Wolverines can't make golf tournament due to Barwis commitment

The last four years LaMarr Woodley and former Michigan State University football player and current St. Louis Rams defensive lineman Clifton Ryan started the Hero's for Kids golf tournament in Saginaw. Usually 20 football players from Michigan and MSU play in this event to help raise money for the kids.


This year, the Michigan football players have run into a conflict. That conflict is Barwis.

"It's a big disappointment for all of us," Preston said. "The (U-M) players always have said how much they enjoy Heroes For Kids, and the strength and conditioning coach (Mike Barwis) said he wants to work with us on this next year."But this workout is mandatory, and all players must attend. It's coach Rod's call on that. This is his first year (at U-M), and he's doing everything he can to make sure his team is successful."

Jamie Morris has set up for some Michigan student athletes from the Womens Gynanistics and Basketball team to attend the event. Also Roy Manning, Jr. a former Michigan football player will also participate.


Hopefully they can work the schedule next year so the players can play in this event while at the same time givnig the time they need to put into Barwis. This event has raised more than $250,000 for Saginaw youth recreation during the first three years.

Curtis Painter for Heisman?

Is Curtis Painter a Heisman candidate? Purdue's Athletic department thinks so and is promoting him with a brand new web site. CurtisPainter12.com is launching this week with a bunch of stats's,video features and highlights.

I don't know about you but this statement alone should disqualify him from a trip to NYC. Painter was named Most Valuable Player of the 2007 Motor City Bowl.

Side Notes: Brian Hoyer and Todd Beockman had no comment if they wanted Heisman websites. Juice Williams asked which team Curtis played for and Beanie said he would let his My space page do his talking.......................

WineMaster Woodson

Former Michigan Heisman trophy winner Charles Woodson has a new line of wines called 24. If your interested you can see them at charleswoodsonwines.com when they go on sale on 9/1.

Charles was even in town to support his wine and the Mott Children's hospital last Friday.

Of course the NFL has a problem with Chuck's new business endeavour:

After he did an interview about his passion for wine recently, and as news of Friday's event spread, the NFL contacted his representatives this week to remind him of the league's alcohol policy, specifically that any interviews supporting alcohol would be seen as an endorsement and "may have a detrimental effect on the great number of young fans who follow our game."

Of course the NFL loves all the advertising revenue they get from every major beer label on the planet!

Woodson and his partner Ruiz have a cabernet and a cabernet franc. Good Luck Chuck! Don't name any of your wines the 5 Buck Chuck, I think that title is already taken. :-)

New Uniforms Bowl at the Big House

No this isn't one of those pre-season Bowls when it's like August 18th and you flip on ESPN to find USC playing BYU in New Jersey.

This is the un-Official new Uniform Bowl when Utah meets Michigan at the Big House. Or in the athletic gear markets it's the non-Nike Bowl when: Under Armour meets Adidas. Both Michigan and Utah left Nike this past year.

Here is the Tale of the Tape: Utah's Under Armour vs Michigan's Adidas:

Colors: Utah can go all White or all Red or mix the two. Michigan's will stay with tradition and not mix the colors, but does have some new yellow strips on it's away Jerseys. So Flexibility vs Tradition. Have to go with Tradition: Michigan

Technology: Adidas: the ClimaCool fabric system that enhances ventilation in “high heat zones”; the Foromotion cuts, strategically placed seams that remove excess fabric such as when a wide receiver stretches for a ball; and beyond the jersey, players will have the TechFit PowerWeb sleeve for their calves to improve oxygen delivery and increase blood flow.

Under Armour: Slight changes in looks and material are part of the new package. "They're tighter and lighter," said Johnson, "so I can run faster." "It feels lighter," said Mack. "It's all good." Not a tough one here - Michigan

Intangibles: Inside the Adidas Michigan uniforms will have Bo Schembechler’s famous quote ‘Those Who Stay Will Be Champions’ in the hem. It will also have (silicone prints of) the 42 Big Ten championships on the inside of shoulder pad area.

Inside Utah's new jersey will say, "Urban Meyer Coached Here!". This is a tough one - I have to go with a PUSH.......... :-)

So the Wolverines have the clear edge in the new Uniform battle, let's hope that translates to a 14 point victory on the field.

