What the Deuce

NCAA Rounds 1 and 2

2008-03-23T15:16:00.003-04:00

The first weekend of the NCAAs is almost over. Some quick thoughts:

Watching Patrick Beverly (Arkansas), Tory Jackson (ND), and Scottie Reynolds ('Nova) has been especially painful. Having just one of the three in Maize and Blue would have helped the team greatly. Either Grady or Harris wouldn't have started or Beilein could have gone three guard, moving Harris to the three. Most importantly, Michigan would have had a more experienced guard in the rotation and another scorer to ease the burden on Harris and Sims.

Damn you Pittsburgh! I had the Panthers in my final 2. Michigan State played a terrific game defensively and, for the most part, shut down Pitt in the half court. I don't understand why Dixon didn't order Fields and Ramon to push the ball up off of Michigan State misses.

Stanford, the perenially great regular season, post season flameout team actually made the Sweet 16. Another game in which the strategy was questionable. At the end of overtime, with Marquette up 1, I would have doubled Brook Lopez.

Duke is overrated and shouldn't have received a two seed. The NY Times had a great reaction piece on yesterday's game against WVU.

Speaking of WVU, although the Mountaineers are now running Huggins' scheme, as a Michigan fan, its exciting to see the talent he had to work with. Hopefully, Beilein will be able to get similar quality players, if not better, to come to Ann Arbor. I guess we'll see with Cronin, Douglass, and Novak.

Watching Miami v. Texas right now. I think Miami has the potential to become a top tier program in the ACC. Frank Haith, in just four years, has taken the Hurricanes to the NCAAs. The added exposure can only help and what recruit wouldn't want to play in the Bank United Center (the new basketball facility on campus) and live in Miami/Coral Gables for a few years?

Finally, its frustrating to watch yet another tournament without Michigan in it. I'm tried of waiting. Sigh.

Give It Away for Free on Craigslist

2008-01-09T21:34:00.000-05:00

Came across this while gathering evidence to dispel Jay Bilas' whining about how Michigan treated Tommy Amaker unfairly. Apparently "surplus" is an euphemism "outdated, outmoded, and virtually useless," adjectives that could also describe Michigan's old S&C Program.

(San) Loco Taqueria

2007-12-12T21:49:00.000-05:00

I'm always on the lookout for good affordable places to eat in Miami. It's hard enough to find such places and adding the adjective "ethic" to the prior sentence makes my search even more difficult. Luckily, last Friday I ate at a place that was ethnic, affordable, and most importantly good - Loco Taqueria.

Name: Loco Taqueria
Location: 235 14th Street, Miami Beach 33139 (between Collins and Washington, across from Bar Deuce)
Food: Mexican
Website: www.san-loco.com

Loco Taqueria (former San Loco Taqueria) is definitely a hole in the wall. So small that the Editor and I almost walked past it. The only reason we found it was because of Anthony Bourdain (of No Reservations fame). Just like he said in the Miami episode of his show that details his culinary journeys, Loco Tacqueria is located right across the street from Bar Deuce. No fancy ambiance. You walk into a single room with functional tables and chairs and an ATM. Few decorations on the wall but nothing sexy. Upon seeing the place, I had a good feeling about the food.

Fiesta! Fiesta! Loco has an menu with just the right amount of options. In additional to standard Mexican fare like tacos, burritos, nachos (available in beef, chicken, beans and rice, or fish), Loco also has salads, taco burgers , and breakfast burritos. Oh yeah, I almost forgot - the signature item is the Stupid Sauce. No item is over ten bucks making the place affordable to almost anyone living on the beach.

Aye Chihuahua! I had been contemplating what to order all day but when the time came, I went with the Burrito Loco (beef) with Stupid Sauce. The Editor opted for the fish taco (soft shell). We each ordered a Pacifica and shared a side of guacamole. Both items were excellent. The fish was battered and gently fried and came with cheese, lettuce, and tomato. The guacamole on the side added a little something to the taco, but the taco could have also stood alone just fine. As far as the burrito goes, I can easily say it was the best burrito I've had in Miami. It reminded me of the burritos I drunkenly ate in LA a few years back but was better. Topped with chili, the burrito was both filling and tasty. The Stupid Sauce was perfect. Initially, it didn't feel so spicy but by the time I was finished my tongue was on fire and, had I been a cartoon, smoke would have been coming out of my ears. The Editor opted for the medium hot sauce and found it sufficiently spicy. I'd recommend the Stupid Sauce if your stomach can handle it.

Adios! No, no adios. We'll definitely be back.

What the Deuce Took You So Long?!

2007-12-12T21:11:00.000-05:00

On December 2nd the Presidents of the Big Ten Universities approved extending the conference's football schedule by one week, ensuring that teams will be playing on the weekend after Thanksgiving. The change will take place in 2009 and presumably put Big Ten teams on equal footing with teams from the other major conferences.

First, extending the schedule by a week assures that any Big Ten team with National Championship hopes will not be "out of sight, out of mind" like Michigan during the 2006 season. Quick reminder: After losing to Ohio State, most of media and fans, me included, believed that Michigan was still the second best team in the country and deserved to play in the National Championship game, rematch be damned. Benefiting from playing 2 games after Michigan had completed its season, Florida was able to convince voters it was the second best team in the country. Michigan had its hands tied, could only watch from the sidelines, leaving the voters with a memory of a loss. Arguably, had Michigan had the opportunity to play another game, the Wolverines may have been able to maintain the #2 ranking and a berth in the National Championship game.

Oddly enough, this year Ohio State benefited from not playing after Thanksgiving. During the two weeks after the Big Ten season ended, LSU lost to Arkansas at home, West Virginia lost to Pittsburgh at home, and Mizzou lost to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship game. With the shakeup, Ohio State was able to move up to #2, securing a trip to New Orleans.

In the long run, the added week should help Big Ten teams, like it helped Florida last year and LSU this year. Remember, LSU was able to regain the #1 ranking even though it suffered a late season loss. A win in the SEC Championship Game coupled with other teams losing propelled LSU to the top spot. Although LSU needed other teams to lose, it had the opportunity to make one last argument and leave the voters with a good impression rather than an OT loss to an underdog Arkansas team at Death Valley. Yes, ultimately LSU needed to win its last game but at least it had the opportunity to do so unlike Michigan last year.

The second problem solved by adding an extra week directly targets rest. After the NCAA approved a 12 game regular season, Big Ten teams were forced to play an entire season without a bye. No time to rest and recover during the season. No time just to stay at home for one week and do nothing. Any Michigan fan will tell you that he is in favor of the change after the midseason injuries to Chad Henne and Mike Hart. Although the bye would not have allowed either to completely heal, it would have lessened the impact of their injuries. Who knows what would have happened against Ohio State if Henne and Hart had a week to rest sometime before the game.

It took long enough for the Presidents to approve the change, but its a signal that the Big Ten is slowly plodding into the 21st century of college football. Hopefully, more positive changes like this are to come.

Defense Knows Offense

2007-11-26T21:09:00.000-05:00

Even Charles Woodson recognizes that Michigan needs to change it's philosophy on offense. If it's true, too bad Bill Martin has not. At worst, Michigan will hire someone who will teach players how to tackle.

What the Deuce Says Think Rationally

2007-11-24T15:57:00.000-05:00

All the speculation of Les Miles having to coach LSU in the National Championship Game while fending off questions about the Michigan job is now moot. No two loss team has ever played for the National Championship and it's highly unlikely that one will this year. Although Bill Martin can now call Miles after the SEC Championship game next Saturday, should he?

The anti-Miles crowd had plenty of evidence in its favor after yesterday: Miles' giving the Razorbacks bulletin board material after mispronouncing "Arkansas," his questionable clock management at the end of regulation, and his failure to recognize an unfavorable defensive alignment in overtime. The missteps, combined with the perception that LSU has underachieved this year, were reason enough to pass on Miles. Even Ivan Maisel thought so.

Whatever happened yesterday should not change anything. It's been reported that Miles is top candidate for the Michigan job, and if he isn't, he should be. While I can't comment to the former, I agree with the latter. Yesterday wasn't Miles' finest moment, but it wasn't so egregious at the eliminate him from being a candidate.

I read the message board over at MGoBlog after the game and I came away with the feeling that people are looking for a candidate that just doesn't exist - the perfect one who doesn't make mistakes. At some point, whoever comes to Michigan is going to make a bad playcall, burn a timeout unnecessarily, and lose games. The key is whether Michigan's next head coach makes those same mistakes over and over.

The fans' confirmation hearing of Miles has turned into a which-conference-is-best debate. Evidence used in favor of Miles can be used against him. The close wins against Alabama and Florida show that Miles is not conservative and aggressive. On the other hand, these games show that LSU has wasted its talent and has underpeformed - thus, Miles is Lloyd Carr all over again. People need to realize that the truth is probably somewhere in between and, like I've said before, no matter who comes to Ann Arbor, Michigan isn't going to win every game.

While I don't think Michigan should be married to Miles or hand him the job because of his Michigan ties, I do think the anti-Miles crowd is being overly critical. Simply, out of all the other coaches people want Martin to consider, none is flawless. I'll even go out on a limb and say that none is head and shoulders better than Miles:

"Uncle Pete" Carroll: Although he's won 2 National Championships and regularly pulls in top recruiting classes, he isn't without flaws with the most obvious being the Reggie Bush situation. Carroll, from what I've been told by a friend who loves SC, isn't the greatest at strategery. It's been said that USC isn't the force it used to be after losing Ed Orgeron, Norm Chow, and Lane Kiffin. Thus, it appears that Carroll relies heavily on his coordinators and assistants, just like Miles is perceived to do. You can't knock Miles for this while not recognizing that Carroll does the same. Also, let's not forget that SC was criticized for sleepwalking through games and playing only when it had to as it went for its third consecutive National Championship. Finally, based on these comments by Chow, Carroll could be difficult to work with.

Bob Stoops: Also has a National Championship to his credit but has also had problems with players getting into trouble off the field. Has had, considerably, three average years after losing to SC in the National Championship game. Lost to Texas Tech and Colorado this year.

Greg Schiano: Although he is a defensive minded coach (he's also the defensive coordinator) who turned around a terrible Rutgers program, his coaching leaves something to be desired. I went to the Rutgers-West Virginia game this year and saw a vanilla offense. Didn't like Schiano's decision to stick with Mike Teel even though Teel's injury prevented him from throwing downfield. Also didn't like the predictability of the offense - when Rutger's backup quarterback, Lovelace, came in, it was an obvious run. Even with the game out of hand in the fourth quarter, Schiano opted to go with Teel instead of giving Lovelace an opportunity to get game experience with the entire offensive playbook. Sound familiar?

Jeff Tedford: Brought Cal football back to prominence. Can be argued that his teams have consistently underperformed ranging from getting worked over by Texas in the 2004 Holiday Bowl to losing to Oregon State at home this year. Has only two ten win seasons. Also, there is a perception that Tedford's teams are defensively deficient and finesse.

Brian Kelly: Had tremendous success at Grand Valley State and Central Michigan (although it was with Mike DeBord's players...DeBord has to get some credit for recruiting guys that someone else would coach up, right?). Because he's only coached in the MAC and Big East, his detractors point to lack of big game experience. Also, there were the racially insensitive comments about the murder at CMU.

Chris Petersen: I really don't know much about Petersen, so I looked at his bio. Argument can be made that he's relatively green, like Kelly. Also, his success, minus the Oklahoma game, has come in the WAC.

I could keep the list going, but I think the point is made - every possible candidate has a question mark, or worse, a cause for concern. Simply, an argument against a specific candidate can be made very easily and that brings me back to my original point - the perfect candidate does not exist. Unless someone has mystic powers like Parvati, the option of sculpting a coach from dirt and bringing him to life is not an option. If we, as a fan base, keep focusing on the negatives, we're never going to agree on a coach (thank God this isn't a popularity contest with everyone getting a vote). Instead, it's important, in my opinion, to focus on the positives of each candidate and when that's done, Miles is my choice.

This is a guy who wants to be at Michigan and loves the school like he loves his family. He's coached in Ann Arbor and has ties to the Midwest. He's had success at Oklahoma State and LSU. He's coached in the NFL. He's wise enough to see his weakness and hire coaches who minimize them. He's an aggressive playcaller. He cares about his players.

I think we can all agree that we want someone in the mold of Lloyd Carr, at least, off the field. Miles is that guy. I think we can all agree that we want someone not in the mold of Lloyd Carr, at least, on gamedays. Miles is that guy.

Ask Not What Michigan Basketball Can Do For You, but What You Can Do For Michigan Basketball

2007-11-23T21:14:00.000-05:00

A quick follow up post to my in game blog of Michigan's loss to Butler in the Great Alaskan Shootout. After having a day to review my observations, here's what I think.

Positives
Like I said during the game, the difference between this year's team and last year's is telling. Although last year's team had more talent and more experience, I prefer the way this year's team plays:

- Players hustle the entire game. I remember one sequence where Michigan made a solid defensive play under Butler's goal. A Butler player managed to get the loose ball near the basket and the Michigan defender was out of position. Still, DeShawn Sims came over and played help-side defense which resulted in a block. As the ball was going out of bounds, Kelvin Grady chased it and saved it to a teammate. Michigan ball.

- Confidence. In the first half when Butler went up 28-11 and Michigan's offense went cold, the players still looked confident. They managed to make a few baskets, get a couple of offensive rebounds and stops at the defensive end. Halftime score: Butler 40 Michigan 32. Last year, the team would have fallen apart and the halftime differential would have been close to 20.

- 1-3-1 Zone. Kept Butler from easy baskets inside the three point line. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs made a record setting 17 three pointers. The zone keeps the defenders active and pushes the opponent's offense away from the basket.

- Rebounding. On defense, when Butler missed a shot, at least 3 guys were on the glass. On offense, Udoh and Sims were terrific at using their height to get rebounds and tip-ins.

- Three point shooting. Last year, there were maybe 2 guys I wanted taking shots from the perimeter. Epke Udoh was not one of them. Not this year. Udoh looked confident from the perimeter and his shot looked fundamentally sound. When was the last time you heard a sentence about Michigan basketball with the words "fundamentally sound" in it?

- Player development. Yeah, it's early but Sims and Udoh look a lot better than they did last year. Sims looks confident with this back to the basket and has developed a nice little turnaround move. The easiest way to describe "player development" is this: When guys are out on the floor, they look like they know what they are doing and what their roles are as opposed to last year where Michigan basketball looked like a bunch of five year olds playing organized basketball for the first time in their lives.

Negatives:

- Depth. Very little depth on the team but that was to be expected. I will say that Beilein is getting the most out of the guys who do play. Depth will be an issue during the Big 10 season and I'm interested to see how Beilein manages the game when the starters get into foul trouble

- Offense. It's obvious that not everyone has grasped the offense and that its a work in progress. This was expected and we've heard stories about how some players at WVU took at least 2 years to fully understand Beilein's offense. The big problem Michigan had against Butler was getting the ball inside (when Butler was playing a zone). I think part of the problem was that the players are young and the other part was that players aren't completely comfortable in the offense. Right now, in the half court, the offense looks good when it leads to open threes. Otherwise, Michigan looked tentative. Bottom line is that this team needs to really make use of the fast break to compensate for the stretches where the offense goes cold.

- Turnovers. Not a good showing. Eight turnovers at the half. Once again, I think it was a function of the unfamiliarity with the offense. I'm hoping as the season progresses, the offense will look sharper and the execution will be better. Seeing the improvement in this team under Beilein, I would not be surprised if the offense looks 100% better than it did today as Michigan heads to the Big Ten Tournament.

For those of you who gave up on Michigan basketball after Ellerbe and Amaker, I don't blame you. I don't blame you if you don't want to watch this team for another year as this year is going to have its ups and downs. Still, I urge you to watch and even see a game at Crisler. Even if Michigan doesn't win, I guarantee you will be impressed with the way this team plays.

On a personal note, Michigan basketball was what got me to Michigan. It was the Fab 5. Until then, I cheered for Michigan and State. To see the basketball program hit rock bottom was disappointing. Now, under Beilein, I'm very excited and have great hope for the future. Be patient. I know it's hard after waiting for a winner for so long. But most of all, go support Michigan basketball. I promise, it will be worth it.

What the Deuce?! Arkansas 50 LSU 48

2007-11-23T19:06:00.000-05:00

You are free to come home, Coach Miles.

Michigan v. Butler at the Great Alaskan Shootout

2007-11-21T23:29:00.000-05:00

11:29 EST Michigan coming up next on ESPN 2 against Butler in the Great Alaskan Shootout. It's great to see Michigan playing in a Thanksgiving week tournament. I can't remember the last time this happened.

11:36 EST Debating whether to make a cup of coffee. When I was in college, staying up to 1:30 to watch a game wasn't a problem. Now that I'm working, it is.

11:38 EST Wow! The Great Alaskan Shootout is having its 30th anniversary this year! Manny Harris is Michigan's star for Star Watch. Um, probably not good when you're star is a freshman.

11:40 EST All of Butler's starters are seniors. Definitely not good. I need a program for the Michigan team.

11:42 EST Day-shawn Sims hits a 3! First Michigan turnover comes at the 18:10 mark.

11:43 EST Third time the picture has cut out. Apparently its also the 30th anniversary of ESPN's video technology.

11:45 EST 10-5 Butler. Goddamn picture keeps cutting out. Grady, Sims, Udoh, Harris, and Coleman for Michigan. Grady hits a 3. Michigan 2-2 from 3.

11:50 EST Butler can't get the ball inside because of the 1-3-1. Unfortunately, Butler is hot from 3. Campbell is 3-5 from 3 for Butler.

11:51 EST 3 Turnovers now for Michigan. 13:52 to go in the half.

11:54 EST 2nd "carry" call against Michigan. Butler with a quick screen and roll. Michigan can't get the ball inside. So far, the only close range attempt was on a missed fastbreak layup.

00:00 EST 26-11 Butler. Offense is colder than Alaska in November. Aaand another turnover.

00:03 EST Ron Coleman hits a three to snap the Bulldogs' 10-0 run. The offense looks terrible - players just don't look sure of what they are supposed to do. John Beilein said that at the beginning of practices there was a 3 second delay on offense and now its a 2 second delay. It shows.

00:07 EST Dane Fife is a head coach at the D-1 Level? I'm going to have to investigate this. Another turnover for Michigan.

00:08 EST Some guy named CJ Lee hits a 3 for Michigan. Udoh for three?!! No. It's a 2. 19-28 Butler.

00:09 EST Great box out by Day-Shawn Sims on the offensive glass. Tip in!

00:10 EST Coleman pulls up in transition for 3. 24-31 Butler. 5:13 in the half.

00:12 EST It seems that any time Michigan tries to do anything inside the three point line, it results in a turnover.

00:16 EST Not only is it Day-shawn its now Day-shawn Simpson. Good job ESPN, good job.

00:18 EST 7-11 from 3 for Michigan. 27-37 Butler after an Adam Graves 3.

00:19 EST Kelvin Grady looks nothing like Kevin Grady. First free throws for Michigan with 1:56 in the half.

00:24 EST Great defense by Michigan. Grady came from the dribbler's blindside and almost stole the ball. Scramble for the ball, double dribble call against Butler.

00:25 EST Halftime. Michigan 32 Butler 40. Positives: Shooting is a lot better than last year, but that's not saying much. The defense is aggressive and there are always 2-3 guys hitting the defensive glass. Negatives: the offense is clearly a work in progress. Unless there is a open three, Michigan has struggled. Until about 2:00 in the first half, Michigan did nothing inside the three point line. Oh, one more complaint - too many turnovers. The zone is preventing anything inside but Michigan isn't taking advantage of its height. Let's see how Beilein adjusts at the half. Honestly, this team looks completely different, in the way it plays, from last year. It's not just the strategy, its the way the team carries itself. Even when Butler looked like it was going to turn the game into a blowout, Michigan played tough and cut the lead. Had the offense not gone cold in the middle of the first half, the difference would be 4 points, maximum. I wouldn't be surprised if Michigan were to pull this one out and win.

00:36 EST Yep, Dane Fife the head coach at Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne. He got the job at 25 and his blog can be found at www.danefife.com. Of all the Fifes, I prefer Dugan. I think Dugan played football too...or could have.

00:40 EST Michigan fans in Alaska have signs re: Les Miles. I still think we should go with Kirk Ferentz.

00:41 EST 8 Michigan turnovers in the 1st half. And now is Duh-shawn Sims.

00:43 EST 2 consecutive turnovers for Butler. Defensive is very active early in the 2nd half.

00:44 EST Harris drives....And 1?!!! No. At least two free throws coming up for Harris. 39-40 Butler.

00:45 EST Campbell for 3 again. Guard him. Now.

00:49 EST DeShawn Sims is going to be good. He looks confident playing with his back to the basket.

00:50 EST Fucking guard Pete Campbell!

00:51 EST Campbell gets the 3 off but misses and picks up a blocking foul on defensive end. Oh, Shaun Alexander is out for Sunday. What a waste of an early fantasy pick.

oo:52 EST I'm hate the Bud Light commercials. They are just stupid. Well, except for the Opera one. It's kind of funny.

00:54 EST Great defensive recovery. Blown play on offense but Sims with help that leads to a block. Save by Grady.

00:55 EST Grady misses in transition...Butler with the rebound...Michigan ties it up! Jump ball. Well, possession arrow...and it goes to...Butler and Graves hits a 3.

00:57 EST Pete Campbell game MVP. Graves hits a another 3. 48-60 Butler. This after Michigan had cut the lead to 48-54.

01:00 EST What the hell was that mascot? Looked like Chewbacca.

01:01 EST Really liking how Michigan is attacking the boards on both offense and defense

01:05 EST Flipping to another channel. I'm tired of the Nissan Rogue labyrinth commercial. And the stupid song in it.

01:07 EST Michigan just dominating on the glass. Too bad they are leaving guys open for 3s which Butler is making with ease. 50-66 Butler.

01:08 EST Another 3 for Butler. The ball movement is killing Michigan. 16 made 3s for Butler.

01:11 EST Butler up 72-50. That's the 20 point rule. Good night. Wrap up thoughts coming either later today or Friday.

01:12 EST Happy Thanksgiving.

What The Deuce? No Bread and Butter?

2007-11-04T16:56:00.001-05:00

There are two Michigan opponents that I always worry about - Ohio State and Michigan State. It doesn't matter how good Michigan is or how bad either of these teams are, I'm always going to worry. I even had a dream where Michigan lost 32-28 after a Chad Henne pass on the last play of the game fell incomplete. On Saturday when I sat down to watch the game, I said to the Editor "I'm really worried." She said, "I know, but why? Aren't you guys a lot better than them?" I explained to her that even though Michigan was better, they'd probably putz around allowing State to keep it close. Because the game was in East Lansing, something fluky would happen and Michigan would lose. And it almost did.

When she came back from running errands, she asked me what was going on. I told her that Michigan had fallen behind 24-14, come back to go up 28-24 and State was driving with about a minute and a half to go. She said, "Wow! You were right."

We all know how the game ended. Thankfully, Michigan won. I am ashamed to say that I doubted this team when it got the ball with a little over 7 minutes to go in the 4th. In fact, on the MGoBlog open thread, I wrote: "Whoo Hoo! 10 points in 7:40? Possible? I'm holding out hope." Just like I knew that Michigan would squander an early lead, I should have known the Wolverines would score in minimal time, giving them an opportunity to win the game. The defense did a terrific job getting the ball back and Manningham etched his name in Michigan history when he caught the game winning touchdown. Still, I am of two minds of this win.

Obviously, I'm elated about the win. Six straight wins over Michigan State and a big eff you to Dantonio afterwards. I'm impressed with the team's poise during the last three drives of the game (2 offensive and 1 defensive). I'm happy for Chad Henne, a guy who gets way too much blame and not enough credit. Henne played a great game even though he was playing with shoulder and knee injuries. He walked off an ankle injury, led the team to a score, which ultimately put them in a position to win the game. I will say this with all the confidence in the world: Michigan loses is Mallet was forced to finish the game. Hopefully, yesterday's performance, especially on the last two scoring drives, will change the minds of the anti-Henne crowd. Unfortunately, I doubt it will.

What infuriates me about yesterday's game - in fact, the whole season, save Purdue - is the offensive playcalling. Once again, during the Lloyd Carr era, talent trumped sub par coaching, especially on offense. What troubles me about wins like yesterday's is that people will point to this game as why Carr and his staff are good. "They pulled it out in the end." "They did what they had to do." "DeBord is undefeated when the defense gives up less than 30." I don't care and never will. It should have never come down to the last 2 drives. The game should have been out of reach at halftime.

Michigan has had one quality offensive performance this year - one. In ever other game, the offense has gone cold for long stretches or the playcalling has been overly conservative, which in turn allowed the opposition to stay close. Even last week against Minnesota, Michigan didn't pull away until after halftime.

I know DeBord supporters will say that Michigan's had to deal with injuries and I will gladly concede that point. Injuries are hard to overcome but they shouldn't cripple a team. I'll also concede that Mallet isn't ready, but I don't think he's been helped any by the coaching staff calling run-run-pass. No waggles, no short outs, no quick slats, no bubble screens. No nothing. No simple throws to build his confidence. To me, it doesn't make any sense.

Similarly, to me, the playcalling yesterday didn't make any sense. In fact, its made no sense to me all year. Maybe I'm an idiot, but I think what's killed Michigan this year is that there is no identity when it comes to the passing game. Until the last 2 weeks, the offense rarely stretched the field. Yesterday, for a period that extended from the middle of the second quarter to the fourth, it appeared like the only pass play Michigan ran was the streak to Manningham. No short passes. No intermediate passes. No nothing.

A commenter on the MGoBlog thread said the reason for this was the press coverage on the receivers with doubles on both Manningham and Arrington. I call shenanigans. I can't believe that MSU's linebackers and secondary improved so greatly in the last week where Michigan couldn't attack this defensive scheme. Assuming Michigan came out 3 wide and State countered with 5 DBs, Michigan would have the advantage. Somewhere there is a mismatch. If 2 DBs are occupied with Manningham and Arrington, that leaves 1 to cover Matthews or stay back and help. If he stays back and helps, the Matthews is on an LB. So, I'm supposed to believe that Michigan kept throwing deep, even when Manningham was supposedly doubled because Matthews couldn't beat a safety or LB one on one?

Look, I'll be the first to admit it was great to see Michigan try to stretch the field, but why not try something different when it wasn't working? In fact, it appeared as if the long developing routes ended up leading to more pressure on Henne. So instead of countering the pass rush with short and intermediate routes, DeBord tries to keep going deep when his QB has no time to throw? Brilliant!

I'll make one last point before ending this thing. I want to touch a little bit more on this offensive passing game identity thing. I think because Michigan doesn't run a consistent passing game plan from week to week, more pressure is put on the run to succeed. Even as a casual football watcher, I know that the passing game requires timing between the receivers and the quarterback. I just don't see that with Chad Henne and his receivers and I think its because there is no consistency in the playcalling as it relates to the pass.

