Unverified Voracity Still Doesn't Get It But Whatever
Event reminder. We're having a Hail To The Victors kickoff party/thing on Friday at Circus Bar. Hopefully it will be as crazy as last night.
This also happened (photo by @MelanieMaxwell) pic.twitter.com/gNfdUYgwvL
— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) August 1, 2016
About last night. I don't get WOO NIKE. I have no strong feelings about clothing brands, except insofar as I would like them to put the sports teams I like in uniforms that 1) stay in one piece, 2) are legible from distance, and 3) don't make me envy the dead. I'm in the same realm of bafflement Dan Murphy was last night:
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- They lined up for T-shirts.
All day, Michigan fans stood in line for T-shirts. And when the sun went down they chanted and painted their faces and counted down the last few seconds like it was New Year’s Eve for T-shirts, ones with a tiny lopsided parabola in the corner instead of a striped triangle. ...
“I’ve lived 52 years, a lot of them right here in Ann Arbor,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said into a sea of fans recording on their cell phones. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
LIST OF SHIRTS I WOULD STAND IN LINE TO BUY
— mgoblog (@mgoblog) August 1, 2016
1. if it was the 12th century and they sold indulgences on shirts
2. Harambe-skin
But I'm happy you're happy, and happy that recruits and players are bonkers for the stuff. There are many many variations of this on Michigan player twitter:
thank you for blessing us @Jumpman23 pic.twitter.com/EmaDCvCBJu
— Moe Ways (@MoeWays) August 1, 2016
It's probably better that Michigan's back with marketing folks who can inspire the kind of devotion that results in a walk-on basketball player crowdsurfing like he's 1992 Eddie Vedder. The gap between the Only Incompetent Germans and that 190-proof blast of capitalism is obvious. While the headline number* on Michigan's apparel contract has been beaten by a few different schools since it was signed a year ago, Jumpman exclusivity looks like a big deal for players and recruits—you know, the people who help you win on the field.
I have one hope, and that's a football version of Jumpman. Pick one of Desmond or Woodson:
A permanent logo swap ain't happening, but if Nike wants to do a special edition thing that will sell a lot of merch and not piss off traditionalists this would be killer. (I think? I obviously have no idea what I'm talking about in this department. Later today I will advise rappists on the finest iambic pentameters. The very best.)
I have one concern. The hockey jerseys look weird and wrong.
Mismatched blues, a weird sheen on top, really not digging the jersey with one maize stripe across the top and nothing else anywhere. A closeup of the hockey jersey does seem into indicate it's regular jersey material and not, like, shimmery. I'll reserve final judgment until I see them in the wild, but I'm not hopeful.
*[I say "headline number" here because it looks like various other schools have structured their contracts such that theirs is the "biggest ever" to the press but not in reality. For example, OSU's "biggest ever" deal with Nike is actually worth $13 million less in cash than Michigan's over the same timeframe. They just pad it out with more gear at an inflated price. I haven't looked into the details of UCLA and Texas but it's possible—probable in UCLA's case—that the same thing is going on there.]
This is completely rational. I retract my tweet at Nick Baumgardner yesterday:
"I definitely think its symbolic, it's a new age for Michigan," Gozdor said. "A lot of my friends are saying they're going to burn their Adidas gear and forget the whole entire thing ever happened."
He was right.
Jeremy Gallon finally gets to be taller than some people. An alert reader points out that the Nojima Sagamihara Rise, a team in Japan's "X-League," is currently listing Devin Gardner and Jeremy Gallon on their roster. (Also included is former Illinois safety Earnest Thomas III.) Thorough research* reveals that only two foreign players are allowed to be on the field at any one time; the Rise must be planning on Gardner to Gallon for 50% of their plays. This is a good plan.
[Update: now there is an article on this occurrence:
“Everybody here is so respectful, so nice. It’s almost like a compete 180 from in America,” said Gardner, who made 27 starts at quarterback for the Wolverines, with a smile. “They (the Americans) are nice people but I’ve never been to a place where everybody is so kind and so respectful, and it’s just part of the way everyone is here. It’s pure refreshing to get a chance to experience it.”
No Michigan State or Ohio State fans in Japan, I take it.]
*[googling the league's wikipedia page]
I'd be happy to be wrong here. Erik Magnuson doesn't strike me as a guy who the NFL will consider drafting early unless he takes a big step forward as a senior, but CBS's Dane Brugler disagrees with that take, naming him one of the top ten senior OTs in the country and saying he "played like a legitimate NFL prospect":
...moves with a smooth shuffle and wide base, transferring his weight well in his kickslide to mirror edge rushers. He stays low off the snap and prefers to use his hands to control the point of attack to out-leverage and out-power defenders. Magnuson is able to secure downblocks and anchor at shallow depth, driving his legs to finish in the Wolverines' power offense. He has also been praised by the coaching staff for his leadership and consistency during the week.
