Michigan Seals? The Leaders and the Best Learn to "Embrace the Suck!"

I have sort of had a moratorium on reading anything on ESPN....Call it a permanent case of, "You've pissed me off so many times that I'm just not going to visit your site anymore."  Problem is, everyone once in awhile something actually good does come from it...

For example, Mark Schalbach's article on the Michigan Football Seniors at Navy Seal Leadership Training is actually pretty good.  It's a longer than usual read and you'll probably want to set aside a full lunch hour, but it will give you a glimpse into how ole Coach Hoke is using the USA finest to shape and mold this year's seniors.

One of my favorite statements from Special Warfare Operator Stella was that the team needed to learn how to "Embrace the Suck!" when the going gets tough....



Stella then told the Wolverines the only thing they really need to know about the next three hours of training. It's what he likes to call "Embrace the suck."



"It doesn't matter who can run the fastest, who can shoot the best or who can throw it the farthest," Stella said. "What it all comes down to is how do you perform when you're stressed and under pressure? We're going to take you places where you've never been before. Be prepared for that. You're going to get a snapshot of yourself today and your teammates are going to get a snapshot of you today."

I kind of think that's always a good test of character.  What do people do and how do they react in the face of adversity?  When the chips are down?  After life kicks you in the nuts?  Are you going to get up?  Rally?  Find that inner self and move on?  You need a big suck in life every once in awhile to remind you that you're human, the race ISN'T over, and that you can always do better.

It'll be interesting to see how the Wolverines use this in what is shaping up to be a challenging season.

As I Projected: Michigan's 2012 Schedule Among the Toughest

Bruce Feldman over at CBS Sports came up with a scheduling strength valuation system that you can read about in detail here.   Suffice it to say, Top 20 and top 40 caliber opponents, Road Games, and the occasional "extra half point" for back to back nightmare scenarios put Michigan at #4 on his list. 

The Top 10:

1.  Domers - I'll give the Domers credit for not playing an FCS school.
2.  Washington - Hard to believe, but the Pac12 and the non-con schedule look arduous.
3.  Oregon State - ditto
4.  Michigan - Alabama followed by a quirky Air Force offense, not to mention road games at Nebraska, Domers, and OSU and you have a bad mix for repeating 11 wins...Of course, 1997 was also one of the most difficult schedules Michigan ever faced!
5.  Kansas...It's Chuckles Weis...
6.  Ole Miss - SEC West
7.  Auburn
8.  Iowa State
9.  Cal
10. South Carolina - It seems like Steve always gets the toughest opponents on the road...

So, there you have it.  Michigan's schedule is tough.  And it will be difficult to navigate if the plan is to go undefeated. 

PEORIA, Illinois Recruit Tuley-Tillman Lights a Fuse!

Well, I've always said you can piss off a lot of Ohio people over much ado about nothing, but Michigan's current commit Tuley-Tillman (and non wavering at that) really lit a fuse on the Michigan - ohio rivalry by burning a recruiting letter from that four letter school in the state south of Michigan. 

There's lots of juicy comments in the article from this kid, and he's already near and dear to my heart and he hasn't even played a down of football yet!

Hee-hee....HAHAHAHAHAHA!

This kid has it figured out!

Several things that crack me up:  Not only has he made himself an internet star by this seemingly innocent act, but he's pointed out a GLARING faux paus by the ohio athletic department:

Check out the spelling of P-E-O-R-I-A! 

That is the best recruiting tool for all other schools trying to compete against ohio.  You can ALWAYS get a job in ohio's AD department if you can't spell!  It is a 6 letter word that has multiple vowels, so I guess I can see how they got it wrong...Wait, no I can't. Ohio has three vowels and Peoria only has one more than that....I guess it's just too many letters, because after all:

Congrats to Softball and 2015 and 2016 Seasons Are Out

First and foremost:  Congrats to Michigan Softball for winning the First Round Regional AWAY from Ann Arbor!  For anyone not in the know, the 1st Round Regional is a Double Elimination involving 4 teams.  Michgan came from behind on Friday, got a VERY controversial call on Saturday, and handily won walking away on Sunday.  The Saturday controversy:  Michigan's Blanchard was up to bat with bases loaded and was hit by an inside pitch.  Problem was, if you catch the re-play, is that Blanchard looked like she LEANED into the pitch, which before this season, was illegal in softball.  You could get hit by a pitch and still get your base, but the umpire could leave it up to his discretion as to whether or not you did everything humanly possible to get out of the way.  This year, the batter's box is theirs and if they want to stand their and take one for the team, that's their right.  And Blanchard did and scored the victory for Michigan. 