What makes Tom Brady so successful is that there is a philosophy around New England's passing game. It's premised on Brady getting the ball to his playmakers and them racking up YAC. The deep ball is mixed in with this general philosophy giving defenses something else to worry about. I guess the best way to put this is that Michigan doesn't seem to have its bread and butter in the passing game. Until they do, I'm not going to expect this offense to hum like it should.

Les Miles is Ryan Howard

2007-10-09T19:35:00.000-04:00

The needle has moved. If the Miles mobile has a top speed of 120, initially I was going 65. After Saturday night, I'm going 85-90. Throughout the game, the needle kept moving, steadily, like when my mom is driving. It didn't jump wildly like when I was 16 and trying to impress the head cheerleader at Troy High. There's no need to go any faster - I'd rather get there safely (successful transition) than wrap myself around a tree (returning to glory every 4 years).

Athletic Ability: It's been hammered into our heads that team speed is main reason for the SEC's superiority. Although I don't think speed is unique to the SEC, I do think its a foreign concept around Schembechler Hall. It wasn't LSU's speed that impressed me, it was the players' versatility and athletic ability. One play that I still remember came early in the game: LSU LB Ali Highsmith was lined up to Tim Tebow's left. Tebow recognized this and looked for the slot receiver on his right. Tebow threw to what appeared to be the open spot in the zone and was almost picked off. At the snap, Highsmith ran parallel to the line of scrimmage right to the spot where Tebow threw - and this play was by design.

Unfortunately, like speed, versatility isn't unique to LSU, but is a foreign concept at Michigan. I like to cook and my favorite instructor has to be Alton Brown who has taught me never to have unitaskers in my kitchen. Lloyd Carr needs to watch Good Eats - Michigan's roster is filled with unitaskers. For some inexplicable reason, Carr still believes that you need space filling defensive tackles, plodding linebackers, and a secondary that doesn't give up big plays (instead of making some from time to time). LSU's roster is filled with players in the mold of Bob Sanders, Troy Polamalu, Alan Branch (rare Michigan player who fits the bill), and Brian Urlacher.

While making a comparison to current NFL players may not be the best, my point is LSU has players that have freakish athletic ability for the positions they play. This includes the offensive players too. It's a misconception that you have to be big to win. The Denver Broncos, even with a lighter offensive line, are one of the best running teams in the NFL. Their success is because of guys who are strong and can get down field quickly to take on 2nd and 3rd line defenders. College coaches have realized this and the game now favors agile, versatile players. For some reason, the staff at Michigan hasn't realized this or refuses to accept it.

If Miles ends up in Ann Arbor, in this regard, my wish is twofold. I hope he keeps recruiting versatile players and implements a strength and conditioning program that takes advantage of this characteristic rather than eliminates it. Remember what Herbstreit said earlier this year - Michigan has cornered the market on making 4 and 5 stars slower. I'm confident with the success he's had at LSU using players like this, Miles will try and assemble a similar roster at Michigan.

Confident Play: From Bruce Feldman's article on LSU's win against Florida:

He scanned the room and observed his teammates talking about the No.1 Tigers' 28-24 victory, then looked back at the board. FOUR QUARTERS OF MEAN, NASTY, TOUGH ASS FOOTBALL. To Jackson and his teammates, those words serve as their mission statement. 'That is LSU,' he said. 'This is a four-quarters program.

LSU played with confidence throughout the game, even though the Tigers trailed until scoring the final touchdown of the game. On both sides of the ball, the players never looked frustrated or unsure of themselves. They played like they knew were going win and it was just a matter of time. The defense remained relentless even as Tebow stepped around on rushing lineman, found receivers open for 1st downs, and scrambled for a touchdown. The offense looked confident even with the interchangeable quarterbacks. The players in the huddle believed that they were going to succeed with Perrilloux or Flynn. I'm convinced Miles was as aggressive as he was because he had confidence in his offense and vice versa. LSUs defenders looked natural in their movements. It never looked like the players were thinking about what they were doing or had to do, they just did it, almost instinctively.

Contrast that with the Wolverines against Eastern. Even after seeing the spread thrice this season, the defense looked tentative and unsure. The defense started slow and allowed EMU to stay in the game. Bradent Englemon was quoted as saying "I think we've gotten a lot better at understanding what types of plays we're going to get. We've definitely made strides in that area and have to continue to improve on that aspect of the game." It's half way through the season and this defense looks unsure of what it's supposed to do on individual plays. Literally, it looks like the players are evaluating a mental decision tree before reacting. Unfortunately, by that time, coupled with the lack of speed and athleticism, the opposition is in the endzone.

I'm convinced many of Michigan's problems are because of Carr's lack of confidence and this is well documented. I'm also positive he'd have botched the quarteback situation Miles had to deal with. Instead of taking advantage of Perrilloux's abilities, Carr would have gone with Flynn the entire game and, as a result, lost. Carr just doesn't seem sure of himself and is a terrible game day coach and this spreads to the players as well. One of the best things that can happen with Miles coming to Michigan is this program having a coach who is confident in his players and, more importantly, his own abilities.

Playcalling: Enough has been said of the playcalling at Michigan. If this were The Office, Lloyd Carr would be Michael Scott and Les Miles would be Ryan Howard. On last week's episode, Ryan comes back to Scranton to tell the employees how Dunder Mifflin is going to launch a new website, amongst implementing other technology, to help keep and gain new customers. Michael, fearing he is on his way out, decides to prove to Ryan that technology will ruin the business. To prove his point, Michael decides to win back lost customers with gift baskets that contain some of Scranton's finest food products. Needless to say, Michael is unsuccessful, ends up driving into a lake, while reminding the viewer that he is horribly unqualified for his job as regional manager. I don't think I need to tell you how this relates to Michigan football. If I do, just read the rest of Englemon's comments regarding the spread: "We try to stay in our base defense and make them adjust to what we do instead of trying to adjust to what they do..." Hey Lloyd, I'm sure there are a lot of local Ann Arbor businesses that have yummy things you can put in those gift baskets.

Don't let the Boyish looks fool you, Ryan Howard is a force

I'm going to wrap this up by saying that I'm a lot more in favor of Miles being Michigan's next head coach than I was a week ago. I'm also making an conscious effort to watch more LSU games until the season ends in order to get a better idea of Miles' coaching abilities. In the meantime, I've got my directions to Baton Rouge ready to go.

Les Is Not Sexy

2007-10-06T18:30:00.000-04:00

One of the more enjoyable reads on the Interwebs is MGoBlog. Since, in his own words, The Horror, Brian created Profiles in Heroism, a segment that evaluates the individuals who are likely candidates to take over the head coaching job at Michigan after Lloyd Carr leaves. The latest edition profiles ex-Michigan letterman and current LSU head coach, Les Miles.

Miles has proven to be a polarizing figure amongst the usuals at MGoBlog's comments section. His detractors say that Miles has a penchant for running his mouth, question his success at LSU, and most importantly, cite the rumors that Miles is a coach with "loose morals," a phrase that reminds me of the legal opinions from the early 1900s that I read a few weeks ago (don't ask why).

The only reason Miles should not be considered is if the rumors of his "loose morals" come to light. There's very little evidence, besides these comments, that point to Miles running a dirty program. In fact, many are of the opinion that a lot of negativity is coming from the old guard that's still at Michigan. On a side note, if that is true, and current members of the staff and athletic department are making unfounded claims about Miles, I don't want them to coach this team. And how does spreading unsubstantiated rumors about a person mesh with the whole "Michigan Man" philosophy? I guess it only applies when its convenient for those who are currently part of the program.

Also, commenter WolverBean made a good point. Calling Miles dirty is the pot calling the kettle black. This team has had its fair share of off the field problems, including Mario Manningham missing the EMU game for violating a team rule. So really, all of the people who keep going back to the "Michigan Man" argument, please take off the rose colored glasses and see the program for what it really is.

The remaining criticisms are lame excuses for not considering Miles. Although I also want a coach who is a better public speaker, I don't think this should prevent him from being a candidate. A lot of Miles' speaking problems appear to be a function of his passion - sometimes, Miles just can't find the words and says something inappropriate. I've seen Lloyd curse plenty of times - he's just been lucky there hasn't been a microphone or camera in his face when he did. And let's not forget Lloyd's penchant for being arrogant, dismissive, and belittling reporters in interviews.

I can't defend Miles' comments during his speech with the LSU boosters, but maybe, just maybe, it was Miles attempt to fit in. LSU fans and boosters expect information from the coaches, at least that's what I remember talking heads saying when Miles got the job. It's the norm there, not like at Michigan where information about an ankle sprain is treated like information about troop movements in Falujah.

My point is this: if the worst thing you can say about Miles is that he is not a good public speaker, you'd be an idiot not to hire him. He's not Bobby Knight. Plus, I'd rather have an coach who is an average public speaker that wins the games he's supposed to than a coach who regularly blows winnable games and, when asked a legitimate questions about the strategy employed, stares down reporters with a "how dare you question me" look. If his ability to speak is such a concern, there's nothing stopping Bill Martin from hiring a pr coach to help Miles.

Actually, I'm excited at the potential of having a coach that is angry after loss rather than a coach who looks, sounds, and acts beat. Lloyd just doesn't seem to have the energy anymore and it shows in the way the team plays. When Carr is up for a game, so is the team and when Carr is not, you get games like Northwestern and Appalachian State. Over the last few years, the team has taken on the personality of the man who leads it - and we've all seen the results. Bill Simmons once addressed this saying that there are more young coaches in the NFL because of all the energy the job requires. These newbies want to show they belong and put everything they have into the job. To an extent, the same can be said about college coaches. Compared to coaches like Carroll, Stoops, and Belotti, Carr looks tired. He just doesn't seem to have the same fire as the aforementioned coaches and it shows in the way Michigan plays. This in itself is a reason to make a change, but that's another topic for another day.

I'm not going to address the argument that Miles is winning with Saban's players because Brian has done a great job debunking it. And for those who think Miles doesn't have enough experience, remember Bo wasn't Bo until Bo was Bo (sorry to sound like a bad Nike commercial).

Instead, I'm going to focus on Miles' decision to surround himself with great coaches. I think his willingness to do so is his biggest positive - it shows that Miles knows his limitations and won't let his ego get in the way of success. Larry Bird, while coaching the Pacers, said that he wasn't sure that he could be a great coach, so he hired guys who had the know how to be his assistant. This is a stark contrast to Carr who either has an incredibly large ego or the inability to recognize his own weaknesses and neither one is good. So far, this formula has worked for Miles. The only reason this model wouldn't thrive at Michigan is if the AD doesn't pay for guys like Bo Pellini and Jon Tenuta.

Even with what Miles' has going for him, I still feel "eh" about him. I want to feel like Homer Simpson looking at a plate of bacon when the new hire is made/announced. The question now becomes why Miles doesn't make me feel that way. The answer is simple - he's not the sexy choice. He's not Uncle Pete, he's not the young up and comer, and he's not the offensive genius (Tedford, not Weis).

I really believe but for Miles' ties to the program, fans wouldn't bring his name up as a potential candidate. There's nothing unique or shiny about Miles. He's a good coach and that's that. He's a good fit, will be a solid coach (or at least I hope so), and brings a relatively fresh outlook to this program (assuming he sticks to his CEO model). He understands Michigan better than most candidates would because he played under Bo and I think he'll keep what's good about this program(the overarching philosophy) and get rid of what's bad (play not to lose attitude and cronyism). When I look at it that way, I feel a lot better about Miles being the next head coach and I welcome it.

It's Not Magic, It's Film Study

2007-10-02T21:33:00.000-04:00

I'd known for a while that I was going to miss at least the first half of Michigan's game against Northwestern. My friend was getting married and the ceremony started at one. Still, I wasn't too upset - I knew exactly what I was going to miss.

Even though Northwestern provided the coaching staff with an opportunity to rest Mike Hart, expose Ryan Mallet to more of the playbook, and get the subs some meaningful game experience, it wasn't going to happen. Instead, Mike DeBord would mindlessly run the ball in the first half allowing it the Wildcats to keep it close. In the third quarter, the offense and defense would make the minimum amount of plays to take the lead and keep it. In the 4th, Mike Hart would still be in the game because it was close. A couple of players, instead of sitting on the bench because of a blowout, would be lost to injury. Northwestern would make a last ditch effort that would come short and Lloyd Carr would flash that arrogant smile that says "screw you" to those who question his ability to game plan. Oh, and how can I forget, we'd hear quotes from players saying "we came out flat" and "we didn't play Michigan football in the first half."

So I wasn't too surprised by the way the game unfolded. Northwestern was leading at the half. Michigan regained the lead in the third quarter and extended it in the fourth. To their credit, the defense caused 4 turnovers on 4 straight possessions. Still, Michigan lost 3 players to injury - Tim McAvoy, Chris Graham, and Mike Massey. And after Michigan narrowly won 28-16, we heard about how "it wasn't Michigan football in the first half."

Brian, on Monday, wrote brilliantly about Michigan's offensive playcalling. Let me add my piece. If the opposition's defense is a round hole and Michigan's offense a square peg, Mike DeBord is the slow child playing the game. Once again, DeBord wasted a chance against an inferior opponent to get the offense some reps for plays other than zone left.

It's no surprise that this offense struggles year after year. While most teams' offenses are starting to gel and find a rhythm after 5 games, Michigan's is still inconsistent. Granted, there have been injuries this year, but essentially, the story is the same. Instead of improving over the course of the year, Michigan's offense will be as unpolished as it was against Appalachian State. And this phenomenon is a function of Mike DeBord's inability and unwillingness to change.

Honestly, I can't take it anymore. Against Penn State, the coaching staff went deployed a prehistoric offensive strategy because he wanted to protect Ryan Mallet. Instead of keeping the defense guessing, DeBord decided to run on obvious running downs and pass on obvious passing downs. Apparently, DeBord's idea of protection is playing into the hands of the defense.

Still, even after the offensive outputs against Penn State and Northwestern, there are people who brush aside DeBord's ineptitude. They say "well, the coaches did what they had to do." What the hell does that even mean? Either it means that the coaching staff completed something that was unfinished (I had homework that was due, so I did it) or the coaches acted in a manner as a result of necessity (the guy was not breathing and I had to give him CPR). In the football context, I'd assume that "doing what you have to do" is the latter and not the former.

If this is the case, Michigan did not have to run over and over to win that game. They could have passed on first or second down. They could have opted not to kick field goals with a kicker who is terrible. They could have used play action. Let me say this clearly: they did not have to run the ball 44 times with Mike Hart. And if they did, it's their own damn fault for not coming up with a more deceptive game plan or developing more than a basic high school passing game.

Most egregiously, they didn't have to give Penn State one last chance at the end of the game. Instead of going for the first down that would ice the game, the coaching staff thought it best to run the ball and call timeouts. Why stop the clock for your opponent?

Similarly, they coaches didn't have to run the ball repeatedly against Northwestern, especially when the Wildcat secondary being as bad as it is. The most frustrating this about this coaching staff is that it doesn't seem to understand the concept of tendencies. Football is a game of tendencies - that's why coaches and players spend countless hours studying film. Bill Belichick said the reason the Patriots were so successful was because the didn't have tendencies and, if they did, they would go against them, catching the opponent off guard. A simple concept that neither Carr nor DeBord understand, or worse, simply ignore.

What scares me more than anything is that if Michigan keeps winning, there's a good chance that the entire group comes back. And with no Mike Hart, Jake Long, Chad Henne, and possibly Mario Manningham and Adrian Arrington, next season could be worse than this one. With an offense that young, DeBords archaic offense becomes even more ineffective. Deception, something this coaching staff loathes, can only assist a young team. Still, assuming they return, we can expect more zone left, zone left, shuffle, punt.

This program has become Texas North - a team with tons of talent that typically underachieves. Only so much blame can be put on DeBord - blame has to be put on the man who hired him, Lloyd Carr. As terrible as DeBord is, there is a chance that Carr is worse. He refuses to change and with time, he has become more conservative and more indecisive. If Henne was okay to play, he should have started the game, helped Michigan open up a big lead, and rested the second half. Instead, Henne plays one series and is pulled for the rest of the half.

The last thing I have to say about all of this is that Lloyd Carr has never been a good head coach and it angers me people suggest that. Family friend suggested Carr was good early in his career as evidenced by his 10-0 start against Top 25 teams. While that may be true, Carr was aided with tons of talent. Before Michigan won the National Championship in 1997, Michigan had posted two consecutive 8-4 records. Carr has always employed the run, run, pass, punt formula. He's always relied on his defense even in seasons that the defense was not good. Most importantly, although Carr has one of the highest winning percentages of active coaches, he has pissed away countless games against lesser opponents. His teams have constantly underachieved. Now, he appears tired and so do his teams. His teams take on his personality, for better or for worse. Carr is a terrific representative of this program and a great recruiter. He should realize this and ride off into the sunset after this year.

20

2007-09-24T22:44:00.000-04:00

Leisa Thompson/Ann Arbor News

For the last four years, to signify the start of the new season, I bought a new football jersey. It began with 3 for Marlon Jackson. The following season, 8 for Jason Avant. Two years ago, I wore 15 and last year I decided on Mike Hart's 20. I wanted the jerseys of players that meant something to me. This year, I passed on buying a jersey. The reason is unimportant.

Before the Applachian State game, I decided to wear a Michigan t-shirt instead of a jersey. The following week, even though I had a jersey with me, I wore my Zingerman's t-shirt instead. I'm superstitious enough to believe my failure to buy a jersey was a contributing factor in those losses and I was damned sure that it wasn't going to happen again.

Two weeks in a row, I put on my Mike Hart road jersey and good things have happened. Talk has now shifted from Michigan being the answer to a trivia question to Michigan being a contender for the Big Ten title. After Saturday, I know why I didn't buy that blue 86 jersey. It's the same reason why I may not ever buy a Michigan football jersey again: Mike Hart.

Mike Hart is Michigan football. The phrase "Michigan Man" gets thrown around frequently. We want our next coach to be a Michigan Man. A recruit is a bad fit because he's not a Michigan Man. I think if you were to ask Bo what a Michigan Man is, he'd say Mike Hart. That's why, when the time comes to hire a new coach, Hart needs to be on the search committee. It may be a fanciful wish, but my ideal coach would be aggressive playcalling Mike Hart.

Before the season began, I had planned on going home for the Ohio State game. After the first two losses, I wasn't so sure. When number 20 stretched to put Michigan up 14-9, I knew I had to go. It doesn't matter what the team's record is. I need to show Mike Hart my appreciation for everything he has done for our program in the last 4 years.

Wake Me Up When September Ends

2007-09-02T18:13:00.000-04:00

"I'm in a glass case of emotion!" - Ron Burgandy, on the verge of hitting rock bottom , due to an errant burrito.

"I thought we were not a well prepared football team. That is my job, and I take full responsibility for that." - Lloyd Carr

Luckily, for Burgandy, Ling Wong the Panda provided an opportunity for redemption. For Lloyd Carr, there is no opportunity and nor should there be. The game against Appalachian State was a microchosm of Michigan football under Carr's leadership: unprepared, outcoached, unimaginative, and most harrowing, underachieving.

Since Donovan McNabb shredded Michigan's defense in the 1998 season opener, the Wolverines have not stopped a scrambling quarterback. The closest they came was against Michigan State in 2004 when the defense knocked Drew Stanton out of the game. Until then Stanton had flummoxed the Michigan defenders, completing 10 of 13 passes for 95 yards and running for 80 yards and 1 touchdown.

Not coincidentally, since the Syracuse loss, Michigan has struggled against teams that ran the option, spread, or both. Texas in the Rose Bowl, Ohio State in last season's finale, Appalachian State in the 2007 opener. There are others, but the point is made. Under Carr, Michigan did not adjust to these offenses and ended up losing because of it.

Inexplicably, Michigan refused to incorporate the offense that it could not stop into its own playbook. Just look at the successful programs around the country and you will see a common element - the spread offense. Of course, the best teams do not solely rely on it, but they have at least a few packages that spread out the opposition's defense. Even Jim Tressel saw what he had in Troy Smith, and, although it went against his "safe offense, strong defense" philosophy, installed elements of the spread.

Instead, Carr and his staff opted to rest their fortunes on an anachoristic offense that relied on superior talent and execution. Somehow the coaches failed to realize that in an age of scholarship limitations and 119 D-1A schools, such an offense was a risky proposition at best. The reliance on this offense only magnified the problems on defense and the combination proved to be fatal - three straight losses to Ohio State and three straight losses in Bowl games. Oh yeah, let's not forget the countless losses to less talented opponents.

The loss to Appalachian State was a long time coming. An unwillingness to change has led Michigan down the path to mediocrity and Saturday was was the express train past mediocrity to national laughingstock. Yes, Michigan is the most successful D-1A team (wins and percentage) but it also is the first ranked D-1A team to lose to a 1-AA team. That is stain that will never be washed away.

As Jim Carty has pointed out, with all the changes, things have stayed the same. The only constant in the last 12 years is Lloyd Carr. The game has passed him by. Even comments by the opponent regarding Michigan's vanilla schemes and unwillingness to disguise them is more evidence that Carr just does not get it anymore. Ohio State knew what was coming and they stopped it. USC knew what was coming and they stopped it. Appalachian State knew what was coming and they stopped it too.

Saturday's loss not only brings into question whether Carr should be head coach past this season, it makes relevant whether Carr should have been around to see it in the first place. The last three games and entire 2005 season bring to question Carr's ability as a gameday coach.

Simply put, it's time Coach, it's time.

Big Ten on ESPN

2007-08-29T15:07:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, on the way to Wild Oats, I caught a couple of minutes of Mike Tirico and Dana Jacobson's interview with Big Ten Commisioner Jim Delaney on This is ESPN Radio. Not surprisingly, for the short time I listened, Delaney was answering questions about the Big Ten Network and the conference's inability to come to an agreement with the larger cable providers. Unfortunately, I reached my destination before Delaney stopped talking, and being somewhat green, I decided against sitting in my car listening to the interview. Of course, when I got back, the interview was over. Fortunately, you can find the entire 10:20 conversation here. Also, I was excited to see a link to the interview Tirico and Jacboson conducted with Lloyd Carr earlier during the program. If you aren't the listening type, here are the salient points from the interviews (questions and answers paraphrased):

Lloyd Carr:

Jacobson asks about the 4 straight losses to Ohio State and the fans' focusing on the Ohio State game even before the season has begun

Carr: It makes sense that the fans have high expectations and focus on this game because each school has it's rival and Ohio State is Michigan's. We're dedicated to turning it around.

Jacobson: Which team is the most improved team and which team was the hardest hit (loss of players to the NFL and/or graduation)?

Carr: You never know the impact of the guys lost or what you have in the younger players until the season begins. It's difficult to know who has improved until you have something on film. [Carr went on to say that all will be good in addition to making generic comments about each - Penn State has a veteran QB, Wisconsin brings back a lot of guys but lost a veteran QB, Ohio State is breaking in a new QB but their defense returns a strong core]

Tirico: Have you changed your mind about a playoff system?

Carr: I've changed from the traditionalist view but I'm still a traditionalist. In fairness to the players, you have to open it up. With two teams you'll have situations...I think it's doable and will happen, but the question is when.

Jacobson poorly phrases a question about whether having a senior team has any impact on getting ready for the season (Note this is a follow up, in sorts, to an earlier question Tirico asked about how teams get ready for the regular season without having exhibitions like the NFL does).

Carr: Offensively, it gives us tremendous confidence that they (Henne, Hart, Long, Manningham, etc.) have played together at a high level...they are talented and motivated because we came up short last year. The key will be replacing Steve Breaston on special teams [Carr talked about Breaston's ability to make big plays and also mentioned the defense as the other key].

The interview concluded with the usual jovial banter between the hosts and guest.

Jim Delaney:

Tirico opens strong asking where the Big Ten is in it's negotiations with the cable providers

Delaney: It's a continuing challenge. (emphasis mine). We have access to 15-16 million homes via DirecTV. We've hit the 100 number mark with the smaller cable operators and a nationwide deal with AT&T. Some negotiations are going well and not so well with Comcast. (empahsis mine). We feel good about where we are right now but cable poses signifcant challenges.

Tirico: What is the purpose of creating a channel like this?

Delaney: There were two main reasons...when ESPN launched ESPN U and 360 we noticed more of our games were migrating to a narrower platform. (emphasis added). The second deals with the syndication of basketball games and that it was harder to get some of the games on. [Delaney additionally commented that the network was created to expand events and make them available to more people]. It's really about promoting the institutions and the brands. The channel will offer deep coverage of the institutions. [Delaney concluded by talking about specific programming on the channel including a highlight show - he compared this show to SportsCenter and how, instead of seeing a 7-10 second clip of a football game, viewers would get 7-10 minutes ].

Tirico: You're going to have what we have, but on a regional basis...? (emphasis added).

Delaney: No doubt about it. (emphasis added). [Delaney added that, in the long term, the network will allow the conference to build its brand and teams].

Jacobson asks about a conference championship game for football.

Delaney: We can't have a conference championship without a 12th team [Jacobson then asks about expansion]. It's possible in the long, long run. The game has the potential for marketing and fan appeal, but it will not drive expansion. Expansion will be driven by a schools that fits academically, is competitive, and adds the conference's marketing appeal. We haven't identified that institution.

Jacobson asks about moving conference games for football later into the season (e.g. after Thanksgiving) to avoid a repeat of last year's voting

Delaney: [Delaney began by praising Florida and USC for their performances against Ohio State and Michigan]. The reality is that 11 schools want a bye and 6 don't want the schedule to extend past Thanksgiving [I don't know how this works because 11+6=17...my assumption is that there are schools that want both the bye and season to end before Thanksgiving]. The other option is to start earlier in August but that would require NCAA rule changes and that is unlikely. We are exploring changing the schedule where the schools who wanted to play after Thanksgiving could and the ones that didn't want to would not.

Delaney concluded the interview by saying that he does not believe there is widespread support for a (an?) NFL style playoff and that the "plus 1" might be an option but that the same problems would arise in the "plus 1" situation as does right now.

As expected, Carr's interview was bland and non-informative - hell, he wouldn't even answer Jacobson's question about if Carr was using a book or any other non-football item, like he did in 1997, to motivate the team. On the other hand, the interview with Delaney was comical, in a sad way. Delaney cited Big Ten games moving to smaller platforms as his reason for starting the Big Ten Network but his unwillingness to accept less for the channel threatens to re-create what Delaney set out to solve! Even more comical was his admission that the channel is regional and appeals to mainly Big Ten fans (who predominately live in the Midwest). That's not going to help in negotiations with Comcast.

I'm not going to go into who I think is right and who is wrong - I think the blame is on both. I think Delaney and the Big Ten are taking a ridiculous position by overvaluing their asset. Comcast is the Devil. We've all come to the conclusion that there's going to be no movement by the end of this week and that's why I'll be in a smoke filled bar at noon on Saturday.