4 Things that I'm tired of reading about Michigan

Recruiting Michigan: I love that the Freep keeps reporting that Michigan has the state's top player but Michigan State as the rest of the state's top talent. They continue to try to make the point that these players are choosing MSU over U of M. Which in many cases is not true, some of these kids that are going to MSU are not even listed has having a Michigan offer. With that said, MSU is putting together a nice class and was recently listed in the top 10 by Rivals.

Field Turf: Yes, Michigan has Field Turf and every program or high school that puts in Field Turf, gives Michigan a shout out for having it. Ok, enough already. We really don't care what your surface is and yes Michigan has it. Good luck to IU and others who are finally coming out of the 80's and finding out there is a better surface out there to play football on.

The Disaster in Late August: Will this ever die? Or will we continue to see these highlights like Kordell's Bomb for the next 10-15 years. In every preview (for every team) for the season, they start out with something like: "Since App. State upset #5 ranked Michigan last year, we know nobody is safe opening weekend". Let's all get past this. App. State was a National Champion last year and beat a Michigan team that was not prepared to play. This was not some team D1A team with a .500 record, this was the best D1A team that could have housed many D1 teams last year. Doesn't matter Michigan should have taken care of business and beat them by 14-21 points. Either way this loss and last year is along time ago, there is a new Michigan program coming so lets bury this loss and move on. App. State is even up for an ESPY for goodness sakes.

Breaking News: Rich Rodriguez left WVU. Can we finally move on from this? The money is paid (or will be paid) and RR is coaching Michigan. Bottom line, WVU got some money and Michigan got it's coach. WVU fans should focus on your quality team coached by "Jimmy Stewart".

Honorable Mentions to the top 4: Jake Long was the number one draft pick, Chad Henne has a shot to play right away in Miami, Michigan has new Uniforms, Beanie Wells had a good day against Michigan last year, and recruit Dennis Thames is related to Tigers Marcus Thames.

Camp Kevin

As Mgoblog puts it "we are on Kevin Newsome watch" this weekend. Meaning if Kevin shows up for Virgina Tech's camp he is not solid on his Michigan verbal commitment and is open to seeing and hearing what Tech has to offer.

The former Western Branch star, headed to Hargrave Military Academy for his senior season, has committed to Michigan. But his former coach, Lew Johnston, said recently that Tech coaches are still hotly pursuing Newsome and were hoping he'd come to this weekend's camp. Kevin Newsome Sr. said this week that his younger son, 2010 defensive end Keevon, plans to make the camp. He said didn't know about Kevin.

I have put together a top 10 list for Kevin on why he doesn't want to attend Tech's Camp:

1. Do you really want to play on Special Teams at Tech?


2. Tech is short for Technical and your really not interested in HTML or Java script are you?


3. Frank Beamer will most likely be the head coach at Penn State next year anyway.


4. Mike Vick is bankrupt - Tom Brady isn't


5. Zoltan punts for Michigan


6. Don't you want to play against Pryor for 2-3 years to see which one of you is the better QB?


7. Dude - Barwis!


8. Dude - Zingermans!


9. It's going to be really hot in Blacksburg this weekend, would it make more sense to work with T Martin instead? (Dude this is so not Band Camp)


10. Rich has 1.5 million reasons he needs a QB like you!

Think about it Kevin, there really isn't a reason to go camping this weekend. (have you seen the price of gas!!!) Stay home and relax!

Cell Block News and Notes

• Grady Pleads not guilty to drunk driving charges:

According to the ticket issued to Grady, he had a blood-alcohol level of 0.281. Under Michigan law, a driver with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or higher is considered drunk. In a pre-trial conference with Grady, Sluiter said he did not offer to reduce the charge in part because of the high blood alcohol level alleged by police. "It's a substantial level," Sluiter said. "But I've seen higher."

• Grand Valley State Continues to get good players via transfer:

Grand Valley State football fans can get excited about the transfer of former Colorado recruit and record-setting running back P.T. Gates. Gates is joined on the latest list by former University of Michigan linebacker Quintin Patilla. Patilla, bothered by asthma problems at Michigan, might switch to defensive line and could exercise a redshirt option this year.

