The Nationals lost out on the Alfonso Soriano derby as he signed an 8-year 135 million dollar contract with the Chicago Cubs yesterday. And frankly, I can't say I'm upset that the Natties let him go. 135 million is way too much for a player who even in his best season, couldn't get the team out of the NL East basement. I'm still fuming that the Nationals didn't trade Soriano at the trade deadline. I will never understand the logic behind that move. I'm going to enjoy watching the Cubs be a major flop this season. They have way too many guys on their roster who are being overpaid big time. And when it comes down to it, their success has always depended on the health of their pitching. The Sweet Lou blowups should be phenomenal.
And while we're on baseball, Ryan Zimmerman was robbed of the NL rookie of the year award. Not only were his RBI and homerun totals better than Hanley Ramirez, he also played thurd base at a Gold Glove clip. Scott Rolen, who won the Gold Glove again this year, had the same amount of errors as Zimmerman. Does good defense mean nothing anymore? Ramirez showed good range at shortstop but had a lot of errors typical of a rookie in his first Big League season. Zimmerman showed none of that immaturity and is going to be a star in years to come.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Aftermath
What can you really say? That game was just phenomenal. It had everything a great game should have. And frankly, it was fitting that Ohio State won because they were the better team. The fact that Michigan got three tunrovers and didn't commit any themselves and still lost shows how good the BUckeyes really are. The sad part is that if you had told me on Friday that Michigan would put up 39 points against OSU, I would have told you we would be going to the BCS National Championship. It's a lot like the redskins loss in the playoffs last year against the Seahawks. The Skins managed to knock out Shaun Alexander early, created some turnovers and still lost. The better team won. I have no regrets from that football game...well maybe that overthrow on the second drive by Henne with Mario wide open...oh and that Crable personal foul...but other than that no regrets.
And after bashing Lloyd for the past two years, I'm gonna give him his credit. The guy is a good coach. The way Michgan came out in the second half proved that. It appeared the game was on the verge of a blowout, but Lloyd and his staff made some adjustments and the team came out fired up. You won't hear another anti-Lloyd peep out of me for awhile.
Count me among those who don't want to see a rematch. Michigan had their chance to go to the National Championship and it didn't work out. Michigan-Ohio State is a rivalry that is unparalleled in college football and the game is meant to be played in either The Big House or the Horseshoe, not the Alien Dome in Glendale. It would make this epic game that occurred yesterday meaningless. And as I type this I see that we are still No. 2 in the BCS. I won't lie...I'll still go to the BCS Title game if we get there.
And after bashing Lloyd for the past two years, I'm gonna give him his credit. The guy is a good coach. The way Michgan came out in the second half proved that. It appeared the game was on the verge of a blowout, but Lloyd and his staff made some adjustments and the team came out fired up. You won't hear another anti-Lloyd peep out of me for awhile.
Count me among those who don't want to see a rematch. Michigan had their chance to go to the National Championship and it didn't work out. Michigan-Ohio State is a rivalry that is unparalleled in college football and the game is meant to be played in either The Big House or the Horseshoe, not the Alien Dome in Glendale. It would make this epic game that occurred yesterday meaningless. And as I type this I see that we are still No. 2 in the BCS. I won't lie...I'll still go to the BCS Title game if we get there.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Bo Schembechler is an amusing human being
I'm writing this from the upper press row here at Crisler Arena as Michigan and Wisconsin-Milwaukee tip off in an early season non-conference game. Wisc-Mil made the tourny last year, but lost a lot of their studs from that team. So I'm hoping this will be another win for the Wolverines. But enough college basketball, it's time for the mother fucking Big Game.
I thought I'd make fun of Bo Schembechler a little in this post. Seeing as I'm not from the state of Michigan, I don't view good ol' Bo as a living God. I do think he is the single reason why the Big Game is the Big Game. Imagine this rivalry without him and Woody Hayes shooting insults at each other. The sincere disdain they had for each other's programs was remarkable. I found it great when the other day at Bo's press conference (why he had one I don't know) he was still yapping about how much he hates Ohio State today. The guy just had his heart replaced, and yet still stresses over the slights he feels Michigan gets in comparisan to the Buckeyes. He was talking about how the last time the Wolverines visited Columbus, the team had to clear their bus on the way home so the Columbus police could search their bags for bombs. The police were legitimately worried that there were bombs planted by fans, yet Bo took it as a slight. It didn't matter that there could be explosives that would kill players and coaches, all that mattered was that Ohio State is a bunch of jackasses for delaying our trip home.
