When it comes to women’s basketball, what would you say is the most important aspect of the game. Did you say offensive rebounding? You didn’t! Well, you’d be dead wrong if you said that to the lady Wolverines coach Kevin Borseth. Totally, totally, totally wrong.
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[The Big Lead]: Michigan Loses, Coach Melts Down at the Podium
We understand that football is a game of passion, even for the fans. However, sometimes, that passion can get out of hand. A prime example of this involves the hillbillies in West Virginia who are harassing and threatening family members of former Mountaineers coach turned Michigan man Rich Rodriguez.
His mother, Arleen Rodriguez, told the Charleston Daily Mail her teenage grandson received a death threat and found other harassing notes taped to his locker at East Fairmont High. She said her 12-year-old granddaughter had to be escorted to classes.
Mountaineers fans furious about Rodriguez’s Dec. 16 decision to bolt for Ann Arbor also vandalized his home near Morgantown, hanging signs on a fence and tossing a mailbox in the yard.
Nothing says class like delivering death threats to a kid. While the select mullet-wearing West Virginia `fans’ get the nod for most unappealing display of hostility, the dumbest duo award goes to this pair of pool sharks who apparently need put their fat wrists on a diet.
At first, the two pool players in the city of Karlovy Vary thought it was funny when both of their hands became trapped inside the table. But panic struck when they could not free themselves, Lidove Noviny reported.
“Their trapped hands hurt them quite a bit,” a fire brigade spokesman said. “We have no clue at all how they could become stuck in there. In the end we had no other option but to dismantle the entire table.
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[SignOnSanDiego.com]: Hey, poor Mountaineers: burn couch, not coach
Jay Bilas is usually a fairly reserved guy from what we can tell. Sure, he can be annoying at times because he’ll talk Xs and Os until you’re blue in the face, but he still seems like a pretty nice fellow. But it seems that Bilas has a sore spot when it comes to Michigan coach John Beilein. How sore? Let’s just say that these two probably didn’t spend the holidays together.
Bilas’ hate isn’t exclusively reserved for Beilein; turns out that he has a problem with the entire Wolverines program, starting with their AD, Bill Martin. Here’s his take on the team from mid-December.
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[Freep.com]: ESPN’s Bilas: `Beilein makes his players sound so stupid and clueless that it is insulting.’
[Freep.com]: ESPN’s Jay Bilas believes U-M AD Bill Martin needs to go
Now that Lloyd Carr is retired and the excitement surrounding his final bowl game has died, the Michigan football program can finally return to normal. Well, maybe not. After all, now it’s time to talk transition, as in transitioning into the Rich Rodriguez era; an era Ryan Mallett probably wishes wouldn’t have started.
Mallett is now at the center of a quarterback controversy nine months before the 2008 season gets underway. Rodriguez is expected to bring his mobile QB system that helped make Pat White a Heisman hopeful to the blue and maize and is reportedly actively recruiting Terrelle Pryor, who many consider to be the next Vince Young. The uncertainty has many speculating that Mallet is contemplating jumping ship, heading for greener pastures where he can be the undisputed starter. Of course, if you really want to know what is going on in Mallett’s head then you can’t trust a stinkin’ newspaper or website. You gotta ask Mallett himself, or at least his mom.
“Everybody thinks they know what Ryan’s doing. But Ryan has not made a decision yet. All these sources? They never came from anyone here.”
“He could be at UCLA, he could be somewhere else, he could be at Michigan,” she said. “But when I talked to him (Wednesday) night, he hadn’t made any decisions.”
While she continues to field phone calls from every interested party — her daughter even called Thursday — she’s amazed at the interest.
“He’s not a cure for cancer,” she said of the thousands of fans across the country discussing her son.
Debbie also expects she’ll hear before a reporter or a message board poster — at least she hopes.
“Ryan is my baby,” she said. “I can’t believe he’d call all those people before he tells me. If he does …
We gotta give it to Mark Snyder for having the nuts to write a story about a quarterback and his mom. After all, we all remember what happened the last time someone wrote about a mother and her son, right? Does “Come after me, I’m a man!” ring a bell with anyone?
