Sitting Pretty at #10...The Selection Special at Crisler

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​2009 UMTailgate.com Tournament Challenge information is available here.

***UPDATE***:  Thursday: Michigan vs. Clemson is PRIME TIME... 7:10pm!!!!

We came...we saw...we crapped our pants...then we celebrated...and then Baby Beth sat in Zack's tourney chair.

The Selection Special event at Crisler arena was a great idea that almost wasn't.  I shutter to think about how bad things would have gotten if we hadn't received that bid.  As luck would have it, our regional was the last to be announced, and you could feel Coach Beilein, the team, and the crowd start to really tighten up as seed after seed went by...without mention of the Wolverines.  But the anticipation and trepidation made it that much better when we were rewarded with the #10 seed in the closing minutes of the bracket reveal.  And then...chaos.  I've seen countless selection shows in my lifetime, and always wondered just how authentic the surprise was for players and coaches when they saw their names on CBS.  I can tell you, I was watching Beilein like a hawk, and he didn't know.  He went back and forth between Sims and Harris as it came down to the final bracket, probably going over with them exactly what the rest of the experienced tournament followers already knew.  If they're taking 7 from the Big Ten, it's us vs. Penn State, and we are probably in.  If they're taking 6, we're not in, as Illinois has yet to be announced. I watched the cameraman, hoping to see some kind of signal that he needed to be ready with a shot.  I watched the cameraman's assistant, who seemed to be on a direct line to headquarters via his earpiece, to see if he was getting some kind of word about readying the feed.  Nobody knew.  Either that or they are great secret keepers with tremendous poker faces.  Poker face...yes, please cue more Lady GaGa.

That Wisconsin bid at #12 made us all nervous.  They beat us twice, and they, at a 12-seed, were one of the last in.  But then Minnesota came in at #10...and we beat them twice.  Oh the confusion.  But in the end, we got what we wanted, minus maybe the chance to play in Dayton.

Coach Beilein was the host and emcee, and spoke to the crowd both before the show and after.  This is a class guy.  He said all the right things, and he loves Michigan.  He wanted us there, the Michigan fans, not as some promotional idea, or to get more ticket sales or bolster support, but because he wanted us to share in this moment, together, as a Michigan family.  In short, I fell in love with Coach tonight.  I'm in...not that I wasn't before.

Here are some pics from the event.  Thanks to tailgaters Baby Beth and Zoe for going with me and smuggling me in to the student area, even if everybody around us thought I was their dad...or maybe an uncle.  We had a great and close vantage point, and I've got some great video footage of all of this that I will certainly try to youtube tomorrow.

Thursday bitches!  Thursday!

Spring Reunion: Do You Know Your Themes?

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We would have liked to think that we knew, but we didn't.  Crazier things have happened on selection Sunday.  So we sat around on a Saturday afternoon, 20+ tailgaters together for the first time since November 22nd, rooting for the favorites to win each of the conference tournaments as to not burst any more bubbles...while drinking ourselves blind at Fraser's Pub in Ann Arbor.  In between baskets and debates on who to root for between OSU and MSU, we hammered out the themes for 8 home tailgates, and made arrangements for 4 road trips.

The themes for the 2009 UMTailgate.com Home Football Tailgates are as follows:

  • September 5, 2009: Western Michgian - Boats, Ho's, and the Catalina Wine Mixer combines a nautical theme, water sports, scantily clad women, wine, and tapas.

  • September 12, 2009: Notre Dame - Luau will feature our traditional Hawaiian garb, deco, and plates full of several parts of the pig.  This could mark the first tailgate appearance of the BBQ Bacon-Sausage roll.

  • September 19, 2009: Eastern Michigan - The Far East-ern tailgate will celebrate Asian fare.

  • September 26, 2009: Indiana - This homecoming game will mark the return of the Mardi Gras theme.

  • October 17, 2009: Delaware State - Ahhhhh yes...or awwwwwwww yeah...it's The Urban featuring soul food and lots of rap music.

  • October 24, 2009: Penn State - The first ever Old School tailgate will feature a class reunion type atmosphere with old pictures, yearbooks, and varsity jackets.  Not sure what direction we'll go for food here.

  • November 7, 2009: Purdue - Another first time theme...The Lumberjack...will feature overalls galore, and rustic country cooking.  There's a fairly good chance of fried turkeys at this one.

  • November 21, 2009: Ohio State - Soups, Stews, and Chili will keep us warm before we bust the nuts.

More detail to come as we get closer.  

Weekend Roundup, Hold the Phone Edition: March 9, 2009

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​I have fallen victim to another social network, so it is with great malaise that I utter type these words:  FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER.  I digress...

Huge win.  Colossal win.  Program making win.  While you can't say that Michigan did everything they could in the Big Ten to make the NCAA Tournament, you can say that they did everything they could on Saturday.  It was gritty, gutsy, clutch, and any other word you can come up with that portrays a comeback when all, including the season itself, looked lost.  On the road, against a team that needed it and wanted it as much as we did, we showed that we belong...that we are better.  You cannot take the Gophers and not take us.

And if you could somehow take out that loss at Iowa, when Manny was pulled for the duration of the overtime collapse, when we were certain we were NIT bound, then it would be time to talk seeds...to dream of brackets.  But we lost that game.  And because we lost that game we cannot rest on our laurels.  This team, with their new found focus and "us against the world" attitude, needs to shut off ESPN this week.  They don't need to see that we are no longer appearing as the last four in or the last four out, and that as far as Joe Lunardi and the rest of the world is concerned, Michigan is a lock to return to the dance.

The problem is, I don't think we are.  Some say seven, and perhaps as many as eight, teams will be in from the Big Ten.  But would it be the biggest surprise in Selection Sunday history if they only took six...or even five?  Despite the out of conference record of the bulk of us, I can't help but think that some bean counters from the selection committee saw Penn State vs. Illinois and said, as we all probably did, "hey, that's some shitty basketball."  And that's fine.  But if that is the case, then to be certain a week from tonight that Bill Martin will get a call before 8pm we have games yet to win.  We need to be playing on Saturday.

The rest of the internets that you missed while combining nipples and beer.

  • Someday, somebody will realize that there are more Michigan bloggers than there are other college sports bloggers combined.  And guess what?  9 out of 10 of them are really f'n good.  And while I myself am probably #10 in that gorilla math survey, it doesn't stop me from admiring the rest of the M-'sphere.  Before the Minnesota game, Dex of the Wolverine Liberation Army took us back to his youth, and a time of extreme youth in Michigan Basketball history.  More impressively, he does it without a single reference to fornication, which is odd for a man that can only be described as the Peter North of Cover it Live.

  • MVictors covers a great man in Michigan history, Red Simmons.  I spent a couple of seasons about two rows behind Red at Michigan Basketball games.  Red was there before me.  Red left after me.  And Red fielded fans throughout the game coming to catch a glimpse of a Michigan icon.  Seriously...he was hired by Fritz Crisler.

  • Dylan offers up the Big Ten tournament bracket  There's not a team in our half that we haven't beaten.  There's also not a team in our half that hasn't beaten us.  Iowa Thursday + Illinois Friday + Purdue Saturday = Dancing the following Thursday.

  • Fanhouse says that Michigan State is in a class of their own.  Fill in your own "class-less" joke of your own, and be sure to include riots and couch burning.  Then remember that this is MSU's first outright Big Ten championship in 10 years.  Ha.

  • This year's spring game is what the media calls "intriguing."

Confirmed...and Sorta Confirmed, but Shady

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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.