But deep down inside I love this type of contempt. Bo doesn't like Ohio State University, he doesn't like Woody Hayes, hell, he doesn't like the entire state of Ohio. And that's why he's a legend. He had the foresight as a head coach to realize what Ohio is: The second worst state in America (behind New Jersey). If NJ is the armpit of America, then that makes Ohio the buttcrack.
I thought I'd make fun of Bo Schembechler a little in this post. Seeing as I'm not from the state of Michigan, I don't view good ol' Bo as a living God. I do think he is the single reason why the Big Game is the Big Game. Imagine this rivalry without him and Woody Hayes shooting insults at each other. The sincere disdain they had for each other's programs was remarkable. I found it great when the other day at Bo's press conference (why he had one I don't know) he was still yapping about how much he hates Ohio State today. The guy just had his heart replaced, and yet still stresses over the slights he feels Michigan gets in comparisan to the Buckeyes. He was talking about how the last time the Wolverines visited Columbus, the team had to clear their bus on the way home so the Columbus police could search their bags for bombs. The police were legitimately worried that there were bombs planted by fans, yet Bo took it as a slight. It didn't matter that there could be explosives that would kill players and coaches, all that mattered was that Ohio State is a bunch of jackasses for delaying our trip home.
But deep down inside I love this type of contempt. Bo doesn't like Ohio State University, he doesn't like Woody Hayes, hell, he doesn't like the entire state of Ohio. And that's why he's a legend. He had the foresight as a head coach to realize what Ohio is: The second worst state in America (behind New Jersey). If NJ is the armpit of America, then that makes Ohio the buttcrack.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Too Much?
Well the hype has begun. I noticed during Sportscenter last night that there were exactly eight commercials for Saturday's matchup between Michigan and Ohio State. That means that over the course of one morning there were probably something like 40-50 commercials simply talking about The BIg Game. Not to mention the little feature during Sportscenter talking about how Michigan players have been watching Cinderella Man as motivation all year. Another example of the hype getting out of control is the press conferences. Ordinarily, on the Monday following a game, Michigan holds a one hour presser in which Lloyd Carr talks for a half hour and then three Michigan players talk for another half hour. Today, the press conference went from 930 until nearly 3 o'clock. Chad Henne spioke for an hour, then Bo Schembechler (why I don't know) for an hour, then a lunch break, then a bunch of players for an hour, and finally Lloyd Carr spoke for almost an hour and a half. My question is how can this game live up to the hype?
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Portis hurt
I'm sitting here watching the game cast of the SKins-Eagles game and just found out about CPort's broken hand. I had said all week that if the Skins win this game they would have a shot at finally getting on a roll. But now that they are already losing, even if they do come back, how are they gonna run the table without Portis? He's the heart and soul of that offense. And I bet Ladell regrets signing that contract extension this offseason. Now, he's gonna get the opportunity to be the featured back for awhile. And if he plays well, he could have parlaed that into a starting job next year. Hey Snyder, here's an idea. If Ladell plays well, why don't you try to trade him for a high draft pick? Maybe it would be smart to build the team the way other successful NFL franchises do it: Through the draft.
The Big Game
Well it is finally upon us. Ohio State. Michigan. Here in Ann Arbor, we've all been thinking about it since that Iowa win about a month ago. I personally have no idea who is going to win the game either. Both teams are sick. Ohio State's offense is a juggernaut, but Michigan's defense is just as insane. Michigan's defense is going to end up being like that Miami team from a few years ago...you know the one with like seven first round draft picks. Because last time I checked, the Wolverine defense had like six guys in Mel Kiper's first round projections. CB Leon Hall is listed at No. 4 overall, DT Allen Branch is the No. 1 defensive tackle and listed as a top-10 prospect, Lamarr Woodley is listed as a top-15 prospect, LB David Harris is now listed ahead of Paul Puzlosny as the No. 1 linebacker according to Mel Kiper, and LB Prescott Burgess and DE Rondell Biggs are considered low first round/high second round prospects. But the amount of talent on Michigan's defense is matched by Ohio State's talent on offense.
