After the pictures of the alleged new Michigan away jerseys leaked, fans were up in arms. While I don’t think that will be the final design (there will be slight tweaks if not something completely different), nor did I think the jerseys were that ugly, it was clear that the rest of the internetting Wolverine fanbase was less than pleased.

You may recall last year when I posted photoshopped alternate uniforms.Reactions to those selections were mixed as well, but now is your chance to create your own design. Using any medium of your choice (Photoshop, MSPaint, colored pencils and a scanner), create your own Michigan uniform designs. Nothing is too radical, nothing is too bland.

E-mail your entries (in any widely-used image or document format) to sullivti@umich.edu, and I’ll post them for discussion.

Posted under Misc.

Sorry for the lazy afternoon post. The previews are taking a long time to complete, and I want to get to work on finishing them.

Interesting article from the Free Press about Northwestern’s signal stealing spoiled by Michigan’s ball boys in the national championship season.

OSU blog Dotting The I recently built a basketball team out of its best football players. I’ll refrain from doing the same for Michigan (mostly because the fotball players would probably beat the Michigan basketball team at their own game).

Sticking with the Buckeyes, Victoria’s Secret Pink will be offering merchandise featuring the logos of several universities – but not OSU. Interested case, though, like Dotting the I, I don’t see how there is a major conflict of interest unless OSU gets different benefits than all the other schools.

Posted under Misc.

Today’s afternoon post shall be a link factory, because there’s a lot going on in the world of internets.

• Grand Haven’s 1370AM radio interviewed Michigan recruiting guru Tom Beaver. Podcast on the Terp’s Take Blog.
• Will the stadium renovations be completed on time? MVictors.com has read the tea leaves, and thinks the schedule may be in jeopardy.
• Interesting correlation to my post this morning, Utah blog Block U ruminates on how to build a non-BCS program. I’ve played NCAA ’07, so I already know: recruit every 5-star you can, regardless of whether he’s at a position of need or not.
• A new and improved ACL procedure. Paging Antonio Bass.
• To shit-talker Charlie Weis: 1-2. Maybe you should do something worthwhile before your ego gets too big. Wait, this is Charlie Weis we’re talking about here. His ego knows no bounds.

Posted under Misc.

A friend of the blog (you may know him as formelyannonymous), was driving through West Virginia today and sent me this text message:

Update from the road:
A WV home facing I-81 is just now painting over a full side of the home currently a mural saying Rich Rodriguez sucks. Yes it is a trailer.

Then he sent a follow up:

Couch appears intact. No confirmed burn marks.

So it appears as though West Virginia is finally getting over Rich Rodriguez taking the Michigan job and every record of every player ever (he did that right?). Now the Mountaineers can go back to being a mediocre team in a mediocre football conference.

Posted under Coaching, Misc.

So… it seems as though people don’t really care for the t-shirt designs. I have to say, no combination really draws me in or inspires me. A lot of people seem to be nostalgic for the ephemeral student design contest (it lasted 3 years, right?). In total disclosure, my favorite student t-shirt in my time at Michigan, the same four years as Hart and Henne, was the ultra-Nike 2006 edition:

The font, the winged attitude, the message were all spot on especially after the rough 2005 season. Part of it also probably has something to do with the amazing season that happened that year (I have blocked out the last two games).

Now, there aren’t really any good choices (you can see them here). I don’t dig front 1 and back 2 because of “The Tradition Continues…” and the overly complicated designs. Back 1 is fine. I actually like it, it’s everything that the back of the football shirt needs to be. Front 1 is way too simple. So… where are we now?

The Man has let us down, so let’s do it ourselves. At least one person has said they could make a better design in an hour, so… lets see them! I’m not quite sure what the endgame will be, but the we’ll probably have a vote on the blog among the submissions (or finalists if there are too many). The winner can either make their shirt and have it pimped here or we’ll make the shirt and sell it on the site.

THE DETAILS
There are a couple ground rules:

1. Shirts must be maize
2. Shirts should be family friendly (unless really funny)
3. Try to keep it around 5 colors

I was thinking there might be two different categories: a mainstream shirt and a inside-blogosphere joke shirt.

To submit your design, leave a link to the design in the comments or e-mail the graphics to panel1382 |at| gmail |dot| com. Please submit them as .png, .gif or .jpg. Other formats may or may not work, but I’ll try to make it work.

Let’s see what you guys have out there. Tim and I know a couple people in the Athletic Department and we may forward the winner onto a couple of them. It obviously won’t make a difference this year, but it may help in the future. Who knows? Please try to get them in the next week or so.

Good luck.

Posted under Misc.

