U of M thread (in the Lions Forum) :)

[WingsFan]

The biggest game in over a decade between U-M and MSU and Matt Millen is doing the game? ABC/ESPN constantly loves shoving his ugly mug down the throats of Lions fans. Really, I don't get this at all.

[nhwbrooklyn]

The biggest game in over a decade between U-M and MSU and Matt Millen is doing the game? ABC/ESPN constantly loves shoving his ugly mug down the throats of Lions fans. Really, I don't get this at all.

Yeah its really sick.

[nhwbrooklyn]

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news;_ylt=AtREbt9ZqxXhvUJqY62EW_U5nYcB?slug=dw-richrod100410

Pressure is all on Michigan, Rodriguez

By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
5 hours, 53 minutes ago

ANN ARBOR, Mich. ? In 2007, then-Michigan running back Mike Hart mocked Michigan State as ?little brother.? While the Spartans, led by coach Mark Dantonio, voiced their displeasure at Hart?s crack, what it lacked in magnanimousness it made up for in historical fact.

The Spartans were the ?little brother.?

And now they aren?t.

You weren?t getting any condescending trash talk here on Monday as Michigan prepared to play host to the Spartans on Saturday. Part of it comes from the rise of State, winners of both games against Michigan since Hart?s comment and sitting at 5-0 and No. 16 nationally this year.


Rich Rodriguez can't get comfortable despite a 5-0 start.
Don McPeak/US Presswire
Part of it comes from the depths of the Wolverines? fall during that stretch, eight wins over the disastrous 2008-09 seasons.

And part of it comes from the fact that even at 5-0 and ranked 17th in the country (one behind MSU), the rebuilding of Michigan remains a precarious work in progress. Where State may have once been a ?rivalry game? to pay lip service too, now it may determine which way the season, and coach Rich Rodriguez?s entire tenure, turns.

?Trust me, we talk about [the game] quite a bit and not just because they won the last two years,? Rodriguez said. ?It?s no less important to us as it is to them.?

This year, it is actually even more important to Michigan than Michigan State.

The season-ending game with Ohio State is always the biggest rivalry game on the Wolverines? schedule. Yet this year that contest comes with various caveats. The Buckeyes are a powerhouse, ranked second nationally and will be playing at home.

Few Michigan fans expect a victory. While continuing the struggles against Ohio State isn?t particularly enjoyable, expectations for Columbus are tempered by reason.

A third consecutive loss to Michigan State ? which hasn?t occurred since Bo Schembechler arrived ? is another thing.

It?s the lingering, deep seated ?little brother? mentality and the belief (hope) among the Michigan faithful that order should (can) be restored in single Saturday.

Rodriguez entered the season on all the various ?coaching hot seat? lists, which is what happens when you take over the winningest program in college football and put together two losing seasons while getting hit with NCAA infractions. His 5-0 start has calmed the talk, but since the best win is over Notre Dame, the defense is ranked 102nd in the country (120th in pass defense) and the entire program seems to hang on Denard Robinson (not a bad guy for the job, of course), it?s not like he?s about to ink a new contract extension.

Beat MSU however and the Wolverines are 6-0 and bowl eligible, which, in a sign of the times here, is actually something they?d celebrate. The Michigan schedule still includes six games but three of them (at Penn State, Illinois and at Purdue) are reasonable victories. Then there are home games with Iowa and Wisconsin before that finale in Columbus.

Suddenly 9-3 ? or (gasp) even better ? is a real possibility. That means a decent sounding bowl and enough team success to get Shoelace Robinson the Heisman Trophy. Do that and Rich Rod is back next season and the program is pumping along.

Lose to Michigan State and while the season certainly isn?t lost, it isn?t sitting quite as pretty. And that?s before Rodriguez has to listen to outraged alums who are tired of the ?pride-comes-before-the-fall? heckling from the State fan down the block.