Although hustle and effort aren't an issue, Magnuson has sloppy tendencies with a bad habit of lowering his head and losing sight of his target, ending up on the ground. He tends to be a waist bender and lacks ideal length to compensate, which allows savvy rushers to get him off balance and leaning. While powerful when squared to defenders, Magnuson will struggle to recover once defenders attack his shoulder.
I thought Magnuson was okay, and only that, a year ago. I get the vibe that PFF agrees with me since they haven't posted anything about him, or the rest of the Michigan OL not named Mason Cole. They tend to have an "if you can't say anything nice..." policy.
I'd be happy to be right here. Ryan Glasgow makes ESPN's list of the top 25 Big Ten players... at #25, which I'm sure I'll find is an outrage once they get around to putting a punter at 16 or whatever. Even so, thank you, ESPN, for not consigning Glasgow to a Wally Pipp role just yet. PFF also names Glasgow their #3 breakout player this year, though they do admit that's a bit of an injury-induced slam dunk:
2016 grade: 84.8 | 2015 snaps: 332 | PFF College 101 rank: 72
The argument could be made that Glasgow has already broken out as he boasted the nation’s No. 19 run-stopping grade before going down to injury last season, but since he only played 332 snaps, he still qualifies as a breakout candidate. He’s seen the field for 753 snaps the last two seasons, posting a strong +32.7 grade against the run, and last year he improved his pass rush grade to +9.0 on the strength of a sack, four QB hits, and 12 hurries on 179 rushes.
Taco Charlton shows up at #7 for the same reasons we're hyped about him around here: a lot of production in under 400 snaps. There are scattered Big Ten players to round out the list plus a couple of old names for recrutniks: both Cal RB Vic Enwere and Arizona State RB Kalen Ballage make the tail end of the list.
Spreading the wealth. Michigan probably has four guys on that aforementioned top 25 B10 players list (Lewis, Peppers and Butt are probably locks and Glasgow snuck in) so it's not exactly crazy that these gents missed it...
Michigan DL Chris Wormley and receivers Amara Darboh and Jehu Chesson: Wormley is one of the more versatile defensive linemen in the league, with the ability to move between end and tackle, and he had 14.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks in 2015. Some of us argued for his inclusion, though we ultimately went with a different player in his position group. As for Darboh and Chesson, they are clearly two of the better wideouts in the league. Yet neither had huge numbers last season, and even Jim Harbaugh will tell you it's a coin flip on who is the better player. They sort of canceled out each other for purposes of this list.
...but since two of those guys are seniors getting first round draft hype it is a little bit crazy. Also:
When passing to WR Jehu Chesson, Michigan QBs posted a 127.9 passer rating, best of any returning #B1G receiver. pic.twitter.com/VhWKyvIfVy
— PFF College Football (@PFF_College) August 1, 2016
Meanwhile Feldman named Michigan's receiving corps the #3 unit in the country. Michigan could be all right this fall.
Etc.: Peppers gets votes from current Big Ten football players as the Big Ten's best defensive player... and its best offensive player. PSU fans expect a punter to be their biggest impact freshman... and they're probably right. Y'all probably don't know how bad PSU punting has been the last few years. TV networks not a big fan of the Big 12's naked cash grab. Always weird when some guy you remember as like 15 is now writing for the Daily. I'm old and DEATH DEATH DEATH. ND contract details.
Looks like they already have a football version of Jumpman:
Happy to have @Nike back in the family. Welcome to Michigan @Jumpman23. #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/0KDFrbgEqV
— Desmond Howard (@DesmondHoward) August 1, 2016
I don't know if it's going on anything besides Desmond's shoe though
That hockey jersey makes the player look fat. Do not buy the MGoWife a hockey jersey.
Nike = Pokemon Go.
What's funny is that 90% of my gear is already Nike cause I didnt dump the old stuff when we flipped to Adidas (yes it's a bit worn). Ties are that way too - hang onto them long enough and whatever they are (fat, skinny, patterned, solid) they all come back into style at some point.
I hope that's the case, the one pictured doesn't do much for me.
The MGoBlue photos show the hockey white jerseys here:
http://www.gobluehailmichigan.com/uniforms/
Click on the cropped photo to see the full image of each. Also in the hype videos, especially the second "Focused" one, which shows the sleeve stripes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj3NcnD_WGc
Pause it at EXACTLY 9 seconds. The sleeve is gone a second later.
I think someone else found a photo of the maize hockey jersey, but I can't find that. Basically the same as the white, but maize. [EDIT: See Baxter immediately below.]
https://twitter.com/umichhockey/status/759963347450200064
You can see the likely standard away uniform in the video at the 1:53 make.
