lordstanley

Big test tonight for the Wings against the streaking Oilers. For a change, the Wings should be rested, at least. 0-0 midway through 1st.

Not denying the Rams are a good football team playing really well right now, with deep playoff experience and a veteran QB. In fact, I feel like I did before the Rose Bowl - slight edge to the Rams just like I gave a slight edge to Bama. But the Lions belong and have a shot. I don't think the Lions' coaches and players are as psyched out as the fans are. Of all 14 playoff teams, the only two teams I'd be pretty relaxed about the Lions' chances would be Tampa or Pittsburgh. Every single other team, including the Rams, would scare me a fair bit.

Right. Came here to post something like that. And before the Giants game, two home wins by 8 points each over Washington and New Orleans. That's fine, but not necessarily intimidating. Only really impressive part of their schedule was beating Cleveland by 17 and losing to Baltimore by 6 in back to back weeks.

If the Packers upset the Cowboys in the afternoon game, the Lions and their fans would know going into the Sunday night game that a victory would mean hosting the Eagles-Bucs winner the following week.

No Stafford tribute. No Wolverines tribute (although U of M players in attendance can be shown on big screen and cheered during TV timeouts). Sunday night is 100% about the Lions and their first home playoff game in 30 years. I’m not going to be cheering for JV, my favorite Tigers pitcher ever, if he pitches again in the post-season against the Tigers.

"He will play, you KNOW he will play. He will play on crutches, he will play ..."

https://theathletic.com/5193516/2024/01/10/charlie-baker-michigan-ncaa-investigation/ PHOENIX — NCAA president Charlie Baker watched on television as Michigan football won the national championship on Monday night and came away impressed. During a meeting with a small gathering of reporters at this week’s annual NCAA convention, Baker said that the Wolverines were clearly “the better team” and won their title “fair and square”. At the end of the day, no one believes at this point that Michigan didn’t win the national title fair and square. So, I think we did the right thing.” Baker said he wasn’t conflicted about the outcome of the championship game, either, since he believes he took the right action in a complicated situation. Because the NCAA investigation centered on an illegal on-campus scouting and sign-stealing operation, the rules being violated could have impacted games still to be played in the 2023 season. Baker believed that Michigan and its conference deserved the right to act in the moment to preserve the fairness of the competition, rather than wait until the end of a drawn-out investigation process. It might affect the outcome of games, and I don’t believe, at the end of the season, that it did,” Baker said. “And I think that’s important.”

He was sickened by how cheaters prospered this year and won the national championship out from under him, and decided he doesn't have the stomach to compete in such a dirty environment.

Lol, I could have done that.

Minutes Michigan trailed this season in 15 games (out of 900 total minutes): East Carolina: 0:00 UNLV 0:00 Bowling Green 0:00 Rutgers 8:04 Nebraska 0:00 Minnesota 0:00 Indiana 5:58 Michigan State 0:00 Purdue 0:00 Penn St 5:21 Maryland 4:10 Ohio State 0:00 Iowa 0:00 Alabama 18:14 Washington 0:00 Total 41:24 (4.5% of the time)

And at The Michigan Daily, one of these things is not like the other ...

This is on my Twitter screen. These stories aren't related, are they?

Ufer ran track. He didn’t play football, did he, although I might be wrong. Ufer was great for me as a 10 yard old in the ‘70s. I probably have listened to his Anthony Carter more times than any other clip I have in any sport. I suspect adult me would have got tired of him after awhile.

Heck, even 10 days ago I wasn't yet sure whether Michigan was just a really, really good Big 10 team but not yet the very best in the country. That's why I leaned towards Alabama as the Rose Bowl pick until I saw the game play out with my own eyes. 1:25 to 3:00 is really good. Michigan Wolverines Locker Room Celebration - Michigan vs Washington Huskies Championship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXYcVkRn7qU

Lol, yes, if you had told me 3 years ago that I'd be sitting here nitpicking that the Michigan announcer's call of a national championship clinching interception was half an octave too high, I would have taken it!! And oh yeah, Jack Harbaugh's "who's got it better than us" cut out a bit because he got too close to the mic, ha. Speaking of Jack, check out the last sentence of this Wikipedia entry:

I think Jansen is a great color commentator. I think Karsch is very good at describing the game. He's likeable. Unlike when listening to Brandstatter, you can listen to Karsch and have a good idea in real-time exactly what is happening. But man, Karsch has to have the worst "excited voice" on big plays that I've ever heard from a PBP announcer. Not sure how to describe it. A squeaky, high-pitched rasp?

Final AP rankings. In their last 6 games, Michigan beat #13, unranked, #10, #24, #5 and #2. Even more impressive would be how they were ranked at the time the game was played. I think that would be #9, unranked, #2, #16, #4 and #2. https://www.espn.com/college-football/rankings

Ha, imagine some OSU fan going nuts with envy and bitterness about Michigan being in the championship game so he wants to get away from college football for a few days by going to New York on a short holiday. Looks up and sees...

4-8 weeks isn't the end of the world. Lars is wearing his heart on his sleeve, and that's fine and understandable, but it will be OK.

The Tigers winning the 2012 pennant felt really good at the time, but within 10 days of that the Tigers had been swept in the World Series and my dad suddenly fell ill and died. So, well. As for the ‘08 Wings, I was still a bit bummed after the late heartbreak of Game 5 when I was in attendance and that would have been the only time in my life I’ve witnessed in a pro sports championship in person. 2002 Wings was sweet.

Karsch at the 2:15 mark. With a side camera isolated on Harbaugh during the play.