First The Captaincy, Then the Herbies

2007-08-27T19:05:00.000-04:00

I moved to Miami three years ago and the first part of Miami life that I became accustomed to was the weather - December no longer meant winter coats and scraping windshields, but instead, going to the beach to watch girls wearing tiny bikinis. Still, because of the lack of seasons, it never feels like football season. Growing up in the midwest, Michigan football started when the weather was hot, continued in full swing as the leaves changed color and the temperature dropped, and ended, hopefully, with a win on a freezing January day.

When I was at home a couple of weeks ago, I felt football season - a little brisk in the morning, comfortable in the morning, and sweltering in the afternoon. Not so in Miami - hot in the morning, afternoon, and at night. When I came back to Miami, it didn't feel like football anymore. In fact, the season seemed so far away. So when I saw a preview for Michigan's game against Appalachian State, I was reminded that the college football New Year is only 3 days away and Michigan's first game is only 5 days away.

One of columns I enjoy reading at the start of every year is Kirk Herbstreit's Herbie Awards - a celebration of "the players, coaches and color and pageantry of [college football]." In the 7th incarnation of the awards, Michigan's program makes multiple appearances:

Best RB - Veterans: Mike Hart (#4 behind Darren McFadden, Steve Slaton, and Ray Rice)

Best WR - Speed to Burn: Mario Manningham (#5 behind DeSean Jackson, Early Doucet, Malcolm Kelly, and Limas Sweed)

Dream Offensive Line: Jake Long (Sam Baker is the other tackle)

Head Coaches in Waiting: Ron English (#7 behind Bo Pelini (LSU), Steve Sarkisian (USC), Paul Chryst (Wis), Kevin Steele ('Bama), Jimbo Fisher (FSU), and John McNulty (Rutgers))

Other notable praise for Michigan - Jake Long is on the All-Uni Team and Herbie ranks Michigan's band the 3rd best in the country behind Ohio State's and Wisconsins.

I wasn't surprised by the inclusions but was surprised by the omissions, including Chad Henne from the list of the top traditional drop-back passers (Brohm, Booty, Brennan, Woodson (KY), Ryan (BC), and Longshore) and Mike DeBord from Herbie's list of favorite playcallers (who keep the defense off balance).

Now, I don't know what criteria Herbstreit used in making these lists, but Henne has to be on the list of drop back passers. Just look at the career numbers for each of the QB's listed (courtesy ESPN.com):

QB COMP ATT % AVG TDs INT YR.
Henne 666 1109 60 7.01 70 28 SR
Booty 296 478 62 7.69 32 11 SR
Longshore 235 388 61 8.12 25 14 JR
Ryan 419 693 60 6.94 25 18 SR
Woodson 464 760 61 7.44 39 14 SR
Brennan 756 1074 70 9.17 93 25 JR
Brohm 472 712 66 9.48 41 12 SR

The numbers are slightly skewed in Henne's favor because of two major factors - lack of injuries and games started. Only Brennan started as a freshman and sophomore and Brohm suffered an elbow injury during his junior year. Even taking these factors into consideration, Henne compares favorably with the QBs on Herbstreit's list. The biggest knock against Henne is that he has never won a Bowl Game or beaten Ohio State, but Henne performed very well in those 6 games. Needless to say, it's odd that Henne isn't on this list.

Finally, Herbie picks Penn State to win the Big Ten citing their favorable schedule and only major road game being in Ann Arbor. Apparently, Penn State's defense will make up for their terrible offense in leading the Nittany Lions to the Big Ten title.

Mike DeBord on WDFN

2007-08-24T17:45:00.000-04:00

Earlier today, Mike DeBord, offensive coordinator for the Michigan Wolverines, appeared as a guest on The Stoney and Wojo Show (WDFN - The Fan Detroit). In typical Michigan football coach fashion, DeBord was bland and evasive with his answers. I don't think there is much to be gleaned from the interview, but some of his answers did stick out. I attempted to transcribe the interview the best I could. Everything that follows is paraphrased:

Wojo: How excited are you about the offense? Is it going to as explosive as everyone predicts it will be?

DeBord: You never really know until you get into games. We face some good defenses and it's not going to be as easy as everyone thinks. I'm happy with our progress in camp. It's been one of the better offensive camps in terms of execution that I have been a part of. [DeBord went on to specifically mention route running, blocking up front, and running back play]

Chengelis: What is going on with the right side of the line?

DeBord: I'm pleased with the play of Justin Boren at center. Schilling and Ortmann are competing for the right guard spot. Steve has started to step up. (emphasis mine). Cuilla is playing right guard now. We're happy that Alex Mitchell will be able to come back. (emphasis is mine). We just can't lose guys up front because it makes us thinner up front.

Wojo: What different things are we going to see from Chad Henne?

DeBord: Henne is a dependable quarterback. He's gotten better from his freshman year to now. We're going to give him help in the shotgun...give him more time.

Wojo: Who is behind Mike Hart at running back? Who's the fullback

DeBord: Brandon Minor is behind Mike Hart. He's had a great camp and brings speed to the backfield[DeBord talked about last year Minor "showing what he could do."] Mondrous is the fullback but we will be using multiple personnel and not just the Pro [Debord specifically mentioned the Ace and 2 TE]

Chengelis: Talk a little about Ryan Mallett. Will he play this year?

DeBord: We haven't talked much about how much Mallett will play this year. Today was the last day of camp and we will talk about it when we meet Sunday. The best way to describe him is that he's learning. He needs to learn what Chad knows. He knows some of the playbook but not all of it. [Debord compared Mallett's situation to when Henne the coaches scaled the playbook back to help Henne as a starter during Henne's freshman year]

Chengelis: Any concerns on offense?

DeBord: Depth. We can't afford to lose guys. We need to make the younger guys and even older guys that are backups better so they are ready.

Wojo: What have you seen from the defense? Will they be able to fill the holes left by Woodley and Branch?

DeBord: I think the holes will be filled quickly. We've had our moments and they have had their's. My experience shows that when one side of the ball dominates camp, it's usually not a good season.

Wojo: Will be seeing more of the TE going across the middle?

DeBord: [DeBord began by saying that the impression the tight ends aren't being used in the passing game as much as in the past is incorrect]. We put in the passes last year ("naked passes" because the offense fakes the run to one side and both the QB and TE go in the opposite direction). Sometimes the TE is not open and the ball goes into the flat but people just notice the ball going into the flat and not the fact the TE was covered. It's a good counter to our running game especially when the defense gets to the point of attack against the run.

As mentioned before, there were no revelations. I think the most telling answer given came in response to the offensive line question. Reading between the lines, it doesn't appear as if the coaches are happy with the options behind Mitchell at RG - "Cuilla is playing the right guard right now. We are happy that Alex Mitchell will be able to come back." Hopefully, it's not as bad as I've interpreted it to be.

Other than that, maybe DeBord will open up the offense against Appalachian State, Eastern, etc. (HA!) so that the younger guys and backups actually get some meaningful playing time during the year instead of having to runMike Hart into the line deep because the Wolverines are only up 10 in the middle of the 4th.

This can only help - fresh bodies that can contribute late in the season, especially against Wisconsin and Ohio State in consecutive weeks, are an important factor in whether Michigan competes for the National Championship.

Oh Those Tigers

2007-08-23T18:00:00.000-04:00

The Tigers need to start winning, now. Considered the best team in baseball going into the All-Star break, the Tigers have one of the worst second half records in baseball (10-22) and have not won a series since the middle of July. After losing to Cleveland yesterday, the Tigers are 2.5 games out of first in the AL Central and 5 behind the Mariners for the Wild Card.

It's been a rough season in Detroit, especially after an unexpected World Series berth in 2006. All the things that fell into place last year aren't this year and that's the biggest difference between the two seasons. Sean Baligian of WDFN said it best: Last year you expected the Tigers to win a close game. This year you expect them to lose. The bullpen that was an asset in 2006 is potential liability. Same for the starting pitching. Injuries to key players - Zumaya, Rogers, and Sheffield - have also taken a toll. I also think the is something to be said about the inflated expectations thrust upon such a young team.

The Tigers making the World Series last year was both a gift and a curse. It was a gift for obvious reasons: the first winning record since 1993, postseason appearance since 1987, and pennant since 1984. Nobody expected a year like that, especially only 2 years removed from losing 119 games. It is a curse because it created, in my mind, unrealistic expectations for this year's team.

Going into 2006, I think most fans expected, and would have been happy with a .500 finish or better. Maybe some flirting for the AL Central title but nothing more. This year would the expectations would have been slightly higher - a postseason berth and actually contending for the division crown. That progression was abandoned after last year's surprise finish and it was the worst thing that could have happened to the 2007 Tigers.

Compare this scenario to one where a NFL star rushes back from a major injury. There are countless stories about a guy coming back faster than expected only to play at a level lower than before the injury (see Daunte Culpepper circa 2006). Inevitably, it comes out later, that the guy probably was not ready to play and would have been better off coming back a little bit later. Similarly, here, I think expectations should have been tempered even after what happened last year for a number of reasons.

First, this team is still young and learning how to win. They made huge strides last year under Jim Leyland but still ended the season on a slide. In fact, Minnesota, a team that had been the class of the AL Central early in the decade, got on hot streak, took the season ending series from the Tigers to win the AL Central - after the Tigers had led the division for the majority of the year.

Second, the pitching last year was better than expected. Kenny Rogers had a stellar season along with guys like Verlander, Bonderman, Zumaya, and Todd Jones. This year, it appears if these guys have been injured, regressed, or just gone back to being the players they were pre 2006. Mathematically, this makes sense - if you are a .300 career hitter, you may hit higher or lower in a given part of a season, but more than likely, you're going to end around .300. Also, I think last year's postseason run has fatigued the Tiger staff, similar to what happened with the White Sox after they won the World Series. This has probably also contributed to the injuries to both the pitchers and position players.

Finally, the Tigers aren't a disciplined team at the plate. The media constantly harped on this last year but not so much this year (primarily because of the injuries to the pitching staff). Brandon Inge is struggling at the plate like he always has. Pudge has 5 walks all season. The only consistent batter has been Ordonez. When the pitching isn't coming through, the offense has to, but with no plate discipline, this has rarely happened this year. Yesterday, the Tigers had 12 runner LOB. Even Leyland said that one hit would have made a difference.

With about a month and a half to go in the season, I don't think the Tigers will make the playoffs. If they do, it's because Cleveland doesn't play well during this span - which wouldn't be a stretch given they way the Indians have played so far this year. Realistically, I think the Tigers need a winter off to get rest and get stronger. If they can do that, I think they will seriously contend for the World Series in 2008.

I'm Back, Baby!

2007-08-23T17:40:00.000-04:00

I broke my New Year's Resolution of posting everyday, oh, about a week into 2007. I haven't written since March 8 (according to blogger), but I'M BACK. After a spring of law school exams and a summer preparing for the Florida Bar, I'm attempting a comeback which, hopefully, is more successful than Penny Hardaway's.

I started the blog out of the frustration that stems from Michigan football and the Detroit Lions. It was a place where I could vent, potentially connect with other fans who felt the same (or different), and improve my writing. After some thought, I've decided to expand the scope of this blog. In addition to University of Michigan sports, I'm going to talk about the other Detroit sports teams (a staple of my youth and current life), food, and other random stuff that tickles my fancy. Basically, it's going to be like every other blog out there.

Hope to have a post about the Tigers by tomorrow morning.

Last Run

2007-03-08T09:51:00.000-05:00

Peaceful sleep was difficult to come by last night. Laying in bed, I felt the way I normally do the night before an exam. It's a mix of calm and anxiousness. It was an odd feeling, not because I hadn't felt it before, but rather there was no exam the next day.

Almost instantaneously, I realized the cause. Thursday, at noon, was the last chance to buy - no, earn - a ticket to the Big Dance. Thursday, at noon, was the last chance to change a legacy. Thursday, at noon, was the last chance to break through the ice.

In less than 2 hours, Michigan will tip-off against Minnesota in the Big Ten Tournament. It's the last chance. The fans know it, the players know it, and Tommy Amaker knows it.

Usually, when I go to bed feeling the way I did last night, good things happen the next day. Let's just hope they come true.

Tommy Amaker Can Do No Wrong

2007-02-13T10:29:00.000-05:00

The MSM supports Tommy Amaker. Apparently, being an affable and from Duke means you can do no wrong. More importantly, it means you're a good coach. When discussing the troublesome nature of a senior laden Michigan team missing the NCAA tournament, Cory McCartney writes

"The Wolverines have been too sloppy, averaging 14.6 turnovers a game (163rd nationally) and are 10th in the Big Ten in assist-to-turnover ratio (0.97-to-1). But the problem is not Amaker, who has been rebuilding a program in shambles, and he's done it the right way. Michigan fans are understandably growing tired of these [annual February] meltdowns, but giving up on the coach who helped restore the program's reputation, is not the answer."

Conveniently, McCartney does not point a finger at anyone. If Amaker is not the problem, then who or what is? Even after citing damning statistics, McCartney's argument for keeping up Amaker is that he's helped clean up the program. Apparently, it's impossible to run a clean program and make the tournament at the same time.

Win and you're in...oh, I mean, you're still alive: Jerry Palm thinks the winner of tonight's Michigan v. Michigan State game is still in the hunt for an NCAA berth. The loser is out. Michigan fans, don't get your hopes up. Why? 1) Game is in East Lansing; 2) Izzo is a better coach; 3) Izzo's teams are known for their hustle.

In sum: East Lansing + Tom Izzo + Hustle = Michigan in the NIT

Michigan at Ohio State Running Diary

2007-02-06T22:30:00.000-05:00

6:59 EST: Dinner is almost ready. Since The Editor is out of town, I'm reverting back to my single days - the menu consists of a salad with ginger dressing, macaroni with vodka sauce, and a glass of wine...um, I mean beer...yeah, beer!

7:00: ESPN teases the game by showing clips from this year's football game. Thank you, I feel better now. Oh yeah, it's also rivalry week and to promote it, ESPN is showing clips of real people divided by rivalries. In this one, the daughter goes to Michigan while the rest of her family are OSU grads. She starts singing Hail to the Victors and her father ends it with oh so much class, "cesspool of the west." I wonder if he can define cesspool let alone spell it.

7:03: Erin Andrews is easy on the eyes...Courtney Sims is profiled on Star Watch...Andrews says something about OSU focusing on fundamentals. Michigan focusing on avoiding the 20 point rule in the 1st half.

7:04: A shot of Tommy Amaker wearing a grey jacket with a grey mock turtleneck. Insert joke here. Musburger says that Amaker is one of the nicest guys he's met. Oh, by the way, Amaker is 3-6 against the Buckeyes.

7:05: Time for the tip. Let's see how bad Oden makes Michigan look. I think the Wolverines will be down 20 at the 6 minute mark of the 1st half. OSU commits an over and back on its first posession. OSU - 1TOs, Mich - 0TOs. So far, so good.

7:06: Lavin says that Conley, the OSU point guard escorts the ball well in transition. Apparently, he's a man whore.

7:07: Courtney Sims is softer than the Pillsbury Doughboy but not as fat. 24 second violation. Yay Michigan basketball! At this rate I'll have a headache by 7:15.

7:14: A little distraction. Back. 14:47 left, score tied at 6. Immediately after I type the score, OSU hits a 3. OSU presses and almost creates a turnover.

7:16: Dion Harris with 5 points in a row. No headache. Lavin talking about Bruce Pearl painting his chest being a carnival barker move. Huh? 12:46 left, Michigan up 1.

7:17: Dinner finally ready. Can I manage to eat and keep notes? I predict "no."

7:18: Need a bigger fork. Buckeyes score and intercept a pass. OSU 14, M 11. Awesome.

7:19: Citibank needs new commercial. The Spice Girls are so yesterday.

7:20: The Sims connection for 2. Lavin says that Courtney Sims always seems to have a good game when Lavin is present. Maybe he's coaching him unlike Tommy Amaker.

7:22: I love Scrubs. It's one of the funniest shows on tv. I hate women's basketball. If I ever have a kid, its gonna be a girl, I just know it.

7:25: You know how its early February? Michigan has 16 wins and will

7:26: OSU is pressing and why wouldn't it? Name the last true Michigan PG. I'm guessing Avery Queen.

7:30: Mmmm...Vodka Sauce

7:32: What's with the multiple soccer references?

7:34: Greg Oden is big. Courtney Sims is still soft. Way to put the ball on the floor in traffic.

7:39: Oh that janitor. Trying to con Dr. Reid into a date. I love Scrubs.

7:40: At 2:42 left in the 1st half, M has 1 assist. Okay, with that basket, probably 2. Oh Avery Queen, how I miss you. I can't believe M is only down 1.

7:42: Conley +1. OSU 33, M 29. Okay, keep it close - under 8 at the half should be good. And a terrible 3 point shot by M. Yay Michigan basketball.

7:43: Apparently Musburger and Lavin don't find the game interesting. Lavin's trying to hit on Erin Andrews on the air. I would too.

7:44: Halftime.

7:45: Teen Jeopardy = Freak Show. Eliza has this look that says "if I don't win, my parents are going to tie me to my bed and make me do math problems."

7:50: Heather Graham is HOT. Good God.

7:58: Is it wrong I want to see Norbit? Ok, dinner over. Think I handled the keeping notes and eating at the same time thing pretty well. Food didn't get too cold.

8:01: Start of the 2nd half and Michigan is shooting 45% so far. OSU hits a quick 3. OSU 36, M 29. Uh-oh.

8:02: Bad shot by Lester Abram. I miss Lester Abram, circa 2001. OSU hits another 3. OSU 39, M 29. Wheels...falling...off?

8:04: Seriously, I miss true-freshman-Lester Abram. Oden misses, gets his own rebound against 3 M defenders and dunks. Oh yeah, Courtney Sims is soft. It's getting ugly.

8:05: Michigan with a nice transition from defense to offense. Blocked shot, fast break, Oden fouls Shepard and goes to the bench with 3 fouls. Nice job M! OSU 41, M 34. 17:20 left.

8:07: Argh! With Oden out, Harris takes a terrible off balance shot. OSU fast break. Sims comes back and gets a dunk off a broken play.

8:09: Commerical for Disney World featuring Tony Dungy and Dominic Rhodes. Read today in SI that even though its tradition for the MVP to do the commercial, Peyton didn't want to. Either he had a unfortunate experience at the Magic Kingdom involving Tigger or Disney doesn't pay as as much as MasterCard.

8:12: Harris with 5 straight points. OSU 45, M 41. Oddly enough, M is playing well. I thought I'd be playing video games by now.

8:13: Strong drive to the basket by Lester Abram. OSU 47, M 43. 13:49 left. Cautiously optimistic.

8:14: This team makes me want to smash things. They get close but can't get over the hump. It's mindboggling. Its like they have an internal clock that causes turnovers automatically when the game is close.

8:15: Michigan taking advantage of Oden's absence by going to the basket and getting offensive rebounds. Shepard at the line for 2. Fans singing something about owning the state of Michigan. I hate the Buckeyes.

8:18: Coming out of halftime, Erin Andrews said that Amaker wanted M to box out better. Still not doing it. OSU up 8...wait, now only 6. Great job breaking the trap.

8:24: Oden has bodyguards? Really?

8:25: Buckeyes have killed the Wolverines with the high pick and roll all night. The guard comes around the pick, no defensive rotation, easy 3.

8:26: Sims splits the double team and scores. OSU 54, M 51.

8:28: Sims going up strong! Thank you Steve Lavin.

8:29: Classic Michigan basketball. Oden checks in and immediately M turns the ball over. Udoh telegraphed his pass to Abram.

8:30: Michigan going to the basket a lot. They need to attack Oden if they have any chance of winning.

8:33: It's troublesome that a team with 4 seniors can bring the margin to within 3 or 4 points but can't get any closer. With the score 52-56, M takes a bad shot and OSU gets the ball back easily.

8:34: OSU has now hit 7 threes tonight. Damnit! Attack Oden!

8:36: Its unraveling now. Surprised it took so long. Oden blocks Sims' shot, then Shepard's shot, and Abram commits a loose ball foul. OSU 63, M 53. 5:56 left. Not looking good

8:37: Dion Harris trying to do too much. Can you blame him. He's the only legitimate offensive threat on this team. Anyway, turnover. Sigh.

8:38: Conley to the hole. Reed Baker hits a shot. OSU 65, M 55. 4:57 remain.

8:40: Another Harris turnover. The only consistent thing about Michigan is that its offense fails in big spots.

8:41: Harris with an awesome reverse. I really feel bad for him. Easy basket for OSU. Michigan is a fake good defensive team.

8:42: Three of the last 5 possessions for Michigan have resulted in turnovers.

8:45: OSU backcourt 41, M backcourt 16. Great job recruiting Tommy.

8:46: I swear Sims has only one move in the post - fake to the baseline, turn into the lane, dribble, dribble, turn back to the baseline, take contested shot or turn ball over. Here, he managed to get a shot somehow. Keep it under 20. How the standards have fallen.

8:48: Oden runs over Sims. Completely legal. Sims gave the resistance of a feather. Oden dunks, OSU 70, M59. 1:00 to go.

8:51: Lavin is apparently buying tonight.

8:54: 10 blocks for Oden.

8:55: Game over. I'm tired of losing to OSU. Final: OSU 76, M 63. 16-8 (4-5). Four game losing streak. Goodbye NCAA, hello NIT!

My Feeble Attempt to be a NBA Scout

2007-02-05T22:12:00.000-05:00

Texas down 5 to A&M at the half. I watched about 5 minutes of the first half, so no meaningful observations yet. I intended to focus solely on Kevin Durant, potentially the top prize in this June's NBA draft but after Saturday night, I'm going to also keep notes on Acie Law, A&M's senior point guard. Law took over down the stretch against the Jayhawks, helping the Aggies come from behind to win in Lawrence.

Kevin Durant: I've always hated the way basketball analysts compare current players to past players - Dwayne Wade is the next Jordan. Lebron is a modern day Magic. The problem is, that these comparisons are too general. It's like comparing X and X because they are both Y. I caught myself doing the same while watching Kevin Durant, but the truth is that he doesn't remind me of anyone. During the 15 game minutes I watched, Durant reminded me of KG, Scottie Pippen and Reggie Miller. On one defense to offense transition, Durant blocked a shot to himself, turned, dribbled to the offensive 3 point line, hesitated, and when a defender came out to challege, Durant made an accurate chest pass to a man cutting to the basket for an easy layup.

Durant's ability to play like a guard is what's most impressive about his game. He dribbles well (multiple times he led the fast break), passes well (3 assists), and has a quick release which enables him to come off screen and shoot a la Rip Hamilton or Reggie Miller. On an inbounds play from under the Texas basket, Durant curled off a screen at the elbow, took a quick shot (missed but fouled). At least three times he caught the ball behind the 3 point line and went straight up and shot. This allows him to keep defenders off balance because he can either shoot or drive around them.

Defensively, I had trouble gauging his abilities because of Texas playing a zone. Things he did do well: close out on the perimeter and rebound. I like the way he hustles and crashes the boards. Also, his length allows him go deflect passes (3 steals) and creates a problem when he fronts the post. I think Durant may need to get a little stronger for the NBA game, but according to Dick Vitale, Durant is willing to work and accepts coaching openly. Personally, I think he should be the #1 ahead of Oden but I'll assess this statement again tonight after watching Oden against Michigan.

Acie Law

It was hard to get a read on Law because he's a point guard and I think its the hardest position to evaluate. He's very controlled when directing the offense. He is pretty consistent from 3 point range and being a left handed shooter, he creates problems for defenders. Unfortunately, he sprained his ankle and was out until the around the 5 minute mark...also the time I switched over to the Daily Show. Law's final line: 21 pts and 15 assists. The points are impressive but his assist number shows his willingness to pass and get his teammates good shots. I don't have a grade on his ability to penetrate because A&M, in the half court, played an inside-out offense which had Law stationed on the perimeter. On the fast break, Law does a great job of pushing the ball and finding the open man. He dribbles when needed but he'll make the pass when its there which is critical because a lot of point guards singlehandedly kill breaks because they dribble too much. Defensively, Law fights through screens well and does a great job of sticking with his man. As a Pistons fan, might be a good late 1st round pick.

Bloggin Ain't Easy

2007-02-05T21:24:00.000-05:00

While smashing my New Year's resolution like a piggy bank, I quickly acquired a new found respect for sites like MGoBlog, EDSBS, The M Zone, etc. I thought it'd be easy to post something everyday - even if the post was a couple of lines about something that happened in the sports world that day. Nope. In fact, posting everyday is very difficult. I had trouble coming up with content. I had trouble doing the research. I had trouble putting words onto paper. By the time all the problems were solved, my topic was old news.

I have no idea how these sites come up with new content, daily, that's interesting, well thought out, well written, informative and funny. I'd get a little annoyed on days when there was nothing new to read at these sites, but no more. Thanks for the hard work guys...

My ambitious goals for the next few days, including tonight are as follows:

Monday: Texas @ Texas A&M. Notes on Kevin Durant and Acie Law IV.
Tuesday: Michigan @ Ohio State. A running diary of the travesty that's Michigan basketball.
Wednesday: National Signing Day. Words about Wolverine football and the future.

Let's see how many of these get posted. I'm hoping to go 2 for 3.

The South Rises Again

2007-01-09T22:41:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's outcome in the National Championship game surprised me. Tressel was throughly outcoached and OSU look ill-prepared for Florida. The Offensive Line played terribly and their play hurt the Buckeyes more than anything. Not much more to say other than the following:

1. Still think that Florida should not have been in the game. Yes, they played tremendously last night and deserve the National Title but the fact still remains that the voters picked Florida primarily because they didn't want to see a rematch.

2. Backing anyone in this game was impossible. It was mortal enemy or people who think football doesn't exist outside of the south. I went with mortal enemy for two reasons: 1) Big Ten pride and 2) I hate the SEC. The worst thing that comes out of this loss is a bunch of rednecks chanting SEC! SEC! and having the media perpetuate "the SEC is the best myth" next year.

What I noticed the most about this year's game was logistical. In years past, I was really excited to watch the national championship game. Not this year and, I swear, it wasn't because of the teams. I think what killed me was the layoff between the Sugar Bowl and the National Championship game. Up until last year, the all the BCS games were played within days of each other so there was nothing else to distract me. This year, I had an entire weekend of NFL Wildcard games and two other college bowl games. Simply, too much of a lull. Fox's decision to schedule the game so late made the whole thing anti climatic. I just lost interest. In fact, this past Saturday, while watching the International Bowl, I thought "oh this is the last bowl game" and then realized that Florida/Ohio State was 2 days away. Just a terrible decision and they need to have the game no later than the 5th.

