A sponsor note of a different variety. The long-term sponsor of this post, Richard Hoeg, is a good guy and and excellent lawyer who we've had on our podcast a couple times. He also recently suffered a stroke. His family has a gofundme up as he embarks on his recovery.
It's already done quite well because Richard had spent years building his own online community, which you may know if you leaked over from here to there. If Richard was important to you in some way I encourage you to donate.
I have informed the guy whose job it is to do the thing I just did. Harbaugh back, hooray, but also this is a pretty weird way to go about informing the world:
I just got off the phone with Coach Harbaugh and Jim shared with me the great news that he is going to remain as the Head Coach of the Michigan Wolverines. That is fantastic news that I have communicated to our Athletic Director Warde Manuel. #GoBlue! pic.twitter.com/3LJzsv4zN9
— Santa Ono (@SantaJOno) January 16, 2023
Ono tweets a lot about the stuff he's doing but as of yet I haven't detected a tendency to self-aggrandize. They're mostly anodyne boilerplate things. The Harbaugh's back tweet stands out, and has caused the conspiracy-minded sections of the internet to wonder if this is fallout from a frosty relationship between Warde Manuel and some combination of Ono and/or Harbaugh. Harbaugh's quote on the matter mentions Ono but not Manuel:
Happy Mission#GoBlue https://t.co/EQ1PksGYBX pic.twitter.com/KNNuYASJWz
— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) January 16, 2023
This kind of thing usually doesn't happen even if there is some tension between the parties. I'd caution against reading too much into it; on the other hand "I have communicated the news to our athletic director" is indicative of a process that the athletic director did not accomplish himself.
Also! Ono trolling Adam Schefter about Oakland still being in play…
Unless Oakland is still in play? 😉
— Santa Ono (@SantaJOno) January 16, 2023
…is sort of astounding since only very online Michigan fans would still be holding that grudge eight years later. Ono was at Cincinnati eight years ago. I think my man is the kind of twitter addict that knows about Temecula.
Good news/bad news on having a Madden kid. Matt Weiss was literally the Ravens' Madden kid—a young person who has played a butt-ton of Madden and thusly has a good grasp on end-game decision-making—and we hailed that sort of hire when it was made. Apparently one of the downsides of having a coach young enough to know how to use computers is sometimes they do crimes with them?
Michigan co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss has been placed on leave, according to an athletic department spokesman, as the school's police department told ESPN it is investigating a "report of computer access crimes" that occurred in December at the team's football facility. …
Last week, a neighbor of Weiss in Ann Arbor told ESPN that several unmarked cars showed up outside Weiss' home in what appeared to be some type of police presence. (The neighbor declined to be named.) The search of Weiss' home is believed to be tied to the university police investigation, according to sources. …
An entry from the university police's online daily crime log on Jan. 5 notes that police received a report about "fraudulent activity involving someone accessing university email accounts without authorization" at Schembechler Hall. It is the only report of police activity at the football facility in the past month.
Josh Henschke has a screenshot of the log if you want the primary source.
"Accessing university email accounts without authorization" rules out the most lurid possibilities. It also rules out the possibility this was some sort of Wakeyleaks scandal that would get the broader football program in trouble. On the other hand, a bunch of police searching your home seems like this is something other than a slap on the wrist.
We'll have to see what the details are here. Boy am I sick of saying that! Seems like this is the third or fourth "hmm, seems bad but let's wait for the details" in the last year. At least the Mazi Smith details were the nothingburger foretold.
People in charge of NIL are just in charge of it. Bry Mac, of Opponent Watch and Punt/Counterpunt fame, details the (unintentionally?) hilarious rug pull from the dwarven goober in charge of OSU's NIL efforts:
And then, bright and early on Monday morning, the last day for players to enter the draft…
Got some big news today…
— Brian Schottenstein (@DaSchott) January 16, 2023
Brian Schottenstein isn’t just some dude. He is a member of “Columbus’s last dynasty” (which, despite what you would think when you hear “Columbus dynasty,” somehow doesn’t trace its roots to workout supplements or the band Staind). He’s also a founding member, along with Cardale Jones, of THE Foundation, an Ohio State Name, Image, and Likeness collective. It is one of the three collectives officially recognized and supported by Ohio State. The Board of THE Foundation includes such Ohio State luminaries as D’Angelo Russell, JT Barrett, and… /double-checks notes/… Urban Meyer. These guys are supposed to be the tip of the spear in this new age of college athletics. Just last week Schottenstein gave an interview talking about how THE Foundation is hard at work trying to “keep the players that are here.”
OSU fans got in a frenzy about CJ Stroud potentially returning, only for Stroud to more or less immediately declare for the draft. The Schottenstein news was… a Gender reveal.
