The Sad Story of Dommanic Ingerson

​A story on Mercury News (HT: @freepwolverines) tells the sad tale of former Michigan Basketball player Dommanic Ingerson.  I remember Dom well.  I remember his prowess from behind the arc, and how much the student section loved the "Dom Bomb."   The entire section would fall over in unison with every made three pointer.  It was something to see, at a time when Michigan Basketball was still trying to get out from behind the shadow of the Ed Martin scandal.  And now?

He was detained on suspicion of robbery and grand theft, but after a doctor"s evaluation at Highland Hospital in Oakland, he was taken to the psychiatric hospital for further evaluation, police said.

A real shame.  I hope he gets the treatment he needs.  Good luck Dom.

40 Days and 40 Nights Begins With A Roundup

• Tyrone Wheatley ditched former defensive coordinator Ron English and the Eastern Michigan Eagles and joined former defensive coordinator Scott Shafer in upstate New York.


• MGoBlog offers up position battles for the coming Spring.  Last week: offense.  This week: defense.  Commence studying, there will be a test on April 17th.


• Feel good story in the Michigan Daily profiles Antonio Bass.  I can't believe he called Lloyd on signing day and said he was going to State before he committed to Michigan.  I wonder if he ever got him back?


• Vincent Smith is frustrated that he can't join the rest of the team for regular workouts until the fall after his recent surgery to repair a torn ACL says AnnArbor.com.


• Club seats and suites still available...but not too many says Rivals.


• The Michigan Daily covers a converted Buckeye that plays women's hoops for the maize and blue.  Carmen Reynolds apparently gets a Christmas card every year from Sweatervest that is signed "Go Blue,  Go Bucks."

We Say Goodbye to a Friend

​It is with a heavy heart that I make this regrettable announcement, but we had one of our own, a dear friend and avid tailgater, leave us this weekend.  Chris Kurtz, known to his friends and around the tailgate as Kurtzy, passed away.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.  Information on services can be found on the funeral home website, and I encourage you to sign the guestbook there with stories and memories you have of Kurtzy.  You can also leave a message in the comments here if you wish.

Rest in peace Kurtzy.  You will be missed.

Rodriguez Inks Class of 27

LOI's are in for 27 new Wolverines.  Biggest class ever.  15 of them play defense.  Warm bodies = less starting walk-ons.  I'm not a big fan of starting walk-ons, so, ya, successful class.

The prize of the 15 would-be defenders?  Demar Dorsey, who saved the day and wiped a little egg off of our faces after perceived lock CA-S Sean Parker LOI'ed to UW at 9am.  Dorsey, at #12 overall and the #2 safety according to ESPN, is the highest rated recruit in Michigan's class.  He is also the highest rated recruit to sign with ANY Big Ten team.  In the words of Rittenburg, "a big, big score for Rich Rodriguez."

I don't know what it is, but I really like the looks of this class on paper...and youtube.  Nothing too gaudy.  Simple guys with a specific skill set made for a complex system.  Against everything I believe in, I've google-stalked the lot of them, watched some highlights, read some coach quotes...  Yes, following recruiting makes you less of a man, and there's a whole lotta folks that should be turning in their man cards tomorrow...we crashed MGoBlog before noon.

Devin Gardner leads the offensive side of the group, and he is already eating Blimpy Burger with 6 other early arrivals on campus.  The class includes a couple of running backs, just in case that surgery doesn't go well for Vincent Smith.  And it's always good to snatch another rabbit chaser from Pahokee...we did that with DT Richard Ash.  Also of note, the lone inked offensive lineman's last name is Pace.  These things just seem to add up for me.

The 3pm presser didn't go so well though.  Coach thought that for some reason he'd get some softball questions, handshakes, and congratulations from the media after landing Dorsey.  Instead, Dorsey's "checkered" high school past was brought up.  Demar was acquitted for a couple of felonies back in high school.  Rodriguez said he checked him out and said that everything was ok.  Guess who else checked him out?  Pretty much every other coach of a major program in the country.  Of those coaches, how many would have turned down a letter of intent from the #12 player in the nation?  ZERO.  Either way, Coach wasn't ready for it.  He probably should have been.  He should know better by now.  He should know that there can be no good until good comes on Saturdays with regularity.

Instead of being able to celebrate his second full class as a coach at Michigan, he instead had to defend a player that was found INNOCENT in a Florida court, and that won't set foot on the practice field until August.  There's a big price to pay in Ann Arbor for only mustering 8 wins in two seasons...and Rich Rodriguez has his wallet open.  This man can do no right until this team wins.  It's a policy that is tough to like, a bitch to endure...yet hard to argue with.

Welcome fellas...and GO BLUE!

Building A Bigger Wall

​I thought this would have picked up a little more steam throughout the day after it appeared in the Freep and on AA.com.  This is a tough one.  I mean, Braylon was that feel good story, an under-recruited legacy who came out of the dog house and into the #1 jersey...and he single handedly led the Wolverines back from 17 down with 7 minutes to play against Michigan Agricultural College, making keepsake poster moments out of every Spartan defensive back.  Post graduation, he has given back to Michigan, donating money and establishing a scholarship fund.  It's tough, really tough, not to like Braylon for what he did, and what he continues to do for Michigan.  Quite frankly, I love Braylon Edwards.  But I grew up loving Jim Harbaugh too.

On Sunday, Braylon used Sunday Night Football to perpetuate the growing rift between Ann Arbor's pro-Carr and pro-Rodriguez camps, announcing himself as Braylon Edwards from "Lloyd Carr's University of Michigan."  I'm certain that in the coming days, Braylon will spin it as not anti-Rodriguez, just pro-Lloyd.  His dad already made an attempt this afternoon to cover his son's tracks on WTKA, saying that Braylon works with players in the off-season and generally likes Rodriguez.  Already feels a bit like that asshole that tells a racist joke, then tells you "some of my best friends are black."  Ya, Braylon is a regular Dr. Watley.  And I can assure you, this isn't the first time that Stan Edwards has had to make a WTKA appearance to clean up a mess.  I can clearly remember him brokering peace between Braylon and Lloyd on the same airways in Braylon's dog house days, telling us all how "misunderstood" Braylon was.

Honestly though, I'm not here to tell Braylon that he needs to like Rodriguez.  I'm also not here to tell him to hate Lloyd Carr.  I'm just asking him to like Michigan.  What he did on Sunday was counterproductive, immature, and detrimental to Michigan.  We've got signing day coming up in a month and one of our supposed ambassadors is basically talking shit about the current coach on national television.  Think that sits well with our verbals?  Liking Michigan means you can honor your mentor, and at the same time respect the current coach.  I don't know at what point Lloyd Carr and Rich Rodriguez became rivals, became something you have to choose between.  Lloyd Carr and Rich Rodriguez are not mutually exclusive.  Lloyd Carr was not fired.  Lloyd Carr was not forced out.  Lloyd Carr retired, of his own volition, and while he tried hard to create a Bo-like legacy of coaches to follow in his footsteps, he couldn't pull it off.  App State happened.  We moved on.  We're trying something new.

This is bigger than you Braylon, which is probably the most difficult thing for you to handle.  Bigger than you, and bigger than Lloyd.  This is not, never was, and never will be Lloyd Carr's University of Michigan, nor will it be Rich Rodriguez's University of Michigan.  Not to go all "Ohio State" on you, but this is THE University of Michigan, that's where you're from.

I'd appreciate it if you started acting like it.

UPDATE:  Like I said, the spin was coming...