ANN ARBOR,MI–Growing up in grade school, I didn’t know football. I was a Philadelphia Eagles fan because my father is an Eagles fan, but around age nine I finally realized there were more teams out there and I found out about college football. I ended up becoming an Oakland Raiders fan because I liked their skull logo and Tim Brown was a great receiver. However, I still hadn’t chosen a favorite college football team at this point.

During the fall of my fourth grade year I turned 10 years of age, and this is when I noticed that my blood was not red, but it was maize and blue. My best friend’s family hailed from Wisconsin, so naturally he was a Badger fan. That fall when I was 10, Michigan beat Wisconsin on the gridiron, making me a Wolverine for life. There was something about Michigan football and seeing them beat my best friend’s team that made me a fan.

Nearly 13 years later, I am still a diehard Wolverine football fan. The surprise? I have resided in the heart of Penn State Nittany Lion territory for my entire life. Beaver Stadium is roughly 50 miles, or one hour, from my hometown. Michigan Stadium? Yeah, more like 440 miles, or seven hours. Even in PSU country I proudly display my love and affection for Michigan on my vehicle.

Everyone asks “How can you be a Michigan fan when Penn State is just down the road?” My love for Michigan football is just like a long distance relationship with a woman. It takes loyalty. It takes dedication. At first is isn’t very easy to stay loyal or dedicated when everyone is on you about being a fan of a team in a different state, but soon enough the love is solidified and you become a part of the family. I am proud to be part of the Maize ‘n Blue family, and look forward to many years of watching Wolverine football.

Over the past few years I have traveled to The Big House at least once, but twice on occasion, for a game. During those trips I have met many out-of-state Wolverine fans, hailing from Texas, Ohio, South Carolina, New Jersey, and so on. Those folks are in the same shoes as myself, but they, like me, are dedicated to the Michigan family.

In just over a month, our favorite Wolverines will be taking the field in their first gridiron match of the season. I am proud to say I will be in attendance for such a great event, and yes I will be making that seven hour trek from central Pennsylvania to Ann Arbor with other proud Michigan fans.

And remember….if you are an out-of-state Michigan football fan — stand proud! GO BLUE!

Football betting fans should consider the Wolverines are 5-1 against the main rivals Ohio State, Michigan State, and Notre Dame, where their only win came against the Fighting Irish last season, and it seems like this won’t change at all in the upcoming season.

I know you are probably thinking “they will be fine, their offense is pretty good.” Yeah it is, but it doesn’t change the fact that they have been a joke since Bo Schembechler, Gary Moeller, and Lloyd Carr left the program.
Rodriguez is making a transition, but it doesn’t seem to be going smoothly at all.  Just remember in 2009 when the Detroit Free Press reported that Rodriguez and his staff were habitually violating NCAA limits on practice times and off-season workouts.

In addition, their schedule looks brutal in the beginning.

First, they have a season opener against a hard opponent in the Connecticut Huskies at Ann Arbor, then they travel to Notre Dame to play against the Irish, then they host the Michigan State Spartans, and they finish a cruel start with a visit to Ohio State.

If Michigan wants a Bowl shot, they will have to get a couple of wins in those four games, at least.

The main question for them will be about their defense. Can that defense be competitive enough to give the offense a chance?

After 2 losing seasons the Wolverines look to bounce back to how they usually play. With the new renovations that took place, that should bring in even more fans to the already Big House.  Also should keep the sound in the stadium to keep it loud for the away teams. All in all the new looking stadium looks great! The fans will love it and we hope for good things for Michigan in this 2010 season.

For pictures of the new renovated stadium go here:

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=C4&Dato=20100703&Kategori=SPORTS06&Lopenr=7030804&Ref=PH

GO BLUE!

With rivalries in the Big Ten, like the Ohio St/Michigan, Michigan St/Michigan will they break the rivalries up? The Michigan/Ohio St game is better then Christmas for fans of both.  Michigan and Ohio St might be left in the same division so they can play each other every year in November like they always have.

