Motown Sports Revival

Cue the amply-sized lady!

2010-06-30T16:26:00.001-04:00

This is a bitter sweet post for me. I really didn’t know how I wanted this to go. I wrote two posts and half of a third before scrapping them all. None seemed to fit the occasion even though I admittedly don’t necessarily know what that means. Since this is the last post you are going to read here, I had delusions of making it particularly superb. The first of the discarded posts was about the irony of starting this blog as a disgruntled Michigan fan and finishing five years later as a disgruntled Michigan fan despite all of the change that I had hoped for coming to fruition. I didn’t like the finished product so I tossed it. After that I figured I’d go with a “slam dunk” and write about the Tigers shedding $92 million in payroll over the next two years. I wrote it and—for reasons I don’t fully understand—scrapped that one, too. I started and abandoned yet another post chronicling the competition between Sepp Blatter (FIFA’s President) and Bud Selig to see who can be the dumbest person in the world by holding out the longest on video replay. That was an easy decision, though. Part of my personal constitution is to not devote a final blog post to Bud Selig. I apologize to those of you who needed a Selig fix. Scrapping two and a half posts does not result in the most fulfilling feeling. However, the fact that I even had to let me know that I was doing this all wrong.

What I realized as I tried to chase the white rabbit of a magnificent final post is that there was no single topic that was going to be “worthy” of a final post. This isn’t “just another post.” I spent 696 posts over the last five years writing about various sports related topics. Today is about saying, “so long!” It’s about saying “thank you” again to all of the people who took the time to read and comment. It was never my goal to make this blog mainstream. I knew from the very beginning that I could probably attract a much larger audience if I kept the content narrow. But, that’s not what I wanted to do. I liked the freedom of writing about whatever popped into my head even if that was wondering “how many MVPs should Babe Ruth have won?” Even though it isn’t necessarily the status quo of the blogging community, I appreciate that you not only allowed me to post such diverse content but demanded it (Remember last fall when I got called out for writing too many Rich Rodriguez themed posts?).

When I started this thing, I lived in Germany, had a 6-month old baby boy, and was just starting my new job as a stay-at-home dad. Now I live in Michigan with a five-year old little man who’s about to start kindergarten and a 3-year old little girl nipping at his heels. It’s not easy being a stay-at-home parent. The work is endless and the appreciation is non-existent. There’s a reason why so many American parents gladly transport their children to daycare every morning and pay a king’s ransom to do so. It’s an amazing experience that I would not trade for the world but, to survive, you absolutely need an escape. This blog was my escape. This was my connection to the outside world. This was my chance to be a contributing member to society. It’s not going to be easy to say “goodbye.” I can look back at any and all of my posts and remember where I was and what the circumstances where in my life when I wrote them. Looking back at old posts is like an emotional time machine. However, there isn’t a doubt in my mind that this is the time to let it go. I’m really looking forward to not having to deal with the sudden fear that comes with realizing it’s Wednesday night and I don’t have a post topic in mind. I’m also looking forward to being able to think of something interesting without having to automatically spend a few hours researching and writing about it. And, I’m especially looking forward to spending more time with my kids. They’re rapidly approaching the age where nap time is no longer mandatory. That’s important because “naptime” is when I spent researching and writing 95% of my blog material. Now that will become their time.

One of the most difficult aspects of being a stay-at-home parent is watching your friends excel in various professions while you sit idly at home. I’m friends with more doctors than I can count on one hand. I know lawyers, engineers, writers, teachers, chefs, chemists, soldiers, police officers, firefighters, paramedics, paleontologists, filmmakers, administrators, computer programmers, principals, bankers, investment reps, financial analysts, business owners, and managers. You name it, I know someone who works it. I share engaging conversations with these people but what I don’t share is a fancy resume or a list of impressive career achievements. Instead, I’ve got 5,000 diaper changes and 3,000 prepared lunches under my belt. Unfortunately, that doesn’t translate in the real world. I often wonder what I’m going to do when my kids no longer need me at home. That’ll be here before I know it. This blog is all I have in the form of measurable accomplishments. I have no idea what a prospective employer will think when I reference what I’ve done here but one thing is for certain, I’m proud of it. Thanks for contributing to that feeling. It has been a pleasure. So long!

Irish Eyes are still not smiling.

2010-06-21T17:32:00.002-04:00

One of the more controversial subplots of World Cup Qualifying and the subsequent 32-team field it produced was the way France snuck into the tournament or, more appropriately, the way Ireland was kept out of it. Back in November, France and Ireland met in a 2-leg playoff to decide one of the final four World Cup qualifiers out of UEFA . France won the first match, 1-0, in Dublin. Ireland was on its way to winning the second match by the same score when sportsmanship went out the window. International superstar Thierry Henry intentionally touched the ball with his hand in the goalie box which immediately led to the game-tying goal. The score gave France a 1-1 draw which was enough to avoid a shootout and advance to South Africa. The soccer world was outraged at Henry for the unsportsmanlike play and FIFA for not having an adequate system in place to prevent such blatant cheating.

As hard as it is to believe, amid all of the flopping and fake injuries in soccer exists a personal conduct code very similar to that of professional golf. Unlike the NBA or NFL where honesty is frowned upon in competition, the soccer community puts a great deal of emphasis on fair play which is why Henry was so roundly criticized for “getting away with” the infraction. An intentional handball is the cardinal sin in the world’s most popular sport. Not only should France’s goal not have counted but Henry should’ve been red carded and kicked out of the game. That would’ve given Ireland a tremendous opportunity to score again which would’ve sent it to the World Cup free and clear of having to win a shootout. At the very least, Ireland would’ve had the opportunity to advance via penalty kicks. Instead, Henry held on to his secret until after the game and France unjustifiably advanced to the World Cup.

Fast forward seven months to the opening Group stage of the 2010 World Cup and France is sticking it to Ireland yet again. I’m sure there are more than a few Irish lads who were rooting hard for France’s early demise but even the most bile-fueled fans cannot be happy with the way France has pissed away the bid it literally stole from Ireland. France began the tournament with an uninspiring 0-0 tie opposite Uruguay. The #9 team in the world followed that up with a 2-0 loss to Mexico. In just over three hours of soccer in this World Cup, France has netted zero goals. Unfortunately for the French, offensive futility is the least of its problems. “Les Bleus” are literally unraveling on the biggest of soccer stages. It all started when Nicolas Anelka—a striker for France—was booted from the tournament for a profane tirade directed at his coach. (In a twist of fate, Anelka is most responsible for France even being in the WC as he tallied the only goal in the first leg of the France/Ireland UEFA World Cup Qualifying Playoff in Dublin last November.) Anelka’s dismissal was just the beginning of what has become a total meltdown by France. In protest to their countryman’s treatment, the French team refused to practice on Sunday. That, in turn, led to the resignation of not only the team trainer but the team director. That was followed up by a meeting with the French Sports Minister who told the team that it faced a “moral disaster” and it had “tarnished France’s image.” So, the Irish are left to ponder the reality that France not only stole a World Cup bid from them but then promptly treated it with the significance of toilet paper. The country of Ireland surely wasn’t rooting for France to advance in the World Cup but never in its worst nightmares could it have imagined that France would treat the privilege with such disrespect. In a game built on sportsmanship, France may have found an even more egregious infraction than the handball that sent it to South Africa in the first place.

Surely, Ireland would’ve relished the opportunity to participate in what is perhaps the pinnacle of world sport competition. Ireland is a nation that does not have a rich tradition in the World Cup. In fact, it has only qualified for three World Cups in its 61 years of fielding a competitive soccer team. However, had Ireland made it to South Africa, it certainly wouldn’t have been as a “sacrificial lamb.” Despite such an unceremonious history, Ireland’s current team is no pushover. Sure its world ranking is an uninspiring 41^st in the FIFA World Rankings but that seems to be more of a function of Ireland’s penchant to “not lose” rather than “win.” The FIFA World Ranking formula is not favorable to ties. The Irish are incredibly proficient at earning draws against quality teams. As a result, Ireland has only lost six of its last 36 matches. It boasts a 13-6-17 record over that span including wins over World Cup participants S. Africa, Paraguay, Algeria, Slovakia, and Denmark to go along with draws against France, Italy (2), Nigeria, Serbia, Germany and Slovakia all of which are in the 32-team World Cup field. Even Ireland’s losses have been impressive. Two were against the #1 team in the world (Brazil). In fact, in its last 36 matches, Ireland has lost just one game against teams ranked outside of the world top 40. Against teams inside the top 40, Ireland has played 22 contests over that span and lost just five. Ireland is certainly an accomplished and worthy team and would’ve been an uncomfortable sight for whatever group it would’ve been allocated to had it advanced to South Africa. The Emerald Isle undoubtedly deserves a fate far better than having its six million occupants nauseated by France’s indifference. If one thing is for sure, unlike France, Ireland would’ve come to play.

France is certainly a villain here but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the absurdity of not using modern technology to correct officiating errors. Just in the last year, we’ve seen Ireland denied a chance of making the World Cup on an intentional handball, Armando Galarraga denied of a Perfect Game on an umpire mistake, and the U.S. Soccer Team denied of a goal in the World Cup—and advancement to the knockout stage that likely would’ve come with it—as a result of a phantom call. These are just three extremely high profile injustices among many more that occur routinely in competitive sports. Anyone who feels that sports should be soiled by officiating errors rather than use advanced technology that could easily eliminate the vast majority of judgment mistakes has no business being in an authoritative position on a sporting governing body. Citing “integrity of the game” as a reason not to use video replay is just another way of saying, “We are incredibly lazy.”

Patriotic Ties

2010-06-18T17:00:00.003-04:00

I don’t know about all of you but I’m getting sick of being denied a return on my emotional investment into sports by referees and umpires. It’s rare enough to have that investment actually pay off. The gambling equivalent of the payoff would be akin to winning $250 for every $1,000 sunk into a slot machine. I’m already working at a heavy loss, here. I’ve learned to accept those losses, however. They are a known and accepted risk of reckless emotional investment into sports. What I can’t deal with is having the joy of a payoff brutally ripped away on the count of stupidity. I can’t cite statistical proof but the Red Wings have to have more goals disallowed than any other team in hockey. Then, of course, there’s the perfect game that was taken away from Armando Galarraga. I don’t even want to get into the timekeeping injustices that have occurred at the expense of the Michigan football program. As a fan living in Detroit, false jubilation has become an all too real part of the sports fan experience.

In some ways, you would think that would make what happened to the U.S. soccer team today easier to swallow. When you’re dealing with the bloated emotional units that come from being a diehard, unfortunately, it never gets easier. The U.S. was on the brink of one of the greatest wins in U.S. soccer history. After leaving the field at halftime down 2-0 to Slovenia, it came back to play a brilliant second half that was as exciting as the best college football showdown you will ever see. The U.S. played so flawlessly that the announcers were optimistically discussing a U.S. victory even when it still trailed 2-1. In retrospect, the U.S. tying the game was inevitable. Once that happened, it seemed very realistic that the U.S. would net the game-winner as it peppered the field with scoring chances. The scoresheet has no record of it but in the same way Armando Galarraga pitched a perfect game, the U.S. scored the game-winning goal. All it lacked was the proper referee to count it.

The U.S. was wrongfully denied a victory but the fact that it still managed a tie does offset the injustice at least somewhat. That’s because the U.S. is not only very much alive in the World Cup, it controls its own path to the knockout stage. If the U.S. defeats Algeria on Wednesday, it will advance to the World Cup’s sweet sixteen (it can also advance with a tie and a little bit of help). I don’t think there’s a player on the U.S. roster who wouldn’t have gladly taken a scenario in which the U.S.’s fate rested entirely on beating Algeria. Having said that, how good is Algeria?

For starters, here is how Algeria has fared in its last 20 games…

Upon further review, the world may want to reconsider the allocation of the “Group of Death” to Group G. Group C—the U.S.’s group—is more stacked than anyone thought it would be. In retrospect, however, this shouldn’t be much of a shock. Algeria and Slovenia—Group C’s perceived weak teams—earned their way into the World Cup by knocking off Egypt and Russia, respectively. Egypt and Russia—rated #11 and #12 in FIFA’s World Soccer Rankings—are perhaps the top two teams in the world not in the World Cup. Algeria and Slovenia were not supposed to even be in the 2010 World Cup field but earned their way to South Africa by outlasting two world soccer powers. The U.S. saw just how good Slovenia can be in the first half on Friday. Much like Slovenia, Algeria is no stranger to playing teams of the U.S.’s caliber either. It has played Nigeria, the Ivory Coast, and Uruguay—all three are in the World Cup field—as well as four contests against Egypt just in the last year. Of course, that is on top of earning a tie against England on Friday. This team is battle-tested and will not be in awe of the U.S. squad.

The U.S. will likely come in as the favorite against Algeria much like it did against Slovenia. However, those who were not too distracted by the vast difference in population sizes between the U.S. and Slovenia, understood that if the U.S. was a favorite, it was by miniscule proportions. The same can be said of Algeria. If there’s one positive to look towards from a U.S. perspective, it’s that Algeria hasn’t played nearly as well of late as it did during World Cup Qualifying. In fact, the Algerians are just 1-4-1 in their last six games with the only victory coming against a UAE team on the outside of the world top 100. If we dig a little deeper, the news gets even better for the U.S. In those six contests, Algeria scored just one goal—total. Nonetheless, Algeria will be a strong opponent for a U.S. team that desperately needs to buck its trend of starting games slowly and falling behind early. Hopefully, the U.S.’s inspired second half play against Slovenia is a sign that it is about to do just that. With just one game remaining for each team in Group C, all four countries are still alive. That either makes Croup C the “Group of Death” or the “Group of Apathy.” As long as U.S. beats Algeria, I don’t really care which one it is.

All Things Not "Conference Expansion"

2010-06-10T17:43:00.001-04:00

With only a few posts left before I start cashing my blog retirement checks, opportunities for post topics are scarce. So, I decided to hit on a few different topics in this post to maximize content. Reader Jim provided me with the perfect opportunity by sending along a few questions. Without further ado, a little Q&A courtesy of reader Jim.

Q: 1. The likelihood that the Pistons do something, anything of note this offseason: would you put money on it? A lot of money? I would give up something valuable (e.g. beer) for six months if they could finagle Bosh away from the Raptors in a sign-and-trade but would also be happy if they struck a deal for someone like Paul Millsap.

A: This is my least favorite of Jim’s questions. Having to answer it depressed me severely…

I would not bet money on Joe Dumars putting his shoes on the correct feet let alone wager that he’ll get something of note accomplished this summer. In fact, I think I’d put a considerable amount of money in the other direction. Joe has been nothing short of incompetent since he convinced Danny Ainge to facilitate the trade that brought Rasheed Wallace to Detroit in 2004. The second the Pistons lost to the Spurs in the 2005 Finals, they began to slowly but very visibly deteriorate. Of course, there were probably more than a few “yippy skippy” fans who thought the Pistons were going to win the next 10 NBA championships but it was very obvious to the basketball savvy fans that the team was going to decline in a hurry. Although the Pistons made it back to the Eastern Conference Finals in ’06 and ’07, they were easily dispatched by the Cavs and Celtics. That was the point at which Joe D needed to take quick action if he hoped to avoid the same fate that his “Bad Boy” Pistons suffered some 15 years earlier. The Bad Boys went from back-to-back NBA Champions to 20-62 in just four years. Pistons management had no transition plan in place to offset a rapidly aging roster which led to the expedited decline. Zeke’s career-ending Achilles injury at the incredibly ripe age of 32 surely didn’t help but considering how little there was in the name of youth on the roster, the Pistons were beyond the point of salvaging.

Of all people, Joe D should’ve recognized the same signs of rapid decline that ended his championship run as a player. Yet, what did he do to prevent the same horrific fate that met his Bad Boys from happening again? The answer is, “very close to nothing.” The only thing that can even remotely be described as constructive was the Chauncey Billups/Allen Iverson trade. At the time, it looked like a brilliant cap move. Billups was easily Detroit’s most valuable commodity. Joe used Billups to bank $20 million (in the form of A.I.’s expiring contract) that would seemingly be available this summer to spend on perhaps the greatest NBA free agent class of all-time. Of course, like an elderly woman watching QVC, Joe D could not resist the temptation to blow all his money on the first thing he saw. Meanwhile, Billups turned the Denver Nuggets into a rising force in the West. Even in the one instance when Joe appeared to have a plan, it ended in disaster because he blew the second—and most important—part of the plan.

No thanks to Joe, the Pistons are saddled with horrible contracts and an abundance of redundancy on an unimpressive roster. There is virtually nothing in the name of trade value to be seen. Rip’s contract is totally unreasonable for a player who can barely be described as one-dimensional. Ben Gordon’s contract is even worse. Rodney Stuckey’s value probably peaked before last season when it looked like he might break out as a bona fide star. Now that it’s obvious that he is stuck between positions and doesn’t have a reliable jumper, you can expect NBA GMs to take a pass on Joe D’s likely high asking price. Any worth that Charlie Villanueva had as a potential breakout player is long gone after his miserable effort in 2010.

The only move Joe has left is to parlay the expiring contracts of Tayshaun Prince and Kwame Brown for a star player. I have more faith in Jim Joyce preserving a perfect game than I do that Joe can or will pull this off. Unfortunately, many NBA superstars have control over where they are traded and nobody is going to sign off on being traded to a team as ill-equipped to compete for an NBA Championship as the present day Detroit Pistons. I suppose there is always the possibility that Al-Farouq Aminu—or whoever the Pistons draft—turns out to be the anti-Darko but judging from Joe’s unimpressive draft history (Tayshaun Prince, Rodney Stuckey, Mehmet Okur and Jason Maxiell over 10 years does nothing for me), the Pistons are surely poised to take home the rotten eggs of the NBA Draft Lottery yet again.

The future is bleak to say the least. The Pistons will suit up one of the worst frontcourts in recent memory in 2011 and have $25 million tied up through 2013 by just the shooting guard position alone. I like Paul Millsap but one guy won’t change anything. The entire roster needs to be overhauled. Remember when the Celtics reportedly offered the Pistons Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen for Prince, Hamilton, and Stuckey? It seemed like an insult at the time but, looking back, that might have been the only way out of this mess.

Q: 2. The Johnson/Burleson/Stafford/Best Quartet: I just relocated to Maryland, think I should pay for NFL TV to watch these guys work? Nate was running his mouth about how good they were going to be, in your opinion is Nate actually going to be any good?

A: Burleson’s bravado is simply a continuation of a Lions pastime that provides media fodder around this time every year. Unfortunately for Nate the Great, the joke’s on him. In the same way that nobody prepped Rich Rodriguez on the history of the #1 jersey at Michigan (which, of course, did not go over well), nobody ever informs Lions off season acquisitions how absolutely horrible the franchise is. I’ll use a real life example to better illustrate my point. There is a position at a member of my extended family’s place of business that is quite simply the most frustrating job in America. Just in the past four years, three people have left this position and a fourth is set to do the same. Nobody ever tells the people interviewing how miserable this job is because they’d never be able to hire anyone. This is, of course, quite unfortunate for the person who ends up with the job. I’m afraid Nate Burleson is about to find out what it’s like to unwittingly sign up for the NFL equivalent of the worst job in America.

I could probably count on five hands the number of players who have mouthed off about “this” being the Lions year over the last 10 years alone. Every new guy who comes in thinks he is the answer for 50 years of futility. The Mike Martz era was the worst. Every offensive player from the Martz era was convinced that the Lions were going to have the best offense in the NFL. I’d say they were delusional if they weren’t cashing million dollar paychecks. So, “no,” I don’t think Nate Burleson is going to be any good. By that, I mean he won’t be any better than Shaun McDonald, Mike Furrey, Az Hakim, or Bryant Johnson. However, I think the offense has a chance to be something better than nauseating. I think there is a pretty good chance that Matt Stafford is (or will be) the best quarterback the Lions have had in my lifetime. I think there’s a pretty good chance that Javid Best is (or will be) the best running back the Lions have had since Barry retired. I also think that Calvin Johnson is the best wide receiver the Lions have had in my lifetime. This is a team with talent. The mediocrity on the offensive line will prevent it from breaking out too much but I fully expect this to be the most diverse and effective Lions offense since the Barry era. Plus, I think Ndamukong Suh is going to be such an influential addition that we might even see the best defense the Lions have had since the Barry era. The sad thing is that all of these “best since” accolades I’m throwing around are still not good enough to make this team worth getting excited over. That’s a sad indication of how bad things have been.

If I lived outside of Metro Detroit, I would not buy the Sunday Ticket just to watch the Lions. The Lions have been dead to me for a few years now. That doesn’t mean I’ve stopped paying attention. It doesn’t mean that I don’t think it’s possible that they will become undead and reacclimate themselves into my emotional spectrum again at some point. It just means that I don’t get excited or frustrated by them. I’m in “show me” mode until further notice. I’ve invested—and lost—way too many minutes of my life hoping that the Lions are going to get things turned around. However, if I were the kind of person who would do such a thing in the event that I reasonably expected the Lions to be a little more exciting and a little more competitive than usual, this might be the year I’d consider it.

Q: 3. THE University of Michigan vs. THE Ohio State University: Last season I briefly entertained the thought that Michigan could upset OSU, this year I feel very strongly about it. The chip on Michigan's shoulder must feel like a cinder block by now and I can only assume that despite the controversy, they have another years' worth of experience and recruits. We need the Maize 'n Blue to play like the SEC teams Tressell so fears, what kind of shot do you give us?

A: I love the enthusiasm but Michigan is not coming back from Columbus with a victory this year. Rich Rodriguez is still suiting up a roster extremely light on experience. There is a very good chance that he’ll be starting his 3^rd different quarterback in three years. His stable of running backs is young and, for the most part, unproven. His downfield receivers are quite possibly the least talented the school has had in decades. And as you know, offense is supposed to be the strength of this team.

The worst defense in school history is virtually intact from last season except for the departure of one of the top five defensive players in school history. The defense could be considerably better this season and still be below average. That’s how bad things were last year. Assuming Ohio State is healthy (read; Terrelle Pryor), there is a 0% chance that Michigan will beat Ohio State in Columbus this year. There is a 25% chance that the final score will be closer than the 21-10 defeat in Ann Arbor last season.

That said, I still think Rich Rodriguez can win at Michigan if given the administrative support that he deserves. It is pretty obvious by now that he won’t get that support (see; Demar Dorsey). I fully expect that he’ll either be fired at the end of the season or he’ll hop the first train to SEC-ville the minute an opportunity arises. However, if by some miracle his employment status has improved following the 2010 season, I think it becomes quite reasonable to start thinking about a win over Ohio State in 2011. If Denard Robinson masters the Pat White-role, this team will be deep, experienced, and explosive next season. As far as this season, I am much more focused on how Michigan fares against UCONN, Notre Dame, and Michigan State. Winning those three games would significantly change things for Rodriguez. I know fans are anxious to beat (or even compete with) the Buckeyes but I don’t think this is the season to be concerned with Ohio State. In the event that Michigan heads into Columbus with a 5-6 record needing a victory to earn a bowl bid and—more importantly—preserve Rodriguez’s job, then he is in a whole lot of trouble.

P.S. I would’ve written a conference expansion post but—judging from the warp speed rate at which information is flowing—whatever I wrote would’ve been totally out of date two seconds after posting it.

Mr. Perfect*

2010-06-03T20:34:00.003-04:00

On a day when Ken Griffey Jr.—one of the top 50 players in MLB history—retired, the Blackhawks and Flyers were trying to inch closer to their first Stanley Cup in 49 and 35 years, respectively, and Celtics vs. Lakers XII was fewer than 24 hours from beginning, none were the story du jour. For those of you experiencing more than an 23 hour delay on your satellite TV feeds, Armando Galarraga was robbed of a perfect game on Wednesday night. It was a gutbuster that left me stunned in my living room. With two outs in the ninth inning, I was on the phone with my brother in one hand and had my son pulled close to me with the other as we collectively awaited history. The excitement was more than palpable and I can verify that there were sweaty palms. My brother was listening on the radio so he was two seconds ahead of my satellite feed. I heard him yell with ambiguous intentions. I didn’t know what it meant. Given the confusion of the play, I don’t think he knew what it meant. All I knew was that in two seconds, I was going to be subjected to an emotional extreme. I just didn’t know which one. Ugh.

Most of you know how rare a perfect game is but I’ll let my good friend “math” put it into perspective. Of the 392,018 games in MLB history, 20 have resulted in a perfect game.” Account for two pitchers per game and the odds of a pitcher hurling a perfect game are .0025% or, 1 in 39,202. Needless to say, what happened last night was a big deal. Galarraga breezed through the first 26 batters tossing 62 strikes on just 80 pitches including 22 of 26 first-pitch strikes. Jason Donald, Cleveland’s #9 hitter, came to the plate with two outs in the ninth inning. All 26 Cleveland Indians who came to the plate before him fell victim to Galarraga’s impeccable control. Donald would do the same. Galarraga elicited a weak dribbler from Donald that rolled towards Carlos Guillen at second base. That’s when Jim Joyce—the first base umpire—made a gaffe that will unfortunately define his career while simultaneously denying Galarraga a perfect game. Considering all of the consequences, it was quite possibly the worst non-injury related play in the history of MLB baseball.

Joyce’s call and MLB’s official record books cannot change the fact that Galarraga was, in fact, perfect. Semantics won’t change what Galarraga did on the field on Wednesday night. In fact, he actually one bettered a perfect game by recording 28 consecutive outs. Obviously, it would mean a whole lot more to Galarraga, his teammates, and the fans if it were officially recognized as a perfect game. It would’ve been a historical accomplishment not only for Galarraga but for a Tigers franchise that was literally on the brink of its first perfect game in club history. Once Joyce interrupted his out call (check the replay to see him begin to call Donald out) with a double sneaky “safe” call, any chance for a perfect game went out the window. MLB is historically stubborn about reversing calls in games let alone after games. However, there is precedent for MLB intervention. In fact, the infamous George Brett Pine Tar Incident was overturned a full week after it happened. The “spirit (of the game)” was cited as the reason Lee McPhail (A.L. President in 1983) overturned that call. One would think that the same “spirit” of the game should apply to Joyce’s gaffe. Unfortunately, the MLB Commissioner is an idiot. MLB just announced that it will not overturn Joyce’s ruling.

MLB had a unique opportunity here. In nearly every controversial play in sports history, overturning a play following a game is not possible simply because removing just one play creates a domino effect of “what ifs” for every play that occurred after. This situation was different. Galarraga got the very next batter out and the Tigers won the game 3-0 and would’ve won the game 3-0 with or without Joyce’s mistake. Some will argue that overturning this one play would be akin to opening “Pandora’s Box” with every other blown call in MLB history. That’s simply not true. What made this game different is how easy the clean-up would’ve been. I’m not even sure the Cleveland Indians would’ve minded the call being overturned.

Even if Bud Selig wasn’t an idiot and MLB overturned the call, Galarraga was denied something on Wednesday night that he will not get back. A reversal would’ve set things right as much as things could’ve been set right but it wouldn’t restore everything that Galarraga was denied. Perhaps the most exhilarating aspect of a perfect game is the immediate euphoria that follows the final out. Nobody carried Galarraga off the field. Nobody gleefully sprinted to the mound from the bullpen. Hell, nobody even smiled. Galarraga will never get that special moment back.

The official scorekeeper for the game could’ve sent Galarraga home with a hell of a consolation prize. A perfect game is 10 times as rare as a no-hitter but let’s not minimize what it would’ve meant for Galarraga and his career to have an officially recorded no-hitter to his name. A MLB Scorekeeper has all the discretion in the world to make executive decisions on close plays. Once it became obvious after it was shown on replay that Donald was out, the idea of issuing an “error” on that final play became a possibility. Detroit’s official scorekeeper scrutinized the play but concluded that there was not an error. I don’t think Miguel Cabrera would mind a little extra scrutiny on a less-than-perfect throw to first base especially if it preserves a no-hitter for his teammate. However, the scorekeeper decided that there simply wasn’t an error. I don’t agree with his decision to not find an error to at least get Galarraga into the recordbooks but I can’t blame the guy for sticking to his principles. Unfortunately, once Joyce took away the perfect game, Galarraga’s fate was in the hands of Bud Selig. Selig knows a thing or two about scrutiny and criticism. It’s not often that life presents the perfect opportunity to make everything right. In one swift swoop, Selig had the opportunity to not only preserve Jim Joyce’s legacy as a top-tier umpire and right the worst wrong in MLB history, he also had the opportunity to repair his own image which has been beaten and battered for the better part of two decades. Unfortunately, like I said, Selig is an idiot.

Once the initial shock and anger died down on Wednesday night (or Thursday morning depending on how pissed off you were), there was still a considerable amount of venom directed at Joyce from not just Tigers fans but sports fans across the country. I understand that sports fans, by trade, are emotional to the point of being tortured when injustices are committed. Believe me, I’ve been there and was there last night. However, it’s important to keep perspective. Joyce made a horrible call. It was one of the worst calls in sports history because it needlessly derailed a perfect game. That pisses me off and it should piss you off, too. Just remember that it was a decision that was made in a quarter of a second. Jim Leyland said after the game that he (and the Tigers bench for that matter) did not know if Donald beat the throw until he watched the replay. Although I wanted him to be out, I did not know for sure if he was out until I watched the replay. Joyce did not have the luxury of replay. The collateral damage of Joyce’s mistake will reverberate through baseball for as long as the game is played. However, let’s not confuse mistake with premeditation or intent. Everyone makes mistakes everyday whether it’s going through a red light or forgetting to DVR your wife’s favorite TV show. Somewhere in America this year, maybe even this week, a highway patrolman mistakenly issued a speeding citation to a veteran driver with a previously perfect record. The police officer wasn’t vilified. The driver wasn’t showered with compassion. Nobody cared. The big difference between what happened to Armando Galarraga and what happened to that driver is that people care about baseball. Jim Joyce made a splint-second mistake. Let’s not compound the situation by making an even more damaging mistake by directing hate towards Joyce and his family. It could’ve happened to any of us.

