betterREDthandead

Agreed. Notre Dame must never play in the Rose Bowl. 'Twas a dark day in the annals of college football when the Cornvicts and Thug U. faced off in Pasadena some years ago.

Can't blame him. Michigan hasn't been too successful against OSU in the recent past - I don't think Henne's beaten them yet - and Michigan's having a dream season. Gotta believe OSU feels the same way, since they've been anointed as the team to beat since Day 1, I'm sure they feel like Michigan's kinda stealing their thunder a bit. I'd be glad if I were you that OSU hasn't come out and said it. I wish Henne wouldn't. I know it's gonna be on a bulletin board somewhere in Buckeye-land.

Oh, c'mon, I'm trying to be lighthearted with this. Don't tell me you've never laughed at the "Ann Arbor is a *****" jokes. This is a predominantly Michigan crowd, after all, I'd expect no less on an Ohio board.

No! That's letting the terrorists win You know it's bad when Detroiters won't go to Columbus because they fear for their safety

Sounds remarkably similar to the guidelines for Americans visiting a place like Egypt

So Brian Calhoun goes on the IR (WTF is up with all the injuries???) and who do the Lions sign to fill his roster spot? Friggin' Aveion Cason. Because he was frickin' awesome the first time around. I know that when you lose a player to the IR at this time of year, you are kind of picking up the scraps. But please can we at least pick up different scraps? We already know Cason sucks. I swear Aaron Gibson is on the comeback trail, it's only a matter of time, and I'm thinkin' maybe Bill Schroeder while we're at it. Lions receivers haven't dropped enough passes recently, so we'll need Schroeder to catch us up in that category, and maybe when the next O-lineman goes down, we can drag the Flinchmaster out of retirement....that's right, none other than Larry Tharpe himself. I miss hearing "False start - offense, #71" every other snap.

The promo for the game during MNF was cool. "A century so young already has its Game." I dig it.

Yeah, but the point is, Bonds would cost about $15M a year, and Monroe costs nowhere near that. Same for Thames. And Bonds is an atrocious fielder. Simply atrocious. There's no place for Bonds on this team.

Huh. Though, it doesn't look like State's have any stripes. And they still got the helmets from Spalding, which got the idea from Fritz Crisler in the first place Anyway, I suppose it's only fair that Michigan fans get categorized by the small few that like to think they're hot s*** because they sided with U-M. After all, OSU fans are couch-burning thugs who just love the smell of pepper spray in the morning

Bonds? HELL F**KING NO. And not just because he's a lying 'roid-addled cancer. But other than bat lefty, what can he do that Craig Monroe can't? I expect the Tigers will make another trade at the meetings this week. I don't see any reason to sign any of the free agents on the market.

I always get bugged by the accusation that U-M fans didn't actually go to the school. Like me for example. My dad went; therefore, my family is a Michigan family. Like I was gonna cheer for anyone else growing up when Michigan was on the tube or the radio every Saturday, Michigan Replay on every Sunday, and Michigan stuff all around the house. I chose a different school, I wanted to go to Virginia instead, but my Michigan loyalty remains. Tons of fans have a similar story. And not being able to get into Michigan is no shame, either, it's a tough school. So people grew up cheering for Michigan, couldn't get in, refused to go to State, ended up at Western or what have you, and kept their Michigan loyalties. Happens all the time. Oh, and the winged helmets. As far as anyone (Michigan fan or otherwise) knows, Fritz Crisler invented the winged helmet while he was coaching at Princeton and brought the design with him to Ann Arbor. That is literally the very first time I've ever heard anyone claim MSU did it first, and I won't believe it until I see some pretty clear proof.

Because Michigan State's biggest rival is Michigan, but not the other way round. Plus, in most games (both between the two and elsewhere) MSU is an underdog and Michigan rarely is.

I think the best thing for OSU to do to start the game would be to line up Ginn on one side, Gonzalez on the other, and tell them both that if you don't see #29 lined up across from you, take off deep. Michigan's weakness is its secondary. I don't really know how our linebackers do in coverage. If they aren't much good, the short passing game like you mention will eat up Michigan all day, because the front four won't have time to pressure Smith. But they're well known for their speed, so that should help. This is what makes me really think Michigan ought to do very well with the ball. Bend-but-don't-break works terrifically against pass-oriented offenses, because they run out of real estate as they approach the goal line and the number of plays they can use diminishes. Michigan's offense is the same whether they're on their own 20 or OSU's 3. Hart will pick up the yardage. And he doesn't fumble. Like, ever. I've said it before and I'll say it again: This is probably the biggest regular season game ever. There've been other ones with similar national title implications. Some of them might even have been big rivalry games like Texas/Oklahoma, Notre Dame/USC, hell, even Army/Navy back in the day. But none of them were Michigan vs. Ohio State. Just think, the collective energies of millions of Michigan fans across the country are wishing despair and regret on an entire state Yankees/Red Sox can suck it - this is the biggest rivalry in all of sports.

Tell me you've never looked at the so-called buckeye stickers on the helmets and not thought "man, those look like little bitty weed plants."

