What's Up This Weekend? Relaxing St. Patrick's Selection Sunday Edition

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​Selection Sunday is upon us.  And OF COURSE there will be a 13th (!?!?) annual UMTailgate.com Tournament Challenge.  

There will be no nail-biting anticipation.  There's no question, we're in.  But we need to get this whole Big Ten Tournament thing out of the way first, right?  I was inclined to vote for tanking it and having the boys enjoy a full week off, but yesterday's second half against The Fighting Sanduskys (classless? yup) made me feel better about the tank-job on Sunday (which I paid about $100 to watch over 3G in Columbia).  Maybe the BTT can be used to wipe the poor taste from our mouths left from Sunday, or that other PSU game, or the definitively poor last quarter of the season.

A'ight? A'ight.​

Today (3/15/13):​

  • ​Basketball (26-6, 12-6) vs. Wisconsin (21-10, 12-6):  And you thought we wouldn't get to avenge that half-court shot that sent the game to that shitty overtime at the Kohl center.  Big Ten Tournament Round Two Action tips off at the United Center at 2:30PM -ESPN.
  • Baseball (8-7) at Coastal Carolina (7-10): We're heading to the home of the Chanticleers!  First pitch in Myrtle Beach at 4pm.  Live audio lives here.
  • Hockey (15-18-3, 9-15-3) at Western Michigan (19-9-8, 15-7-6)​:  CCHA quarterfinals action in Kalamazoo.  I wonder if the Godfather is going?  I wonder who he will be cheering for?  6:35pm on FSD.
  • Big Ten Tournament Other Games:  Game 5: No. 1 Indiana vs. No. 8 Illinois, 11 a.m., ESPN  ||  Game 7: No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 10 Nebraska, 5:30 p.m., BTN  ||  Game 8: No. 3 Michigan State vs. No. 6 Iowa, 8 p.m.*, BTN

Tomorrow (3/16/13):

  • Basketball vs. Indiana or Illinois:  The Big Ten Tournament continues?  ​12:40PM CBS
  • Other BTT Semi-Final: Ohio State or Nebraska vs. Iowa (see what I did there?)​ 3:00PM CBS
  • Baseball at Coastal Carolina: 3pm Live Audio​
  • Hockey at Western Michigan: Game 2 of the CCHA quarterfinals 7pm...no coverage?

St. Patrick's Day:

  • Drinking and Breakfast at Conor Oneill'​s with your's truly.  7AM
  • Basketball vs. Ohio State, Nebraska or Iowa:  The BTT finals...2:30PM CBS
  • Baseball vs. Akron (in Myrtle Beach)​ 11:00AM
  • NCAA Tournament Selection Announcement 6PM CBS.​
  • Hockey at Western Michigan (if necessary) 7pm

​

We Got Fun and Games: Michigan 31, Western Michigan 7

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A new dawn.

After a tumultuous Friday that had me freaking out due to poor tailgate preparation, I was awakened from my "evening nap" and popped up off the couch to the alarm on my new cell phone, a simultaneous phone call from an online wake up service, and eventually the alarm on Tuba's phone. I gave him the obligatory "I'm good," showered, shaved, put on my morning load-the-car clothes, and took off in Johnny Cleveland's truck on a mission to get a propane exchange from a gas station in Ypsi. I had already made arrangements to get the exchange with the clerk back at 2am the previous evening. It was now 6am. He remembered me, and he apologized for not being able to attend to me earlier in the evening, which to him was "earlier in his shift," but for me was "last night." I wondered what this guy must be thinking. Probably not that I was helping to host 100+ at a party that was to start in 90 minutes in the shadows of the largest college football stadium in the world. I added two bags of ice to my order, one to freshen the beer cooler, and one for the 100 kabobs and 8 pounds of bacon in the food cooler.

A new day.

Parking wasn't perfect at our new home, but given the circumstances, it went pretty smoothly. From the time the fires were lit on the grill and stove, I remember very few details of the 8-hour marathon tailgate. There were a lot of hugs, a lot of food, and a whole lot of people. Perhaps the smaller venue contributed to how crowded things were, but there's no doubt people came out of the woodwork to see where the group who spent 15 years on the 7th green of Ann Arbor Golf and Outing had moved, and how we would adjust. In short, we did well...maybe even very well. I even managed to drink a little.

