There are a lot of roundups out there. So many that it's tough to have a unique roundup...but I'm trying. MGoBlog has a plan in place where he just continuously picks posts and adds them to his del.icio.us account and they appear in the sidebar of the site. I'm thinking of going that way soon. The problem is that in this arduous off-season, the roundup holds a prominent position. Enough babble... on to what you missed while you spent your weekend booing Kwame.

** Michigan may have long since lost it's hold on being the Wolverine state, but now we can add Ohio to the list of states with unfit nicknames.

The Buckeye State no longer has the largest Buckeye tree.

They apparently track and score these things. The Ohio entrant that held the title for 11 years and is actually taller by 4 feet. Girth matters, though, as the McDonald's/Illinois competitor is thicker and wider overall. It outscored the Ohio based tree 266-233.

Which reminds me of last season when Illinois beat Ohio State 28-21.

** This is pretty much being plastered all over the Michigan Blogosphere, but allow me to also throw my support behind the "Michigan Family" with a big middle finger to Justin Boren and his overrated brother by pointing you to MVictors and their pic of RichRod's new t-shirt.

** Because there is nothing else to do in Indiana, each year they make provisions for "no school this small" to ALWAYS find their way in to a state championship by reenacting the final game from the movie Hoosiers. Embarrassing? Yes. However, this year's editionincluded Michigan bound Zack Novak...who went all Jimmy Chitwood...

The University of Michigan recruit got three good looks from beyond the 3-point line. With his usual long-range acumen, Novak drained all three. He was chased by Butler University recruit Garrett Butcher during his time on the floor.

If I get tickets...Novak stays. He goes...I go.

** Phil Steele was on WTKA, and put Michigan in a fourth place tie in the Big Ten for the preseason. This is pretty much in line with the rest of the preseason mags, which you can see a summary of at stassen. Of note...not a single mag has us in the top 25. We fail to appear even in the "other's receiving votes" category.

** Somebody buy one of these for The Godfather. Can we utilize this technology at the tailgate?

** Mike Garrison has resigned. He was the President of West Virginia University, a job he won by taking 3rd in the log rolling event in the 2007 Great Outdoor Games. He was certainly a commander-in-brief, only holding the job since October 2007. Best known for handing out a degree to the daughter of the governor, he also was deeply involved in the RichRod buyout case. Oh, and the governor, he's the same asshole that took time out from his busy schedule trying to manage the booming economy of West Virginia to say this:

But, unfortunately, over the last two years, I have seen Rich become a victim of a college coaching system driven by high-priced agents that has turned those dreams into just another back-room business deal. Something is wrong with the profession of college coaching today when a leaderâ€™s word is no longer his bond, and it does not bode well for the student-athletes who entrust these coaches with their futures.

Yes, yes...back-room deals...like "give my daughter an MBA. I'm guessing all of this is good for the Rodriguez legal team.