• Middletown, OH CB DJ Hunter chooses The Vols over Michigan, Ohio State, and MSU. Seems like a unique pick put ok. He must like the speed in the SEC.
• Michigan says Oklahoma athlete recruit David Gordon can run track, play water polo, use the Michigan Union, Eat at Zingerman's, and play golf at the U of M course. Michigan doesn't have a great chance at getting Gordon:

  "I have a top four and Arkansas is number one right now," Gordon said. "I went there on a visit and it felt like home. After that it's LSU. Oklahoma and Michigan are fighting for number three".

  Wow, fighting for #3 let's put this guy on the commit list right now!

If RR doesn't want to do it, I will!

Michigan Replay is dead. Rich doesn't want to do the show and I can't argue with him. What is worse then staying around late after a road game, or after a close home game that should have been a blow out or god forbid even a loss?

Rodriguez has said he's not interested in hanging around after games to tape a show because he would rather use the time visiting with recruits and spending time with his family.

So what will happen now? Some expect RR to do a preview show that would preview that weeks opponent and focus on the Michigan players.

Bob Lipson the producer for Michigan Replay is not real happy with the change.

"It was the greatest thing I ever did professionally," said Bob Lipson, who created the show in 1975 and produced it for 33 years. "It's me. That's my identity. I absolutely loved it and worked with three great coaches. Nobody had it better than me. It was a great run."

What will the new show be called?

One thing is certain: it will not be called "Michigan Replay." "I own the name," Lipson said. "It's not for sale."

Ok Bob, I have a solution for you. What better then "Michigan Replay with the Big House Blog!" Or the Bob and Bob show! I have the perfect face for TV. Come on Bob let's get this deal done.

Cell Block Monday Morning

• ESPN/Scout's Tom Luginbill likes Michigan and OSU 2099 class. He has both classes ranked in the the top 10. OSU is #4, while Michigan is ranked at #9. In somewhat of a surprise ranking and recent late charger up the rankings has to be PSU at #10. Here is what he had to say about Michigan's 2009 class:

Michigan is here at No. 9 because recruiting is not only about getting the best players, but also about the right ones. You can already see the transformation taking shape in terms of where this roster is headed. The one question is which athlete/quarterback will be moved to another position -- Shavodrick Beaver (Wichita Falls, Texas/Rider) or Kevin Newsome (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch)? The addition of WR Bryce McNeal (Minneapolis/Breck School) is huge.

• MSU finally goes out of state for a recruit by getting the verbal from Ohio WR Patrick White of Pickerington Central High. White had offers from Oregon, Louisville, Kansas, Indiana and Cincinnati. Lorenzo White (no relation) had no comment on the commitment.
• Shavodrick Beaver is this year’s “Gholson Awards” winner as the city's boys athlete of the year. Thank goodness OSU's Vernon Gholston won't be around to do a formal introduction when The Beaver gets to Ann Arbor.
• Kevin Newsome is a track star. He wins a lot of awards.

Don't Eat AstroTurf! and Ted Sr's Magic Bus ride is over

• Conelius Jones hasn’t played a down for the Spartanburg Vikings varsity football team yet, but Michigan has seen enough to offer him a scholarship. The junior quarterback received his first offer Tuesday, after Vikings coach Freddie Brown sent the Big Ten school a five-minute video of Jones from a scrimmage. He is fast, but may come with some baggage.

  Jones hasn’t played football in the Spartanburg system for a couple of years after he got into some trouble, he said.

  Maybe Coach Rod should have taken a pass on Mr. Jones. This sounds more like a WVU recruit then a Michigan recruit.
• The Ted Ginn Sr. Summer Tour Bus has ended. For those that don't' know Ted Sr. would pack up some of his players and other HS football players around Cleveland and take them to University Camps so they could showcase their talents. He has been doing this since 2001 and was the reason Pierre Woods was signed by Michigan. The tour trip has a $50,000 budget where the kids pay $400 and Ted Sr. provides $10,000 out of his pocket. The rest comes from donations. I guess his former NFL players are not pitching in as much as he had hoped.

They should know what to do, he said. As a result, the only former player who has offered financial assistance is his son, Ted Ginn Jr., a first-round pick of the Miami Dolphins in 2007. "It goes back to what I feel is important," Ginn said. "You need to give back."