The travesty on Wednesday night was that Armando Galarraga was denied an official perfect game. It wasn’t that Jim Joyce made a mistake. Save the hate mail and threats for someone with more diabolical intentions. Plus, Joyce has more than taken responsibility for his gaffe. That doesn’t mean you can’t (or shouldn’t) boo him every time he comes back to Detroit. On a lighter note, I think it’s safe to say the Galarraga for Willis rotation adjustment has worked out pretty well.

* I wanted to title this post, “Bud Selig is an idiot” but I chose to reference the guy who pitched a perfect game rather than a guy who is an idiot.

Closing Time

2010-05-27T23:56:00.002-04:00

A few months ago in the aftermath of a post that was literally 20 times the length of my average longwinded post, I mentioned that I would be moving to a one-post per week format. I had initially planned for that to be a temporary move but clearly that wasn’t the case. There’s a reason why I didn’t return to my normal post frequency and the point of this post is to let you know that reason. My first blog post was on June 28, 2005. It had been a goal from early on to maintain this blog for five years. In just over a month, I will reach that goal. I’ve enjoyed having my own personal real estate on the interwebs but I am more than ready to retire this baby. I’ve thought about hanging it up at various points in the past but I never felt comfortable until now. I wanted “no regrets” and reaching the five-year mark assures that.

I’d like to thank my readers who surprised me time and time again by coming back. I appreciate your patience in the beginning when I was largely unsure of what I wanted this to be. I also appreciate your patience as I figured out how to write. It wasn’t always pretty but I’ve grown considerably as a writer from where I was five years ago. While it was my passion for sports that got this thing going in the first place, it was my readership that gave me the drive to put out a quality product. I’m not going to win any awards for excellence in writing but I like to think that I wrote some things that made people think. Without a vested readership, that never would’ve happened. I thank you, sincerely. It has been a pleasure to be a part of your weekly internet consumption and I take pleasure in knowing that, even in just a small way, I’ve contributed to the enjoyment of your lives.

I’ve had many readers and reader comments over the years and those were instrumental in fueling my material for the blog. I’d like to thank the following readers specifically for making this blog a part of your jaunt around the internet landscape…

Michael C., Redhog1, J.R. Ewing, Scott-O, Chensk, Lombaowski, Jeff in Cols, Dan, Jim, Lord Byron and the Steady’s, Eric, the Gaver, Tony P., Matt S.,Section 16 Big House, Kyle C., NickO, Big Ben the Giants fan, Robert Paulson, Hwood, Rat, Chris of Dangerous Logic, Mayur, Dieterface, Bojo, Sabir, Shawn, Justin S., Yale Van Dyne, Kyle C., Bill, Luke, Christy Hammond, Eric, Danny, and Seth.

I’d also like to thank my family—even the ones who have had no interest in any of the topics I’ve written about J--for humoring me and following along for five years. This has been an enjoyable experience and I’m glad I did it.

My last post will be on June 30^th.

I’ll be taking a break from my usual literary marathon this week. In its place, I’d like to bring attention to an old friend. It’s a topic that I wrote about on a number of occasions during my maiden year as a blogger. I’ll begin with a sad tale of misfortune. In 2004, I was so convinced that Jeremy Bonderman was embarking on a glorious, Hall of Famer caliber career that I invested in 105 of his autographed rookie cards over a period of four months. My rationale was grounded in logic—or so I thought. At the time, Bondo had just come off a season in which he hurled two complete game shutouts over the final five weeks of the season. His ERA over that span was just 2.33 to go along with a 1.05 WHIP, and a .195 BAA. Did I mention he was only 21? Just in these last couple sentences I’ve almost convinced myself that I should’ve bought even more than I did—but I digress. I thought I was getting way ahead of what was sure to be a mad rush for Bonderman rookie cards but as I painfully and mercilessly and endlessly found out, I was simply lining the pockets of 105 random strangers with eBay accounts. I wonder how many giggled as they packaged up the cards and sent them my way. The sad thing is that I was laughing at them for parting with such obvious gold for such a reasonable price. The great Bondo Experiment of 2005 ended in fiery disaster. It was a colossal blunder on par with any and all of Matt Millen’s worst mistakes. The other two players that I considered loading up on exclusively were Justin Verlander and Hanley Ramirez. Their cards were going for more than Bondo’s so I thought my bang-for-buck was going to be higher with the “sleeper.” You get what you pay for.

Bondo’s career nosedived the minute I decided that my collection was complete. His ERA+ from 2005-2009 was an unspectacular 98 and his WHIP was an even more unmoving 1.38. After missing most of the past two seasons, it looked like he was headed towards pitching obscurity and early retirement. He entered 2010 battling two other pitchers for Detroit’s fourth and fifth rotation spots. Nobody—including me—thought that he had anything left to offer a team badly in need of reliable pitching at the back end of the rotation. As it turns out, I was just as wrong about that as I was about Bondo’s Hall of Fame future in 2005.

Aside from one miserable start at Seattle in mid-April, Bonderman has been brilliant this season. His ERA is 3.78 which would be, by far, the best of his career. His WHIP is 1.21 which would also be, by far, the best of his career. He has given up just two home runs in 47.2 innings and has a K/9 rate above 8.00. If we remove the debacle in Seattle in his second start of the season—just his 2^nd road start since June ‘08—then Bondo has posted a wicked 2.47 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP in eight starts. Not surprisingly, the Tigers are 6-2 in those starts.

The window for Bondo to pile up Hall of Fame stats has long been closed and, consequently, so has the window for Bondo to save my personal finances. What’s not over, however, is the window for Bondo to become a good major league pitcher. That wouldn’t put money back in my pocket but it sure would give the Tigers a fighting chance in the Central Division. Isn’t that really all that matters?

The Precedents' Trophy

2010-05-20T10:44:00.005-04:00

The Red Wings were abruptly bounced from the playoffs by San Jose last week. By Wings standards, the season was a failure by virtually every measure. For the first time in 19 years, the Wings did not have home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. For the first time in 10 years, they did not win the Central Division Title. For the first time in 10 years, they had worse than a .650 winning percentage in the regular season (.622). There is certainly plenty of “negative” to focus on when the model franchise not just in the NHL but in all sport has a clunker of a season. However, despite the disappointing second-round exit in the postseason—and a relatively unimpressive regular season—the season wasn’t a total loss. On February 11, the Wings were just 27-21-12 and out of the playoff picture. Since an Overtime Loss (OTL) is just a nice way of saying “loss”, the Wings were essentially 27-33 heading into the Olympic break. They emerged from the two-week hiatus playing a different brand of hockey. They rattled off 16 wins in 21 games after the break to finish the regular season as the hottest team in the league. The show of force wasn’t just for kicks. The Wings were in danger of not even making the playoffs heading into the last six weeks of the regular season. Behind Henrik Zetterberg (22 points in 21 games), Pavel Datsyuk (21 points in 21 games), and Jimmy Howard (16-2-2, 2.2 GAA), the Wings climbed all the way to the 5^th position. They quickly acquired the title of “team nobody wants to play in the first round.” Unfortunately, having to play “playoff hockey” for the six weeks leading up to the playoffs ended up taking its toll by way of the defeat to the Sharks.

Not surprisingly, the loss prompted a number of “chicken little” reactions. Art Regner even invoked the “end of an era” hyperbole before eventually providing context. On one hand, it’s easy to fear the worst when a team that has consistently been the model franchise in the NHL unexpectedly lays an egg for the better part of a season. However, we’ve been down this road many times before. The Wings have always had a penchant for first round duds. They lost in the first round in 2001, 2003, and 2006 when they were the #2, #2, and #1 seeds, respectively. They followed up their back-to-back Stanley Cups in ’98-’99 with what still stands as one of their worst regular seasons of the last 20 years. This team has never been shy about sprinkling in mediocrity with heaping pile of greatness. It comes with the territory in a sport as uneven as hockey. One fluke goal here or a skate in the crease there can dictate an entire postseason. I don’t think the Wings are any closer to the “end of an era” than they were the last time we went down this road in 2006 when they were blitzed by Edmonton in the first round.

In fact, I think there is every reason to believe that the Wings are going to continue to add to the successes of this era. If we let precedent be our guide, it’s not a stretch to envision the Wings right back in the Stanley Cup Finals as early as next season. The Wings entered this season as one of the heavy favorites to win the Stanley Cup. Even after a bumpy regular season, they still entered the playoffs as a chic pick to bring home the trophy. In short, the Wings are hardly past their expiration date. Henrik Zetterberg (29) and Pavel Datsyuk (32) are two of the top 5-10 forwards in the NHL and well within their prime years. And we still likely haven’t seen Johan Franzen (30) play his best hockey which is a scary proposition for the rest of the league. I won’t even get into the ray of hope that is Jimmy Howard’s potential in goal. The more the layers of the 2010 are peeled away and analyzed, the more it becomes obvious that the Wings accidentally had a poor season. If we look to recent examples in the four major sports of teams that followed successful stretches with unexpected down seasons, the results are very encouraging. Specifically, there have been six such instances of elite caliber teams that followed championships with unexpected down seasons. Each of the six teams won a championship, were expected to win or heavily contend again, and then suffered an unexpectedly poor season. There have been a number of teams over the years that have been one-hit wonders. This list features teams that were still largely intact and considered to be major championship contenders for not just one season but for the foreseeable future. In every scenario, the team went back to the championship game within three seasons. In all but one scenario, the teams went on to win a championship within three seasons.

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The 2006 Pittsburgh Steelers

The Success:

The Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2005.

The Unexpected Struggle:

In the offseason, Ben Roethlisberger nearly died in a motorcycle accident. After recovering in time for the start of the 2006 season, Roethlisberger had to sit out the opener following an emergency appendectomy. In week 7, Roethlisberger suffered a concussion and was replaced. Not surprisingly, such turmoil at the most important position on the field had a major impact on the season. Roethlisberger never settled in as he threw a league-leading 23 interceptions. The Steelers struggled to a 2-6 record by the midpoint of the season which all but ended any shot at the playoffs.

The Rebound:

Like the ’10 Wings, however, the Steelers got hot in the second half. They closed out with a 6-2 record setting the stage for a return to form in 2007. Just one year after missing the playoffs all together, the Steelers won the Super Bowl for the second time in three years.

The 2006 Boston Red Sox

The Success:

The Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 with a 98-64 record. They were back in the playoffs again in 2005 after posting a 95-67 record.

The Unexpected Struggle:

The 2006-season brought a different story. After beginning the year as one of the favorites to win the World Series, the Sox struggled to an 86-76 record. It was the first time in five years that the Sox failed to win 90+ games. It was also the first time in four years that they had failed to make the postseason. This was quite a blow to a team that had just won the World Series two years earlier and still fielded one of the most potent lineups in the league. The Sox didn’t just randomly decide to stink in 2006. Manny Ramirez, Jonathan Papelbon, Jon Lester, Jason Varitek, and Keith Foulke missed extensive time with various injuries and ailments. The Sox used 14 different starting pitchers in ‘06 which was in stark contrast to the championship-winning team from two years earlier that saw Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, Tim Wakefield, Derek Lowe, and Bronson Arroyo start 157 of 162 games. Boston also had to replace five of its eight everyday fielders including Johnny Damon who bolted to the Yankees in the offseason.

The Rebound:

After an injury-plagued ’06 campaign, the Boston starting rotation returned to form in 2007. Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, Tim Wakefield, Julian Tavarez, and Daisuke Matsuzaka started 140 of the team’s 162 games and the Red Sox won the World Series for the second time in four seasons.

The 2002 New Jersey Devils

The Success:

Just like the Wings did in ’08 and ’09, the Devils won the Stanley Cup in 2000 and then lost in the Finals in 2001.

The Unexpected Struggle:

Also like the Wings, the Devils followed two consecutive Finals appearances with a disappointing season. The Devils finished with just 95 points in 2002 which was their lowest output in six years. This was quite a downward turn for arguably the best defensive team in the NHL. As it turns out, it wasn’t the defense that was the problem. The Devils allowed the 2^nd fewest goals in 2002. It was an astonishing 90-goal drop-off in goal production from the previous season that proved to be their downfall. This wasn’t a team that had reached the end of its era rather it was a team faced with compounding (and temporary) issues. Despite having a solid core and one of the greatest goaltenders in NHL history, the 2002 Devils could not account for the offseason departure of Alexander Mogilny who provided a huge boost to the power play. In fact, Mogilny was so pivotal to the PP that New Jersey fell from 3^rd in PP goals in ’01 to 26^th in 2002.

The Rebound:

The Devils countered their offensive struggles by becoming even more dominating defensively. They allowed a league best 2.02 goals per game in the regular season and a league-low 1.62 goals per game in the playoffs on their way to their second Stanley Cup in three seasons.

The 2002 New England Patriots

The Success:

The Pats shocked the world in 2001 by beating the heavily favored St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl.

The Unexpected Struggle:

Unlike the present day Pats, the ’01 Patriots were the quintessential “team.” It relied on superior production from every unit to win football games. As a result, the margin for error was smaller than the average championship contending team. When the running game fell from 13^th in rushing yards in ’01 to 28^th in ’02, the margin for error proved to be too thin as the Pats missed the playoffs all together.

The Rebound:

Just like the ’02 Devils, the Pats used the #1 defense in the NFL to get back on track in 2003 and, you guessed it, won the Super Bowl again.

The 2000 St. Louis Rams

The Success:

Kurt Warner and the Rams provided one of the most astonishing franchise turnarounds in NFL history by winning the Super Bowl in 1999. Not only were the Rams not expected to contend for the championship heading into the season, they hadn’t finished above .500 in nine years. Behind Warner and Marshall Faulk, the Rams led the league in scoring and yardage and were front and center as the NFL’s new unstoppable offensive force.

The Unexpected Struggle:

With the same offensive cast returning the following season, the Rams were expected to repeat their successes in 2000. The “Greatest Show on Turf” was up for the task as the Rams offense was even more devastating than the previous season putting up the third highest single-season point total in NFL history. It was the defense that proved to be the fatal flaw. The Rams “D” plummeted from 4^th in the league in 1999 to dead last in 2000. The Rams still managed to sneak into the playoffs but were unceremoniously bounced in the first round by New Orleans. While the offense was certainly talented enough to carry the Rams to another Super Bowl, it was a lousy defense that forced the Rams to begin the playoffs on the road which led to an early exit at the hands of New Orleans.

The Rebound:

The Rams “D” was back to 7^th in the league in 2001 and it was no coincidence that they were back to the Super Bowl for the second time in three seasons as heavy double-digit favorites.

The 1991 San Francisco 49ers

The Success:

Behind Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and a stellar defense, the 49ers won the Super Bowl in 1989 and followed it up with a 14-2 regular season in 1990.

The Unexpected Struggle:

Montana would miss the entire ’91 season with an elbow injury but expectations were still high with Steve Young—not only the best backup in the league at the time but one of the top quarterbacks in the league—set to take over. The offense had a hard time gelling initially with Young under center as the Niners started the season just 4-5. Young suffered a knee injury in Week 10 giving way to the team’s 3^rd string QB, Steve Bono. Bono’s debut the next week at New Orleans was a disaster as the Niners produced their lowest scoring output in 14 years. Despite turmoil behind center, the Niners were still very much the same team that had racked up a 28-4 regular season record over the previous two seasons. This was clearly a case of a team having a hard time adjusting without its leader. By Week 12, everything started to come together. Bono and Young would lead the Niners to a 6-0 record to close out the season outscoring their opponents 189-94 over that stretch. There is little question that by the end of the ’91 season, the Niners were one of the top teams in the league. Unfortunately, even a 10-6 record wasn’t enough to get them into the playoffs.

The Rebound:

While not making the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons was a disappointment, the Niners—much like the ’10 Wings—ended the season playing brilliantly. It was little consolation at the time but it no doubt foreshadowed a return to glory for the Niners. Behind Young—who took over at QB permanently the following season—the Niners would go on to make the playoffs the next seven seasons and win the 1994 Super Bowl.

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A veteran team like the Wings isn’t accustomed to making excuses, but I have no problem doing it for them. The level of consistency that the Wings have demonstrated over the past 20 years is unprecedented not just in the NHL but in any sport. Wings fans have been spoiled and they know it. In fact, most assumed that the era was D.O.A the minute the hard salary cap was instituted in 2005. Detroit’s demise was cast prematurely then and people are doing the same now. The Wings didn’t magically turn into an old and talentless team in one off-season. Remember, they were the hottest team in the NHL over the last six weeks of the regular season. Let’s ignore the late-season surge for a second. The Wings are entitled to down seasons. We’ve seen it before. What people need to understand is this wasn’t just a random down season. It was inevitable from the get-go because of various factors beyond Ken Holland, Mike Babcock, and even the players’ control.

Each instance highlighted above where a team in its prime unexpectedly dropped off was the result of extenuating circumstances. The 2010 Wings trump them all in that department. First, no contending team in the NHL had to contend with the sheer amount of injuries the Wings had to deal with in 2010. In fact, based on the total number of games lost to injury, it’s a miracle they even made the playoffs. All told, the Wings lost 312 player games to injury. Johan Franzen, Valtteri Filppula, Tomas Holmstrom, Niklas Kronwall, and Dan Clearly all missed significant time. It wasn’t a coincidence that when the Wings finally got healthy post Olympic break, they were the best in the NHL.

Injuries weren’t the only factor. The 2010 Wings were a tired team. Over the previous three seasons, the Wings played 63 playoff games which were, by far, the most in the NHL. The next three highest totals were Pittsburgh (49), Anaheim (40) and San Jose (30). Aside from two teams—Pittsburgh and Anaheim—the Wings played more than double the number of playoff games over the last three seasons than every other team in the league. In fact, the Wings played the equivalent of ¾ of a regular season more than the average team in the NHL over that span. Compounding the issue was a brutal travel schedule. Since the Wings are an ill fit geographically in the Western Conference, a whopping 17 of those 63 playoff games were played at least two time zones away. Not to mention the Wings had seven players participate in the Vancouver Olympics which was the second highest total in the NHL. All of these factors contributed to an exhausted team. Tired legs and injuries were largely responsible for why the Wings found themselves on the outside of the playoff picture at mid-season. By the time the team got healthy, it was forced to play playoff hockey for six weeks just to get into playoffs. Even then, they had to play on the road in the first round three time zones away in Phoenix and again in the second round three time zones away in San Jose.

As well as the Wings played to close out the regular season, it’s amazing to think how much offensive production was lost in the off-season. Marian Hossa, Mikael Samuelsson, and Jiri Hudler accounted for 82 goals in 2009 which was 28% of Detroit’s scoring. That sort of personnel loss is hard to deal with regardless of how talented the rest of the roster is. Those losses became an even bigger burden when the Wings were faced with mounting injuries. The depth that was the team’s cornerstone before had vanished. At the same time, Jimmy Howard took over the #1 job in goal making 2010 one whopper of a transitional season.

The 2010 Wings shouldn’t be remembered for underachieving. In fact, I would argue that—considering all of the factors involved—they ended up overachieving. The 2011 Wings should have no problem following the precedent set by the teams I referenced above. Jimmy Howard should improve on his stellar debut as Detroit’s starting goaltender. Jiri Hudler is expected to re-join the team after spending the season overseas. The early exit in the playoffs will give the team more than a month of additional rest compared to the previous three seasons.

The takeaway from 2010 is that it was a blip and not a trend. Take solace in the number of factors that were working against the Wings and then take even more solace in the way they finished the regular season. If precedent means anything, the Wings should be a heavy favorite to return to the Stanley Cup Finals in the next season or two. That doesn’t sound half bad for “the end of an era.”

Zoom Zoom Riot

2010-05-12T22:10:00.001-04:00

I didn’t want to jinx it, so I waited until it was over before posting on it. Prior to Monday’s blow-up against the Yankees, Joel Zumaya had pitched 18.2 consecutive innings to begin the season without issuing a single walk. That might be a ho-hum feat for the control freaks of the pitching profession like Zack Greinke and Roy Halladay. For Zumaya, there’s nothing ho-hum about it. The previous best walk-less streak of his career was just 12.1 innings. His next best stretch after that is just six innings. With Zumaya’s newfound affection for the strike zone, it should come as no surprise that he’s flashing shades of 2006 when he was the most feared pitcher in baseball. Part of his early success came from mixing 103 MPH heat with wicked off-speed stuff. However, a bigger part had to do with throwing strikes, or at least not being the worst pitcher in baseball at throwing strikes. Although injuries have certainly been a major factor in Zoom-Zoom’s struggles over the past three seasons, equally responsible was his penchant for issuing the free pass. Prior to this season, his career BB/9 was a horrendous 5.4 including an unfathomable 7.3 over the past two seasons. Even during his stellar rookie campaign, he was at a far from respectable 4.5 BB/9. Hitters might not be able to catch up to his heater, but they can sure avoid swinging at pitches out of the strike zone. That had been “the book” on big Z until this season. Remarkably, he is sporting a .9 BB/9 through 20 innings this season. As a result, he has been one of the most dominant relievers in baseball despite a robust and incredibly unlucky BAbip of .370. Most pitchers carrying around that stat are on their way to AAA. Zumaya’s control has made that a moot point. His 1.10 WHIP thus far is the best mark of his career—as is his 10.8 K/9. And, he has yet to give up a home run. All are signs that, at least for the time being, Zumaya has found the one thing that separates pitchers from throwers: control.

The Tigers are 19-15 and very much in the thick of the AL Central race. They have done this despite a frightening 5.49 ERA from their starting pitching. Fortunately, the bullpen has been, by far, the best in baseball. And, nobody has been more responsible for that than Zumaya. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that he has logged the most innings out of the pen not only for the Tigers been in the entire American League. His 2.24 ERA and .9 BB/9 have spearheaded a bullpen that not only leads the AL in innings pitched but also ERA. There’s no question that the unit as a whole has been fantastic. Jose Valverde has been sparkling in the closer role while Phil Coke, Eddie Bonine, and Fu-Te Ni have been ultra reliable. However, there’s also no question that Zumaya’s re-emergence as the most effective set-up man in the American League has restored order to the Tigers bullpen and, for the time being, has allowed the Tigers to play well above their means despite horrific starting pitching.

While it’s safe to assume that the starting pitching will eventually rebound, the same assumption cannot be made regarding Joel Zumaya’s health. Just 20 innings into the season, he is already approaching the most innings he has pitched in a season since 2006 (33.2 in ’07). Jim Leyland—to no fault of his own—has been relying on Zumaya heavily. He has pitched at least 1.2 innings in 9 of his 13 appearances. He has logged the most innings of any reliever in the American League and has thrown the 5^th most pitches among relievers in the AL. Considering his injury history and knack for abruptly breaking down, it might be wishful thinking to expect Zumaya to still be pitching in September let alone July or August. Still, the law of averages would seem to dictate that Zumaya is due for a healthy season. Then again, I’m not so sure the “law of averages” is supposed to be applied to a 210+ pound man with a lengthy injury history hurling a baseball 100+ MPH. Cliché as it is, “so far, so good” is all I've got.

Mess with Texas

2010-05-06T10:28:00.000-04:00

Considering Jim Delany and the Big Ten reiterated their original 12 to 18-month timeline just two weeks ago, I’m hesitant to believe the latest scuttlebutt on expansion that has Syracuse, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, Nebraska, and Missouri coming to Big Ten country. It was only five months ago that Delany first issued a press release suggesting the Big Ten’s potential expansion interests. I can’t imagine that just five months after giving the original timeline, the Big Ten has already admitted defeat in courting the likes of Notre Dame and Texas. With the massive success of the Big Ten Network, the conference is in a position to be patient and picky. Big Ten institutions have the financial stability and the potential for growth that every school in the country would love to have. There’s a reason why other conferences—including the SEC—are waiting around to see what the Big Ten is going to do. Delany has everyone looking his way for good reason. Right now, he is the maestro of college football. No offense to the five schools mentioned above but if that’s all the Big Ten can attract given its impressive financial standing and academic reputation, then I think it’s fair to question both how much power the conference actually has and Delany’s status as a “maestro.”

The Big Ten doesn’t need to do anything. There is no timeline other than the artificial one that Delany put forward in his press release. Members raked in a mindboggling $22 million per year each from the Big Ten Network alone last year. Everyone in the Big Ten is sitting pretty right now. I realize that the primary—and in the end maybe the only—objective of expansion is to generate even more money through increased ad revenue from the additional live events that expansion would bring to the BTN. If that is the only objective, then Rutgers and Syracuse it is. However, I would think that there is something more to it than just making more money. Given their athletic prowess (or lack thereof) I would think that Rutgers and Syracuse would be fallback options. The Big Ten is about athletic prestige as much as it is about academic. The addition of Penn State made the conference stronger athletically. Subsequent additions should as well. Adding Syracuse and Rutgers would hardly accomplish that objective. They were 63^rd and 92^nd respectively in last year’s final Director’s Cup Standings. Indiana—the Big Ten’s lowest ranked school in the standings by a considerable margin—chimed at 55^th. It’s one thing to invite schools that are not competitive in Olympic sports and another to invite schools that would make the conference weaker in the sport that pays the bills: football. That’s why I find it hard to believe that Delany and Co. have already given up on Texas and Notre Dame.

Maybe it’s a smokescreen. Maybe Delany is working any and all channels to Austin and South Bend as I type. Certainly that would be the very least to expect coming from the guy who had his hands all over the creation of the epically successful Big Ten Network. It just doesn’t make sense for college football’s current A-#1 powerbroker to be fast tracking fallback plans. I understand the allure of Syracuse and Rutgers from a financial perspective. The idea being, of course, to infiltrate the NYC market by stealing the top programs in the New York/New Jersey area. What remains to be scene, however, is how much pull those schools have in NYC. It would seem to be an awfully risky gamble to simply assume that viewers in NYC would collectively start watching Syracuse and Rutgers football when there has been very little previous interest. I have to admit that I’m coming from an ignorant place with respect to their potential drawing power in NYC. Maybe they’ll produce a ratings bonanza for the BTN. I could definitely be wrong but luring Syracuse and Rutgers seems like a feeble attempt to corral a market that just doesn’t have interest in local college football.

Despite his lofty position atop the college football landscape, Delany doesn’t have a genie in a bottle. He can’t simply command schools to the Big Ten. However, his primary objective—even above trying to convince Notre Dame to pursue the path of sanity—should be to sweet talk Texas into joining the Big Ten. I realize there are factors working against this. First, Texas has visions of achieving financial utopia with a network of its own. Second, Texas might find the geographic proximity to the SEC more to its liking. Or, it’s possible that Texas simply wants to remain the benefactor of the disproportionate revenue set-up it currently has in the Big XII. Whatever it is, there are many reasons why Texas might turn down an offer from the Big Ten. None of that should affect Delany’s course of action. If Texas wants to say, “no”, it should be after an onslaught of recruiting attempts by Delany and his Big Ten compatriots. Texas is the biggest fish in the sea by a long shot. Few institutions can equal UT’s athletic prowess. The Longhorns have finished in the top 10 of the Director’s Cup Standings for eight consecutive years. More importantly, no school in the country can come close to offering the sheer number of additional TV viewers. That’s what this is all about, right? The state of Texas has seven of the top 100 TV markets in America and unlike, say, California where allegiances are spread pretty thin , the University of Texas is the main attraction in the state of Texas. That’s 7.2 million additional households just from those top 100 markets for the Big Ten Network to penetrate. NYC and all its glory stands at 7.5 million. If you’re wondering about Texas A&M, my guess is that if Texas is off to the Big Ten, A&M wouldn’t be too far behind. Don’t sleep on TAMU’s credentials. It was ranked as the 22^nd best public university by the US News and World Report and finished 13^th in the 2009 Director’s Cup Standings.

DMA Rankings

Texas is a prestigious academic institution. It will not find too many peers in the SEC. That—along with the existence of the Big Ten Network—should be Delany’s primary recruiting tools. The Big Ten has 10 of the top 30 public schools in the country according to the U.S. News & World Report. Northwestern—the only school not on that list—is a private school and better than them all. The SEC, on the other hand, has just three of the top 30 public schools. Texas stands at #15. Based on that, it’s doubtful UT’s administration would be overjoyed by a move to the SEC. Clearly, forcing its athletic teams to travel to the Midwest for every road game is not something the administration would be overjoyed about, either. However, by adding Texas A&M, Nebraska, and Missouri , the Big Ten could soften that blow significantly.

I don’t have any inside information when it comes to expansion talk—or anything for that matter. For all I know, Syracuse, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, Missouri, and Nebraska could be headed to the Big Ten tomorrow. What I do have is what I hope amounts to a decent amount of common sense. It makes no sense for the Big Ten to be wrapping up the expansion process early with Syracuse and Rutgers set to receive invitations. Anything short of Texas (and Notre Dame I suppose) filing for a restraining order against Delany should not deter the Big Ten’s pursuit of Texas. While he’s at it, Delany might want to get the king of secondary recruiting violations to make a trip to Austin. There’s no doubt in my mind that Jim Tressel could put together the right kind of financial package to get UT to sign on the dotted line.

So what's it gonna be?

