All In Favor? All In For Michigan.

If I could think of one accomplishment to have in my young life, it'd be starting a cry for Bill Martin's head on a maize 'n' blue platter. The news on WTKA this morning is that Michigan is likely going to open its 2010 season -- the first season with the fully completed skyboxes -- against the University of Massachusetts. Huh?

2007: Appalachian State; 2008: Toledo; 2009: Delaware State; 2010: UMass

It seems that the quality of nonconference opponents is inexplicably going down from year to year, with the probability of losing and being nationally embarrassed going up exponentially. And the kicker is that Bill Martin is the one that keeps suggesting all these crappy teams to invite to the Big House, and the athletic department just does whatever he says. I swear Martin just digs out his Blackberry and scrolls through the list of his AD friends and thinks, "Hmm, which one can I invite to the Big House this year??? I'll pick Southwest Northern Middle Alabama State Technical Vocational College! That'll draw a sellout crowd of (now) 106,701! Weeee off to play on my yacht and get more money for the University!" True story.

I fully acknowledge that Mr. Martin has made the athletic department consistently profitable, but...really? This is freakin' Michigan people...it's not exactly hard to get people to give money to the school. This is a case where Ohio State actually looks better than Michigan does in scheduling. Yes, they play every school from Ohio each season, at home, but they willingly go play a top five team each and every year, including on the road every other year. When is the last time Michigan played a nonconference team that was nationally relevant? Oh right it was two seasons ago when we played Oregon. The athletic director at the time was one William C. Martin, president of the United States Sailing Foundation. Has he met his 2009 self??

Michigan's big nonconference opponents, year by year since 1997:

1997: Colorado (good team); W 27-3
1998: Syracuse (good team led by Donovan McNabb); L 38-28
1999: Syracuse (not quite as good); W 18-13
2000: #14 UCLA; L 23-20 -- whenever the score of a Michigan game is 23 to 20, it's a loss.
<<>>
2001: Washington (clusterf*&k of a game); L 23-18
2002: #3 Washington AND Utah; W 31-29 (go Phil Brabbs!) and W 10-7 (lol)
2003: #22 Oregon (Michigan ranked #3); L 31-27
2004: Unranked San Diego State; W 24-21
2005: Unranked N. Illinois; W 43-17
2006: Unranked Vanderbilt; W 27-7
2007: Appalachian State (the fill-in team) AND Oregon; L 34-32 and L 39-7
2008: Utah AND Toledo (fill-in team); L 25-23 and L 13-10

Note that Michigan's quality of bowl game reached has declined since 2003 with the exception of the 2004 Rose Bowl against Texas. It's kind of arbitrary, but they've basically alternated between the Outback Bowl and Capitol One Bowl since that date.

It just appears that as Michigan's strength as a football team declined with the departures of big-time players, Martin got cold feet and wussed out at challenging his coaches. Which is a paradox considering we had a god mode team from 2004-2007 and Lloyd was still into it up to 2007.

There are some that applaud cupcake scheduling, but I don't want Michigan to be sitting at 11-1 two years from now at the end of a season, and have the College Gameday guys sway the BCS folks from putting Michigan in the title game when it's a dead heat between them and like Texas and Florida and have Michigan get voted out because they played Eastern Michigan, a 6-6 Notre Dame team, and Idaho.

I want to see a team from a power conference on the schedule each year. I want to see West Virginia, Florida State, USC, Oklahoma State, Tennessee pleading to play with Michigan. It doesn't matter whether it's home or away just schedule the thing!

Michigan Football: Scheduling Teams They Should Beat But Losing Since 2007

I just think Bill Martin doesn't really *fight* for Michigan. He's more concerned about the bottom line than how he gets there.
As if this troubling pattern isn't enough, Michigan is playing Iowa at 8:00 at night this year (televised on ABC nationally), whereas Martin spends $260 mil on the stadium and doesn't even put friggin' lights on in the hopes of having the first ever night game (well, a game that starts when the sun is already down that is). He knows a lot of the old-timers wouldn't go, but then again, a lot of them could surprise. And the others: Screw 'em. Gives a chance for the louder fans to go to a game.

