Weekend Roundup, Homecoming Edition: 10/9/2012

​Purdue was about an hour further away than I remember.  And the time zone doesn't change there anymore.  Maybe it never did, I don't know.  Also, the away fans were not in the bleachers, at least I wasn't.  Plus, Michigan kicked Purdue's ass.  Denard didn't throw an interception.  Maybe it was all a dream?  

Here's what happened around the internets while the coaches decided to make the Big Ten into the Big East:

• Nearly two weeks old, but certainly a good read, John U. Bacon talks of the Irish taking a dump on the rivalry and selling out.  My opinion?  They sold out long ago.  Don't let the door hit you in the ass.
• Michigan lives and dies by the turnover, not just game to game, but season to season. What you saw on Saturday was the exact same game you saw at Notre Dame, only without an egregious amount of turnovers.  At Purdue...the Michigan Daily states...the turnovers went our​ way.
• Touch the Banner gives out the Purdue awards.  It's become obvious, not just on TTB, but in many other outlets, that the shine has worn off of Fitz.  Looks heavy, lost a step, etc, etc.  Also, Rawls had some nice mop up time.  There's about to be a shift in playing time.
• A Romney ad in Ohio via the M-Zone.  I don't really like to get into politics on this blog....wait, just kidding.  I'm voting for Romney.  The vast majority of the members of UMTailgate are voting for Romney.  And you should vote for Romney.​  Go Blue!
• Boiled Sports cleans up the mess at Ross-Ade.​
• UMHoops helps introduce the freshman class for basketball.​
• "Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL, we ain't come to play SCHOOL classes are POINTLESS," said Cardale Jones of Ohio.
  
• MGoBlog Recap channels the 70's.​
• And a recap of recaps and other recaps at Maize and Brew.​

Weekend Roundup, Gameday is Going Where? Edition: 9/25/12

Sometimes I call Monday part of the weekend.  That way, I can justify not posting until Tuesday.  This typically happens after a loss.  Particularly bad losses.  Memorable ones. Anyway, here's what happened around the internet while you watched the Hail Mary that wasn't .

• College gameday is headed to Big Ten country...where the worst football in America has been consistently playing for the better part of 10 years.
• The Big Ten Network has reached an agreement with DISH, the official provider of tailgate trailer TV reception...which makes me and Mr. Cooper very happy.​
• Game reactions?  Game reactions.  Maize and Brew gets poetic with "The Phantom Limb," ​MGoBlog's "Golden Hammer" covers hating Lloydball and needing Lloydball at the same time.  Touch the Banner recaps and gives out its weekly awards.
• In other stories of suck...  Sparty was able to sneek by upstart (or not) Eastern.  Mike Hart was going to really enjoy that.  Damn.  Meanwhile, Iowa actually fell to a directional Michigan team, as Central nipped them in Iowa City on a buzzer beating field goal.  BHGP thinks Ferentz sucks, and has for some time.  Black Shoe diaries is excited that they beat Temple, calls Temple little brother, and gives out a lot of high marks for a team that beat Temple 24-13.
• AnnArbor.com has a link post that is titled "Notre Dame may be destined for greatness..."  I contend that Notre Dame will struggle to be bowl eligible.  Their three wins against the Big Ten are akin to having three wins against the MAC.​
• If turnover margin is important, and I am pretty sure it is...then we're in deep shit, like ranked #117 deep.
• Hey!  There's hockey!  #3!!!!​

Weekend Roundup... More Polls, Less Sense Edition 8/19/2012

Here's what happened around the internets while you pondered if you should carry extra cash for  your scheduled layover in Minneapolis on the way to Dallas.:

• First up...injury news.  Both Ondre Pipkins and Roy Roundtree had issues this week.  Ondre was part of a scary scene at practice, being carted off with a neck injury.  He made it back to practice later that day, watching from the sideline...sans neck brace.  His return is TBD.  'Tree had his knee scoped, and is expected back for game 1.
• Wojo speaks about the "rivalry" renewed between Michigan and Michigan Agricultural College.  As with any post that involves these two teams, it's the comments section that will really make your day.​
• Bennett at the Big Ten Blog on ESPN runs the gambit of best case / worse case for Michigan's upcoming season.  It's Little Ceasar's Bowl vs. Ohio or the BCS Championship Game vs. USC with a Heisman for Denard.​
• Maize and Brew covers the best of the Big Ten for both Offense and Defense.​
• Holding the Rope has a glorious and comprehensive dissection of the Crimson Tide.​
• Where else would they be?  ESPN College Gameday will kickoff the season in Arlington for Michigan vs. Alabama.​
• And finally an AP poll roundup...  Maize and Blue Nation provides it.  Pollspeak gives you all the numbers.  ESPN gives the Big Ten perspective.  AnnArbor.com studies the mind of the madman that gave us a first place vote.​