Random topic of the day: On the way to work there was a homeless person at an intersection attempting to wash people's windshields while they waited at a red light. He was using an old newspaper and nothing more. Now, I'm torn on giving homeless people money - I'd rather give them food or beer, but there was no way I was giving this guy money. Why? Cause he wasn't even trying. Look, if you want me to pay you for cleaning my windshield, do it well...don't half ass it. You might as well do nothing and ask me for spare change. This dude should get a squeegee ($3 max) and some Windex ($4 max). Yeah, that means he'd be out seven bucks, but I'm sure people would be more willing to pay him if he was using window washing tools. I know I would.

Cautious Optimism

2007-01-06T22:10:00.000-05:00

Surprisingly, the Wolverines, after winning at Northwestern today, are 2-0 in the Big 10 and 14-3 overall. Prior to conference play, the pundits felt that with Michigan would need to go at least 9-7 in conference play, along with a couple of wins to get into the NCAAs. After today's performance, I'm cautiously optimistic.

Although the Illini were 38th overall, based on RPI, at the end of OOC play, their best win appears to be against Mizzou. Throw in losses to Xavier, Arizona, and Maryland, Illinois' OOC performance reminds me a lot of Michigan's. Thus, I'm not too excited about this win.

It's well known that Michigan has stuggled on the road during Tommy A's tenure (18-38 after today's win), so any road win is cause for a smile - even if it comes against the 151st team (based on RPI - 12/31/06). Examining the opponent, if Michigan had lost this game, it would have been unacceptable. NU has lost to Cornell, Tennessee Tech, and Stanford.

I'm sure that Michigan will get blown out soon enough to remind me that I was foolish to get excited after these first two conference games.

Wilted Roses

2007-01-04T22:47:00.000-05:00

I came back home this past Wednesday and found an envelope from the Victors Club waiting for me. I assume that the mailing was sent well before the Rose Bowl, because after last Monday's performance, the Athletic Department asking for money is on par with smashing your mom's car and then asking for the keys to your dad's cause you have a hot date the next day. You just don't do it, even if it means having the hottie pick you up while your brother laughs at you (no, this did not happen to me).

I've attempted to write about the Rose Bowl for 6 days now and it hasn't worked. Thankfully, after talking to Michigan Friend today, I remembered how angry, frustrated, and embarrassed I felt earlier this week. Now I have the fuel to get out my thoughts, coherently, I hope.

There isn't going to be any analysis of the game; we all know what happened. The Offensive line wasn't able to stop the USC blitzes, let alone a warm afternoon breeze. The USC offense bombed our secondary. Most importantly, our coaches were reactive, rather than proactive, as they have been for as long as I can remember. Content with a tie at the half, the coaches made no adjustments. Discontent with a tie, the USC coaches decided to abandon the run completely. Game over.

For Michigan Friend, this was the last straw. A Lloyd Carr supporter, he told me, it was time for Lloyd to go. When asked if Lloyd should come back for next year, he said yes, only because there its too late to get anyone good. While I don't completely agree, I see his point. Michigan shouldn't rush into a decision for the sake of change. The devil you know is better than the devil you don't. But the bottom line is that Lloyd needs to go.

Michigan's program reminds me, ironically, of the Big 3. While the Detroit automakers had their heyday in the 1970s, their refusal to adapt, on many levels, has put them in the position they face today: Toyota will likely pass GM as the biggest automaker later this year. Ford has closed plants and offered early retirement to about a quarter of its employees in hopes of becoming relevant again. Daimler brought Chrysler. While each is in its current position because of different problems, the one commonality is arrogance. The Big 3 didn't believe they were subject to a global marketplace or the laws of economics. "People will buy our cars" they said. They were wrong. People started buying Hondas, Toyotas, Lexuses (Lexi?), and even Kias. "We don't need to build fuel efficient cars" they said. Gas prices went up. "We'll just squeeze our suppliers" they said. They forgot about global competition. Now, they are tredding water, hoping to stay afloat.

Michigan football apparently believes the laws of football don't apply to it. Apparently, the coaches believe that Michigan's talent is superior to that of all other schools. Thus, the Wolverines should be able to line up against anyone, and with good execution, win. Also, because of the superior talent, the offense doesn't need to adjust when it can't run the ball or disguise its plays. Defensively, it's the same story. Don't disguise anything and go right at the offense (although this has been lessened somewhat under Ron English). While this approach worked in an era of 125 scholarship teams, it doesn't any more. The talent level has spread out. With television, kids are exposed to many more programs. Wanting to to play early, in conjunction with reduced scholarships, has pushed talented players to schools like NIU, South Florida, and Cincinnati. Hell, after this year, Rutgers is showing an ability to keep NJ recruits in state.

When the talent gap shrinks, strategy becomes critical. The coaching staff's refusal to accept or realize this dooms the Wolverines to lose games against USC, Ohio State, Oklahoma, etc. In the last 4 years, Michigan is 1-3 against Ohio State and 0-4 in bowl games. In the last 10 years, they've lost to UCLA, Oregon, ND, Syracuse, and Tennessee. This year, when asked about the USC loss, we heard the same crap: USC has better talent, it was essentially a home game for the Trojans, etc. Instead of solutions, we get excuses.

Okay, let's take step back. Maybe Michigan is more talented than everyone else. Even then, why play so conservatively? It's not little league where there is a mercy rule. Why waste the talent you have on both sides of the ball? Honestly, after the Rose Bowl, I'm surprised that QBs and WRs even come to Michigan. Wouldn't it make sense to maximize the output on both sides of the ball? This way, we wouldn't have to see games like this year's game against Northwestern.

What was most frustrating about Michigan this year and especially in the Rose Bowl was the unimaginative offense. Michigan's playbook seems to be the same as it was 10 years ago, except with zone blocking. During the Rose Bowl, Michigan didn't use its TEs until late in the game. They didn't throw any short or intermediate routes and kept forcing Henne to take 5 step drops. I was perplexed Michigan didn't go to the shotgun earlier but I've heard its because Henne doesn't feel comfortable in the shotgun. When DeBord was asked after the game about his gameplan, he stubornly said he'd do the same thing again. That's arrogance or sheer stupidity - I'm going with arrogance. Between Ohio State and the bowl game, Michigan typically has a month to prepare and still was unable to do anything against USC, this year or in 2004. What the hell did they practice for during that time? While other teams have learned to use the spread, Michigan refuses, which is funny, because spreading out a defense helps the QB read blitzes and neutralize them. Simply, this coach and his staff have lost touch.

The staff's attitude also seems stuck in the past. While Pete Carroll is the cool uncle, Lloyd Carr is your dad. Who is an 18 year old kid going to want to play for? Are they going to play for a guy who runs blindly into a line or a guy who throws in a trick play now and then? And this attitude is important to recruiting. Maybe it isn't related, but this year, Michigan had a good high school crop, and many opted to go out of state. Similarly, for the last few years, Michigan has been unable to land top flight corners or offensive lineman.

The Lloyd supporter say we should overlook his shortcomings because he runs a clean program that's full of class. Plus, he's a Michigan Man. While, I'm thankful for all that he's done and the example he sets for the football team, its not enough for him to keep his job. Since Tressel came to OSU, the Bucks have dominated the Wolverines. Too many times during his tenure, Michigan has lost to lesser teams. He has a losing record in bowl games. He's overly loyal to a fault and that's hurt the program. Jim Hermann essentially kept his job for so long because of 1997. Instead of looking outside the program when replacing Terry Malone, Lloyd went back to his buddy, Mike DeBord, who miserably failed as head man of Central Michigan. Andy Moeller, who coaches the OLine is still around after a few years of them being terrible - this year, Michigan struggled mightily on 3rd and short when they ran. Lloyd's inability to change is slowly eroding this program. No one is scared to face the Wolverines anymore - why would they be? As the USC players said, they knew exactly what was coming before it did. It's like playing cards with a guy who leaves his cards out for everyone to see. If Carr's job is to be a CEO and be a caretaker, he needs to have assistants that are very good at what they do. When Larry Bird coached the Pacers, he admitted that he wasn't the greatest coach and that he needed to surround himself with the best assistants. It's what any person in management would do if he wanted to succeed.

For those who make the Michigan Man argument, let me ask you this: Can't someone be a Michigan Man while being innovative and a good X's and O's coach? Can't someone be a Michigan Man and make in game adjustments? It's not like Michigan gets innovative on offense and overnight the players become thugs. And let's not forgot, the football team has had problems, although not major, during Carr's tenure. Like a poster at MGoBlog said, running slants isn't going to make this into a hooligan program. Being a Michigan Man and winning are not mutually exclusive. For those of you who think they are, you are wrong. There are plenty of coaches who fit Michigan's values and run clean programs that win. Pete Carroll, Jeff Tedford, Mack Brown, Bob Stoops, Greg Schiano. It can be done. It should be done and Michigan should not accept anything less. We claim to be the Leaders and the Best, but unfortunately, the football program seems to have forgotten this.
That's why it's time for Lloyd Carr to go.

New Year...Same Nick Saban

2007-01-04T19:42:00.000-05:00

The New Year inevitably prompts ridiculous resolutions (finding true love) that end up badly (sleeping with an ugly chic after too many beers). In this spirit, I started 2007 with great ambitions that have already fallen to the wayside like the single shoe so often seen on the shoulder of a highway.

I really do enjoy writing and I started this blog for two reasons. First, it allowed me to get out my frustration, stemming from Michigan football, constructively. Second, it gave me the opportunity to write in a way that wasn't diary-ish (exactly what I'm doing here, but give me a sec). So on December 31st, I said to The Editor, that I resolved to write more...even if it meant writing one sentence about what happened in the sports world that day - something reminiscint of Doogie Howser's musings on his PC after getting into a fight with Vinny. Well, today is January 4 and my last post was November 6. Although many things happened in the first three days of 2007, What the Deuce remained silent. I'm going to take a Mulligan and start my overly ambitious resolution today. Let's see how long it lasts.

Midweek Recap: Here is what I intended to write about during the past three days.

January 1, 2007: Rutgers big win against K-State (watched the game with The Editor and her family, including RURon, The Veep, and Beast Nose).

January 2, 2007: USC's dominance of Michigan in the Rose Bowl. More on this later.

January 3, 2007: Nick Saban accepts the Alabama job and "Dol-fans" (very clever, by the way) feel like a woman with 2 kids who just found out her husband was leaving her for someone with fake boobs.

January 4, 2007: Yesterday I was reminded that it has been an unusual year and half in Miami when it comes to head coaches. Beginning in November 2005, Miami based teams have experienced 5 head coaching changes, temporary or permanent. First, Riles took over for an "exhausted" Stan Van Gundy. Next, first year manager Joe Girardi was let go because of personal differences with management. This was followed by Larry Coker being dismissed but still coaching the 'Canes in their bowl game. On the heels of Saban to Alabama, Heat fans were told that Riles was taking a leave and Ron Rothstein, who once sported a perm, would be the Heat's interm coach. Of course, after pointing this out, Dan LeBetard promptly went on to bashing Saban and his decision to leave the Dolphins.

Today, it's been worse. Joe Rose, the morning guy, upon finding out that Saban cited his wife's unhappiness in Miami as a factor in his decision, took the obvious cheap shots which basically questioned Saban's manhood. LeBetard took a step further, displaying his lack of wit and laziness by stereotyping Tuscaloosa as a redneck outpost. Very, very original. Not surprising for a guy who still takes shots at Detroit for riots that happened over 20 years ago.

While the Miami fans have the right to gripe about how Saban handled the situation, it's illogical for them to be angry that he left. First, Saban is a nomad and this is a well known fact. Knowing this, the Dolphins gave him total control of football operations while failing to limit his mobility. They should be faulted even more for this, knowing that coaches regularly break contracts to pursue bigger and better jobs. I don't know the specifics of his agreement with the Dolphins, but they could have made it more difficult for him to up and leave. Second, fans are delusional to think they wouldn't have done the same. Saban is getting $32MM guaranteed in a job that guarantees at minimum 6 wins a year. He can recruit, not worry about salary caps and disgruntled players. Simply, he can micromanage to his heart's content. Putting those elements together, is there any question that when his name became linked to the job he wasn't leaving? Lastly, can you really fault him for taking a better job? Yes, it's college and not the NFL, but the money is more. If you were given an opportunity that was personally better for you, wouldn't you take it? That's the case here and that's what Saban did.

Maybe I'm not a true sports fan or maybe I'm jaded. I've seen too many players leave my favorite teams to understand sports are a business like any other industry. When Larry Brown left the Pistons, I wasn't surprised. He's Larry Brown. When Ben Wallace left for more money, I was sad. But I wasn't surprised. He's a 32 year old center signing his last NBA contract. Saban going to the Crimson Tide was simply Saban being himself. If you're surprised, you're probably the kind of guy who marries the girl who is known for cheating thinking that your marriage will actually last "till death do you part."

Top 25 (Week of November 5, 2006)

2006-11-06T09:49:00.000-05:00

1. Ohio State (10-0)
2. Michigan (10-0)
3. Louisville (8-0)
4. Texas (9-1)
5. Louisiana State (7-2)
6. Florida (9-1)
7. Auburn (9-1)
8. California (8-1)
9. Southern California (7-1)
10. West Virginia (7-1)
11. Wisconsin (9-1)
12. Tennessee (7-2)
13. Notre Dame (8-1)
14. Rutgers (7-0)
15. Georgia Tech (7-2)
16. Arkansas (8-1)
17. Boise State (9-0)
18. Oklahoma (7-2)
19. Wake Forest (8-1)
20. Oregon (7-2)
21. Boston College (7-2)
22. Virginia Tech (7-2)
23. Maryland (7-2)
24. Texas A&M (7-2)
25. Nebraska (7-3)

Games Watched: West Virginia v. Louisville, Virginia Tech v. Miami

Observations: Due to programming decisions and recovering from the MPRE, I didn't watch much football this weekend. But from what I did see, I now know why Ohio State and Michigan are well ahead of everyone else in the BCS rankings. Louisville's win isn't as impressive as the media is making it out to be - the Cards' defense gave up 34 points and essentially won because of 2 critical turnovers. Also, let's not forget that Mountaineer defense was terrible. If anything this game showed how one dimensional West Virginia is. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Rutgers shut down the Cards on Thursday night. Don't really have any thoughts from the Miami game except that I enjoy watching them lose.

Top 25 Comments: I'm lost with 5-6-7. I keep going back and forth with Florida, Auburn, and LSU. I'm putting LSU 5 because it seems the most complete team of the three. I put Florida 6 because its offense is better than Auburn's. Personally, I think 3 is too high for Louisville, but I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt - we'll learn more about them this Thursday.

Let the Trash Talk Begin

2006-11-02T19:49:00.000-05:00

I've been home since about 2; I didn't go to class because I think I'm coming down with something. I did some work, got some sleep, but now I'm antsy. And since I don't feel like studying for the MPRE or working on my term paper, I'm writing here. Hey, I was supposed to be writing and this makes me feel less guilty than just sitting on my ass.

Herbstreit Blasts Michigan and Steve Breaston: Read his comments, transcribed from an interview with a Columbus radio station, here. I'm going to start by saying that I generally regard Herbstreit one of the better analysts in college football - he's informed, funny, and very likable. Most importantly, in an era where sports personalities are paid to make ridiculous arguments in order to be provocative, Herbstreit seems to refrain from doing so...at least until this past Monday. Predictably, the majority of Michigan backers are branding Herbstreit a Buckeye home and are questioning his journalistic integrity.

Herbstreit's comments were a bit offensive. I was most offended about how he spoke about Breaston. While I agree that Michigan doesn't know how to use Breaston, I don't find him "worthless." Nevermind that there's plenty of evidence to counter this assertion (see v. PSU '05 and v. Texas in the Rose Bowl), making such a statement is unprofessional for someone in Herbstreit's position. I agree with MGoBlog that unless Breaston improves his hands, he's not going to be anything more than a slot receiver and this makes me wonder why there's such an effort to get him the ball. Yes, there is potential for a big play, but he hasn't proved he's a reliable receiver. I assume Herbstreit feels the same way, and he's entitled to say so, but he could have been more graceful in advancing his argument. Other than that, I'm mainly intrigued by his comments.

I don't think OSU will dominate this game and Herbstreit isn't giving Michigan's defense enough credit. Granted OSU's offensive line is better than any the Wolverines have faced, he cannot deny that Michigan's defense has been dominant this season. I do think that OSU will try and spread Michigan out, but I don't really worry about stopping Antonio Pittman. They played 2 teams that are known for the run and were successful against both. I do worry about them stopping a scrambling Troy Smith. The key on defense is going to be forcing Smith to Troy and, in the case he scrambles, the secondary being able to hold coverage. The line has been able to get to opposing quarterbacks and even knock them out of games, so that's a positive. For the most part, the corners have done a good job. And let's not forget that players that have played against both teams think that Michigan has the better defense.

On offense, I do agree that if Michigan plays as it has in the past two weeks, it won't win. But the lack of offense is a combination of a missing MM and inimaginative playcalling. I'm confident Mike DeBord will have a more diverse gameplan than he displayed against Iowa, NW, and presumably Ball State. What worries me, as I've mentioned before, is if the offensive will be in synch. Based on what I've seen in the last few weeks, the offense is going to need big plays because its not going to be able to consistenly drive down the field against the OSU defense. This is the main reason I wish DeBord would do more than run against inferior teams - so that the offense would be in synch and have the confidence that it can put together long drives. But as of right now, Herbstreit is right - if the offense can't get going, it won't matter on Novermber 18th.

Finally, I'm not surprised Herbstreit made those comments. I'm pretty sure they were brought on because he was talking with a Columbus radio station. And he is an OSU grad. It was probably a case of hyperbole which was brought on by a his loyalties to the Bucks. Is this right? I don't know; I really don't. Unless there is something that he said that is violation of his contract with ESPN, I don't see it being punishable or even "wrong." Although, if his comments were exaggerated for the sake of the listening audience and Herbstreit refuses to reiterate those thoughts on Game Day, I would seriously question his journalistic credibility.

Update: Herbstreit's comments when asked about them during and ESPN chat. I don't have the link to the chat, but here are the relevant exerpts courtesy MGoBlog. I read Herbstreit's explanation a couple of times and I do believe him. Take it for its worth and let's move on.

Vamos! No!

2006-10-31T14:12:00.000-05:00

A rare midweek appearance! This is the post I mentioned earlier - the one about Michigan's win over Northwestern this past Saturday.

As I watched Michigan on Saturday, I remembered a conversation with my high school Spanish teacher. She could not understand why I found football fun to watch. In her words it was nothing more than "Vamos, no. Vamos, no. Vamos, no. Comercial." She'd probably gotten this impression after watching Michigan play an overmatched opponent.

Michigan ran the ball right, ran the ball left, and ran the ball up the gut. They ran with Mike Hart, they ran with Kevin Grady, they ran with Brandon Minor, and they ran with Jerome Jackson. It wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing performance, but it resulted in a 17-3 win.

During the game, I kept one eye on the open thread at MGoBlog, whose comments Brian summarized so eloqently the yesterday. Like him, I'm very surprised that one man could polarize a fan base as much as Mike DeBord has. And like MGoBlog, I find myself somewhere in the middle.

DeBord deserves credit for his playcalling against Notre Dame and his emphasis on getting the tight ends involved in the passing game. Still, I don't understand his insistence that Michigan can only run the ball against inferior opponents. I think its a combination of arrogance and reality. Simply DeBord thinks "because we're Michigan, we can win by just running the ball against inferior opponents." The reality is that he's probably right and it leads to wins that aren't sexy or big as the fan base would like.

I have four problems with this strategy. First, it increases the risk of starters getting hurt. Second, it reduces the opportunity to devlop talent. Third, it wastes opportunities to develop the offense. Most importantly, occassionally, it results in Michigan losing a game that it shouldn't.

Injuries to Starters: Simply, because Michigan chooses to run no matter what, the risk of injury is increased. It can't be easy running into 8 and 9 man fronts down after down. And because this offense doesn't generate many points, the starters are forced to play well into the forth quarter. This has happened in the last two weeks. I don't understand why the coaches would risk injury to key players in meaningless games, especially with OSU 3 weeks away. Ideally, I would like to see Michigan jump out to a 3 or 4 touchdown lead and pull the starters in the 4th.

Talent Development: This is a result of point one. If the starters are playing until the last offensive drive of the game, the younger players don't get to play, diminishing their ability to get meaningful snaps. Getting snaps in practice is worth only so much. Getting game experience, in my opinion, is more meaningful because practices don't simulate game conditions.

Development of Strategy: Why not take the opportunity against a lesser opponent to try things out? I understand that a team doesn't want to reveal too much at the risk it will end up on film, but what's wrong in practicing routine pass plays that are the staples of a balanced offense? This is my biggest problem with continuously running the ball. I think it's possible to throw the ball and play close to the vest at the same time. Doing this would help improve the timing between the QB and receivers, it would give the line some practice pass blocking, and hopefully, it would result in points which would then allow the starters to rest in the 4th while giving the younger guys some game experience.

Losing: See Michigan v. Illinois in 1999. For those don't remember, Michigan blew a 20-7 halftime lead by using an ultra conservative offense in the second half. There are countless other examples of Michigan losing as a result of "vamos, no. vamos, no. vamos, no." Simply, running the ball 3 times and punting allows the opposition to stay within striking distance.

While I don't think Mike DeBord is the worst offensive coordinator ever, I do think his offensive philosophy is outdated. I am confident that he could mix the pass and the run while not revealing too much on film. I wish he were more aggressive in his playcalling against teams that aren't Notre Dame, Ohio State, or Bowl Opponent. It's frustrating, to me, to watch Michigan have to grind out a win, when it doesn't need to, against a team that has a lost to 1-AA New Hampshire and allowed Michigan State to come back from 35 points down.

Now, I understand the weather conditions on Saturday were less than optimal so throwing the ball was difficult. But, in general, for a change, I'd like to see a halftime update with Michigan up 24-7 and a final score of 45-17. And it's possible if Mike DeBord chose to do more than just run against these teams. I would like to see Michigan just dismantle lesser opponents like USC, OSU, or even Texas.

What scares me, right now, is whether DeBord's philosophy has negatively affected the offense. It's November and you want your team to be peaking. While the defense looks like it is, I can't say the same about the offense. Has the offense taken a step back because of the playcalling or has it had no effect at all? Will Michigan be able to turn it on when it needs to? I don't know, but we'll all find out November 18th.

Top 25 (Week of October 29, 2006)

2006-10-29T14:18:00.000-05:00

1. Ohio State (9-0)
2. Michigan (9-0)
3. West Virginia (8-0)
4. Texas (8-1)
5. Florida (8-1)
6. California (7-1)
7. Louisville (7-0)
8. Tennessee (7-1)
9. Louisiana State (6-2)
10. Auburn (8-1)
11. Southern California (6-1)
12. Wisconsin (8-1)
13. Notre Dame (8-1)
14. Georgia Tech (6-2)
15. Rutgers (8-0)
16. Boise State (8-0)
17. Arkansas (7-1)
18. Clemson (7-2)
19. Oklahoma (6-2)
20. Boston College (7-1)
21. Oregon (5-2)
22. Texas A&M (8-1)
23. Wake Forest (7-1)
24. Virginia Tech (6-2)
25. Missouri (7-2)

Games Watched: Northwestern v. Michigan, Miami (FL) v. Georgia Tech, Clemson v. Virginia Tech

Observations: Will watch Rutgers tonight...Virginia Tech did an excellent job stopping the run and showing other teams how to beat Clemson...Clemson might be more one dimensional than I thought...I don't like the fact Clemson had to play 2 tough games in a span of 5 days but don't know how much of an effect this had on Thursday night...Thought GT was going to live up it's reputation of playing to the opponent's level...Still maintain that GT would be ranked higher if they could get consistent play from Reggie Ball...Will discuss Michigan in a separate post.

Top 25 Comments: None really. USC was finally exposed (Thank God!) but from all accounts, the Trojans comeback was impressive. I'm not sure if Louisville is really the seventh best team in the country and I stuck them there because of their undefeated record. This Thursday will clear up how good Louisville really is. Oklahoma may prove me wrong. Their offense looked proficient yesterday, but I still think they'd struggle against the teams ranked above them. Didn't really know how to round out 23-25.

Comedy of Errors

2006-10-28T12:26:00.000-04:00

It ended with a strikeout. A part of me was greatful that it ended quickly. How much more could we take? Eight total errors, five by pitchers. I had trouble sleeping Thursday night. E-1. I had trouble sleeping last night. E-1. Botched throws by Fernando Rodney, Joel Zumaya, and even Justin Verlander. I still don't believe it. Weren't the Tigers supposed to dispatch the Cardinals easily?

Inexperience, not youth, finally caught up with the Tigers. You could tell they were a little more tentative, a little more careful, and simply, a little more tight. The batters didn't work the count like they did against the Yankees and A's. In the field, players committed errors they hadn't all season. The pressure finally got to them. For the first time in the postseason, the Tiger were expected to win. The first time they were favorites was in the World Series.

Only a few people had the gall to predict the Tigers would even make it this far when the season began. I thought 81-81 would be a success. Thus, no matter how you look at it, this season was successful. I think we can expect good things out of these Tigers in the future. I would expect this team to contend for at least the next 5 years. The pitchers are young and contractually comitted to Detroit. Cameron Maybin, if he performs like people expect him to, will be an anchor in centerfield allowing Curtis Granderson to move to leftfield. If the Tigers can add a couple of left handed bats, they could get back to another World Series, hopefully sooner than later.

I expect next season will be a letdown. The pitchers threw more innings than they ever had and that will be the biggest factor. And let's not forget about the White Sox and Indians. The AL Central could be a tough division to win. Coupled with the Yankees and Red Sox, someone is going to be left out. Realistically, expect the Tigers back in the Series in 2008 or 2009. A return to the Series is not certain but one thing is: Baseball is back in Detroit.

