A Grand Finale: Michigan 83, Minnesota 55

​It took four months for this team to hit its stride, and now, the sky is the limit for the Michigan Wolverines.

I kid.  I kid.

But it's nice.  It's a nice way to send out Sims, Gibson, and Wright...and each got a chance to contribute.  Some analysts will say that we "match up well" with the Gophers, some will say we were inspired by senior night, but the truth is...our 3's fell (8-19), and there's didn't (3-16).  And in addition to the 15 point swing that the 5 extra 3's provided, it also put Michigan in rhythm.  When those shots start to go in with some kind of regularity, they tend to get back on D a little quicker, tend to rebound a little more.

We truly do live and die by it.

“A couple of shots dropped, and it was contagious,” Michigan coach John Beilein said.

Sure.  I hope it carries over into Sunday...because all we have left is beating Michigan Agricultural College.  By the way, you don't need a .500 record to make the NIT anymore, so were like in it, right?

Another question yet to be answered...was that Manny's last game in Crisler?

Weekend Roundup, Et tu Angel? Edition: March 1,2010

Here's what happened this weekend around the internets just 15 years after they thought the internets were just a fad.

I'm uneasy about this most trendy and oversold community. Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic.

Baloney. Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.

That's funny.

• I'm just a wee bit surprised at this, but it seems Angel wasn't down with the Victors Rally.  She thinks it made Rodriguez out to be bigger than Michigan Football...and took umbrage with this February event.  I just don't think it was that big of a deal.  Why not have a rally?  Hell, if they rented out the Michigan Theater once a month to show old Michigan games, I'd be there.  Anything to get me through this off season.


• How do we fix this?  Let the Sporting News via MSNBC be the next to make the brilliant suggestion to WIN GAMES.


• Just couldn't resist linking the Royal Oak Daily Tribune, which says that all of the accountability lies at the feet of Rich Rodriguez.


• Tomorrow is the last game in Crisler Arena for...OK officially it's the last regular season home game for Zack Gibson, Anthony Wright, and DeShawn Sims.  They be replaced by people from this list, from UMHoops Recruiting Roundup.


• An update on Phil Brabbs's battle with cancer from our favorite embedded tailgate reporter James Dickson on AnnArbor.com.


• Hey!  Remember a few days ago when I talked about that great matchup that those bastards down south secured with Navy in Baltimore where the Ravens play.  Well, the gauntlet has been laid down, and Michigan has answered with.....wait for it.....Florida.  Nope, not that Florida.  Florida Atlantic.  The Owls.  Coming to a Big House near you in 2012.  FML.


• I've done this.


• Rittenburg, who has been writing a series on gameday traditions in the Big Ten,finally gets to the Wolverines.

The Buckeyes? They're Doing Everything I Want to Do

Let me make a short list...

1) Played a home at home with Texas in football

2) Played a home at home with USC in football

3) Won "the game" 6 consecutive times

4) Has a modern day "fab 5" (really 6) recruiting class coming in for hoops next year...and they don't even need it (BTW...66-55, Buckeyes over Michigan in hoops this afternoon)

5) And finally, the game I wanted, in the venue I wanted, has been scheduled for the team that I hate.  The Buckeyes will return the home at home to Navy in Baltimore to open the 2014 season...at M&T Bank Stadium, the home of the Baltimore Ravens.

Lost in all this Rodriguez talk, in the idiotic NCAA investigation, and the lack of wins around here, is that we have a serious deficiency in COOL SHIT.  Cool shit creates a buzz, which makes people take notice of your program, which makes future recruits buy your hats and baggy shorts when they're 8 years old, virtually locking them in and creating recruiting classes 10 years in advance.

Somebody call Dave Brandon, and tell him that we need to fix Michigan Athletics the way he fixed the pizza at Dominos.  I'm sick of the bland taste and the cardboard crust.  Like it or not, Rich Rodriguez is the new spicy sauce...and that's why I want to keep him around, why I want him to succeed.  Throwing out the metaphors, I don't want to be scared to schedule a west coast road trip, or to agree to a home at home with a decent team.

Friday Linkfest 2/26/2010

• Brian at MGoBlog covers examples of other teams with somewhat similar offenses to those alleged to Michigan.


• Wojo reminds us that it is all about winning, and that the pressure is on for Coach.


• Genuinely Sarcastic covers Morgan Trent's comments on the allegations...and how Dwayne Jarret just caught another pass.


• Dr. Saturday breaks down the charges, and does what everybody else should...put "major" in quotes.


• Michigan Football Saturdays wants Coach to step down.


• Probably the coolest thing I've seen on the web in a while... Every game from the sweet sixteen on in the NCAA tournament, in its entirety, streamed to you on the web via NCAA Vault.  Unfortunately (and obviously), there's not one game from the decade that includes the Wolverines.  But there are several great Michigan State losses in there.  Too bad you can't see their three first round exits from 2002, 2004, and 2006.


• Angel reports that we got a thumbs-up from Jim Delaney.


• Rosenburg makes a list of things to look for in Spring practice across the Big Ten.  Tate vs. Denard vs. Devin is highlighted.


• The rest of the basketball season, as outlined by The Daily.

Twitter Thursday, A Primer

So...twitter.  I know most people think that it's a website where you do something akin to updating your facebook status, and that's where it ends.  But let me tell you, once you build a group of people in your feed, like esteemed bloggers, media members, and celebrities, you get a really nice ticker of things you are interested in.  And if something is going down or there's a game you want the inside info on, there's no better place to get up to the millisecond information.

During the Tuesday press conference on NCAA infractions, while everybody searched for a link to the video of it, I had it basically dictated to me by the staff of AnnArbor.com (@mikerothstein & @davebirkett) and MGoBlog.com (@PaulVBlue & @MgoBlog) through the magic of twitter on my cellphone.  It's raw, opinionated, and it's RIGHT NOW.  There's something to be said for getting your news this way, before it's swallowed up and regurgitated by assclowns like Drew Sharp.

Later that evening, while in attendance at the Michigan Basketball game vs. Illinois (worst. game. ever.) I was able to resist the urge to jump up and down for a slice of pizza and instead checked twitter on my phone during timeouts to get instant stats from Michigan Daily sports writer/editor Nicole Auerbach (@nicoleauerbach, @michdailysports)...things like "Zack Novak is 4-8 from three, and the rest of the team is 1-16," or useful opinions from @UMHoops like "Just a terrible half."

I interrupt this post to give you a real world example!  ESPN's Adam Rosenburg, @ESPN_BigTen on Twitter, just posted the following:

Final three MSU players plead guilty - http://tinyurl.com/yl65pzy

See, twitter can brighten your day!

Anyway, even if you never plan to update your status and contribute to the madness, I encourage you to get yourself an account, follow some people, and install TweetDeck on your PC for a streamlined interface to get the whole Twitter picture.  Rock on.

Oh, and don't forget to follow us, UMTailgate.com....@umtailgate.