I'm talking about alternate uniforms, not Penn State's NCAA sanctions.
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Michigan AD Dave Brandon gets 3-year extension, raise - Dave Brandon's tenure as athletic director has been mostly successful with a nagging set of decisions and marketing ploys that upset the section of the fan base that exists online. Nonetheless, he has hired a very successful football coach, upgraded the major sport facilities, planned to upgrade non-revenue sports facilities, and ushered the athletic department into a new era of financial prosperity. If all we have to worry about during his contract extension is misplaced hashtags, then I won't complain.
Michigan unveils alternate football uniform for Alabama game, says it'll wear standard look rest of season - First, I don't quite buy that this is the only alternate jersey of the season, not after last year at MSU. Second, as far as horribly offensive, futuristic-looking jerseys go, these aren't bad. I have to imagine that somewhere a Nike designer is looking at these and twitching uncontrollably at the "lack of flair", which makes me happy.
The Michigan Hall of Highly Touted - Mgoblog runs down Michigan's biggest recruits of the recruiting era in an effort to see just what one can expect out of the best of the best. It is an interesting read for all the names you won't remember, and for the Marques Slocum reference which is never not going to be funny.
Even at Air Force, a school that undergoes significant personnel changes every odd year, the lack of experience is a little troubling. The Falcons return only five full-time starters, three on offense and two defense – and as you might expect, this team is rebuilding at every position on both sides of the ball. So Air Force is a bit of an unknown when it comes to its two-deep; new faces have already emerged, with more stepping up in August and throughout the season, and it will be interesting to see how these former reserves gel as a starting unit. The reason why the lack of experience won’t cripple the Falcons’ bowl chances – or even their shot at a second-place finish in the Mountain West – is very simple: Air Force has a system, one with proven results, and as long as the team remains injury-free there’s no reason to think it can’t win at least seven games during the regular season.
Michigan's non-conference opponent, Air Force, is looking at a lot of new faces on both sides of the ball, but Paul Myerberg reminds us to not discount the system that the Falcons run, as it is capable of confusing teams and sets up younger players to step in relatively seamlessly. This game is no gimme.
Now, on to Penn State reaction:
Penn State President Rodney Erickson Says School Made Concessions to Avoid Death Penalty
"We had our backs to the wall on this. We did what we thought was necessary to save the program."
Penn state fell on its sword with this one, but it didn't sound like the school had much choice as NCAA President Mark Emmert was hell-bent on making an example of the Nittany Lions.
Penn State Scandal: NCAA Beats Up Corpse, Then Demands Your Applause
They will not do any of this. The NCAA's punishments serve no purpose, solve no problems, and prevent nothing. They represent an organization desperate for relevance seizing the moment to poach some kind of sinister power-up from this moment. They will -- and did -- suggest the "children" are the reason for the reach, and do so without openly guffawing or flinching from the shame a normal, moral person would feel at that moment. They will use the word "culture" to defend what they do, mostly because using that word allows you to make up whatever you like without evidence, justification, or data.
Penn State Punishment: NCAA Finally Gets Something Right
The NCAA isn't punishing Penn State for Jerry Sandusky's sex crimes. The NCAA is punishing a football program that became the dictionary definition of "institutional control run amok." The NCAA is punishing an University whose priorities became so skewed that the worst kind of evil was allowed to survive and thrive under the guise of protecting some Grand Experiment.
The NCAA Is Using Penn State To Justify Its Own Horrid Existence
This was cynical shit. I couldn't give two fucks what happens to the football team—dress them in white unitards and make them a French mime troop, for all I care—but there's nothing more ridiculous than watching the NCAA parade around its values and make frowny faces on national television, months and months after the scandal broke (and years and years after evil was allowed to take root). Blowing up Penn State gives perfect cover for every other big football school that is now, to use NCAA president Mark Emmert's phrase, "too big to fail," which describes all of them, and which describes the NCAA, too, while we're at it. It creates the illusion that everything is on the up-and-up again, and that other schools will see Penn State and totally get it now (they won't). In its own stupid way, it's the perfect end point for the Penn State scandal: rotten institution punishes institutional rot.
Drew Magary rips the NCAA into pieces.