What's Up This Weekend, 2/19/16

Pitchers and catchers have reported ya'll

Friday, 2/19/16

• M Hockey vs. Ferris at Yost, 7:35P

Saturday, 2/20/16

• M Baseball vs. Canisius in Port St. Lucie 11:00A & 2:00P

• M Softball vs. Va Tech in Talahassee 12:00P

• M WBasketball vs. Penn State at Crisler 12:00P

Sunday, 2/21/16

• M Softball vs. Va Tech in Talahassee 10:00A

• M Baseball vs. Canisius in Port St. Lucie 11:00A

• M Basketball at Maryland 1:00P

• For the sophistacated among us, here's a guide to the best beers to pair with girl scout cookies.

• Back in the day (way back, like 1904), when dusk hit and there were no lights, and uniforms were similar between teams...you could sneak over to the other team's side and smoke the quarterback.

• Phil Steele has Michigan #7 in his iteration of the "way too early" top teams in college football. The expectations are getting our of hand folks. We play the top 3 teams in the Big Ten on the road this year. And it seems we're trying to skip over the journey and just land at the ultimate destination. At the current hype rate, by the time we reach kickoff in September we'll be in a situation where if Michigan only wins the National Championship and doesn't blow out the runner-up, it will be a disappointment. Relax. Let's have some fun.

• I like to discuss children over a large draft beer, so here's the recruiting roundup from Maize and Brew.

• Deep details of Wednesday's drubbing in Columbus. Not looking forward to being nervous on selection Sunday. Lack of depth, lack of Caris, shots not falling...pick your poison.

• Minny either guaranteed the Terps will be focused on Saturday, or stole the thunder of our potential upset with their win last night. Terps fans were pissed (and funny).

• We've hired Devin Bush Sr, father of a commit, coach of some others, as a defensive analyst. Read the following in the cadence of The Talking Heads: You may ask yourself, what is a defensive analyst? No idea, but it looks like he'll shift to some recently vacated spot. You may ask yourself, can Michigan keep hiring coaches of commits? Yes, because coaches keep leaving for better jobs after just briefly brushing up against the greatness of Harbaugh. Into the blue again. After the money's gone. Once in a lifetime. Water flowing underground.

What's Up This Weekend? Relaxing St. Patrick's Selection Sunday Edition

​Selection Sunday is upon us.  And OF COURSE there will be a 13th (!?!?) annual UMTailgate.com Tournament Challenge.  

There will be no nail-biting anticipation.  There's no question, we're in.  But we need to get this whole Big Ten Tournament thing out of the way first, right?  I was inclined to vote for tanking it and having the boys enjoy a full week off, but yesterday's second half against The Fighting Sanduskys (classless? yup) made me feel better about the tank-job on Sunday (which I paid about $100 to watch over 3G in Columbia).  Maybe the BTT can be used to wipe the poor taste from our mouths left from Sunday, or that other PSU game, or the definitively poor last quarter of the season.

A'ight? A'ight.​

Today (3/15/13):​

• ​Basketball (26-6, 12-6) vs. Wisconsin (21-10, 12-6):  And you thought we wouldn't get to avenge that half-court shot that sent the game to that shitty overtime at the Kohl center.  Big Ten Tournament Round Two Action tips off at the United Center at 2:30PM -ESPN.
• Baseball (8-7) at Coastal Carolina (7-10): We're heading to the home of the Chanticleers!  First pitch in Myrtle Beach at 4pm.  Live audio lives here.
• Hockey (15-18-3, 9-15-3) at Western Michigan (19-9-8, 15-7-6)​:  CCHA quarterfinals action in Kalamazoo.  I wonder if the Godfather is going?  I wonder who he will be cheering for?  6:35pm on FSD.
• Big Ten Tournament Other Games:  Game 5: No. 1 Indiana vs. No. 8 Illinois, 11 a.m., ESPN  ||  Game 7: No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 10 Nebraska, 5:30 p.m., BTN  ||  Game 8: No. 3 Michigan State vs. No. 6 Iowa, 8 p.m.*, BTN

Tomorrow (3/16/13):

• Basketball vs. Indiana or Illinois:  The Big Ten Tournament continues?  ​12:40PM CBS
• Other BTT Semi-Final: Ohio State or Nebraska vs. Iowa (see what I did there?)​ 3:00PM CBS
• Baseball at Coastal Carolina: 3pm Live Audio​
• Hockey at Western Michigan: Game 2 of the CCHA quarterfinals 7pm...no coverage?