Now, it's on to the Super Regional where the Tide of Alabama will be waiting for a best of 3 series with the Wolverines.  Coincidence and hopefully a tone setting series that leads up the the kick-off classic?  Let's hope so!

Now, on to the next mess:  The B1G Schedules are out. 

2015

Oct. 3: at Michigan State
Oct. 10: Wisconsin
Oct. 17: Minnesota
Oct. 24: at Illinois
Oct. 31: Bye
Nov. 7: Nebraska
Nov. 14: at Northwestern
Nov. 21: at Iowa
Nov. 28: Ohio State
Dec. 5: Big Ten Championship Game


2016
Oct. 1: Michigan State
Oct. 8: at Minnesota
Oct. 15: Northwestern
Oct. 22: Bye
Oct. 29: at Wisconsin
Nov. 5: Illinois
Nov. 12: at Nebraska
Nov. 19: Iowa
Nov. 26: at Ohio State
Dec. 3: Big Ten Championship Game

Thoughts on 2015:  Why did they move Sparty to the Big 10 Opener spot (for both '15 and '16??)  Granted, years ago, when Sparty sucked, we opened with them a couple of times, but I have a hard time believing that's what Brandon or Hollis wanted.  Or maybe they are thinking that early season night games in Ann Arbor and East Lansing for the Big 10 opener might be a great tradition to start.  Truly mixed feelings here.  Hate to open up with the third tier rival, but you have to play them sometime.  Love the home schedule knowing that the Domers are in there as well.  A well placed bye before the Corn Suckers come to town is a plus as well.

2016:  Puke.  With the exception of Sparty, why on EARTH would you buy this home season ticket package?  I was afraid of this when I first saw the Leaders - Legends divisions and knew we'd be looking at seasons where we were not only not playing everyone (PSU, Purdue and Indiana) which are easy wins, but we play EVERY DECENT B!G team on the ROAD!  (Wiscy, Cornsuckers, Suckeyes).  That sucks.  Now, depending on who Brandon gets from the PAC to agree to a home and home, it's going to get tough to sell tickets.  From the PAC I would love to see a USC home and home.  I know, year in and year out they're good, but I think they're fundamentally easier for Michigan to play than say, Oregon.  I don't want to try that experiment again...Stanford would have been fun with Harbaugh there, but now, not so much.   Even thought that's probably who we're looking at...Still, it's better than WSU or Oregon State.

In summary:  Similar to this year, when I predicted a potential 4 losses, the even years moving forward are going to be something you almost need to recruit around and be ready to take advantage of the odd years when the home schedule favors victories.  Yes, I know you should be able to win on the road, but let's face facts and realize that in college football, that's always tough to do....And the even years are simply going to suck for home games from an entertainment standpoint. 

Mary Sue Admits "Hiring Rodriguez a Mistake"

All I can say to that is, "Well.....Duh."

I mean, I think most of us realized we were on the road to a mistake when Sailboat Bill was left in charge to independently handle the hiring of the most important position at any major collegiate football university.   (With apologies to all the AD's and University Presidents out there.)

I know we've done this exercise before, but can anyone name an athletic director or president of a University off the top of their heads (with exceptions of $warbuck$, G.Gee, DeLoss Dodds, and a couple of others) or can you name the Head Football Coach of the Domers, OSU and Texas?  That's kind of what I mean....