But to me, this game is going to come down to two players, one on each team. For the Buckeyes, it is Anthony Gonzales, their No. 2 wideout. I'm pretty sure Leon Hall is going to lock down Ted Ginn, because Hall is the real deal. Some around campus are expecting him to have a Charles Woodson '97 type game (you know the one where he cemented himself as maybe the greatest college football player ever). But I don't think that will happen. Troy Smith is too good of a QB to give Hall a chance to have that type of game. Ted Ginn won't have more than 3 catches. The key will be if Gonzales has a big game. He's showed he is a leit threat in that Texas game, and if you've watched Michigan's defense this season, you'll know that their one glaring weak spot is No. 2 corner Morgan Trent. I'm curios whether Michigan has enough confidence in Hall to just leave him out on an island against Ginn. That will allow them to roll the safeties over to Trent's side. I don't think they do, and I think Gonzales will have a huge impact. If he doesn't that defense will dominate.
For the Wolverines, it is Chad Henne. The bottom line is that when he throws the ball less than 20 times in a game, Michigan wins. But usually when he only throws the ball a limited amount of times, he makes the most of each of those throws. We finally saw the return of the big play in Michigan's offense against Indiana yesterday with Breaston's huge grab. Manningham really opens up the offense whether it be catching the ball or serving as a decoy. If you look at the highlights of that throw, Henne was staring down Manningham, and the safety went right to Mario, but Henne then turned and threw to Breaston. Next Saturday, if Chad gets careless and throws some picks, the Wolverines are in trouble. Michigan is not going to be able to simply rely on Mike Hart pounding the ball every play. While they do need to run the ball, and run it a lot, Henne is goign to need to make some big throws and avoid turnovers in order for Michigan to come out on top.
And since the media is hyping this game more than any other college football game in a long time, I will hype it up all this week as well. So basically, Krauss and Brown should look forward to a lot of blogging this week.
But to me, this game is going to come down to two players, one on each team. For the Buckeyes, it is Anthony Gonzales, their No. 2 wideout. I'm pretty sure Leon Hall is going to lock down Ted Ginn, because Hall is the real deal. Some around campus are expecting him to have a Charles Woodson '97 type game (you know the one where he cemented himself as maybe the greatest college football player ever). But I don't think that will happen. Troy Smith is too good of a QB to give Hall a chance to have that type of game. Ted Ginn won't have more than 3 catches. The key will be if Gonzales has a big game. He's showed he is a leit threat in that Texas game, and if you've watched Michigan's defense this season, you'll know that their one glaring weak spot is No. 2 corner Morgan Trent. I'm curios whether Michigan has enough confidence in Hall to just leave him out on an island against Ginn. That will allow them to roll the safeties over to Trent's side. I don't think they do, and I think Gonzales will have a huge impact. If he doesn't that defense will dominate.
For the Wolverines, it is Chad Henne. The bottom line is that when he throws the ball less than 20 times in a game, Michigan wins. But usually when he only throws the ball a limited amount of times, he makes the most of each of those throws. We finally saw the return of the big play in Michigan's offense against Indiana yesterday with Breaston's huge grab. Manningham really opens up the offense whether it be catching the ball or serving as a decoy. If you look at the highlights of that throw, Henne was staring down Manningham, and the safety went right to Mario, but Henne then turned and threw to Breaston. Next Saturday, if Chad gets careless and throws some picks, the Wolverines are in trouble. Michigan is not going to be able to simply rely on Mike Hart pounding the ball every play. While they do need to run the ball, and run it a lot, Henne is goign to need to make some big throws and avoid turnovers in order for Michigan to come out on top.