St. Patrick's Day:

• Drinking and Breakfast at Conor Oneill'​s with your's truly.  7AM
• Basketball vs. Ohio State, Nebraska or Iowa:  The BTT finals...2:30PM CBS
• Baseball vs. Akron (in Myrtle Beach)​ 11:00AM
• NCAA Tournament Selection Announcement 6PM CBS.​
• Hockey at Western Michigan (if necessary) 7pm

What's Up This Weekend? "Blade Runner is Loose!" Edition: February 22-24, 2013

I neglected to reference the fact that women's hoops beat Sparty on Sunday...my apologies to the title nine set.  And beating Sparty is beating Sparty, I don't care if it's a football game, a canned-goods collecting event, or a three-legged race.​

Today (2/22):​

• Baseball (0-3) vs. Fordham (0-0) in Port St. Lucie, FL:  Heartbreakers abound for baseball last weekend.  Michigan lost all three games by one run...the first two were extra innings walk-offs, and the third a walk-off in the 9th.  Wow.  Sucks.  They head to Florida to face Fordham for their  season opener.  2pm
• ​Hockey (10-18-2 / 7-15-2) at Ohio (13-12-7 / 12-7-5):  Weekend off last week for Michigan, who is probably still reeling from the 13 goals they gave up in two games to Manti T'eo's boys.  Puck drops at 6:35pm on BTN.

Tomorrow (2/23):​

• Baseball vs. Fordham in Port St. Lucie, FL:  See above.  Old-fashioned double-header starts at 11am.
• ​Hockey at Ohio: See above.  Puck drops at 7pm on Comcast Sports.

Sunday (2/24):​

• ​Basketball (22-4 / 9-4) at Illinois (20-8 / 7-7):  Michigan returns to action after a full week off, so I think it's finally time to put that Sparty game from the week before behind us.  And I think we're going to need all that we've got to get past the Illini in Champaign.  Tipoff is 1pm on ESPN.
• Women's Basketball (19-7 / 8-5) at #7 Penn State ​(22-3 / 12-1):  SIMULTANEOUS TIPOFF ALERT!!!  What will you do?  1pm on BTN.

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.

What's Up This Weekend? Taste it again for the Third Time Edition

Tonight (Friday 2/8/13):

• Ice Hockey (7-13-2, 10-16-2) at #12 Notre Dame (12-7-1, 16-11-1):  Your fair Wolverines have moved out of the basement and up to an 8th place tie with Bowling Green in the CCHA standings...yet the Wolverines 96 goals-against leads the league (in the bad way).  Notre Dame is in third place in the conference and #12 nationally, but is coming off a win-less weekend in Columbus.  Puck drops at 7:35pm in South Bend.  It's live on your TV if you have the CBS Sports Network.  Live audio lives here. 

Tomorrow (Saturday 2/9/13):

• Basketball (8-2, 21-2) at Wisconsin (7-3, 16-7):  For the third time this season, a Michigan win means a #1 ranking on Monday.  We're 1-1 in such games so far this season.  Someday we'll not care about such trivial things in February...we're not quite there yet, this is still new (relatively) and fun.  The Badgers are coming off a Wednesday night win over Iowa, and a big win Sunday at Illinois (which is more than I can say for Indiana).  The Badgers also beat Indiana...at Indiana.  Anyway, in a perfect world where I didn't have to work today and tonight, or where the game wasn't at 11am locally, I'd be making this trip.  I miss Madison.  This is a big road game. I feel like Wisconsin is just barely outside of the top tier in the Big Ten this season, which means this is a VERY losable road affair.  Tipoff is Noon here in the east.  It's on ESPN, so its also on Watch ESPN.  Live audio will be here. 

• Ice Hockey (7-13-2, 10-16-2) at #12 Notre Dame (12-7-1, 16-11-1):  See above.  Puck drops at 7:05pm.  Live audio here.   Televised in A2 on Comcast local (channel 900).

Sunday 2/10/13

• Women's Basketball (6-4, 17-6) at #13 Purdue (7-2, 18-4).  Noon tip on BTN.