Have You Seen Ohio's Schedule?

Is this for real?  Found this in my twitter archives from earlier this month:

Cute TTUN reference aside, coming off a sanction stained season of perfection that will no doubt be a motivational factor, this slate is a recipe for repeat perfection.  Ugh.  I guess it's relative.  Is the Big Ten going to start making a comeback nationally?  Who are the powers of the Big Ten for '13?  Does Penn State have a year left in them before the penalties start to really take their toll?  Will Ferentz make Iowa competitive and save his high paying job?  Is Northwestern planning to turn the corner?  

Anyway, Urban, unless you have another nervous breakdown like you had at Florida, we'll see you at our house on the 30th.  I'm looking for that season ruining '95, '96, '97 magic.​  Also, I can hear the echoes of Coach Hoke's cracking voice telling me we only worry about Michigan at Michigan...or perhaps that was RichRod.  No matter, here's our schedule for posterity:

Not exactly a host of world beaters...though BCS Championship Game runner-up Notre Dame does come to Ann Arbor for Under the Lights part deux.  Also, at Sparty, at NW, at PSU all reserve the right to be challenges.

It's fun to look at football in February.​  51 days until the Spring Game.  You got a hotel for UCONN yet?

Keep calm and GO BLUE!​

Way Back When-sday Pic of the Week

​November 17. 2007.  Kevin Cowbell and I attack mini-Brutus in section 30 as Michigan falls 14-3 in one of the worst games I've ever had to sit through.

Weekend Roundup, President's Day Edition: 2/18/13

William Howard Taft: Never ate anything from a vegetable garden

Here's what happened around those pesky internets while you were trying to find this in your size:

Hoops was underwhelming during Sunday's arena re-dedication game, as I expected.  There is something fundamentally wrong right now, and for me it's about grit and hustle, and not in the cliche sort of way.  I really mean we need to get physical.  Sparty cracked the code, and the code is to put your head down and ram us.  What we need is for Hoke to attend a hoops practice.  The meat-grinder is in order.  And get on the floor!  Dive around.  Take out the first couple of rows.  That being said, I've got this feeling now that we are going to claw our way back to the performance level we saw in December and January.  That's called optimism.  It's a rare find around the offices of UMTailgate.com.  I'm ready for a mad March.

• Michigan and Michigan State, both at the Palace to start the tournament?  Yes, that is the projection out of Indy this weekend says Mark Snyder in the Freep.  
• Stauskas and GRIII have returned to glory?  Not buying that they're back based on the eye test, but perhaps the stat lines will bolster their confidence and get them back to where we need them to be, 
  
• Penn State Recap:  Maize and Brew - Rededication -  "As mercurial as Michigan's freshmen can be, you might as well call Trey "Planck" because he's constant."
• Penn State Recap:  UMHoops  -  "Michigan continued to look like a team searching for its former self while limping past Penn State on Sunday afternoon. The Wolverines’ early season confidence and swagger is gone and a struggling defense becomes a more pressing concern with every passing game."
• I was ready to accept Minnesota as a power 6 weeks ago, but they've pooped the bed in a messier way than most.  Also, Chumbawamba reference FTW:  Tubthumping - Black Heart Gold Pants
• Today's Big Ten Basketball power rankings from our friends in Happy Valley.  Big Ten Hoops Weekly - Black Shoe Diaries
• Auburn alum Charles Barkley, during an NBA broadcast on TNT, put a fake bandage on his head and said he was mugged and got his credit cards jacked while he was in Alabama congratulating the football team.  This is spectacular.  USAToday
• Michigan two-way star, Heisman trophy winner, Super Bowl champion, National Champion, and future NFL Hall of Famer Charles Woodson was released by the Packers.  I'm sure he'll show up somewhere in the fall...best of luck Chuck.  
• Tim Hardaway Jr's old man...perhaps you have heard of him...is a finalist for the NBA Hall of Fame.
• $27 million and counting.  Wait until the civil suits arrive fellas.  Shut it down.

What's Up This Weekend? The Hangover Edition: 2/15-2/17/13

Today (2/15):

• Baseball (0-0) vs. Cal (0-0):  It's opening day!  New head coach Erik Bakich (youngest in BCS) will skipper the Wolverines against the Cal Bears on the road in Berkeley.  Peanuts, cracker jack...68 degrees and sunny.  Michigan is not quite a media favorite in the Big Ten, as prognosticators have them from the middle to the middle-bottom of the Big Ten's 12 teams, but they do have a couple of players on a preseason watch list.   The guy to watch is Michael O'Neill, who lead in a survey of coaches in several categories, including "Best Power Threat."  4:30pm ET first pitch.  

Tomorrow (2/16):

• Women's Basketball (18-6/8-4) vs. Sparty (19-5/7-4):  Avenge me!!!!  Avenge me!!!!  Noon tip at Crisler Center.  Live audio here.
• Baseball at Cal:  Game 2 of the series.  4pm ET first pitch.

Sunday (2/17):

• Basketball (21-4/7-4) vs. Penn State (8-16/0-12) :  I'm anticipating a sloppy game...and I am envisioning these kids not quite being over the loss to Sparty.  I'm expecting to win of course, but if you have the means, take the Lions and the points.
• Baseball at Cal:  Game 3 of the series.  2pm ET first pitch.

Housed

Michigan fell 75-52 to Sparty on Tuesday, decreasing their all-time lead in the series to 94-76 (87-76 if you are into the Ed Martin adjusted record).  The win was only the 2nd in 5 tries overall for the Spartans, but the 32nd in 33 tries at Breslin as well as the largest margin of victory in over 10 years.

• UMHoops recap
• MGoBlog recap
• ESPN Game Center

Losing to Sparty sucks.  Getting crushed by Sparty causes depression.  This year, unlike most seasons since the late 90's, you really care, and you've probably been talking shit to your Sparty neighbors leading up to Tuesday's game.  Now they own you, at least until March 3rd.  

The emotional investment and the pride we felt for the most of this campaign seemed to disappear in one game, and that is sad, because something has been built here.  The problem is, the foundation of it is based on the fragile psyches of freshman.  Freshman that have never felt the pressure of a game in Bloomington, or the power of stupid people in large groups they experienced in East Lansing.  The swagger is gone.  This team is tired, scared and scarred.   We need a break.  We need to come home.  We need Penn State to be Penn State...twice.

How they react now will define their legacy.  When March comes in college basketball, nobody remembers February.  There's another month of growth to be had before the Big Ten tournament, and it's open for debate whether that conference tournament really means something, even though it will be an amazing set of matchups.  

The goal is to show up in the big dance.  This season begins on March 21st (yes that is a lot later than usual) and involves 6 games.  Avenge last year's debacle by winning on opening night.  Make the sweet sixteen to get the national relevance we've been pining for.  After that, it's all gravy.  Win the first four, and you've got what the Spartans call a championship.  Win six, and you grab something that the Spartans haven't held in 13 years, and something that is very rare in Big Ten country,  a national championship in a revenue sport.  

This team has a chance to do that.  Not a great chance mind you, given their youth and streaky play by everyone not named Trey, but a chance nonetheless.

We went from this...

To this...

...in a very short amount of time ( and an amazingly brutal slate of games).

What we need is to find a way to become this...

...but by the rules of course :)

Keep calm and GO BLUE!