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Spring Fling.... A crisp but beautiful spring day brought out the masses for the Wolverine Spring Fling. The line to tour the locker room was crazy long even at 8am when we arrived. Even parking was tough to come by but we were able to enjoy a mini-tailgate before heading into Michigan Stadium to check out the latest version of the Wolverines. Unlike last year when our quarterbacks threw numerous interceptions, the offense actually looked decent. All in all a good day and you can check out the photos here. Winter Is Over.... The winter sports season has wrapped up and in the case of the Wolverine hockey team, far too early. Time to turn our attention to the spring sports. If you haven't had a chance to take in a game at the renovated baseball/softball complex, I urge you to take the time. Join us on April 10th, weather permitting. Spring football practice will also be wrapping up with a sports fest on April 11th. The plan is to tailgate near the northeast corner of the stadium starting at the usual tailgate time. Still Dancin', Act II.... With the roller coaster basketball season, it was fitting that we were tortured with a roller coaster game that left my heart pounding. A slow start (including two airballs) started us thinking that here we go again with a 20 point half. But we dragged our way back into the game to a satisfying halftime position. Then our Wolverines again showed their streak of brilliant play to build a 16 point lead in the second half only to have Clemson claw within one. When Stu's corner three pointer rattled 3/4 of the way thru the hoop only to rattle out, every Wolverine fan must have thought we were screwed. But the boys pulled out a clutch win and now get to face the biggest of big men in a showdown with Oklahoma. Spring Game.... Some of you may have heard that the annual spring football game is once again being held at Michigan Stadium. Since it is the start of spring break for many of you (including a day off on Good Friday), I thought we would organize a tailgate and check out the renovations to the team and the stadium. With the right bounce of the puck, we may even be able to catch our Wolverines in the hockey championship game that evening. So mark your calendars for April 11th (or April 10th if you want to spend the night) and lets put together a spring tailgate. What the hell, lets catch the Wolverine baseball game on Friday evening to make it a full sports weekend!! Spartans Are Assholes.... Hockey is considered by many a brutal sport. But even in hockey there are rules of battle and the sore losers up in East Lansing again showed their class. Staring at 5-0 season series sweep by the Wolverines, the Spartans sent their talentless thugs out on the ice rather than try and make a comeback. Following a clean check by Steve Kampfer, he was attacked from behind with a round house punch, not by the player he checked but by an MSU goon, then thrown to the ice. Oh, the cowardly MSU player he checked did get involved....once Kampfer was sprawled on the ice, he used his stick to slash him across the neck. The MSU coach...."we're sorry". Assholes forever. Good Weekend.... A (delayed) weekend sweep of Miami in hockey and another Big Ten win in basketball made this a fun weekend of Wolverine sports. Both teams are on a roll with a lot of games still to play. Still, they are winning when games in the New Year which can lead to a lot of fun come March. Fun, Fun, Fun.... Lots of fun being part of a raucous crowd at Crisler (which can't be said very often). The blue hairs still left plenty of empty seats in the lower bowl but the students kept the noise level up. Maybe we can create a home court advantage.
Moving On.... With the football season done, it is time to turn our attention to the winter sports. It's a big week for the Wolverine basketball team and a split against the ACC would be great. In the meantime, crowds at Crisler are growing and could become a fun place to watch a game. Last weekend, Zak and I took in a thriller from the Maize Rage and the pictures can be found here....
Done, Finite, It's Over.... About the best thing that can be said at this point. An unimaginable season came to an unimaginable end. Reality check. Time to forget about the football season but Christmas week won't be the same with no bowl to look forward to. Go Blue.... A changing of the seasons is coming sooner than any year since BC (Before College). A final football game in November against our hillbilly rivals to the south leaves me wondering whether I'll have the usual interest in the bowl season. But its one more chance to put a smile on our faces before we turn our complete attention to the indoor sports. Shock the world Blue, shock the world!! Miserable.... And not just the weather!! On a cold and soaking day that only the true fans sat thru we proved that we are a bunch of nut cases. In this kind of season, with nothing to play for, on a bitter day, we sat in the rain and cold hoping that the game would turn out differently than most every other game we witnessed this season. It was not to be as we watched another fourth down desperation sideline pass sail ten feet over the intended receiver. And then we trudged back to our muddy tailgates to again analyze the defeat. Like I said, nut cases!! But I wouldn't have missed it. Finally.... It's only a little something but it's something and it let us keep the Little Brown Jug for a few years. It feels good to finally get a win again in this disappointing season.. Our Wolverines finally strung together four quarters. Now lets see if we can win two in a row in our last home game of the season. Streak Ends Streak.... Five losses in a row has ended the longest continuous post-season bowl streak in college sports. Officially the streak ended at 33 straight bowl games but if the Big Ten hadn't prevented their second place team from going to bowls in the 70's, the streak would have been over 40. Our motor home trip to Purdue ended with us lambasting the defense. Supposedly the strength of our squad has turned third string QBs into players of the week. Our opponents just make it look so easy as they pick apart our defensive backfield. We were told the defensive scheme would be aggressive yet we're seeing the same easy catches week after week. Much of that has to be on the defensive coaches. Learn To Win.... While it is