Top 25 (Week of October 22, 2006)

2006-10-22T22:18:00.000-04:00

1. Ohio State (8-0)
2. Michigan (8-0)
3. West Virginia (7-0)
4. Texas (7-1)
5. Southern California (6-0)
6. Auburn (7-1)
7. Florida (7-1)
8. California (7-1)
9. Louisville (7-0)
10. Tennessee (6-1)
11. Louisiana State (6-2)
12. Clemson (7-1)
13. Wisconsin (7-1)
14. Notre Dame (7-1)
15. Georgia Tech (5-2)
16. Rutgers (8-0)
17. Boise State (8-0)
18. Arkansas (6-1)
19. Oregon (5-2)
20. Boston College (6-1)
21. Oklahoma (5-2)
22. Texas A&M (7-1)
23. Missouri (7-1)
24. Wake Forest (6-1)
25. Nebraska (6-2)

Games Watched: Iowa at Michigan, Rutgers at Pitt, Boston College at Florida State, UCLA at Notre Dame, Alabama at Tennessee, Georgia Tech at Clemson, Texas at Nebraska

Observations: I'll start with Michigan...disappointed in their offensive playcalling in the 1st half...I understand not watching to show too much, but letting Iowa hang around until the middle of the 4th quarter is ridiculous...the defense is the best I've seen since 1997...if the offense can catch up in the next few weeks, things will be looking up going into Columbus...Manningham is very valuable to this offense but I can't tell what is really missing without him there...is there really no deep threat or is Michigan just not calling as much stuff deep because they know they can get by without it? Notre Dame is a joke and people who are Irish fans are saying the same to me. The should have 3 losses to this point...their O-Line is terrible and the only reason they won yesterday is because UCLA went soft at the end, giving me flashbacks to every Michigan loss last year...terrible coaching by UCLA's staff...I can't guage how good BC is...they looked solid in the first half against the 'Noles but let FSU come back and had to use a goofy safety to win the game...I'm not sold on them...Tennessee is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...one week, they look strong and the next they barely win...Alabama did a great job of stopping an offense that exploded against Cal and Georgia...Tide also lost because of poor coaching...Clemson did a terrific job running the ball yesterday...GT reverted back to being GT...the Yellow Jackets rely on their defense too much...yes, last week I said I thought GT was likely to win the ACC because of their defense but against good teams, their offense can't score and that's their downfall...Rutgers ran the ball effectively and Ray Rice should be a Heisman candidate...their defense surprised me...Scarlet Knights' secondary did its job...congrats to Michigan State...Colt McCoy did a great job of directing Texas' offense and making plays to win in Nebraska...I was surprised though at how close the game was...emphasised the importance of a solid kicking game.

Top 25 Comments: This week I made sure to use my original method of purely ranking based on neutral field competition and making a list from 1 to 25. I disregarded the rankings from last week for the most part (I did use them as a starting point). SC is behind the rest of the undefeated not named Rugters or Boise State because I just haven't been impressed with them this year. Their only strong win came against Nebraska who decided not to pass during that game for some reason. They barely beat Washington and ASU, both of whom are middle of the pack Pac10 teams. Louisville hasn't looked good for the last two weeks and, on a neutral field, I don't think the Cards beat any of the teams ranked ahead of them. Wisconsin gets ranked high because MGoBlog's opinion of them and because of their defense. The Badger offense has looked solid against anyone not named Michigan. Oklahoma ranked in the 20s because their offense without Adrian Peterson has looked dismal - it's gonna catch up to them, just a matter of when.

Bonus!!!
Person I Feel Terrible For This Week:
Calvin Johnson. Reggie Ball is a terrible quarterback and Lou Holtz was dead on when he said that Ball makes terrible decisions and holds on to the ball too long. I don't know if this is a result of Ball not understanding, a lack of coaching, or my guess, both. He's a senior and still makes mistakes he was making as a freshman. Last night he missed a wide open Calvin Johnson multiple times and made terrible decisions of when to hold and run versus passing. Give GT a good quarterback and they're undefeated.

Clarke's

2006-10-19T19:45:00.000-04:00

Clarke's

Cuisine: Irish and American (no, thankfully, it's not "fusion")
Location: 840 First Street, Miami Beach
Website: www.clarkesmiamibeach.com

Brilliant!: Clarke's menu is truly brilliant. It offers traditional Irish fare like Corned Beef & Cabbage, Fish & Chips, and Shepard's Pie while also serving American dishes like Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna, Sauteed Shrimp, and the King of Steaks, Filet Mignon. In addition, the menu contains unique appetizers - New York Style Pretzel, Scottish Smoked Salmon, and my personal favorite, the Irish Eggrolls. To drink, you can find Irish favorites - Guinness, Harp, MacAllen, and Laphroaig. For those who aren't feeling like a pint or a brown liquid, the bartenders will gladly pour you a glass of wine (a wide selection of Red and White) or mix you a martini.

Limburger Cheeseheads: There are no Limbuger Cheeseheads here, just sunblock, beer bottles, and a picnic in a field...Brilliant!

Eat Up Lad/Lass: The food lived up to the descriptions on the menu. Practically being Irish, the Editor decided on the Shepard's Pie and I decided to sample the Clarke's Hamburger. To start, we got a New York Pretzel and the Irish Eggrolls. To drink, we kept with the authenticity and each got a pint of Magner's.

Irish Eggrolls: Definitely the most unique item on the menu. It's two eggrolls stuffed with corned beef, cabbage, and mashed potatoes with mayo-dijon mustard dipping sauce (ok, so maybe there some fusion on the menu). It was definitely the best thing I ate at Clarke's that night. The Editor says that I should be done with this review by now and "stop making those stupid football lists." As far as the eggrolls, they were perfect because they take the best Irish foods and put them together in a little, easibly eatable package.

New York Pretzel: A New York Pretzel with spicy brown mustard. Thought I was at a Yankees game. "The New York Street Pretzel would only have been better if a street vendor handed it to me." - The Editor.

Shepard's Pie: Delicious but overwhelming for one person, according to the Editor. I saw her plate when it came out and it was huge. I don't think both of us could have finished it together.

Clarke's Hamburger: Really good. Perfectly cooked (medium) with tons of bleu cheese (if you don't like bleu, you can choose from American, Cheddar, or Swiss). I also passed on the bacon and mushrooms that are available. I ate about half of it and had to take the rest home. The burger also comes with a side of fries which are not to salty, so in my mind, just right.

Any Use?: My experience at Clarke's was perfect. The Editor and I arrived at 8 and were seated immediately (if you're going on a Friday or Saturday, I recommend reservations). Our server was a lass with an Irish accent which made the whole experience even more enjoyable. She was very friendly and took really good care of us. She made sure we had enough to eat and drink and even fixed our table when it started to wobble a wee bit.

The atmosphere is what you'd expect from a pub - boisterous with people enjoy food, drink, and each other. In addition, the low lighting added to the ambiance which is purely authentic. Last night we took our friends there, past midnight, and although it was quiet, it was perfect for grabbing a few pints and just hanging out. The bartender was friendly, making sure we had enough to drink, and even joking with us during our time there. And Rattle and Hum only added to the ambiance.

Simply put, for dinner, for drinks, or for both, Clarke's does it right. While there are other Irish pubs on the Beach, if you're looking for somewhere traditional rather than somewhere that turns into a typical SoBe spot at night, Clarke's is the place to be.

Top 25 Poll (Week of October 15)

2006-10-15T16:23:00.000-04:00

1. Ohio State (7-0)
2. Michigan (7-0)
3. West Virginia (6-0)
4. Southern California (7-0)
5. Texas (6-1)
6. Louisville (6-0)
7. Auburn (6-1)
8. Georgia Tech (5-1)
9. Florida (6-1)
10. Tennessee (5-1)
11. California (6-1)
12. Notre Dame (5-1)
13. Clemson (6-1)
14. Louisiana State (5-2)
15. Oregon (5-1)
16. Boise State (6-0)
17. Arkansas (5-1)
18. Rutgers (6-0)
19. Oklahoma (4-2)
20. Boston College (5-1)
21. Wisconsin (6-1)
22. Texas A&M (6-1)
23. Missouri (6-1)
24. Iowa (5-2)
25. Wake Forest (6-1)

Games Watched Whole: Michigan at Penn State
Games Watched Partial: Ohio State at Michigan State, Florida at Auburn, Virginia Tech at Boston College

Observations: Didn't watch that much football Saturday because of the Tigers (whoo hoo!). Surprised with how VT has fallen...BC's O-Line dominated the VT D-Line...VT and Georgia have the same problem - bad QBs...with every week that passes, I feel more confident GT will play in the ACC Championship Game...John L. Smith has lost this team and it was sad to see so much scarlet and grey in East Lansing...don't think the Spartans will make a bowl game...Auburn's defense looked awesome against Florida, but I don't know what to make of the Tigers - they didn't score an offensive TD against the Gators...the SEC is up for grabs because every team seems to have a weakness, in which case, I'll pick Auburn because of their defense...Michigan played really well last night on defense...its exciting to see a Michigan D that gets to the ball quickly and hits hard...Carr made the right move making Ron English the D coordinator...unfortunately, the secondary is inconsistent...can't commit dumb penalities on 3rd and long...can't allow the offense to convert on 3rd and long...the secondary has to play better, especially when the opposition rolls the pocket trying to buy their QB time to throw...

Top 25 Poll Comments: I'm writing this after the BCS rankings came out and there's no way USC should be #2 - they haven't looked good all year and they're benefiting from their preseason ranking...Michigan should be #2 across the board...1-12 was pretty easy for me to put together, but the rest was a crapshoot. I've done this poll 3 times this season and I realize two things now: 1) it's difficult to keep in mind a team's past results and 2) unless I watch a team, there's a part of me that wants to rank a team based on history. Regarding my first point - I don't really know how to reconcile the mix of Cal, Tennessee, Auburn, Florida, LSU. In the last 2 weeks, I've been more impressed with Cal than Tennessee, but is it okay to rank Cal above Tennessee seeing that Tennessee drubbed Cal early on? Same goes for Auburn, Florida, LSU, etc. To my second point, I had trouble filling in the bottom of the poll and I was hesitant to put in Wake because I didn't watch them this weekend and thought "It's Wake." Bottom line, determining the Top 25 is harder than it looks. Oh, one more thing, just a dominant win for the State University of New Jersey!

The Value of Leadership

2006-10-12T18:22:00.000-04:00

I had lofty ambitions for this week. I wanted to post multiple times, on a variety of topics including the Detroit Tigers, Michigan's win over MSU, and the Yankees. Unfortunately, between school and work, I had no energy to write anything insightful, and hard as I tried, I could only produce garbage. Thus, I didn't post anything. After a relaxing Wednesday night, I'm ready to post again, being confident that my post won't read like a caveman had written it.

Managerial Value: After the Marlins fired Joe Girardi last week, local sports radio debated the worth of a manager. Notably, Dan LeBatard of the Miami Herald and ESPN, opined that a manager is worth as much as a bag of baseballs - the players are fully responsible for wins and losses. Polishing that gem, LeBatard asserted, at most, because of strategic decision, a manager might be worth 5 wins. Thus, the Marlins firing Girardi, a 1st year manager, who took a $ 14.3 MM payroll team that started 11-31 to a final record of 78-84 was nothing to worry about. In fact, the Marlins seriously contending for the Wild Card until the last week of the season. I completely disagree with LeBatard, who typically takes ridiculous positions for the sake of taking them while writing columns that are superficial and lacking thought.

Managers might not win games for their teams because of strategic decisions. Yes, ultimately, the players have to make plays - a hit and run is no good when the batter can't hit the ball. BUT managers can do other things that can't be tracked statistically. What made Girardi a great manager was that he got a team of young players to play hard everyday. He was able to enstill confidence in a team that started off 11-31. That's what made Girardi so valuable to the Marlins.

You want more evidence that a manager is very valuable to a team? The Detroit Tigers. They are up 2-0 in the ALCS. They weren't even supposed to make the playoffs. This is a team that lost 119 games 3 seasons ago. What struck me about the Tigers, this year, is that they believed they had a chance to win every game they played this year...and that's because of Jim Leyland. He's done a great job of teaching kids how to be professionals and its showed. Early on in the season, Leyland blew up because the Tigers had loafed in an afternoon game before leaving for a West Coast trip. Leyland wasn't mad because they Tigers lost; he was mad because their of their lack of effort. After that game, the Tigers went 52-23 into the All Star Break. When the Tigers were stumbling to the end of the regular season, risking missing the playoffs, Leyland kept the team calm and guided them into a first round matchup with the Yankees. Against the Yankees, Leyland and his coaches handled the Tigers' pitching staff better than any Tigers manager I've seen since Sparky Anderson retired. In Game 2 of the series, Leyland made multiple trips to the mound in order to get Justin Verlander to calm down. He did the same in Game 1 of the ALCS with Nate Robertson.

The things that are happening under Jim Leyland didn't happen under Trammell or the other terrible managers the Tigers employed before him. It's no coincidence that the Tigers turnaround corresponds with Leyland's tenure and Detroit fans couldn't be happier. And LeBatard, he should stick to idiotic conversations with washed up wrestlers - it doesn't require you to use your brain, something to which you seem to have an aversion.

Top 25 (Week of October 8)

2006-10-08T21:36:00.000-04:00

1. Ohio State (6-0)
2. Florida (6-0)
3. Michigan (6-0)
4. West Virginia (5-0)
5. Southern California (5-0)
6. Texas (5-1)
7. Louisville (5-0)
8. Auburn (5-1)
9. Georgia Tech (5-1)
10. Tennessee (5-1)
11. California (5-1)
12. Notre Dame (5-1)
13. Clemson (5-1)
14. Iowa (5-1)
15. Louisiana State (4-2)
16. Boise State (6-0)
17. Oregon (4-1)
18. Georgia (5-1)
19. Arkansas (4-1)
20. Oklahoma (3-2)
21. Missouri (6-0)
22. Nebraska (5-1)
23. Rutgers (5-0)
24. Virginia Tech (4-1)
25. Wisconsin (5-1)

Games Watched (Whole): Michigan State at Michigan
Games Watched (Partial): Louisiana State at Florida, Florida State at NC State, Tennessee at Georgia, Clemson at Wake Forest, Oregon at California

Observations: Didn't watch as much football this weekend because of other committments and Tiger baseball. Really surprised by how easily Florida won...LSU committed to many turnovers, especially at critical times...Tigers were in it with about 5 minutes to go in the 4th...Tim Tebow was great again this week and Urban Meyer's offense is going to be scary next year with Tebow under center...Still think Florida falls to Auburn...Florida State's offense is terrible and Bobby Bowden is more guilty of nepotism - how else does his son still have a job...Bowden seems to be facing the same criticism that Lloyd Carr did last year - overly loyal...FSU is going to have a lot of trouble getting to the ACC Championship Game...in general, the ACC is terrible this year...Thought Georgia had the game won in the first half...after being stout defensively through their first 5 games, Georgia gave up 51 last night...not sure if it was Georgia's defense or Tennessee's offense...maybe Georgia had all of us duped because of success against weak opponents to start the season...Wake's collapse was unfortunate...Clemson's return for a TD changed the entire game...not sure what to make of Clemson...Oregon's pass defense is going to cost them another game this year if it plays like it did last night...Michigan's win reminded me of their win against Minnesota...nothing exciting, doing the minimum to get it done...hope they are up for PSU...that game is worrisome...they need play with the emotion and attitude they displayed against ND.

Top 25 Poll Comments: I had no questions about 1-7. USC is ranked 5 only because they are undefeated. I didn't know that USC employed Spartan Bob and they are not getting through the Pac-10 without a loss. They're too banged up and they needed help "from above" to win yesterday. I really think GT is the 9th best team in the country and its because of their defense. Although Auburn got undressed yesterday, they're 8 more because I don't believe that the teams ranked lower are good enough to deserve higher rankings. I didn't know what to do with Mizzou or Boise State. Oklahoma is hanging on and the lack of pass offense is going to kill them. I'm not going to justify every spot but in general, I ranked the teams based on who would win on a neutral field and I just don't believe there is much difference between the teams ranked from 10-20. I guess I believe in parity. On a personal note, The VP (The Editor's father) joked with me (at least I think he was joking) that Rutgers should be true because of a messy version of the transitive property (Rutgers killed Illinois who beat MSU who lost in a boring game to Michigan). When I told him that he can't rely on the transitive property, he laughed. New post coming soon.

The Truth Hurts

2006-10-07T16:42:00.000-04:00

No one really thought it would happen. Really, no one thought it would happen. Not the pundits, not the fans, and, most imporantly, management didn't think it'd happen. Why else would they have traded away Darko? But it did happen. Ben Wallace, arguably the man who turned the Pistons into winners, was leaving. No less, he was leaving for the rivals to the West, the Chicago Bulls. To boot, it was the same day Steve Yzerman, the Captain, decided to retire.

Wallace leaving was a loss, but not huge, in my mind. He's going to be 33 at the beginning of the season. He's played over an extra season of basketball in the last 4 years. His RPG and PPG have slowly decreased over the last few seasons. He regularly plays against players who are both heavier and taller. Offensively, Wallace became a liability. Wallace missed 16 of 24 free throws during the Miami series. Most of all, Chicago was offering 60 million, which, everyone agreed, was a classic case of overpaying.

In the days after Wallace signed with the Bulls, people speculated whether there was more to his defection than just the dollars and cents. One story had Wallace leaving, in part, because of a rift with management that resulted from the Pistons not allowing Wallace's brother to attend home games because of his role in the Malice at the Palace. Another, more accurately, cited Wallace's belief that Flip Saunders overly focused on offense, rather than defense. A third stated the Pistons felt that, given the money and the league's emphasis on offense, it made sense to let Wallace go. Still, many of these articles were full of speculation because Wallace refused to really address the reason for his departure.

On Thursday, ESPN.com posted an article, written by Chris Sheridan, in which Wallace finally cleared the air. I read it and was disappointed. I and many other Piston fans loved Wallace because of his attitude - he showed up to play everyday, didn't complain, and put the team ahead of himself. What I got from this article was that Wallace was more selfish that I had originally thought and more sensitive too. Wallace claimed Saunders ignored Wallace's pleas to focus on defense. He was upset that Saunders sat him for the final quarter in Game 6 of the Miami series. He took it personally that Saunders stated that, with Nazr Mohammed, the Pistons would be better on offense.

What Wallace seems to forget is that he was a liability on offense. When asked about Wallace's comments, Saunders pointed out that in the quarter Wallace sat, the Pistons scored the most points of any quarter in their series with Miami. Also, Saunders is right, he is going to be able to run more plays in the post with Mohammed. But Saunders also said Mohammed wouldn't be able to rebound or block shots as well as Wallace did. And if Wallace was unhappy that the Pistons were getting away from lock down defense, he should watch tape of the NBA Playoffs, especially of Dwyane Wade. In fact, he could even read Rasheed Wallace's comments in the Detroit News. Simply, the NBA is promoting offense and flow while getting away from the lockdown defense that helped the Spurs and Pistons win championships. And in this new league, Wallace isn't worth 60 Million.

Yet, the funniest comment that Wallace made was in response to Hollinger's question asking Wallace who Wallace's favorite coaches were. Wallace's response: Rick Carlisle and Larry Brown, amongst others. It was well known in Detroit that Wallace didn't get along with either Carlisle or Brown. Basically, his relationship with those coaches was the same as his relationship with Saunders. In fact, Wallace had major issues with Carlisle because Carlisle wouldn't get Wallace involved in the offense. When told Wallace had made these comments, both Chauncey Billips and Lindsay Hunter both rolled their eyes.

It's sad that Wallace is now sniping at the team that gave him the means to become a superstar and NBA champion. Without his teammates, I firmly believe Wallace wouldn't have won 4 Defensive Player of the Year awards - the Pistons' system allowed him to be a great weakside defender while also freelancing. I thought I'd always remember Wallace for what he did for the Pistons - he made them into winners and helped bring a title to Detroit. Unfortunately, in light of this article, I'll also remember him as a selfish player who put more of an emphasis on himself than was deserved.

Week 6 Top 25

2006-10-02T09:37:00.000-04:00

1. Ohio State (5-0)
2. Auburn (5-0)
3. West Virginia (5-0)
4. Florida (5-0)
5. Michigan (5-0)
6. Southern California (5-0)
7. Louisiana State (4-1)
8. Texas (4-1)
9. Louisville (4-0)
10. Oregon (4-0)
11. Georgia Tech (4-1)
12. Notre Dame (4-1)
13. Oklahoma (3-1)
14. Georgia (5-0)
15. Clemson (4-1)
16. Tennessee (4-1)
17. California (4-1)
18. Iowa (4-1)
19. Florida State (4-1)
20. Boise State (5-0)
21. Nebraska (4-1)
22. Virginia Tech (4-1)
23. Rutgers (5-0)
24. Missouri (5-0)
25. Boston College (4-1)

Games Watched (Whole): Michigan at Minnesota
Games Watched (Partial): Illinois at Michigan State, Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech, Houston at Miami, Ohio State at Iowa, Alabama at Florida, Purdue at Notre Dame, Rutgers at South Florida, Auburn at South Carolina

Observations: Not surprised Michigan State lost, the annual swoon begins...I'm dedicating an entire post to this. Looking back, I don't know how Georgia Tech lost to Notre Dame...I think if they played now, GT would win...Jon Tenuta is one of the best D coordinators in the country - they arguably have lesser talent than their opposition in the ACC but manage to overcome this problem. Anyone who thought the ACC Coastal winner would be either Miami or VT is bummin...VT's offensive line is suspect and having a young QB doesn't bode well from them having to play Miami on the road. Speaking of Miami, they are not winning their division...they looked horrible against Houston, they have no game breakers, and seem like they are dragging through the season...Purdue's offense reconfirmed what we've know for a few weeks now - that ND's defense isn't very good...unless ND can improve, I'll have to agree with Desmond Howard who said that ND would be upset before its game with USC. Even though I have Florida 4, I don't know how much I believe in them...they looked sluggish and lost until the second half...they had an excellent fourth quarter but they can't play like that in their upcoming 3 game stretch against LSU, Georgia, and Auburn...including Alabama, that's 4 ranked teams in a row with 3 of them being in the Top Ten...Tim Tebow is going to be really, really good. Ohio State is definitely #1 but I wouldn't go as far as Stewart Mandel. Personally, its good to see Rutgers in the Top 25...interested to see how they do against Pitt...struggled on defense against USF which is surprising given that Schiano has a defensive background. Had Auburn #1 before this week...don't know what to make of this win...Cocks playcalling was too predictable at the end...Auburn's defense looked strong and its their biggest asset.

Top 25 Poll Comments: Originally had Auburn #1 but after OSU manhanled Iowa, they're #1 now. Not impressed with USC...too many injuries and I don't think they are that good...didn't know what to do after 12...going with the logic I use, I really do think GT is 11...Tennessee is ahead of Cal because of week 1...have no idea about Boise State...After 10, to me, its a crapshoot.

Week 4 Top 25

2006-09-17T16:13:00.000-04:00

1. Auburn (3-0)
2. Ohio State (3-0)
3. Southern California (3-0)
4. West Virginia (3-0)
5. Florida (3-0)
6. Michigan (3-0)
7. Texas (2-1)
8. Louisiana State (2-1)
9. Notre Dame (2-1)
10. Louisville (3-0)
11. Georgia (3-0)
12. Virginia Tech (3-0)
13. Tennessee (2-1)
14. Oregon (3-0)
15. Iowa (3-0)
16. Florida State (2-1)
17. California (2-1)
18. Oklahoma (2-1)
19. Clemson (2-1)
20. Texas Christian (3-0)
21. Nebraska (2-1)
22. Arizona State (3-0)
23. Penn State (2-1)
24. Rutgers (3-0)
25. Boston College (3-0)

Games Watched: Notre Dame v. Michigan, Louisville v. Miami (20 stats max), Auburn v. LSU (15 snaps max including last 3 plays), Florida v. Tennessee (quarter and half max), TCU v. Texas Tech (quarter max), FSU v. Clemson (quarter max), WVU v. Maryland (on and off while eating dinner), USC v. Nebraska (one half max)

Logic: I like MGoBlog's idea of ranking teams based on who would win on a neutral field. If I understand correctly, this is similar to Bill Simmons' NBA Player Value logic (a team with player X would trade him for any of the players listed higher than player X...for example, a team with the tenth best player would trade him for any of the players ranked 1-9). Here, the number 1 team in the country would beat 2-25 on a neutral field, 2 would beat 3-25, so forth and so on.

Problems: After the top 6, things got difficult for me. I based my rankings using the logic above and for the teams I didn't watch, I looked primarily at 3 factors: opponent, score, and past results (including 1st hand observations if applicable).

At 7-9, I slotted Texas, Notre Dame, and LSU. I moved Texas from 8 to 7 because of it's win, coupled with LSU's loss. Using the neutral field logic, I placed both ahead of Notre Dame.

My other problem spot was the 13-16 block, particularly what to do with Tennessee. The Vols were missing 3 key players and only lost by 1 at home to Florida. I knew Oregon would move up, partly because higher ranked teams losing. Oregon checks in at 14 because I don’t know what to make of Iowa. They barely beat Syracuse without Drew Tate but it appears they are getting better week to week like Iowa teams normally do. Florida State is at 16 because of their defense.

I did my best with the rest. Comments welcome.

Just Like Old Times

2006-09-17T16:04:00.000-04:00

I got a call right after Michigan beat CMU. “It’s Notre Dame week.” The words, which would have excited me in the past, did not. What did it matter? The game was in South Bend and Michigan Lloyd Carr was 3-4 against the Irish and 0-2 in the last 2 years. 0-6 in road openers since 1999. 1998 was the last time the Wolverines exited September with a perfect record in tact. My expectations were low and I planned to keep them that way. hadn’t won there since 1994.

I’d keep them low by avoiding reading the newspapers and watching college football news on ESPN. But I couldn’t. See, my head told me that Michigan could win this game. Notre Dame hadn’t looked deserving of their number 2 ranking in the first two weeks. But what about the Leprechauns? They always seem to come out against Michigan. A tipped pass here, a missed call there. Hadn’t it been the story every time Michigan went to South Bend?

Then I made a mistake. I read MGoBlog. I wasn’t the only one who thought Brady Quinn didn’t look like a Heisman winner. I wasn’t the only one who thought Notre Dame’s run defense was average, at best. By Friday I was confident Michigan could win. Nonetheless, I tried to keep my expectations low.

As I left for my friends’ house, I felt calm. I felt like this year was going to be different. Michigan was due. They had new coordinators. The defense was quick and aggressive like it used to be. The waggle was back. The zone blocking was opening up holes for Mike Hart to exploit. Even though Michigan And if Jamar Adams wasn’t afraid of ghosts, I wasn’t going to be either. hadn’t thrown vertically in the first two games, I wanted to believe it was because they were holding back for the Irish.

And then Michigan took care of business. It started with a Prescott Burgess interception return for a TD. It ended with a LaMarr Woodley running back a fumble for a TD. In between it was a mix of Mike Hart running, Mario Manningham catching Chad Henne thrown bombs, the defense bottling up Darius Walker and popping Brady Quinn in the mouth.

What does this mean for the future? I don't know. I don't know if Michigan is back or if they will beat Ohio State. I do know that yesterday reminded me of Michigan football as I had known it. And Michigan football as I had known it was pretty damn good.

Mr. Chu's Hong Kong Cuisine

2006-08-29T18:07:00.000-04:00

One of the more redeeming qualities of Miami is the annual Miami Spice Festival, a time where a penniless law student can impress a member of the opposite sex, or the same sex, with a lunch or dinner at one of the finer dining establishments in Miami. Participating restaurants offer lunch and dinner tasting menus that include appetizers, a main course, and desert for $20.06 and $30.06, respectively. Over the past two years, I've had the luck of being able to dine at places, like The Red Fish Grill and Ortanique, places that would normally add another year to my loan repayment schedule.

This past weekend, the Editor and I, who now co-habitate on Miami Beach, decided to try Mr. Chu's Hong Kong Cuisine. As an service to my 1 reader, What the Deuce is going to now offer restaurant reviews. I haven't decided on some gimmicky scale, but I'm sure I'll come up with one by the end of this post.