This is the most important hand off @CJ1two will ever make for us. @t_schottenstein and I are having a baby in May! #girldad pic.twitter.com/FFJMApqLlB
— Brian Schottenstein (@DaSchott) January 16, 2023
The guy who argued, in public, multiple times, that being an Ohio State quarterback who went 0-2 against Michigan didn't define his legacy was never ever ever ever coming back, but a rich guy with a bad grasp of timing briefly got OSU's hopes up that they could once again score in the mid-20s against Michigan with the best wide receiver corps in the nation. What a country.
Hey! Actually, nevermind. Bill Connelly's list of the top 100 games of the season is almost devoid of Michigan games, which is largely because 12 of their games were blowouts. Personally, the OSU game was competitive into the fourth quarter and the sheer mindblowing way that game went probably should have warranted a spot. But if the reason The Game doesn't make the list is because it was a 22-poing shellacking… I'll take it.
The only games to make the list were the Illinois game and, well, yeah. TCU:
Earlier in the day, TCU and Michigan had put on one of the best three-act plays you'll ever see.
Act I: TCU benefits from a pick-six and a couple of scoreless Michigan red zone trips and builds a 21-6 halftime lead.
Act II: The third quarter was the wildest quarter in CFP history, as the teams combined for 420 yards and 44 points. Michigan cut the lead to 21-16, then watched it balloon back to 34-16 thanks in part to another pick-six. But it was 41-30 when the Wolverines recovered a fumble on the final play of the quarter and 41-38 when they scored 47 seconds later.
Act III: The fourth quarter was inferior only to the third. Quentin Johnston's shake-and-bake 76-yard touchdown and a Griffin Kell field goal expanded TCU's lead back to 51-38, but Michigan scored to make it 51-45 with 3:18 left and got the ball back with 52 seconds remaining. But after allowing 45 points and over 500 yards, the TCU defense got the last laugh, forcing a four-and-out and kneeling out a finals bid.
Ah well.
PFF OL grading, continued. Not just us:
That’s just it, there isn’t any true transparency of what exactly is graded. I’ve seen OL have perfect games in pass pro and be graded low and if we are being honest, there wasn’t a better OT in football this year than Lane Johnson, regardless of sides they played on https://t.co/Y0glbkKkEC
— Duke Manyweather (@BigDuke50) January 18, 2023
FWIW.
Things are going well when… we get some Weird Jim content.
Someone else popped by for a quick workout and to talk about our student athletes.. #WolverineWay #Thestandard #Goblue @UMichFootball @grant_newsome @CoachJim4UM pic.twitter.com/SqCf7LMTeC
— Bellevue Wolverines Football Family (@BellevueFB) January 17, 2023
Steve Schilling's old school, FWIW.
Things are not going well when… this sentence appears in a post about your team:
With Rashada likely heading elsewhere to begin his college career, it should clear the stage for Mertz to start for the Gators in 2023.
That is the aftermath of Florida QB commit Jaden Rashada's inevitable request to be released after his ludicrous NIL deal fell apart.
Etc.: Important news about cooling off. Corpse of SI content is low-quality but this Miami site is speculating that Josh Gattis could be on the move again after he wasn't present for a high-profile transfer's visit. How you gonna do Jamal Crawford like that?
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bronxblue
January 18th, 2023 at 11:55 AM ^
I will never not laugh at the gender reveal video, in part because my 6-year-old son basically that same outfit down to the shoes and, not to shame short kings or anything, looks about the same size. Also, gender reveals are stupid and are just a marketing gimmick to trick parents into thinking having a kid isn't a combination of love, exhaustion, and constant panic for decades.
In terms of Michigan, the vibes around it are so crazy. Harbaugh is back and so are a ton of contributors from last year; probably the most "unexpected" loss was Andrel Anthony leaving, which is pretty good when you're talking about the 4th/5th receiver on the depth chart. But it's also been basically a month and a half of bad stories publicly around them, including whatever is happening with Weiss. Cynicism and context clues leads me to believe this is something non-insignificant but I've also seen the media spend a ton of time constructing mountains out of mole hills so who knows.
The Florida NIL implosion highlights why all those numbers you hear are usually BS. I'm sure there are a handful of players who command decent NIL checks; pay-for-play like we saw here aren't likely to reach that level except at the highest level of talent. Some 4.5* kid isn't going to have that leverage and while it's fun to talk like you have a big bag of cash to give to athletic 17-year-olds the reality was always going to be that it was more smoke than fire.