So, with that, I'm starting a petition for the removal of Bill Martin as AD.
What are some other teams you'd like to see Michigan play (besides Deleware State of course)?

Post-Script: I clap for Sailboat Bill that he brought Rodriguez here, but from everything we've learned, it sounds like Mary Sue Coleman put her foot down and made him go after RR after the Les Miles "debacle".

The theme this season is "All In For Michigan." But is Martin?

It Begins. Three days after the Draft the national mockery of the Lions starts anew. Last night on The Late Show Stafford showed up:

Top Ten Thoughts That Went Through Matthew Stafford's Mind On Draft Day

You don't often hear, "Congratulations, you're going to Detroit" Why am I the only one who came to Radio City Music Hall dressed as a Rockette? If the Lions win one game this year, I'm a hero Anybody dumps Gatorade on me and I'll deck 'em Holy crap, I think I just pulled a hamstring I didn't think anything could top the excitement of Heidi and Spencer getting married Is it me or does NFL Commissioner Goodell look like a young Larry Hagman? Why am I here when I could be at that movie where Beyonce and that babe fight? Why does Jessica Simpson keep calling me? I'd gladly go #2 if it means not having to appear on Letterman

A Guide to Post-College Life

It's been exactly one year since my Michigan graduation, and having a lot of time on my hands leads to endless brainstorming and ingenious thought about how to make a living for myself.

I have visions for various aspects of entrepreneurship, but not in the conventional sense. It's important to use the tools that are around us rather than use obsolete tactics. For example, now is not the time to have some grand idea to start a business and expect to survive. Instead, we must turn to resources that are there for the taking. The federal government is making it easier and easier to get grants for anything that will have longevity, give people jobs, and get dollars flowing again.

U of M launched a site the other day for rebuilding the economy: www.innovationeconomy.umich.edu

The Development Office is also expanding outreach: www.giving.umich.edu

Michigan also has a big government relations office: http://www.research.umich.edu/contacts/dc/dc.html

My angle? If it were me, and I had the resources to do it, I'd create an integrated online "business," but a non-profit of sorts, that could start a network of involvement with a huge public university such as Michigan. It could be an advocacy-oriented organization, with journalism, fund raising, and reporting, and my baby, historical preservation or education.

The platform is simple: a web-based blog and information service that lots of people would go to for different services. There's a lot of growth in tools of the internet, and I pride myself on being fully integrated into Google, Facebook and Twitter. They're tools to share information, and I wouldn't even think about doing an undertaking like this without those.

Anyway, random brainstorm thoughts for the win as they say.

Plug Time

Forgot to make a formal link to my other blog that I made live a few weeks ago:

It's over at www.stack-o-papers.blogspot.com

I'm quite proud of my choice of name by the way.

Michigan's Celebrity Former Linebacker

If you're like me, well, you often wonder, "Gee I wonder what former Michigan linebacker Dhani Jones does during the NFL offseason??" There's finally an answer.

Dhani has a show on the Travel Channel (home of my favorite show, "Man vs. Food" by the way)!

Website: http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Dhani_Jones

It's actually an interesting show. But that's just me, I enjoy the types of shows that showcase various parts of our country and the world that I'll never go to. That way I can know things about those areas without ever leaving my chair.

Dhani also has a Twitter page: http://twitter.com/DhaniJones

Future pitches for television shows involving former Michigan football players:

1. Drew Henson stands in line at the Unemployment Office
2. John Navarre changes name to Jason Forcier, attempts to enroll at Michigan again
3. "Gabe Watson Eats the Globe"
4. "Lamarr Woodley Kills the Globe"
5. "Chad Henne Lives as a Neanderthal"

Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week.

Michigan Football in April

I'm a few hours removed from Michigan's first RichRod-run Spring game (one that was open to the public anyways), and the team is already looking much-improved over last year. The format was both interesting and bizarre, but RichRod did a good job keeping the pace going so as to not cause fans to lose interest. It was full-contact hitting aside from big red numbers on the jerseys of the two quarterbacks, and in Tate Forcier's case the red number means, "If you hurt me there's 50,000 fans that will run down here and kill you."