Mursak is exciting, alright. I'm already looking forward to 2011 when LGWers are starting threads like, "trade mursakk he's too smal we need grit :thumbdown: "

Not that that's a realistic scenario, but I'm with ya - I would root hard for MSU to knock off the Buckeyes. The list of teams I'd root for State against is fairly long and distinguished - though OSU is the only Big Ten team on the list. But I'd still root for Ohio State in any game against Florida State. Prediction is Michigan 24, Marijuana Stickers 20. Michigan has the clear advantage in the trenches on both sides of the ball. I don't think Ohio State's D-line can do anything about Michigan's ball-control running game, and Michigan's front 7 is much better equipped to handle Troy Smith this year. What he might have turned into a 15-yard run last year becomes a 4-yarder this year, and what was a 4-yard run becomes a sack. The whole front 7, especially Woodley, Harris, and Branch, can really get after it. 29.9 rushing yards per game says it all.

YES! Virginia beats #10 Arizona 93-90 to christen John Paul Jones Arena! Mamadi Diane shoots 8-9 from the field with 5-6 3-points.....where did that come from?? Went into halftime down 13 and mounted a terrific run in the first ten minutes of the second half. Fantastic start to the season, and it's good to know that the devastating home-court advantage we had in University Hall has carried over to the new building.

Haha, you got the same email I got. Why should you drive through Columbus with your windows rolled down? So they can toss your diploma in as you drive by. What did the U-M grad say to the OSU grad? "You have the right to remain silent...."

A little girl and her mother are walking through the cemetery to pay their respects to Grandpa, when they walk past a tombstone that says, "Here lies a Buckeye and a good man." The little girl turns to her mother and asks, "Mommy, why did they bury two people in that one?"

I've finally figured out the Lions, and it's so simple I don't know why I never realized it before. They always fall short of expectations. That's all there is to it. But the key is they always fall just short. We expect that this is the year they win a playoff game? They make it but blow it in the first round again. We expect them to make a significant improvement over that 2-14 season? Oh, they improve alright....to 3-13. Think of the expectations for every season, and think of how they performed. Always juuuuust shy, no matter how high or low the expectations. The only thing is that occasionally, usually only in single games, and only when expectations get low enough, they blow the expectations so far out of the water that we have no choice to once again raise them high enough for them to miss again. Like the Atlanta game last week. With the D-line decimated, and Vick playing out of his mind, and the embarassment of last Thanksgiving, the Lions were supposed to get steamrolled. Instead they dominated. Now people are looking at them as a team that might just make noise in the second half, maybe a few upsets to throw the playoff picture out of whack. Which of course they won't do. So I hereby expect them to win out, go 10-6 and snag a wild card. Maybe that'll cause them to only go 9-7.

Nah, I would put MSU above Notre Dame. Conference rival, in-state rival....Notre Dame doesn't fit either, they're just a diversion. Michigan-Michigan State isn't anywhere near the fierceness of Alabama-Auburn. It's too lopsided. During the week before the Iron Bowl, Alabama and Auburn fans are practically frothing at the mouth. During the week before Michigan-Michigan State, Michigan fans pencil in "victory" and hope the State timekeeper has taken math class this year so we don't have to break out the erasers (they've been gathering dust in the drawer for some years now) and State fans can be overheard mumbling things about basketball season. I suppose the biggest difference between State fans and Michigan fans is that Michigan fans will root for State in a bowl game or in a big non-conference game (we don't often get that chance) and State fans only tune into a Michigan game to see if the field has swallowed up the team yet. Blak, I brought you something

no loyalty to your own state....sad

It's on.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2656847 Leyland won't be using Sheffield as a 1B, he'll be a DH mostly. Excellent. According to the article the trade was agreed to on Tuesday and the extension reached Thursday. That has to be some kind of recent record for keeping news secret. So the GM meetings are next week.....can we look forward to another swap? Hope so. I don't mind not using Maggs as the primary DH. For one thing, Sheffield can spot him in right, so neither of them gets too creaky-kneed. For another, Maggs made it through this whole season with no problems, and he still does well with the glove. I think the only downside, besides the length of the contract, is that Sheffield's a righty. Oh, and he'll need a new number. He wears #11, and that's Sparky's number. By the way, you know what's really neat? I love how when a player gets traded or signs with a new team, ESPN puts him in his new cap right away, with the miracle of Photoshop. So as soon as the transaction gets reported, even before there's a press conference, there's a picture of the new pickup in his new hat.

True. But the overwhelming prevailing opinion has been that Louisville or West Virginia should go to the title game if they were undefeated. The Big East is, after all, a BCS conference. (Not that they should be, but they are.) So if Rutgers happens to be the one to get through undefeated, it would be a travesty, not to mention insanely hypocritical, if they were denied a berth. Yes, they'd get crushed. But that's not the point. If they beat West Virginia, then by the rules, they go. In fact, Rutgers should now be the #3 team in the country, though I have a feeling they won't be. "What have you done for me lately?" is a big ranking factor, but it never wins out over "What did we think of you at the beginning of the year?"