And since the media is hyping this game more than any other college football game in a long time, I will hype it up all this week as well. So basically, Krauss and Brown should look forward to a lot of blogging this week.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Tommy Amaker does something good?
I was on the internet today, when I suddenly realized that NOvember 8 is the first day high school basketball recruits from the class of 2011 could sign their national letters of intent. So I went over to scout.com to see if the players who teams got verbal committments actually signed. And much to my surprise, scout.com listed Michigan as having a top-20 recruting class, specifically it was ranked number 18. It's higlighted by star shooting guard Alex Legion, easily the WOlverines best recruit since Daniel Horton. BUt what is significant is the depth of the recruiting class. This is the first time in Tommy's six years as coach at Michigan, that he has gotten a truly "good" class. So congrats to him.
Nationally though, things don't look good for the Wolverines. Four Big Ten teams had top-10 classes. Purdue was the most shocking, as scout.com rated them No. 4. Essentially Matt Painter found these three kids on the same AAU team a couple years ago and recruited them extremely aggressively even though they weren't highly rated at the time. But over the past two years all three of their stocks went up to the point to where they were all rated as top-50 prospects. And they rewarded Painter's early recognition by signing on to play in West Lafayette. Ohio State had another strong haul, piggy backing on the success of getting Mike Conley and Greg Oden this year. They actually got a 5-star 7 footer to replace Oden if and when he leaves for the NBA. Michigan State got two of the best three guards in the class of 2011. And Indiana got the number one recruit in the land in Eric Gordon. I believe I mentioned in an earlier post how that sneaky Kelvin Sampson stole him away from Bruce Weber and Illinois.
And in other college basketball news. Jerome Dyson, the man who made gym class triple doubles at Churchill a regularity, has been the STARTING SHOOTING GUARD for UCONN in their two exhibition games. This is the same guy who would go into Dichov's PE class and regularly tell all the ghetto Scotland kids that he could beat them in 3-on-3 with the two whitest kids in the class. He would then proceed to select the one and only Michael Battey for his team everyday.
By the way, if you look at The Michigan Daily's Tipoff issue, I picked Jerome as my National player of the year. I had to have some I-270 basketball pride.
Nationally though, things don't look good for the Wolverines. Four Big Ten teams had top-10 classes. Purdue was the most shocking, as scout.com rated them No. 4. Essentially Matt Painter found these three kids on the same AAU team a couple years ago and recruited them extremely aggressively even though they weren't highly rated at the time. But over the past two years all three of their stocks went up to the point to where they were all rated as top-50 prospects. And they rewarded Painter's early recognition by signing on to play in West Lafayette. Ohio State had another strong haul, piggy backing on the success of getting Mike Conley and Greg Oden this year. They actually got a 5-star 7 footer to replace Oden if and when he leaves for the NBA. Michigan State got two of the best three guards in the class of 2011. And Indiana got the number one recruit in the land in Eric Gordon. I believe I mentioned in an earlier post how that sneaky Kelvin Sampson stole him away from Bruce Weber and Illinois.
And in other college basketball news. Jerome Dyson, the man who made gym class triple doubles at Churchill a regularity, has been the STARTING SHOOTING GUARD for UCONN in their two exhibition games. This is the same guy who would go into Dichov's PE class and regularly tell all the ghetto Scotland kids that he could beat them in 3-on-3 with the two whitest kids in the class. He would then proceed to select the one and only Michael Battey for his team everyday.
By the way, if you look at The Michigan Daily's Tipoff issue, I picked Jerome as my National player of the year. I had to have some I-270 basketball pride.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Terps Sports
I know Matt is gonna love this post. I noticed that the Maryland football team has made its way into the AP top 25 this week. They got a huge road win in Clemson against a Tigers team that I watched a few weeks ago look damn good against Georgia Tech. I definitely didn't see the Terps pulling this one out. BUt Hollenbach has really come into his own this season. A totally different QB than a year ago. I believe he made only one really bad throw and that was the interception. And the Terps defense looked pretty damn good. It reminded me a lot of the Terps D from that Orange Bowl year. That 2001 team has Madieu Williams in the secondary, and EJ Henderson at linebacker, and they dominated the football field. This year the Terps D has EJ's little brother, Erin, who looked like a tackling machine against Clemson. And then that cornerback, Josh Wilson, was just ferocious on the edge. He reminds me a lot of a young Champ Bailey, in that he's such a sure tackler. Now the Terps sit at 7-2, and got a shot at the ACC Title.