Joined: 11/22/2008
MGoPoints: 137722
tjohn7
January 18th, 2023 at 12:10 PM ^
That first paragraph was perfection. Fuck gender reveals, and OSU ones in particular. Why not just show us her birth certificate when she's born with the dumbass "feXale" written on it?
Joined: 09/29/2014
MGoPoints: 11085
UMfan21
January 18th, 2023 at 12:25 PM ^
We did gender reveals the old fashioned way. For our daughter we flew back to Michigan secretly. We showed up on my mom's front step with a gift and when she opened it, there was a gift inside with a pink ribbon.
We did a similar thing for baby #2, secretly flying back home and then surprising my in laws by walking into a restaraunt where they were seated and gave them a gift which was a tiny baseball mitt (first grandson).
Nothing fancy online, yet still fun for the family and memories we won't forget.
Joined: 09/28/2009
MGoPoints: 42607
Pompano Jack
January 18th, 2023 at 12:47 PM ^
My wife and I did it a really old fashioned way. When our first was born, we called our relatives and told them the baby was a boy. They didn't know, we revealed it to them, then they did know. It was magical.
Joined: 08/15/2014
MGoPoints: 149
Blinkin
January 18th, 2023 at 12:53 PM ^
Our first born turns 11 months this week. I "revealed" her gender to everyone present, including myself, when I cut the umbilical cord.
Joined: 08/17/2022
MGoPoints: 5967
Slim Whitman
January 18th, 2023 at 3:11 PM ^
We didn't ask for a preview or announce beforehand. I think it was before the invention of "let's hope the ultrasound was right" videos.
I learned 1st kid's gender cutting the cord. 2nd kid's gender was revealed when Dr. allowed me to catch her. Everybody else had to wait for a call or a card.
Joined: 11/09/2018
MGoPoints: 1355
rob f
January 18th, 2023 at 2:07 PM ^
"It was Blinkin. They had a baby it's a girl"
Joined: 11/11/2010
MGoPoints: 166496
Walmart Wolverine
January 18th, 2023 at 12:54 PM ^
Our gender reveals involved birthing a child and subsequently telling our families its biological sex.
Joined: 08/25/2008
MGoPoints: -272
WindyCityBlue
January 18th, 2023 at 1:17 PM ^
WTF is that regressive nonsense!? You truly are Walmart!
/s
Joined: 07/23/2008
MGoPoints: 30170
1989 UM GRAD
January 18th, 2023 at 3:07 PM ^
You can figure out my age by my screen name, so take my opinion FWIW.
I find gender reveal events/parties/spectacles to be one of the dumbest things ever. What is the point? People are going to be excited regardless of the gender of your child, so why even bother?
It's not like the people who attend your event or who watch your video are truly excited because of the specific gender of your baby.
Just once, I'd like to see a gender reveal where people "boo" upon learning of the baby's gender. Or maybe see one of the parents express a little disappointment because they were hoping for the opposite gender. I do have a male cousin who has four daughters. His wife was done after the fourth, so he got a male dog.
I found it to be really exciting to not know the gender of both of our kids until the baby made its appearance. Created some anxiety...but also a heightened amount of anticipation. This might be TMI, but the combination of being overwhelmed by the moment and the swelling that female babies have "down there" made me pause before making the call on our second child's sex.
Joined: 03/08/2012
MGoPoints: 1523571
TrueBlue2003
January 18th, 2023 at 5:26 PM ^
Man, you all sound really fun. I agree that gender reveals solely for social media purposes are lame (as is anything done solely for attention on social media), but a gender reveal party? Why the hell not? I'll take any excuse to get friends together to have fun.
For my son's gender reveal, we invited 25 of our friends over, got a keg, had someone dye the beer (pink or blue) with food coloring the way you dye kegs green for St. Patty's.
So I tapped the keg, blue beer shot out and that's how I found out I was having a son. Then we proceeded to have an awesome time drinking said keg and merrymaking.
Lighten up, y'all. It's an excuse to celebrate and have fun! Who doesn't like that?
Joined: 01/05/2010
MGoPoints: 36401
MGoOhNo
January 19th, 2023 at 12:53 AM ^
“I like gender reveal parties.”
Isn’t that easier?
Joined: 08/12/2014
MGoPoints: 4935
MH20
January 18th, 2023 at 7:30 PM ^
Gordon Hayward looked pretty underwhelmed when he found out he was having another daughter.
Joined: 10/30/2008
MGoPoints: 31192
M Ascending
January 18th, 2023 at 5:50 PM ^
Coach Hutch would like to have a word with you.
Joined: 09/14/2016
MGoPoints: 16506
schreibee
January 18th, 2023 at 3:47 PM ^
Fe❌ale
Joined: 11/02/2009
MGoPoints: 17485