In East Lansing they count the days since Hart?s quote (1,067 as of Monday) because it also represents the last time Michigan defeated Michigan State in either football or men?s basketball. No one in Maize and Blue wants another 365 tacked onto that.

?We know what?s at stake,? receiver Roy Roundtree said. ?What they?ve been doing to us the past two years has not been fun for us.?

So Rodriguez needs this one, big time. This is his third season, but he talks about it being his second in ?recruiting? ? i.e. having his kind of guys, such as Shoelace and his fellow sophomores. Michigan is getting better. So too is State though. While Rodriguez dismissed the importance of a single game in recruiting, the fact remains that Dantonio has made tremendous inroads on in-state talent, particularly in the city of Detroit, a longtime Wolverine stronghold.

Win or lose on Saturday, Michigan State isn?t going away. That?s the reality Michigan has to deal with, albeit one that?s more palpable after a victory.

Rodriguez was relaxed on Monday. He respects the fans interest in certain games but he takes them all seriously. ?I don?t count the days and count the hours,? he said. Besides, he?s got Shoelace, the one-man offensive machine who no one has been able to contain. Up this week, Spartan man-eating linebacker Greg Jones. Good luck.

Michigan?s season seems promising unless Robinson gets injured ? he got banged up again Saturday before pulling off another late game-winning drive at Indiana. Monday Robinson said he?s healthy. He?s been getting treatment, lifting weights to aid durability and listening to lectures from coaches, teammates, sociology professors, janitors, bus drivers and random kids on campus that he ought to run out of bounds more often and avoid taking so many hits.

?It?s all right,? Robinson said. ?I love people.?

He also remembers it wasn?t so loveable around Ann Arbor last year when they lost to the Spartans. Losing to little brother is never fun. Realizing they?ve grown into something that is no longer so little is even worse. Fortunes change. Futures swing. Saturday they play ? one fan base still desperate for a sign that the good old days can return.

?I know it?s going to be very intense,? Rodriguez said.

So will the postgame reaction ? win or lose.

[gjdodger]

He’s the nation’s No. 1 rusher and No. 3 quarterback. He’s engineered two game-winning drives.
He’s been named Big Ten offensive player of the week three times in five weeks, and national quarterback of the week twice.
Now Denard Robinson is the unanimous Heisman Trophy frontrunner.
In a poll of 13 voters conducted by HeismanPundit.com after week five, Michigan’s sophomore quarterback garnered all 13 first-place votes.
It’s the fourth week in a row Robinson held first place in the voting, but the first time he captured all the first-place votes.
Robinson earned a total of 39 points. Oregon’s LaMichael James held second place with 17 points while Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore took third place with 15 points.
On Saturday, Robinson compiled 494 yards of total offense against Indiana, leading the Wolverines to a 42-35 victory on the game’s final drive.
He carried 19 times for 217 rushing yards and two touchdowns, while completing 10 of 16 passes for 277 yards and three touchdowns against the Hoosiers.
Through five games this season, Robinson has rushed 98 times for a NCAA-high 905 yards, and eight touchdowns. He’s averaging 9.2 yards per carry.
In the air, he’s completed 69.8 percent of his passes (67-of-96) for 1,008 yards. He’s thrown seven touchdowns and one interception. His 180.0 quarterback rating his third in the FBS, only behind Auburn’s Cameron Newton (191.4) and Northwestern’s Dan Persa (184.6).

Robinson seems to have outTebowed Tebow. He will not gain the same adulation, of course, for (ahem) mysterious reasons.

[nhwbrooklyn]

Just have him say that jesus told him not to wear shoelaces.

[DanO]

"ABC/ESPN constantly loves shoving his ugly mug down the throats of Lions fans. Really, I don't get this at all."
------------------------Just heard that. I almost believe they are purposely shoving him down our throats because we have admonished them for hiring him in the first place----------------I mean, come on!!!

GO LIONS "10" !!!!!!!!!!

[gibby]

Too bad there isn't a way to organize a "Millen Sucks" chant at the stadium. That would be cute, on national TV.

