Weekend Roundup, President's Day Edition: 2/18/13

William Howard Taft: Never ate anything from a vegetable garden

Here's what happened around those pesky internets while you were trying to find this in your size:

Hoops was underwhelming during Sunday's arena re-dedication game, as I expected.  There is something fundamentally wrong right now, and for me it's about grit and hustle, and not in the cliche sort of way.  I really mean we need to get physical.  Sparty cracked the code, and the code is to put your head down and ram us.  What we need is for Hoke to attend a hoops practice.  The meat-grinder is in order.  And get on the floor!  Dive around.  Take out the first couple of rows.  That being said, I've got this feeling now that we are going to claw our way back to the performance level we saw in December and January.  That's called optimism.  It's a rare find around the offices of UMTailgate.com.  I'm ready for a mad March.

• Michigan and Michigan State, both at the Palace to start the tournament?  Yes, that is the projection out of Indy this weekend says Mark Snyder in the Freep.  
• Stauskas and GRIII have returned to glory?  Not buying that they're back based on the eye test, but perhaps the stat lines will bolster their confidence and get them back to where we need them to be, 
  
• Penn State Recap:  Maize and Brew - Rededication -  "As mercurial as Michigan's freshmen can be, you might as well call Trey "Planck" because he's constant."
• Penn State Recap:  UMHoops  -  "Michigan continued to look like a team searching for its former self while limping past Penn State on Sunday afternoon. The Wolverines’ early season confidence and swagger is gone and a struggling defense becomes a more pressing concern with every passing game."
• I was ready to accept Minnesota as a power 6 weeks ago, but they've pooped the bed in a messier way than most.  Also, Chumbawamba reference FTW:  Tubthumping - Black Heart Gold Pants
• Today's Big Ten Basketball power rankings from our friends in Happy Valley.  Big Ten Hoops Weekly - Black Shoe Diaries
• Auburn alum Charles Barkley, during an NBA broadcast on TNT, put a fake bandage on his head and said he was mugged and got his credit cards jacked while he was in Alabama congratulating the football team.  This is spectacular.  USAToday
• Michigan two-way star, Heisman trophy winner, Super Bowl champion, National Champion, and future NFL Hall of Famer Charles Woodson was released by the Packers.  I'm sure he'll show up somewhere in the fall...best of luck Chuck.  
• Tim Hardaway Jr's old man...perhaps you have heard of him...is a finalist for the NBA Hall of Fame.
• $27 million and counting.  Wait until the civil suits arrive fellas.  Shut it down.

Weekend Roundup: That's a Bad Weekend Edition 2/11/13

Here's what happened around the internets while you decided to clean the kitty.

• Hoops lost a heartbreaker in Madison.  UMHoops recaps.  This one hurt.  But we move on and look to beat down little brother on Tuesday.  
• Awwww, you Paternos, you made your own report.  That's so sweet.  I had almost forgotten about this whole thing, but then you put it back in the news.  Good idea.  Let's talk some more about your involvement in child rape.
• Cool roundup of the Detroit News blue chippers, where they are going, why they are going there....as well as why they are not going to Michigan and/or Michigan State.  
• Hockey lost Friday at Notre Dame, 7-4.  Then a 6-4 Saturday loss completed the weekend sweep.
• The home game on February 17th against Penn State will feature throwback uniforms...which normal people refer to just as uniforms.
• Despite the loss Saturday, Michigan still controls its own Big Ten destiny...Rod Beard discusses.
• Hoke discusses staying in state to recruit.

Go Blue!  Beat Sparty!

Weekend Roundup, This is Just the Beginning Edition: 2/4/13

Here's what happened this weekend while you helped put Denard on the cover of the next NCAA Football video game.

• Big lights.  Big stage.  Big pooping of the pants.  Oh well, there's more games ahead.  Big ones.  Bigger ones.  And we're gonna win some of them.  We're still growing.  Still learning.  Kids.  And we've still got Trey.  There's time, a lot of it.  6 weeks...9 regular season games followed by the most competitive conference tournament in America.  Then it starts for realzies.   ESPN recap here.   UMHoops initial reaction.  Detroit News recap.

