.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

Westsider Rider

Monday, January 07, 2008

Happy New Year

Been a long time with a combination of being on vacation and laziness so there haven't been any posts for a month. During my last post there was a lot of confusion and disappointment as our coaching search was in the middle of the Les Miles debacle and it looked like we were going to promote from within. Then a short few days later we learned that we were talking to Rich Rodriguez. Initially I thought there was no chance it would happen but I'm extremely happy that it happened and with the hire. Sure there was a strong pull towards Miles because he is one of us but Rodriguez wasn't a big problem with our coaching staff due to the fact that they were all Michigan Men and too stuck in their ways? In addition Rodriguez is considered one of the authorities on the spread offense and considering how Michigan was still stuck in the three yards and a cloud of dust mentality with our old coaches I'm extremely pleased that we are moving into the 21st century.

Onto the next topic being the performance of the team on New Years day sending Coach Carr out with a big W. I was one of many who thought we didn't have a chance in this game. Considering the way we finished the year and the running ability of Tebow and the speed of Percy Harvin I didn't think we would keep it within 2 TD's, but as they say that's why they play the game. I couldn't have been more thrilled to be proven wrong. When I turned the game on and watched our first drive I knew we definitely showed up to play and we were going to give a hell of a performance. It was great to see not only Coach Carr but the seniors go out with a bang like that. Especially seeing Henne play in his best game as a Wolverine.

Now it's down the stretch of recruiting season with signing day only a few short weeks away. There was a lot of concern with the coaching change but there have yet to be any defections as of yet. Marcus Witherspoon is supposed to now visit Tennessee but after getting Brandon Smith over the weekend and reconfirming with J.B. Fitzgerald should help in keeping him in the Maize and Blue. The big recruiting news centers around the Rivals #1 player in the nation Terrelle Pryor who added Michigan to his list after Coach Rodriguez was hired and it looks to be a Michigan/Ohio State battle. There is a lot of talk that it will depend on what Ryan Mallett does so we will just have to sit and wait. But after watching Pryor in the U.S. Army All-American game I couldn't help but think of what kind of damage he could do for us in a winged helmet or against us in a grey one. Let's hope he decides on the good guys.

Finally, I want to close with the Lakers who are on a tear and looking like they will be able to do some damage this season come playoff time. Andrew Bynum has become a force on the inside and the youngsters are all stepping up even as Kobe has struggled these past few games. It's great to see the team taking care of business against these bad Eastern Conference teams and now we've got a big two game roadtrip to Memphis and New Orleans the next two days. It'll be a good test on Wednesday against a Hornets team that carved us up earlier this year.

Labels: , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home