MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

Michigan HockeyCast 6.13: Badger Day

1 hour and 4 minutes

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games.

Segment 1: Ctrl C, Ctrl V: Friday

• Opener
• An Early Goal
• Building the Lead
• Finishing the Game

Segment 2: Ctrl C, Ctrl V: Saturday

• Cocaine First Period
• Obtaining and Blowing Leads
• Old Friends and Around the League
• A Trip to Columbus

MUSIC

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "Welcome to Janesville" -- Smoking Popes
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

MGoPodcast 15.17: Turns Out There Were Hugs

4 hours and 26 minutes

The Sponsors

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Winewood Organics, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass, and Autograph: Fandom Rewarded, who just launched an app where you earn rewards for things like reading MGoBlog and listening to this podcast.

1. Weird Jim Harbaugh Era Highlights

Starts at 1:00

There was too much to remember, so we crowd sourced. Sleepovers, satellite camps, the pope, and fun recruiting shenanigans. The Harbaugh era kind of starts and ends with Lou Holtz. There was a lot of diving into pools while fully dressed. People who cover the pope have been watching to see if he ever wears the Jordans that Jim gifted him. Don't drink out of the public fountains in Rome. You ever just grab a handful of meatballs? Character growth arc - Jim Harbaugh and chickens. He told a Peruvian Catholic priest "I'm in the Notre Dame ass-kicking business." Never forget "the white board", what's your favorite quote from it? He's directed traffic for hours. Jim Harbaugh war dad. Alejandro continues to be a real go-getter. Make sure you swipe Freddy P Soft off your shoulder. 

2. HOT TAKES and Jim Harbaugh Era Highlight Honorable Mentions

Starts at 50:40

Takes hotter than the San Francisco 49ers in the 2nd half of the NFC Championship (SORRY SORRY. Brian's words, not mine). Talking about moments that weren't the top moments but still note-worthy. Ben Mason, Darboh, and good shit from Jedd. The 2015 BYU game had a lot of all-time single player moments. The evolution of Donovan Edwards' career at Michigan and running power on a kickoff return against Northwestern. Jabrill Peppers fielding punts was a safety blanket we miss. Jim Harbaugh evolved the run game and also brought us the TRAIN! Sad field goals, the emergence of JJ, and Mr. Brightside. The 2016 Indiana snowglobe game. Player development into 4th, 5th, and 6th years has been incredible. 

3. Jim Harbaugh Era Top 25 Moments 25-11

Starts at 2:09:03

Everyone has something different that they love the most about the 2016 Rutgers game. Multiple Michigan State things at the expense of Michigan State, including Defeated With Dignity. There are so many stats in the Jim Harbaugh era that were some sort of "Michigan hasn't done ___ in ___ years" and now all those stats are reset. Remembering a lot of Jourdan Lewis moments, but especially that interception. The whole context of this year's Penn State game was to prove if this team was real. THEY SAID THE KID COULDN'T THROW THE DEEP BALL. They say you need a QB to win a national championship but Michigan won it with an elite run game and pass defense. 

4. Jim Harbaugh Era Top 25 Moments 10-1

Starts at 3:09:41

Jumping around at Wisconsin was when this program really started to feel special. The 2021 Big Ten Championship Game was just a huge party, Seth threw a cat across the entire room. Ohio State makes this list multiple times. What can man do against such reckless hate. Aidan Hutchinson is coming for you. The top five could really be in any order. Michigan had to figure out how to win against Alabama, but against Washington, Michigan just had better players. The Rose Bowl overtime was like a dream, and it was a real Rose Bowl against Alabama. Mike Sainristil represents what this program was all about, and the pass breakup against Stover is the ultimate highlight of that. In life, hurdle all your fools. 

MUSIC:

• “Who's Got It Better Than Us”— Bailey
• “Saturdays”— Broken Bells
• “Jump Around”—  House of Pain
• “Across 110th Street”

WTKA Roundtable 1/25/2024: The Age of Culture Dudes

Things Discussed:

• Seth is on early to talk about the Lions, relates it to Harbaugh/Sherrone Moore: Dan Campbell is a culture guy, and that's a hole that the NFL left when it shifted to playcallers as head coaches.
• Harbaugh to NFL: Seems the program is set through 2024, need to figure out their plan for 2025.
• Where were you when you heard? I was about to start the final boss fight of a very long D&D campaign.
• Expected? Yeah, said so in the previews. Michigan tried but Harbaugh was going to take a good NFL deal. When in history has someone gotten a successful NFL coach to come back and coach their college team for 9 years? This was the deal. There is no Super Bowl at Michigan.
• Sherrone? Yes. When? They have to wait 7 days but will probably apply for a waiver so it could happen in a week or tomorrow.
• Leaving: Minter, probably Jay Harbaugh. Brian: Spread your wings, Jay. Seth: He's not that kind of guy, but he may be the kind of guy who loves Michigan enough to want to stay. Herbert? There is nothing in the NFL for him like there is at Michigan, but Seth is worried because Bruce Feldman says Harbaugh plans to take him.
• Staying: Clink (AHC?), Bellamy, Hart, Robinson, Campbell to OC, Newsome to OL coach. Need to find a DC, an LB guy, and new special teams coach. Is there a 3rd Skywalker on the Ravens (Orr?) or another guy that Minter and Macdonald know? Jim Leonard: No. Brian has good dude concerns because he couldn't do better than an analyst for Bert (Note: Leonard has a buyout from Wisconsin that would have been voided if he got a DC job but that shouldn't have mattered; knifing Chryst in the back seems to matter). Need to stay ahead of Ohio State in the metagame.
• OSU: They could have gotten a guy as good as Caleb Downs if they'd just recruited Rod Moore out of their own backyard. This is what they're up against. Ohio State has always been the program that will do anything in the world to beat Michigan, and they're never going to stop that.
• Is it bad for CFB that there's no Harbaugh and Saban anymore? Only if you're the person in charge of getting instant clicks by putting someone's name in the headline. What makes college football special isn't the character head coaches; it's the unique connection the fans have to their players.
• Hockey: Young team that doesn't have the depth to overcome mistakes in a very tough league.

Michigan HockeyCast 6.12: False Hope

1 hour and 25 minutes

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games.

Segment 1: You Got Us Believin'

• Opener
• Dream Start
• Solid Second
• True Finish with Fights

Segment 2: A Tale of Two Halves

• Michigan's Half of the Game
• Sparty's Half of the Game
• Old Friends and Around the League
• Talkin' Badgers

MUSIC

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "Bad Romance" -- Lady Gaga
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

 

WTKA Roundtable 1/18/2024: Jim is Gonna Jim

Things Discussed:

• Seth comes on early to talk Lions.
• Jim Harbaugh: If the NFL is willing to give him everything he'll go. If they won't he's got leverage to get what he wants from Michigan.
• Minter: Gonna be hard to keep him. Has the chance to follow MacDonald's career path. Worth keeping? Absolutely. Please offer him whatever you can to stay because he is incredible. But what can we offer other than money that NFL can match when he's already shown he's at that level?
• Life after Harbaugh? Michigan was the 2nd team to win a National Championship with a majority Black coaching staff (2022 Georgia) and the only one with a Black coordinator or co-coordinator. These guys are as/more responsible than Harbaugh for creating the culture at Michigan.
• Moore (to HC), Clink, Hart (to RGC), Newsome (to OL), Elston (title bump?) are all guys with a greater connection to Michigan than Harbaugh. If Jay was smart he'd stick around too (Sam thinks he follows his dad).
• Need to think about the next 10 years of college football. Where teams are going to offer your backups $hundreds of thousands to transfer and your recruits more to sign. Someone here needs to leverage the school to make changes, and push to change the mechanism for player compensation from daddy moneybags to a share of TV revenue and contracts. How does Michigan compete in a world where you have to recruit your team each offseason?
• If Jim stays is he here for good? No. He's a unicorn; unless he's not having success at Michigan the NFL is going to be interested, because there aren't a lot of Bill Walshs or Pete Carrolls who can have success at both levels.

Michigan HockeyCast 6.11: What is a Stonehill?

1 hour and 39 minutes

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games.

Segment 1: Six Week Catchup

• World Juniors Talk
• Alex Talks Stonehill
• Games Around the Country
• MSU Preview

Segment 2: Wolverines in the NHL

• Wings and Avs and Others
• A couple guys have The Season
• Some Defensemen Talk
• Portillo and the AHLers

MUSIC

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "Stone Free" -- Jimi Hendrix
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

MGoPodcast 15.16 Supplemental: The Hot Takes

You know what we forgot to do? Splice the Hot Takes segment we recorded into today’s podcast. Sorry for the audio content explosion but we couldn’t have one without the other.

It’s also an opportunity to mention the Sklars are coming to Detroit at the end of February.

WTKA Roundtable 1/11/2024: A Team Full of Yzermans

Things Discussed:

• Michigan won a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.
• Anyone trying to take away from this is someone whose opinion never has to matter to you again.
• Donovan Edwards: the passing down running back.
• THE DEFENSE!!!! Penix under pressure. NFL defense vs NFL rookie.
• Win in the trenches: Penix's third read was Mason Graham. That RT was under siege. Made Penix uncomfortable.
• Break: Life after Harbaugh?
• Post-break: Sainristil. One of the all-time greats.
• Harbaugh? Sam is talking like he's definitely exploring NFL, that doesn't mean he's 100% leaving. Lots of guys are 100% staying if Harbaugh is, and 100% if Sherrone Moore is the guy. May not be true if Michigan goes outside for a Kalen DeBoer.
• Jesse Minter: do whatever we can to keep the man.