And what makes all this so weird is that the AP top 25 poll for college basketball came out today. And it seems to me that Terps basketball has reached a recent low for them. The Terps were not only not ranked in the top 25, but they weren't even in the receiving votes section. Didn't Gary Williams just win a national championship in 2002? And honestly, looking at that roster, I'm not really surprised. When Ekene Ibekwe is probably your most reliable offensive weapon you've got issues. Gary WIlliams needs to be held to a higher standard when it comes to recruiting. They haven't had a blue chip recruit since Caner-Medley and DJ Strawberry, and frankly, both of them did not or have not been as good as advertised coming out of high school.
And what makes all this so weird is that the AP top 25 poll for college basketball came out today. And it seems to me that Terps basketball has reached a recent low for them. The Terps were not only not ranked in the top 25, but they weren't even in the receiving votes section. Didn't Gary Williams just win a national championship in 2002? And honestly, looking at that roster, I'm not really surprised. When Ekene Ibekwe is probably your most reliable offensive weapon you've got issues. Gary WIlliams needs to be held to a higher standard when it comes to recruiting. They haven't had a blue chip recruit since Caner-Medley and DJ Strawberry, and frankly, both of them did not or have not been as good as advertised coming out of high school.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Big Ten Media Day
I told you there would be another post about this weekend and I actually delivered this time. So post-Mudbowl we had our annual Mudbowl party which blew up. So many people, so much booze. Jeff got wasted, and we probably got put on social pro for awhile. But a good time was had by all. So that morning at 5am (I didn't go to sleep, Zac can attest to this as he saw me leave) I drove to Chicago for Big Ten Basketball Media Day. I was going on fumes, I'm really not sure how I did it. But I arrived in Chicago at about 8am central time and ate some free breakfast courtesy of the Big Ten. Basically every top player from every team, along with his coach were there. The format was like roundtable discussions from 9am-noon. Some notables who I actually had one-on-one interviews with were:
Lester Abram, Dion Harris, Courtney Sims, and Tommy Amaker of Michigan: The highlight of these talks was with Courtney Sims. Basically I turned off my recorder and just talked with him for like 25 minutes about nothing. We both agreed that booze needed to be served at stupid media day things like this one. And I forgot to ask lester about his theory on getting more drunk if you take booze up your nose. Also, Amaker told me he was missing the 20th reunion of his 1986 Duke team, to which I gave a look of astonishment. He laughed, I didn't. Go Duke.
Adam Haluska of Iowa: He said Crisler Arena was the toughest place to play in the Big Ten. He lost all credibility with that statement.
Dan Monson, coach of Minnesota: He actually thought his team was overrated when it was ranked 9TH in the preseason BIg Ten poll.
Roderick Wilmont of Indiana: He told me that Michigan was always well-coached. Clearly he hasn't watched Tommy Amaker at work the past six years.
Brian Butch and Kammeron Taylor of Wisconsin: Brian Butch's breath smelled real bad so I tried to avoid talking to him after one question. And then I asked Kammeron Taylor if he gets mistaken for Chris Rock ever. He responded 'No' and that's how the interview ended.
Geary Claxton of Penn State: He didn't know he was voted All Big Ten preseason 1st Team until I told him. He said he was gonna call his mom.
Tom Izzo of Michigan State: I asked him a question and he didn't answer it. My hate for State (haha it rhymes) went up tenfold.
Bruce Weber of Illinois: He said he wasn't going to talk to Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson ever again. Actually he refused to refer to him by name, instead calling him "the Indiana head men's basketball coach". This is all because Illinois had the number one recruit in the nation verballed for next year, but Sampson started recruiting him anyways after he got the Hoosier job. A few weeks ago the recruit bolted Illinois and went to Indiana.