2010-04-29T15:47:00.001-04:00

I’m a little confused by the Tigers. They have great pitching and hitting, and… horrible pitching and hitting. That’s really the only way I can describe this walking contradiction of a baseball team. The starting pitching has been worse than atrocious. Collectively, Tigers starting pitching boasts a 5.56 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP. While the starting pitching has been horrendous preventing runs, the offense hasn’t fared much better scoring them. The Tigers are one of the worst teams in MLB at advancing—and thus scoring—baserunners. They are dead last in stolen bases. Only two teams in the AL are worse at taking extra bases on singles and doubles. They are 8th of 14 teams in scoring runners from 3rd with fewer than two outs. They’re also 12th of 14 teams in advancing runners from 2nd base with no outs. Part of the problem has to do with the number of strikeouts they’re piling up. With 156 K’s, the Tigers have the 4th most in the AL. It’s difficult to advance runners without putting the ball in play. “Not advancing runners” might not be such a big deal if the Tigers hit home runs. Unfortunately, they’re just 11thof 14 teams in home runs. It’s difficult to score runs without power and speed. Most teams have the luxury of at least one of the two.

Most teams that struggle with starting pitching, advancing baserunners, and hitting home runs have “cellar” written all over them. Inexplicably, the Tigers are not in the cellar. In fact, they’re 13-10 and just 1.5 games behind the Twins despite playing 14 of 23 games on the road to start the season. How is this possible? Well, it’s crazy-complicated. As poor as the starting pitching has been, the bullpen has been equally brilliant. The bullpen sports a stellar 2.22 ERA over 81 innings. Jose Valverde, Joel Zumaya, Eddie Bonine, Phil Coke, and Fu-Te Ni all have ERAs under 2.00. The bullpen is the only reason the Tigers stand at 8th in team ERA in the AL despite such terrible production from the rotation. Detroit is dead last in the league in quality starts. That has translated into the bullpen pitching more innings than any other bullpen in the American League by a long shot. Fortunately for the Tigers, that hasn’t been a problem, yet.

The only other thing keeping this team afloat right now is its ability to get on base. As poor as Tigers hitters have been at advancing baserunners (and as poor as the baserunners have been at advancing themselves) they’ve been equally superb at getting on base. Unlike the boom or bust Tigers of recent years, this team can draw a walk. The Tigers are 2nd in the American League in walks and hits. The “hits” have always been there but the newfound proficiency in drawing walks has helped give the Tigers the highest OBP in the American League. That was not a misprint! The barrage of free passes has been led by Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez, and Johnny Damon who all have at least 12 walks and a better than 1:1 BB:SO ratio. So, while the Tigers are abysmal at advancing and scoring runners, they are the best at putting runners on base. That dichotomy has not surprisingly resulted in a ho-hum 4.78 runs per game. One reason why such a high OBP has resulted in such a correspondingly low number of runs is that the players drawing all the walks are the players who are supposed to be driving in the runs. They can’t drive in runs if they’re standing on first. Drawing walks is a great quality even from power-hitters but Detroit’s 6-9 hitters have been so wretched that a walk from Cabrera, Ordonez, and Damon has been as good as an out for the opposition.

What we’re left with is a team that is hedging its bets in virtually every capacity. The relievers have bailed out the starters in a way that nobody could’ve predicted. The sheer number of baserunners the offense has generated has offset the dreadful rate at which the Tigers have both advanced and scored runners. Yet, somehow, the Tigers are three games over .500 and very much alive in the AL Central. As great of a development as that is, I don’t think it foreshadows anything moving forward. None of what the Tigers are doing right now is likely to last. The starting pitching will improve. Bullpen production will drop off. The offense will advance and score baserunners at a higher percentage. And, you can expect a sharp decline in OBP. The Tigers are producing at the extreme of virtually every measure. Extremes don’t last. Unfortunately, that leaves us in the dark in terms of what can be expected when these numbers normalize. It just all depends on whether the forthcoming improvements in starting pitching and driving in baserunners offset the inevitable return to reality in terms of the bullpen and OBP. In other words, I have no idea what’s going to happen. If there’s one thing I can say, it’s that this team is either good, bad, or average and I’d put money on that.

Identity Crisis

2010-04-23T00:13:00.005-04:00

With Big Ten expansion looking like a mere formality, what would the Big Ten call a new 16-team mega-conference? Keeping the “Big Ten” name when Penn State was added brought enough ridicule. With the addition of five more schools, the name “Big Ten” opens up the conference to quite the public relations embarrassment. There’s a pizza joint down the street from my house called, “Belly Buster’s.” I never eat there because I can’t get past the name. I feel guilty enough as it is eating pizza. I have to suspend my understanding of nutrition and the human body for the five minutes it takes me to eat a large pizza or otherwise I’d never be able to put such an insane amount of calories in my body at one time. With a name like Belly Buster’s, it’s literally impossible for me to forget that I’m doing serious damage to my body while decreasing the number of minutes I have on Earth in the process. Although it seems catchy in theory, the name absolutely kills this place and I’m sure it keeps people from eating there. The Big Ten won’t exactly have difficulty making money regardless of what it calls itself. It could be called “The Big Worst” and not lose a cent. However, Jim Delany is ultra-sensitive about the conference’s reputation as evidenced by his awesome letter defending the Big Ten against the SEC in the perception battle. So, trust me when I say that being widely lampooned for having a 16-team conference called the “Big Ten” will get under Delany’s skin. Like Belly Buster’s, the first thing anyone will think about when they think of the Big Ten is how ridiculous the name is. So, Delany has two options: 1). Change the name to something that makes sense, or 2). Keep the name and find a new significance for the number “10.”

Ever since last December when the news broke that the Big Ten was going to look into expansion, message boards and fan forums have been littered with ideas for new names for a 16-team conference. Unfortunately, it’s a fruitless endeavor. A new name is out of the question. The Big Ten isn’t just an athletic conference; it’s a brand. It’s a brand that has, among other things, its own TV station worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Perhaps even more than the individual universities that make up the conference, the name “Big Ten” is the most visible attribute the conference has to offer especially after the creation of the “Big Ten Network.” That doesn’t necessarily mean that the conference is stuck with a contradictory name. The key could be to find a new meaning for “10.”

My first thought was to look at the number of states in the conference instead of “teams.” If Notre Dame and Pittsburgh are among the additions, then the end result will likely be 16 members across 11 states. In that scenario, the Big Ten can just claim that instead of having 11 members, it now has 11 states with no name change necessary. However, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh would both have to be involved for that scenario to work.

Another idea—and this isn’t a slam dunk by any means—is to associate “10” with the largest markets in the Big Ten region. To be fair, the only reason the conference is even looking at expansion is to significantly increase revenue. So it would only seem fitting to incorporate the Big Ten’s motives for expansion as the new interpretation of the “Big Ten.” It’s impossible to know exactly which markets are going to end up in the conference because we don’t know which schools, if any, are coming to the conference. As it stands right now, however, the Big Ten region boasts 7 of the top 25 markets in the country according to the DMA rankings…

It’s not unreasonable to think that three additional markets among the top 25 could be delivered via expansion. Depending on which schools get invites, we could see New York City, Boston, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Kansas City or a number of Texas markets enter the mix. Either way, it’s likely that the Big Ten will have either 10 of the top 20 markets or 10 of the top 25 making for a fairly convenient explanation for remaining the “Big Ten.” Owning “markets” might sound a bit trivial but it’s important to remember this whole expansion conversation is about reaching new markets. The SEC only has three of the top 25 markets. So having 10 is no small feat and is certainly worth acknowledging.

Otherwise, I’m all out of ideas. A name change isn’t a realistic option. The name itself is a brand and brands don’t just change names. I could see something like “Big Ten +” or a derivative there of but it would make everyone’s job a lot easier if there was a convenient, built-in reason to continue calling it the “Big Ten.” At the very least, it would save everyone from having to read another sweet letter from Jim Delany in 2015 explaining that it’s “not nice” to make fun of conferences with contradictory names.

It's time for Tiger vs. Lefty

2010-04-14T22:09:00.001-04:00

Tiger Woods has accomplished just about everything in golf. He has won each major at least three times over. He’s been named the PGA Player of the Year 10 times and has been the Tour Money Leader nine times. If his performance at the Masters over the weekend is any indication—especially coming off a lengthy and tumultuous layoff—he is still well on his way to shattering Jack Nicklaus’s record for career majors and Sam Snead’s record for most PGA Tour wins. Tiger is only 34. He needs just four major championships to tie the record. Nicklaus won six majors after his 35^th birthday and—no offense to “The Golden Bear”—Tiger is peerless when it comes to physical conditioning. Barring an unforeseen catastrophe, Tiger is well on his way to becoming the greatest golfer of all-time if he’s not there already. As impressive as he has been and likely will continue to be, that level of success comes at a price. Namely, the price of not having a rival. Not that it’s his fault. Still, many media pundits have used Tiger’s lack of a rival as fuel for criticism. Some have used it as an indictment of his competition which, of course, mitigates his accomplishments. Others have argued that he has made golf boring by being too dominant. Whether those things are actually true doesn’t matter. It’s the perception that matters. The public “need” for a rivalry is deeply rooted. Rivalries transcend sports from a mere “game” to a compelling battle of ability and style. Michigan has Ohio State. The Yankees have the Red Sox. Jack Nicklaus had Arnold Palmer and, to a lesser extent, Gary Player. Jacob has the Man in Black. Tiger has nobody.

I don’t personally buy into the notion that Tiger needs a rival to validate his career or to transcend golf anymore than he already has. He is quite likely the most recognizable athlete in the world and has won more money than anyone in the history of the sport. If there is one thing that Tiger is doing just fine without, it’s a rival. Hell, judging from TV ratings, golf is doing just fine without a rival for Tiger. However, I think many people—and unfortunately many of these people are backed by the power of the press—need him to have a rival. While I’m sure it has been enjoyable for Tiger to dominate golf tournaments like he’s dunkin’ on a six foot rim, it has gotten pretty boring at times for fans and the media. That has led to a number of “jump the gun” scenarios in which Tiger’s long awaited rival had supposedly arrived. Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Vijay Sing, David Duval and Sergio Garcia were all, at one time or another, given the “Tiger’s rival” treatment. Of course, we know how all that turned out. The aforementioned “rivals” have combined to win 11 major championships. Tiger has 14 all by himself. Despite everyone’s best efforts to create a rival for Tiger, he has just been too good to have one. That may have all changed on Sunday.

Of all of Tiger’s fake rivals, Phil Mickelson has always been the one most likely to be the real thing. He has been the most successful golfer in the world outside of Tiger over the past 15 years. Unfortunately, the lengthy major drought to start his career made it impossible for the golfing world to take him seriously as a legitimate rival to Tiger. By 2004, Lefty’s struggles at the major championships had become equal parts “running punchline” and “heartbreak”. It wasn’t that he played horribly at the majors; he was, in fact, consistently good. Entering the ’04 Masters, Lefty had finished second or third at a major a total of eight times without winning. He finally broke through at the ’04 Masters and then followed that up with a PGA Championship in ’05 and another Masters in ’06. Still, entering the ’10 Masters, the major count stood at 14-3 in favor of Tiger. That’s not exactly a record that screams “rivalry!”

Three events over the past year-and-a-half have combined to potentially change the rivalry landscape considerably for the first time in the Tiger Woods era:

1). Tiger was forced to miss eight months to rehab the ACL tear in his left knee.

Tiger hasn’t won a major championship since his return from knee surgery. Right now, the drought stands at five majors and counting without a victory including only his second “missed cut” as a professional. It is his second longest major drought in over ten years.

2). The revelation of Tiger’s freaktastic personal transgressions.

Returning from reconstructive knee surgery is difficult enough without added distractions. The scrutiny, embarrassment, and self-doubt that must come from having personal infidelities aired in front of six billion people just makes maintaining focus in arguably the most difficult sport in the world that much more challenging, if not impossible.

3).Lefty’s win at the Master’s on Sunday.

Mickelson’s win wasn’t so much impactful because of the fact that he won a major as it was the timing of the win. Tiger came to Augusta last weekend to reclaim his dominance. It can be debated whether that was a realistic goal or not considering the mental obstacles he was dealing with, but there is no question that he came to win. Instead, Phil Mickelson won and that may very well prove to be a shot across Tiger’s bow. Don’t get me wrong, Tiger’s game hasn’t exactly suffered. He has finished in the top-six in four of the last five majors—all post surgery. Also, don’t forget that he won the ’08 U.S. Open hobbling on one leg which put him more at a disadvantage than any event he has entered post rehab; including the Masters over the weekend. Nonetheless, this is an interesting time for both Tiger and Lefty. The gap between the two that was seemingly the size of the Pacific Ocean just a few years ago seems to be narrowing on both sides. Mickelson will never erase the gap—or come close to it—but he could close it enough to bring credibility to Tiger’s first—and likely only—rivalry.

What Mickelson did by winning the Masters over the weekend wasn’t just prove that he can beat a motivated, lurking Tiger Woods at a major. Trevor Immelman did that at the ’08 Masters and that didn’t exactly catapult him into a rivalry with Tiger let alone prove that he was capable of winning more than one tournament. Plus, Mickelson has already proven that he can ward of a contending Tiger at a major when he outplayed him on Saturday and Sunday to win the ’06 Masters. What Mickelson did do that was far more meaningful than winning one tournament or beating one player was add to an ever increasingly rival-worthy resume. Nobody knows how Tiger is going to perform in the face of a rehabilitated knee and a yet-to-be rehabilitated image. By his standards, though, he has played poorly in five consecutive majors. It would not be surprising to see his winning percentage at major championships drop from the ridiculous level it was previous to ’09. If that happens—even in the slightest— then prepare for the very real possibility of the Tiger vs. Lefty era.

It’s unfortunate that this all couldn’t have happened 12 years ago. Lefty’s run of “runner-up” finishes damaged his reputation considerably because while he was coming “oh so close”, Tiger was winning eight majors. The interesting thing is that this thing has been rivalry worthy even if few have actually realized it. Since 2004, Tiger holds just a 6-4 advantage in major championships over Mickelson. He holds a slight 16-13 advantage in top-tens at major championships. Tiger has 70 top-ten finishes on tour over that span to Lefty’s 55. There is no doubt that Tiger is the greatest golfer in the world. His career accomplishments trump not just any golfer on the PGA Tour today but just about any two golfers. Lefty certainly isn’t in the same ballpark as Tiger as far as career accomplishments. Fortunately, he doesn’t need to be.

The greatest rivalry in the history of golf is generally considered to be Jack Nicklaus vs. Arnold Palmer. There were a few extracurriculars involved with Jack vs. Arnie that Tiger vs. Lefty simply can’t match. First, Arnold Palmer was the top golfer in the world when Jack Nicklaus came on the scene. Second, as a 22-year old baby face, Jack beat Arnie in an 18-hole playoff to win his first ever tournament at the 1962 U.S. Open. That gave Jack vs. Arnie an aura of intrigue that few rivalries could ever match. Jack knocked Arnie off the mountain top. Instead of engaging in an ultra-competitive rivalry right at the beginning, Lefty vs. Tiger—if it materializes—would begin some 18 years after Lefty turned pro and 13 years after Tiger turned pro. That’s not exactly as compelling as the immediate drama that the Nicklaus vs. Palmer rivalry produced. Fortunately, rivalries in sports are based on results as much as they are drama. Had Palmer not been the greatest golfer in the world in ’62 or had he not continued to be a force on the tour for the decade after Nicklaus’s breakthrough win at the ’62 Open, there would not have been a rivalry. While style is a bonus, rivalries are built on substance.

So, the question is, does Tiger vs. Lefty have substance, or at the very least, potential for substance? To answer that question, we need to strip away all of the extracurriculars that gave Jack vs. Arnie its initial “juice” and simply look at how competitive they were on the golf course. That should be a measuring stick for a potential Tiger vs. Lefty rivalry. In Palmer’s best seven-year stretch against Nicklaus, he trailed 7-3 in majors. In that same stretch, he trailed 19-17 in top-ten finishes at major championships. As it turns out, that isn’t so different from how Lefty has fared against Tiger over the last seven years. As I referenced earlier, Tiger holds a 6-4 advantage in majors and a 16-13 advantage in top-tens at majors. Although, it hasn’t really been acknowledged as such, Tiger and Lefty seem to already have a worthy rivalry.

Mickelson is nearly 40 and about to begin a stretch in his career that has historically been the end for elite golfers. If this thing is going to happen on a much larger scale, it needs to happen now. Fortunately, it would only take a solid 2-3 year stretch of Tiger vs. Lefty, if that, for this thing to go down as an iconic rivalry. If this thing heats up, experts will undoubtedly apply a little revisionist history to the past seven years to make this thing a nine or ten year battle.

Because Tiger has been so dominant, it’s not surprising that Mickelson isn’t necessarily thought of as a great golfer. The numbers tell a different story, though. Tiger and Lefty are on pace to have very similar careers to Jack and Arnie. Palmer was an iconic golfer but really doesn’t compare to Nicklaus’s accomplishments. The same can be said of Mickelson with respect to Tiger. Jack vs. Arnie took off because of the added appeal of a 22-year old jumpstart challenging “The King.” Without that, their rivalry would’ve been far less compelling. While Tiger and Lefty have been bereft of intrigue up to this point, the “juice” that it needs to take off might finally be here. With Tiger’s mental and physical ailments, Mickelson will have a chance of his own to knock off the king—albeit a younger one.

Loserville

2010-04-09T00:11:00.001-04:00

If you’ve ever seen NBC’s reality show, “The Biggest Loser”, then you’re fully aware that the biggest loser is actually the biggest winner. The object, of course, is to lose the highest percentage of weight thus becoming the biggest loser. The Pistons are a different kind of “biggest loser.” Of all of the wretched teams in the NBA this season—including the near historically bad New Jersey Nets—the Pistons are, without a doubt, the biggest collection of losers in the group. While every other horrible team is spreading minutes to younger players and ethically tanking the remainder of the season, the Pistons have decided it’s time to showcase the $20 million of wasted money they had the misfortune of acquiring last summer. The only thing worse than Charlie Villanueva and Ben Gordon hibernating through the entire year is for the dreadful duo to wake up just in time to ruin Detroit’s only ray of hope in an otherwise miserable season. Thanks, guys. I didn’t think there was any way you could prove to be a bigger waste of roster space than you already had over the first 76 games. Clearly, I was wrong.

The Pistons were in the Cadillac of draft positions just three days ago. With the first and second positions locked in place weeks ago by New Jersey and Minnesota, the Pistons were standing at the top of a massive heap of teams in the battle for the 3^rd position. Thanks to the strength of an 11-game losing streak, the Pistons were just a week from securing a 15.6% chance of winning the NBA Draft Lottery. At the very worst, they were guaranteed the 4^th overall pick meaning John Wall, Evan Turner, Derrick Favors, or DeMarcus Cousins was on his way to Detroit. That’s when Villanueva and Gordon decided that they were going to extend their lead as the most worthless players in the NBA. Not only are they largely responsible for Detroit’s inflexible cap situation and its worst record in 15 years, they also cut the team’s chances of winning the NBA Draft lottery by nearly 250% in just 24 hours.

The idiocy began on Tuesday night when Villanueva erupted for 25 points off the bench to lead the Pistons over the Sixers. Villanueva hadn’t scored 20+ points in a game since January 12^th. Over that span, he averaged a whopping 9.3 points per game. Gordon—obviously unhappy at the prospects of Villanueva singly handedly pissing off every Pistons fan in the universe—decided that he wanted to wake up from his long winter’s nap against the Hawks on Wednesday night. Gordon came off the bench to score 22 points to lead the Pistons to victory. He hadn’t scored that many points since February 5^th. Over that span, he averaged a Villanueva-esque 9.4 points per game.

I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that the Pistons have been nauseatingly unwatchable this season, the fact that Villanueva and Gordon sabotaged Detroit’s draft, or the fact that we’ll undoubtedly have to endure Joe D telling us that these worthless wins are a sign that this team has started to gel. This team couldn’t gel if it were the Jonas Brothers at the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards. Unfortunately, a lack of quality hair product and bucket of slime is only part of the problem. Perhaps the biggest problem is that this team has no future. Villanueva and Gordon are the equivalent of a pair of anchors buried in the concrete floor of cap space hell. Thanks in part to Joe D’s regrettable decision to sign them to longterm contracts last season, the Pistons not only find themselves the proud owners of a pitiful basketball team, but the proud owners of a pitiful basketball team for what appears to be a long, long time. They are already on the hook for $51.40 million next season. As bad as the Nets, T-Wolves, Kings, and Wizards have been this season, none of the four are on the hook for more than $36 million next season. At least they have the funds to do something about their futility not to mention improved draft position courtesy of Deeetroit Basketball’s awesome two-game winning streak. All of this makes the Pistons the “Biggest Losers” of the NBA.

Updated 100 Greatest Basketball Players of All-Time

2010-04-01T00:01:00.005-04:00

I receive email from readers on a weekly basis asking when I’m going to update my top 100 lists. The most requested is the basketball list. I’ve decided to bow to the pressure of my readership and issue an updated version of the top 100 basketball players of all-time. The same rules apply from the previous lists. If you need a refresher on list criteria, please click here. Without further ado, here are the updated 100 greatest basketball players of all-time.

100 Greatest Basketball Players of All-Time

1. Pete Chilcutt

He'd “cutt” you with a razor on the court and then take you to dinner off of it.

2. Vernell Eufaye Coles

This guy was a first class “bimbo."

3. Kurt Nimphius

Despite his name, Nimphius was prude on, and off, the court.

4. Kurt Rambis

Once blazed through 38 lbs of scotch tape in one season to hold his glasses together.

5. Rory Sparrow

Became the first player in NBA history to be born to bird parents. He honored them by changing his last name from "Winslow" to "Sparrow" on his 18th birthday.

6. Kevin Loder

Although most people remember him for his work as an MTV VJ, Loder was such an important force in the NBA that he closed down two NBA franchises: the San Diego Clippers and the Kansas City Kings.

7. Frank Brickowski

Overcame arguably the most detrimental last name in basketball history to shoot a robust .519 from the field.

8. Scott Hastings

Hastings had a reputation for being a frontcourt bully but he was actually one of the greatest score-o participants the world has ever seen. He took shooting from three feet way to new heights. I know this because a friend was blessed with the knowledge of Hastings at a chance encounter at Dunham Sports.

9. Chuck Nevitt

The original "human victory cigar" was also a great mentor. Nevitt is almost solely responsible for Fennis Dembo becoming the greatest towel waiver in NBA history.

10. Ed Nealy

Honorary member of Chicago's three-headed monster was solely responsible for Chicago's third-straight NBA Title in 1993.

11. Greg Kite

Kite once flew a Kite for an entire 48 minute NBA game without allowing his opponent to score a single point.

12. Randy Wittman

Spun such beautiful poetry that coaches who didn’t even want him on the court actually allowed him to be an on-court player/coach while they went to the bathroom to wipe away their tears.

13. Manute Bol

Bol was so good that he was drafted twice. He also once killed a lion with his bare hands in the middle of an NBA game.

14. Sam Bowie

Bowie is single-handedly responsible for the city of Portland being recognized as one of the luckiest cities in the world. The Blazers nearly made a crippling mistake by selecting Michael Jordan.

15. Devin Durrant

Devin Durrant was very nearly Kevin Durant. He never let the cruelty of the situation bring him down as he went on to a remarkably effective 63-game NBA career.

16. Bill Wennington

One of four members of Chicago's three-headed monster to appear on this list. “Beef” Wennington excelled brilliantly in "fouls per minute."

17. Johnny Newman

Aerodynamic Arsenio Hall hairstyle gave him the extra inches necessary to grind and thrive in the paint.

18. David Wingate

Anyone who collected basketball cards in the early 90s knows of the David Robinson rookie “false positive” all too well. Wingate and Robinson were both “Davids” who played for the Spurs. As the opener was flipping through the pack of cards going from left to right, the “David” and “Spurs” logo was easily identifiable. At that point, the opener had no choice but to hold their breath and hope for the best. And if the opener was lucky, they would be a proud owner of a David Wingate 4^th-year card.

19. Michael Jackson

No introduction necessary. Jackson gave up a career with the Knicks to become the King of Pop.

20. Jim Les

The classic example of “Les is more."

21. Pete Myers

“Fistpump Pete.” Perhaps no player in NBA history was more instrumental in cheering on the Chicago Bulls than Pete Myers.

22. Jim Farmer

Gave up a lucrative farming career to cultivate points in the NBA.

23. Donald Royal

Once won a head-to-head vote against Royal Ivey to see who truly was the “Royalty of the NBA.” Not surprisingly, Donald was the winner. Making the selection even more meaningful was that it was voted on by his NBA peers.

24. Chris Dudley

Was such an exemplary strategist that he once turned a career 46% free throw percentage into $34.8 million.

25. Jack Haley

Was a member of Chicago’s vaunted three-headed monster for one game. As the saying goes, though, “once a member of the three-headed monster, always a member of the three-headed monster.”

26. Will Perdue

Perhaps the most accomplished member of the three-headed monster. Perdue led the Bulls to three consecutive NBA Titles from 1991-93. He then went on to mentor Tim Duncan and resurrect the flailing career of David Robinson in San Antonio.

27. Vinny Del Negro

"Of the Black" was so silky smooth that he could smoke a doob in one hand and dunk on you with the other.

28. Fennis Dembo

Dembo was arguably the greatest towel twirler in NBA history. One can only wonder how much better he would’ve gotten had he waved his towel for more than one season.

29. Pervis Ellison

Nobody tried harder to shed an unwanted nickname than “Never Nervous” Pervis Ellison. Not one to let others dictate his state of mind, Ellison played nervously on purpose just to spite the people who gave him his nickname.

30. Tom Hammonds

“Hambone” spent much of his career announcing Notre Dame games from the end of the bench.

31. Pooh Richardson

Despite hellacious gas problems that caused him to head to the dressing room every 14 minutes, Pooh thrived as a merciless distributor of the ball.

32. Lance Blanks

You never know if a gun shoots blanks unless you're willing to fire it. Blanks left no doubt that there was nothing in the chamber.

33. Luc Longley

Double L was the sexy accent of the Bulls three-headed monster. He was also the Will Perdue and subsequent MVP of the Bulls’ second three-peat.

34. Adam Keefe

It's difficult to tell if Keefe is more known for being a menace in the paint or being a "W" away from infamy.

35. Oliver Miller

Miller derived much of his talent from eating college teammates Todd Day and Lee Mayberry.

36. Darren Morningstar

Most thought Mornginstar's fate was sealed the day the NBA decided to play its games after noon. Clearly, most were wrong.

37. Geert Hammink

Was so good in college that LSU urged Shaquille O'Neal to turn pro so Hammink could run the show.

38. Yinka Dare

A man with priorities. I once asked him for his shoes following a game. His response would've made Socrates smile. "What will I wear for the next game?"

39. LuBara “Dickey” Simpkins

The most unheralded member of Chicago’s three-headed monster to go along with a nickname well earned from what I hear.

40. Wesley Person

Was so good that video game programmers had no choice but to make sure he never missed a shot in NBA LIVE '95.

41. Tariq Abdul-Wahad

Once played Olivier St. John to a draw in a game of one-on-one.

42. God Shammgod

Basketball Jesus has nothing on this guy. Heck, Jesus himself has nothing on this guy.

43. Michael Olowokandi

Say his name three times in the mirror and you'll get dunked on for eternity. Countless NBA centers have doubted the legend and, as I type this, they are currently and repeatedly getting dunked on by Michael Olowokandi.

44. Jonathan Bender

Was so dominating on the court that he is the subject of M. Knight Shyamalan's forthcoming "The Last Airbender."

45. Frederic Weis

Although Weis never actually played in the NBA, he was such a selfless basketball player that he allowed Vince Carter to posterize him with the "Le Dunk de la mort."

46. Chris Mihm

Mihm's the word on this elite big who scorched the league for a .337 field goal percentage in 1998--an impressive feat for a center.

47. Brian Cardinal

The shrewdest of negotiators--Cardinal has amassed over $30 million in career earnings with a .412 career field goal percentage.

48. Loren Woods

Became the first woman to play and dunk in an NBA game.

49. Dajuan Wagner

Scored more points in a high school game than he did in his last two NBA seasons combined. That stat is a little misleading because he once scored 5,000 points in a high school game.

50. Jewish Jordan

JJ was destined to break Kareem's scoring records but chose religious obedience over superstardom.

51. Dan Dickau

"The Dick" or "DDs" as he was often referred to was so sought after that he was traded eight times.

52. Rafael Araujo

This former 8th overall pick out of BYU was so Mormon that he was born in Brazil.

53. Daniel Ewing

The son of J.R. Ewing, Daniel overcame the pitfalls of growing up under the shadow of a famous father to dominate the NBA.

54. Jon Koncak

Koncak was so physical that writers often subconsciously replaced the "c" with a "t" in his last name.

55. Uwe Blab

Blessed with the "gift of blab", Uwe often talked his opponents into mental breakdowns and then dunked on them.

56. Benoit Benjamin

Was so gifted as a youngster that his father changed the pronunciation of his name ala Joe Theisman. His parents ditched the common French pronunciation of “Benoit” for the phonetic version to rhyme with "anoint." As a result, Benjamin grew to 7'0 tall and was anointed the “King of the NBA.”

57. Joe Wolf

Wolf became the first Werewolf to start an NBA game.

58. Hot Rod Williams

Earned his nickname by taking a charge from a 1949 Mercury Hot Rod. His career arc nosedived after the collision but he limped away the proud owner of a flashy nickname.

59. William Bedford

Following a successful NBA career, Bedford was traded to the Lonestar Stabbers of the Texas State Federal Prison league where he has thrived under the alias "Inmate 675328."

60. Dave Corzine

There is a famous story in NBA circles that Dave Corzine was set to become the greatest player in NBA history but was so secure with himself that he allowed a teammate--Michael Jordan—the honor instead.

61. Pete Incaviglia

Was such a good baseball player that his baseball career ranks as one of the top 100 basketball careers of all-time.

62. Scotty Brooks

Ran into trouble with the law following a splendid basketball career. He was sent away to Shawshank State Prison where upon his release found it difficult to re-acclimate himself into society and thusly ended his life but not before etching, "Brooks was here" into the very wood beam that he hung himself on.

