In A Month...

/

​Practice starts Monday.  Real practice.  Not drills.  Not weightlifting.  Practice.  Gameplans are being set.  I saw Nick Sheridan's playbook and Western Michigan defense DVDs on the dash of his car this week (we park near each other), which is no doubt the creepiest way I have ever been inaugurated into a football season.  The time is now.  The coverage is weak.  The outlook? Grim.

And that's just how we like it...at least that's how I like it.  It makes me have 1997 delusions of grandeur.  I envision a brash confident Michigan player, like Donovan Warren, walking into RichRod's office and telling him, let's just win all the games.  No pressure.  Projected underdogs looking forward to most matchups.  All victories shy of Delaware State and Directional Michigan are gravy, which is to say more than those three wins (yes, I'm still scared of WMU) means more wins than last year.  And if nothing else, we the fans require more wins than last year.  A bowl trip, something that has only eluded us once in the last 34 years, equates to a successful season in a year with 8 home games.  Great.

Looking at the statistics with respect to the rest of college football, which you can view here if you enjoy the acidic taste of a touch of puke in your mouth, you will find a team that has no where to go but up.  We now, in the face of mortality brought upon by 2008,  have no choice to appreciate what we had.  Hopefully this season, we can start to appreciate where we are going.

I'm glad to be along for the ride.

30 days.  Boats and Ho's and the Catalina Wine Mixer.  Be there.

We Finally Got A Piece of the Pie

/

​I didn't want to jump the gun on this, and we have not officially closed on anything, but as most know we've been AAGO parkers for the better part of 15 years.  We've had wide open spaces, a scenic green, and for the most part we've been left alone.  Now it seems if we want to be on the golf course, we're going to have to play location musical chairs from game to game, and butt our tents up against our cars.  From a logistical aspect, getting family and friends to be able to find us would have me fielding phone calls all morning and dropping abstract twitter messages when I should be drinking and making ribs.  It's been great.  It's been comfortable.  And because of this and that, we're gonna have to do this.  Which, for those not so link-inclined, is move.

What does this mean to you?  I don't know.  I have no idea who you are.  But those in the know will know what to do, and it will be similarly as convenient for the casual fan of our tailgate.  If you think you should be in the know...shoot me an email.

No doubt what AAGO has done is a travesty, a sham, and a mockery.  It's a travashamockery.  But whatever.  I'll build it.  You'll come.

32 days.

Ohio State, Penn State.....Michigan State?

/

Media picks are out for the 2009 season.

Top three are the Buckeyes, the Nittany Lions, and the Spartans.  Wow.  The lovefest continues for a Spartan team that overachieved last year and is grossly overrated this year.

Preseason offensive player of the year is Terrelle Pryor, preseason defensive player of the year goes to Spartan linebacker Greg Jones.

RichRod will be speaking at 11:45am this morning.  For those at work, BTN has some great coverage.  Also of note, I think Rittenburg likes us.

"We're on the same page," Minor said. "There comes a time you've got to put all that personal pride to the side and decide what we want as a team. At the end of the day, we're a team. When people look back at our team, the team of '09 at Michigan, I want to leave a good legacy behind."

Weekend Roundup, Breakin' Rules Edition: July 27, 2009

/

​What you missed this week on the internet while making pork rinds...


  • Rittenburg goes over the home run threats in the Big Ten.  14 players are named, 3 of which come from our fair Wolverines.

  • Deadspin noticed that the Detroit Lions are offering up a chance for you to relive the 2008 season.

  • Michigan announced that fan day will occur on August 23rd.  Because I am a masochist, I will link this information from the Toledo Blade.

  • The 10 worst BCS teams as reported by Maxim magazine... Michigan is #10.  I just canceled my subscription.

  • Notre Dame put together an alumni squad, coached by Lou Holtz, and went to Japan to play the Japanese American Football Team.  They won 19-3.  Yes, a Japanese American Football team exists, not a Japanese-American football team, but an American Football team comprised of Japanese people...in Japan.  Got it?  Me neither.

  • MGoBlue's latest construction photos highlight the impending destruction of the current pressbox, scheduled for November 2009 according to one of the captions.  I think we all get to take a piece with us after we beat Ohio State.

  • In an attempt to consolodate the number of times you hit refresh during a typical workday, Varsity Blue has been absorbed by MGoBlog.  It's a monopoly!

  • Shaun King wants Michigan fans to know that everything is going to be alright.  "You can still win football games running the football, playing great defense. But the thing is, when you get in a bowl game - and I'm talking national championship, Im not taking the fourth-place Big Ten team versus the fourth-place ACC team; Im talking the big games, the Floridas, the Oklahomas, the Southern Cals - you arent used to going against that type of athlete all year. It's culture shock.  Rodriguez is changing that about Michigan."  Sold!

  • Justin Feagin, who I clamored to have become the starter at QB last season, has done something really really really bad.  What it was, we don't know.  What we do know is that he's no longer an option at QB, WR, or DB.

  • Rittenburg has 3 predictions for the Wolverines for 2009.  Prediciton #1 is very bold, and if it happens, #3 is a lock.