The rules for the Spring Game were the following: Coach Rod started with the special teams units, with light contact and some blocked kicks. For the actual scrimmage, there wasn't any limit to the number of plays or types of drills. It was called in a game-type situation, with actual referees and all the proper enforcements of rules and on-the-fly playcalling, as well as some specific "end-game" scenarios such as down by 8 with a few minutes to go. The offense started either from the 2-yard line or about the 40, and played normal drives, and the defense got points if they were able to get a stop, or got fumble recoveries or pass break-ups.

About 50,000 fans turned out which is refreshing after a 3-9 season. So perhaps in another year or two we could outdo Alabama's famous Spring Game attendence boasts. Most of the credit goes to Rodriguez for being sort of the promoter to get people to come to this event, and people seem to be responding to his efforts to pump up the enthusiasm for the experiences of Michigan games rather than the just the on-the-field action.


Tate Forcier is as quick as you can imagine, throws lasers like Chad Henne, and has incredible awareness in the pocket. He appears to be like a faster and more coachable version of Ryan Mallett. He fakes the ball brilliantly, scampers around when the defense is closing around him, and for the whole afternoon he didn't get sacked for a loss or make poor throws. He did fumble once, and overthrew guys several times, but compared to Steven Threet it's a world of improvement.

Highlights of Michigan Spring Game as I see it:

-- David Cone pulled off a miracle Threet-esque QB run for about 40 yards early on. Woo CONER
-- Forcier throws insanely hard, because guys were dropping balls left and right. And he runs right at the defense and will likely not shy away from taking some hits come Fall.
-- Several key players did not play, including Kevin Koger, Michael Shaw, Jonas Mouton and of course, Sheridammit. I imagine the offense to be in good shape when those guys are healthy.
-- Roy Roundtree caught a total beauty of a pass/bomb from Forcier in the center of the field and streaked down to the endzone. Finally Michigan has a deep passing game again.
-- Forcier did not run any option plays, but did do the zone read play a lot, and already looks like he knows when to keep and when to handoff unlike Threet.
-- Jimmy Potempa gets bonus points for scoring the most TDs of any running back...amidst taking some big hits and not going down. Go Michigan Rudy!
-- I'm concerned about Michigan's safeties. One freshman safety was totally faked out by Carlos Brown on the left sideline, and could not catch him if his life depended on it. I recall now it was Vlad Emelion
-- Most encouraging play of the day came when Forcier snapped the ball from about the 10, scampered around, found no one open, pulled the ball in and charged at the goal line, and dove across the plane while taking a big hit for a score. That's what we want to see come Fall.
-- Brandon Minor made no noteworthy runs, so I expect them to use Carlos Brown, Shaw, and the quick Freshman Vincent Smith (MacGuffie's replacement, oddly also wearing #2) regularly, because they are all really good.
-- Michigan's two kickers seem adequate for replacing K.C. Lopata. I don't remember their names because they're really weird.

Basically, if Forcier chugs along through summer workouts, earns the starting job over Denard Robinson, and doesn't get hurt, I think Michigan is in for a good season.

Alarming Sidenote Unrelated to acutal Football: I am hoping this was just because the stadium wasn't completely full and the skyboxes weren't encased in protective wrapping, but, when the stadium announcer was recounting plays on the field, there was this really awful and distracting echo that was clanging off of the opposite skybox. He would say something, and then you'd hear it clear as a bell rebound off the East skybox structure. I was not a fan. I hope to God that they fix that before the season or else Bill Martin is going to have an angry mob at his doorstep. Moreso.

Best. Week. Evar.

The most exciting sports week of the year aside from the opening weekend in college football, is Masters Week, because golf equals springtime, and springtime equals the eventual beginning of football season. (See what I did there?)