Michigan has to big rivalries, one against Michigan St and Ohio St. Penn St has become more of a rivalry.  ”There’s a lot to think about geographically; there’s a lot to think about competitively; they’ll tell us what it is and we’ll go from there,” U-M football coach Rich Rodriguez said. “Either way it works, we’re going to play (Ohio State) every year, we’re going to play Michigan State every year. I’m sure every school will have maybe two rivalries, no matter how it works out. We have our two there.”

How would you split the teams up? would you keep those rivalry teams together?

GO BLUE!

For now they are the only team that has accepted, but soon the Big Ten will want to expand to 16 teams.  The University will enter the Big Ten play in 2012.  Now with 12 teams the Big Ten, we will be able to break off into two, six team divisions. This will give us a Championship game that we have always wanted.

The Cornhuskers are not known as a powerhouse school in football like Michigan, but will be a great addition to the Conference and in my opinion another great football school in the conference. They have had there seasons and lately haven’t had a great season, but they are not no pushover team, they are for real and I am excited to see this match up with the wolverines.

So welcome Nebraska to the Big Ten!  GO BLUE

So, what does all this mean to you, the fan?  Assuming the NCAA agrees with the report and does not decide to add more to the punishment (and yes, it is within their purview to do so), not much.  Below are Michigan’s self-imposed punishment and what they mean to the both the players and fans.

1. The reduction of the number of quality control staff for football from 5 to 3.  This means little if anything to fans, but only slightly more to players, to be honest.  It was more of a ‘this was the group that screwed up, we’ll take some of them away.’
2. Quality control staff will not be allowed to attend practices.  Again, to the fans, this means nothing.  To the players, it just means less people on the field helping (or yelling) at them, so the coaching staff will be stretched a bit thinner.
3. Quality control staff will be treated as the same manner as other non-football staff on game days.  All this means is if those three people want to watch the games, they’ll have to buy their own ticket.
4. Quality control staff will not attend coaches meetings from June through December.  This is actually allowed under the vague NCAA rules regarding control staff.  But it doesn’t really affect the players or the fans.
5. Quality control staff will not work in the weight room or be a part of the strength and conditioning staff.  Again, nothing for the fans and the players will have more of Mike Barwis yelling at them than other people.  Nothing major.
6. One hundred and thirty hours of CARA time decreased overall from 2010 until no later than the end of the 2012 academic year.  For the fans, this just means that the players might not be quite as crisp as they could be, but in reality, it shouldn’t really affect the outcome of anything, especially since it does not specify which CARA time will be decreased.  So they might just free lift instead of team lift and the strength and conditioning team cannot be in the weight room with them (and it would be optional, but most players lift by themselves anyway.)
7. Two years of probation.  For the fans, pray that nobody screws up again, or I’m willing to bet the NCAA comes down like a hammer on Michigan.  Other than that, nothing.
8. They fired Alex Herron for lying.  Good riddance to bad rubbish.

These are my opinions on the sanctions Michigan imposed on themselves.    I believe them to be fair, especially when you realize that David Brandon was right, individually and singly, these acts were not major violations.  It was only the continued and multitude of events that make this a ‘major’ violation.  And I for one am happy that Brandon has chosen to allow Rodriguez to stay.  Let him sink or swim of his own accord, and not because he made a few mistakes and trusted some people he should not have.   I plowed through the entire of Michigan’s response (and it was the expected legalspeak that made me not want to be a lawyer.)  If you want to read it for yourself, you can find it here.   I do find it amusing that the University, in its formal response, basically rips the newspaper for “greatly exaggerated if not flatly incorrect” reporting.

The new season is fast approaching.  It’s time to put this mess behind us and get ready for the excitement and energy that is Michigan Wolverine football.  The stadium is beautiful, the players look good and our schedule looks promising.  It’s great to be a Michigan Wolverine.  Go Blue!

The pregame tours were an interesting look into a usually unseen side of the football experience, and the alumni flag football game was entertaining, especially watching the ‘coaches’ get into it with the referees, Bo-style.

As for the actual game itself, it was encouraging to see how much the defense looks improved. They were making significant strides to stop the run, and Will Campbell clogged the middle well. He looks like he’ll have a good year in the trenches. The secondary was still prone to some bad coverage. They gave up a 97-yard pass between Denard Robinson and Roy Roundtree. To be fair, the pass was perfectly placed (and I mean perfect), but Roundtree shouldn’t have been behind everyone to begin with.