I feel like I put way to much thought into this decision (especially since I may not be able to get one as I’m graduating and all). One thing that is kind of weird is that “they” seem to be pushing “The Tradition Continues” as the motto for the team. I really don’t get that. Why not something like “It’s Morning in America Again?” I get it. Martin definitely reached outside the Bo coaching tree, but I don’t think it’s necessary to force Coach Rod into the Michigan Tradition; they’ll come together eventually.

Another thing, I’m not a huge fan of is cursive script in football. It just looks casual and flippant. Imagine if Barwis’ words were captured in a speech-bubble. That’s the font I want for my football t-shirt.

Finalhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifly, I’m a big fan of simplicity and empty space in graphic design. A lot of shirts get exceptionally busy and have way too much stuff going on (like the tiny “THE TEAM THE TEAM THE TEAM” in last year’s shirt).

I won’t vote yet (I think I have until March 11th to vote), but I’m leaning toward Front 2 and Back 1. It’s simple, bold, strong and doesn’t try to be anything more than a cool looking t-shirt.

Update: The contest is on!

Posted under Misc.

My roommate brought this story to my attention:

Leave it to a minor league hockey team to come up with “Shred Rich Rodriguez Night.”

The Wheeling Nailers of the East Coast Hockey League are hosting just such a night on Saturday for their game against the Charlotte Checkers, the Intelligencer of Wheeling, W.Va., reported.

Fans are invited to bring newspaper articles or pictures of the ex-West Virginia / new Michigan coach and feed them into an industrial sized shredder that will be stationed in the concourse at WesBanco Arena.

Though I intend to stop worrying about West Virginia’s obsession with the Michigan coach, this one was too funny to pass up.

Posted under Coaching, Misc.

(I know, I know, it’s already painfully clear).

Everyone’s favorite Michigan alum-cum-hackjob Detroit sportswriter, Drew Sharp, is at it again. On January 12, Sharp wrote a column entitled “Michigan coach must beat Ohio State to nation’s No. 1 recruit Terrelle Pryor.” A mere 15 days later, with nothing having changed in the recruiting world of either Michigan or Ohio State, he comes up with this gem: “Michigan landing super recruit Terrelle Pryor would be an overrated victory.”

“OK,” you may say to yourself, “maybe the titles are not accurate representation of the content of the articles.” You would be wrong. From the first article:

[Rodriguez] must keep Pryor away from Jim Tressel.

He must do whatever it takes.

From the second?

There will be unbridled exhilaration within Michigan Message Board Nation should Rich Rodriguez secure premier quarterbacking prospect Terrelle Pryor on Feb. 6. Pryor likely will start from Day 1, but it’s unrealistic to expect anything but a struggle as he adapts to the college game while the Wolverines collectively adapt to a new offensive philosophy.

Certainly sounds like a situation in which Michigan must do “whatever it takes.” Sharp goes on to admit that landing Pryor would be a victory of sorts, but the clear message is that Pryor is not imperative to Michigan’s recruiting efforts.

Having come to expect this kind of crap from Sharp, I guess it’s no surprise that he would write something so dumb.

Posted under Misc.

Dear Big Ten Fan:

We know you have watched with interest and not a little frustration our efforts to gain broad distribution for the Big Ten Network on the Midwest’s major cable systems. While we currently have agreements with over 180 cable operators, DIRECTV and DISH Network, we have yet to reach agreement with Comcast, Time Warner, Charter or Mediacom.

In late December, we submitted to Comcast our most recent proposal that illustrates our strong willingness to reach an agreement. We are awaiting their response, which we have been told is coming soon. We’ve addressed their issues on cost as well as each of their other concerns. We are hopeful that our flexibility will result in a reasonable deal for both parties that accomplishes the goal we have had from the outset: to provide Big Ten fans more coverage of their favorite teams and sports than ever before.

Over 30 million homes across the country (more than 60 million people) currently have access to the network. It is our hope that an agreement with Comcast will succeed in bringing significantly more subscribers – particularly in the Midwest – the high-quality, in-depth Big Ten programming that these many millions of people already enjoy.

Once we learn of Comcast’s decision to carry the network or not, we will communicate that as quickly as possible. We appreciate your patience as we work through this process, and will continue our efforts to bring this high-quality programming to you.

With best regards,

Jim Delany
Big Ten Commissioner
Mark Silverman
Big Ten Network President

Posted under Misc.

Though Lloyd Carr was always in favor of a bye week during the season, he also found it important that players be able to spend Thanksgiving with their families.

He is going to be 1 for 2 next year.

The Big Ten will allow for teams to play after Thanksgiving in 2008, which will provide them the opportunity to have a bye week during the season. Michigan’s 2008 season will already have a bye week on Sept. 20 without having to extend past Thanksgiving.

Posted under Misc.