I get tired of a lot of the sappy, cliched feel-good stories that CBS usually rolls out for the upcoming weekend; ESPN's Tom Rinaldi not so much. If there was one kind of dream journalist I'd want to be in the shoes of for a week, it'd be a golf reporter at the Masters. Spending a week in sunny Augusta with all the food and drink imaginable, talking to pro golfers, and attending all the nifty members-only events sounds pretty darn good right about now.

Golf is the most fun sport to write about, because it's the most personal and the only sport that is about individuals and their personal stories. Of course there is a lot sprouting up from this year's tournament already: Greg Norman is in the field after earning a qualifying spot at the British Open last year, Fred Couples is the sentimental favorite once again after a near-miss at a victory in Houston last weekend, Anthony Kim is in the field for the first time, Jack Newman, a Michigan State golfer, has qualified in the field of Amateurs, and Gary Player is playing the Masters for the final time after 51 outings.

ESPN somehow grabbed the first two rounds of TV coverage for this year, which is fantastic, because I get a kick out of Mike Tirico and Scott Van Pelt and Andy North and Tom Rinaldi. The Masters has the distinct honor of having the best TV coverage of any golf tournament, because the tournament hates coporate interference, so commerical breaks are limited, and that makes me smile.

Things to watch for during Masters Week:
1. Some guy named Woods
2. Greg Norman vs. Freddy Couples in the battle for crowd favorite
3. Which of the amateurs will win low round?
4. Changes to the back nine
5. Tim Clark the Par 3 Champ from today. Will the curse continue?

I can't even put a pretty picture up because all the Augusta photos are copywritten by the Masters tournament.

Final notes: sweet ESPN game for the Masters, Jason Sobel's blog and visit masters.org for everything else.

For this year, I put my pennies on Sergio Garcia, Steve Stricker, Paddy Harrington, and Greg Norman for the darkhorse!

MSU + Detroit + State of Michigan = Unrelated

*I couldn't even find a decent rioting picture. Lame*

Well I was initially hoping to compose this grand and illuminating piece about how in fact MSU's reaching the Final Four didn't help the state of Michigan that much, but said information doesn't exist at the moment.

The Final Four was estimated to have brought $50 million to the Detroit economy, but I'm wondering if that number was just estimated for what a typical collegiate event would bring to a metro area. I was in Kansas City three weeks ago and the number of people that flooded their downtown area for four days of basketball was amazing. Every restaurant was crammed and the arena was sold out. Rumor has it that anywhere from 30 to 50,000 MSU fans alone swarmed into downtown Detroit for the weekend (hotel occupancy is irrelevant here since that doesn't directly benefit the city), so of course the restaurants and casinos had influxes of occupancy. In this respect I think MSU being there actually helped, because I think it helped the games achieve sellouts. If it were UNC and UConn/Louisville I bet the attendance doesn't go over 50,000.

Where I'm concerned is the cost to taxpayers for policing both Detroit and East Lansing. Granted the costs would be localized to the East Lansing area for the University police and Wayne County for the Detroit Police force. Sadly, the Detroit Police reported few incidents over the weekend and East Lansing was too depressed to create much of a riot (c'mon, only one flaming couch!?) It's fun to imagine that if MSU had won, what the additional cost for all the arrests and fires would have been.

Meanwhile, the MSU police have this hilarious website, and some genius made this riot status site.

The Kind of Politics We Voted For

The last week or so of President Obama's activities has been amazing. He gave speeches on missile defense in collaboration with the Russians, nuclear disarmament, and conservative government in Turkey. Today, perusing through my US News & World Report Political Bulletin, I came across the following, detailing the unveiling of his military budget that Secy. of Defense Robert M. Gates has been working on:

