Way Back When-sday Pic of the Week
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November 1, 2003: We assemble for a group picture before Michigan holds off Sparty 27-20
Way Back When-sday Pic of the Week
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October 25, 2008 - The Formal Themed tailgate doesn't garner the attention of the group like it would have in SEC country, and the Rich Rod led Wolverines fall to Sparty 35-21.
What's Up This Weekend? We Must Protect This House!
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Today (3/1):
- Baseball (2-4) vs. Mount St Mary (3-5): We went 2-1 last week in NCAA play, winning the series over Fordham...also lost a Sunday exhibition game with the New York Mets, but that doesn't count. Michigan baseball heads to Port Charlotte, FL for a long weekend series against three other teams, the first of which is "The Mount". 11am first pitch.
- Hockey (12-18-2, 9-15-2) hosts Ferris State (15-13-4, 13-11-2): Coming off a big weekend sweep of the Buckeyes in Buckeye-ville, the Michigan icers host the Bulldogs in their last regular season home series. The Michigan Daily looks at playoff scenarios for the icers, and discusses the possibility of hosting round one at Yost. Puck drops (with myself in attendance!) at 7:35pm on CBS College Sports.
Tomorrow (3/2):
- Baseball vs. St. Louis (5-2): Billiken Baseball double-header. First pitch at 11am.
- Hockey vs. Ferris State: Puck drops at 7:35pm on Fox Sports Detroit.
Sunday (3/3):
- Baseball vs. Georgetown (2-3): First pitch at 2:30pm.
- Basketball (23-5, 10-5) vs. Michigan State (22-6, 11-4): Talk is cheap. So I am going to shut up. Make a believer out of me fellas, or a re-believer as it were. Tipoff is 4pm on CBS proper.
What's Up This Weekend? The Hangover Edition: 2/15-2/17/13
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Today (2/15):
- Baseball (0-0) vs. Cal (0-0): It's opening day! New head coach Erik Bakich (youngest in BCS) will skipper the Wolverines against the Cal Bears on the road in Berkeley. Peanuts, cracker jack...68 degrees and sunny. Michigan is not quite a media favorite in the Big Ten, as prognosticators have them from the middle to the middle-bottom of the Big Ten's 12 teams, but they do have a couple of players on a preseason watch list. The guy to watch is Michael O'Neill, who lead in a survey of coaches in several categories, including "Best Power Threat." 4:30pm ET first pitch.
Tomorrow (2/16):
- Women's Basketball (18-6/8-4) vs. Sparty (19-5/7-4): Avenge me!!!! Avenge me!!!! Noon tip at Crisler Center. Live audio here.
- Baseball at Cal: Game 2 of the series. 4pm ET first pitch.
Sunday (2/17):
- Basketball (21-4/7-4) vs. Penn State (8-16/0-12) : I'm anticipating a sloppy game...and I am envisioning these kids not quite being over the loss to Sparty. I'm expecting to win of course, but if you have the means, take the Lions and the points.
- Baseball at Cal: Game 3 of the series. 2pm ET first pitch.
Housed
/Michigan fell 75-52 to Sparty on Tuesday, decreasing their all-time lead in the series to 94-76 (87-76 if you are into the Ed Martin adjusted record). The win was only the 2nd in 5 tries overall for the Spartans, but the 32nd in 33 tries at Breslin as well as the largest margin of victory in over 10 years.
Losing to Sparty sucks. Getting crushed by Sparty causes depression. This year, unlike most seasons since the late 90's, you really care, and you've probably been talking shit to your Sparty neighbors leading up to Tuesday's game. Now they own you, at least until March 3rd.
The emotional investment and the pride we felt for the most of this campaign seemed to disappear in one game, and that is sad, because something has been built here. The problem is, the foundation of it is based on the fragile psyches of freshman. Freshman that have never felt the pressure of a game in Bloomington, or the power of stupid people in large groups they experienced in East Lansing. The swagger is gone. This team is tired, scared and scarred. We need a break. We need to come home. We need Penn State to be Penn State...twice.
How they react now will define their legacy. When March comes in college basketball, nobody remembers February. There's another month of growth to be had before the Big Ten tournament, and it's open for debate whether that conference tournament really means something, even though it will be an amazing set of matchups.
The goal is to show up in the big dance. This season begins on March 21st (yes that is a lot later than usual) and involves 6 games. Avenge last year's debacle by winning on opening night. Make the sweet sixteen to get the national relevance we've been pining for. After that, it's all gravy. Win the first four, and you've got what the Spartans call a championship. Win six, and you grab something that the Spartans haven't held in 13 years, and something that is very rare in Big Ten country, a national championship in a revenue sport.
This team has a chance to do that. Not a great chance mind you, given their youth and streaky play by everyone not named Trey, but a chance nonetheless.
We went from this...
To this...
...in a very short amount of time ( and an amazingly brutal slate of games).
What we need is to find a way to become this...
...but by the rules of course :)
Keep calm and GO BLUE!