Thad Matta of Ohio State: So to get on his good side I lied and told him that when I was younger I used to go to a lot of GW basketball games, and saw him coach with Xavier. In actuality I've been to one GW game, and he was the coach of Xavier in it. Thad then went on a little five minute rant about how good Xavier is gonna be this year. Now that I was in, I asked if it was fair to compare this year's Ohio State freshman class (with greg Oden and Mike Conley among others) with the Fab Five. He responded, "no because we didn't cheat to get them". ZING! He promptly told me I couldn't print that, but I say fuck you Thad Matta because it will live in eternity on this blog.
Lester Abram, Dion Harris, Courtney Sims, and Tommy Amaker of Michigan: The highlight of these talks was with Courtney Sims. Basically I turned off my recorder and just talked with him for like 25 minutes about nothing. We both agreed that booze needed to be served at stupid media day things like this one. And I forgot to ask lester about his theory on getting more drunk if you take booze up your nose. Also, Amaker told me he was missing the 20th reunion of his 1986 Duke team, to which I gave a look of astonishment. He laughed, I didn't. Go Duke.
Adam Haluska of Iowa: He said Crisler Arena was the toughest place to play in the Big Ten. He lost all credibility with that statement.
Dan Monson, coach of Minnesota: He actually thought his team was overrated when it was ranked 9TH in the preseason BIg Ten poll.
Roderick Wilmont of Indiana: He told me that Michigan was always well-coached. Clearly he hasn't watched Tommy Amaker at work the past six years.
Brian Butch and Kammeron Taylor of Wisconsin: Brian Butch's breath smelled real bad so I tried to avoid talking to him after one question. And then I asked Kammeron Taylor if he gets mistaken for Chris Rock ever. He responded 'No' and that's how the interview ended.
Geary Claxton of Penn State: He didn't know he was voted All Big Ten preseason 1st Team until I told him. He said he was gonna call his mom.
Tom Izzo of Michigan State: I asked him a question and he didn't answer it. My hate for State (haha it rhymes) went up tenfold.
Bruce Weber of Illinois: He said he wasn't going to talk to Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson ever again. Actually he refused to refer to him by name, instead calling him "the Indiana head men's basketball coach". This is all because Illinois had the number one recruit in the nation verballed for next year, but Sampson started recruiting him anyways after he got the Hoosier job. A few weeks ago the recruit bolted Illinois and went to Indiana.
Thad Matta of Ohio State: So to get on his good side I lied and told him that when I was younger I used to go to a lot of GW basketball games, and saw him coach with Xavier. In actuality I've been to one GW game, and he was the coach of Xavier in it. Thad then went on a little five minute rant about how good Xavier is gonna be this year. Now that I was in, I asked if it was fair to compare this year's Ohio State freshman class (with greg Oden and Mike Conley among others) with the Fab Five. He responded, "no because we didn't cheat to get them". ZING! He promptly told me I couldn't print that, but I say fuck you Thad Matta because it will live in eternity on this blog.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Mudbowl 2006
Well Mudbowl was this past Saturday, and I'm going to have to say that it ranks up there with any sports moment in my entire life. I exceeded all of the expectations I had for myself going into the game, not to mention we blew out Beta 32-0. I caught the opening touchdown pass from Pete on a nice touch pass over the top of the secondary. It seemed like that ball sailed in the air forever. Did I mention that I was the center and I caught a TD pass. Then, after our unstoppable defense caused a three and out (with Nate giving their QB a concussion) on the next possession, I once again played a role in our TD. Pete broke open a long touchdown run, but the play behind the play was me blocking two Beta defenders at one time. I thought no one had seen my block, but when I looked up at some of the alumni on the sideline, they definitely noticed. And on our third TD, I caught the two point conversion, while also keeping both feet inbounds on a sideline grab. And this was all in the first half. I couldn't have asked for anything more. But then as I walked off the field in the second half (after we were leading 26-0) a large group of the crowd began to chantt 'M V P'. It was surreal. Definitely the biggest natural high I've ever had in my entire life. I'm gonna have another post after other stuff from a truly historic weekend in the life of Mark.
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