63. Danny Schayes

Danny was actually a better player than his legendary father (Dolph) but, out of respect for him, played worse on purpose to preserve his legacy.

64. Lloyd Batts

This guy was flatout bats.

65. Ruben Boumjte-Boumjte

Initially went by just Ruben Boumjte when he entered the league but, after seeing how awesome he was, league officials demanded that he become Boumjte squared, or the more familiar Boumjte-Boumjte.

66. Primoz Brezec

Brezec was straight-up gangster. Among many honors, he scored the first points in Charlotte Bobcat history which is generally recognized as one of the greatest accomplishments in the NBA record books.

67. Harold Miner

Miner's basketball exploits were so legendary that he was affectionately referred to as “Baby Jordan” after the legendary Jordan Knight of New Kids on the Block.

68. Antoine Carr

Although not as famous as his brother, Lloyd, Antoine was not only a force in the paint but a purveyor of sweet goggles.

69. Rex Chapman

While a litany of former NBA players have fallen victim to inconsistent play following changed hairstyles, Chapman bucked the trend by flourishing with every new do. He was just as good under “normal haircut” as he was under “ridiculously dyed red hair” and “bald.”

70. Doug Christie

Christie was so devoted to the game of basketball that he once went 8 minutes without talking to his wife.

71. Billy Curley

Curley was so focused on the court that he once scored a basket by simply asking the ball to throw itself into the hoop. Even more remarkable, he was fouled on the play.

72. Andrew Declercq

Despite a remarkable basketball career, Declercq will best be remembered for ending apartheid in South Africa.

73. Blue Edwards

Theodore "Blue" Edwards was the Joseph "Blue" Pulaski of the NBA.

74. Howard Eisley

One aspect of Eisley's NBA career that is often overlooked is the fact that he succeeded despite spending half of his career touring with the Eisley brothers.

75. Stan Love

In 2005, Mike Love—Stan’s brother—filed a lawsuit against fellow Beach Boys member Brian Wilson for, among other things, being one of the greatest songwriters of all-time. Stan Love was such an awesome basketball player, that he didn't do the same thing to Michael Jordan.

76. Tom Hagan

Could've been even higher on the list had he not abruptly retired after one season to become the consigliere to the Corleone family.

77. Dontonio Wingfield

In the face of nothing but dissenting opinion, Wingfield went pro after his freshman season at Cincinnati. The result was a mathematical match made in heaven as Wingfield became one of just a handful of NBA players to match his number of career starts with the round he was drafted in.

78. Mike Iuzzolino

One of only 18 players in NBA history with a last name beginning with "I", Mike proved that while there isn't an "I" in team, there is one in both "Mike" and "Iuzzolino."

79. Andrew Lang

Lang was the centerpiece of one of the most lopsided trades in NBA history. The 76ers stole Lang from Phoenix along with Tim Perry and Jeff Hornacek for Charles Barkley.

80. Priest Lauderdale

Although he wasn't a "priest" and he wasn't from Ft. "Lauderdale", he was without question, the greatest basketball player ever named Priest Lauderdale.

81. Marcus Liberty

When the Denver Nuggets handed in their pick in the second round of the 1990 draft, their new General Manager scribbled on the card, "Give me Liberty or give me death." David Stern tried to talk them into "death" but they were hell-bent on Liberty and they were rewarded with a blistering .417 field goal percentage over four years.

82. Don Maclean

Rumor has it that Maclean wrote the words to "American Pie" midair as he dunked over former college teammate Tracy Murray.

83. Sarunas Marciulionis

Was so valued by the Golden St. Warriors that the franchise forced Don Nelson’s son to learn Lithuanian rather than let this non-English speaking superstar go.

84. Sam Perkins

Perkins was a natural having reportedly slept during 52% of his time on the court. Imagine how good he would've been had he been awake the whole time.

85. Bryant Reeves

Big Country was such an iconic figure in American sports history that Canada made it its mission to build its entire sports program around Reeves. Canada had to play coy since any inkling of suspicion on the part of the United State would've ruined the plan. Canada eventually succeeded in the heist when the Vancouver Grizzlies selected him in the first round of the 1995 draft.

86. J.R. Reid

Reid took the reins from Earvin Johnson as the NBA's magic man. He played 11 seasons in the NBA but nobody had any idea he played more than five. How did he do it? A good magician never reveals his secrets.

87. Tree Rollins

Rollins was literally a tree that teams planted in front of the basket to deter shot attempts. Sadly, he was cut down for firewood following the 1994 season.

88. John Crotty

There’s nothing I can say about John Crotty that hasn’t been said a million times.

89. Otis Thorpe

Was such a respected basketball player that the Vancouver Grizzlies were willing to give up the rights to Darko Milicic six years before he was even drafted just to get their hands on O.T.

90. James Edwards

With his famous Fu Manchu, “Buddha” was the ultimate intimidator. Every single one of his 14,862 career points came within the first five minutes of the game.

91. Stanley Roberts

Recorded the first NBA Triple Double of its kind when he went for 11 points, 11 rebounds and ate 10 meatball sandwiches in a game against the Pistons in 1993.

92. Mark Aguirre

What he did on the hardwood was impressive but his most notable achievement came when he added an "M" to his last name and went on to hit 583 home runs and break Roger Maris's single season home run record.

93. Mike Smrek

Smrek was the first ogre to suit up for an NBA game. His brother, Mike Shrek, reached international fame when he married Princess Fiona in spite of Lord Farquaad’s best efforts to steal the headlines.

94. Michael Cage

Cage was a two-sport start. Everyone knows about his exploits as a feared NBA baller but most people don't know that he defeated Eric LaSalle in the 1987 World Jheri Curl Championships.

95. Eric Leckner

Leckner broker the lower limit of John Hollinger's PER rating in the 1989 playoffs with Utah. Although the Jazz were swept out of the playoffs, Leckner did his part with a -14.8 PER.

96. Jeff Grayer

In a career full of highs, Grayer will be most remembered for being the grayist player to ever suit up in an NBA game.

97. Jud Buechler

Buechler led the Bulls to back-to-back NBA Championships in '97 and '98.

98. Chris Gatling

I've always said that you can judge a player’s worth by how many times he has been traded. Few players in NBA history were worth more than Gatling who was traded nine times. Interestingly, Gatling was, at one time or another, traded for every player in the NBA.

99. Shawn Bradley

I've always said you can judge a player's worth by how much his sweat glistens. I once asked Shawn Bradley for his shoes. Luckily for me, he threw me his sweaty towel instead. His glisten was magnificent.

100. Gerald Glass

Glass became the first and only player in NBA history to be entirely made of glass.

101. April Fools!

'Big' Again

2010-03-24T23:15:00.001-04:00

It only takes a cursory look at the historical records of the RPI to understand the cyclicality of college basketball conference supremacy. The SEC had a four-year run as the best conference in America from 2000-2003. The ACC followed that with a two-year run. Then the Big Ten took the reign for a year before the ACC regained supremacy for three more years. The Big XII was tops in 2010. Of course, when conferences have rough patches—especially the Big Ten—you can bet that the alarmists will be quick to pronounce the demise and irrelevance of a struggling conference. Perspective is not a valued or commonly held trait in the sports world. However, overreaction doesn’t change the fact that conferences fluctuate. The year before the Big Ten was the #1 rated conference in the RPI in 2006, it was the #6 rated conference. Clearly, what conferences do from year-to-year can be pretty random.

However, what they do over time is not. For as much criticism as Big Ten basketball has received over the years, the conference sure seems to show up with authority in March. This March has been no different. Three Big Ten teams are in the sweet 16 and the conference has compiled a 7-2 record with at least three more wins likely to come this weekend. Despite its consistent success in the NCAA Tournament, the media has hammered Big Ten basketball so much so that its reputation of “slow and ugly” has usurped anything it has done on the court. The comparative “flash” of the ACC, Big East, and Big XII has left the Big Ten as the clear loser of the public relations battle. Coaches and players within the conference (not to mention the fans) are constantly forced to defend its value because the jabs have been lathered on so thick for so long.

The media thrives on building things up and then destroying them and vice versa. So, it pays to pretend last year never happened and next year never will. Obviously, that yields some pretty heavy distortions on reality. In the case of the Big Ten, it has ended in one of the most successful basketball conferences being the most maligned. Fortunately, there is another option other than living in the narrow-mindedness of year-to-year overreaction. A thorough look at the whole college basketball picture reveals something that looking at one pixel at a time won’t: Big Ten basketball is a beast.

By nearly every measure, the Big Ten has been extremely successful in the NCAA Tournament. Since 1998, only the ACC has produced a better winning percentage. The Big East—with all of its 16-team might—has been outperformed in every equalizing measure by the Big Ten as have the rest of the big six conferences. It’s hard to argue against the ACC’s success. The Big Ten has received more bids and produced more wins while the ACC has compiled the best winning percentage. However, the ACC’s advantage in winning percentage isn’t exactly “case closed.” It’s important to note that since 1998, the ACC has been awarded 15 #1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. Conversely, the Big Ten has received just six. That’s not all that unexpected considering North Carolina and Duke are two of the five best college basketball programs of all-time. Not surprisingly, they account for the vast majority of those #1 seeds. The Big Ten—even with Michigan State’s run of success—hasn’t had an equivalent at the top. The result has been nine additional 1 vs. 16 matchups in the NCAA tournament for the ACC over the Big Ten. That means nine guaranteed wins that considerably bolster the ACC’s tournament winning percentage. It’s not the ACC’s fault that it has performed well enough in the regular season to receive so many #1 seeds. However, when looking at which conference has actually performed the best in the NCAA Tournament taking Strength of Schedule into consideration, the Big Ten has been more impressive than the ACC.

Since 1998, the average seed of an ACC team in the NCAA Tournament is 4.53. The average seed of a Big Ten team is 5.62. That means that, on average, ACC teams that have made the big dance over that time have been considered to be “better” than the average Big Ten teams. However, since 1998, the average seed of the teams the ACC has defeated in the NCAA Tournament is 9.12. The average seed of the teams the Big Ten has defeated is 8.72. That means that despite having “worse” teams in the tournament, the Big Ten has compiled “better” wins. For example, the Big Ten has beaten 28 teams seeded 1-4 since ’98. The ACC has beaten just 23. This is to take nothing away from the ACC. Even though the Big Ten has received more bids than the ACC and has received more bids per team from its conference, the ACC has answered the call in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. I’m not interested in arguing that the Big Ten is better than the ACC. I’m merely interesting in pointing to the fact that the Big Ten has been every bit as successful as the ACC in the NCAA Tournament which speaks heavily about its place in the college basketball world.

The Big Ten and the ACC have easily been the most productive conferences in the NCAA Tournament over the past 13 seasons. They are tops in winning % and Final Fours. The fact that the ACC has performed so well in the NCAA Tournament should surprise nobody. It’s what the Big Ten has accomplished that should be an eye-opener especially to the folks outside of the Midwest who enjoy ripping the Big Ten at every opportunity (and subsequently enjoy being wrong about it). Interestingly, I wrote a similarly themed post about Big Ten Football during the bowl season that revealed nearly an identical result. Apparently, the sports world is littered with people who refuse to let facts get in the way of ignorant stereotyping when it comes to the Big Ten.

Attack of the Mid-Majors

2010-03-17T09:58:00.002-04:00

The only thing more certain than Mid-Majors ruining brackets all over America is the uncertainty of exactly which Mid-Majors are going to do the ruining. That’s why I can never bring myself to pick an “upset.” Sure, they’re going to happen but if you miss on your upset picks, you get beat twice. This year is harder than ever because of the sheer volume of Mid-Majors in the tournament. In many cases, you have to pick against the mid-major to qualify for the “upset.” More so than ever, parity has taken over college basketball. We knew this was coming when the NBA required players to be one year removed from high school to be eligible for the NBA Draft. While the rule meant more talented players would be playing college ball—and in the vast majority of cases they would be playing at powerhouses—it also meant that traditional powerhouses would suffer from a lack of continuity. This created a major contrast in program building. Mid-Majors looked to build veteran laden, mistake-free teams while major programs looked to fast track championships with “one and done” stars.

The “one year removed from high school” rule has given more teams more opportunities to advance in the NCAA Tournament than ever before. It’s eye-opening to count the number of mid-majors in the RPI 50. Mid-Majors consist of 20 of the RPI 50 and 52 of the RPI 100. The latter is a five-year high. Not surprisingly, the impressive RPI numbers have translated into impressive seeds in the NCAA Tournament. All told, 32 Mid-Majors* received bids in the 2010 NCAA Tournament which is the highest total ever. The average seed for the 32 Mid-Majors was 11.56 which is also the best total ever. It’s not just that there are more Mid-Majors than ever before; it’s that there are more “good” Mid-Majors than ever before. Keep in mind that Memphis significantly reduced the average Mid-Major seed with its run under John Calipari. Memphis didn’t even make the tournament this year and there wasn’t a Mid-Major anywhere near as dominant as Calipari’s crew. Yet, this crop still produced the best average seed on record. That mark was achieved by a litany of single seeds including #3 New Mexico, #5 Temple, #5 Butler, #6 Xavier, #7 BYU, #7 Richmond, #8 Gonzaga, #8 UNLV, and #9 N. Iowa. That group doesn’t even include some of the more “dangerous” Mid-Majors in the tournament like Siena, Cornell, San Diego St., Old Dominion, Houston, UTEP, Utah St., St. Mary’s, and New Mexico St.

Of course, your guess is as good as mine in determining who out of this group is going to be a national news story a week from now. I’m not even going to venture a guess. Just beware that there are more obstacles to a perfect bracket than ever before and those obstacles are more dangerous than ever before. Unless you’re in a 500 person pool, all that matters is picking the elite eight anyways and you can rest assured that I’m not brave enough to pick any of the above cats to make it that far.

* Conference status is not static. Before Louisville, Cincinnati, Marquette, and DePaul left for the Big East in 2006 and Charlotte and St. Louis left for the A-10 the same year, they were all members of Conference USA. C-USA received a total of 14 bids in 2003, 2004, and 2005 including six in 2004. Before the mass exodus, C-USA was hardly a Mid-Major conference. I did not count it as one until 2006. Likewise, the A-10 routinely received 3+ bids in the 90’s and was hardly the 14-team monstrosity of a Mid-Major conference that it is today.

Nathan's Famous Injury

2010-03-11T09:05:00.000-05:00

Last week I wrote that barring significant injuries in the AL Central, the Tigers had a 0% chance of making the playoffs. Well, it looks like we’ll never see that prediction come to fruition because we’re at one massive injury and counting. Perhaps the best player in the division over the last six years—and one that has been particularly abusive to the Tigers –is likely out for the season. Joe Nathan a has torn ligament in his right elbow. While not official, yet, it looks like there is a very good chance that he will miss the season. It’s hard not to appreciate Nathan’s resume even though he makes a habit of destroying the team that I root for. He has been one of the best (if not the best) closers in baseball since 2004. Irrespective of team affiliation, it’s always disappointing to hear about season-ending injuries. Hopefully, Nathan comes back better than ever regardless of his prognosis and uniform color. Nonetheless, this is an incredibly fortuitous injury from a Tigers perspective.

Since 2004, Nathan has been an elite, Hall of Fame-caliber, closer. Over that time, he put up a 1.87 ERA, a .934 WHIP, and a .182 BAA in 418.2 innings. He has also had more saves (246) than any closer in baseball over that time. If you’re a Tigers fan, then you probably know he has been even better against the home team. Since joining the Twins in ’04, Nathan has piled up a 1.55 ERA, a .955 WHIP, and a .153 BAA in 52.1 innings against the Tigers. He is a big reason why the Twins are 60-52 against Detroit over that timeframe. Having Nathan in the AL Central is a tough enough obstacle in itself. The fact that the Tigers have had nobody close to Nathan’s ninth-inning dominance closing out their own games makes his presence in the division even more meaningful.

It remains to be seen how Jose Valverde will perform in the closer role for the Tigers. Fernando Rodney and the other cast of characters who have attempted to close out games for the Tigers over the past six years have been abysmal compared to Nathan’s steady brilliance. If Valverde performs well as Detroit’s closer, then Nathan’s injury could have what amounts to twice the impact on the Central Division race. The Twins have always had the upper hand at the end of tight games within the division. Now, instead of possibly narrowing the gap with an effective closer like Valverde, the Tigers may very well have the upper hand with the sudden absence of Nathan to anchor Minnesota’s bullpen. That is quite a change in fortune.

Of course, this all depends on who the Twins are able to find to replace Nathan. No organization in MLB has been more resourceful than the Twins. It would not surprise me to find they have a capable closer already sitting in their bullpen. Matt Guerrier, Jon Rauch, Jose Mijares, and even, former All-Star, Pat Neshek come to mind. However, even if the Twins are able to find a functional replacement, they aren’t going to be able to come up with someone to duplicate Nathan’s success anytime soon.

This is where things get interesting. The impact of Nathan’s injury is not concrete. For instance, if the Twins make a trade for an elite-level closer (i.e. Heath Bell), then the impact could be fairly small. Bell won’t match Nathan’s success but he’ll be better than anything the Tigers have had over the last six years. That would also allow the Twins to maintain their bullpen depth. However, it won’t be easy to snag an elite closer during spring training. This just happens to be the month of infinite hope. Every team in MLB thinks “this is our year.” It’s doubtful that San Diego—fresh off a better than expected ’09 campaign—is looking to blow up its bullpen before the season even begins. Although not a certainty, it’s likely that the Twins will try an internal candidate first. This is where Nathan’s injury reaches its maximum impact potential. Let’s say the Twins look to Guerrier first by yanking him from his regular set-up role. The impact of Nathan’s absence becomes substantial as it essentially weakens two areas that Minnesota considered strengths last season. Guerrier—even with an above average season— would be a huge drop-off from Nathan. Additionally, the Twins would then have to replace Guerrier—one of the most effective set-up men in baseball last season—with an unproven commodity. The Twins have had success in the past promoting players within the organization but predicting success in late-inning pressure situations is no sure thing. Once upon a time, Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney were quite effective in set-up roles. You know how that turned out.

Clearly, an injury to Justin Morneau or Joe Mauer would have had a greater impact on the division race since they happen to be AL MVP winners in their primes. However, Nathan has owned the Tigers in tight games. If he is forced to miss the 2010 season, then his void in Minnesota’s bullpen would increase Detroit’s chances of competing for the division significantly. If Valverde ends up being a substantial improvement over Fernando Rodney, then that would help it even more.

10 Things We'll See from the Tigers in '10

2010-03-04T11:54:00.005-05:00

1). Johnny Damon will be injured early and often.

While there is no question that Damon has been one of the most productive top-of-the-order hitters in baseball throughout his career, there is even less of a question regarding his status as an injury machine. Perhaps only the fragilely fragile Chipper Jones can compete with the awesome variety of Damon’s injuries. Here is an abbreviated list of injuries that have caused Damon to miss games over the last four seasons…

I feel stupid for not knowing that “fluttering eyes” was an actual condition. Damon has played in an average of 146 games over the last seven seasons. Just to compare, Ichiro—another aging, top-of-the-order, lefty—has averaged 159 games over the last seven seasons. Damon hasn’t played over 150 games in a season since 2002. He hasn’t played fewer than 141 games in that same timeframe, either. So, there is a very good chance that Damon will miss between 12 and 21 games in 2010. The good news is that, despite his litany of injuries, he has only been placed on the IR once in his career. The bad news is that Damon’s presence in the lineup on a regular basis is unreliable at best. Plus, he has spent 92 games as a DH over the past four seasons and I’m sure that a good portion of those DH starts involved playing around injuries. That means the Tigers will have to plan on Damon occupying the DH spot more than you’d expect from a starting outfielder. With Carlos Guillen already slotted as the DH because of defensive and injury issues of his own, the Tigers may have a hard time keeping Damon and Guillen in the lineup at the same time.

2). Jeremy Bonderman will not be an effective starter.

The Bonderman Experiment is going on its eighth and possibly final season. When Bondo was a 20-year old fireballer with a wicked slider, the sky was the limit. By most accounts, he was just two steps from becoming an elite pitcher; 1). Harness command and 2). Develop a third pitch. Since those steps tend to come naturally to maturing pitchers, Bondo’s future looked promising. Eight years later, he hasn’t made any headway on either front. Bondo is the equivalent of a professional “Paper, Rock, Scissors” competitor who can only throw down “paper.” Eventually (or more likely immediately), opponents will realize you can only throw “paper” and will simply choose “scissors.” Bondo has a meaty fastball that hitters daydream about. If he doesn’t get a strikeout, very bad things happen. He can’t throw his out-pitch (the slider) for a strike which means disciplined hitters are basically extended a welcoming invitation to first base. He also struggles to find the plate in 3-ball counts which, of course, is a recipe for disaster. His career WHIP is a horrid 1.40. However, despite all of those unfavorable statistics, Bondo—when healthy—has managed to survive as a decent starting pitcher because of his strikeout rate. Considering his recent injury history, however, it’s reasonable to assume that his K/9 will drop precipitously from his career best of 8.5 in ‘06. It has already dropped in each of the past four seasons. Since that was his livelihood as a pitcher, a Bondo renaissance is less likely than a fair and balanced story from the Detroit Free Press.

3). The bullpen will be a strength.

The bullpen probably looked a lot better than it actually was last season. Nobody was truly horrible in the ERA department but it was an unreliable bunch. Most of the primary players had putrid WHIPs and BB/9. Fernando Rodney, Ryan Perry, and Zack Miner all had WHIPs over 1.46. That level of inconsistency at the back of the bullpen is a disaster waiting to happen. This year’s cast should be much better. Perry—with a year under his belt—should be more reliable. Jose Valverde—Rodney’s long awaited replacement—has been far less precarious with late-inning leads. Bobby Seay—despite a less-than-stellar ’09 campaign—has been the Tigers most reliable reliever over the past three years. Phil Coke was a solid reliever for the World Champion Yankees and there’s no reason to think he won’t be one for the Tigers in ‘10. I don’t want to factor in Joel Zumaya and Nate Robertson too much considering how inconsistent and/or downright horribly they have pitched. However, if either can put together a productive 2010, then the bullpen could easily be the strength of the team.

4). The offense will be better than last year (if it can remain healthy).

At any given time, the Tigers seem to be one hitter away from having the best offense in the AL and one hitter from having the worst offense in the AL. When Gary Sheffield was healthy in 2007, the Tigers were an offensive machine. When Sheff went south the next season, the offense was putrid. As much as I enjoyed rooting for Curtis Granderson and as much as I respect what he is capable of as a player, the Tigers need Johnny Damon more than they need Granderson. Damon’s bat—most notably his ability to hit lefties and righties equally—is going to be a godsend for the Tigers. Damon’s eye will be, too. It’s not that he walks more than Granderson—they’re pretty much a wash there—it’s that he strikes out far less. Damon has never struck out 100 times in a season. Granderson has never struck out fewer than 111 times in a season. Those extra balls in play should make a big difference. Scott Sizemore should give the Tigers more activity on the base paths considering he walks more and steals more bases than Placido Polanco. All of that should set up nicely for Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez, and Carlos Guillen to drive in more runs than last season. Of course, this is all on paper. If/when Damon and Guillen start falling apart limb by limb, this offense could get bogged down in a hurry.

5). Austin Jackson won’t last six weeks at leadoff (if that).

Jackson was the highest rated player in the Yankees system so clearly he has promise. I just don’t think that “promise” is meant for 2010. Jackson doesn’t walk and he strikes out in bundles. Those happen to be the first two “rules” of how not to be a successful leadoff hitter. In fact, those are exactly the reasons the Tigers were so willing to part with Curtis Granderson. I have no idea why Jim Leyland would even entertain the idea of Jackson as the leadoff man. Maybe I’m an idiot. Maybe Jackson is about to become the second coming of Ichiro. Until that happens, though, I’m calling this experiment a terrible idea.

6). Magglio Ordonez will be much better playing for another contract kicker.

It’s déjà vu all over again. Mags has another kicker in his contract that puts him on the books for $15 million in 2011 if he reaches 562 play appearances in 2010. When his “guaranteed option” started looking precarious last season, Mags turned up the heat at the plate. I’m not gullible enough to think it was a coincidence. He put up a .961 OPS in August and a 1.057 in September after looking like Rob Deer for the first four months of the season. This time around, though, Mags needs to be in the lineup virtually every day to vest his option. He can’t afford to be benched for extended periods of time like last season. Mags is motivated by money. He’ll be back in 2010.

7). The Tigers will be at least five games below .500 on May 25.

The Tigers have a fortuitous nine-game stretch to start the season that includes six games against Kansas City and three against Cleveland. Hopefully, they’ll be over .500 heading into game #10. Unfortunately, that’s when the schedule gets brutal. The Tigers immediately head out west for an 11-game road trip against Seattle, Los Angles, and Texas. Then comes another brutal stretch of six games against Minnesota and three against the Angels. They follow that with a three-game breather in Cleveland immediately followed by a four game series against the Yankees and a three-game set against the Red Sox. It doesn’t stop there. They immediately start into a two-game series against the White Sox and then after two games against Oakland, they have to play the Dodgers and Seattle. Starting on April 16, the Tigers play 32 of the next 39 games against teams that were above .500 in 2009. The schedule is much easier after May 25 so if the Tigers are anywhere near first place entering June, then odds of a division title increase considerably.

8). Minnesota will own the Tigers in 2010.

The Twins owned the Tigers in 2009 which is why they made the playoffs and the Tigers didn’t. Detroit was just 7-12 against Minnesota including the one-game playoff in the Metrodome. Unfortunately, Minnesota’s dominance over Detroit will continue again in 2010. The Twins went out and signed the Tiger-killer, Jim Thome, to give them three lethal left-handed bats in the middle of their order. Thome has more home runs and a higher OPS against the Tigers than any other team in the American League. As if the Mauer-Morneau-Thome combination isn’t bad enough, the Twins can put together a lineup with seven lefties which is a nightmare for Detroit’s all-righty rotation.

9). Justin Verlander will be even better in 2010.

Justin Verlander was stellar in 2009. He finished 3^rd in the Cy Young voting and had, by far, the best season of his career. However, it would’ve been even better if it weren’t for some bad luck. In his first three seasons, his Batting Average on Balls in Play (BAbip) was in the .280-.290 range. Last season it jumped to .323. BAbip is considered to be a measure of “luck”, meaning that pitchers have little control over the outcome of a ball put in play. JV became a bona fide elite pitcher in 2009 as he posted career bests in both K/9 and BB/9. The only thing missing was “luck.” Look for “luck” to either be on his side or a non-factor in 2010.

10). Better team=Worse record.

Bill James created a formula called the “Pythagorean expectation” that predicts the number of wins a team should have based on runs allowed and runs scored. Using that formula, the Tigers should’ve gone 81-82 last season. Instead, they went 86-77. Unlike the “bad” luck that Justin Verlander dealt with in 2009, the Tigers as a team had pretty good luck. In fact, of the 30 teams in MLB, only four had more wins above their “expected” total than the Tigers did. In short, the Tigers probably weren’t as good as their record which should surprise nobody. There’s a pretty good chance that the Tigers are going to be a better team this season based on expected improvements offensively and in the bullpen. As a result, I wouldn’t be surprised to see their “expected” win total to be better than it was last season. However, it would also not surprise me to see their actual win total be lower.

10.5). One final thought…barring major injuries to elite players in the AL, the Tigers have a 0% chance of making the playoffs in 2010. They cannot and will not beat the Twins in the Central and there is no way that they’ll finish with a better record than both Boston and New York. This won’t be a lost season, however. Rick Porcello, Ryan Perry, Max Scherzer, Scott Sizemore, and Austin Jackson are vital to the future success of the organization. Tracking their progress will make 2010 worth watching not to mention expected Cy Young and MVP runs by Verlander and Cabrera, respectively.

With all due respect...

2010-02-24T23:05:00.001-05:00

Joe Dumars—the player—will always have a place in my heart. His rainbow jumper and in-your-face defense brought two NBA Championships to Detroit when Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan ruled the world. Those were my formative years as a sports fan so his legacy as an iconic Detroit athlete will certainly stand at the top for me with Barry, Zeke, Stevie Y, and Tram. Joe Dumars—the General Manager—however, has worn out his welcome. I know that sounds harsh and, trust me, it was difficult to write. Unfortunately, that’s just the reality of the situation. I’m guessing that most Detroit fans agree with me but for the few who don’t, let me ask just one question: what has Joe D done that can even remotely be considered “effective” since February 19, 2004? It’s been over six years since he made the trade for Rasheed Wallace that led to an NBA Championship. It’s also been over six years since anyone has been able to say a good thing about Joe the GM.

Joe deserves credit for assembling a championship roster in a city that by mere mention sends free agents running for cover. He acquired Ben Wallace and Rip Hamilton via savvy trades. He stole Chauncey Billups off the free agent market. He scored big by drafting Tayshaun Prince last in the first round and then capped it all off by acquiring Rasheed for essentially nothing at the trade deadline. That finished product won an NBA Championship. It was a brilliant lesson in team building. Like fresh produce, however, NBA teams have shelf lives. If you let produce sit on the counter for too long, it goes bad— really bad. Joe D let his team deteriorate long after it was obvious that it was no longer salvageable. It went rotten and he did nothing to stop it.

I’ve been willing to give Joe D a pass for quite some time. An NBA Championship certainly earns a GM a requisite amount of goodwill. After seeing Joe’s malaise last far too long, I’m willing to define “requisite amount of goodwill” as “six years.” Joe’s inability to move Prince or Hamilton—not just this year but the last few years—has been mindboggling. Those moves should’ve happened three years ago. It became quite clear once the Pistons were bounced by the Heat in the 2006 Eastern Conference Finals that he was going to ride his team into the ground even to the detriment of its future. On one hand, remaining loyal to the players that brought you a championship is honorable. However, every GM who has ever tried to milk every last basket out of a championship team without an exit plan has lived to regret it. Joe should know that more than anyone after what happened to the Bad Boys team that he played for.