• These internets were a buzz with DB's announcement that we hired a group to catfish our own players.  Then there was some blowback.  Then we denied that it actually happened.  The whole thing came off as weird, but I gotta tell you, I'll take that kind of weird over this kind of weird any day.

• Signing day (February 6th)  is approaching, so if you are into that kind of thing, here's a ESPN-centric schedule.  We have the makings of a pretty good class, which sometimes means a lot, and sometimes means very little.

• AnnArbor.com covered Denard's signing appearance at the MDen, which had a pretty big crowd.  

• Hockey had it's first weekend sweep of the season, and it came against Michigan State, which is nice.  Friday night was a 3-2 victory, and Saturday's matinee was 5-2.

Weekend Roundup, #1 Edition

So, we've reached that time of year where I make that post where I tell you that rumors of this website's demise have been greatly exaggerated.  So there's that.  Apologies, I'll do better, missing pictures are coming, more content, etc., etc., etc...  You can't trust me. That you can trust.

Roundup?  Roundup.

• It's Super Bowl week, so there will be a Michigan player in action.  Also, a Michigan Man will coach Michigan....er, I mean San Francisco...and Baltimore I guess.  Jimmy Hardballs was my first love in Maize and Blue.  I pretended I was him (and at 9 years old, I probably already weighed as much as him) as I snapped the ball to myself in a one-on-one tackle football game I'd play with a friend on the cement floor of my basement, dodging my dad's rusty iron weights that were laying around.  It was a barbaric 10-yard fight, and we were both lucky it didn't end in cracked skulls.  16 years later, I got a new appreciation for Jim, as at around 40 years of age, he still was pulling tail at Rick's.  He was my idol in youth, and my mentor as I approached the "inappropriate to go to Rick's" age.  Also, he did this...

• It was a good week.  Very good.  We can only go downhill from here...  Running back Derrick Green committed to a teary eyed Brady Hoke, resulting in creative uses of the Spartan trademarked color, such and Maize + Blue = Green.  Great.  I think he should change his name.  MGoBlog Hello post  |  New Blue from Maize N Brew  |  Hat Presentation from Maize and Blue Nation  |  Touch the Banner updates recruiting  

• Hoops held serve at home against Purdue, and had a big road win against Illinois.  MGoBlog Recap  |  ESPN Recap  |  UMHoops Recap  |   ....which resulted in Michigan climbing to the top of the AP poll for the first time since baggy shorts became cool,  though still #2 in the Coaches Poll (fuck you Tom Osbourne)...  Eleven Warriors updates it's Big Ten power rankings.  Also, Bacari Alexander is weird.

• It wasn't all rainbows and unicorns though.  Michigan Hockey sucks, and Denard, well, Denard will always have his smile.

• But let's not end there, here's a Winter Outlook of Wolverines Football, and a coach really jamming the idea of the extra pass home.

Weekend Roundup: This is it Edition - 10/16/2012

Here's what happened around the internet while the people at Ann Arbor's German Park tried to sell you ​on the idea that it was a Chaplin mustache back then:

• Remember our favorite turncoat and family values lover Justin Boren?  Well his little brother Zach goes both ways.  Innuendo intended.
• Something happened on the way to Pasadena for the Spartans...Black Heart Gold Pants celebrates it, The Only Colors picks up the pieces.  And I laugh maniacally.
• Big win for OSU on Saturday over Indiana in their quest for that Leaders Division trophy and the AP National Championship.  I remember when we used to have shootout wins over Indiana.  I remember when I was delusional about the defense, using injuries as the excuse.  I remember when RichRod addressed the defense in a special meeting.  Now Urban's doing it.
• Illinois Blowout Roundup:  Rittenburg: Michigan looking ahead to MSU  |  ​More Rittenburg: Purdue and MSU are in deep shit  |  MGoBlog Ace: Bliss  |  TTB: Every running back had a good game except Fitz  |  Maize and Brew: Woodshed  |  AnnArbor.com has an awesome Denard pic  |  MGoBlog Brian: Annual Denard vs. Illinois injury scare
• And finally....some cool pics of what it looks like when the band stops playing.​