UA-59049186-1 What's Going On? Feels Like a Number.

What’s Going On Feels Like A Number

Yes, there was a reason for the nearly 40-year-old reference

Braylon Edwards endows a scholarship for the #1 jersey at Michigan. The #1 jersey is seen as kind of a big deal at the school. The tradition is that it should be earned, blah blah blah. Look, it’s kind of neat that the #1 is special at Michigan. It is by absolutely no means whatsoever something to get worked up about. Jim Harbaugh clearly thought that was the case when news came out that two players (Kekoa (Dylan) Crawford and Elysee Mbem-Bosse) would wear the number this year, both freshmen, and one of them (Mbem-Bosse) a linebacker, where the number is traditionally worn by receivers. Asked about Crawford wearing the number, Braylon said “He doesn’t have the jersey for sure right now.” I have no idea if he knows EMB is going to wear the number as well or if we have to fight that battle with him later on, but in either case, I’m sick of the guy’s attitude. He wore it a decade ago (told you there was a reason for the old reference), he wasn’t the first, last, or best to wear it. Let it go, man. Apparently, he’s going to discuss the matter with Harbaugh. That meeting shouldn’t last more than 5 minutes, with 4:30 of it being Harbaugh telling Braylon to sit down and shut up.

News from the front lines

The War on Rutgers is in full swing, with Rutgers attempting to match Michigan’s camp in New Jersey. Michigan added John Harbaugh to an already packed lineup of guest coaches, so Rutgers answered by adding the guy John Harbaugh replaced.

In other news, this is Chris Wormley’s “Worm Wednesday” pic:

And this guy’s a moron:

Rutgers makes the Big Ten money in that it gets the Big Ten Network in New York. That’s it. When the cable bubble bursts, they will be nothing but an albatross for the conference. Not that they’re much more in the meantime, what with winning a whopping two conference games in football and basketball last year. That’s not two in each sport, which would have been pitiful in and of itself, no, that’s two combined. And one was #CHAOSTEAM blowing a 25-point lead at home.

Adding Rutgers to the conference was not a good idea. Any additional short-term money they do bring in will be greatly offset in the long run. Rutgers is the herpes of college athletics. The Big Ten should not have gotten into bed with Rutgers, and now that they did, they’re stuck with this big red irritating sore that they’ll never be totally rid of.

Also, that same moron got into a Twitter beef with former Michigan basketball player and current War on Rutgers Lieutenant Ant Wright last night. Ant sonned the guy to Bolivia, the guy deleted the tweets, and some Crying Jordans were passed out. You can check out Ant’s timeline to see what he said.

The case for a bigger ice sheet

Brian Cook of MGoBlog posted an article today with a list of ways to improve hockey. The list includes things like changing the offside rules, eliminating the penalty for shooting the puck over the glass from your defensive zone, and widening the nets. (I like the thought behind that one, but I would rather shrink the goalie equipment.) This one really jumped out at me, though:

Gradually introduce Olympic ice. Olympic ice is a lot of fun, but currently impractical for buildings not set up with a 100-foot-wide sheet already. The NHL should force new buildings to be Olympic-sized, leading to a transitional period where some rinks are small and some are wide and there are all kinds of home/away effects, kind of like baseball. Also there will be an increasing number of big rinks on which standing a guy up at the blue line is super difficult and skill is more important. College hockey already has a number of Olympic sheets, and the transition is both jarring and fun.

Every Blackhawks fan should be in favor of this. How many times were teams able to contain Patrick Kane this past season on an 85-foot wide sheet? Maybe a dozen over the course of 82 games? Now imagine if Kane had an additional 15 feet to operate. The extra space makes games played on Olympic Ice less physical, which would really play into the Hawks’ hands. If played on Olympic Ice, the playoff series with the Blues this year goes from Blues in 7 to Hawks in 5 or 6 and that’s assuming Elliott still plays well and steals one for St. Louis. Yes, that extra space would tax the defensemen more (which is why I’m always partial to European defensemen. If they can play well on the 100-foot sheet in Europe, they should be even better on the 85-foot sheet in North America. On the flip side, I’m always a little cautious with expectations for European skaters, because in North America, they have 15 fewer feet of space to operate.) and the lack of defensive depth was a major factor in the Hawks’ downfall, but I still think the Hawks’ offense would have benefited from the wider sheet significantly more than the Blues would have. Will the change ever happen? My money’s on no. Too many buildings aren’t set up for the wider sheet and I’m not sure how eager Bettman is to have the different size sheets in different buildings. I don’t think it’s completely out of the realm of possibilities that this gets addressed during the lockout that will ensue during the CBA negotiations in 2022, especially since that’s an Olympic year and hockey on a 200×100′ sheet will be fresh on everyone’s minds, but still, I’m not counting on it.

Twitter: @KSchroeder_312

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com

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