I’m guessing that Joe thought the rebuilding process was going to be fairly “easy” and thus neglected to put the proper emphasis on it when things were going well. That’s really the only way I can rationalize how horrible he has performed his job. The fact that he shipped off Billups for Iverson in a cap-freeing move gave me cause for optimism. It was a bold move but necessary, in my opinion. I was convinced that it was the first step in Joe’s secret plan to rebuild the Pistons into a championship contender. Instead, he took the money from Iverson’s expiring contract (along with the money that freed up when Rasheed left) and wasted it on two players who are more known for their flaws than their abilities. The acquisitions of Charlie Villanueva and Ben Gordon nearly drained every last ounce of confidence I had in Joe’s ability to turn things around. In fact, “dread” is the perfect word to use to describe my state-of-mind when these moves were announced. However, those moves only “nearly” drained the entirety of my confidence. What happened last week, however, ran my confidence tank completely dry.

Earlier this season, Joe expressed interest in seeing his team “healthy” before making any major moves. The idea being that, despite early-season struggles, maybe the Pistons were actually “good” when healthy. And, of course, maybe if I put a quarter in a slot machine, I’ll win $250,000. If you have watched the Pistons at all this season or even follow the NBA in even a remedial capacity, you would know that Joe’s desire to see his team “healthy” screams incompetence. I don’t know what Joe expects to see from a healthy team that simply glancing at the roster wouldn’t easily reveal. Rip Hamilton and Rodney Stuckey play the same position. One of them has to go. Tayshaun Prince and Charlie Villanueva play the same position. One of them has to go. No amount of “health” is going to change the fact that Prince and Rip are redundant players who essentially create a black hole of $22 million.

That’s something that should be obvious before watching this team play a single minute of basketball. When it comes to actually watching the team play, it becomes even more obvious that major moves need to happen and they need to happen now. Other than an aging Ben Wallace, the Pistons have no defensive post presence. They have nobody who can score in the paint. They have nobody who can take a game over or score easy baskets. Rodney Stuckey and Ben Gordon combined would make a phenomenal player but individually they are either too flawed or too inexperienced to be counted on to lead a team. The fact that Joe needs to see his team fully healthy before making a move is troubling. You don’t need to be Jerry West to know what the Pistons are lacking and, unfortunately, it’s quite a bit. Remember, he said this earlier in the season when it actually made sense to hold off on moves with the trade deadline still months away.

Here we are 2-3 months later and Joe cited the exact same reason for remaining static at the trade deadline. I’ve been around for quite a few trade deadlines and this was the busiest I can remember. Among the players on the move were Marcus Camby, Tracy McGrady, Kevin Martin, Antwan Jamison, and Caron Butler. Players that were reportedly available included Amare Stoudamire, Carlos Boozer, and Chris Bosh. The Pistons have a cash-strapped roster full of non-compatible parts. With so many marquee players up for grabs, this was the perfect time for Joe to make a move. Even if he didn’t want to sell the farm for Amare or Bosh, making a run at McGrady’s $22 million expiring contract would’ve given him a mulligan on last year’s free agent debacles. Camby was a player Joe could’ve targeted at the beginning of the season when it was obvious that the Pistons were lacking acumen in the lane. Joe’s primary objective in 2009-10 should’ve been to unload Prince and Rip by any means necessary. I am fairly certain that something could’ve been done with one of the aforementioned players involving Rip and Prince. Instead, Joe cited his desire to see what his 20-35 team could do when healthy. Thanks to that desire, the Pistons will continue to be a hopeless, rudderless ship destined for oblivion. Joe struck gold ten years ago with a slew of under-the-radar moves. Unfortunately, it’s not ten years ago anymore.

Joe hasn’t done anything in six seasons to help his organization move towards an NBA Championship. Joe’s refusal to move redundant commodities has crippled his franchise. The fact that he actually thinks that his biggest problem is his inability to get his players healthy is infuriating. I don’t see any avenue that gets this team competitive in the next three years. If Joe gets this thing turned around, I’ll gladly print out this post and eat my words. But, I’m not worried in the slightest. Dumars for Governor!

Blame the Dead Guy

2010-02-16T21:58:00.002-05:00

The only thing worse than an Olympic athlete dying in competition is for that athlete to be blamed for dying. Mistakes are not supposed to end in death at the Olympics. There’s a reason why it had been nearly 50 years since an Olympic Games produced a death in competition and that reason isn’t “luck.” Olympic athletes—even the ones who participate in obscure sports from even more obscure countries—know enough about their sports and have had enough training in their sports to avoid making fatal mistakes. For the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to attempt to avoid the microscope by calling into question an athlete’s training is callous, cruel, and barbaric. It’s unfortunate that it’s not illegal, too, because someone should have to face consequences for such an ignorant and self-serving act of inhumanity.

Nodar Kumaritashvili was not a favorite to medal in Vancouver but let’s not confuse that with being a charity case. Kumaritashvili came from a family of lugers. He began training in 2003. Out of 65 lugers on the World Cup circuit, he was ranked 44^th. He had completed 26 runs on the same Whistler Sliding Centre track that ended up taking his life. This isn’t an athlete who was unfamiliar with his sport or even the fatal track. Yet, that didn’t stop the International Luge Federation (FIL) from releasing a statement saying his death resulted from driver-error rather than its torture chamber of a track. Specifically, the FIL said, “Officials of the FIL were able to retrace the path of the athlete and concluded there was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track.”

Congratulations to FIL officials for being masters of semantics. The accident may not have been caused by deficiencies in the track but Kumaritashvili’s death sure was. Even if the track itself was universally praised—which was certainly not the case—there’s the whole issue of the unprotected steel beams just inches off the edge of the track; the same steel beams that ended Kumaritashvili’s life. Lugers make mistakes but Kumaritashvili didn’t die because he made a mistake. He died because he catapulted into an unprotected steel beam. Again, mistakes in competition are not supposed to kill Olympic athletes. When they do, you can rest assured that someone other than the athlete did something very wrong.

It’s not that I would expect the parties responsible for producing such a widely ridiculed track to openly accept blame for the death of an athlete. That wouldn’t be good for business. However, would it be too much to ask for them to avoid saying things like “the changes were made for emotional considerations and not necessarily for safety purposes”? That rationale is peculiar in light of another FIL statement that said, "Based on these findings, the race director, in consultation with the FIL, made the decision to reopen the track following a raising of the walls at the exit of curve 16 and a change in the ice profile. This was done as a preventative measure, in order to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again.” That would seem to indicate that the track was made safer, to you know, make it safer—instead of the emotional considerations it cited previously.

The FIL and other Olympic butt-coverers must think that the rest of the world is pretty dumb to attempt to pawn off this as an unprepared athlete gone wrong. The Whistler Slide Centre has been panned by coaches and competitors alike for being unsafe and borderline unfit for competition for over a year. Even the FIL’s own president said the track was too fast and dangerous. And based on the events of last week, he clearly knew what he was talking about. A two-time gold medalist from Italy crashed in training as did a German medal contender. A Romanian luger was knocked unconscious. It would be some coincidence if all of these crashes by some of the world’s best lugers just happened to come at a track that had been roundly criticized for being too fast and dangerous and yet have nothing to do with the safety of the track. It would be even more of a coincidence for a luger to die on that track and yet have nothing to do with the safety of the track.

Kumaritashvili himself was downright afraid of the course. His father said that his son told him before his fatal run that he was “scared” of the track. Remember, this is a luger who had made 26 runs down the track and was ranked as the 44^th best luger in the world. To hear that an Olympic athlete was literally afraid of participating in a sport that he had spent seven years training for is both sobering and sad.

In the end, the FIL got it right. It shortened the track and, more importantly, put the protecting wall in front of the steel beams that should’ve been there in the first place. It’s just too bad that it couldn't have gotten it right without first getting it so incredibly wrong both in the track design and then in its need to point fingers at a dead Olympian in the wake of such a tragic accident.

NBA MVP Race is Over

2010-02-11T15:43:00.002-05:00

Some of you may have noticed a slight dip in post frequency over the last few weeks. I’ve been on a hiatus from my normal two posts per week routine. In the aftermath of the 100 Greatest Michigan Football Moments post—which was 20 times the length of an average post—I’ve been taking it easy with just a weekly post. Not sure how long the malaise is going to last but, in the meantime, I figured with the NBA All-Star Game just a few days away, now would be a good time to look at the NBA MVP race. Come to think of it, it might be an insult to LeBron James to call it a race because it’s one in name only.

MVP races and voting results can be frustrating for fans. Voting criteria is often based on lame precedents and position prejudices. This expectedly leads to controversy and often cynicism. For instance, Peyton Manning was just named the NFL MVP for a record 4^th time. He had a good year but it would be difficult for anyone to argue that he won solely based on the way he performed this season. In a comparison with Drew Brees and Brett Favre, Manning is barely even in the conversation. Brees and Favre had two of the top 12 single-season passer ratings of all-time; Manning wasn’t even close to either. Brees threw 11 interceptions and Favre threw just seven; Manning threw 16. All three QBs played for first-place teams. The only advantage that Manning had was that his name was “Manning.”

Fortunately, it doesn’t look like we’re going to find anything to criticize when it comes to the 2010 NBA MVP. LeBron James—and his preposterous 30 points/8 assists per night stat line—is going to easily win his second consecutive NBA MVP. In fact, barring injury, I’m not sure how anyone other than LeBron is going to win an MVP over the next five years. Clearly, voters could simply become tired of awarding the trophy to the same person every season a la Michael Jordan. MJ probably should have at least two more MVPs to his credit. With the Age of LeBron just getting off the ground, however, it’s unlikely that anyone will be tiring of King James anytime soon.

While it remains to be seen whether LeBron is ready to lead his team to an NBA Championship, his ability to statistically dominate the NBA like nobody in the last 30 years is not in question. He leads the NBA in scoring and is 6^th in assists. He shoots over 50% from the field and 36.2% from 3-point land which is, by far, the best mark of his career. He has the highest defensive rating of any non C/PF in the NBA (the measure appears to be biased towards those positions). His team has the best record in the league and—despite his offensive awesomeness—the Cavs boast the best opponent field goal % in the NBA.

If LeBron were erased from the picture, the 2010 MVP race would be one for the ages. LeBron’s exploits are certainly impressive but he isn’t the only baller putting up gaudy statistics. Steve Nash is having arguably the best season of his career with averages of 18.4 ppg and 11.1 apg to go along with a remarkable 52% from the field. Dwight Howard leads the league in rebounds, free throw attempts, and blocks and is second in field goal %. Kevin Durant is having possibly the greatest season ever by a 21 year old. He’s just .1 behind LeBron in the scoring race while averaging more rebounds and shooting better from 3-point land. He also leads the NBA in Free Throws Made which should terrify the rest of the league. Don’t forget about Carmelo Anthony who has seen his game finally mature after six productively disappointing seasons. He might even be the odds on favorite if it weren’t for 13 DNPs. The league is certainly not short on MVP-worthy performers this season. I haven’t even brought up Dirk, D-Wade, and Tim Duncan who are one-man shows for playoff teams. But for all of the shining performers the league has seen this season it will still come down to LeBron vs. Kobe in the minds of the voters (even though it should be LeBron vs Durant).

The debate rages on. It’s every bit as fierce as Team Jennifer vs. Team Angelina and the testosterone equivalent of Team Jay vs. Team CoCo. Everyone has an opinion. LeBron haters argue that he lacks Kobe’s killer instinct. Kobe haters point to LeBron’s freakish size and athleticism. This is a debate that will likely continue for decades. It’s like Russell vs. Chamberlain II with one major exception. What made that rivalry so great was the fact that Wilt and Russ met in the NBA Finals three times. We’re still waiting on LeBron vs. Kobe I. In the meantime, Kobe’s season has been inferior to LeBron’s in just about every measureable away. Thus, LeBron James is your 2010 (and 11, and 12, and 13…) NBA MVP.

I'm sayin' there's a chance

2010-02-01T23:00:00.004-05:00

The Michigan basketball team has disappointed more over the last decade than Detroit Lions draft picks and that’s no small feat. After starting the season ranked in the top 15, the Wolverines sit at #124 in the RPI just behind Fairfield and just ahead of Long Beach State. The excitement generated by Michigan’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in 11 years combined with the return of its top five scorers from last season was expected to yield something much more lucrative than the 11-10 record it currently boasts. It’s not that Michigan hasn’t been competitive. Six of its 10 losses have come by six points or fewer including a one-point loss to Michigan State. Michigan only has its self to blame, however. There is little excuse for a team as talented and experienced as Michigan to lose to Alabama, Indiana, and Northwestern. Even its home loss to Boston College was inexcusable for a team that was picked to challenge for the Big Ten Championship. With just two wins over the RPI 100, Michigan is quickly nearing the end of the runway for a safe takeoff into the NCAA Tournament field. Just one win in its recent three-game stretch against Wisconsin, Purdue, and Michigan State would’ve put Michigan on a much more manageable performance plan to close out the season. Instead, it dropped all three games setting up a slew of must-win games over the next five weeks.

The good news for Michigan is that its remaining schedule is far from brutal. That bad news is that there is literally no margin for error. It would be crazy to assume that Michigan is going to walk into Columbus (with Evan Turner present) and East Lansing during the last week of the Big Ten regular season and pick up W’s. It’s even crazier to think that “M” will win four games in four days in Indianapolis to win the Big Ten Tournament. That means that, for all intents and sanity, Michigan is already sitting at 13 losses. Michigan would need to win all eight of its other games—including a first round win in the BTT— just to get to 19-13. With that record, it would likely boast seven wins over the RPI 100 with an RPI hovering around the top 60. Considering how well Michigan would have to play just to get to 19-13—it would need to go 8-3 to close out the season—that might be enough to snag an at-large bid. Anything worse than that doesn’t even merit serious discussion. Michigan will not receive an at-large bid with an 18-14 record. So, a team that stands below .500 in the Big Ten after nine conference games has to win six in a row including three on the road just to get into the discussion for an NCAA at-large bid. So, I’m saying there’s a chance!

Based on my totally arbitrary odds for Michigan’s next six games, the chances of winning all six is 2.25%. As if that isn’t unrealistic enough, Michigan would then need to beat Minnesota at home between its brutal end-of-season matchups with Ohio State and Michigan State. Given a 60/40 chance of beating Minnesota, Michigan’s odds of securing an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament are a robust 1.35%. Michigan looks to be destined for a 6th or 7th seed in the Big Ten Tournament. That means that it would theoretically need to beat the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st seed in successive days to win the tournament. The odds of that—according to me— are 2.4%. Throw in the 60/40 first round matchup and Michigan’s odds of winning the Big Ten Tournament come in at a stout 1.44%. So, if you’re still holding out hope that Michigan will make the NCAA Tournament, don’t even worry about anything between now and March 11th because Michigan’s best chance at making the tournament is via the Big Ten Tournament by a tally of 1.44% to 1.35%*. I don’t know about you but I’m putting together my itinerary for Indianapolis right now!

*The odds are slightly higher for both scenarios simply because of the unlikely—but still possible—outcomes in which a) Michigan wins in Columbus or E. Lansing and b) one or more of the top three seeds get upset in the BTT creating more favorable paths to the Big Ten Championship game.

Joe Montana Has a Visitor

2010-01-26T16:58:00.003-05:00

For the vast majority of professional athletes, legacies are cemented over the entirety of a career. By the time a player hits his twilight, the bulk of the resume building has long since passed. However, sometimes a player reaches the doorstep of a greater legacy and is subsequently presented with an opportunity to walk through that door. The most recent example of this phenomenon occurred in the Stanley Cup Finals last summer. Had Chris Osgood picked up his third Stanley Cup ring as a starting goaltender—combined with his standing on both the all-time regular season and playoff wins lists—he would’ve been headed to the Hall of Fame. As it turned out, it all came down to a game seven with Osgood’s legacy hanging in the balance. The Wings lost, of course, and it is unlikely that Osgood will get another chance to stamp his place in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Just as it came down to one game for Osgood, had the Minnesota Vikings not literally fumbled away the NFC Championship Game on Sunday, the Super Bowl would’ve presented what very well could’ve been a one-game duel for the title of “Greatest Quarterback of All-Time.” Favre vs. Manning for all the marbles.

Before I lose you, I want to be clear that I’m not arguing that one game—even a game as big as a Super Bowl—is important enough to define an entire career at face value. Osgood’s legacy wasn’t defined by losing to Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup Finals any more than it was by all the other Finals he played in. It just so happened that he reached the Cup Finals at a point when his career was nearly over and his resume was just below that of a Hall of Fame goaltender. That same situation would’ve existed for both Favre and Manning had they squared off in the Super Bowl. Consider that Favre is, far and away, the most successful regular season quarterback in NFL history. He is the all-time leader in touchdowns, passing yards, and completions and it’s not even close. While he wasn’t nearly as prolific in the playoffs, he was certainly no slouch in the postseason. However—and this is why winning the Super Bowl was so crucial to Favre’s claim as the G.O.A.T—Favre only has one Super Bowl ring. That might be enough to make Dan Marino jealous but it’s not enough to beat out Joe Montana who while not as prolific as Favre in the regular season was a more efficient regular season quarterback and has four Super Bowl rings to close the deal. A second Super Bowl ring combined with Favre’s regular season exploits would’ve made it pretty easy to argue Favre’s place at the top of the quarterback heap. Favre is easily one of the top five quarterbacks of all-time and one of the 25 greatest players who ever played the game. However, Sunday’s loss closes the door on a legacy greater than that.

Manning faces a slightly different—but equally important—situation. Based on his career progression, Manning will challenge Favre for all of his records and do it more efficiently. Barring an injury, Manning will probably become the most prolific regular season quarterback of all-time—a position that Favre is very familiar with. Like Favre, though, Manning has just one Super Bowl ring. His breakthrough in Super Bowl XLI quieted the notion that he was not a big game quarterback. However, he still posts an underwhelming career playoff record of 9-8. Unless his reputation as a postseason quarterback changes significantly, he will run into the same problem that Favre is facing right now. At 33, Manning is still relatively young but, time is fleeting for aging quarterbacks in the NFL. Favre won his first Super Bowl when he was 27. It’s unlikely that there were many who thought that would be his only Super Bowl win. In fact, he went into Super Bowl XXXII as the prohibitive favorite just a year after picking up his first ring. An upset and 13 years later and Favre is still trying to get back to a Super Bowl let alone win a second. Quarterbacks have remained productive well into their 30’s but they rarely win Super Bowls—at least not recently. Brad Johnson is the only quarterback over 33 to win a Super Bowl in the last 10 years while Johnson and John Elway are the only quarterbacks to win a Super Bowl over the age of 33 in the past 25 years. If Manning has any chance of being considered the G.O.A.T at the end of his career, he needs to win a second Super Bowl. As Favre can attest to, if he doesn’t win this one, he might never get another shot.

*Johnny Unitas is certainly in the discussion but considering how much different statistics are for quarterbacks now compared to what they were in the 50's, it would serve little purpose to include him in this comparison.

As things stand now, Joe Montana still has to be considered the alpha QB. He is the most efficient and accomplished playoff quarterback of all-time. His regular season statistics—although a bit underwhelming compared to the massive pile put up by Favre—are extremely efficient if not gaudy. Having said that, Montana is not untouchable. Tom Brady has nearly equaled his playoff accolades and Manning has surpassed his regular season success. Right now, Manning has an opportunity to bolster the only thing keeping him from being viewed as the greatest QB of all time. Do not be surprised if the outcome of this one game solidifies Manning’s status as either the G.O.A.T. or as a great quarterback who struggled in big games. Now if Tom Brady ever makes it back to the Super Bowl with a chance to duplicate the great Joe Montana’s four Super Bowl rings, we can have a similar conversation about how big of an impact one single football game will have on his legacy. Right now, though, it’s Manning serving for at least a share of the championship.

100 Greatest Moments in Michigan Football History

2010-01-25T16:59:00.000-05:00

It has come to my attention that my post from last week listing the 100 greatest moments in Michigan football history may have been too big for my RSS feed. If the post did not update in your blog reader, you can find it here. Apologies for the late notice!

100 Greatest Moments in Michigan Football History

2010-01-20T16:14:00.001-05:00

The University of Michigan football program has been taking the field since 1879. In that time, it has accumulated the most wins and the highest winning percentage in major college football history. With so much success over such a long period of time, the result has been a history littered with great players, coaches, and administrators creating remarkable moments. It is these moments that have built the foundation of the Michigan football program. Some moments are, of course, more memorable; while others are remembered less and less with each passing generation. I sought out to identify the greatest moments in Michigan's football history because they are, in a sense, the cliffnotes version of what Michigan football is all about. If someone were to introduce a friend to "Michigan football" for the first time, these are the moments that should be relayed before all others.

Before I get into the list, I want to explain a few things that should hopefully identify my process for choosing and ranking these moments.

1). A moment by definition is "an indefinitely short period of time" or "an instant." Clearly, there is quite the inherent flexibility there. In a basketball game, a moment might refer to "a second." In the history of Earth, a moment could be a year or a decade. My point is: don't get too carried away with what a "moment" refers to. On this list, you will find that I have used plays, quarters, halves, games, speeches, hirings, and many other "indefinitely short" periods of time.

2). While I certainly tried to place these "moments" in order of importance, try not to get too caught up over each individual ranking. It can become tedious ranking "moments" that are very different from one another. My primary goal was to make sure that, in general, more important moments are rated near the top of the list and vice versa. Obviously, if there is something that I have ranked considerably lower or higher than it should have been, please feel free to comment.

3). This list went through a number of drafts over the last six months. There were more than 50 moments that were under consideration that ultimately did not make the final cut. With the current limitations of mathematics, it is simply impossible to include more than 100 moments in a top 100 list. Hopefully that'll change some day but, in the meantime, if your favorite moment did not make the list, please feel free to let me know.

4). Virtually all of the secondhand information that I used to provide summaries came from the links that are provided for each individual moment. If you would like to know more about a moment, please click on the link that goes with it for a more detailed explanation.

5). Although most of the information that you will read below can be found using a number of sources, I used just a select few for consistency purposes. The University of Michigan Football Vault by Jerry Green (a must-have for any Michigan football fan) was a valuable resource as was the Bentley Historical Library's online archives. The vast majority of YouTube clips were courtesy of WolverineHistorian who does a phenomenal job of pumping the internet full of Michigan related content. Finally, I'd like to thank my friend Nick for his valuable insight.

The 100 Greatest Moments in Michigan Football History

1. Fielding H. Yost hired as head coach in 1901

Fielding Yost is arguably the most influential coach in college football history. Consider that the University of Michigan has not only the most wins in college football history but the highest all-time winning percentage. It is highly unlikely that those records would be in place if not for the arrival of Yost in 1901 and the phenomenal tenure that followed. He won a National Championship in his first four years at Michigan piling up an unbelievable 43-0-1 record over that span. All told, he won six national championships and compiled a record of 165-29-10 at Michigan. While Yost had a undeniable impact on football at Michigan, he also had a substantial impact on college football as a whole. Among many other contributions, he was instrumental in creating the first ever bowl game which, not surprisingly, was the Rose Bowl.

2. Bo Schembechler hired as head coach in '69

What Yost created, Bo Schembechler saved. Yost's influence on Michigan football lasted nearly a half century before mediocrity plagued football in Ann Arbor. Under Yost's watchful eye as coach and Athletic Director, Michigan went 251-68-17 (.772 winning %) from 1901-1941. A decade after his departure, the program began to feel the effects of life without Yost. From 1949-1968, Michigan dropped off significantly compiling a record of 105-75-6 (.580). Gone were the glory days of Big Ten Titles and National Championships. Michigan even surrendered in-state supremacy to Michigan State. That might still be the case today if not for the timely arrival of Bo. Perhaps no coach in the country--including Michigan's first choice, Joe Paterno--could've delivered the passion and intensity that Bo brought to the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry. This was crucial at the time because the path to Big Ten supremacy went through Columbus, Ohio nearly every season (as it does today). Bo was famously a former Ohio State-assistant under Woody Hayes. However, upon arriving in Ann Arbor, he embraced Michigan and its traditions and made Ohio State his focus. Bo was an unpopular choice in the beginning but quickly won support by winning. After trudging through the 50's and 60's, Michigan football was back in a big way. From 1969-1989, Bo led Michigan to a 194-48-5 record (.800 winning %) and 13 Big Ten Titles. He resuscitated college football's most successful football program. From the day he was hired in '69 to the day his lineage ended with the retirement of Lloyd Carr, Michigan won more football games than any school in college football with the exception of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. In many ways, Bo was the second coming of Yost.

3. Michigan beats Ohio State in '69

For a program that boasts 877 all-time wins, the '69 win over Ohio State might just be the best. At the time, it was a chance for Michigan to measure up to Ohio State. In hindsight, though, this was Bo vs. Woody I. Even though Michigan was experiencing success in its first season under Bo, it actually entered, "The Game" with a worse record than the previous season that ended with the resignation of Bump Elliot. Michigan entered the game as a 17-point underdog after getting pounded 50-14 by the Buckeyes in '68. The '69 Ohio State squad was considered one of the all-time great teams in college football history heading into the final game of the regular season. It held the #1 spot in the polls for the first nine weeks of the season winning by an average margin of 35 points per game. No team had come within 27 points so the 17-point spread seemed a bit generous. Defying all odds, Michigan held Ohio State to a quarter of its season average and scored the most points Ohio State had given up all season. Michigan won. Bo was coronated. "The Ten Year War" was on. Without Bo, Michigan football may never have returned to prominence. Without this game, Bo may never have been given the opportunity.

4. Tom Harmon vs. Ohio State in '40

There have been many amazing performances in the storied history of Michigan football--most are on this list--but none can match what Tom Harmon accomplished in Columbus, Ohio on November 23, 1940. In his last college game, Harmon ran for three touchdowns, passed for two more, kicked four extra-points, intercepted three passes, and had three punts for a 50-yard average. Behind Harmon, Michigan rolled to a 40-0 shutout over the Buckeyes. The performance was so outstanding that Harmon was greeted with a standing ovation by Ohio State fans as he walked off the field.

5. Charles Woodson's Punt Return vs. Ohio State in '97

Ask Michigan fans to name the greatest player they've ever seen in a Michigan uniform and you're likely to hear the same name over and over again. Charles Woodson accomplished just about everything in his three years in Ann Arbor including arguably the greatest play in Michigan football history. By many accounts, including my own, the Big House has never been louder than in the aftermath of Woodson's game-changing, Heisman-winning, Rose Bowl-clinching punt return against Ohio State in 1997. In ten seconds of flash, Woodson secured Michigan's greatest football season in 50 years.

6. Louis Elbel writes "The Victors"

There are many significant customs and traditions that make Michigan one of the most storied football programs in college football history but none more so than "The Victors." "Hail to the Victors" is the most recognizable line of any fight song in college football. It has been coined "the greatest college fight song ever written" by many including the legendary John Phillip Sousa. It was written by Louis Elbel--a Michigan student-- in 1898 following an epic win over the University of Chicago and the legendary Amos Alonzo Stagg. Elbel noted that Michigan did not have a fight song and the victory over Chicago moved him to write, "The Victors."

7. Fritz Crisler introduces Winged-Helmet in '38

Michigan's famed winged-helmets are among the most recognizable symbols in all of sports. Whereas today the helmet doesn't serve a tactical purpose on the field, that was not the case in 1938. Players of the day wore similarly colored helmets making it difficult to differentiate an opponent from a teammate downfield. Crisler felt that a distinctive design would help solve the problem. He initially came up with the idea while coaching at Princeton in 1935 and brought it with him to Ann Arbor in '38. Michigan's passing offense improved immensely. It's impossible to know just how much of an impact the new design had on the improvements in the passing game but it was a hit nonetheless. Today, it serves as one of Michigan's most recognizable recruiting tools as perspective recruits from Florida to California are familiar with Michigan's famed "winged-helmet."

8. Harry Kipke rocks Ohio State in Ohio Stadium Dedication Game (Scroll to final story in link)

Michigan came into the 1922 Ohio State-game having lost three straight to the Buckeyes. According to Jerry Green in the University of Michigan Football Vault, "Yost took the Michigan team to Columbus on a mission. He was so choked up that he was unable to deliver his normal rousing pre-game pep talk." The Buckeye faithful filled Ohio Stadium 72,000 strong in what was the dedication game for "The Horseshoe." Little did they know they were about to be treated to "The Harry Kipke Show." Michigan's star halfback blitzed the Buckeyes scoring on a touchdown run, an interception return for a touchdown, and a field goal. However, it was his punting display that garnered the most attention. As good as Kipke was at putting points on the board that day, he was even better at keeping points off the board. He punted 11 times for 517 yards (47-yard average) including seven that pinned the Buckeyes inside their own 10-yard line. When Kipke finally finished hammering the home team deep in its own territory, the final score read: Michigan 19 Ohio State 0.

9. Yost named Athletic Director in 1921

Fielding Yost arguably did as much for the program after he moved into the Athletic Director position as he did while on the sidelines. He was the mastermind behind Michigan Stadium thus the moniker "The House that Yost Built." Almost as important as the stadium itself is the foresight that Yost had in putting forth a blueprint that would allow capacity to be easily expanded. The original capacity of "The Big House" was 70,000. Thanks to Yost, Michigan has been able to keep up with the demand of an elite college football program through various expansion projects. Of course, this also has allowed Michigan the luxury of consistently claiming the largest capacity of any football stadium in America. Additionally, he was responsible for hiring both Harry Kipke and Fritz Crisler both of whom won National Championships for Michigan.