We did a half pack up of loose equipment at around 3pm, and I left the tailgate at 3:10pm. I arrived at my gate at 3:20pm, high fived the fine event staff as I jumped the line, and was in my seat by 3:25pm. Ya, the tailgate is that close. After another round of hello-how-ya-been hugs with the section regulars, it was time to put the gameface on.

A new life.

Three-and-out. Forcier to Hemmingway. 7-0. Denard on a broken play, laces dangling, 14-0. Forcier to a wide open Koger, 21-0. I'd like to say that I remember how it used to feel, but I don't. This was different. We hadn't had our backs against the wall in this manner since before I cared this much...before National Championships were considered the goal, before the BCS, and before Lloyd Carr was beloved. A losing season does something to a fan, to a man. Especially when you've NEVER had one. When you long for victory, ANY victory, putting a team away before halftime is such a relief, such bliss, that you're not sure what to do. At 21-0, with the student section leading 100,000 in a chant of Rich-Rod-ri-guez, it was all I could do to hold back tears of joy. Michigan still has a long way to go to get to where they want to go. That won't happen this year. But it might be sooner than later that they make their way back to where they were. What was considered the ceiling on Friday night, might have become the floor on Sunday morning.

A rousing chorus of The Victors, a piped in Welcome to the Jungle, a well executed wave, and a group of men that are probably too young to realize that they changed our lives, if only for a week.

Western Michigan: A Bullet Point Preview Without Bullets

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​Negativity...

Yes, Western Michigan is from the MAC. Yes, Western Michigan has a 30,000 seat stadium. But they are not necessarily a crappy program. WMU ranks 48th all time in winning percentage. And while that is nearly the textbook definition of middle of the pack, let me throw a few teams at you that they rank above...

Texas Tech
Oregon
Missouri
Iowa
Illinois

And ya, they've padded their record in a mid-major, but they also beat Illinois last year in Detroit. And they are undefeated (2-0) against Iowa, knocking them off in 2007 and 2000. They have four all-time wins against the Big Ten, and three of those wins have occurred this decade. That puts them at 3-8 in their last 11 against Big Ten opponents, yet 2-2 against Big Ten competition under their current coach, Bill Cubit. In short, they are not coming here to lay down. They are not here for the half-million dollars we paid them to travel 100 miles. They are here to win. They are here to knock off a Wolverine team that, while wounded, still provides the opportunity for a signature victory for an upstart program.

Further proving that the Broncos are peaking...with aspect to overall history...is that they are a program that has only been to 4 bowl games in their 104 year history, and two of those have come in the last two seasons.  That makes WMU's bowl streak longer than ours.  Ugh.

The Broncos broke or tied several records last year, including wins, touchdowns, pass completions, and passing yards.  I'm thinking they will be testing our young secondary.  I'm also thinking that if Michigan's offense has their shit together, the OVER will be a pretty solid bet.

Positivity...

Rich Rodriguez is no stranger to the Broncos, as his Mountaineers hosted WMU back on September 1, 2007. West Virginia, led by 4 Slaton TDs, routed the Broncos 62-24.

Michigan is 4-0 all time against Western, including victories of 35-13 and 38-21 in 2002 and 2001 respectively.

Western Michigan hasn't won an opener against a Division 1-A opponent since 1998.

Random Facts...

Our tailgate leader, the Godfather, attended Western Michigan.  Other famous alumni include John Saunders, Tim Allen, Bill Lajoie (Detroit Tiger's GM in 1984) and Stephen Lynch.

Western Michigan is the home to the International Congress on Medieval Studies, with means they play a lot of LAIRE.

Western Michigan will also face Indiana and Michigan State this season.

A cubit is a unit of measurement found in Egyptian history and in the Bible.  It is also Western Michigan's Football coach's last name.  It is said to equal twelve palms, or about 45 centimeters.  You are all now smarter.