Finally some good news in Michigan sports

Monster, and I mean MONSTER, defensive tackle William Campbell has committed to the University of Michigan. This kid is in high school and is a tiny fella at 6'5" tall and 310 pounds. In high school. That is enormous and he is still growing. There has been a ton of bad news in Michigan sports over the last year, the Tigers spending over $100 million in payroll to come in last place, the U of M football team collapsing with the worst season in my lifetime and the Detroit Lions going 0-16. So here is some good news...

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I am not a huge fan of these spectacles of high school amateur athletes holding press conferences with the hats and everything. I mean this guy is getting a free ride on an athletic scholarship to one of the premier sports universities as well as a top academic school. But hey, at least this monster is playing for the maize and blue next year!

For shame

Something is going to happen this year that has never happened in my lifetime. For the first time since 1967, the University of Michigan football team will end the season with a losing record. In 1967, Bump Elliot was the coach. Now we have the shady Rich Rodriguez running the show and after one season, not many people are impressed.

I am glad Bo is not around to see this.

Hail to the Victors!

At last Michigan wins a bowl game, 41-35 over the Florida Gators and overrated Tim Tebow. Nice way for Carr to go out, along with Mike Hart, Chad Henne and Jake Long. Not exactly a defensive struggle with almost 1000 yards in combined offense. A great way to end the year, beating an SEC team and picking up confidence and momentum as new coach Rich Rodriguez comes to Ann Arbor.

Now I have to root for Ohio State to beat LSU, since I can't stand the SEC and faux Michigan man Les Miles.

(Interesting stat from ESPN regarding the supposedly unbeatable SEC. Michigan is 6-1 versus the SEC in it's last seven meetings. By rights, Ohio State should have won the last time around against Florida. Michigan beat Florida by pounding the ball behind Jake Long, and using their big pocket passing QB to hit the receivers. Old school Big Ten football.)

GO BLUE!

It was a bad weekend for atheist propaganda movies but a good one for sports!

It was a good sports weekend for me. The Browns won a game with what looks like a baseball score, 8-0 over the Bills and moved into a tie for the AFC North lead because Pittsburgh collapsed. They were playing in a snow storm, so the lack of offense is going to kill my fantasy football teams but at least they won in the real world.

Plus Michigan finally hired a coach, and it sounds like a great one, in Rich Rodriguez of West Virginia. The number one prospect in high school, 6-6 quarterback Terrelle Pryor has announced he is considering Michigan now. Not sure how Wolverine fans will react to a mobile quarterback in a spread offense, it might cause more howls of outrage than you would get by reading from the NIV at a Independent Fundamental Baptist church, but what we have been doing for years is no longer working.

Go Browns!

Go Blue!

The unmovable object

Here is your task Mr. Defensive End. Get to the quarterback.

There is only one problem, there is a fellow in the way who objects to your presence in the backfield. He is 6' 7" and weighs north of 310 lbs. He has been flagged exactly zero times for penalties this season, unheard of from a left tackle. As far as I know, he has not surrendered a single sack. He bulldozes DEs on run plays. So good luck with that.

Jake Long may just be the best player in college football but gets very little ink. That has changed of late, but if the Wolverines lose to Ohio State (which I think they will) this weekend, he will likely be forgotten in the halls of Wolverine greats. That is a shame because he might just be one of the, if not the, greatest linemen in Michigan history. There is a lot more than a Big Ten championship on the line this weekend.

GO BLUE!

The Big Three, the Big Hope, in the Big House...

After years of frustration, potential unmet, unacceptable losses at Ohio State, this looks like the year when Michigan is once again the team to beat. A great deal of that hope rests on the shoulders of these three men: tackle Jake Long, tailback Mike Hart and quarterback Chad Henne. Along with the supporting cast, they should be a force to be reckoned with. I can see no reason why Michigan, barring injury, shouldn't win it all this year in the Big Ten and have a shot at the National title. Anything less will be a huge disappointment. That is true every year but this year even more so. Disappoint this year, and Lloyd Carr will be retiring, whether he is ready to or not.

GO BLUE!