Hat tip to Tom Izzo for pulling Tommy Amaker out from under the bus.
I’ll be honest with you — I saw it coming when (former Michigan coach) Tommy Amaker was there,” Izzo said at last month’s Big Ten Media Day. “John Beilein has done a great job bringing his system in, incorporating everything. It has constantly been growing. … I (have seen) it emerging the last four or five years, and John has put frosting on the cake.”
Izzo pointed to some of the high-profile recruits that Amaker brought to Ann Arbor — like Harris and senior forward DeShawn Sims, whom Izzo called “two bona fide pros.”
“I thought he made some serious progress, and I think John has elevated it one more level,” Izzo said.
via KNOCK, KNOCK: Why the Michigan men’s basketball team is at the doorstep of the nation’s elite and how it got there | The Michigan Daily.
“This is a very disappointing, disheartening loss,” Weis said.
Rodriguez, though, didn’t have much sympathy.
“You think they would’ve felt bad for us?” Rodriguez asked. “Charlie is a good football coach and he’s got a good football team. They’re going to win a lot of games. The quarterback is an NFL guy. They’ve got two of the best wide receivers I’ve seen in years and their running back is a big-time player.
“And did you see the size of the linemen? They could eat peanuts off our guys’ helmets.”
via Forcier’s TD pass in final seconds seals Michigan’s upset of Irish – NCAA College Football Recap – ESPN.
Publishing interests:
- Interesting sports analysis (a la MGoBlog, but ok on any college or pro major sport)
- Biographies of sports figures who have truly unusual life stories; no exposes or motivational literature
Topics I follow:
- Michigan Wolverines
- John Beilein
- Detroit Pistons (when they’re winning …)
Personal objectives:
- to see the Michigan Wolverines win national championships in football and basketball
- to work against the trends for professionalization, or more accurately industrialization, of sports
I’m tracking everything related to Mike Hart, my favorite Michigan running back ever.
Too many running backs – it’s a nice problem | The News-Sentinel – Fort Wayne IN
The back who made the most impact last week, however, was Hart. A star at the University of Michigan, Hart wasn’t drafted until the sixth round, where the Colts were both surprised and pleased to find him available.
In his Colts’ debut, Hart carried four times, springing loose for runs of 14, 19, 11 and nine yards. He also caught three passes for 28 yards. Granted, Hart was facing the Redskins’ third-string defense. But his speed, burst and energy caught coach Tony Dungy’s attention.
“Mike ran and did everything in the game just about as he’s done in practice, and it really wasn’t surprising when you watch him practice and watch him work,” Dungy said. “We felt he would have a good game, and he did everything that he was called on to do.”
Hart knows he has a lot to prove, especially with the skepticism around the league about his speed and size (5-foot-9, 206 pounds).
“I was happy with the way I played, but I know I can do a lot of things better,” Hart said. “I just have to come out and play as well as I can and try not to make mistakes. It’s up to the coaches and Mr. Polian after that.”
Dungy’s words this week indicate that Hart has made the right moves so far. Dungy agreed with a reporter who suggested Hart might fit the mold of Tampa Bay’s compact but tough Warrick Dunn.
If he does, it’s because he has (correctly) calcuated that this choice will give him maximum attention. If he chooses Michigan, he and Rodriguez will be on the cover of Sports Illustrated Sep. 1. If he chooses Ohio State, he will be a backup quarterback Sep. 1.
SportingNews.com – Your expert source for NCAA Football stats, scores, standings, and blogs from NCAA Football columnists
Roy Hall, Pryor’s quarterbacks coach, told the Plain Dealer in Cleveland that he believes Pryor will choose Ohio State.But Reitz told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “I think Michigan has closed the gap some the past few weeks. Their coaches believe they have a shot.”
Camera Spots Wolverine in Sierra Nevada – The Huffington Post
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A research project aimed at weasels has turned up a bigger prize: a picture of a wolverine, an elusive animal scientists feared may have been driven out of the Sierra Nevada long ago by human activity.
The discovery could affect land-use decisions if the wolverine is declared an endangered species, a step the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering, although the animals typically live at high elevations where there is limited development.
A graduate student at Oregon State University, Katie Moriarty, got a picture of a wolverine recently on a motion-and-heat-detecting digital camera set up between Truckee and Sierraville, in the northern part of the mountain range.
Moriarty was trying to get pictures of martens, which are slender brown weasels, for a project she was doing with the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station.
She said that when she saw the wolverine in the picture early last Sunday morning, it was a “complete shock. It was not something I would expect by any means.”
News of the picture surprised scientists, who thought wolverines, if they still inhabited the Sierra, would be found only in the southern part of the range, not in the Lake Tahoe area.
There had been sightings of wolverines by reputable people but no solid proof they were still in the Sierra, said Bill Zielinski, a research ecologist for the Forest Service who was working with Moriatry.
“The conventional wisdom was that they were pretty much gone from California,” said Zielinski. “There’s been a lot of other camera work and a variety of methods used to track rare carnivores. Those same methods, if wolverines had been around, would have detected them, we thought.”
Garner named West Virginian of the Year – Yahoo! News
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Actress Jennifer Garner has been honored as the 2007 West Virginian of the Year by her hometown newspaper.
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The Sunday Gazette-Mail says it chose Garner for her dedication, hard work and service as an ambassador and role model for West Virginia.
Rich Rodriguez wasn’t available?
Technorati Tags: jennifer garner, RichRod, OurRod, Michigan
I was a day late on this, but in this case, at least, better late than never.
Major announcement: Obama backs Bears – NFL – MSNBC.com
WASHINGTON – Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, a potential presidential candidate, planned to end weeks of speculation Monday and tell a national audience … he supports his hometown Chicago Bears.
Having some fun with all the political hype, Obama mocked the frenzied interest by taping the introduction to ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” game between his hometown Chicago Bears and the St. Louis Rams.
“So tonight I’d like to put all the doubts to rest. And tonight, after a lot of thought and a good deal of soul-searching, I would like to announce to my hometown of Chicago and all of America that I’m ready …”
And to top it all of he’s got a sense of humor!
Technorati Tags: Obama
SI.com – NBA – Shaq: My career is not in decline – Tuesday November 28, 2006 5:58PM
A year ago, when O’Neal sprained his ankle in Miami’s home opener and missed 18 games, there was talk his body was breaking down. He recovered, sat out only five more games and led the Heat to the NBA title for his fourth championship ring.
Now that he’s in the middle of another layoff, rumblings about slippage in his productivity have resurfaced. He dismisses detractors.
Are these people nuts? Did any of them see the Pistons series last year where Shaq ran the floor like a 20-year-old? His knee injury may mark a down spot, but he sure as hell wasn’t in decline six months ago.
Technorati Tags: Shaq
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