.  Though after tonight if Iowa were not the crapfest it was, we would be talking "seeds" instead of "ifs".  Despite the score, and despite the free throw chokes, we owned Purdue tonight.  Minus the bullshit charge call early (5-point swing in my book) and the front-end free throw follies of CJ Lee, this one wasn't close.  We even outplayed them in a category that we are basement dwellers in: rebounding.  Michigan 27, Purdue 24 on the boards.

Lost in the shuffle of goodbyes and top-25 upsets, was Manny Harris.  Manny joined legendary names like Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Phil Hubbard, Mike McGee and Louis Bullock, becoming on the 6th sophomore in Michigan Basketball history to eclipse the 1000 point mark.  Manny went for 27 tonight, and Sims chipped in 29.  The big two did what they were supposed to, and a more diverse supporting cast (10 players scored) made key plays at key times.  That's the type of lineup that beat Duke and UCLA.  That's the recipe for victory here.

After some moans and groans due to foul shooting (Purdue began fouling at the 4 minute mark BTW) the clock finally reached zero, and the team gave what they hope to be their final send off to the Crisler crowd.  The gathered at center court and led the room in a rousing chorus of The Victors.

There are a lot of opportunities left.  Two tough road games, of which winning one is paramount.  And the Big Ten tournament, which can make us on a Saturday or a Sunday, or break us on a Thursday.

I was happy to be there, and I'm even happier that WE are here.  I love this bubble.

Shock the world.

Here's To You, Mr. Robinson

Okay, first things first.  Megan Fox is single.  That's the only stimulus package this nation needs.

Brian Austin Green has to be on suicide watch.

Adam Rittenburg caught up with new defensive coordinator Greg Robinson as part of his spring practice interview series.  Greg no doubt found a bargin home here in the state of Michigan, he's just having some trouble selling his old home in Syracuse.  Likely story these days.

This is probably a good time to be in the housing market, right?

Greg Robinson: It is. The problem with that is I've got one to sell in Syracuse [laughs]. We're trying to get it all solved.

Ahhhh, fluffingly funny Greg.  Enough with the pleasantries...tell Adam about last year's defense that I am certain you watched extensively on tape, or DVR, or whatever the kids are using these days.

I'm just trying to formulate some opinions as far as athletic ability. I'm not worried so much about scheme and those kinds of things as trying to see how people would fit in what we're doing and what we're attempting to do. That's really what it is, trying to get a feel as best you can of what the talent level is and how you can utilize different people.

Sugar coat much?  Those tapes have got to be making you want to puke.  Or laugh.  Or puke from laughing.  God I hope you are laughing at them.  Laughing at the crap scheme and misuse of players.  You should be thinking overhaul, not tweak.  You should see this.  For me to have confidence in you, you need to see these things.

My other concern is the Rodriguez-Robinson dynamic.  This interview didn't do a whole lot to calm my fears about a guy with Super Bowl rings taking orders from a guy with ten empty fingers.  He made sure to mention his bevy of experience when asked about the 3-4 vs. 4-3 vs. other alignments...

I've done that, really, since I was at the New York Jets to the Denver Broncos to the Kansas City Chiefs to [University of Texas] and at Syracuse, where we have had some hybrid-type players who can play defensive end or linebacker. We'll continue to do those types of things.

Again, just concerned.  If he does take orders, if he does know his role, then his hiring could be a huge.  If he doesn't, we could have a clash, which is what we had last year,and that didn't work out so well.