• Astroturf does not have a ton of lead in it. But if your a 50 pound child, you should not eat 23 pounds of Astroturf. Because if you did you would reach the federal minimum threshold of elevated blood lead, assuming a bioavailability level of 50 percent. If that child eats closer to 100 pounds of synthetic turf he or she would have elevated blood lead levels. On a side note, if your child is eating 23-100 pounds of Astroturf they have other problems!
• Fluff on incoming Freshmen JT. Floyd.
• ND assistant, Bernie Parmalee has this to say: "

I guarantee you (Irish fans) that you won't be disappointed this season. Mark it down, we're on a mission," Bernie Parmalee, tight ends coach, told members of the Notre Dame Club of Northwest Indiana in St. Patrick's church hall.

• Is being the AD at Duke a better job then being the AD at Notre Dame? I think not, my feeling is Kevin White was on the way out and if "Good time Charlie" throws another losing season up in South Bend, he would have been looking for work. At Duke the football team doesn't have any expectations and he is pretty safe with Coach K.
  

Michigan's 3rd String FB Transfers and Other Weird Stuff

• Quintin Patilla from Flint and current 3rd string FB decided to pack it in and head to Grand Valley State. Patilla has been dealing with some asthma issues lately and also had a run in with the law last August but was cleared of all charges. Quintin was recruited as a LB out of Flint and was moved to FB. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest) on how this transfer affects the Wolverines. The answer is 1.
• Former Wolverine and NFL DE Josh Williams joins the business world. He joins the Welbourne company. Trip had no comment. :-)
• Michigan offers a guy off his performance on video.

Separated at Birth? Jason Forcier and............

Jason Forcier - potential starting QB for Stanford and Michigan transfer.

Carrot Top: Who by the way has really hit the gym. If you want to see a disturbing picture of him - click here. But I wouldn't recommend doing it.

One son goes the comedy route, the other two (Jason and Tate) the QB route?

Cell Block Thursday: Slow Day = Link Factory

• An ESPN.com article on Michigan commit Isaiah Bell.

Bell didn't wait long and jumped at the University of Michigan, a gutsy pick for a kid from Ohio. When asked why, he said "I really felt comfortable there and I have a chance to play early. I am impressed with Coach [Rich] Rodriguez and secondary coach Tony Gibson."

• Stewart Madel from SI.com. Rips WVU in his "Mailbag" secton:

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but West Virginia's run as a national power is likely down to its last days. As I wrote at the time, Stewart's hiring was a foolishly impulsive decision made by an already suspect set of West Virginia administrators still high off the emotional Fiesta Bowl win just hours earlier. They took a now-nationally prominent program and put it in the hands of a guy whose only head coaching experience was a three-year, 8-25 stint at VMI that ended in his resignation over the use of a racial slur; and a guy who, of the nine assistants on West Virginia's staff, was the only one Rodriguez did not feel compelled to offer a job at Michigan.

• Mike Phelps begins his "goodbyes".
• Michigan baseball hoping to host an NCAA regional tournament games in it's new $10 Million re-built stadium.
• Michigan Basketball Team signs a German national big man 6-10 forward Robin Benzing (Seeheim-Jugenheim, Germany) to a National Letter of Intent for the 2008-09 season.
• MSU gets a QB loses one. Nick Foles, a Texas QB decides to transfer.

Where in the World is Sam Sword? and Nichol likes MSU for the Second Time

• Sam Sword what are you doing now? As you know Sam was a standout at Michigan and played 4 seasons in the NFL (3 with the Colts and 1 with the Raiders). Well he is the Palm Coast (FL) recreation supervisor.

Sam Sword, a city recreation supervisor who played football at the University of Michigan and in the NFL, said preregistration was slow early in the week but the number of participants nearly doubled when youngsters showed up with parents on the day of the meet.

• Former Michigan HS standout QB Keith Nichol decides to transfer to MSU after leaving Oklahoma a few weeks ago. If your wondering why Keith wasn't perused by Michigan. It's because they have one QB coming in this fall and 2 other highly rated QB's coming in for the class of 2009, the year Keith would be eligible to play. Keith's 3 years of eligibility when the Freshmen had 4 or maybe 5 (with a redshirt) didn't make much sense. He was about a month late in his decision if he wanted to wear the Maize and Blue.
  


