Sunday Linkfest

/
Fake it until you make it

Fake it until you make it

  • It's college football season!  Well, at least in the desert.  RichRod is getting a jump on Spring practice, and there seems to be a couple of good reasons why.  Having guys get a couple extra months to recover from Spring practice injuries seems like a decent idea.
  • Rashan Gary is on a lot of these lists.  I'm skeptical about the immediacy of his impact, even more so about the immediacy of need for him to have impact.  But I'm hoping we'll see him blowing up lines of scrimmage soon.
  • Johnny Football is on that Cryin' Ryan Leaf path, fulfilling the prophecy of all that watched his showboating and "show me the money" hand signals at A&M with such disdain.  Anybody left out there that thinks he didn't take a shit-ton of cash gifts while he was at A&M?  The autograph controversy was probably just the tip of the iceberg.   Dennis Dodd gets the rub on the Manziel effect from Kyle Allen, who says Johnny left a legacy behind...of selfishness and entitlement.
  • Not that we are really the responsible party, but there's something oddly satisfying about having your college team take part in severely disabling an NFL franchise.  They might not be able to recover.
  • Walton sucked, then he didn't, and Michigan knocked off just its second ranked team of year in late game comeback fashion on Saturday.  They maintain a 1-game lead over Michigan State in the Big Ten Standings.
  • Doubting Beilein and Levert seems to be the safest way for me to play things because I enjoy pleasant surprises, so in further hoops news:  We don't deserve it.  We're not playing well. Beilein called it "gritty not pretty."  And I am not sure we will see Caris again after he sat that 2nd half against Purdue, or that if he does return it will result in the influx of team greatness that we all expected a couple weeks ago.... But regardless, it looks like we're gonna dance in March. 

Thoughts on Jim, or "Making College Football Great Again"

/
State of the Harbaugh

State of the Harbaugh

I don't pretend to know what the future holds for college football, but I know I'll always love it, no matter what they do. More games. More playoff teams. Play at night. Play on Thursday. Signing of the stars. Spring practice wherever the hell you want. Camps wherever the hell you want.

Ride her 'til she bucks ya'.

If people don't like it, they'll eventually stop coming, and then they can reevaluate. This is the way it has to be. And as Michigan fans, fans that hangs their hat on the most wins, on the biggest stadium, and the largest scoreboards, we've been on the side of bigger is better the whole time, even if it was unconsciously. There is no man better fit to lead this team, hell, this athletic department, into this approaching era of expansion than Jim Harbaugh. And I don't need to sell the Maize and Blue clad among you on this. Jim Harbaugh has a 100% approval rating within the confines of Michigan fandom. Finebaum called him Trump, and that's very true in one aspect: Jim Harbaugh could shoot a man (preferably a Buckeye) and we'd find a way to bail him out (Dantonio style) and let him coach.

Those outside of Ann Arbor are looking for any way they can to disparage him. And that's understandable. I wouldn't want a guy like that leading my enemy. He's Calipari without the sleaze. He's Urban, but with a personality and less nervous breakdowns. The man is ahead of his time, but seems to know exactly when to deploy a bit of old-fashioned. Maize is maize again. Away unis are from the team he grew up watching.

He's not breaking the rules. He's not even "dancing on the line" as some may suggest. He's innovating and outworking the rest of them. He's redifining the recruiting process.

They said the NFL guy wouldn't like recruiting. Maybe they were right, and that's why he changed it into something fun. Fun for him, fun for the kids he's going after, and glorious for exposure.

We dropped a 130K on private recruiting flights in a scramble to get a class together after Jim hired in, and it's an ESPN breaking news headline. We're taking the team to Florida for spring practice and the ACC freaks about player free time, but nobody bats an eye when hoops teams hit Europe for a preseason tour and daily games against professionals. Prime examples of the way things are going to be played out in the media, especially with the perfect combination of a polarizing figure with an active (and beautifully passive aggressive) Twitter account and a long offseason with no games to discuss.

image.jpg

We're making College Football great again and you're welcome America. So proud to be along for the ride, and I'm looking forward to the Larry the Cable Guy set and a solid intermission with Kenny-G's sax bouncing off the perfect walls of Hill Auditorium at the 2017 Signing of the Stars.

Go Blue!

Throwback Thursday Found A 9-year Old Grocery List

/

Was cleaning the cobwebs off some old digital storage and bumped into this grovery list from 2007. We took a Winnebago to Illinois, and I clearly brought too much food. I recall a veiled attempt at Chicken Paprikash. In addition, if memory serves, I think I griddled some pork loin in Korean spices in what was a slightly ahead of its time Korean pork taco.

Looks a little thick for tacos

Looks a little thick for tacos

Michigan won the game 27-17 in an under construction Memorial Stadium that took like an hour to get into. It was awful, and I made a lot of condescending comments to orange clad passers-by about how we properly manage double the crowd in Ann Arbor.

Did we know this person?

Did we know this person?

Ah, the memories. Can't believe that was nine long years ago. Can't believe there have been four coaches at the helm since that day. Maybe you were there and want to spark a memory, or maybe you were 8 years old and just want to see how well we've aged. Either way, you can find some history here.