10. Michigan outscores opponents 550-0 in Yost's first season

In Michigan's last six games under Langdon Lea in 1900, the team scored a total of 42 points. In Yost's first game in 1901, Michigan scored 50 points. His boys were so dominant that they were dubbed the "Point-a-Minute" team. Yost's first team was led by Willie Heston and Neil Snow, two of the greatest players to ever suit up for the Wolverines. The season culminated in Michigan's participation in not only the first Rose Bowl game but the first bowl game of any kind. Michigan's opponent was Stanford University and according to Jerry Green in the "University of Michigan Football Vault", this game had two compelling subplots. The West Coast was getting its first look at the mighty Michigan Wolverines. By all accounts, it was skeptical of Michigan's reputed football prowess. The other subplot was the fact that Yost would be coaching against the university that fired him just a year earlier. In typical "Point-a-Minute" fashion, Yost's first team gave him vindication as it literally forced the home-state team to quit while giving Michigan the respect of the West Coast doubters in the process.

11. Fritz Crisler hired as head coach in '38

Michigan made a difficult decision following the 1937-season. After four consecutive miserable seasons, Harry Kipke was fired. Kipke led his alma mater to back-to-back National Championships in 1932-33. He was also a legendary Wolverine on the gridiron having turned in an epic performance in Michigan's victory over Ohio State in Ohio Stadium's dedication game. Michigan, under Kipke, had simply not lived up to the lofty standards set forth by Fielding Yost. Kipke followed his two National Championships with a 10-22 record over the next four years which just wasn't good enough at Michigan. Yost tabbed Fritz Crisler as the man to turn things around and he did so in a hurry. Michigan won more games in his first season than Kipke managed to win in his final two seasons. Under Crisler, Michigan finished in the top ten in eight consecutive years from 1940-47 including the school's ninth National Championship in '47. In a scene eerily similar to Yost's trip out west 46 years earlier, Crisler's "Mad Magicians" hammered USC 49-0 in the Rose Bowl clinching the National Championship. Crisler was also directly responsible for Michigan's famed winged-helmet and made numerous on-field contributions including inventing the offense/defense platoon system.

12. Tom Harmon outduels Nile Kinnick in '39

On October 14, 1939, Iowa came to Michigan Stadium and brought with it the legendary Nile Kinnick. Michigan had an all-time great of its own in Tom Harmon setting up an epic duel between the two leading Heisman Trophy candidates. Harmon torched the Hawkeyes and easily outdueled Kinnick as Michigan blasted Iowa 27-7. Harmon was responsible for every Michigan point on the scoreboard including a 90-yard pick-six of Kinnick. The defeat to Harmon and the Wolverines was Iowa's only mark on an otherwise perfect season. Despite being upstaged by Harmon on the biggest of stages, Kinnick took home the Heisman Trophy in large part because he was a senior while Harmon was just a junior. Harmon finished second and went on to claim the trophy in 1940.

13. "The Big House" built in 1927

Years before Michigan Stadium was constructed, Fielding Yost yearned for a vast expansion of Michigan's seating capacity. The construction of Ohio Stadium in the early 20's and the massive crowds that resulted only fueled his desire. In 1921, Michigan's current homefield--Ferry Field--had a capacity of 42,000. The demand to see a Michigan football game was so big, however, that Ferry Field's capacity wasn't nearly big enough. The university was forced to hold a ticket-lottery to handle the immense interest. Yost had all the ammunition he would need to get approval on a new stadium project. Although Yost wanted a capacity closer to 150,000, Michigan Stadium was completed in 1927 with room for 85,753. Yost was adamant that the possibility of future stadium expansion be a built-in component of the construction and that foresight has allowed Michigan Stadium to be expanded at least six times and set various records in the process. Michigan saw its first crowd of 100,000+ in 1956. Michigan Stadium has led the nation in attendance in 34 of the last 35 years. It has also topped 100,000 in attendance in 221 consecutive games dating back to 1975.

14. Desmond Howard Strikes a "Pose" vs. Ohio State

The precursor to Charles Woodson's punt return in 1997, this play all-but-guaranteed Desmond Howard the Heisman Trophy in 1991. The outcome of the voting was not really in question entering the game as Howard was the dominant player in college football starting in week one. That "dominance" reflected in the voting where his margin over, runner-up, Casey Weldon was the fourth largest in Heisman voting history. Keith Jackson also deserves an assist on the play for uttering the famous words, "Hello Heisman" just as Howard was set to strike the pose.

15. Michigan beats #2 Ohio State in '96

For the third time in four years, Ohio State came into the Michigan game undefeated. For the third time in four years, Ohio State went home with a loss. Ohio State was a heavy favorite over Michigan in '96. The Buckeyes were undefeated and ranked #2 in the country. A win would've moved Ohio State to #1 entering the bowl season which meant it would've been a Rose Bowl-victory away from its first National Championship in 28 years. Michigan trailed 9-0 by halftime and there was little hope for victory entering the 3rd quarter. That was until Brian Griese's 69-yard touchdown pass in the 3rd quarter changed everything. Michigan came alive offensively after the play and its defense stymied Ohio State's vaunted offense holding it 34 points below its average. Michigan added two Remy Hamilton field goals while holding Ohio State scoreless in the second half securing the 13-9 victory.

16. Don Canham named Athletic Director in '68

Bo Schembechler is often regarded as the godfather of modern day Michigan football. It's no coincidence that Michigan has been arguably the most consistent college football program since 1969--the year Bo was hired. If Bo was the "godfather", then Don Canham was the consigliere. Canham hired Bo out of obscurity. The Michigan faithful were clamoring for a big name coach and were hardly pleased when Bo--a coach from the MAC--was announced as Bump Elliot's successor. Considering Bo was the third fastest coach to 200 wins and retired as the 5th winningest coach in college football history, I think it's safe to say that Canham made a good decision. Canham was also a master marketer turning Michigan into one of the most recognizable "names" in college athletics. What Yost was to the first half of the 20th century, Don Canham was to the second.

17). Bob Ufer's call of Billy Taylor's TD in '71

Bob Ufer passed away in 1981 well before his time but you wouldn't know it based on the number of times his voice can still be heard on the radio in Ann Arbor. His passion for all things maize and blue is what made him one of the most iconic characters in the storied history of Michigan football. His rooting interests were unmistakable as the voice of Michigan football for 37 years. No moment was greater than his joyous call of Billy Taylor's game-winning touchdown against Ohio State in 1971.

Audio (MP3)

18). Tim Biakabutuka steamrolls Ohio State in '95

In the days leading up to Ohio State's clash with Michigan in 1995, Terry Glenn famously said, "Michigan's nothing." Take a look at what Ohio State accomplished up to the point and you quickly understand why he might have felt that way. The Buckeyes were 11-0 and ranked #2 in the polls. They averaged 40 points per game with an average margin of victory of 24 points. Ohio State was loaded with talent including the '95 Heisman Trophy winner (Eddie George), the 7th and 9th overall picks in the 1996 NFL Draft (Terry Glenn and Rickey Dudley), the 1st and 3rd overall picks of the 1997 draft (Orlando Pace and Shawn Springs) and a future three time NFL Champion and All-Pro (Mike Vrabel). Ohio State was heavily favored and may have won if not for the oratory skills of Glenn. For 60 minutes, Michigan manhandled the Ohio State defense. Led by Jon Runyan and Jon Jansen, Michigan--or I should say Tim Biakabutuka--ran roughshot over the Buckeyes to the tune of 313 yards. Timmy B. ran 37 times for an 8.5 yard average. Michigan's victory sent Northwestern to the Rose Bowl and Ohio State to the Citrus Bowl and, more importantly, kept the Buckeyes from their first National Championship in 27 years. In fairness to Terry Glenn, "313 rushing yards" may fit his definition of "nothing."

19. Michigan beats USC 49-0 in '48 Rose Bowl

Michigan's "Mad Magicians" dazzled their opponents with sleight of hand and trickeration in 1948. They were so effective at misdirection that they won their first nine games by an average of 32 points. Not surprisingly, the Wolverines easily won the Big Ten Championship and the conference's Rose Bowl bid. Michigan was ranked #1 in the country entering its regular season-finale against Ohio State. Although Michigan blanked the Buckeyes 21-0, pollsters were unimpressed dropping Michigan to #2 in favor of Notre Dame. If Michigan was going to have any chance at a National Championship, it would need to annihilate USC in the Rose Bowl. Notre Dame did not play in a bowl, so all eyes were on Michigan. The Wolverines blasted USC 49-0. At the time, post-bowl votes did not exist. As of January 1, Notre Dame was going to be the National Champion. However, Michigan was so impressive against USC that a special post-bowl vote was called by Lyall Smith of the Detroit Free Press. Michigan won the special vote by a landslide due to both its performance against the Trojans and its huge advantage in margin of victory over common opponents. Both Michigan and Notre Dame played Pittsburgh, Northwestern, and USC. Michigan streamrolled those teams to the tune of 167-21 while Notre Dame only managed a collective score of 104-32. Following the Rose Bowl, Grantland Rice--the most notable college sportswriter of his time--declared Fritz Crisler's '47 Michigan squad the best team he had ever seen.

20). Woodson wins Heisman Trophy in '97

Before 1997, the Heisman Trophy had been awarded 62 times and all 62 winners played on the offensive side of the ball. Clearly, the trophy had lost its intended meaning over the years. Instead of going to the "best player", it had become an award for the best offensive player on a good, if not great, team. This didn't just make it difficult for a defensive player to win, it made it virtually impossible. By its new unofficial definition, a defensive player didn't even qualify for the award. That was until 1997 when Charles Woodson became the exception that still exists today. Woodson's win wasn't a mere formality like Desmond Howard's just six years earlier. In fact, the award was "supposed" to go to Peyton Manning who was the best offensive player in the country. However, Woodson was so impressive that he forced voters--at least for one season--to change the way they defined the award. Manning's family cried foul but no amount of whining could take away Woodson's historical win. Woodson won five of the six regions and if not for the clear bias of the South Region voters, Woodson would've won by a landslide.

21. Tyrone Wheatley vs. Washington in '92 Rose Bowl

In the waning minutes of the '91 Rose Bowl, Tyrone Wheatley broke free for a 53-yard touchdown run. Washington was too busy celebrating its impending National Championship to give much notice. Little did they know that Wheatley was giving them a sneak peak at what they'd be in for just a year later. After being humiliated by Washington 34-14 in '91, Michigan had revenge on its mind in the '92 Rose Bowl and revenge is what it got. Wheatley dominated the Washington defense on his way to 235 yards on just 15 carries for a ridiculous 16 yards per carry average. He ran for three touchdowns including a Rose Bowl record 88-yarder. He likely would've smashed the Rose Bowl single-game rushing record had he not been forced out of the game in the 3rd quarter with back spasms Still, 2+ quarters of Tyrone Wheatley was more than enough to give Michigan a decisive 38-31 victory.

22). Bennie Oosterbaan vs. Ohio State in "Big House" Dedication Game

Five years earlier, Michigan rudely welcomed Ohio Stadium into existence by dominating the Buckeyes,19-0. Ohio State came to Ann Arbor in 1927 looking to return the favor. Luckily for the 85,000 folks in attendance, Bennie Oosterbaan and Louis Gilbert were wearing maize and blue that day. Oosterbaan and Gilbert accounted for all of Michigan's points in a 21-0 blowout. Gilbert was on the receiving end of three Oosterbaan touchdown passes and both helped the Michigan defense hold Ohio State scoreless.

23). Michigan wins "Snow Bowl" vs. Ohio State in '50

Both Michigan and Ohio State came into their 1950 showdown just one win from a Big Ten Championship. Weather conditions were so poor leading up to the game that "cancellation" was a possibility. Under that scenario, Ohio State would've won the Big Ten Championship. Instead, the teams opted to play in a blizzard and, as a result, Ohio State has one fewer Big Ten Championship to its name. The field was so slippery that any chance for offensive production was not realistic. The primary weapon of choice for both teams was "the punt." Michigan and Ohio State combined for 45 punts including some on first down. Both teams concluded that it was best to not have the ball in such conditions which was supported by the fact that the teams combined for 10 fumbles. Ironically, though, all three scores resulted from blocked punts and no points resulted from the fumbles. The difference in the game was the fact that Michigan fell on a blocked punt in the endzone for a touchdown while Ohio State only managed a field goal off a blocked punt. In a game of amazing statistics, the most unbelievable is that Michigan didn't record a single first down despite winning 9-3. By virtue of its victory, Michigan went on to the Rose Bowl where it dispatched the previously undefeated Cal Bears.

24. Fielding Yost gets his Brown Jug back from Minnesota

The mighty Michigan Wolverines rolled into Minneapolis in 1903 7-0 and riding a 29-game unbeaten streak. They were the two-time defending National Champions and had their eyes set on a third. The Gophers were 10-0 and hoped to claim a National Championship of their own. To the disappointment of both sides, the teams dueled to a 6-6 draw. In the aftermath of the game, Michigan mistakenly left its water jug behind. The jug had been specifically purchased by a Michigan student manager at the request of Fielding Yost. Yost feared that his team's water supply would be contaminated by the hosting Gophers. When Yost realized he had left the jug behind, he sent a note to Minnesota asking for it back. Minnesota told Yost he'd have to win it back. It wasn't until six years later that the two teams met again. Yost and his boys returned to Minnesota in 1909 looking to get his jug back. This was the season-finale for both teams. Minnesota was unbeaten and poised to finish the season with a perfect record and a possible National Championship. Michigan scored a 15-6 victory and Yost got his jug back. The "Little Brown Jug" rivalry was born. The next season, Minnesota again came into the game unbeaten. This time, however, they were also unscored upon. Michigan dispatched of Minnesota 6-0 ruining another perfect season and a possible National Championship; and, of course, securing Yost's jug for another year.

25. Bo's first bowl win in '81 Rose Bowl

Bo Schembechler's storied career at Michigan has been well-documented. He literally saved Michigan football's elite status from extinction. His achieved success by focusing his efforts on beating Ohio State and winning Big Ten Championships. To his credit, he certainly did that racking up 13 Big Ten Championships and an 11-9-1 record against Ohio State over his career. What prevented Bo from reaching even greater heights as not only a Michigan icon but a college football icon on par with Bear Bryant was his inability to close out great seasons with bowl wins. Five times in his career, Bo's teams went into their final game undefeated and five times they came away without a victory. He started off his career at Michigan with seven consecutive post-season losses. It's not that his teams were overmatched. Michigan lost all seven games by a combined 40 points. Close losses or not, Bo had begun to develop the reputation of not being able to win bowl games. Like so many before it, the 1980-season was a smashing success for Michigan. The maize and blue dominated the Big Ten on its way to a perfect 8-0 conference record. Michigan drew the Washington Huskies in the Rose Bowl. This time, however, the outcome would be different and Bo would get that elusive first bowl win. Michigan won, in large part, behind both the heroic efforts of Butch Woolfolk (182 yards rushing) and a stifling defense that allowed just nine points over its final five games of the season.

26. AC's Game-Winning catch vs. Indiana in '79

Michigan was 4-0 heading into a pivotal conference game with Indiana in 1979. The winner would keep alive the possibility of a Big Ten Championship. Indiana tied the score at 21 late in the game giving Michigan the ball back with just 51 seconds remaining. Michigan moved the ball to the Indiana 45 with just six seconds on the clock. Without the luxury of going to overtime (ties were still very much a part of college football at the time), Michigan had one play to score a touchdown and avoid the dreaded sister-kissing outcome. Anthony Carter came to the huddle and told QB John Wangler to throw him the ball. He did and this happened...

(Life has death and taxes; college football has Jim Brandstadter and Lee Corso)

27. "Judgment Day" 1997

In the greatest Michigan football season that most fans have witnessed, this was the defining game. For the first time in 11 years, Michigan was 8-0 and a legitimate threat to win a National Championship. Penn State was 7-0 and had its own National Championship aspirations. Penn State had beaten Michigan in each of the three previous seasons and entered this matchup as the prohibitive favorite playing in front of its home crowd in Happy Valley. The anticipation of this day--and the #3 Florida St. vs. #5 North Carolina game along with it--was so high that ABC hyped it as "Judgment Day." Michigan proved up to the task dominating Penn State 34-8. The beating was so severe that Penn State players and faithful were overjoyed when Curtis Enis scored late to avoid the shutout. Michigan vaulted to #1 in the polls where it stayed for the rest of the season.

28. "The Team, The Team, The Team!" Speech by Bo

While Michigan has certainly been able to grab notable headliners from the Buckeye State, Ohio State has often held the "talent" edge due to its grip on the fertile grounds of the Ohio high school football scene. Perhaps understanding Ohio State's recruiting advantage, Bo Schembechler preached a concept that would propel Michigan to a plethora of upset victories over heavily favored Ohio State teams. This concept was powerfully--if not poetically--laid out in Bo's famous speech about "The Team." I would love to be able to add further detail but very little information exists aside from the speech itself. Bruce Madej, a Michigan Associate Athletic Director, and John Bacon, a Michigan football historian, were unable to provide additional details. Bacon did mention that Bo gave the speech many times making it difficult to pinpoint the maiden version.

29. Braylon Edwards vs. Michigan State in '04

The majority of Michigan's great individual performances have come by way of its running backs. It's not easy for a wide receiver to dominate a football game especially when defenses can roll coverage to lock down a receiver. When it's a player with the combination of size, speed, and athleticism as Braylon Edwards, though, there's only so much defenders can do. Michigan State scored with just 8:43 left in the fourth quarter to take a commanding 27-10 lead. The John L. Smith era was just minutes away from realizing its first marquee win. Had the margin stood, MSU would've defeated Michigan by more than 14 points for the first time since 1967. In fact, MSU's last six victories over Michigan came by a total of just 19 points. This would've been a significant win for Michigan State. Unfortunately for MSU, Michigan unveiled the "Braylon-option." Edwards scored three touchdowns after the 7-minute mark of the fourth quarter including the game-winner in overtime. All told, he caught 11 passes for 189 yards and three touchdowns. Perhaps no player in Michigan football history has had a greater impact on a single Michigan victory.

30. Desmond Howard's 4th-down catch vs. Notre Dame in '91

If you were a Michigan fan growing up in the late 80's, you learned to hate Notre Dame and you learned it fast. Michigan came into its '91 showdown with the Irish having lost four in a row--the last three in heartbreaking fashion. Michigan entered the game ranked #3; Notre Dame was #7. Michigan jumped out to an early 17-7 lead but no lead against Notre Dame gave "M" fans comfort. Just a year earlier, Michigan led 24-14 in the second half and lost 28-24. The Irish closed the gap to 17-14 and another devastating comeback was on the minds of the Michigan faithful. Michigan drove the ball early in the fourth quarter and found itself facing a 4th-and-inches on the Notre Dame 25-yard line. Michigan coach Gary Moeller made the decision to go for it perhaps thinking that a six-point lead against Notre Dame would not be enough. Elvis Grbac stepped to the line called for the snap and instead of piling forward for a QB sneak or handing it off for a Halfback Dive, he pump-faked to Desmond Howard and then a second later launched a perfectly thrown lob to Howard in the back of the endzone. The catch simultaneously closed the game out for Michigan and thrust Howard into the lead position in the Heisman-race.

31. Jim Harbaugh's guarantee over Ohio State in '86

Michigan entered its second-to-last regular season game in 1986 undefeated and ranked #2 in the country. The Minnesota Gophers were supposed to be a tune-up for the colossal final week showdown for the Big Ten Championship and Rose Bowl birth between Michigan and Ohio State. Despite being 25-point underdogs, Minnesota stunned Michigan ruining any dreams of Bo Schembechler's first National Championship. In Michigan's post-game locker room, Jim Harbaugh--Michigan's QB and one of the school's all-time great players--said, "I guarantee we will beat Ohio State and go to Pasadena." A week later, that's exactly what happened.

32. Oosterbaan's fumble return beats Minnesota in Yost's final game

This game was unique for a number of reasons. The most important was that it was Fielding Yost's last game on the Michigan sidelines. Ironically, he would have needed to coach one more game to experience coaching in the, "The Big House." After years of planning and developing Michigan Stadium, he decided to let Tad Wieman lead the Wolverines into the "The Big House" era. Yost's final game was the 1926 season-finale against Minnesota. Michigan was 4-0 in the Big Ten after a huge victory over Ohio State the week before. It needed a win over the Gophers to win the Big Ten Championship. The Gophers weren't in the championship-hunt but they knew Michigan pretty well considering this was going to be their second meeting of the season. Minnesota could not find a fifth Big Ten opponent before the season and needed to play five conference games to be eligible for the conference championship. Michigan agreed to play the Gophers twice thus the season-ending trip to Minneapolis. Michigan won the first meeting 20-0 in Ann Arbor. Minnesota held a 6-0 lead through the fourth quarter when Bennie Oosterbaan made one of the great plays in Michigan history. He nabbed an errant snap by the Minnesota center and ran 60-yards for the game-winning touchdown sending Yost out a winner.

33. Tom Harmon wins Heisman in 1940

After the 1939-season, there was little doubt that Harmon was going to win the Heisman in 1940. He arguably should've won the award in '39 but the honor went to Iowa's Nile Kinnick. Harmon was outstanding in 1940 leading Michigan to a 7-1 record including the famous standing-ovation victory over Ohio State in his final collegiate game. Harmon won the award by the largest margin in its brief six-year history. He was a superstar on the level of famed professional athletes of the time like Joe DiMaggio as he appeared on the cover of various magazines including Time. He is often regarded as the greatest player in Michigan football history and one of the greatest players in college football history. He is one of only seven Heisman winners to finish in the top-two of the voting in multiple seasons. The others are; Herschel Walker, Billy Sims, Archie Griffin, O.J. Simpson, Glenn Davis, and Angelo Bertelli,

34. Charles Widman 65-yard TD vs. Chicago in 1898

Near the end of the 19th century, the University of Chicago played the role of end-of-year rival now occupied by the Ohio State Buckeyes. Michigan was in position to win the first two Western Conference Championships in 1896 and 1897 until losses to Chicago derailed those hopes in both seasons. The next season--in 1898--Michigan entered its season-finale with Chicago again undefeated and again one win from its first conference championship. Up 6-5 in a defensive stalemate, Michigan held the ball with just a few minutes remaining. Charles Widman took the handoff and was immediately engulfed by a mass of humanity at the line of scrimmage. After a few seconds of innocent posturing, Widman surprised everyone by escaping the scrum and dashing 65-yards to clinch the victory for the Wolverines. The win gave Michigan an undefeated season and its first ever conference championship. More importantly, the game inspired a young student by the name of Louis Elbel to write a song fitting of such an inspired performance. Thus, "The Victors" was written.

35. Crisler invents offense/defense platoons vs. Army in 1945

There are few things more ingrained into the sport of football than the idea of separate offensive and defensive units. Back in the day, though, players played both offense and defense. Fritz Crisler changed all of that in 1945. Michigan's team was comprised of mostly freshmen and had the arduous task of taking on #1 ranked Army in Yankee Stadium. West Point boasted Mr. Inside (Doc Blanchard) and Mr. Outside (Glenn Davis)--the '45 and '46 Heisman Trophy winners--and a team full of physically matured men. Crisler expected Army's significant physical advantage to overwhelm his young Wolverines. He knew his boys needed to stay fresh in order to have a chance against Army and that's where the idea of having platoons came into play. Michigan lost 28-7 but Crisler suggested that it would've been much worse if not for the platoons. The idea caught on quickly around the college football scene. Even Army switched to a platoon system the following season.

36. Lloyd Carr carried off field in final game

Lloyd Carr's tenure at Michigan got off to a smashing success. In his third season, he won Michigan's first National Championship in 50 years. He won five of his first six games against Ohio State and five of his first eight bowl games. That level of success proved to be fleeting for Carr, however. Starting in 2001, wins against Ohio State and bowl opponents became scarce. Carr went 1-5 against Ohio State and 1-5 against bowl opponents heading into the '07 season. Michigan got off to its worst start under Carr suffering an embarrassing loss to I-AA Appalachian State and then getting blown out by Oregon the following week. Michigan regrouped winning its next eight games setting up another pivotal showdown with Ohio State. The Buckeyes prevailed again. Carr subsequently announced his retirement and his Michigan career appeared to be over. However, his retirement included one caveat: he would coach Michigan's bowl game. Michigan had the arduous task of facing Florida--the defending National Champion--and Tim Tebow--the Heisman Trophy winner--in the state of Florida, no less. The Gators were 11 point favorites playing in their own backyard and many felt it wouldn't be that close. Michigan came out firing on all cylinders so much so that many fans wondered where such a progressive gameplan had been during Carr's waning years. The Wolverines shocked the Gators and Lloyd Carr went out with a proper ending. He was carried off by his team creating a lasting final image of Carr as the head man at Michigan.

37. Michigan teaches Notre Dame how to play football

In 1887, the Michigan football program was eight years into its existence. The Notre Dame football program was still waiting to be created. Players from the University of Michigan traveled to South Bend in the fall of 1887 to teach Notre Dame how to play football. On November 23, 1887, Notre Dame played its first ever football game and it was against Michigan. Not surprisingly, the Wolverines prevailed over the novice Irish. The two teams played twice in 1888 with Michigan winning both games and did not play again for ten seasons. Notre Dame went on to become one of the elite college football institutions in America racking up 831 wins to go with a .736 winning % through the 2008 season. Notre Dame ranks second in college football history in both categories trailing only...Michigan. At the time, Michigan and Notre Dame had a friendly relationship. Over time, however, the rivalry has developed into one of animosity at least among the fanbases. Fortunately for Michigan fans, they have the ultimate "trump card" in being able to point out that Michigan is responsible for the creation of Notre Dame's football program.

38. Gerald Ford becomes President

It is often said that the most powerful position in the world is the President of the United States of America. On August 9, 1974, Gerald Ford--a former Michigan football great--ascended to the office of the presidency perhaps giving more exposure to the Michigan football program than any other single individual. As a player, Ford had been a notable contributor to Michigan's back-to-back National Championship teams in 1933 and 1934. He remained a supporter of the football program even after becoming the President. He often requested that, "The Victors" be played instead of "Hail to the Chief" and occasionally visited football practices in Ann Arbor. In a tribute to his devotion to the maize and blue, the University of Michigan Marching Band played "The Victors" as his remains passed through the Gerald Ford International Airport following his death in 2007.

39. Michigan wins '98 Rose Bowl and National Championship

The BCS National Championship game did not exist until 1998 so there wasn't a compelling #1 vs #2 match-up to cap off Michigan's undefeated season in 1997. Michigan simply went off to Pasadena to play Washington State in the Rose Bowl. Michigan's regular season was filled with so many great moments that Washington State was viewed more as a final obstacle than an opponent. The game was one of the most important in Michigan football history not because of who it was against but because of what a victory meant. A win would've given Michigan a National Championship for the first time in 50 years. The vaunted Michigan defense--ranked #1 in the country in both yardage and points--was poised to shutdown Ryan Leaf--the #2 pick in the following April's NFL Draft. The defense held Leaf and the high-powered Washington State offense to just 16 points--26 points below its season average--securing Michigan's perfect season.

40. Michigan shows Ohio State "script Ohio" in 1932

Michigan's two biggest gridiron rivals are Ohio State and Notre Dame. Despite Notre Dame's hatred of all things maize and blue, Michigan taught Notre Dame how to play football and there's nothing the Irish can do to change that. Ohio State takes maize and blue-hatred to a whole new level. Perhaps it is the litany of ruined seasons courtesy of the Wolverines. Or maybe its the fact that Michigan has more all-times wins, a higher winning percentage, and more head-to-head wins over the Buckeyes. Whatever fuels the hatred, there's no questioning its ferocity. That disdain is most likely the reason that Ohio State has tried to distort history by claiming the it was merely a coincidence that its famed "Script Ohio" was created (in 1936) only after the Michigan Marching Band performed a script Ohio in Ohio Stadium (in 1932). Ohio State's band director at the time submitted that the idea for the script came from "signs" in Times Square. Apparently, it didn't come from this...

41. Michigan plays its first football game

In 1879, the college football landscape was, well, not much of a landscape. Notre Dame was eight years away from having a football program. USC was nine years from its first team and Ohio State was still 11 years from the gridiron. At the time, teams generally played just 3-4 games a year. Princeton and Yale were the premier powers in a very small fraternity of college football programs. In fact, either Princeton or Yale (often both) had won every National Championship since college football began in 1869. According to Jerry Green in the University of Michigan Football Vault, Michigan's first ever football game came as a result of a challenge from Racine College in Wisconsin. Michigan accepted the challenge and agreed to play Racine in Chicago. Michigan won 1-0 in front of 500 spectators and the greatest football program of all-time was up and running.

42. Benny Friedman scores 44 points vs. Indiana in '25

Fielding Yost "retired" in 1923. He was succeeded by a trusted assistant, George Little. Yost watched closely from his new Athletic Director position and certainly was not happy with what he saw. While Little led Michigan to a seemingly respectable 6-2 record, the two losses represented more than Michigan had suffered in the previous three seasons combined. Red Grange's epic and humiliating performance came under Little's watch. Little was let go after the season and Yost's retirement ended abruptly. However, if Little contributed one thing to the Wolverines, it was the insertion of Benny Friedman into the lineup. Friedman came off the bench mid-season in '24 to assume the starting QB position for the Wolverines. When Yost hit the sidelines again in '25, Friedman was poised to become a star at Michigan. In the second game of the '25 season, Friedman put on a performance for the ages against Indiana. In a 63-0 blowout, Friedman accounted for 44 points including five touchdown passes, two field goals, and eight extra points. Friedman would go on to become an All-American and the MVP of the Big Ten Conference.