• This ND site is forecasting win and losses for the "Domers". Here is what they had to say about Michigan. On a side note: I personally love that nobody knows what Michigan will have next year. In the past 40 years, we always knew what Michigan had!

Michigan (Toss Up) – Before anyone says how is this game a toss up considering the Wolverines beat the Irish 38-0 last year, remember that Michigan will be breaking in new offensive and defensive systems and will have a quarterback who doesn’t exactly fit Rich Rodriquez’s system. They also lost 11 starters including three offensive linemen. This game will be at home for Notre Dame and the last time Michigan beat Notre Dame 38-0 in Ann Arbor, the Irish upset the Wolverines the following year in South Bend. (by the way they are forecasting a loss vs MSU)

• Dennis Thames is the Cousin of Detroit Tigers outfielder and is most likely going to stay close to home in Mississippi, but will seriously look at Michigan.
  

  One school that Thames is looking forward to visiting in particular is Michigan.
  "They are a big school and I like the new spread offense they are gonna run," he said. "I think I'd fit in really well in their offense and I'd love to to play receiver for them. They've talked about both offense and defense, so we'll see."

Michigan has two games in the top BCS games of all time!

3 posts today! Can you tell I needed a Michigan football fix? :-)

Michigan has 2 games in the top 10 BCS games ever, rated by ESPN. I have to agree with the rankings, both of these games were great!

4. 2005 Rose Bowl: Texas 38, Michigan 37

It's a game that introduced the nation to Vince Young's brilliance and also helped change the way the BCS standings were computed. Some wondered whether Texas even deserved to be playing in the Rose Bowl after the Longhorns passed California in the final BCS standings. Texas coach Mack Brown did his share of lobbying along the way. As it turns out, it's a good thing he did. The game was a classic between two storied programs meeting for the first time and wasn't decided until Texas' Dusty Mangum kicked a 37-yard field goal as time expired. Young had a hand in all five Texas touchdowns and led the Longhorns down the field for the game-winning field goal. His counterpart, Michigan freshman quarterback Chad Henne, was equally spectacular and tied a Rose Bowl record with four touchdown passes, three to All-America receiver Braylon Edwards. It was back and forth the whole way, and whoever had the ball last was going to win. After two years of controversy, The Associated Press asked that its poll no longer be used as a component in the BCS standings and was replaced by the Harris poll.


7. 2000 Orange Bowl: Michigan 35, Alabama 34, OT

It's a game that provided a glimpse of the NFL greatness that would follow for Michigan QB Tom Brady, who passed for 369 yards and four touchdowns. Alabama, led by SEC Player of the Year Shaun Alexander, jumped out to a 14-0 lead. But Michigan kept hanging around and kept clawing back, usually thanks to a big play from receiver David Terrell, who had 10 catches for 150 yards and three touchdowns. Michigan had a couple of chances to win the game in the fourth quarter, but regulation ended in a 28-28 tie. Tailback Anthony Thomas lost a fumble at the goal line early in the fourth quarter that was recovered in the end zone by Alabama. Then at the end of regulation, Hayden Epstein's 36-yard field-goal attempt was blocked by Phillip Weeks as time expired. In overtime, Brady hit tight end Shawn Thompson on the first play with a 25-yard touchdown pass. Alabama came right back with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Zow to Antonio Carter, but the extra point attempt by Ryan Pflugner was pushed wide right in a stunning end to the thriller.



This one from The M Zone. No need to do an introduction to The Big Ten Commissioner's Wikipedia page. (yes, it has been fixed. Very funny stuff).

Braylon says the #1 Tradition is Safe

Like, I predicted Braylon spoke to Coach Rod this weekend at the Brian Griese-Steve Hutchinson "Champions for Children's Hearts" golf tournament and dinner and fixed the "whole #1 Tradition" issue.

"Hell yeah, it's important," Edwards said of who wears No. 1. "It's important because it's tradition. You don't break tradition. I don't care who you are or what school it is, you don't break tradition.

"You could come in here and completely revamp everything, change the coaching staff, you could change the uniforms, change a lot of stuff,but you don't change tradition. The No. 1 is one of our oldest, most storied traditions here -- don't change it."