This is what they're going for, apparently?
I don't mind them trying a retro look as our 3rd jersey. I just hope they don't mess around with the home and away. Some of their new designs have been awful recently.
Also, that's not the standard away at 1:53--the maize jersey is always a third jersey. Home whites, away blues, alternate maize.
The hockey jerseys are pretty blah. We've had some nice ones over the years but I don't see this becoming a cherished design. The MICHIGAN lettering on the front seems too small, barely bigger than the CCM on the gloves.
Love the Desmond pose as our own version of jumpman. But what do I know?????
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Zoolander doesn't seem too impressed by the hockey uniform, either. I don't think he's flashing 'Blue Steel' there...
The poor schlub wearing the hockey jersey looks about as happy with it as I am.
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is that 128 passer rating to Chesson using the NFL measurement? Because that's not great for college. I presume they're trying to say that throwing to Chesson was wildly successful. Florida had a team passer rating of 128 last year, #72 in the country. But the same number in the NFL would be outstanding because they are calculated differently.
I think that might be their own formula.
Michael Wilbon scoffs at this and wants everything divided by 60 cuz that's how many minutes there are in a football game.
August 2nd, 2016 at 12:54 AM ^
because the overall passer ratings are probably padded by screens and shorter throws to slots and TEs. Wouldn't surprise me if throws to WRs have a lower rating since they're completed at a lower percentage and with a higher INT rate than other throws.
Live look in at stately Cook manor
I'm with Brian on these hockey jerseys. They're... Minimalist in a way that the traditionally minimalist hockey jersey is not. I don't get it. A missed opportunity, particularly since Nike wasn't bad at it back in the day.
I love Devin rocking the 98 jersey.
but do the Denver Broncos know that the Nojima Sagamihara Rise totally ripped off their uniform?
P.S. Apparently, the RISE lost to "BIGBLUE" in their last game, 34-21. Big Blue is neither Michigan, nor the New York Giants nor Kentucky Wildcats. Big Blue is the IBM sponsored Japanese professional football entity. Who knew?
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Back then there was no social media frenzy. Also, it's a lot different waiting in line in late July than in early January.
I would like to see, at least for one game, a Draw a Wolverine From Memory logo.
I have always wanted a hockey sweater bearing the university seal:
The seal was on the shoulders of (I think?) all three jerseys from ~2003-5ish. Still have one of these hanging in the closet:
Thought these looked great, as much as I liked the old M/crossed hockey stick logo that was there before.
I remember those. The seal was a big improvement on the crossed sticks. I'd like an alternate where the seal is on the chest. But I recall some grumbling that the seal is meant to represent the university in academia rather than athletics or branding. So I might not get my wish. It's just such a great seal.
Can we discuss the absolute hilarity that is the $75 season shirt hooded sweatshirt?
75. freaking. dollars.
Or the $40 longsleeve tee version!
$70 for bball shorts too
I saved up all my allowance for a year and bought baggy authentic M Nike bball shorts for no less than $100. I was 12. I still wore them to bed until just a few years ago when there was zero elastic left but the shorts themselves were still in great shape.
In 20+ years bball shorts have actually gotten less expensive it seems.
August 2nd, 2016 at 12:49 PM ^
Well, the replica shorts were always half the price of the authentics. If you're buying the authentic, doesn't matter the brand, it's going to be expensive.
These are run-of-the-mill workout shorts. $70? Please.
I'll be looking for some gear a little more sanely priced.
I'll see your $75 sweatshirt and raise you a $45 pair of flip flops, I mean, slide sandals:
http://www.mden.com/product.html?NG1607+2001
It could be worse, Barney's wants $325 for a pair of Givency slide sandals.
http://www.barneys.com/Givenchy-Slide-Sandals-504047207.html?utm_source…
Now the Florida game's done, is there time to squeeze out the Ohio State game UFR before this upcoming season?
I still want a
Chart?
Chart.
sado masochist?
I'll think about starting to believe the Magnuson hype when he flips to the LT.
It is great for the school and the team.
Some of this relates to one's generation. When I was in high school you could not buy Adidas in stores. You had to call a guy on the phone and special order the shoes. The orginal Olympiad model (Kanagaroo Leather) were the coolest things going and scarce, fairly tough to get- I remenber my sister bringing me a pair home from Germany (where they were still made at the time).
Then Nike entered the market and began dominating it fairly quickly. They both make good products and bad products. I myself prefer ASICS shoes (way back they were known as Tigers), as they fit me well and have consistently given great wear and perfomance (at the higher end).
For awhile I thought Under Armour might be the new cool thing but among School age, millenials and even above- Nike has perservered.
I will buy whatver says Michigan on it to a point, but if this gives us any kind of edge, and it appears that it might, then I'm 100 percent for it.
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