You're head football coach needs to be more than a coach.  And a country bumpkin from WVU (no offense, EERS fans..) wasn't what the University of Michigan needed.  I don't think it was a mistake to open everyone's eyes up to the spread and the potential it has at the collegiate level....But there's a whole lot more to it than that.

Namely - DEFENSE, for starters.  But I'm not going into a rehash of all that....

Anyway, I just find it interesting that Mary Sue is coming out now and making a statement that for the most part is not only self explanatory, it simply doesn't need to be said.

It's painfully obvious now.    And you would THINK that a University President could see that.

B1G Softball Champs! Rowing Champs!

I know that this doesn't float the boat of most of the readers of this blog, but any B1G Title gets a mention on the MMQ, especially when I have two daughters that are budding Softball prodigies (well, they just really enjoy the game!)  We've been following Women's Softball on the BTN for the entire season and we've cheered them on with each victory and had our hearts broken with the losses.  It went down to the wire, but Michigan did it again!

Michigan beat Purdue over the weekend to earn a 5th STRAIGHT B1G Championship!

It's Great to Be a Michigan Wolverine!

Women's Rowing also picked up a B1G Championship this season.  Hail to the Victors!

National Title Odds Have Posted

For those of you wondering where the Ole MMQ gets his best information and season prognosticating abilities from, here's a BIG piece of it....The Las Vegas NCAA Championship odds have been posted.  These will fluctuate throughout the summer, but for the most part, it is what it is.

I first discovered this years ago when travelling to Nevada on work related issues.  I had not idea (at the time) that the sports books in vegas actually posted futures on the NCAA.  I knew that the NFL and pro sports across the board had them, but as far as NCAA events were concerned, I thought they just created a weekly line.  I mean, what kind of gambling junky needs a National Championship Line in May, anyway?

Well.....I guess I answered my own question!

USC           9/2

LSU           5/1
Alabama    11/2
Oklahoma  10/1
Oregon      10/1
Florida State 12/1
Georgia        12/1
Arkansas     20/1
Michigan      25/1
Notre Dame  25/1
Texas             28/1
Virginia Tech  28/1
Clemson        30/1
South Carolina 30/1
West Virginia   30/1
Nebraska         35/1
Wisconsin       40/1
Boise State     50/1
Florida            50/1
Kansas State   50/1
Michigan State  50/1
TCU                 50/1
Auburn              60/1
Miami (Florida)  75/1
Mississippi State  75/1
Oklahoma State  75/1
Cincinnati            100/1
Iowa                   100/1
Missouri              100/1
Penn State           100/1
Stanford              100/1
Washington          100/1
California             125/1
Pittsburgh            125/1
Arizona               150/1
BYU                  150/1
Georgia Tech      150/1
Tennessee          150/1
Texas A&M       150/1
Boston College   200/1
Oregon State      200/1
South Florida      200/1
UCLA                200/1

What's interesting to me, is that better publications will all fall along this same "rank" for their pre-season top 25 with small variations.  However, instead of having an AP or USAToday poll, I believe we should just let Vegas tell us who the top teams are for the first 6 weeks. 
 
Notes: 
1.  6 SEC teams in the top 20...No surprise.
2.  4 B1G teams in top 20...Somewhat of a surprise as I'm expecting a slightly down B1G Season...
3.  Domers in the Top 20?  I don't know WHERE that came from
4.  USC and Barkley is the Chalk
5.  LSU and Alabama virtually tied for 2nd. 
6. Oklahoma with it's pre-season top 10 rank..what else is new?
7.  FSU seems strangely over-rated....Not sure what I'm missing there....
 
But, it's Vegas and they usually know more than anyone else...
 
After all, it's THEIR JOB to know....
 
Strangely, after my last blog and the analysis on National Championship odds, Michigan is right about where I thought they should be:  25 to 1.  I predicted that they should be around 20-1 any given year, but 25 is in the +/- of my analysis.  I know, that seems like a pretty wide range, but we're talking abot NCAA Football here, where momentum is everything, new coaches and freshman surprises can make a 150-1 team look like they have a National Title shot and nothing is ever as it seems from the pre-season to the final game.
 
That's what makes it Great!