We Laugh At Your Attempts At Hockey Crowd Records

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​Hard to believe, but Michigan played Michigan State in hockey, outside at Spartan Stadium, over seven years ago.  They billed it as the Cold War, and it drew 74,554 fans, eclipsing a record (55,000) held previously by an area that played a part in the real Cold War...Moscow.  It was an amazing event (minus the cement laden venue in hell on Earth) right up until the end, where it ended in a tie.  Everybody knows a tie is like kissing your sister, and in this case it was even worse because it was like kissing your little brother.  So epic, yet so unsatisfying.

Enter the Wisconsin Badgers, who have decided to drum up a limited skirmish in Madison next February featuring the fair Wolverines.  The contracts are all but signed, and let me tell you, as Madison is my imaginary second home, that they will fill that stadium.  The drinking abilities and spirit of that town, coupled with the rabid traveling posse that would follow the Wolverines anywhere...even Columbus...and you've got yourself a recipe for a record crowd watching a hockey game.  That's going to take the record away from Sparty, and there's nothing wrong with that.  They'll be left with their record low number of Big Ten football titles, so ya, nice.

While we the Wolverines will have enjoyed participating in the two largest crowds ever to witness ice hockey, we also enjoy filling our own stadium with 100,000+ every football weekend.  Ahem, that's every weekend since 1975.  So we've decided that we will allow Badger Stadium to enjoy their record crowd...for 10 months.  After 10 months, when we're coming off of a seven game home football slate showcasing our new stadium, and making plans for a BCS bowl game, we will host our own hockey game, capacity 108,000.  When the ice dust has settled, Michigan will once again be #1, and unbeatable until they find a way to host a hockey game at MIS.  Michigan will have played in front of the #1,#2, and #3 largest crowds in ice hockey, which basically reminds the sports world that WE ARE THE SHIT.

Mini-Roundup, Hightower Edition: 3/3/2009

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​I know that Johnny Cleveland and I aren't the only people that have noticed that Ed Hightower referees every basketball game that appears on television.  I mean seriously, dude is everywhere.  Most recently, he did the MSU-Illinois game on Sunday, and followed it up with an appearence at Texas vs. Baylor tonight.  I could site in more detail his amazing schedule, but it is just too broad and too large to fit in the space of a blog post.  The internets are beginning to take notice of this phenomena, and the love/hate relationship between college basketball fans and Ed is burning up blogs across the nation.  No one, however, is supporting my contention...which is that, a la WWF referee Dave Hebner, there are two Ed Hightowers.  I hope I don't need to remind you that the Hebner twins cost Hulk Hogan his belt...

What then took place was (history has since proven) one of the most brilliant wrestling angles in the annals of the "sport." Twin referees, a bogus pin, the World Title wrongly changing hands -- twice -- and some of the most entertaining "rasslin" the world had ever seen. When "evil twin" ref Dave Hebner (or was it Earl?) cost Hogan his belt, ending Hogan's four-year long first WWF title reign, with Dibiase then immediately trading Andre (and his manager, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan) a briefcase full of cash for the WWF strap, the fans in attendance -- as well as those watching at home -- were enraged.

So the breadth of the wrath of Hightower has yet to be revealed.  Somehow, I thinkMoses Hightower is involved as well.  Yes, he's too big to be the twin, but he is a Sparty, and most of them are crooked bastards.  Someone needs to take a hard look at Spartan basketball over the last 10 years and cross reference it with games refereed by either of "the Hightowers"....or Bubba Smith.

Bullets...


Non-Hightower links of interest...

Like a Moth to A Flame, I Am Attracted to #13's Blog

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​There's no hiding my extreme fandom for the greatest Ohio State running back in history.  Immediately you are thinking...OMG, a Michigan fan likes Archie Griffin?  Nope.  I have nothing but disdain for him and his two Heismans.  So, Eddie George?  Ha.  Don't think so.  I'll see your 104 yards and raise you Biakabutuka's 313.  My fav...Maurice Clarrett.  He won the Buckeyes the 2002 National Championship, challenged the NFL's rules to try to enter the draft after his Freshman year, gave a revealing interview about the inner workings of Ohio State athletics, and he is decidedly pro-Israel.  Unfortunately for Mo, Israel was not exactly pro-Clarrett, and that is what took him from us in 2006, out of the public eye, and into Toledo Correctional, where he'll be eligible for release in 2014.