Mr. Chu's Hong Kong Cuisine

Cuisine Type: Chinese, if you couldn't tell.
Location: 890 Washington Ave., Miami Beach
Website: www.mrchu.net

Me Love You Long Time: Although Mr. Chu's menu offers almost anything you like, I wasn't able to find the Asian Beaver. The menu is physically daunting as its presented in a book that could double as a weapon because of its weight. Even though I didn't approach the seafood (I prefer to eat land dwelling creatures) I was impressed by the offerings including flounder, abalone, and even the Shark Fin Soup for those looking to jolt their libido. The selection of fowl, pork, and vegetarian dishes is extensive, so there is something for everyone to order. Oh yeah, they have a summer menu that has Chinese classics like Kung Pao Chicken and Mongolian Beef.

Two Cent Whore: The service was terrible.

Trying the Goods: The food was excellent. Miami isn't the ethnic outpost it claims to be - it may have people from all over Latin America, but that's the extent of it...so the food selection here mirrors that. Getting good Chinese food made me happy.

The Editor and I decided to forego the Miami Spice menu because of Mr. Chu's vast selection of dishes and we figured that we'd still come out ahead in the end. To be fair, the Miami Spice menu offers some of the more expensive dishes on the menu, so if you're looking for a deal, its not a bad way to go. After much deliberation, we decided to go with spring rolls, hot & sour soup, the chicken in black bean sauce, and Singapore Rice Noodles. To drink, she had Tiger Beer and I sipped on a Tsingtao.
Spring Rolls: Crispy, filled with veggies, and not oily. Great from Miami, but average for New York.
Hot & Sour Soup: I like my food spicy and the soup was satisfying. Thicker than most hot & sour's I've had, but excellent. Lots of egg and pork. Not enough mushrooms. So filling, it could be a meal by itself.
Chicken in Black Bean Sauce: "Delicious. Chicken was perfectly cooked. Did not enjoy unexpectedly munching on enormous chunks of ginger," says the Editor. I enjoyed the spice and black beans, although there could have been more actual beans.
Singapore Rice Noodles: For those who have had Bangkok Street Noodles, this dish is pretty much the same thing. Cooked perfectly. Editor says, "Um...yummy and I got to eat all the shrimp." I haven't had something like this since eating at the Chicago Penang a couple of years ago. I was surprised to see it on the menu, had to order it, and glad I did. Can't wait to heat up the leftovers!

So, was it good for you?:

The Editor and I had reservations for 8:30 and arrived on time only to wait for the hostess to even notice us standing for about 5 minutes, and no, the place was not that busy. An omininous foreshadowing, to say the least. We waited at least another 10 minutes to order and only did when one of the few competent servers approached us asking if we had even seen the menus as she noticed that we didn't have any (another woman had come by and taken the menus from us in hopes of clearing some room on our table).

As we waited for our appetizers, we overheard the couple next to us complaining about how they had waited for 25 minutes for their food; later, the couple on our other side complained that the servers hadn't brought out all of the entrees together as requested.

The spring roll and soup came out relatively quickly, but we waited quite some time for our the chicken and noodles. While we were eating, the server never came to check on us. After we were done eating, we promptly received dessert menus but it was at least another ten minutes before anyone came back to us...and the guy who did wasn't even our server. At this point, we were both ready to leave but it took me grabbing a hostess to even get our check. On top of that, an 18% gratuity was already tacked on!

I'm assuming Mr.Chu's hasn't been open long and management has some kinks to work out, but according to The Editor who has experience in the food service industry, the problem was an understaffed kitchen. If her assessment is true, its completely unacceptable to not schedule enough chefs on a Saturday night. The servers looked lost, like they didn't know which tables they were assigned to...basically, everyone looked overwhelmed.

Mr. Chu's is like a hot girl who's good in bed...and she knows it, so she makes you wait such a long time, you're not sure if its worth it. With Mr.Chu's, its not, so just order in and avoid dealing with an overwhelmed staff.

Bo Knows ND

2006-08-09T21:27:00.000-04:00

ESPN has an ad campaign for Monday Night Football that accurately describes what I'm feeling right now. Instead of every Monday is one Monday closer to Monday Night Football, its every Saturday is one Saturday closer to College Football. With that being said, I"m coming across more MSM stories on the beginning of the season.

The Great Wide Open: SI's Stewart Mandel creates an artificial list of 16 teams that could contend for the National Championship. Added bonus: Each of the 16 teams has its own page of Mandel-ian analysis. My favorite has to be the "Good Omen," a wacky stat that gives hope to a team's fans. Iowa's has to be the best:

"Ferentz's contract pays him $2.7 million annually, trailing only Charlie Weis and Pete Carroll, who between them have won 5 titles (national championships or Super Bowls)"

I understand the gimick, but come up with something better than comparing Ferentz's salary to a guy who's only coached 1 year of college football and Uncle Pete.

Mandel's analysis of Michigan doesn't provide any new analysis as he makes broad generalizations that have become his hallmark. Although, his concerns are the same ones that most Michigan fans have - OLine, Blown Leads, etc. Basically, its a gimicky article meant to get readers excited about the upcoming season while giving some fans hope while angering others.

Bo Talks to Media at Lions Camp: Bo graced the media with his presence yesterday after a Lions's pre season practice. He had some interesting things to say. While I don't agree with a lot he has to say or the fact he still looms over the program like Terrance did over Endeavor during his extended leave of absense, I do agree on his view regarding the Notre Dame series:

"We don't need Notre Dame. They need us more than we need them."

Earlier this year, my friend told me that Lloyd said he'd like to see the series with Notre Dame to come to an end because it posed an stiff non conference test and that in order to contend for the National Championship, Michigan needed to play an easier non conference schedule (this logic is based off Lloyd's assumption that going undefeated in the Big Ten surely would assure a berth in the Championship Game).

I don't know Bo's motivation for making this comment, but I do recall him saying something about Notre Dame's refusal to join the Big Ten. Economically, the question is whether ND receives a financial benefit from playing Michigan, MSU, PSU, Purdue, and occassionally Ohio State. Arguably, yes. Assuming the value of ND's television contract is based on ratings, the Irish stand to gain more by playing teams that will draw a national audience. In all likelihood, playing a schedule against the service academies, BYU, BC, and some other filler school would not draw similar ratings, thus eroding NBC's incentive to have an exclusive television deal with Notre Dame.

On the other hand, there is a good possibility that the Irish could replace its Big Ten opponents with other quality opponents from the other power conferences, thus making Bo's argument moot. Still, it would be interesting to see what the Irish would do if every school in the Big Ten refused to play them. In reality, it seems that the Irish need the Big Ten and vice versa as a victory over a renewed Irish would help in the National Championship quest.

Buckeyes' are Ballsy: I received an email from a friend last night highlighting the Buckeyes' non conference schedule for the next few years:

2006: Texas (back end of a home and home)
2007: Washington (played the dowtrodden Huskies in 2005; hopefully UW will be on the rise in '07)
2008-2009: USC (home and home)
2010-2011: Miami (FL) (home and home)
2013-2014: Cal (home and home)
2015-2016: Oklahoma (home and home)

That's balls. As much as I loathe OSU, I have to give them credit for scheduling games against "elite" programs. I would love to see this from Michigan, but as long as Lloyd Carr is coach and believes going undefeated in the Big Ten with a mediocre non conference schedule is the formula getting to the championship game, I'm not holding my breath. Another reason we shouldn't expect this is Lloyd's attitude towards winning and losing. I can't recall if he's always been like this or if this is something more recent, but its disappointing. There isn't any reason that Michigan teams cannot get out of September undefeated, winning their opening road game, something that hasn't happened since I was enrolled at Michigan. I firmly believe with preparation and the right mind set, Michigan could have a schedule that mimics OSU's and still succeed, contending for the National Championship.

For selfish reasons, mainly boredom, I'd like to see the Irish off the schedule. Assuming nothing changes, it would be too difficult, given Lloyd's attitude, to have ND and another "elite" program on the schedule and go 2-0. In reality, most years, 1-1 would be successful. Under the right coach, 2-0 could be a strong possibility but that is just speculation. Assuming the coaches and athletic department didn't want two "tough" games in the same year, I would rather see Michigan take on more home and homes with teams like Georgia, Texas, and SC. This would increase fan interest while also keeping the tradition of having 1 "elite" non conference game and 3 manageable/easy ones. I'm just really surprised that Bill Martin, a successful business man, hasn't lobbied more for big named opponents instead of debating whether to play that football powerhouse, Maine. Maybe he has but hasn't done anything because he's received resistance from Carr...who knows. But from a fan's standpoint, I'd love to see some new matchups instead of Eastern, Western, and ND. Maybe someday.

Other News: Clarrett arrested again. Its gone past the point of being funny to where someone needs to keep an eye on him at all times. Its only a matter of time before he's dead or on trial for killing someone (this isn't implausible - the only person I know who wears a bullet proof vest as a fashion statement is 50-Cent...and Clarrett reportedly had an assortment of weapons including a hachet). Starting TE Frost suspended for the year for violation of team rules. Southern Cal's Dwayne Jarrett ruled eligible.

Hooray College Football, Boo Lloyd Carr

2006-08-07T18:24:00.000-04:00

Its hot. ESPN is showing a daily graphic summarizing the AL and NL Wild Card races. NCAA 07 came out a few weeks ago. All this can only mean the start of the College Football Season.

Lloyd Carr, Unfairly Criticized Coach

Gene Wojciechowski stereotypes all Michigan bloggers as disgruntled, disrespectful, and hungry...for Lloyd Carr's head. MGoBlog's opinion here and MZone's here. I initally felt some sympathy for Carr...but then I realized that Carr has put himself in this situation and he has no one to blame but himself.

Some of Carr's comments in the article provide further evidence into my tepid backing of Carr:

"I'm going to do what I want to do. The hell with anybody else, what they think."

If Carr really believes this is the best way to run a football team, I am deeply concerned. Carr's parochial view of college football has been a predominant factor in why Michigan is in the position it is currently. His unwavering loyalty to assistant who were cleary overmatched is what led to 7-5 last year. His reluctance to be agressive has cost Michigan more victories than I can count on one hand.

The individuals who are at the top of their respective fields are those who adapt. Hell, even JoPa realized that it might be beneficial to start freshman. In industry, once giants Ford and GM have been surpassed by foreign automakers because of their reluctance to change.

I'm excited about this upcoming season because some changes have been made. What remains to be seen is if those changes will be implemented or just put to the wayside as Carr decides to punt on fourth and short once again.

State of the Union

Mr. Maisel opines on the state of college football as fall practices begin across the country. In a gimicky article, Maisel annoints Michigan the Silver State - for its inability to conquer Ohio State, Notre Dame, or any opponent in a bowl game. Maisel declares Michigan the girl who can't seem to find a finacee - always a bridesmaid, never the bride. Guilty as charged.

Spare Change?

2006-07-26T23:14:00.000-04:00

Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery. Bill Martin did that a few days ago. Its not a revelation that the program's facilities are below average - its been a topic of debate/concern for at least the last decade, if not longer. The problem is that justifying spending money on the basketball program has been like justifying going to class on a Friday.

Although there are donors for the football team's practice facility, no one has come to the forefront to help M Hoops. And there is no reason for them to. Its not necessary to rehash this past year or the year before, but its no mystery that most people aren't going to dump money into a losing investment, and Michigan basketball is just that.

The only way I could see anyone ponying up big bucks right now is if that person or those persons wanted to be forever known as the ones who helped return M Basketball to prominence because of the shiny new facilities. This, I think, is a stretch. Its one thing to convince an 18 year old kid to come to your school and help turn around the program. But its a whole 'nother thing convincing some millionaire to donate a sizable amount of money for something that may not yield dividends in the next 5 years.

What's the worst part about all of this? We are soon approaching, if we aren't already in a situation where the M Hoops program is faced with a circular problem. No donations = no facilities = no high level talent = no wins = no donations. Someone has to break the cycle and its Tommy Amaker.

Wins bring in fans and fans bring in money. That's a given. Now assume, for a moment, because of where the program is that for all intensive purposes, its a tier 2 program (tier 1 being UConn, Duke, Gonzaga, and even MSU). Tier 2 programs can get to the 2nd or 3rd round of the tournament consistently - Mark Few did it with Gonzaga and mid majors do this all the time. Yes, generally the mid majors that are able to consistently get to the 2nd or 3rd round play in lesser conferences in the Big Ten, but the average team in a power conference should be able to do the same. If Amaker can do this, something he hasn't done since being hired, the money will follow. Its Amaker's duty to bring in players that fit his system. Its his job to squeeze every win out of them possible. If he can do that, the money will come.

Unfortunately, given his track record, I don't think Amaker is the right guy for this program and hopefully Bill Martin will realize that soon enough. Amaker's record in Ann Arbor and his lost recruits are enough evidence that he isn't getting the job done. Until he can consistently get into the NCAAs, the program is going to be stuck in its current position.

More Like Blue Hot or Even Red

2006-06-12T18:22:00.000-04:00

At the end of The Perfect Storm, facing certain death, Bobby, tries to convince Capt. Tyne to swim out of the fishing boat in hopes of surviving. Initially, it seems that Tyne agrees but when Bobby presumably takes his last breath in hopes and goes underwater, Tyne stays in the sinking vessel. The Captain always goes down with the ship. It’s the honorable and loyal thing to do.

Although the Heat players will play to the end, I’m not so sure about their fans. If the Heat is the Titanic, the fans are Leo and Kate, and that’s being generous. At least Kate went back for Leo. By now, Heat fans are denouncing their team as fast as Republicans denounce gay marriage.

This is drastically different than 10 days ago when after dispatching the Pistons, people were brimming with confidence saying the Heat would take out the Mavs. But why should anyone be surprised? I’ve attended 3 Pistons-Heat games down here in the last year and a half and my experience is a microcosm of the attitude here. During the course of the two and half hours it takes for an NBA contest to unfold, I was heckled when the Heat were up (it didn’t matter the score was 18-12), left alone when they were losing or when the Pistons made a run. If the Heat were losing with a couple minutes to go, the fans were heading home. If they were up with a couple minutes to go, they were heading home. I can’t really blame them…the traffic down here is intolerable.

My point is this: The hoops scene here is like any other scene down here. People gravitate to what’s hot, popular, or trendy. During the regular season when the Heat was struggling, fans would regularly dump on the team saying it would never beat Detroit. Games were never sold out. This town is full of front runners and bandwagon jumpers, the worst kind of fans there are. And what’s worse, they know it and don’t deny it. People who would regularly harass me about the Pistons losing now won’t even mention the NBA Finals. It’s quite amusing. In fact, I couldn’t be happier. Normally, after the Pistons are eliminated, I don’t really care who wins the Larry O’ Brien Trophy. This year, I do. I would rather see a team that had die hard fans and a passionate owner win over a team that is made up of players trolling for rings subject to a fan base that’s more fickle than a 12 year old girl.

Maybe Bill Simmons was right. Maybe Dallas is not going to win because they are deeper, younger, or even quicker. Maybe they are going to win because Miami has such bad hoops karma. So here are a few words of advice: Don’t tell me that the Triple A is hotter than Staples when LA won 3 straight. Don’t tell me your franchise is better than Detroit’s when you’ve won a grand total of ZERO championships. Don’t tell me that you were a Heat fan “back in the day.” But most importantly, if you want the Basketball Gods to look down upon you favorably, go down with the ship, go down with the ship.

To Receive Commission, You Need to Sell Things

2006-06-11T15:22:00.000-04:00

I'm currently in the process of looking for a new place in "The City Where the Heat is On," no basketball related pun intended. The Editor and I have decided to move in together for our last year of law school. But that's not what this post is about. Its about the lack of courtesy people in this city have. My reaction to this has slowly gone from I'm-gonna-kill-him anger to apathy to sheer disbelief. "Uhrugh" as by favorite canine dectective would say (that's Scooby Doo for all those who couldn't make that out...I'm sure its partially my fault because I can't translate the sound to a coherent spelling of it.

Anyway, we have been looking for a new place now for about a month and have had no luck. It doesn't help that we are both poor law students, which limits the properties we can see, but I have never had such horrible experiences with realtors before.

We current were working with a realtor who said he'd be happy to help and has done everything but that. He was supposed to call me to set up a time to show us some places on Saturday. He didn't. When I called to see what's up, he gave me a "dog-ate-my-homework" excuse and asked if we could reschedule for today, Sunday. I called him this morning per his request and he asked if I had sent him an email with the MLS numbers for the places we wanted to see. I had, like he had asked...ON WEDNESDAY. He obviously hadn't looked at my email or gathered the keys or done anything what he was supposed to have done. Then he said he'd be able to meet at 3:30 and when I told him I couldn't, he said he might be able to meet me at noon but to give him 15 minutes to see if it was possible. He did call me, only to tell me to give him 45 more minutes to get the keys and all that bullshit. This was at 10:38 according to my cellphone. At 12:38, I still hadn't received a call back.

Now, am I wrong, but isn't it that a realtor earns money by showing properties? Don't they work on commission? So it would make sense to show a place to people who want to rent so that they can get paid. But apparently this isn't a high priority with this realtor. Who knows, maybe he's so well off that I'm not worth his time. But it would be curteous to tell me that I'm not worth his time cause I'm just a broke law student. I've dealt with girls that played less games than this guy.

This isn't the only problem I've had finding an apartment. As a second avenue, I've gone the CraigsList route. But that hasn't been effective either. People leave their phone numbers on the ads saying to call, but when you do and leave a message, they don't call back...or they do like 3 weeks later. This has happened to me multiple times. Look, I'm not dumb, I know how it works. Sometimes places get rented but have the deceny to return messages.

I hope that the realtor loses his license (the Editor is telling the U to specifically inform incoming students not to work with this realtor). I hope the CraigsList people get stuck with their places and have to eat the rent. I hope all of them go bankrupt and then have to live in a cardboard box a la Mortimer and Randolph.

New Directions

2006-06-11T15:16:00.000-04:00

MGoBlog has its Blog Ethics. Paradigm Blog has its persona. MZone has its zany wackiness. Starting today, I'm changing my blog's persona. It will include the normal gripes about Michigan Athletics and Detroit Sports, but its also going to take on a more personal feel. I have written in the past about my experiences in Miami, but starting today, I'm going to write more about those experiences. This WILL NOT be an online journal, but more of a place where people get my opinions on a range of topics. And with that, here is my first post in this "new" format.

Stop Hitting the Snooze

2006-05-24T11:15:00.000-04:00

The Pistons remind me of myself circa two weeks ago. I had just finished exams and with a few days off before starting work, I took the time to catch up on sleep. When my alarm went off in the morning, I'd smash it on its head like Fred hitting Barney on the Flintstones. Apparently, the Pistons just took some exams too, because after all the talk about waking up, they keep sleeping, not hearing the alarm.

I went to Game 1 last night with high hopes and left more frustrated than a driver sitting in rush hour traffic in Miami while the guy next to him, sitting in a junker with rims on it, blasts raggaeton and misses the light when it turns green.

Billups was 6-19 from the field with a critical turnover in the 4th quarter. Rip Hamilton, Antonio McDyess, and Tayshaun Price missed easy shots regularly throughout the game. Rasheed Wallace was nowhere to be seen. Flip Saunders made adjustments after the fact, when the game was already out of hand.

After the game, McDyess said the Pistons were tired (their own damn fault for letting Cleveland stay in it for 7 games), B. Wallace said the Pistons didn't play with their normal energy. The first quote was bothersome, but Ben's comments just anger me. How can you not play "Pistons basketball" after barely surving the 2nd round? How can you not play Pistons basketball against the 2nd best team in the East that's been resting for a week?

While much of the blame lies with the players for playing a terrible game and missing shots, Flip Saunders deserves some of the blame too. His job is to get his team ready for games and they weren't ready last night. When a team gets away from what it does best, the coach's job is to redirect it to its strengths. When the opposing coach makes a strategic change, the coach's job is to counter. Flip didn't do any of those things last night.

When Dwayne Wade and Shaq went to the bench with foul trouble, the Pistons couldn't make a run. Instead of posting up Payton and Williams, Billups took terrible shots from the perimeter. Rasheed floated around on the perimeter, something he was known to do in Portland, but Larry Brown was able to control in his tenure in Detroit. It doesn't take a basketball genius to know that when a team is without its two best players, it needs to be attacked. The Pistons didn't do that last night. According to Kelly Dwyer of SI, the Pistons regularly broke off plays and took bad shots instead of "playing the right way."

Strategically, I thought Saunders could have gone to the bench a little more, especially when he knew the top 7 had logged a lot of minutes against the Cavs. Why didn't Delk, Davis, and to an extent, Delfino get more time. They haven't played a lot during the playoffs; they must have fresh legs.

In the fourth quarter, the Pistons finally started trapping but it was too late. Why not employ a trap when Miami didn't have its best ball handlers on the floor?

What really angers me about the Pistons is that offensively, they aren't playing "the right way." Too many times the guards could have penetrated and gone to the hole. They either didn't do it at all or after penetrating they kicked out for a perimeter shot which no one could make. Why not take the layup and try to draw fouls on Miami's bigs - especially when the perimeter shooting isn't there?

The Pistons need to stop screwing around and Flip needs to hammer it home that the offense needs to go through its reads, especially when the offense is struggling. Although I thought Larry Brown was too much of a distraction, this is exactly where he was a better coach - he'd rein in the players when they seemed to freelance too much or twhen they got away from the core philosophy. Saunders doesn't seem to do that at all.

Maybe the Pistons can regroup by Thursday. I think they will because the team seems to play better when it has pressure on it. Expect this series to go 6 or 7. I still think the good guys will come out on top, but it shouldn't be this easy for their opponents.

Back Online!

2006-05-21T21:40:00.000-04:00

Its been quite some time since I have posted. Between law school exams, starting a new job, and being tired I haven't been online much. But now that I have a week off and some time to hang out, I'm back online! Lot of things have happened in the last month and half, so here goes:

Dee-troit Basketball!

Had the chance to see the Pistons live today! I hadn't been to a home game this year and luckily, my trip home happened to coincide with Game 7. I scored a ticket for under face, sat with some Cavs fans who were surprisingly civil (they were from Columbus which is worse than Cleveland). Rasheed said the atmosphere was going to be bananas, and it was, complete with a guy dressed in a banana costume. Definitely peanut butter jelly time! Anyway, my thoughts from the game and series as a whole:

1. Pistons defense is good as it was last season. The reason they struggled was because their offense is completely lost. They haven't moved the ball around as well as they did during the regular season and Chauncey isn't Chauncey.

2. I was never sold on Flip Saunders. I think he's too much of a player's coach and technically not as sound as LB. Although he was a drama queen (or is it king?), LB was technically sound. I really liked that he involved Ben Wallace in the offense. I think Ben plays better when he gets touches on offense. In games 4, 5, and parts of 6, Mike Brown, a rookie coach, outcoached Saunders, a veteran. The Pistons didn't adjust on offense when Cleveland jumped the pick and roll. Hubie Brown made a great observation during game 6 that the Pistons weren't going into the post enough, exploiting the mismatch, when Cleveland put its bigs on Billups. I just don't understand if Saunders had strategical reason for not going in the post or if he missed the adjustment competely.

3. Today was a microchosm of the series - when the Pistons focused, they were unstoppable. When they relaxed, Cleveland made runs to pull close.

4. The Pistons ran the elbow curl for Rip today. They need to do it more.

5. My experience at the Palace today was good for the most past, but it also reminded why I want a private box. I had the enjoyment of watching some guy get into a fight with a woman three times his size cause she wouldn't sit down in her seat after he repeatedly asked her politely to sit down. The reason she didn't sit down - cause her fat ass couldn't fit into the seat. This led me to create a list of the fans which I hate siting next to during an event (a list I'll post later).

Michigan Gets Luxury Boxes!

Hippies, go cry in your soy milk, cause we're getting boxes! This is the best thing that could happen to Michigan's Athletic Department. The boxes will bring in revenue to support other sports and that is critical to Michigan having success in sports. Its a known fact that football funds the non revenue sports and anything that helps bring more money in via football is a good thing.

Detroit Tigers

Brent says it better than I do.

That's it for now. More to come tomorrow

MidWeek Roundup

2006-03-29T21:28:00.000-05:00

Lots of things on the docket. Let's get right to them.

Dancin Machine: An all around good guy at Michigan, people knew Dhani Jones for his love of poetry, painted fingernails, attraction to Indian girls, and most importantly, his free spirit. Apparently, the Miami Beach Police didn't find his free spirit as endearing as his classmates did during his days in Ann Arbor. I wouldn't read too much into this; Dhani is a fun loving guy and, from personal experience, the law enforcement in Miami is attrocious - not a good combination. I had class with Dhani my freshman year, when Michigan won the National Championship, and every time I hear his name I think of this story: After winning against OSU at home, Dhani came to Econ 101 late. Not many people in the class knew who he was, but the professor did. As Dhani took a seat in the back corner of the lecture hall, our professor looked straight at Dhani, smiled and flashed a "thumbs up."

Not So Sweet Success: Good win for the hoopsters last night against ODU. I was worried in the first have as ODU went ahead, but I must admit, Michigan played a great defensive second half to pull away with an easy victory. Sims played like a man, for once, and it showed. If they could get this kind of production out of Sims all the time, this would be a much better team. I'm excited that they are playing tomorrow night for the championship and here's an interesting fact: The winner of Thursday's game will set the all time mark for consecutive wins in the NIT, 10. What does this mean? Simply, that both Michigan and South Carolina are underachievers. One of the analysts on ESPN said its not a record to be proud of. Well said.

Stop Freaking Out: Law school is an interesting place. My regular readers know I am not a big fan of law school. I'm not a fan of many of the people either. You have the law school dorks who argue about statutes for fun and draw all of their professional experience from being on law review. And then, you have the 1Ls. Scott Turow, of Presumed Innocent fame, coined the monkier 1L in his book about his first year at Harvard Law School. I haven't read the book but I can tell you why I don't like 1Ls. They mill around the classrooms after class is over for no apparent reason. They swarm professors after class, like college students to a keg, in hopes of making a good impression on the professor, in hopes of getting an A. They walk into already occupied classrooms before their classes start, to set up their laptops, and sneer when they realize there's already a class in the room. Finally, they ask stupid questions and subject everyone in the room to these idiotic questions.

Yesterday, we had a meeting for a class that is offered in the fall. Since demand is high and supply is low, the professor in charge gives preference to those who commit to a clinical placement. Some girl decides to ask about the clinical placement, but none of her questions were in relation to the class. Instead, they questions were specific to that clinical (the SEC placement). Even though she knew she was there to get information about a class, she kept asking questions about the SEC placement - subjecting us to all of her idiotic questions. Why in God's name couldn't she have just asked them afterwards? Did she really need to subject us to questions that were particular to her situation?