[DanO]

That may just happen Gibby.

GO LIONS "10" !!!!!!!!!!

[Knubz]

Too bad there isn't a way to organize a "Millen Sucks" chant at the stadium. That would be cute, on national TV.

that would be amazing im sure he would love that. hell might even get him to leave us alone

[chemiclord]

Nah, he'd be too stupid to realize that it was about him.

They'd need to do something that's been ingrained into his memory, like "FIRE MILLEN!"

[Newbomb Turk]

Hacker infiltration ends D.C. online voting trial


Last week, the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics opened a new Internet-based voting system for a weeklong test period, inviting computer experts from all corners to prod its vulnerabilities in the spirit of "give it your best shot." Well, the hackers gave it their best shot -- and midday Friday, the trial period was suspended, with the board citing "usability issues brought to our attention."

Here's one of those issues: After casting a vote, according to test observers, the Web site played "[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnkOkraJXK4"]Hail to the Victors[/ame]" -- the University of Michigan fight song.

"The integrity of the system had been violated," said Paul Stenbjorn, the board's chief technology officer.

Stenbjorn said a Michigan professor whom the board has been working with on the project had "unleashed his students" during the test period, and one succeeded in infiltrating the system.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/debonis/2010/10/hacker_infiltration_ends_dc_on.html

[Cody_Russell]

Too bad there isn't a way to organize a "Millen Sucks" chant at the stadium. That would be cute, on national TV.

All it takes is one person.
Then I'm sure everyone around him/her would follow ...
THIS WOULD BE AWESOME! , but it would have to happen during game play so that everyone on TV could hear this.

I remember "FIRE MILLEN" chants randomly happened at the MICHIGAN @ IU game in 2006 that I went to ... lol

[WingsFan]

Pat Caputo The Oakland Press

There should be absolute outrage Matt Millen is the analyst for the MSU-Michigan game

Some decisions are just wrong, disrespectful and despicable.
ESPN/ABC assigning Matt Millen to be the analyst for the Michigan State-Michigan game Saturday in Ann Arbor is one of them. This state has struggled mightily economically and with its self-image. One of the worst aspects of that image's beating was the Lions' failure the eight years Millen was team president. The 0-16 season is directly on Millen. And so are all those bad draft picks, and one bad season after another.

But this goes beyond just the record and his ineptitude as a football executive. It's about Millen, the person, and the way he has conducted himself. There was the interview with Sports Illustrated upon his return to broadcasting when he insulted this state further by saying: "I understand. In Detroit, they need a bad guy. I was a bad guy. I was to blame for the fall of the auto industry and the housing market. Somehow, I had something to do with Kwame Kilpatrick, although I'm not sure what. But that's what happens when you lose in this game. You give everyone a cheap and easy story to jump on.'' It wasn't a cheap and easy story. It was a long and painful journey. Eight years in football's version of Hades. Millen would have been just as vilified if the economy was going great guns and Kwame the male version of Mother Teresa. He has no credibility in this state. None.

Now this state's moved on, ever-so-slowly pulling itself out of the hole. Millen has moved on, too. Good for him. Have him do the biggest MSU-Michigan game in a decade, forcing millions of people in this state to listen what they only know too well is utter pablum. You know who should try to do something about this? Channel 7. They are starting their happy, giddy "We've got the big game" talk this week on their newscasts. Well, what about this issue? Going to cover it? It's news. A lot of chatter about it on Twitter, that's for sure. Oh, and what about how your listeners are so important to you, and how much you care about them? Do you care enough to stand up to the insensitive flack at your network for doing this to "your people?"

[DanO]

Nice job Pat.

GO LIONS "10" !!!!!!!!!!

[Newbomb Turk]

Dear ESPN,

I will not be watching the U-M vs MSU game this year because of your decision to send Matt Millen to cover the game. Why not just drive a Toyota Truck right through the heart of the Thankgiving Day Parade instead, you'd lose less veiwers.