MGoPodcast 15.16: The Perfect Season

3 hours and 18 minutes

The Sponsors

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Winewood Organics, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass, and Autograph: Fandom Rewarded, who just launched an app where you earn rewards for things like reading MGoBlog and listening to this podcast.

1. National Championship Feels

Starts at 1:00

"Bring us home, Blake." He did it just like in the Ohio State, Penn State, and Alabama games. And then Mikey got an interception. A perfect moment in a perfect season. JJ's tweet was right, everyone just take a breath and relax after the last 20 years. So many guys came back to make this possible, and that's the culture of this program. Everyone who stepped up did when they needed to. Michigan's diversity of what they do on offense might be unmatched anywhere else in the country, and part of that is because so many people stick around. We call Blake Corum a perfect human being but Mike Sainristil is the same thing. This program has developed so many dudes who are going to the NFL that most people would not have expected. If you re-ranked these recruiting classes, how much higher would Michigan jump? Michigan fans really showed up for all the playoff games and events. 

2. Defense vs Washington

Starts at 45:54

We start with the defense this time because the defense was incredible this game. What more can you even say about Jesse Minter and the players at this point? Everybody eats. Penix was in bad shape by the end of the game, Jaylen Harrell chased him down after the game to congratulate him on a good game. Keon Sabb had a bad missed tackle on Washington's first drive but made up for it later. Michigan seemed to plan this season around playing 15 games with all their substitutions to keep everyone fresh. It also helped that a lot of starters didn't have to play most 4th quarters this year. Washington was not able to just toss up the ball and have their receivers go get it, which is a big part of their game. Penix was uncomfortable all game and it brought his game down. Washington had open guys but it wasn't the guys Penix were expecting to be open. Read 1 --> Read 2 --> Uh oh Mason Graham. Besides a couple misses, this team tackled so well and have all season. How did a wide receiver become the Honey Badger?? Washington does have a great screen game. 

The best defense since 1997. 

3. Offense vs Washington

Starts at 1:32:46

A re-run of the Rose Bowl but more explosive. They looked a little nervous about passing the ball. One of these Washington linebackers apparently has never seen duo before. Michigan never really fully incorporated a JJ run game which was frustrating. Donovan Edwards, you've been sandbagging us all year! We don't care when you cut, but please just cut. Seven minutes into this game, Donovan Edwards had won the national championship. According to SP+ this is the best Michigan team since 1902 and the first team to hold every opponent to under 25 points since 1904 Minnesota. How many teams are losing their best offensive lineman and not seeing a drop-off? Michigan's transfer portal scouting was nuts, so many dudes did so well. JJ didn't torch this defense but he didn't need to, he also had a good YPA. 

4. Game Theory, Special Teams, and Feels

Starts at 2:10:52

WARNING: This segment gets really misty towards the end.

That was the most annoying punter Michigan has ever faced. The care for special teams feels like it really dropped off this year. Decision making was pretty much by the book, though. Onto vibes, nobody has ever felt as good as this because nobody else has ever felt as bad. Reminiscing on some of the bleakest times of the Harbaugh era because they're part of what make this so sweet. Now let us stop wallowing. An impromptu gimmicky top five of "favorite moments of the season." 

We talk about how we're feeling right now. There is a very good chance you will cry during it. I did.

MUSIC:

• “Win”— David Bowie
• “Down, Up!”— BabyTron
• “We're a Winner”—  The Impressions
• “Across 110th Street”

WTKA Roundtable: The Trente Jones Culture

Things Discussed:

• A Michigan Family reunion. If you've never been to a Rose Bowl, make sure you do the next one.
• Michigan won on the lines. Trente Jones was excellent. Karsen Barnhart made the block of the game. When they had to go for 4th & 1 they moved them; when it was 4th & 2 for the game Alabama had to sell out.
• Michigan used a ton of motion to create lots of openings.
• Coaching: Alabama coaches were good; Michigan coaches were that much better. Two wide open throws to Corum. Saban ran into a buzzsaw.
• Special Teams: Yips.
• Talking about the last play: Did Sainristil get too high? Maybe. But Moore had it dead to rights even if they run it right.
• Trente Jones: How important was it to the team that he came back. That he approached things like he did.
• Harbaugh? Gonna have a fight on their hands. Gotta fight to keep this culture.
• Washington preview.