43. Bo beats Ohio State in final season to clinch Rose Bowl

Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden are 82 and 79 years old, respectively. So, it seems tragically unfair that health concerns forced Bo Schembechler into retirement at the comparatively youthful age of 60. One can only imagine what he could've accomplished with an additional 20+ seasons on the Michigan sidelines. Unfortunately, that's not how things turned out. Bo announced his retirement after the '89 regular season following 21 seasons at Michigan but not before one last bout with Ohio State. A win over Ohio State would give Michigan the outright Big Ten Championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl. A loss would've forced a three-way tie with Ohio State and lllinois and, more importantly, would've sent Michigan to a different bowl game. The Wolverines prevailed ending Bo's career at Michigan the same way it began--with a trip to the Rose Bowl. The win also gave Bo a winning record against the Buckeyes at 11-9-1.

44. Michigan beats Ohio State and wins Rose Bowl in '64

Michigan was not exactly a football power in the 50's and 60's. From 1951-1963, under the guidance of Bennie Oosterbaan and Bump Elliott, it didn't win a single Big Ten Championship. Over that same span, the Wolverines went just 4-9 against Ohio State including four consecutive losses. Oosterbaan retired in 1958 giving way to Elliott. Elliott won his first game against Ohio State but it was downhill from there as Michigan went just 16-18-2 over the next four seasons including four losses to Ohio State by an average of 17 points. Everything came together for Elliott and Michigan in 1964, however. Behind the stellar play of All-American quarterback, Bob Timberlake, Michigan plowed through its schedule finishing 9-1 including a shutout victory over Woody Hayes and Ohio State to go along with a dominating 34-7 win over Oregon State in the Rose Bowl. Michigan narrowly missed an undefeated season and possible National Championship losing to Bob Griese and Purdue by just a single point.This would mark Michigan's only Big Ten Championship over an 18-year stretch. It was truly a season that came out of nowhere as Michigan finished below .500 in both 1963 and 1965.

45. Ron Johnson runs for 347 yards vs. Wisconsin in 1968

The greatest rushing performance in the history of Michigan football took place in Michigan Stadium in 1968. Ron Johnson--nearing the end of a record-setting career--carried the ball 31 times for 347 yards. It was the highest single-game rushing mark in NCAA history at the time. Johnson left Michigan as its all-time leader in rushing yards in both a career and in a single-season. He also set the Big Ten mark for most rushing yards in a single-season.

46. Desmond Howard wins the Heisman

Entering the '91 season, Michigan hadn't seen a Heisman Trophy winner come through Ann Arbor since "Old 98" won it 51 years earlier. Desmond Howard was unquestionably Michigan's best offensive player heading into the season. He racked up 1,025 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns as a sophomore in 1990. However, only one WR in college football history--Tim Brown--had won the Heisman Trophy. It had become an award for QBs and RBs having gone to a player at one of those positions in 40 of the previous 41 seasons. Needless to say, Howard wasn't a frontrunner when the season began. If anything, Ty Detmer--who had won the award the previous year--was being talked about as a possible two-time winner. Howard's anonymity in the Heisman race didn't last long. He hauled in three touchdown passes in the opener against Boston College and then reeled in "The Catch" the next week against Notre Dame. Howard had the stats and the early season signature moment to launch his candidacy. By the time he struck "The Pose" against Ohio State, he had wrapped up the nation's most prestigious trophy. Howard's margin of victory of Casey Weldon of Florida State was the largest in Heisman voting history at the time.

47. Tom Harmon Launches Heisman Campaign in 1940 against California

Before Michigan ever took the field against California in Berkley, it had made college football history. According to Jerry Green in the University of Michigan Football Vault, Michigan became the first college football team to travel across the country when it passed on its traditional train trip in favor of boarding a westward bound flight. An obvious sign of the times, the flight made stops in Des Moines, Denver, and Salt Lake City, before finally landing in California. Of course, Michigan made the actual game a memorable moment as well. Tom Harmon--fresh off a second place finish in the Heisman voting the previous season as a junior--was the premier player entering the 1940-season. He was already a star having donned the cover of Time Magazine the previous November and his debut in 1940 was a much anticipated event. The game against Cal also marked Harmon's 21st birthday. However, it was the spectators in attendance who were treated to a surprise. Harmon returned the opening kickoff for a 95-yard touchdown. He fielded a punt in the second quarter and returned it for a 70-yard touchdown. Later, he raced 86 yards for a touchdown juking out a disgruntled spectator who had tried to tackle him in the process. He added another touchdown run and pass to finish the 41-0 route of the Golden Bears. JFK was so impressed by the performance that he later bragged that he was in attendance for Harmon's explosion against Cal.

48. Willie Heston leads Michigan to victory over Chicago in 1904

In 1904, Michigan won its first nine games giving up just 10 total points in the process. The University of Chicago--Michigan's first "Ohio State"--had gone unbeaten in its first 11 games setting up a bitter battle of unbeatens to end the season. Much was at stake when the Maroons traveled to Ann Arbor. The winner would lay claim to the Western Conference Championship (aka the Big Ten) and would also have the inside track on the National Championship. In a precursor to the "Ten Year War" between Bo and Woody some 70 years later, Fielding Yost had developed a heated rivalry with Chicago's legendary Amos Alonzo Stagg. Yost had won his first three matchups with Stagg by a combined score of 71-0. The game also marked the final collegiate contest of not only a Michigan all-time great but one of the greatest players in college football history. Both Walter Camp and Grantland Rice stated that Willie Heston was the greatest player they ever saw. Fittingly, Heston scored two touchdowns and led the Wolverines to a 22-12 victory over the Maroons giving Yost his fourth National Championship in four years at Michigan. This was also the first time a Michigan football game was filmed.

49. Michigan passes Notre Dame in All-Time winning %

Michigan has had the most wins of any current I-A college football program since 1893. However, Notre Dame held the All-Time winning percentage mark from 1920 all the way through the 90's. Each mark is equally prestigious but to be able to claim both marks would be quite an achievement. Notre Dame has never had a realistic shot of catching Michigan in wins. As it stands now, the Irish trail Michigan by 41. On the other hand, Michigan had been a close second to Notre Dame in winning percentage for a number of years. Finally, on October 2, 2004, in an otherwise meaningless game against a horrible-Indiana team, Michigan passed Notre Dame.

50. East Coast trip in 1881 shapes Michigan football

Although Michigan began its football program in 1879, it was far from an elite college football institution at the time. That distinction belonged to a number of Ivy League schools on the East Coast. Yale, Princeton, and Harvard were the college football powers at the time. From 1869 to 1903, the National Championship went to at least one of those three schools in every season. So, it would stand to reason that Michigan would want its novice football program to learn from the best. In the same way Notre Dame's eventual greatness was spawned by its tutorial from Michigan, Michigan's future success can be largely attributed to playing and learning from Yale, Princeton, and Harvard. In the University of Michigan Football Vault, Jerry Green writes of a trip Michigan took to the East Coast in which it played three games in five days against Yale, Princeton, and Harvard. Michigan was the first western school to come to the East Coast to play football. Not surprisingly, the Wolverines lost all three contests but what they learned from the elite college football programs in the country shaped the immediate and distant future of the program. A similar trip to Yale and Harvard just two years later in which Michigan lost two games in consecutive days also bolstered Michigan's football know-how.

51. "Those who stay will be champions"

In 1969, Bo Schembechler became the head coach at the University of Michigan. Whether it was simply his temperament talking or a matter of fact, he felt that his new team was soft. In what would no doubt foreshadow the brutal conditioning drills that his players were about to be introduced to, he hung a banner that read, "Those who stay will be champions." Of course, the banner insinuates that there might be a reason not to stay. Bo's workouts were so brutal that a number of players simply left never to return. One of those players famously rebutted Bo's slogan with, "And those who quit will be doctors, lawyers, and captains of industry."

52. Henne to Manningham to beat Penn State

Six games into the 2005-season, Michigan was off to its worst start in 15 years. With Chad Henne and Mike Hart returning following a successful '04-season, expectations were inevitably high. Three close losses left Michigan just 3-3 entering a showdown against a top-ten Penn State team. The Nittany Lions were off to their best start in six years and eyeing a possible National Championship. In a back and forth game, Penn State took a four-point lead with just 53 seconds remaining. Michigan's Steve Breaston returned the kickoff 40 yards to the Michigan 46-yard line setting up a chance for Michigan to win the game. Michigan drove to the 10-yard line when Chad Henne's pass attempt to Steve Breaston was dropped leaving just one second on the clock. Had Breaston caught the pass, he would've been tackled at the four yard line and the game would've ended with a Penn St. victory. On the next play, Henne dropped back and hit Mario Manningham in the endzone for the game-winning touchdown. Penn State would not lose again finishing the season with just one loss and a #3 ranking in the final polls.

53. Charles Woodson one-handed interception vs. Michigan State

Charles Woodson won the Heisman Trophy in 1997 as much for his signature moments as he did for his statistical contributions. One such moment came against Michigan State in East Lansing. Michigan was clinging to a 13-7 lead late in the 3rd quarter. Michigan State faced a 3rd and 9 on its own 20-yard line. Todd Schultz, Michigan State's quarterback, scrambled towards the sideline and attempted to throw the ball away. Woodson leaped out of nowhere to haul in a one-handed interception. Woodson then intercepted Schultz on Michigan State's next drive essentially ending any chance of a Spartan-victory. Michigan went on to win 23-7.

54. Michigan beats unbeaten Ohio State in 1926

Ohio State fans despise Michigan for many reasons but one of the biggest is the sheer number of near-perfect seasons ruined by the Wolverines. Most recently, Michigan famously beat three heavily favored, undefeated Buckeye-teams in the 90's. Two of the losses--'95 and '96--ruined possible National Championship seasons. As it turns out, "Michigan ruining undefeated Ohio State-seasons" has been happening for a long time. It first happened in 1926 when Michigan traveled to Ohio Stadium to face the 6-0 Buckeyes. This was one of the first "winner wins the Big Ten" games between the two schools. Ohio State jumped out to a 10-0 lead and it seemed like it would roll to an easy victory. Benny Friedman--Michigan's All-American quarterback--led a ferocious comeback in which Michigan scored 17 unanswered points. Ohio State scored a late touchdown to seemingly tie it up but--reminiscent of Michigan's 2000 Orange Bowl victory over Alabama--Michigan prevailed when Ohio State's extra-point went awry giving a 17-16 victory and the Big Ten Championship to Michigan.

55. Harry Newman's field goal wins National Championship in 1932

In 1932, Michigan entered its season-finale against Minnesota undefeated and eyeing both a Big Ten Championship and a National Championship. The game was in Minneapolis which was no easy feat even for the heavily favored Wolverines. In the five previous meetings between the schools, Minnesota had not lost by more than a touchdown. Still, Michigan--led by its All-American quarterback Harry Newman--had to be confident going into the game having held Minnesota scoreless in each of its last two contests. As it turned out, it would need to do the same in 1932 to stay unbeaten. Despite just 25-yards in total offense in the game, Michigan capitalized on a Minnesota fumble at the end of the first half. Newman booted a field goal to make it 3-0. Those would be the only points of the game giving Michigan its 7th National Championship.

56. Michigan derails Ohio State in 2003

Heading into the 100th edition of "The Game" in 2003, Ohio State was looking to win its second consecutive National Championship. The Buckeyes were ranked 2nd in the BCS Standings and were only a victory over Michigan away from a likely bout with Oklahoma in the BCS Championship Game. Michigan came into the game looking to snap a two-game losing streak to Ohio State. The game also represented John Navarre's final chance at a Big Ten Championship and a win over Ohio State as a starting quarterback. The game marked a classic battle between Michigan's high-powered offense (37 ppg) and Ohio State's stingy defense (15 ppg). In front of the largest crowd in NCAA history (112,118), Michigan raced to a 21-0 lead behind two Navarre-to-Braylon Edwards touchdown passes. Ohio State closed within seven points in the fourth quarter but Chris Perry's 15-yard run in the 4th quarter put the game out of reach. The victory gave Michigan the outright Big Ten Championship, a trip to the Rose Bowl, and its only win over Ohio State since. It also marked yet another Buckeye-season ruined by "that team up north."

57. Michigan beats Ohio State in '78 to give Bo 5-4-1 edge over Woody Hayes

Many of the greatest moments in Michigan's storied football history were merely "good" when they occurred. For these moments, it took years of reflection and circumstance before they became "great." For instance, in 1978 Michigan defeated Ohio State to claim a share of the Big Ten Championship with Michigan State. A victory over Ohio State and a Big Ten Championship are always noteworthy achievements but there have been many of those for Michigan over the years. What made Michigan's victory over the Buckeyes in '78 so great was a dynamic that didn't even exist until one month later when Ohio State met Clemson in the Gator Bowl. Woody Hayes--Ohio State's legendary coach--punched Clemson's Charlie Bauman after his interception sealed the victory for the Tigers. Woody Hayes was fired over the incident making the Michigan-Ohio State game that was played in Columbus just a month earlier the last time Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes would face each other. Michigan's win in '78 gave Bo a 5-4-1 advantage over Hayes and thus made him the winner of the "Ten Year War."

58. Bo survives first heart attack in 1969

On December 31, 1969--the eve of the Rose Bowl--Bo Schembechler suffered a heart attack. In just his first season, Bo had led Michigan to one of its greatest victories of all-time over Ohio State and a Big Ten Championship to boot. Needless to say, hope was abound for the future of Michigan football. This unexpected catastrophe threatened to steal from Michigan its new and successful field general. Jim Young--Michigan's Defensive Coordinator--coached the game while Bo was in the hospital. Michigan lost the game to USC but, in retrospect, that was just a footnote compared to the importance of Bo's recovery. It's difficult to imagine a world in which Bo Schembechler dies in 1970. Clearly, his family and friends would've lost a loved one which is an impact significantly more important than the game of football. However, one can only imagine what would've become of the Michigan football program had things turned out differently.

59. Michigan beats Notre Dame and Joe Montana in 1978 to renew rivalry

It's hard to imagine Michigan and Notre Dame as strangers but that's exactly what they were heading into 1978. Michigan taught Notre Dame the sport 100 years earlier. The teams played a few times in subsequent years but following the 1909 season, there would be a 33-year break before they would play again. Even then, it was just a home-and-home series in 1942 and 1943 before another break. This time it would be for 35 years. If not for Don Canham's marketing acumen, that might still be the last time Michigan played Notre Dame. Canham--looking for a way to fill Michigan Stadium--entered into an agreement with Notre Dame. They were arguably the two greatest college football programs of all-time and they were set to embark on a series that would eventually turn into an annual rivalry. The timing wasn't exactly great for Michigan. Notre Dame was the defending national champion and featured a senior quarterback by the name of Joe Montana. Notre Dame and Michigan began 1978 ranked #5 and #6 respectively. Notre Dame shockingly lost its opener to Missouri, 3-0. With a bye week in hand, the Irish were poised to take their frustrations out on Michigan but the Maize and Blue had a different ending in mind. Notre Dame led 14-7 in the third quarter but the Wolverines stormed back for a 28-14 victory to beat "Golden Joe." The teams have played 25 games in the 31 years since.

60. Michigan shuts out Red Grange in 1925

In 1924, Red Grange turned in one of the more legendary performances in college football history against Michigan. He accounted for six touchdowns--four rushing, one passing, and one kick-return--and totaled 402 yards in leading Illinois to a 39-14 blowout victory. Grange's performance was so riveting that he was dubbed "The Galloping Ghost of the Gridiron" by a Chicago sportswriter named Warren Brown. The performance was a boon for Grange's career--he is regarded as one of the greatest college football players of all-time--but it was a major disappointment for a Michigan defense that had given up just 67 points total in its previous 31 games. Michigan returned to Champagne in 1925 looking for revenge--and revenge is what it got. In stark contrast to the the year before, Michigan stymied Grange. Illinois didn't score a single point and the "Ghost" was held to just 56 yards on 25 carries.

61. John Cooper hired by Ohio State

After nine seasons as Ohio State's head coach and earning the nickname "9-3 Earle", Earle Bruce was fired. Ohio State wanted something better than the relative mediocrity that had hit the program since Woody Hayes was fired in 1978. Ohio State decided on Arizona State's John Cooper as Bruce's successor. It was not a coincidence that Cooper led Arizona State to a win over Michigan in the '87 Rose Bowl. He had shown the ability to beat Michigan and that was appealing to Ohio State. Little did anyone know just how insignificant that '87 Rose Bowl would be for the Buckeyes. Coincidence or not, Cooper's arrival began one of the most fruitful stretches in the history of Michigan football. In his 13 seasons in Columbus, Michigan won 10 games against Ohio State, eight Big Ten Championships, and a National Championship. All told, Michigan went 10-2-1 against the Buckeyes with Cooper on the sidelines. Since Ohio State became a I-A team, no team in the rivalry had won 10 games in 13 seasons previous to Cooper's tenure. Only one stretch in Michigan's history produced more Big Ten Championships over a 13-year period than the eight Michigan won in the Cooper years. And, of course, Michigan won its first National Championship in 50 years. In hindsight, there is no question that John Cooper being named head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes was a great moment in Michigan football history.

62. Dreisbach to Hayes beats Virginia in '95 Pigskin Classic

In many ways, the 1995-season was the beginning of a new era for Michigan football. Gary Moeller had been fired in the off-season. Todd Collins Ty Law, and Tyrone Wheatley were off to the NFL. Lloyd Carr was named the interim coach following Moeller's dismissal. Two relative unknowns--Charles Woodson and Tim Biakabutuka--replaced Law and Wheatley while Scott Dreisbach--a redshirt freshman--was named the starting quarterback. Michigan's new cast had its first test against Virginia in its first ever preseason classic. With so many new faces seeing the field for the first time, expectations were all over the place. One thing nobody expected, however, was to see Michigan trailing the Virginia 17-0 in the Big House with just 12 minutes left in the game. In typical Michigan fashion, though, the Wolverines would mount a comeback. Dreisbach led two scoring drives to bring the score to 17-12. With 2:43 seconds remaining, Michigan got the ball back on its own 20-yard line needing 80 yards for the win. With just four seconds left, Dreisbach threw a pass to Tyrone Butterfield at the 12-yard line. Had he caught the ball, he would've been tackled and the game would've ended. Instead, Michigan faced fourth down with four seconds left from the 15. Dreisbach lobbed a pass to the corner of the end zone and Mercury Hayes caught the ball and dragged a foot to give Michigan what was at the time the biggest comeback victory in school history. Hayes was the hero of the day grabbing seven passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns. According to Jerry Green in the University of Michigan Football Vault, Lloyd Carr said that he very likely would not have been the head coach at Michigan beyond '95 if not for this win.

63. 21-point fourth quarter comeback vs. Minnesota in '03

Michigan went to Minneapolis in 2003 with one of its most talented offenses in school history. Chris Perry and Braylon Edwards were the 2003 and 2004 Big Ten MVPs, respectively. John Navarre--in his senior season--was the most productive quarterback in the Big Ten. Coming into the game, Michigan was averaging 36 points per game. As the fourth quarter began, however, Michigan had just seven points on the scoreboard and trailed the Gophers 28-7. Minnesota had rolled up an amazing 424 rushing yards against the "M" defense behind the talents of future NFL stars Marion Barber and Laurence Maroney. With Navarre at the helm, Michigan dominated the fourth quarter orchestrating the greatest comeback in school history in the process. All told, the Wolverines scored five times in the fourth quarter capped off by Garrett Rivas's 33-yard game-winning field goal.

64. Brown to Kolesar wins '88 Hall of Fame Bowl vs. Alabama

Compared to the lofty standards set by Bo Schembechler over the previous two decades, 1987 was a disappointing season for the Michigan Football Program. For the first time in Bo's career, he lost to Notre Dame, Michigan State, and Ohio State in the same season. Throw in a loss to Iowa and the result was a disappointing 7-4 regular season. Still, that was good enough for a trip to the Hall of Fame Bowl and Michigan's first ever game against Alabama. Unfortunately, Bo would not be around to coach the game. His second heart attack would keep him off the Michigan sidelines for a second bowl game. His assistant and, future Michigan head coach, Gary Moeller would lead the Wolverines against the stingy Crimson Tide. Despite underwhelming seasons record-wise by both schools, excitement was palpable as two of the greatest college football programs of all-time were set to square off for the first time. Michigan led 21-3 in the third quarter before Alabama stormed back with 21-unanswered points to take a 24-21 lead. With Demetrius Brown under center, Michigan took over in its own territory with under four minutes to play. Facing 4th and 3 at the Alabama 20 yard-line, Brown hit John Kolesar in the endzone to give Michigan a 28-24 victory.

65. Michigan is inaugural member of Big Ten in 1896

Football in its primitive days was a brutal and mostly unregulated sport. In 1905, Teddy Roosevelt was so concerned with mounting deaths and injuries that he gave college football governing bodies an ultimatum: clean up or get out. Roosevelt's platform was successful as college football reformed with new rules and regulations. If not for Roosevelt's intervention, college football might not exist as it does today. Ten years before Roosevelt's involvement, the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives was founded in the Midwest to ratify a number of rules and regulations including the raising of eligibility standards. It consisted of seven member institutions; Purdue, Illinois, Chicago, Minnesota, Northwestern, Wisconsin and Michigan. This group would become known as the Western Conference and eventually--after adding Ohio State, Michigan State, Iowa, and Northwestern--would become the Big Ten. The Big Ten is the oldest division I college athletic conference in the country.

66. Michigan graduating class of 1867 chooses Maize and Blue

Michigan football is layered with symbolism. When fans think of Michigan football they almost certainly think of Fritz Crisler's famous winged-helmets, Louis Elbel's powerful, "The Victors", and the House that Yost Built. Before all of that--before Michigan even had a football team--there was the "maize and blue." Those colors are as ingrained into the fabric of Michigan athletics as the sports themselves. If not for the particular aesthetic tastes of Michigan students in the 1860's, Michigan's colors could've been something far less appealing like green and white, or even worse, scarlet and gray. In 1867, a committee of students from the Michigan Literary Department was asked to choose school colors that would represent the university. The committee tastefully chose Azure Blue and Maize.

67. Michigan beats Michigan State in '48

Michigan entered the 1948-season looking to get new coach Bennie Oosterbaan off to a rousing start by winning its second consecutive National Championship. Famed coach, Fritz Crisler, had led the Wolverines to the Championship the previous season before retiring. Despite the losses of two of Michigan's all-time greats--Bob Chappuis and Bump Elliott--the team Oosterbaan inherited was a good one that included All-Americans Pete Elliott, Dick Rifenburg, and Alvin Wistert. The '48 season began on the road in East Lansing and, as it turned out, would be Michigan's toughest test of the season. Michigan jumped out to an early 7-0 lead behind a Rifenburg touchdown catch but Michigan State tied it at seven in the third quarter. Michigan would win the game, 13-7, on a Tom Peterson touchdown run in the fourth quarter dodging an early season upset. Michigan went on to win all of its games--most of which were of the shutout variety--but none were more closely contested than the season opener with the Spartans. Michigan would go on to win its second straight National Championship and Oosterbaan would become the first and only coach to win a National Championship in his first season.

68. First radio broadcast of Michigan football game in 1924

Prior to 1924, college football games appeared on the radio as relayed broadcasts. Reporters in the press box would relay the play-by-play to the radio studio and then an announcer from the studio would relay the action to the listeners. Fans could follow the game fairly close to real time but the extra step of "relaying" prevented the excitement of live play-by-play and the spontaneous reactions from the announcers that would go along with it. In 1924, Ty Tyson of WWJ had the idea to eliminate the "relaying" step and broadcast a Michigan-Wisconsin game live from Ferry Field. It was a bold proposition as no other football game had been broadcast live from a stadium. The most difficult step in securing the broadcast would prove to be convincing Fielding Yost to allow the project to happen. Yost somewhat naively felt that a live radio broadcast would keep Michigan fans from paying for a ticket. He agreed to allow Tyson to call the game live as long as it was a sellout. Yost and Tyson both got what they wanted as 46,000 fans packed Ferry Field to see Michigan battle Wisconsin. This game marked the beginning of Michigan football being broadcast live on local airwaves and no doubt contributed to the vast expansion of the Michigan fanbase.

69. Bob Chappuis survives being shot down in WWII

Bob Chappuis spent one season with the Michigan Wolverines in 1942 before being called to duty in WWII. He was a 4th-string halfback who was hardly a major contributor. On February 13, 1945, his plane was shot down over Northern Italy. He was rescued by Italian resistance fighters before German soldiers could get to him. He spent three months being moved from safehouse to safehouse until the war ended in May of '45. Little did anyone know at the time how much of an impact Chappuis's survival would have on the future of Michigan football. He came back to school in '46 and immediately paid dividends breaking the conference record for total yards in a season. The following year Chappuis became a national celebrity appearing on the cover of Time Magazine, leading Michigan to its ninth National Championship, breaking his own record for total yards set the year before, and finishing second in the Heisman Trophy voting.

70. Bo's wrath opens door for multiple bowl games for Big Ten

In 1973, Michigan and Ohio State were both unbeaten when they met in an epic #1 vs. #4 showdown to decide the Big Ten Championship, a Rose Bowl berth, and quite likely a National Championship. Unfortunately for the Big Ten, the game ended in a tie removing any possibility of a National Championship for either school. For Michigan, though, a tie was all it seemingly needed to get to the Rose Bowl. Both teams finished conference play 7-0-1 but since Ohio State went to the Rose Bowl the year before, it was thought that Michigan was to be the representative. Since the "no repeat" rule had been abolished in 1971, it would still need to go to a vote by the Big Ten Athletic Directors. Even though Woody Hayes himself wished Bo good luck in the Rose Bowl, the Athletic Directors voted to send Ohio State to Pasadena. At the time, only one Big Ten team per year was permitted to play in a bowl game. Bo was furious by the decision calling it "an embarrassment" and demanded that the Big Ten change its bowl policies to allow members to play in other bowls. The policy was changed less than two years later and the Big Ten began sending multiple teams to bowl games starting in 1975. Bo's tirade sent the Big Ten down a path that has culminated in the eight bowl tie-ins that exist today. It also paved the way for Michigan to appear in 33 consecutive bowl games from 1975-2007.

71. Michigan second half comeback vs. Iowa in 1997

Michigan had started off the '97-season 5-0 and did so in dominating fashion yielding just 5.2 points per game. Fans were starting to buzz about the National Championship caliber defense that Michigan was fielding led by Charles Woodson and Glen Steele. Game six brought Iowa to Ann Arbor for a battle of top-15 teams. After a scoreless first quarter, Iowa erupted for 21 points--almost as many as the Michigan defense had given up on the season--including a 61-yard Tim Dwight punt return as time expired in the first half. Michigan faced a 14-point halftime deficit and the crowd was stunned. A determined Wolverine-team came out in the second half as Brian Griese led two third quarter touchdown drives to tie the score at 21. Iowa added a field goal to close out the third quarter to grab a 24-21 lead. The fourth quarter was a field position battle when Michigan took over deep in its own territory with just over six minutes remaining. On third down at their own 23-yard line, Iowa was flagged for a pass interference penalty on a Griese pass attempt to Tai Streets. That proved to be the difference in the game as Griese led Michigan down the field for the game-winning touchdown pass to Jerame Tuman. Michigan would go on to win its 11th National Championship and this game would mark the only game of the season in which Michigan trailed in the 4th quarter.

72. Michigan beats Ohio State in 1948 to win National Championship

In 1947, the Big Ten adopted a "no repeat" rule which prevented teams from playing in the Rose Bowl two years in a row. Michigan won the Rose Bowl on January 1, 1948 to capture the National Championship. That meant that regardless of how well Michigan performed in the '48-season, its final game would be against Ohio State in the annual regular season finale. After a close victory over Michigan State in the season-opener, Michigan rifled through its next seven games allowing just 34 total points including five shutouts. The Wolverines were 8-0 with just Ohio State remaining on the schedule. Without the Rose Bowl, this game became Michigan's default National Championship game. Michigan came into the game ranked #1 and a victory would give the Maize and Blue its second consecutive National Championship and the unique distinction of completing two undefeated seasons in the same calendar year. Michigan took care of business in Columbus beating Ohio State 13-3 securing another National Championship. Bennie Oosterbaan was named National Coach of the Year in his first season at Michigan just a year after his predecessor, Fritz Crisler, won the same award. It is the only time in college football history that two coaches from the same school won the award in back-to-back seasons.

73. Tom Brady Leads 4th quarter comeback vs #6 Penn State in 1999

Michigan traveled to Happy Valley in 1999 to face a Penn State team that had National Championship aspirations as recently as the previous week. The Nittany Lions were 9-0 and ranked #2 in the polls when they were shocked by Minnesota at home. The loss only dropped Penn State four places to #6 where it still had the inside track to the Rose Bowl and an outside shot at a National Championship. Michigan came into the game ranked 16th and looking to make a move in the polls with Penn State and Ohio State still on the schedule. A victory over both would've given the Michigan a great shot at a BCS bowl game. The game started well for the Wolverines as they jumped out to a 10-0 first quarter lead just as they had done two years earlier in the "Judgment Day" showdown. The difference was that in this game, Penn State bounced back. Over the next 2+ quarters, Penn State outscored Michigan 27-7 and held a 27-17 lead with under four minutes to play. That's when Tom Brady orchestrated one of the greatest comebacks in Michigan football history. He ran for a five yard touchdown with 3:27 remaining to bring the score to 27-24. The Michigan defense forced Penn State into a three-and-out and a Diallo Johnson punt return gave Tom Brady the ball at the Penn State 35-yard line. Brady hit Marcus Knight on a key 3rd and 10 to move the chains and then found Knight again for the go-ahead touchdown. With two touchdowns in under two minutes, Michigan defeated Penn State and ultimately earned a berth to the Orange Bowl to battle (and beat) 5th ranked Alabama.