I have often wondered how I, as a person so drawn to the life and times of Mo-C, was going to be able to get by until then.  I sometimes find myself sitting in my family room, bottle of Grey Goose nearby, whacking my coffee table with a hatchet, pondering my own existence while wondering what Mo is thinking or doing at that exact moment.  Has he made the other inmates his bitch?  Or has he succumbed to the sisters for in house protection, an extra squirt of toothpaste, and a poster of Lil' Kim.  He is just a 40 minute drive down US23 from The Big House, at a real life big house, and yet I know nothing about his daily activities.  With bunk beds, he and his cellmate must BE ABLE TO DO SO MANY ACTIVITIES!

And then it happened.

Could it be?  Could this be real?  Maurice Clarrett...blogging about life in the clink and offering up daily affirmations?!?!?!?  It can't be real.  It just can't.  The good Lord couldn't possibly want to bestow such a blessing upon me as a Michigan Clarrett fan.  I am not worthy.  He's letting us all inside The Mind of Maurice Clarrett (HT:Deadspin), and I couldn't be happier.

To be honest, if it does get proven fake...I'm still pretending it's real, just to get by.

Bubble Boys

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​It was a buyer's market outside of Crisler tonight.  Turns out Purdue was the freebie end of a buy-one get-one promo put on by the masterminds in the athletic department several weeks ago.  Average Joe-the-Sometimes-Fan sat home listening to the rain while holding a free ticket, pondering whether or not to make the trip to Crisler, akin to Cameron sitting in the car trying to decide if he should go pick up Ferris Bueller.  The combination of fan indifference and the students on Spring Break left a good amount of empty seats despite the SOLD OUT sign in the window by the ticket office.  We had six people, one ticket.  And while one guy was trying to sell his upper deck seats for double face value, there were people next to him passing out their extras like flyers in the diag.  Well, maybe it wasn't that easy.  But we all got in...to a "sold out" game...for a grand total of zero dollars.  I think I even spotted Brian Cook mulling around outside the arena, but you can never know with all the kids sporting the bearded long-haired "Cook Look" these days.

Senior night.  Pay your respects.  JeVohn Shepherd, CJ Lee, and David Merritt...ya, not really an all-star cast send off, but we've had worse.  We've said goodbyes to Sherrod Harrell and Hayes Grooms before.  But never before have we wanted so badly to say goodbye.  Not because of the caliber of the senior players, who against the odds not only found playing time but played integral roles, but because we have no desire to see these guys play another game in Crisler.  Seeing Shepherd, Merritt, and Lee at Crisler again means NIT, and we want something else.

We took a giant step toward the dance today, perhaps even taking the edge off of the Iowa debacle.  Though after tonight if Iowa were not the crapfest it was, we would be talking "seeds" instead of "ifs".  Despite the score, and despite the free throw chokes, we owned Purdue tonight.  Minus the bullshit charge call early (5-point swing in my book) and the front-end free throw follies of CJ Lee, this one wasn't close.  We even outplayed them in a category that we are basement dwellers in: rebounding.  Michigan 27, Purdue 24 on the boards.

Lost in the shuffle of goodbyes and top-25 upsets, was Manny Harris.  Manny joined legendary names like Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Phil Hubbard, Mike McGee and Louis Bullock, becoming on the 6th sophomore in Michigan Basketball history to eclipse the 1000 point mark.  Manny went for 27 tonight, and Sims chipped in 29.  The big two did what they were supposed to, and a more diverse supporting cast (10 players scored) made key plays at key times.  That's the type of lineup that beat Duke and UCLA.  That's the recipe for victory here.

After some moans and groans due to foul shooting (Purdue began fouling at the 4 minute mark BTW) the clock finally reached zero, and the team gave what they hope to be their final send off to the Crisler crowd.  The gathered at center court and led the room in a rousing chorus of The Victors.

There are a lot of opportunities left.  Two tough road games, of which winning one is paramount.  And the Big Ten tournament, which can make us on a Saturday or a Sunday, or break us on a Thursday.

I was happy to be there, and I'm even happier that WE are here.  I love this bubble.

Shock the world.