Listen 1Ls - get a life. Understand that everything doesn't revolve around you and be considerate of the other law students that go to school with you. The upperclassmen don't care about what you're going through. We all went through it our first year. You are not special. When you realize law school isn't life, you'll understand.

Charmin Soft

2006-03-26T21:43:00.000-05:00

"When I grew up, my mother told me to clean my plate, because people were starving in China and India. Now I find myself telling my children, 'Do your homework because there are people in China and India Starving for your jobs'." - Thomas Friedman in Wired magazine

Of late, Americans are losing jobs to India and China; this is a fact. Call centers are moving to Banglore and professionals from overseas are being brought to serve as programmers and IT specialists. Its a trend that started in the 1990s and which is prevalent today.

I am a child of Indian immigrants and being first generation, I still have plenty of family in India. This has given me an opportunity to travel to my parent's homeland multiple times. On my most recent trip, in 2002, I really understood why Americans are feeling the the pressure of a global society. Of course there are the economic factors. But there is something else, something that can't be measured using traditional metrics that is causing this phenomenon.

Simply, it seems that people in India have more desire and are more competitive than their American counterparts. This isn't to say that Americans aren't competitive. In fact, some of my friends and classmates are the most competitive people I have met. But on the whole, I really think that people in India, from top to bottom are more competitive because of the sheer number of people fighting for a finite number of jobs. If you aren't the best, you aren't going to get a good paying job, and you aren't going to make it. Its definitely a dog eat dog mentality in India, more so than it is here in US.

Obviously, we can partly solve the competition problem by better education our citizens. Schools definitely need an upgrade, especially when our students lag behind in math and geography. We can also do something else - instill that dog eat dog mentality in our kids, reversing a frightening trend I see permeating our society.

What the hell am I talking about? Well, for one thing we can stop doing idiotic things like this. Although I don't find Jay Mohr funny, I couldn't agree with him more in this case. Oh yeah, props to him for landing Nikki Cox - how that happened, I don't know. But I do know this, if Mohr can land a woman like her, there is hope for all of us.

I find it ridiculous that we are emotionally softening up the young members of our society by creating sports leagues where there are no winners and losers and there are no homeruns. I find it incredulous that there are school districts where kids don't play dodgeball because if its inherently competitive nature. I find it appalling there is a gym teacher in America who doesn't use jump ropes in his class because it could make some students feel inadequate if they tripped. What does he do? Imaginary jump rope. What the hell is that?

I understand that if we want kids to get involved in sports we should make it fun for them. I also agree that sports have, in certain situations, gotten overly competitive. But to go to this extreme is unnecessary. Sports teach kids to win and lose. They teach kids how to be good sports and win with class. Kids can learn things from losing. They can learn that life goes on. They can learn to be motivated by their shortcomings. Like Mohr said, its a parent's job to help kids learn these lessons, life lessons.

If we teach kids that we are all equal all the time, a dangerous precedent is set. What happens when a kid finally has to try out for a team and gets cut? What happens when a kid applies to his dream school and is denied? Sports teach kids how to deal with these situations. Granted they can learn to deal with life's bumps in other ways, but sports to seem to be the arena in which these lessons are most likely to be learned, because of the inherent competitive nature of sports.

Kids need to know that some people are good at sports and others are good at music. They need to learn that life is not always fair and that hard work is needed for success. They need to know that life is competitive and that there are winners and losers. If we don't teach our kids about these things at an early age, I'm sure they'll learn when they are older from the Chinese or Indians.

The Sky Is Falling

2006-03-25T10:45:00.000-05:00

The last few days, between the MZone - Colin Cowherd fued and Michigan's victory in the NIT have been very interesting to me. I know I'm a little late commenting on both, but give me a break, I'm in law school and I work. Without further excuses:

NIT

I'm excited Michigan is going to the NIT Final Four. I don't want to say its deserved, but its nice to see the seniors with an opportunity to finish their careers at Michigan on a high note. I'll admit that my interest level has slowly gone up as the team advanced through the post season. I was ticked that the game was on the U and had to keep track of the score via ESPN News. Withou a doubt, I'll be watching them next week, hopefully twice.

With that being said, I don't see Michigan winning this tournament if they get to the finals against Louisville. Rick Pitino is a much better coach than Tommy Amaker, like comparing Sam Adams to Natty Light. What's even better about this match up is that it will get Michigan fans to see what life may have been like with a talented coach (not talking about getting to the NIT but they way he coaches). The most interesting thing about this potential matchup is that Michigan could have had Pitino five years ago and from what I've been told, he was pretty close to taking the Michigan job until one Bo Schembechler said, to the effect, that Michigan is a football school and that basketball would be a second class citizen. If this is true, not only is Bo's philosophy killing us in football but basketball too. Mind you, what I have commented on is purely hearsay, so take it with a grain of salt.

Going back to the Miami game, the win kind of worried me too, in a Chicken Little "the sky is falling" kind of way. Why you ask? Attendence at the game was above 8,000 - not a sellout, but solid support. Why is this bad? Because the point of college athletics is to make money and I'm concerned with the backing the team received, the powers in charge will think "Hey, people still support us when we go to a secondary tournament, why change anything?" My concern is the support gives the AD a false sense of success and gives them no incentive to make changes that will further the basketball program. I think a M stands for mediocrity mentality has already taken a hold in the Athletic Department and could be perpetuated by fans supporting results that can be easily classified as underachievements.

MZone v. Colin Cowherd

Read about the fued here. I'm going to keep my comments short. Without a doubt, I support the gentlemen at the MZone. In my opinion, the issue isn't so much the MZone getting credit for their work, but rather a multimillion dollar news corporation following the basic rules of journalistic integrity. Furthermore, Cowherd didn't help his cause by firing off less than professional emails in response to the "hate mail" he received. No matter what people write to Cowherd, he as a professional, should know he is in the public eye, and that any emails from him, containing personal shots at people, would quickly surface on the Internet.

I'm in law school and am interested in Copyright law. Unfortunately, the Internet, in the words of Bill Simmons, is currently the Wild West in terms of journalism because the law in this area is still developing. I'll give Cowhed the benefit of the doubt when he says he received the Wunderlic from someone (although the audio clip reveals otherwise) but when he received an email from the MZone, he could have simply said "I'm sorry, I'll correct my mistake."

What gets me upset in this situation is this: As an attorney, doctor, lawyer, engineeer, garbageman, we all have professional responsibilities in what we do. Cowhed didn't follow those for journalists and that's disappointing. In law school, a student can be expelled for plagarism and possibly put his bar application in jeopardy. A doctor who leaves a sponge in a person can get sued for malpractice. A banker can lose his career for cheating his clients. Simply, I'm saying, we all have rules to follow and it would be nice to see someone working as a journalist would do the same. Personally, I wouldn't have been upset if the MZone would not have been given credit (hey, its a nice plug and admittedly these guys aren't in it for the money). I'm upset because the man claimed the work as his own, a no-no in his profession.

Its Saturday morning, and MZone is saying that Cowherd will give them credit on Monday's show, but I think its in ESPN's best interest to discipline him and/or his staff. It happened at The Free Press with Mitch Albom. And if ESPN can suspend Michael Irvin for his non-ESPN troubles, they should reprimand Cowherd in this case.

Okay, my comments on this may have gone longer than intended but I think it was worth it. To the guys at MZone, keep up the good work.

Has It Really Been This Long?

2006-03-22T10:09:00.000-05:00

Wow! Its been a long time since my last post. A combination of laziness, apathy, and spring break. But now I'm back and I have a couple of things on my mind, so here goes:

Detroit Lions Football

During spring break, the Lions made some personnel moves with the most interesting being picking up Josh McCown and Jon Kitna. This move pretty much signaled the end of the Joey Harrington era and at first blush, I couldn't be happier. Harrington never evolved to the quarterback the Lions thought he could be when they drafted him in 2002. Yet, when I think about it, I think most of the developmental issues fall on the Lions and not Harrington.

First, at Oregon, Harrington played in a completely different offense - one where he threw the ball downfield unlike in the West Coast he ran in Detroit. Second, I think anyone the Lions would have drafted would have failed because the offensive line is a seive. Too many times Harrington was getting leveled in the backfield or chucking the ball off his back foot. He just looked rushed back there, like he knew if his first option wasn't open, he was going to get sacked. Maybe that's why he used to dump off the ball so much. Third, even though the Lions put receivers around Joey, those receivers never lived up to their hype. The Williamses have been injured frequently and Charles Rogers is a waste of a draft pick for obvious reasons.

What's really interesting about the QB moves in the past week is that when Mike Martz came to town he felt Harrington had the raw skills to be a good quarterback. Less than a month later, Harrington is on the way out. Either Joey is not as good as Martz and Joey supporters thought he was or Harrington forced his hand to get out of Detroit.

I don't really have much hope for the future. The Lions still need an offensive line and neither QB acquired is a star. Kitna had success because he was surrounded with offensive talent. I'm not sure about McCown because he played in Arizona, but he did show he has talent (but that was against the 49ers). Simply, both QBs had a lot of help and I don't see that with the Lions. Now that Harrington is gone, I think the Lions need to address the receivers' attitudes. It 's been said that the receivers are lazy and prone to goofing off during practice. These guys need to grow up and be professionals. They need to know that in the NFL they aren't going to get by on sheer talent. Hopefully, the new coaching staff will instill discipline in the younger guys. And let's not forget, Roy Williams and Charles Rogers have something to prove. This will be Williams 3rd year and Rogers 4th. Time is running out on them. If the skill players don't develop more than they did in the past few years, its going to be a rough season offensively.

Michigan Basketball

I'm a little late with this, but Michigan Basketball was an utter disappointment this season. Finishing 2-7, they missed the NCAAs and headed to the NIT at a top seed. Joey of Schembechler Hall does a good job of verbalizing this frustrating season.

Skip ahead a week and half to today. Tonight, our beloved hoops team takes on Miami (FL) in the 3rd round of the NIT in a rematch of the BigTen/ACC tournament earlier in the season. I was fortunate enough to watch that game, a Michigan victory. I'm not going to break down the match up or anything like that; rather I'm going to say a few words about Tommy Amaker and the program itself.

Like a lot of people feel, I think its time for Tommy to go. I have to agree with Joey that Amaker basically got this job because of his ties to Duke and not because he's proficient as a coach. Just to rehash some statistics:

- Career Record: 132-155 (8 years prior to current season)
- Post Season Record: 59-73
- Best Post Season: Sweet 16 (2000)
- In 8 years, Amaker has been to the NCAA's just once and the NIT 4 times (Michigan wasn't eligible in 2003 but had a 17-13 record)

This stats hardly justify the first line in Amaker's bio on MGoBlue.com which reads, "Amaker has had great success in his eight years as a collegiate head coach." I don't know what the constitutes success in the Athletic Department, but going to the NIT and finishing 8-8 in the Big Ten with a senior laden team, in my mind is not successful at all.

I'm going to echo Joey's sentiments and say that I think the biggest problem is that Amaker has not developed talent and is forcing players to run an offense for which they are ill suited. A sign of a good coach is his ability to make adjustments and I don't think Amaker has done that during games or during the course of the season. What I don't understand is why Amaker isn't changing his offense or recruiting players that are better fits.

In college, a coach doesn't have to worry about free agency or trades so he can build a program around a system that he likes; just look at Roy Williams, Dean Smith, Coach K, and Tom Izzo. It would make sense that a coach can succeed using the same system year after year, as long as he has players that fit in the said system. Thus, I would imagine, while recruiting, these coaches and their staffs targeted players that would immediately mesh or grow into the system during a collegiate career. They would not get players that were not good fits and they would be able to see a high school player and correctly evaluate his ability in relation to what the coach needed. My question is twofold: Is Amaker just recruiting the best players he can get with the hope things will work out or is he not a good evaluator of talent? Assuming he is a good evaluator (a prerequisite for coaching D1 basketball), are his assistant coaches just horrible at developing the talent they acquire? Or is it a combination of poor evaluation and poor coaching?

Whatever the problem is, it needs to be fixed. Amaker has had 5 years to get his players and install his system and it just hasn't worked out. Everyone on this team is an Amaker recruit and the best he has accomplished is the NIT. I understand injuries have hit the program hard in the last year, but a good team, with as much depth as Michigan, should be able to win games even with players missing.

I'm just really surprised that Amaker hasn't been able to land better recruits or that he didn't change his offense. With Dion Harris and Daniel Horton, I would imagine that an offense similar to the Pistons' would be effective. This team has 3 big bodies to set picks and Horton is an above average PG that can get to the hole. Running Harris and Abram off picks for open shots would seem an obvious strategy but I don't recall it being employed (correct me if I'm wrong; I didn't get to see many games this year).

Lastly, Joey makes a good point that the problem might not so much be Amaker but AD Martin himself. He seems more concerned about being a class program than winning. Don't get me wrong, I don't want an FSU or VT situation but I think being a state school with a national reputation, it shouldn't be so hard to succeed and be classy at the same time. Its been done before and it can be done again. Maybe its time for a change at the top, but I'll reserve judgment for another year.

I'm going to end this post by saying I hope Michigan wins tonite and gets to go to New York. It just be much better had they been preparing to get to the Elite 8.

Good Sports Weekend

2006-02-19T16:34:00.000-05:00

Big sports weekend, at least for me. I woke up Saturday and caught about a period and half of the Canada v. Switzerland men's hockey game. The USA hockey game followed that up and at 4p I got to watch Michigan play Michigan State in men's hoops, a rarity for me now that I live in Miami. Last night I had the choice between watching more Olympics or the NBA All Star coverage (which is usually hilarious because of the TNT crew).

This morning I woke up and watched the US play Sweden in hockey and now I'm watching Indiana at Illinois. Tonite I'll watch more Olympics before heading to bed!

Here are some of my thoughts on this sports orgy:

Olympic Hockey

Olympic hockey, in my opinion, is better than the NHL for a number of reasons. First, most of the teams in the Olympics have rosters loaded with stars from the NHL. Yesterday while watching Canada's surprising loss to Switzerland, Mike Emerick commented that when Pat Quinn was asked who he would put together on a line if he needed a goal late a game, Quinn stated, without hesitation, "Bertuzzi, Sakic and Inginla." Basically, these are fantasy rosters coming to life. It aslo fun to watch NHL teammates play against each other. Today's USA v. Sweden game had, I believe, 5 Red Wings in it. It just adds a little twist to the whole tournament.

The second reason Olympic hockey is more entertaining is because every game counts. If a country is stuck in a tough pool, it needs to win or have a great goal differential to get into the quarterfinals. The US fell to 1-2-1 but will get in, but this is only because the only two teams behind it have 1 and 0 poins respectively. This isn't to say something might change, leaving the US on the outside looking in - if Latvia wins big and the US loses to Russia, the US could be going home really early.

Finally, I like the open skating in the Olympics. The game is cleaner and relies more on skill than the brute force which became a hallmark of the NHL. I think the biggest contributing factor to the better play is the open space - the international rink is wider than the NHL rink.

Bottom line: If I can catch a game live, I will. Its great and the only other time I get even this remotely excited about hockey is for the college hockey tournament and the NHL playoffs.

Michigan v. Michigan State

I was lucky enough to get a chance to watch this game. The last game I saw before this one was against Purdue during which I turned off the TV at halftime so I could go get a hamburger at Houston's Steakhouse (which was a good decision).

Michigan was overmatched yesterday, plain and simple. Chris Hunter's knee injury was frustrating more than anything. When I saw him on the bench with the ice pack, I just thought, "Here we go again." I agree with most of the open thread comments at MGoBlog that the injuries have taken a toll on this team. Overcoming them is a tall order for this team, if not any team in the country. State played a good game, got on a roll, and were easily able to pull away.

Two things I'd like to comment on though: the Amadou Ba incident and Courtney Sims. Its really unfortunate what happened before the game, but I can't blame Ba for what he did. Too many fans think that they are a part of the action and can come onto the field of play without any reprecussions. I'm not surprised this happened at State but that isn't to say it couldn't have happened at Michigan or any other school in the country. Schools need to employ more security during the shootaround and warmups before the game to insure both safety to the players and fans. Truly an unfortunate incident but I wasn't surprised that it happened after the Pettway/Ager incident in Ann Arbor. I definitely wasn't surprised the guy was intoxicated.

Courtney Sims needs to go away. He did have 15 points on 6 shots and I'll give him all the credit for that. BUT he only had 1 rebound the entire game. At times he looked lost and although he got called for a couple of debatable calls, the last foul against Sims was deserved. He didn't have position and backed away after he saw the State player driving straight at him. Its one thing if he got called for a blocking foul after holding his ground but he backed away, making it an obvious call for the refs. Sims needs to get more aggressive but its never going to happen and its a disappointment.

Hopefully, Michigan can get a couple more wins to help their tournament resume, but don't hold your breath.

NBA All Star Game

Don't even care. It was a big thing for me when I was younger but now I don't really even care. I can't think of any All-Star Game that I care to watch. I would rather watch basketball with defense and team play...like the Pistons play normally.

I think the reason the NBA All Star Game still means something with most fans is obviously because they get to vote in the starters but also because All Star Weekend is a big party and the players genuinely look like they are having fun out there.

Unfortunately, the reason I have no interest in the game is because the fans vote. I know they "pay the bills" (which they don't, the corporate sponsor do) but the fans usually vote in underserving players. There is no way Yao should be starting for the West. The fans just pick the big name players and not the guys who deserve it. This formula led to the Pistons having no starters but four reserves when 1) they play for the best team in the league and 2) they all are having great seasons. There is no way AI deserves to start over Chauncey. There is no logical argument that can be made for this. This is why I don't watch the All-Star Game anymore.

Personally, I think the Pistons' players should have skipped the game on principle and taken some rest because they are going to need it come playoff time.

Doctor! Doctor!

2006-02-18T14:26:00.000-05:00

A doctor I would trust, even with his penchant for laughing at inoppurtune times

Last night my friends and I went to the University of Miami Grad School Mixer (put together in part by my roommate and Donald Wine of Word Life fame) at Opium Garden on South Beach. I was bit skeptical about the whole thing for a few reasons:

1. The start time was 10:30.
2. Open bar from 10:30 to 11:30.
3. Counting all the RSVPs and passes handed out the club was going to exceed capacity.
4. Mixers usually don't accomplish their intended goal.

Let me recap the night: I was at The Editor's when my roommate sent me a text saying that we were leaving at 9:30. This wasn't a big deal because I was heading over back to my house to eat dinner and get ready. Plus, my roommate was driving, which is as rare as spotting an Indian girl at a gym. Anyway, when I got home I asked why we were leaving so early and I found out that between the med school, law school, and b-school, the organizers were expecting 1200 people. Opium holds 850 - max. Basically, if we didn't get there before 10:30, we weren't getting in, period.

We ended up getting in line at about 10:15. There was another problem though. It was three guys and one girl in our group. South Beach bouncers are notorious for having God complexes. Some of these guys act like they are protecting the President rather than an open bar serving shitty well liquour. I was worried that they weren't going to let us in without the proper ratio, even though we all had passes.

I have to give credit to Amit though. By 10:30 there were about 200 people already waiting to get in (open bar + broke grad students = chaos). I also figured that the bouncers would wait until we were ready to riot before letting anyone in, so that the club wouldn't have to give away too much free liquor. They started letting people in at 10:35.

Donald, The Editor, and I got in fine, but somehow Amit got held up. I beelined to the bar to get as many drinks as I could hold. When Amit finally got in, he got me another drink, so I was double fisting. Unfortunately, the alcohol was terrible. The Editor couldn't finish her Vodka Tonic cause it tasted like rubbing alcohol. I had to slog to get through 2 of them. I returned to the bar to get a couple of rum and cokes, about 15 minutes after I had gotten my first round. This time it took me about 10 minutes to get my drinks because of the number of people surrouding the bar. Of course, the bartender was a bitch. She wouldn't serve people unless they were flashing cash for her tips. I wanted to lean over and tell her to do her job, but that would have been the end of the night for me. I got the drinks, got out, and that was the end of the open bar for me.

Like I said, open bars are funny. I am convinced that people will drink liqour that tastes like urine, if it is free. People were ordering 5 drinks at a time and how can you blame them? It was impossible to get drinks, especially when there were only 3 people working the bar for about 800 people. Yet, after the open bar finished at 11:30, there were 5 people working the bar...go figure?

Other thoughts from last night:

1. People don't know how to order drinks. Memo to those people: order your drinks, pay the bartender, and get the hell outta the way. Its cool if you are trying to pick someone up, but don't stand there talking about how it sucks you have Friday class.

2. I hate how places set a minimum amount for opening a tab; at Opium, its $50. First, from what I know this is illegal. Second, these places are in business because people are paying $8 for a beer. It should be good enough that we pay cover to get in and pay stupid prices for drinks. What happened to catering to the customer?

3. Mixers don't accomplish intermingling. People are too concerned with getting their free drinks and no one mingles with people outside of their group. The lawyers hung out with the lawyers. The docs hung out with the docs. I didn't see any bschool people there. Plan one of these things at a club, its definitely not going to work.

4. Why aren't there more Indian girls in bschool? I was trying to find Amit an Indian girl to hook up with last night. Within 5 minutes of getting into Opium, I saw 3 from the med school.

5. I hate when clubs have live performances of muscial acts that aren't famous. I know its a way to get discovered but don't do it on my dime. Plus, taking time out to let these guys perform kills the atmosphere and everyone's buzz. Last night there was a fashion show with a couple of no talent rappers trying to pick up girls. They were horrible. And the models were fat and wearing clothes that were not at all flattering.

6. The congregation of med students was a bacchanalia. The Editor thinks that dealing with mortality on a daily basis induces an alcohol driven frenzy to procreate. I have been around med students for the last 4 years and I've never witnessed anything like this before. Some of my best friends just started residency and when they were in school, they partied pretty hard - but nothing like this. Some of the people there last night reminded me more of Dr. Nick than Dr. Hibbert. Even if I was bleeding profusely, I wouldn't let some of these people within 10 feet of me. I don't know if this is more of an indictment of Miami's med school or med students themselves.

Oh, I forgot one more thing. They are pretentious. A girl in med school walked by my friend Nick and said, "These law school fuckers are so arrogrant." Look, just cause you are going to cut someone open someday means nothing to me. Just make sure that after a night of drunken sex you don't screw up 'cause I know some people who will use your mistake to buy a new Porsche.

More Duplicitous Than Marrying Someone to Cross The Border

2006-02-16T17:48:00.000-05:00

The biggest sham of them all.

Sham (adj):

1. Not genuine
2. Having such poor quality as to seem false

Good Shams:

1. Sham marriage: A marriage primarily to circumvent some law. Typically used to get a foreigner a Green Card. Also used for tax benefits.

2. Sham schedules: Not a generally used phrase but mostly in reference to a sports team that has inflated its record against weak opponents ("K-State's non-conference schedule is a sham.").

3. Sham team: Very closely related to the sham schedule. Simply, what a team is when it plays a bunch of creampuffs only to be exposed later (see K-State in the the 1990s).

Bad Shams:

1. Figure Skating at the Winter Olympics

2. Figure Skating scoring

3. Figure Skating in general

Explanation of Categorization:

As a sports fan, teams that are deemed shams are great for a variety of reasons. For example, you can take advantage of the offending team's fans in gambling situations. These teams also give hope - Let's say team A is a sham (for whatever reason) and team B is scheduled to play the aforementioned team A. Team B's fans can take solace in the fact that Team A has probably played weak opponents and thinks its better than it really is. This logic is very much intertwined with schedules that are shams because its arguable that the number one reason a team becomes a sham is because it is playing a schedule that is a sham. Typically these teams are prone to losing big bowl games or have early exit in the elimination rounds of its respective playoff system. Unfortunately, these types of shams could be categorized as Bad Shams because if you are a fan of one of these teams and are unbaised enough to see it, you know problems lie ahead.

So how does figure skating figure into all of this? Figure skating is the biggest sham of all. In the Olympics, this sport is the biggest draw yet its scoring is arbitrary. Yes, there is a new system in place that gives the judges guidelines on how to score a participant's performance, but a judge's subjective opinion is still heavily involved in determining who does well and who does not. This is quite different than say, Downhill skiing where the winner is the fastest one down the hill.

The other night while watching the Olympics with my girlfriend (hereby know as The Editor; she cleans up my mistakes more times than I can count). We watched a competitor fall and still get a score higher than another skater who successfully landed the same jump earlier.The next night, a Chinese pairs team completely botched its routine but still managed to win the Silver medal. Here's what happened:

The male skater attempted a throw with his partner in which she is supposed to make 4 complete rotations before landing. Only here, she didn't land the jump. She practically killed herself. The replays were brutal. Basically, she landed in an awkward split and was severely injured to the point where they had to stop the routine. The couple had to leave the ice and their Olympic dream seemed to be over....only that they came back onto the ice after she informed the judges she wanted to complete the program. Basically, they got a do over and ended up winning the silver.

I don't watch figure skating religiously. I basically watch it every four years and only to watch the competitors fall (especially the Non-Americans). I know its mean, but hey, I consider it being patriotic. Anyway, my point is this: In no other sport can a competitor leave the field of play until he or she feels better and then come back and win. Yes, I know there are exceptions like a football player getting injured and being replaced for a play, series or quarter. But the big difference there is that football is a team sport. Replacing an injured player is part of the game. Usually, in individual sports, that is not the case.

In golf, if Tiger Woods pulled a hamstring, he'd be forced to withdraw. He wouldn't be able to wait for 3 hours and then come back and golf. In tennis, a sport I played, a competitor can have an injury timeout but if the injury is severe, he is forced to retire. In fact, this happened to multiple women in the Australian Open this past January. In fact, I remember Pete Sampras throwing up between points during the US Open but having to play through it because of the risk of having to withdraw.

During this skating incident, it wasn't as if the skater fell, got up, caught her breath and started to skate again. She left the rink for five minutes after being down on the ice. Now I don't know what the rules are for figure skating but the fact she went down to an injury and left the ice should, in my mind, disqualify them. When Tonya Harding snapped a skate lace she had to lobby to the judges to leave the ice to get another lace and then compete. I believe she had a set amount of time to start her program before she was disqualified.

Ok, so if the judges didn't want to be so harsh, shouldn't they have penalized the pair severely for the incomplete trick and wipeout? After such a mistake, on a key part of their program, how could they have won the silver?

This should not be a medal sport in the Olympics, but just an exhibition. Unfortunately, its such a big draw that this will never happen. And with the IOC becoming more Eurocentric you can expect more "American" sports to be dropped before figure skating does (no baseball and softball in 2012).

Figure skating is a sham. A bad sham. I'll stick to helping immigrants like this one come to America.

She Likes Me, She Likes Me Not

2006-02-12T13:41:00.000-05:00

Michigan basketball is like a girl I once dated in college. I had met her before, at a party, and when I saw her on campus one day, I asked her out. She agreed and we went to dinner. The first red flag appeared as we drove to the restaurant. She told me she was a bit hesitant because she didn't know if we were going out on a "date." She had just broken up with her boyfriend and she didn't want him to feel bad.