Gates Proposes Weapons Programs Cuts Defense Secretary Robert Gates unveiled his Pentagon budget plan yesterday to generally sympathetic coverage. News accounts cast the proposed cuts not as a fiscal step, but rather as an overhaul designed to put in the military in sync with current threats faced by the US. ABC World News calls it "the most sweeping change in military thinking in generations." The CBS Evening News likewise reported Gates "is out to remake the US military." The Los Angeles Times says, "Programs primarily used to fight conventional foes...would get less money." The Hill notes Gates "plans to boost the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance budget by $2 billion and grow the Special Operations forces by 5 percent." The Washington Post says the budget "highlights Gates's long-stated desire to increase spending on surveillance systems and other relatively low-tech weapons that are best suited for guerrilla or irregular war." The Washington Post also reports that "Gates sees this year as a rare opportunity to pursue politically controversial ideas."
CNBC's Hampton Pearson described the budget as "a $534 billion blueprint full of new priorities and a fundamental change in how the Pentagon plans to do business. For example, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon could gain from plans to buy 50 more of those Predator drones. The 2010 budget for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is nearly doubled from $6.8 to $11.2 billion to buy 16 more planes. But Lockheed Martin will also see an end to F-22 production. ... The army's Future Combat Systems program will be restructured. National missile defense is also getting a makeover. Both were profitable Boeing contracts." CNBC's Larry Kudlow noted that the budget "led to a big, almost 4% gain in defense stocks. Northrop Grumman up 9%., Lockheed Martin up 9%, Raytheon 8% and General Dynamics 7%." The Financial Times reports that "analysts said investors saw the news as positive because it had put an end to months of uncertainty." The Wall Street Journal reports, "Gates's plans have clear international implications. His decision to increase spending on the F-35, which involves European nations and defense companies...secures the program's future and will help keep costs in check for such allies as the UK and the Netherlands."
The Financial Times, however, notes that "within hours" of Gates' press conference, "politicians raised questions about his proposed cuts and reform plans. ... In a YouTube video recorded in Afghanistan, James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican senator, lambasted President Barack Obama for 'disarming America' and vowed to fight the cuts." The AP reports Rep. John Murtha, chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, called the plan "important and overdue." The Hill reports Sen. Joe Lieberman "panned the Obama administration's proposal to cut the nation's missile defense shield."
NBC Nightly News notes Gates "would also scrap plans to build a new fleet of helicopters for the President -- as the President himself has suggested." The Hill reports Gates "acknowledged that there needs to be a new presidential helicopter, but said that the current Marine One still has some life in it."

The chief reason I voted for the President is because of his approach to international relations. I may not agree with his economic policies -- aside from his tough talk on General Motors (for more info google my big brother's NYT articles from the last week) -- or his decision to stand by his bloated 2010 budget, and I don't think he did that well at the G20 Summit because he didn't win consensus on spending money to get out of the financial crisis...but I have been really captured by his foreign policy and some of his ideas on how to engage both Europe and the Middle East. Yesterday he gave a speech in Ankara, Turkey that is summarized thusly:

"I also want to be clear that America's relationship with the Muslim community, the Muslim world, cannot, and will not, just be based upon opposition to terrorism. We seek broader engagement based on mutual interest and mutual respect. We will listen carefully, we will bridge misunderstandings, and we will seek common ground. We will be respectful, even when we do not agree. We will convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith, which has done so much over the centuries to shape the world - including in my own country. The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans. Many other Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim-majority country - I know, because I am one of them."

For a Muslim country to want to join the EU, amidst a struggle with another religious minority, the Armenians, and to get backing from an American President that has to simultaneously stand between Israel and the rest of the Middle East, this is remarkable.
Currently, I am reading Thomas Friedman's first book, "From Beirut to Jerusalem," and the most striking thing about the Middle East, is that underneath all the fighting and protest, is clamoring for secular government that doesn't have to answer to anybody, and Obama wants to give it to them by putting out his hand to anyone that asks.

Forty-One Years Ago...

This Saturday is the 41st marking of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's death. LIFE Magazine has decided to release some eerie photographs of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee taken after the assassination. It's interesting to note, if you watch the film "Elizabethtown," you see Orlando Bloom's character actually go into this motel on his road trip home, and it's been entirely preserved in the state that it was in when Dr. King got up that morning. I don't know about you but I get a little queasy when I look at settings where horrible events have taken place that have not been touched. Of particular creepiness is his personal briefcase sitting on a countertop, as if he had stepped out for some air or gone to get some ice cubes...

The Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968