Second Place is Just the First Loser

The Big Ten meetings kicked off today in Chicago, and the votes are in. Ohio State is the preseason favorite to win the Big Ten, followed by Michigan and Iowa. Here's the link from the kool-aid stand. Only the top three vote-getters are listed. Too bad, because I think it would be great if we could see that bottom three, if only to poke fun.

The elusive freshman jersey numbers have also been released. Carlos Brown is the new Chris Perry, and there is no new #1. View the full roster here.

The Bigger House?

For those not on the ticket holder mailing list, an email from Bill Martin has opened the doors on the stadium expansion project, and you can read it all right here. There are schematics (adobe acrobat reader needed), cost estimates, and even some letters between the regents and the athletic department. Bill Martin even has a podcast, which for you old folks is the equivalent of a radio address that is downloadable to your iPod. So high tech!

If you are still bored after clicking through all of that, get a good laugh from Arizona head coach Denny Green:

Matt (Leinart) is going to be a very good player. But I'm still very high on, and I haven't changed one bit, on the future of John Navarre. He's got everything you need to be a big-time player ... You know what? People don't believe a lot of things I say.

Oh, I believe you Denny...I just think you are utterly insane.

Movement in the 'D'

For those that haven't heard, there's big news from the world of professional sports in Detroit. The Tigers have made a trade right at the deadline, acquiring Sean Casey from the Pirates for minor leaguer Brian Rodgers...and have optioned Chris Shelton to AAA. Has anyone ever hit 10 home runs in a month and been sent down later in the season? I'm guessing no. Check out the Detroit Tiger Weblog for the full story. It's better than the crap you'll get from ESPN.

In breaking news from The Joe, the Red Wings have found a way to sign Dominick Hasek to a one-year deal, increasing the average age of Red Wing's players to 47. I had no idea that Hasek had such a good season last year for Ottawa...actually, I had no idea that professional hockey still existed.

Case of the Mundys 7/31/06

The 2006 version of the Michigan Wolverines will appear together for the first time officially when they report to practice Sunday, August 6th at noon. Freshman now report at the same time as the rest of the team, but with the rumors floating around about the year-round dedication of the Wolverine veterans, expect the likes of Brandon Minor, Quintin Woods, Cobrani Mixon, and Brandon Grahamwill have to play a little catch up. Not so for Carlos Brown (yes that's him in the picture) and Justin Boren, who "came out early"...of high school.

The previews continue and Athlon has provided a fairly in-depth, and totally free Michigan preview. It includes quite a few little gems, such as this one:

They didn't fall as far as some other traditional powers have in recent years and endure a losing season, but five losses just doesn’t cut it in Ann Arbor. Neither do four losses in five seasons to Ohio State, three defeats in four seasons to Notre Dame and three consecutive bowl game implosions.

They go on to point to quarterback depth as a serious issue...thanks 

Matt Gutierrez, I hope you enjoy Idaho State, and I hope you know that we all know that something shady went down before that 2004 season started, despite the triple deadbolt on Fort Schembechler. Also, there's this tidbit on the defense:

New defensive coordinator Ron English must find more playmakers to help Woodley and Hall. The Wolverines finished 10th in the conference in red zone defense and gave up crucial fourth quarter scores in losses to Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio State and Nebraska.

Wow. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio State, and Nebraska. That's a third of the damn season.

Moving on... Every Monday, we will try to provide a comprehensive injury report, affectionately called "Case of the Mundys" in honor of Ryan Mundy's season ending shoulder injury last season. However, assembling an injury report from the information from the weekly press conference will most likely become a lesson in futility, so instead I will use a combination of rumors, innuendo, and crappy message boards to report on the latest list of boo-boos. So whether it's from Lloyd Carr, ESPN, or some guy named Ike that works with some player's aunt, it might just show up on here.

Injury Report:

• Antonio Bass
• INJURY: Injured knee during conditioning drill in spring practice on 3/16/06
• BAD NEWS: Expected to miss entire 2006 season. Was a viable candidate to be the backup QB behind Henne.
• GOOD NEWS: Prime candidate for a redshirt. So, maybe 3 more years of Antonio Bass.
• GOOD NEWS: Carlos Brown ran the "Antonio Bass Offense" very well in the Spring Game

In UMTailgate.com website news, the migration continues. I can't begin to tell you all of the pictures and posts that have been discovered buried in servers and on backup CDs/DVDs that haven't seen the light of day in years. It's amazing what you lose every time you move, both physically and virtually.

Added this past weekend:

• 2004 Off-Season Pictures and Front Page Posts


• 2004 Football Season and Front Page Posts


• 2003 Off-Season Pictures and Front Page Posts


• 2003 Football Season and Front Page Posts


• 2002 Off-Season Pictures


• 2002 Football Season

For those unfamiliar to this blog-type of webpage, you can click any of the "categories" listed on the right hand menu to show all of the posts from that category.

My Wish & Did U Know? : Conference Championships

I'd rather drink fecal tea than be inundated with another reprised episode of the "My Wish" series on Sportscenter. Besides, it is really the athletes involved that are getting their wishes granted, specifically Kobe Bryant. I can almost hear former MTV dork Chris Connelly doing the voiceover as we look at the segment from another prospective.

"Born in 1978 in Philadelphia, PA, Kobe Bryant was named after a steak by his parents Joe and Pam. At six years of age, he was taken from his homeland (the United States) and forced to live in Italy, where his father was put into a camp, a basketball training camp. Seven years later, Kobe was allowed to return to the U.S. and attended Lower Marion High School, excelled in basketball, and entered the NBA draft.

In 1998 he met his future wife. She was 16. He was 20. They would be married just three years later, much to the dismay of Kobe's parents who were against the wedding due to their young age. Kobe and his parents did not speak for two full years following the nuptials.

In April of 2003, Kobe's wife gave birth to their first child. Just three months later, Kobe slept with a 19 year old hotel employee, who later would claim he sexually assaulted her. A year later, he would help force the trade of Shaquille O'Neal, sending the Lakers on a downward spiral, and giving the Miami Heat the last piece to their NBA championship puzzle.

We told Kobe that he would be showing up at this TGI Friday's to talk about a sponsorship deal with Tuffy muffler, but in reality we're about to bring in a Mexican kid with leukemia that has a spot on jump shot and film Kobe spending the day with him and put it on Sportscenter. It's this type of exposure that will help Kobe's image, to get him back to making that endorsement dollar, to make him look like he is not a predator...this is Kobe's wish. (cue Rascal Flatts)

Ya, that's about right. I'm just really getting sick of this new Disney laden side of ESPN. That being said, I plan to do a weekly "Did U Know?" segment here on UMTailgate.com. It's a throwback to an old Sportscenter segment that used to appear at the end of every show. For those of us that may have regularaly watched the repeated 7am, 8am, 9am, 10am, and 11am editions, it was our hourly chime. Hopefully the UMTailgate.com version will be something that will spark a memory, raise eyebrows, or just make you look smart at parties. So, without further ado:

DID U KNOW?

Michigan has 42 Big Ten Conference Championships in football to Michigan State's 6. The Spartan's 6 titles are the third worst among active Big Ten teams (which includes a Penn State team that has only been in the conference for 13 years) and is one title less than the University of Chicago, who stopped playing Big Ten football in 1939.

Bonus DUK: Michigan has 12 Big Ten Conference Championships in basketball to Michigan State's 10.

Enjoy the weekend!