Weekend Roundup, Media Guide Edition: August 12, 2012

The 2012 Michigan Football Media Guide is out (actually it's been out for a little while).  I remember when the media guide was a heavy $20 bible you'd run out and get at the MDen before the season started, and you'd go through page by page, marveling ​at the amazing history and tradition of Michigan Football.  There's probably some old timers from the tailgate that remember when the media guide was reserved for the media.  Now it's a publicly distributed pdf file, and those same old timers are squinting and reading a manual to figure out how to download it and save it as a file on their "internet boxes."  Ah, times they are a changin'.  It's available here in all of its glory.  And it's a big pdf, so be patient....especially if you're still rolling free dial-up internet from Net Zero.

Anyway, here's what happened around the internets​ while you sat in the fetal position in a corner wondering if the fact that Fitz was cleared to practice means he might play in Dallas.

• ESPN's power rankings discuss Michigan at #8.  The have the weight of the world resting on Denard's shoulders.  Denard covers some boilerplate keys to season, and the pundits talk about our difficult schedule, and O and D line issues.
• Michigan Basketball is on the map.  ESPN hopes to cover a rekindling of the rivalry of the 70's and 80's between Michigan and Indiana when Gameday travels to Bloomington on February 2.  I'm in.  Somebody find me some tickets.​
• The Shreveport Times covers the flame out and exit of the Honey Badger, who will be taking his talents to FCS football in the hopes he can make an impact worthy of an NFL draft position.  I'm not sure what Musburger and Lundquist will do with all that airtime during LSU games that has been freed up now that they don't have to suck Honey Badger's nuts.
• ​MVictors breaks down the media guide records section, and covers the historical numbers that might be in play this season.
• Trey Burke is thinking national championship, and an ESPN blogger thinks he's not crazy.​
• Ugh Ugh Ugh.  Roy Roundtree had arthroscopic knee surgery and is out for the next two weeks...as in  "A lot of guys come back in two weeks (from surgery like this)," Hoke said. "Our doctors did a tremendous job, we have a great medical staff."  Let's hope it's as minor as everybody at Fort Schembechler says it is.

Weekend Roundup, "'Cause I Got a Golden Ticket" Edition: 8/6/2012

They're here.  All six of them.  Smallest ticket package that has arrived at my home in some time.  The tickets are significantly smaller (as in not lanyard compatible like last year) and there's not many.  And the prices on them are exuberant.​  Seems like only yesterday we hit that $75 face mark....and now we've got a $95 MSU ticket.  This shit ain't getting any cheaper folks.

Here's what happened around the internets while you watched the tigers beat Ohio.​

• You like the new Big Ten logo, or the new B1G logo?  Well, we we've got one on the home jersey now, and a pair on the field.  Maize and Blue Nation discusses the process, which involved cutting out a chunk of the field turf and replacing it with a new piece with the logo on it.
• MGoBlog covers the new numbers for the incoming freshman as well as growing beard progress and "dread-flow."​
• Speaking of tickets arriving, Dooley covers the team numbers and the guys being honored in each game.   This new patch every game, in my opinion, completely cheapens the whole legends ​jersey idea.  Anyway, he points out a glaring flaw in the Gary Moeller ticket...while I still ponder how we don't have egg on our face as an institution for firing a coach and honoring him 18 years later.  Weird?  Weird.
• Sporting News has a nice article on the hoops revival in Ann Arbor.​
• The first home game is Air Force.  A game that concerns me.  Now they're down 5 dudes, all starters or penciled in starters.  Now we can concentrate on the tailgate.​
• AnnArbor.com profiles Matt Wile vs. Will Hagerup in the battle to see who 's gonna nail those coffin corners.​
• 26 long years of waiting, and the Big Ten championship rings have arrived in Ann Arbor.​
• ESPN reports on... Exit Justin Brown, the latest Penn State starter to see the light and get the hell out of State College.​
• When I was 11 and I had a paper route, my mother was terrified I was going to be kidnapped.  What she didn't realize, is that I, at a robust 160lbs, I was the last kid they were looking to take.  Too much heavy lifting.  When I heard that Montee Ball got attacked, and that it was a random act of violence....I called bullshit from jump street.  Nobody looks to attack 5'11'', 210 pound muscle-bound football players.  Big surprise...ESPN says it looks like it was more than just random.  These boys are in some trouble, no doubt further weakening a Leaders division that already only has 4 teams eligible for postseason play.