Anyway, we had fun at dinner and she told me that she was going to a party later that night and that it would be cool if I met her there. Coincidentally, I had plans to go to the same party, so the night, in my mind, was going well. I told her that she should come to a pre-party with me at a friend's house. She politely declined saying she had to meet friends in South Quad. That's when I noticed red flag number two. Her ex called and asked why she wasn't in her room, if she was going out to a party with him that night, you know, the whole ex-boyfriend stalker thing.

To make a long story short, she met up with me at the party later, but had a guy with her. It wasn't the ex, but, in her words, "my best friend." Red flag number three. I know I should have abandoned ship at that point but since I had just found out that my ex had just started dating a new guy, I decided that I was going to keep at it.

Fast forward a few hours. Me and the girl from dinner end up back at my place. I'm thinking, "okay, this is good, not a total loss." But in fact it was. She gave me the whole I'm-a-good-girl speech and told me that she didn't really want to do anything and that she was too drunk, and blah blah blah. She proved to be complete tease* and to make things worse, she started dating her "best friend" a couple weeks later. Because of my pride and competitive nature, I went down with the ship.

Michigan basketball is as bad as this girl. In November we were bombarded with Tourney Hype. There was no way Michigan was not getting in. Lester Abram was back after losing a season to injury. Daniel Horton was coming back from suspension. Dion Harris had more experience under his belt being forced into a leadship position at the end of last year. I had countless reason to why Michigan would get in the tourney.

The season started with mere flirtation that quickly mushroomed into infactuation. I called friends back home to talk about hoops. If I couldn't watch a game, which is quite often here in Miami, I followed the game on mgoblue.com. I would eagerly read the newspapers and blogs to get other people's opinions on my new love.

But in December the first red flag made its appearance - a home loss to UCLA in a turnover ridden game in conjunction with poor shooting. Courtney Sims was exposed as just a body in the paint. Yet, I just dismissed it as a loss. No big deal, she still likes me.

Michigan ripped off 3 wins before opening the Big Ten season against Indiana in a game which they looked horrible. Red Flag number two. Another game with turnovers and typical play which the fans had become accustomed to in the last decade. Once again, I came up with excuses. No big deal, Indiana was #16 at the time. The Big Ten is tough, they weren't going to win em' all anyway.

After a close loss to Illinois on the road, myself and many fans still felt pretty good about the team. Michigan played well in that game, just coming up short at the end.

The January 18th game against NU was the make or break moment for the team. They needed a win streak to keep their hopes of making the NCAAs alive. It was the last chance. If she doesn't show me some attention now, I'm done. Well, she did and she showed a lot. She locked her eyes with mine, blew me a kiss, and tossled her hair. Damn the two red flags, she was really into ME!

Five straight wins! A win at home over MSU and Wisconsin. All of a sudden a Big Ten Championship wasn't out of the question. She had you buying her flowers and calling her to go out to dinner. A couple more dates and she'd be your girlfriend...and that's when Red Flag 3 came out.

An ugly road loss to Iowa which displayed the weaknesses of Michigan basketball. An injury to Lester Abram. Another loss, this time at home to OSU, a team that just didn't miss that night. A devastating ankle injury to Dion Harris. You knew it was back to normal. She didn't like you in the first place. She was just a tease. But because of your competitive juices and hope, you decided to give her another chance...and what happened? She just laughed and started dating her best friend.

The loss to Purdue on the road was unacceptable - injuries or no injuries. Turnovers, poor shooting, even worse on the defensive end. The hopes of a Big Ten title are just a memory and this team needs to worry about making the postseason (NCAA, not NIT). Three players out with injury. Road stops in East Lansing and Columbus. Difficult home dates against Minnesota and Illinois and Indiana. This team looked horrible on Sunday.

Here's the catch, though. With the girl, I got over it and moved on. At some point, I gathered my pride and said, "forget her, no more chances." But I can't do that with Michigan hoops. I can be teased over and over and still give them a proverbial second chance. Like that night in undergrad, I'll go down with the ship. But here, it'll happen over and over and over again.

Note: By no way am I saying that because she didn't hook up with me that night, she was a tease. I took some journalistic liberties to help the flow of this post

Changes

2006-02-10T22:16:00.000-05:00

I tried about 5 times now to write about the changes in the Michigan football program and have failed miserably. At first, when I found out that Ron English had left to become DB coach for the Bears, I was infuriated. After hearing the rumors about Loeffler going to New England, I became more frustrated.

My attempts all centered around how Michigan refused to change or was hesistant to do so and its effect on the program. I tried comparing the program to Ford and GM and their struggles in the auto industry. My point was that becauase they didn't change and adapt to the market, Toyota, initally a small player in the US market was able to lap them. GM and Ford didn't take Toyota seriously and it bit them in the ass.

This seemed to be the case with Michigan football; still stuck in the 3 yards and cloud of dust mentality. On defense, the same lack of agressiveness we have become accustomed to in the Herrmann era. While teams like Penn State and even OSU went to some spread sets, Michigan seemed hesitant to do the same. Likewise, on defense, Michigan refused to or couldn't adjust to defending mobile quarterbacks.

On Friday, fans clamoring for Herrmann's departure got some positive news. Ron English deciding to come back to Ann Arbor, to lead the defense. I am excited to see how the defense plays in the upcoming season. I think all of us want to see more aggressive playcalling and we'll see if it comes to fruition.

Unfortunately, on the other side of the ball, there is concern that the team has taken a step back. Or a ride in Doc's Delorean time machine. Mike DeBord takes over the OC postion he once held, most notably in 1997 during Michigan's national championship run. This move concerns me immensely. DeBord has said he wants to open up the offense, an annual promise. I'm curious to see if this happens, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

I would have liked to have seen Loeffler get the OC position but maybe he isn't ready or Carr is really setting up DeBord to succeed Carr after Carr retires. Who knows. My last request for the offseason would to see progress from the O-Line. I grew up watching Michigan football and offenses that heavily relied on the run. The O-Line was a big part of this and it was able to maul defenses. I have not seen that out of the O-Lines in the last two years and while some of that can be attributed to injury, I think there is a strength and conditioning problem also. The current lines remind me more of the Detroit Lions' lines of the early 90s that Barry Sanders used to run behind - they didn't go out and kill anyone, pretty much made sure not to get pushed back until Sanders found/created a hole to run through.

Its encouraging to see Carr make some changes but I'm more curious to see how these changes work out.

Spelling Bee Lawsuit

2006-02-09T15:52:00.000-05:00

There are few shows on TV that still grab my attention to the point I'll stop what I'm doing and just watch. The Scripps National Spelling Bee is one of them. It could be the middle of the night and my girlfriend could be calling me to bed and I'd still watch (yes, I know I have problems, major problems).

In fact, this actually happened to me this past December and my girlfriend and I ended up watching a rerun of the 2004 Bee. My girlfriend had never watched one; her only experience with the Bee was watching Spellbound on DVD. If you haven't seen it, its a documentary that follows around contestants from around the country on their road to Washington DC, the home of the National Bee.

I get lots of enjoyment from watching the Bee for a multitude of reasons. The most obvious is the suspense right before a kid has to spell his word. As a viewer, you will get pulled in. I mean, where else can you see elementary aged kids spell words that most people couldn't spell let alone pronounce?

More funny are the moments of subtle humor. I always crack up when a speller second guesses the moderator, Dr. Alex Cameron. Without fail, he tilts his head down, peers over the top of his glasses, and rudely says, "no" with a look that says "kid, you've memorized the dictionary, you're surprised at this?"

Speaking of memorizing the dictionary, these kids actually do memorize the dictionary. One year after a speller was eliminated, he said the interviewer, "I guess I have to go back and memorize the dictionary again."

These contestants are freak shows. Society shuns parents that push their kids in sports, but some of these parents are just as bad. In Spellbound, a parent got his kid a tutor, language coaches (so he could learn the roots of words), and made the kid spell an inordinate number of words everyday. On top of that, the parents paid people in India to pray for the kid and promised a temple something like 5,000 meals if he won the Bee. I would make a snide comment here, but its really not necessary. Just read the paragraph again to see how out of control this event has become.

My girlfriend said these kids are case studies for social disorders. Most look like they just woke up: their Bee issued shirts about eight sizes too big, coke bottle glasses, uncombed hair, and splints on injured fingers (don't ask, cause I don't know). A vast majority of the kids are homeschooled and have hobbies like "throwing rocks" and "playing video games."

Watch the interviews and see how socially deficient they are. Rebecca Sealfon, after winning the Bee, could barely interact with the interviewer. She went to grab the microphone, couldn't formulate coherent sentences, and even said the Bee was a bad idea because of the pressure it puts on the contestants. My girlfriend saw her on tv, turned to me, and in all seriousness said, "I think she's autistic."

What makes the Bee so fun, though, is the antisocial behavior. One of my favorite moments of the bee was when a speller fainted on stage. While he was passed out on the ground, no one came to his assistance. Fortunately, he picked himself up, spelled the word, and acted like nothing had happened.

So you may be asking, why am I rambling about the spelling bee? This is why. This poor girl got eliminated incorrectly and instead of being rude and causing a scene, her parents decided to be polite and wait until the end of the Bee to file a complaint. The judge's response was to say that they should have protested right away, like an NFL coach challenging a bad call.

What bothers me about all of this is that this is the last year the girl is eligible to participate in the Bee. And even though she may be a freak show, this is something she's been practicing for and it would be wrong to have her eliminated because some idiotic adult couldn't spell, hear, and prematurely ring a bell. Of course, the family has now responded by threatening to sue the school district. Only in America.

Update:

I have changed my stance. As the rules state, a speller must challenge right away. If the girl didn't know the rules, too damn bad. Luckily the participants in the potential lawsuit have come to an accord. The top 3 speller in the county will go to the Nevada state Bee in Las Vegas (I wonder if the books will take bets on who will win or faint... what's the over/under on participants that are homeschooled?). Read about it here.

Midweek Recap

2006-02-07T22:23:00.000-05:00

Busy weekend with the Super Bowl, birthday parties, and Michigan football. I'll get right into it.

Super Bowl Thoughts:

This year, I wasn't particularly interested in the game, but I was excited because my house decided to throw a Super Bowl Party. At first, it was a small get together but that quickly changed as word got around the law school. I was worried cause I didn't want people coming to the party without making a food or beverage contribution (it was originally a "potluck"). My girlfriend was worried because my house isn't that big and she didn't know where everyone would sit. Our worries were for naught as people brought more than enough food. Mike Gittleson would have been proud of our spread: Quarter Pounders from McDonald's, chili, chicken fries (complements of the King), bean dip, nachos, mac and cheese, and tons of fried chicken. There were also some healthy contributions like fruit and beer. The party was a big success as at one point we had 31 people and a dog in a three bedroom house. Our front yard was a makeshit parking lot reminiscent of the house on Arch Street on a football Saturday. Oh yeah...I forgot, I won almost $200 playing squares. Overall a great party.

The game itself left more to be desired. I am very happy The Bus got his ring, but I was more happy that Jerame Tuman and Larry Foote got their's. See, I am a die hard Lions fan and every year after they are mathematically eliminated around Thanksgiving, I root for teams that employ ex-Michigan players. That's all I really have to say about that.

Finally, from what I am hearing, Detroit did a great job hosting XL. Let's hope that this is the springboard for bigger and better things for the old rust belt city.

Birthday Parties

Friday night I went to Opium on South Beach with most of my 2L class for a birthday party. Opium is my favorite place on the beach because its essentially 3 clubs in one and they play good hip hop. Unfortunately, this was not the case on Friday. Thank God I drank as much as I did.

Saturday night I went to Automatic Slim's, again on South Beach. I'd never been there before, but I have always wanted to go. My girlfriend and I went for our friend Dish's birthday and it was excellent. I can't really describe the feel of the bar other than saying it reminded me of a mix between Swingers and neighborhood bar. They played a great mix of music, the drinks were relatively cheap (good because my girlfriend accidentally dropped my pint of Sam Adams), and there were attractive girls dancing on poles and on the bar. Great night. Good times. Definitely a place to check out. I will go there again.

Michigan Football

There is just too much for me to write on what I think is going on right now. I'm gonna save it for another post.

Best Haircut Ever

2006-02-03T15:58:00.000-05:00

I graduated high school in 1997. Since then, in approximately 9 years I have moved a grand total of 11 times. Granted for 4 years in college, I was moving from place to place around Ann Arbor, but it was still annoying. I hated packing boxes, unpacking, setting up my room, decorating (it has to feel somewhat like home), and then doing it all over again nine months later. Now I know it was my decision to move so much and I realize I was stupid for doing that every year.

After undergrad, I moved to Chicago for 2 years. This move was even harder because it was long distance. Besides dealing with moving into a new apartment, I had to figure out where to grocery shop, run errands, and where to get coffee (luckily I found a place a block from Starbucks). Still, I have to say the most difficult thing about moving to a new city is...Finding a good barber.

Until I left Ann Arbor, I was close enough to my parent's house and my barber Carl. If for some chance, I couldn't make it back to Troy, I found a servicible replacement at the Barbershop on South State Street...the one where they did the Playboy shoot.

Having a good barber is as important as knowing a good lawyer, doctor, or financial advisor. Sometimes, I would say its more important because a good haircut helps getting girls, or so I've been told. For me, I have two requirements in my barber:

1. Gives me a good haircut
2. Cheap

I don't want to pay $20 for a haircut and have moral objections to doing so (and financial ones too). I don't go to salons. I want a old school haircut with scissors, a straight blade razor to get cleaned up around the edges, and a clipper to do the sides of my head. My haircut isn't complicated either. Just give me a one on the sides, taper it in, and keep it short on top. I've been getting this haircut since high school and its amazing how hard its been to find a barber that can do this competently and for a reasonable price (e.g. $15 with tip).

While in Chicago, I went to 2 places and tried out 3 barbers and I really wasn't happy with any of them. I must say the atmosphere at the Italian barbershop was amusing: old Italian guys yelling at each other about which Frank Sinatra cd to listening to, all in a place with framed poster and pictures of Italian icons like...Tony Soprano.

I moved to Miami about a year and half ago and the hunt was on again. My friend Donald told me about a black barbershop near his apartment and I decided to check it out. Tommy, a nice young man with gold teeth, cut my hair. I was impressed. Just the way I like it. Even more, he "lined me up" around my goatee (since gone), sideburns, and the back of my head. He also shaved my face. Total cost: $15 with tip. Fantastic.

I kept visiting Tommy until around April of 2005 when one day I went in and Tommy was no longer there. The story I got was that he was homesick and moved back to NC. Promptly, Tommy's associate, Nooney B. cut my hair but he was no Tommy. The search was on again. I would miss the barbershop and all its antics. Pool table, loud hip hop music (a plus, I love hip hop), and the side businesses (could buy throwbacks and celebrity sex tapes). The hunt was on again.

My friend, Amit, told me about a place close to where I lived. He said to go there and ask for Daisy. So I did. It wasn't the greatest haircut and cost me $17 with tip and Daisy spoke no English. But I saw why Amit liked it there so much. Daisy was always in tight clothing and there was a good chance you would get intimate with her breasts as she cut your hair. I went there twice between August and December as I was on a "let's grow my hair out kick" (prompted by my girlfriend running her fingers through my hair while cooing, "I like your hair longer"). I even started putting gel in my hair.

Luckily over Christmas break I went back to Detroit and had Carl take care of business. Unfortunately my hair grows fast. Today, I went to get a haircut. On a suggestion from my girlfriend, I went to a place walking distance from her apartment. I said "I hope the barber speaks English."

We got there and the place was called "Larry's Barbershop." Good sign. I got my haircut from Carlos and its the best haircut I have gotten in a long time. Carlos could give Carl a run for his money. I wish I would have found him earlier.

Carlos' technique was flawless. First he cleaned up the side of my head with the trimmer and then made sure to shave the back of my neck with a beard/moustache trimmer. Then he did something I had never experienced before. He took a straight razor like tool to cut my hair. While using a comb as a guide he gently flicked his wrist and the razor like device cut my hair. It felt good and was effective. I was in complete awe. After tapering in my hair he used scissors to do the top of my head. Finally, he shaved the back of my neck and around my ears and sideburns with a straight razor.

After he was done, I looked at my girlfriend and he caught me and said, "If she didn't say anything, it looks good." He was right, she didn't say anything and it looks good. He put a little bit of hairspray in my hair, spiked it up a bit and I was on my way. I asked him how much I owed and he said "Eleven." I gave him $13 and was on my way.

The search is over.

Law Students, Thieves?

2006-01-18T15:47:00.000-05:00

I'm pissed. I'm glad I have this blog, cause it allows me to vent and hopefully connect with people that have some input on the subject matter.

Background information:

I am a law student in Miami at the "U," as the football team likes to call it. Yesterday, stupidly, I left my laptop charger in one of the classrooms. This was about 11AM. I didn't realize this until 3:30 but wasn't able to go back to see if it was in the room until 6:00 because of the class schedules. When I got there, I looked around for about 20 minutes and nothing. No charger anywhere. Not under the desk. Not at the front of the room. Nowhere.

This morning I went to the Registrar, Dean of Student's Office, and the library (3 lost and found locations). Nothing. I went back in the afternoon. Nothing. I talked to the professor who teaches the class in the same room right after my class. Nothing.

I have a question...maybe a couple.

1. WHO STEALS A POWER CORD?
2. WHAT LAW STUDENT STEALS A POWER CORD?

Now I am assuming that it was stolen and that the finder isn't trying to find me, laughing with his/her buddies about his/her good fortune. "Now I can have one at school and one at home! HA HA HA!" Yes, maybe I am paranoid and don't trust people, but I know that if I had found a cord I would have wanted to keep it, but I would have turned it into the lost and found. I am not saying I am better than those who don't/wouldn't, but it strikes me, that future lawyers could be dishonest and unhelpful.

Reading that last sentence, maybe I am foolish. Lawyers are pretty scummy. I want to just say that although I am studying law, I want to go back to the business world and law school was pretty much a mistake on my part.

What really pisses me off is that we operate under a strict honor code here. Taking a pencil from the libarary is technically a punishable offense. But forget the legal stuff, have some fucking compassion for a fellow broke-ass student. We all have laptops and understand how essential they are to our daily being. We all know that a power cord is necessary for a laptop to function (assuming the battery has run out).

Needless to say, I am probably outta $50 to replace the damn thing. Hopefully, I am wrong and the person is looking for me or turning in the cord now but I am not keeping my hopes up.

Oh, for those who are wondering how I got this post up...I was lucky enough to have a friend let me borrow her charger this morning.

One last thing...If you took my damn charger and are reading this, please drop it off in the library...cause I am going to hunt you down like a dog and then gut you like a fish.

Gee Whiz Timmy

2006-01-17T10:12:00.000-05:00

I hate watching local news. I can't stand it. I don't care who got shot where. I don't care about who was seen on South Beach. I don't care about health tips that any idiot could figure out. The only good thing about the local news is the sports highlights and the weather.

I do like watching the national news, especially the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. He does a very good job and has a personality (his interview on the Daily Show was hilarious). Basically, I watch this program every chance I get.

Last night, the theme of the news was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I have nothing against this because MLK Jr was very important in this country's history. I am not going to say anything more because I don't know much more about him than what I learned in high school and what I have read in the news. I am no expert and I am not going to pretend that I am.

Well, anyway, one of the stories was about what was going on in New Orleans and how the city was celebrating the legacy of Dr. King. What struck me were the Mayor's comments. The point he was trying to make was valid - that the black community of New Orleans should have a chance to rebuild and it would not be fair if the lower income individuals were forced out of the city.

What bothered me though was how he made this point. In his speech at City Hall, Mayor Nagin said,

"This city will be chocolate at the end of the day...This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be."

When asked to clarify his comments, Nagin said he was saying the New Orleans should be a integrated city and his comments were not divisive. His exact quote was this jem:

"How do you make chocolate? You take dark chocolate, you mix it with white milk, and it becomes a delicious drink."

And then

"New Orleans was a chocolate city before Katrina. It is going to be a chocolate city after. How is that divisive? It is white and black working together, coming together and making something special."

Is it just me or was Nagin using racial slurs in a speech about bringing New Orleans back? Dark Chocolate? White milk? Chocolate city? Is this the 1960s? Don't get me wrong, I understand what he is saying. Yes, the people of New Orleans who were forced out of their neighborhoods deserve a chance at rebuilding. But to make that statement using those kinds words is just beyond me. I have a feeling that if something like this would have happened in a predominently white city and the Mayor was to say something like that, the NAACP, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton would be all over him for being racist.

How is this any different? Yes, maybe Nagin was playing to a black crowd on MLK day but that still doesn't make what he said ok. He could have gotten the same point across using different language. Call me racist, say I don't get it, or whatever you want to. My only point is that he shouldn't be using slang terms for races and have it be ok. Dr. King was about having people be treated equally. Well, in that case, Mayor Nagin should be scrutinized for the words he used. He should be questioned. Most of all, he should apologize to those who may have been offended.

Football Thoughts

2006-01-12T17:00:00.000-05:00

Lots of events happening in the football world this week. Michigan football is in the news for a variety of reasons. My thoughts:

Michigan Football:

It unfortunate that Michigan lost Matt Gutierrez to transfer, but its hard to blame him for his decision. Matt just was a victim of bad luck, unfortunate circumstances, or whatever-you-want-to-call-it. Let's be honest, kids want to display their skills in college to get to the pros and getting some experience, even at the 1-AA level is better than nothing. Barring injury to Chad Henne, its unlikely that Matt would have gotten snaps in other than mop up situations. Like Brian at www.mgoblog.blogspot.com said, Matt was gracious and handled his situation with nothing but class. Good luck to him in the future.

Also leaving Michigan is Max Martin, 4th string running back this past year. Martin was prone to fumbles and never really seemed to build confidence or gain the trust of the coaching staff. Reports are that he's heading to Alabama. With Carlos Brown coming in, Kevin Grady getting more practice, Mike Hart getting healthy, and Jerome Jackson there is a lot of talent on the roster and Martin's departure is unlikely to hurt the team next year.

Finally, next year's schedule is finalized. Contrary to popular belief, Vandy, not UMaine Black Bears is the 12th game. Personally, I would have liked a stronger opponent, but it seemed unlikely to happen. Vandy will be a fun opening game, a different taste from a MAC opponent - like having cocoa pebbles instead of fruity pebbles.

This shouldn't be a tough game with Vanderbilt losing their star player to graduation and that is what really bothers me. I know that Michigan didn't have a good year but this program seems to be ducking quality opponents because the Wolverines would have to go on the road (to be fair, UMiami contacted Michigan before the 2004 season to fill out the 'Canes' schedule and Michigan responded by saying the game would be a go...if it took place in Ann Arbor).

The only road game this team faces in the non-conference is Notre Dame and there are grumblings that Lloyd wants the Irish off the schedule. I don't know how much truth there is to this.

Now I know that it was hard to get another opponent for next year given the time crunch, but hopefully, in the future, Michigan will be playing more challenging teams than the Commodores. I remember as a freshman, the first home game, my first game as a student was against Colorado. My sophomore year, Michigan traveled to Boulder and skipped out with a close victory.

Personally, I wonder if there is a rift in the athletic department on how to handle the 12th game. Its well know that Lloyd doesn't like the idea of exploiting the kids, blah, blah, blah. On the other hand, the extra home game makes the athletic department about an extra $4M. Its an opportunity to bring in a quality opponent, even if it means a home and home situation.

It would be great to see a team like Oklahoma, LSU, or Miami come up to Ann Arbor. There is a thought going on the road in the non-conference could kill National Championship dreams, but to get that far, a team is going to have to win on the road and getting a victory over a contender on the road could only help in the long run. Although there is not tournament in college football, I still think road victories can only help a team get stronger for its conference road games. I think a victory on the road against a quality opponent is worth more than a home victory over a patsy (see Texas 2005).

Maybe Lloyd is afraid to go on the road given his lack of success in opening road games. Maybe Lloyd really believes that a weak home opponent is a good thing. Maybe Bill Martin would rather sign one year contracts with teams that will only come to Ann Arbor to get the additional coin. Yet, I don't think the decision is being driven by Martin as evidenced in John Heuser's column in the Ann Arbor News:

" Although home games - which net the school's athletic department more than $4 million each - are enticing from a financial perspective, Martin acknowledged that there is also value in going on the road during the non-conference season."

Martin was quoted as saying,"We'd like to do away games in areas where we have strong alumni bases, and where there is a big talent pool in terms of high school football players (for recruiting purposes)."

I guess we will see what happens in the future. Hopefully, it will involve playing some quality opponents.

Happy New Year

2006-01-01T20:00:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! I spent midnight with my girlfriend at her house in New Jersey. It was different than going out and getting drunk in a club, but just as much fun.

Other thoughts:

Thank God the Lions season is over. Hopefully, management will get a clue and restructure management. Matt Millen needs to hire a coach who will crack the whip. Who this is, I don't know.

I am excited to watch the New Year's bowls. Besides Texas v. USC, I am very interested to watch PSU take on Florida State. I think Florida State's defense is the key to this game - if they play as well as they did against VT and Miami, even without AJ Nicholson, they have a good shot of winning. I am going with FSU in this one.

Also, in the Fiesta Bowl, I am curious to see ND's offense versus Ohio State's defense. Honestly, I have no idea what is going to happen in this game. ND's offense played well most of the season, but I don't know if they have played a defense of Ohio State's caliber. Cheering for either team in this game is weird - like picking between kissing your sister and your mom. I think with over a month to prepare for this game, Charlie Weiss will have the Irish ready and they will win in a defensive struggle.

Finally, I hope Texas beats USC just so that I can harass my roommate. He's your typical bandwagon SC fan, he's the sports equivalent of Tara Reid - he'll take his shirt off for whoever is hot that season. Just the possibility of him crying after SC loses makes me as a happy as a kid on Christmas.

2005-10-17T23:22:00.000-04:00

Like any normal morning, I started getting dressed for class. As I was standing around looking for a shirt to wear, I noticed my Blue Michigan t-shirt, you know the one, blue with "Michigan" across the chest. I decided I would put it on.

See, I'm in school at the University of Miami (FL) and this season has been tough because my friends down here have been giving me crap about how the Michigan football team has done this year. But I put on my shirt...I had to...the win made me feel good, until at least Saturday.

I got to school and noticed 2 other people wearing the same Michigan t-shirt (I am in law school and go to school with a lot of Michigan alumns).

The first kid looked at me, smiled, and put one index finger in the air. I pointed back at him, not saying a word. Right after this exchange I caught sight of my friend Brian. He looked at me smiled and gave a disbeliving shake of his head and a thumbs up. I smiled back.

Although I felt good after the State game, this was the first time this season I felt really good about Michigan football.

2005-09-27T01:03:00.000-04:00

This is my first post