clear our Wolverines need to learn again how to win games, Sparty clearly needs to learn how to win with some dignity. Special t-shirts and highway billboards commemorating this game just makes it apparent that it has been a long time since a MSU win in this series. But I digress from the purpose of this website and that is to celebrate everything Maize 'n Blue. The same mistakes occur seemingly every weekend but we continue to hope for it all to click for four quarters. So it is off on our annual motor home trip to the scaffolding Purdue calls home. A trip to the Chocolate Shop on Halloween Night could be interesting. Four Quarters.... Sixty minutes. We need to put a complete game together in all aspects. We show some sparkles of improvement for portions of games but then can't seem to find our feet for significant portions. And if there was ever a time to put a full game together for the ultimate joy of Wolverine nation, this is the week. It can and must start with the defense. It is time they shutdown the opposition for four full quarters while the offense picks up what scoring they can. And guys, hang on to the football!!! Go Big Brother...GO BLUE!!!!! Speechless.... I have no answers, no immediate idea when this will get better. WTF? But I will not abandon this team as so many have and will continue to wrench my gut with every game. Go Blue! Forever!! Roller Coaster.... The up and down season continues as we can't seem to string more than one win together. Unlike a roller coaster though, the low points are more extreme than the high points which can lead to a crash and burn on a roller coaster. Let's hope this corkscrewy season becomes a millenium force. When we look bad, we look really bad, as if the guys have no idea what they are suppose to do. A veteran defense has not lived up to expectations and needs to start carrying this team. Nobody would have guessed this team would be at the bottom of the Big Ten in so many defensive categories. But the offense has got to hang on to the ball and put together a sixty minute game. Lets string some wins together. Barwis.... After watching one of the most futile halves of football, I doubt anyone in Michigan Stadium felt like we had a come back in us. Twenty one total yards in the first half and five turnovers made us look we learned nothing over the bye week. But the defense would not let it end there. Starting with a scorching halftime speech from the defense, the Wolverines continued to pound the Badgers along both lines of scrimmage throughout the second half and looked like they could go a few more rounds. This is the Barwis factor which turned an ugly first half into a dominating second. So the second season gets off on the right foot with another team seeking revenge coming into town for homecoming. Make sure you stay the whole game this time. Dreary.... But a hint of sunshine on the horizon. Look, very few, if any, teams could come away with a win while giving the opponent ten opportunities to steal the ball. Six actual turnovers and additional drive killing drops led to the majority of ND's points and killed scoring drives for the Wolverines. But these weren't forced errors by an aggressive opponent, simply brain farts by a young and inexperienced team. In other words, it is something that can be fixed. The ray of light comes from a quarterback who finally was able hit his receivers and an improved running game, even in the crappy conditions of the day. Michigan actually had drives that spanned more than half the field!! But a couple of things need to change immediately. Foremost, the defense has to recognize that they must carry this team to some key wins. Sixty minutes of shutdown defense begins at the defensive line and the safeties have to begin learning from their mistakes. Finally, the coaches must recognize that the kick returners are not cutting it and make some changes. A bye week before the start of the Big Ten season, a chance to make additional improvements. Improvement?.... I'm not so sure given the opponent. Running game looked better but the Redhawks gave up a lot of rushing yards to their previous opponent. Receivers were open so it leads us to hope that the passing game can be improved. However, the quarterbacks (can't believe I still have to use the plural) need to find the open receivers and then not throw the ball six feet past them!! Injuries on the offensive line are not helping the progress but some of these guys need to just start knocking some snot out of the guy in front of them. Hopefully we improve another increment this week and steal one out of South Bend then use the bye week to make a bigger leap of improvement. Our defense should see that they will be able to wreak havoc against the Irish offensive line if we play aggressively. Would like nothing better than to muss up Clauson's hairdo by rubbing his head in the turf a few times!! Coyote Ugly.... Yes, bad enough that I wanted to chew my arm off! We expected growing pains on the offense but this was disheartening. Nothing seemed to work in the first half and it was unbelievable that a QB change wasn't made at halftime. While we anticipated offensive struggles, the defense was no better in the first half. Receivers were left open and we got no pressure on the Utes' QB. Fortunately, the defense stepped it up in the second half giving us a slim chance of pulling out the ugly win. So, as the pundits repeatedly say, the greatest improvement in a football team is between the first and second games. Lets hope the entire team analyzes the game films to figure out what can be improved and then executes. It has to get better! It's Time.... Finally it is time to play ball. The last eight months have been about everything but football. Our Michigan Wolverines are knocking pads and figuring out who will be the leaders and best. I have no doubt our Wolverines will take their place at the top of the Big Ten and the November battle against Tuos (THE University of Ohio State to their recruits). The legal battles and the whiney offensive linemen are behind us. Time for the tailgates, time for the camaraderie, time for football. Bring it and bring it loud!! Blast From The Past As We Contemplate The Future.... From humble beginnings our tailgating venture grew. That 'bun in the oven' is now a sophomore at the University of Michigan!!! And little brother followed her path!!! Dad couldn't be prouder!! |