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[Freep.com]: INDECISION ’08: Ryan Mallett’s mom nixes reports about son’s transfer to UCLA
It’s Tuesday and after two full days of letting it sink in, you probably still can’t believe that Appalachian State knocked off No. 5 Michigan in the Big House on opening day. Well, believe it, it actually happened. A lot of people are even calling it the biggest upset in college football history. For a while we were kinda leaning in that direction, but then we remembered that while ASU might not even be on the same stratosphere as the major U’s like Michigan when it comes to recruiting, they are one thing that big time programs aren’t: Appalachian is Hot Hot Hot!
Gooooooo `Neers!! Lenoir-Rhyne should be a cakewalk after sending thousands of Wolverines fans to seek the comfort of a dark closet and a bottle of whiskey until the end of the three day weekend forced them to face the cold, cruel world. Sorry Big Blue, but it is gonna be a long and painful season regardless of how the remainder of your schedule goes. After all, the win in Ann Arbor sent Mountaineer fans to tear down their own goal posts at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, N.C.! It’s pretty tough to put something like that outta your memory.
According to the Monroe News, two Wolverines were in a car that was pulled over by Michigan State Police last week.
Sources said a small amount of marijuana and tablets of Vicodin, a painkiller, were found in the car. A passenger in the car apparently told police at the scene that he had a legal prescription for the Vicodin, but it was not in his possession.Two other people in the car had the marijuana, according to sources.
The traffic stop occurred on a midweek afternoon last week, while the three were heading south on US-23 near Ida West Rd. in Summerfield Township. The car was stopped for a traffic violation.
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Lt. Burnside said the traffic stop and investigation were handled as they typically are. No arrests were made because the amount of marijuana in the car was small.“They were released, not because of who they are,” Lt. Burnside said. “I can’t think of anyone going to jail based on those circumstances.
We don’t want to be accused of being false rumor mongerers but a source familiar with the situation (hey, if ESPN can use those “sources”, so can we) told us that one of the players was Mario Manningham. Well, Mario, if this recent draft has proven anything, it’s that smoking pot has no effect on your draft position so, by all means, partake. Just cut it out before Goodell gets a hold of you.
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[Monroe News]: UM players implicated in traffic, drug stop
Bo Schembechler was on the WXYZ studio set before a taping of the “Big Ten Ticket” television show when he collapsed and was rushed to the hospital and died.
Last month, Schembechler had a pacemaker inserted to help regulate his heartbeat. He had previously had two heart attacks and two quadruple heart bypass operations.
We can’t help but think whether this will have a Wellington Mara effect on the Wolverines as they go into Columbus tomorrow for the showdown with Ohio State.
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[WXYZ]: Breaking News: Bo Schembechler has Died
Are you having trouble deciding who to root for in the uber-hyped Game of the Century between Ohio State and Michigan this weekend? Well, maybe this will sway you in the direction of the Buckeyes.
Steve Snapp, associate athletics director for communications, turned down a ticket request from the band Nickelback.“I told them, `Not that I don’t appreciate your music, but even if you were John Lennon and calling for four for the original Beatles, I couldn’t do it,'” Snapp said.
Actually, Nickelback, if it was anyone but you guys, he would have found some tickets. He simply has enough good taste to not allow the worst rock band in the history of the world to be in the stadium and mar such an exciting event. (Thanks to The Hater Nation)
In other news…
[Inside Bay Area]: Art Shell ponders, “Is Prozac in the substance abuse policy?”
[Yahoo]: Patriots pay 51 cents for the rights to Vinny Testeverde
[NY Post]: Is backing from Isiah Thomas a good or bad thing?
[Off Wing Opinion]: The Fighting Sioux At UND Fight On
[Can’t Stop the Bleeding]: The CFL’s Anti-Pinball Bias, Explored
And finally… not exactly sports related but a drunken elk is funny.