Showing posts with label Michigan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michigan. Show all posts

Wednesday, 10 August 2011

Wednesday, 20 July 2011

UM and MSU Steal Recruits from Ohio


As the many allegations came out against Terrelle Pryor, Jim Tressel, and The Ohio State University football program, many Ohio native players have chosen to leave their home state to continue their football careers. The University of Michigan received 9 Ohio commits for the 2012 class, while Michigan State received 5. This is highly unusual because in past recruiting classes, most Ohio high school football players are OSU fans and biased toward their lovely fuckeyes-I mean, buckeyes (the 'b' is too close to the 'f').


I don't know about you, but I find it odd that all of these players decided on their rival schools. Perhaps it is because the U of M football program is the winningest in college football history, that its stadium is the biggest in the country, or that the rich maize and blue tradition runs wild every Saturday at the Big House. I suppose it's possible they also want to protect and block for the only quarterback in NCAA history to record 1,500 passing yards and 1,500 rushing yards in one season. And maybe, just maybe, they want to be one of the wolverines that takes down the buckeyes and their cocky fans for once. Do Ohioans (Ohians?) get sick of seeing their fans obnoxiously arrogant and unhealthily hostile every Saturday?

And perhaps it is because of the recent success Coach Dantonio has brought to East Lansing. With an 11-1 record and their first share of a Big Ten Championship in 20 years, the Spartans ended the 2010 season ranked number 12 in the entire country. Losing only Greg Jones and Eric Gordon on the defensive end of the ball, MSU returns 9 of its 11 starters. Behind the senior leadership of underrated quarterback Kirk Cousins, the campus of Michigan State has much to look forward to in the future (Cousins is balancing a pre-med major along with a D1 college football starting quarterback job--genius?).

Whatever the reason may be-thanks to Pryor, Tressel, and others-big shot Ohio recruits are starting to see the light, and beginning to head to that territory to the north we like to call pure Michigan. And heck, maybe the ultimate reason is they want to be closer to the one and only Deeeeeetroit (I suppose now isn't the year to make a Pistons reference).

2012 Ohio Recruits:


Michigan
Joe Bolden, LB, Cincinnati
Pharaoh Brown, DE, Lyndhurst
Allen Gant, DB, Sylvania
Kyle Kalis, OT, Lakewood
Kaleb Ringer, LB, Clayton
Caleb Stacey, OL, Cincinnati
Tom Strobel, DE, Mentor
A.J. Williams, TE, Cincinnati
Jarrod Wilson, DB, Akron

Michigan State
Zach Higgins, OL, Alliance
Evan Jones, West Lafayette
Benny McGowan, OL, Centerville
Tyler O'Connor, QB, Lima
Se'von Pittman, DE, Canton

Monday, 11 July 2011

The Curse of Mike Hart?


The curse of the Bambino plagued the Boston Redsox for a miserable 86 years, the curse of the Billy Goat continues to haunt the Chicago Cubs for 66 years and counting, and now there is a potential new curse to add to the record books--the curse of Mike Hart.

Mike Hart's 2004 arrival to the prized Big House and the winning-est program in NCAA football history looked like a promising one. And, his four years at the university symbolized by a stocky, short, and furiously ugly animal that my 16 pound, over-weight chihuahua could put up a fight with, was indeed a great one. Sure, his four years we're marked by a 4-0 record against the in-state rival Michigan State Spartans; however, what occurred at the end of his career left a legacy that Michigan fans have reason to worry over--the "little brother" comment.

Since that left his mouth in a joking, yet serious, manner after defeating the Spartans for the fourth time in his collegiate career, things seem to be different in Ann Arbor. For the third year in a row, the Spartans have forcefully, and arguably easily, put a pounding on their "big brother" marking the first time in 43 years in which the Spartans defeated the Wolverines for three straight years. Michigan lost it's hall-of-fame head coach of 12 years and went on to hire RichRod who turned the program for the worse with a 3-9 record in 2008. Then, in 2010, Michigan fires RichRod and hires the next savior in Brady Hoke with an impressive and proven record of 47-50 at Ball State and San Diego State combined. With the way things are looking since that famous and illustrious comment, fans in Ann Arbor may not be able to "hail to the victors" for years to come.

However, the many crazed and die-hard Michigan fans I know so well always can turn to their go-to-line--"we're the winning-est program in NCAA football history". They'll come out of trash-talking hibernation in the fall bursting with pride for their football squad and will continue running their mouths no matter how bad MSU crushed them the previous year. They'll act like a five-year old on Christmas day when they realize their team led by a man still learning to tie his own shoes is undefeated heading into the Big-Ten season. Then, when they roll into Spartan Nation, all hopes, dreams, and aspirations for another unforgettable season like they had years ago is shot down and their Heisman front-runner Denard Robinson's reputation is shattered quicker than you can say "little brother".

As a Spartan fan, I would personally like to thank Mike Hart for his special contributions to the in-state football rivalry and the humor you provide to our fans. Not only did you provide some spice to the rivalry, you are the curse that ended Michigan's reign in college football. In addition, you marked a long period of possession of the Paul Bunyan trophy in East Lansing. As coach Dantonio stated in reference to the comment: "They want to mock us all they want, I'm telling them it's not over, it will never be over. It's just starting here". Is this the beginning of a curse in Ann Arbor or is it just an unfortunate case of a lack of talent not being able to back up Mike Hart's big mouth?