74. Mike Hart breaks 'M' rushing record

Mike Hart needed 33 yards on the ground against Eastern Michigan in 2007 to break Anthony Thomas's school record for career rushing yards. Apparently not wanting to leave things in doubt, Hart racked up 215 yards to go along with three touchdowns to thwart the EMU upset-bid. Hart would go on to finish his career with 5,040 career rushing yards which beat the old record by more than 500 yards. He left Michigan with a plethora of records including most career rush attempts, most 100-yard games, most 150-yard games, and most 200-yard games,

75. 4th down goaline stand vs. Penn State in '93

When Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1993, Michigan (731) had the most wins in college football history and Penn State (664) had the 5th most wins all-time. Despite close to 1,400 combined wins between the schools, none of the victories came against each other. On October 16, 1993, that would change as two of the winningest programs in college football history were set to square off in a historic Big Ten showdown in Happy Valley. Penn State assimilated itself well to Big Ten power football jumping out to an early 10-0 lead. Michigan roared back with a punt return touchdown from Derrick Alexander and a Todd Collins-to-Mercury Hayes touchdown pass to take a 14-10 lead. Late in the 3rd quarter, Penn State's Mike Archie carried the ball to the Michigan two yard line setting up a first and goal. It was there that Michigan put together one of the great goal-line stands in college football history. Michigan thwarted two Kerry Collins-sneak attempts, and a Ki-Jana Carter plunge up the middle to set up a 4th and goal from the one. Joe Paterno went for it and Carter was stuffed again. Michigan took over at the one-yard line and went on to win the game 21-13.

76. Harbaugh leads "M" over Nebraska in '86 Fiesta Bowl

By Bo's standards, the 1984 Michigan season was a major disappointment. Jim Harbaugh broke his arm five games into the season which gave way to Michigan's only non-winning season in Bo's 21 years in Ann Arbor. With Harbaugh healthy and a wicked defense to boot, expectations were high for 1985. Bo followed the worst season of his career with what would be the best season of his career. Michigan went 9-1-1 in the regular season earning a bid to play Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl. Nebraska was 9-2 coming into the game and ranked 7th in the AP Poll. Michigan was ranked 5th with just two blemishes: a loss at Iowa and a tie at Illinois. Behind two rushing touchdowns by Harbaugh, Michigan overcame a 14-3 halftime deficit to take down Nebraska 27-23. It was the closest Bo ever came to winning a National Championship. Had he not lost to Iowa or tied Illinois, Michigan would've won the '85 National Championship. Instead, he had to settle for a #2 ranking in the final polls.

77. Lloyd Carr names Brian Griese starting QB in '97

There's a lot of luck that goes into winning a National Championship. College football is littered with multiple "good" seasons in any given year but great seasons need fortuitous bounces. In 1997, the most important decision of the season was made before it ever began. Looking at it in hindsight, it seems almost unbelievable, but Michigan's quarterback position was very much up-for-grabs heading into fall camp. Scott Dreisbach had begun his career at Michigan with flair beating Virginia in the '95 Pigskin Classic. Injuries derailed his career before it ever really got started giving way to Brian Griese. Griese--for his part--led Michigan to two of its biggest victories ever over Ohio State. However, his underwhelming performance at the end of '95 that saw Michigan score just 47 points in its final four games left fans clamoring for a healthy Dreisbach to rejuvenate the offense. Lloyd Carr kept the decision tight-lipped until the week of the opener. Many hoped and predicted that Dreisbach would get the call. Carr went with the 5th-year Griese and the rest is history. The significance of this decision can be defined by one question: does anyone think that Michigan would've won the 1997 National Championship with Scott Dreisbach at quarterback?

78. "Crazy Legs" Hirsch transfers to Michigan in 1943

Bob Chappuis--Michigan's legendary star of the '46 and '47 teams--was sent off to fight in WWII following the '42 season. As luck would have it, an equally adapt replacement would be on his way to Ann Arbor. Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch was the star of the '42 University of Wisconsin football team leading the Badgers to an 8-1-1 record and a #3 ranking in the final polls. Obligations to the United States Navy required him to move to Ann Arbor which paved the way for a transfer to the University of Michigan football team. Wisconsin was hit hard by the departure. After going 8-1-1 with Hirsch, the Badgers fell to just 1-8 the following year without him. Michigan wasn't as unfortunate. Ironically, Michigan would post the same 8-1 record and #3 ranking with Hirsch in the lineup as Wisconsin had done a year earlier. Michigan would win the Big Ten Championship and stomp Ohio State 45-7. Hirsch would go on to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and have his number retired by Wisconsin.

79. Chris Perry runs 51 times vs. MSU in 2003

A legendary rushing performance usually requires more than a pedestrian 4.3 yards per carry average. When Tim Biakabutuka went off on Ohio State in 1995, he averaged an eye-popping 8.5 yards per carry on his way to 313 yards. When Tyrone Wheatley dominated the Washington Huskies for three quarters in the '93 Rose Bowl, he averaged an unfathomable 15.7 yards per carry on his way to 236 yards. Compared to those performances, Chris Perry's 4.3 average against Michigan State in 2003 doesn't look out of the ordinary until you notice the "51" in the "attempts" column. Perry toted the ball more than any running back in Michigan football history smashing the record of 42 set by Ron Johnson in 1967. Behind Perry's consistent and bruising running, Michigan controlled the line of scrimmage with a decisive 86-57 advantage in offensive plays. Not surprisingly, Perry would go on to break Michigan's single-season rush attempts record to go along with winning the Doak Walker Award, earning All-American honors, and finishing 4th in the Heisman Trophy voting.

80. Tom Brady Leads OT win vs. Alabama in 2000 Orange Bowl

Despite what revisionists would have you believe, Tom Brady's career at Michigan was not mired in a timeshare with Drew Henson. While Lloyd Carr has often been criticized for blanketing Brady's talents at Michigan, that notion is simply not true and the numbers will back it up. After being named Michigan's starting quarterback following Brian Griese's graduation in '97, Brady threw more pass attempts over the next two seasons than any two-year stretch in Michigan football history. Those two seasons also resulted in the 2nd and 3rd most prolific single-season passing yardage totals in school history. Brady was a gunslinger at Michigan and left with his name all over the record books. He was never more impressive than in the final three games of his collegiate career. He led Michigan back from a ten-point fourth quarter deficit to beat #6 Penn State in Happy Valley. He followed that up with a win over Ohio State. Those victories earned Michigan a trip to the Orange Bowl to face Alabama. Perhaps in a preview of things to come at the next level, Brady had the best game of his career. Just like he had done two games earlier against the #6 team in the country, Brady led Michigan back from a 14-point second half deficit to beat Alabama, the #4 team in the BCS. Brady threw for a Michigan bowl record 369 passing yards and tied the bowl record with four passing touchdowns. Despite spending most of his college career under the national radar, Brady's senior season ended up producing the second best team of the Lloyd Carr's career.

81. Michigan beats undefeated Ohio State 28-0 in 1993

In 1993, '95, and '96, Ohio State came into its season finale against Michigan with a combined record of 30-0-1. Michigan won all three games. The trend got started in '93 when the 5th-ranked Buckeyes came to Ann Arbor undefeated, looking for an outright Big Ten Championship, and poised to enter the National Championship discussion. Ohio State was loaded with talent including future NFL first overall pick "Big Daddy" Dan Wilkinson, and first rounders Joey Galloway and Korey Stringer. The Buckeyes came in averaging 32.3 points per game. Michigan came into the game unranked with a 7-4 record. Two close losses to #1 Notre Dame and # 12 Wisconsin, however, proved that despite its record, Michigan was capable of playing with the best. Ohio State found that out the hard way as Michigan destroyed the Buckeyes and their hopes of an undefeated season, 28-0. This would be the least painful of Ohio State's upset defeats at the hands of Michigan in the 90's. Even if Ohio State won this game, Florida State would've won the National Championship. The same cannot be said for '95 and '96 when the Buckeyes very well could've won the National Championship if not for Michigan.

82. Michigan beats Penn in 1909 to end 24-game unbeaten streak

By 1909, Michigan had developed into one of the premier football programs not just in the Midwest but nationally. The Wolverines had won four consecutive National Championships from 1901-1904 and were considered a college football power. However, a stain on Michigan's brief but successful history as a major player in college football was its unceremonious record against the powerful teams from the East Coast. Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Pennsylvania were the premier football programs in the country when Michigan started having success in the 1890's. From 1881-1908, Michigan played the four East Coast powers a total of ten times and came away with ten losses. Even worse was the way Michigan lost. Nine of the ten defeats were of the shutout variety including three in a row to Pennsylvania from 1906-1908. Heading into the 1909 season, the Quakers were the defending national champions and riding a 24-game unbeaten streak. Considering Penn's lofty status, the three previous outcomes, and the fact that the game was in Philadelphia, the Quakers were the heavy favorite when the two teams met in 1909. On its first possession, the Wolverines--on the strength of a fake field goal by All-American Dave Allerdice--struck first ending a three-game scoreless drought against Penn. Michigan would not look back as it went on to win the game 12-6, ending both Penn's unbeaten streak and its futility against East Coast powers. Michigan would go on to beat Minnesota the following week to win back Fielding Yost's Brown Jug from the Minnesota Golden Gophers making this one of the great two-game stretches in Michigan football history.

83. Bo rebuffs Texas A&M's overtures

By 1981, Bo Schembechler was already a Wolverine-legend. In 13 seasons at Michigan, he compiled a gaudy 123-24-3 overall record including a blistering 89-13-1 Big Ten mark. He won nine Big Ten Championships over that time including six Rose Bowl berths. For many coaches, 13 years is a career. Look no further than the successful coaching career of Lloyd Carr who was the head man at Michigan for 13 years. So, when Texas A&M came with a multi-million dollar offer ($2.5 million over ten years was huge at the time), it would have been understandable for Bo to take the money and run feeling he had accomplished everything at Michigan short of a National Championship. Bo was getting older. The "Ten Year War" with Woody Hayes had ended. His reputation for coming up short in bowl games was growing by the year. Even though scenarios such as these don't happen very often today--a lesser program legitimately threatening to steal away the head coach of an elite program--Bo's decision was very much up in the air, at least publicly. In the end, he turned down A&M's millions and continued to coach Michigan for eight more seasons which resulted in four more Big Ten Championships. There is no question that Bo's decision to stay secured the legendary legacy that he holds today. Equally important is that his decision to stay secured stability for the program all the way through Carr's final season in 2007. Interestingly, when Bo was Michigan's AD in 1989, he blasted Michigan basketball Bill Frieder for struggling with a similarly enticing offer from Arizona State. Unlike Bo, though, he didn't turn it down. After Frieder accepted the job with the Sun Devils, Bo did not allow him to coach Michigan in the NCAA Tournament instead handing the duties over to Steve Fisher who promptly won the National Championship. When you turn down an offer to quadruple your salary and become the highest paid coach in the nation, you can do that.

84. Michigan (Bo) beats Ohio State (Woody) in '71 to take 2-1 advantage

Michigan's epic victory over Ohio State in 1969 was unquestionably one of the greatest moments in the history of Michigan football. Ruining Ohio State's chances at a National Championship and going to the Rose Bowl were certainly fantastic accomplishments. However, one victory over Ohio State would not be enough. For it to truly matter, Michigan would need to start beating Ohio State more often than the four victories in 15 years it claimed before '69. While it was '69 that shocked college football, it was 1971 that showed Michigan wasn't going anywhere. The Wolverines stomped through their schedule leading up to the Ohio State game. They were 10-0 with only two of those wins coming by fewer than 15 points. In a role reversal from just two years earlier, Michigan was the team looking to close out an undefeated season and a national championship that might come with it. For the second time in three meetings, Bo would get the edge over Woody as Michigan squeaked out a defensive affair. The win sent Michigan to the Rose Bowl where it would play Stanford. On paper, Michigan was a heavy favorite but when it came time to play the game, the Cardinal ruined Michigan's undefeated season, 13-12. That would be the closest that Bo would come to a perfect season. However, it is unlikely that Bo would've won his elusive national championship even with a victory as Nebraska--#1 the entire season--hammered Alabama in the Orange Bowl.

85. Mgoblog created

Most of the great moments in Michigan football history have, not surprisingly, been courtesy of the Michigan football team. However, without mediums to bring those great moments to the masses, they would be no greater than any of the thousands of terrific high school football plays that occur all over America every Friday in the fall. Interest in Michigan is what allows these moments to be so great. Some of the great media-related moments in Michigan football history include the first ever filmed Michigan game (1904 vs. Chicago), the first radio broadcast of a Michigan game (1924 vs. Wisconsin), and the first ever televised Rose Bowl (1948 vs. USC). There is no question that television and radio broadcasts have given Michigan its most access to fans. However, the creation and subsequent success of Mgoblog has revolutionized the quality of access available to fans. Listening to a football game on the radio is fine and well but fans rarely find anything beyond superficial analysis in those broadcasts. That's where Brian Cook--Mgoblog's creator--has stepped in. Since its inception in 2004, the site has pumped out the finest college football analysis in the country including an Mgoblog original called UFR which reviews and grades every offensive and defensive play of the season. Perhaps the site's greatest contribution is its ability to hand out criticisms and superlatives without an agenda. Mgoblog strips down the emotional reaction and blind faith that tend to pervade the Michigan football experience and lathers it with logic. As a result, it has become the calming influence of the Michigan fanbase. All told, Mgoblog has welcomed 21 million visitors and averages a robust 75,000 visitors per day. Did I mention that it's free?

86. Michigan "D" stifles Ohio State to go to Rose Bowl in '77

Ohio State and Michigan came into their '77 showdown ranked 4th and 5th respectively in the AP Poll. Ohio State was looking for an outright Big Ten Championship, a trip to the Rose Bowl, and an outside chance at a national championship. With a victory, Michigan would gain a split of the Big Ten Championship, a trip to the Rose Bowl, and the same outside shot at a national championship. If Michigan was going to win, it was going to be on the strength of its defense and the extremities of Rick Leach. Michigan's defense was so stingy in 1977 that it allowed fewer than 10 points in seven of its ten games leading into "The Game." Leach, Michigan's junior signal caller, had beaten Ohio State in Columbus as a sophomore and was the key to Michigan's ground game. Fortunately for the maize and blue, both the defense and Leach were up to the task. The defense--led by All-American John Anderson and future All-American Ron Simpkins--held the Buckeyes to just six points--27 points below their season average. The victory sent Michigan to the Rose Bowl and pulled Bo even with Woody Hayes in the "Ten Year War", 4-4-1.

87. "Wolverines" becomes mascot in 1861

This was certainly a great moment for Michigan athletics as a whole but it is the football program that has become the beacon for Michigan athletics. Ask any novice football fan across the country about Michigan football and you'll immediately hear "The Victors", "The Big House", The Winged Helmet", and of course, "The Wolverines." In 1861, Michigan students adopted "the wolverine" as its school's mascot. There are a number of theories for its origin none more plausible than the other. Eighteen years later, Michigan fielded its first football team and the words "Michigan" and "Wolverines" would become synonymous with the most successful football team in college football history. The mascot would prove to be the perfect fit to match the feistiness and ferocity of the typical Michigan football team. It's also a mascot that stands on its own as Michigan has repeatedly rebuffed a sideline mascot in a wolverine costume. Attempts were made in the 20s and 30s to keep a live wolverine on the sideline but, according to Fielding Yost, it was too dangerous to continue the practice.

88. Michigan wins Big Ten and beats Ohio State in 1918

Michigan withdrew from the Western Conference in 1908. According to Jerry Green in the University of Michigan Football Vault, the source of the withdrawal was a proposed rule that would require coaches to be faculty members. Since Fielding Yost was not a member of Michigan's faculty, this proposal threatened his job. Rather than lose his iconic coach, James Angell, Michigan's President, pulled the school out of the conference. The separation lasted for nearly 10 years forcing the Wolverines to search far and wide to fill a schedule that used to be littered with conference foes. As the 1917-season came to an end, Michigan and the Western Conference reconciled, and the maize and blue played its first conference game in seven years against Northwestern in the season-finale (Michigan continued to play Minnesota through 2010 despite its withdrawal). The following season--its first full season in the conference since 1908--Michigan would march through its schedule undefeated including a season-finale shutout of Ohio State. Yost's boys blitzed its schedule to the tune of 99-6 which was good enough for the conference championship and a national championship. It also marked the last season of Michigan football without a loss to Ohio State. After starting the rivalry off with a 12-0-2 stretch, Michigan finally dropped its first game against Ohio State in 1919. Interestingly, Michigan's return--combined with Ohio State's admittance into the conference in 1912--gave the conference ten member institutions sparking the first ever reference to, "The Big Ten."

89. Michigan blasts Notre Dame 38-0 (twice)

From 1988 to 2002, Notre Dame was a thorn in Michigan's side. The teams played 11 times over that span with the Irish holding a 6-4-1 advantage. For Michigan fans, however, the anguish went much deeper than simply losing to Notre Dame. Michigan's six losses came by an average of five points per game. Even the four wins were nailbiters with Michigan winning by an average of just six points. Rankings and records didn't seem to matter. Take 1997, for example. Michigan went 12-0 and Notre Dame barely scraped together a winning record at 7-6. Yet, the Irish were one of only two teams to hold a lead against the mighty Wolverines in the second half (in Ann Arbor no less). So, when the Irish came calling again in 2003, the Michigan faithful were preparing for another classic heart-stopper in Michigan Stadium. Except, that's not what happened. Spearheaded by a defense that allowed just 166 yards to Notre Dame and an offense that featured four touchdowns from Chris Perry, Michigan blitzed the Irish 38-0 in the most lopsided game of the rivalry's 100-year history. In fact, no team had ever even scored 38 points in the rivalry, let alone won by that margin. For one fall afternoon in 2003, Michigan fans were able to forget about every Reggie Ho field-goal and Rocket Ismail touchdown return. Then, they were able to do it again in 2007 when Michigan won again, 38-0.

90. Michigan obliterates West Virginia 130-0 in 1904

Michigan has done some pretty awful things to West Virginia University over the years. Back in 1901, it employed a Mountaineer grad by the name of Fielding Yost who would go on to create the most successful football program in college football history. Then it pilfered John Beilein from the West Virginia basketball program in 2007. Beilein had turned WVU from the worst team in the Big East to a perennial NCAA Tournament contender. Michigan completed ravaging the WVU Athletic Department by taking its football coach, Rich Rodriguez, in 2008. Still, nothing can match the eye-popping nature of what Michigan did to West Virginia on October 22, 1904. Michigan held the Mountaineers to just three yards and zero points while piling up a school record 130 points. Even "Physicians and Surgeons" only lost 72-0 to Michigan.

91. Bill Martin hired

It's true that some will judge Bill Martin's legacy solely on the success of Rich Rodriguez's tenure at Michigan. While it remains to be seen how that hire will turn out, it would be unfortunate if Martin's tenure wasn't based on his total body of work. When he was hired in 2000, the Michigan Athletic Department had just produced a $2.2 million deficit the previous year. It's difficult imagining the athletic department of one of the most marketable football programs in the country running a deficit but that's the reality Martin inherited. Michigan's bottom line quickly changed as Martin immediately got the department into the black. The program has had a budget surplus for nine consecutive years and is one of only six programs in the country to have a surplus for five consecutive years. Martin has turned the Michigan Athletic Department into a moneymaking machine. Martin was a score financially but he has also significantly impacted Michigan's aging football facilities. He has used Michigan's now stable surplus to help sell and partially fund major new building projects and renovations. The most notable being the $226 million renovation of the "Big House" and the $26 million construction of Michigan's state-of-the-art football practice facility. Martin inherited a program plagued by old buildings and messy finances and will leave it in 2010 with the opposite. Like all public figures, Martin has received his share of criticism--and some of it deservedly so--but his business acumen was clearly a godsend for a fiscally careless Michigan Athletic Department.

92. Fritz Crisler expands Big House to 101,001 in 1956

Ever since its dedication in 1927, Michigan Stadium has been one of the modern marvels of college football. When the NCAA began recording attendance figures in 1949, it was the "Big House" at the top with an average attendance of 93,894. For seven years that figure remained the same. Then, in 1956, Michigan completed construction of the Michigan Sports Communication Center, or more commonly known as the Michigan Stadium Press Box. The project--put forth by AD, Fritz Crisler--increased Michigan Stadium's capacity to 101,001. For unknown reasons, Crisler liked the idea of a capacity ending in "1." That tradition has been kept with each subsequent expansion all the way to its current capacity of 106,201. According to Michigan lore, it was Fielding Yost who was responsible for ending the capacity with "1" as he wanted a seat reserved for Fritz Crisler at all times. While that makes for a good story, that is simply not true according to The Michigan Stadium Story on the Bentley Historical Library website. Michigan didn't start adding the "1" to its capacity until 1956. Yost passed away in 1946.

93. Michigan beats Ohio State 86-0 in 1902

There is no question that Michigan was a more established program than Ohio State at the turn of the 20th century. However, when the teams met in 1901, Ohio State gave Michigan its toughest test of the year. Granted, the Wolverines allowed zero points the entire season but no team held Fielding Yost's "Point-a-Minute" team to fewer points than the Buckeyes in a respectable 21-0 defeat. When the two teams met the following season, Michigan and Ohio State were both undefeated. Ohio State had outscored its four opponents by a combined total of 86-0. Despite their relative success the previous season against the vaunted Wolverines, the Buckeyes were clobbered by the highly coincidental score of 86-0. It is--and likely will remain forever--the most points scored by any team in the rivalry and the largest margin of victory. Additionally, it was this game that inspired the writing of Ohio State's alma mater, "Carmen Ohio." Unlike the confident and proud lyrics of "The Victors" written following a jubilant victory over Chicago in 1898, "Carmen Ohio" has a more sobering tone referencing friendship and memories.

94. Steve Smith gets redemption in '83-win over Ohio State

In many ways, Steve Smith was the original John Navarre. Smith was highly criticized for his poor play in losses to Ohio State in both 1981 and 1982. Michigan turned the ball over a total of nine times in both games and managed to score just 23 total points. Up to that point, the seven combined losses with Smith under center in '81 and '82 were the most losses over a two-year stretch in the Bo-era. In his senior season, though, Smith had the Wolverines playing the best football of his career. Michigan got off to a 8-2 start heading into the annual season-finale with the Buckeyes. Both teams were ranked in the top ten with the winner likely wrapping up a spot in the Sugar Bowl. Unlike the previous two disappointments, Smith was on the mark. He scored all three of Michigan's touchdowns and accounted for 251 total yards in a 24-21 Michigan victory.

95. Bob Ufer's poem, "Burying Woody Hayes"

For 37 years, Bob Ufer was the voice of Michigan football. He all but invented partisan play-by-play as he openly rooted and wept for Meeechigan. His raucous calls of Billy Taylor's winning TD vs. Ohio State in 1971 and Anthony Carter's winning TD vs. Indiana in '79 have been immortalized in Michigan lore. For all of Ufer's fantastically homerish play-by-play, it was often what he said between plays or after games that resonated most. One of these memorable moments came when Ufer explained how he--of all people--came into possession of General Patton's horn from WWII. Ufer was at his best when Ohio State tore down the M Club Banner on its way out of the Michigan Stadium tunnel in 1973:

"Here they come: Hare, Middleton, and the Buckeyes... and they're tearing down Michigan's coveted M-Club banner! They will meet a dastardly fate here for that! There isn't a Michigan Man who wouldn't like to go out and scalp those Buckeyes right now. They had the audacity, the unmitigated gall, to tear down the coveted M that Michigan's going to run out from under! But the M-men will prevail because they're getting the banner back up again. And here they [the Michigan team] come! The maize and blue! Take it away 105,000 fans!"

Perhaps his most famous commentary, though, came following Michigan's monumental victory over heavily favored Ohio State in 1969. Just a year earlier, Ohio State put up 50 points on Michigan in a 36-point blowout. Ohio State came into the '69 contest ranked #1 and looking to clinch a National Championship. It was Michigan that came away with the victory, however, and Ufer was nice enough to provide a eulogy for the defeated titled, "Burying Woody Hayes."

96. "The Victors" feature on ESPN GameDay in 2006

The 2006 Michigan-Ohio State game was the game of the rivalry's 112-year history. For the first time in the rivalry, Michigan and Ohio State were ranked #1 (OSU) and #2 (M) in the polls. The build-up for the game was palpable. ESPN hyped the game with a countdown clock during the week and held it's ESPN GameDay show outside the gates of Ohio Stadium. It was on that show that ESPN featured a segment about "The Victors" that will be remembered around Ann Arbor for a long time. During the four minute segment, pop singer, Nick Lachey journeyed to Ann Arbor to, among other things, learn how to properly sing the Michigan Fight Song from a professor in the music department, interview Lloyd Carr, and sit it on the Michigan freshmen being introduced to "The Victors" for the first time. Lachey then spoke to Bo Schembechler on the 50-yard in Michigan Stadium where they proceeded to sing--with the help of the Michigan Marching Band--"The Victors." This may have been the last time Bo sung "The Victors" as he died suddenly the morning before the game. The segment ended in truly memorable fashion as Lachey and Desmond Howard--both standing at the top of Ohio Stadium--sang, "The Victors" to thousands of booing Buckeye-fans below.

97. Tom Brady wins Super Bowl

Throughout the storied history of Michigan football, many players have gone on to achieve success in the NFL and it has become a common practice for fans to cheer them on long after they leave Ann Arbor. Many Wolverines have gone on to achieve individual (Elroy Hirsch, Dan Dierdorf) and team success (Ron Kramer, Ty Law) in the NFL but no athlete in the history of the Michigan football program has reached the team or individual success of Tom Brady. Despite being just a 6th round pick, Brady has become not only one of the top quarterbacks of all-time but one of the greatest players in the history of the NFL. Brady's success was never a foregone conclusion even after he made the Patriots roster in his rookie season. He began the 2000 season as New England's fourth string quarterback and managed to work his way to 2nd string by mid-season and remained there heading into 2001. While his move up the depth chart was promising, there was still the problem of being stuck behind, Pro Bowler, Drew Bledsoe who was the franchise's all-time leader in passing yardage and its starting quarterback the previous eight seasons. Brady quite literally got the break he needed when Bledsoe was knocked out in week three against the Jets. With Brady under center, the Pats finished the season on an 11-3 stretch securing a first round bye. New England won its first two playoff games against Oakland and Pittsburgh setting up a "David vs. Goliath" Super Bowl against the heavily favored Rams. Behind Brady's efforts, the Pats pulled off one of the greatest upsets in Super Bowl history. New England--and its new hero--became the story of the NFL. While this was fantastic for Brady, the publicity Michigan received was overwhelming. In the aftermath of his Super Bowl XXXVI MVP, Brady became New England's full-time starter. In subsequent years, Brady has won two more Super Bowls, another Super Bowl MVP, a NFL MVP, and put together the greatest offensive season in NFL history. Brady's assencion to NFL superstardom is one of the greatest stories in NFL history and certainly qualifies as a great moment in the history of Michigan football.

98. Regents Field opens in 1893

Before there was ever a "Big House" or any other on-campus "stadium", the University of Michigan football team played at the Ann Arbor Fairgrounds. The "Fairgrounds" were no more than a modern-day playground that hosted any number of activities including university sponsored "Field Day" events. In 1890, the Michigan Board of Regents--in response to student concerns over the quality of athletic facilities--approved expenditure of $3,000 to construct the Michigan football program's first ever permanent home field with an initial capacity of 400. Perhaps in a nod to the approving body, the field was dubbed, "Regents Field." Michigan held its first home game at Regents Field in 1893 against the Detroit Athletic Club. It didn't take but two years before the capacity was doubled and so began the "arms race" that has seen Michigan's football fields undergo capacity expansion no fewer than 15 times culminating in the largest capacity in America today at 107,501. Regents Field saw the transformation of the Michigan football program from a fledgling athletic endeavor into a major college football powerhouse in just a few short years. Fielding Yost coached his first four National Championship teams at Regents Field which unsurprisingly yielded a huge increase in fan interest. The success of the program was so vast that in just 11 years, attendance for Michigan home games rose from 400+ in 1894 to 17,000 in 1905. While Regents Field was no more than what is known today as a small-town high school football field, it marked the first step--and arguably the most important--in making Michigan football the most watched live sporting event in any stadium in America today.

99. John Kolesar 77-yard game-winning TD to beat Ohio State in '85

Unbelievably, the Michigan defense had given up just three touchdowns the entire season heading into "The Game" in 1985. However, it was an offensive play that clinched the victory over the Buckeyes who had been ranked 3rd in the polls just a week earlier. Following a Cris Carter touchdown that brought Ohio State within three points in the fourth quarter, Michigan took over at its own 20 yard line. On 2nd down, Jim Harbaugh took advantage of a failed Ohio State-blitz and found John Kolesar for a 77-yard touchdown putting Michigan up 27-17 ending any chance of a Buckeye-victory. The win put Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl where it was victorious over Nebraska giving Michigan its highest end-of-season ranking in Bo Schembechler's illustrious career.

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100. Michigan hammers Michigan State 49-3 in revenge game

In the last two decades, Michigan has had some of its largest margins of victories ever against its rivals. Michigan hammered Ohio State by four touchdowns in 1991 (and '93) which was the largest margin over the Buckeyes since 1947. Michigan blasted Notre Dame by 38 points in 2003 (and 2007) which was the largest margin over the Irish in the history of the rivalry. The biggest blowout in a rivalry game over that span, however, was a drubbing of Michigan State just a year after "Clockgate." Competitively speaking, Michigan State has hardly been a rival to Michigan. The Wolverines own a 30-10 record against MSU since 1970 and an even bigger margin in the overall series. Still, Spartan players and fans are notorious for claiming that the gap between the schools is diminutive. Even they couldn't have spun anything positive in a 49-3 loss that prompted Charles Rogers to say, "It's too late for a turnaround...We'll be lucky if we win another game.''