Hockey confirmed in the great outdoors. MSU confirmed as the opponent.
Maurice Clarett's blog confirmed as his, but there seems to be some question as to how the words actually appear on the webpage, as there is no internet for inmates in Toledo Correctional. Word has it that he dictates it to a relative that keys it in. Sounds shady, but at least it explains the lack of misspellings and the grammatically correct prose.
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.
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...
Those who stay will be champions. Those who leave...drink.
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.