Speaking of Robinson, he looked exponentially better. His throwing was crisp, he still had his explosive running and his decisions were quick and accurate. Since they did not allow hitting the quarterbacks (Tate Forcier was the only one to actually touch the turf with his body on a scramble-run), it was hard to judge Robinson’s running, because there were times I think he would have made the tackler miss, and others that I think he might have been sacked, but he still had his amazing speed and he still moved well with the ball.

Unfortunately, the other two quarterbacks of note were not as impressive. Devon Gardner showed why I believe he needs a year as a redshirt. His arm strength was impressive, but it lacked consistent accuracy. He moved around well in the pocket and up-field, but he wasn’t as elusive as one might have hoped. Forcier, on the other hand, looked slow and rusty. Some of that might be because of his ankle problems, but most of it just looked sloppy. Towards the end, he did start showing signs of his amazing ability to stay in the pocket and make throws downfield, so hopefully the rust shakes off. For now, however, Robinson looks like the leading candidate for the starting job.

There was one more unpleasantness. Zoltan Mesko will be missed. Watching the kickers proved that. The field goal attempts were actually rather good, with some of the kickers hitting 40+ yard attempts in a swirling wind. The punters, however, were rather pathetic. In all seriousness, the best punt o f the day came from Forcier on one of his rugby-style kicks on a fourth down. I think one of the two punters did not connect on a punt for over 20 yards; one of them didn’t make five. So let’s pray that the punters spend some time in the off-season practicing, or you might see Tate out there for fourth downs too.

The locker room was a great interpretation of the tradition that is Michigan football. There was a wall-sized mural of former wolverine Jake Long pancaking some poor schmuck; a hallway roped off that contained a dozen or better pictures of great Michigan moments. I got to see and touch things like the Go Blue Go Hold the Rope sign that sits above the locker room exit. I was “this close” to hopping the waist high blockade and running out the tunnel. Wisely I decided against that.

As for the spring game itself, I saw what looked to me like a more polished version of Denard Robinson. He was more accurate throwing the football. I also saw a version of Tate Forcier that appeared to be forcing things and making bad reads. Then the freshman phenom who despite his strong performance in spring practice, played nervous and uncertain at times. Welcomed to the field by the wolverine fans with loud cheers, Gardner fumbled his first possession and later threw an interception. He did have a nice throw to Martavious Odoms which was dropped. Had it been caught it would’ve been a touchdown. The defense played well getting good pressure on the qb’s and containing the run game for the better part of the day. The most encouraging part of the day was obviously Denard’s play at qb. If he can manage to maintain this level and be a threat through the air, opposing defenses will cringe at the thought of preparing for a skill set like that. Hopefully the defense can step up and the offense can gain some consistency. If that’s the case it should be a pretty good year in Ann Arbor.

Commercialization is not necessarily something that will stain the tradition of Michigan, but it needs to be done carefully. As SBC learned a few years ago, trying to sponsor something as large and tradition-rich as the Michigan – Ohio State game will get you rioted out of town, Spartan style. PNC sponsoring the Spring Game is a small enough affair that most fans probably would not even notice had it not made the newspapers, although what the other ‘events’ are remain to be seen.

There is room for more commercialization at the stadium. Having an advertisement on the scoreboard is not disgraceful, if done properly. Absopure is already advertised on the big board in a commercial-like display. Things like sponsoring the Little Brown Jug, however, are decidedly ill-advised.

Selling sponsorships helps both the sponsor and the team, and should be pursued. Teams, especially college teams, get monetary contributions to projects (like the Michigan construction at Mott Children’s Hospital) or to help keep the sports programs in the black (Michigan football is not in danger of losing money, but what about some of the more obscure sports, like lacrosse?) So far, I think that David Brandon has done an admirable job introducing commercialization softly to the Michigan Nation. Let’s hope the trend continue.

According to the police dept there was also another problem that a light fixture was broke from a person hanging items on a scavenger hunt. Estimated cost was around $1,000.

The Stadium renovations that was around $226 million should be done sometime in June.