Michigan March Madness: Rose Arena at Central Michigan University

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Rose Arena at Central Michigan University

Rose Arena, photo by CMU Sports Information

I noticed that March has 5 Saturdays this year and that Michigan has 5 NCAA Division I schools. Seemed like a plan to feature the basketball arenas of all five schools in honor of March Madness. I decided to feature them in alphabetical order, so we begin with Central Michigan University’s Rose Arena, home of the CMU Chippewas men’s basketball, women’s basketball, volleyball, wrestling and gymnastics programs.

The Daniel P. Rose Center (commonly called Rose Arena) is a 5,200-seat arena that opened in 1975. The Chippewas play on a wooden court was used only once prior to CMU’s purchase — for the 1986 NBA All-Star Game. CMU’s media kit says:

Since its opening in 1973, Rose Arena has been the site of two women’s championships and four men’s championships. In 1980, Rose was the site of the national AIAW Division I National Championships (at the time, the equivalent of the men’s NCAA Tournament). And, in 1984, Rose hosted the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament. Rose has also been the site of the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s girls basketball finals since 1997.

The Rose Rowdies are right on top of the action in the east end zone. A true “sixth man,” this group is an intimidating force for opposing teams. Their chants and cheers create an intense, enthusiastic atmosphere.

Wikipedia’s entry for the Daniel P. Rose Center has a few photos and you might be interested in NBA players who played at CMU and the CMU Sports Hall of Fame. NCAA Men’s Division I Tournament bids by school on Wikipedia says Central has 4 NCAA Tourney appearances with the last being 2003 when Chris Kaman led the Chips to an upset over Creighton before being dispatched by Duke.

The other Division I schools are EMU, MSU, UM & WSU and if you have a cool photo of one of them, post a link below or send an email. Likewise, any links to related Rose Arena / Central Michigan University stuff would be welcome!

More Michpics Michigan March Madness.

All Star Weekend with Chauncey, Sheed & Rip

Posted on by farlane

Chauncey steps up to the line by radiospike photography

he shoots by radiospike photography

temper temper by radiospike photography

Chauncey steps up to the line, temper temper and he shoots, all photos by radiospike photography

Congratulations to Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace and Richard Hamilton for selected for the 2008 NBA All Star Game. As an added bonus for Piston fans, Rip is in the 3 Point Challenge … he’s been practicing.

Radiospike has more Piston photos in his great Pistons 11-23-07 and Detroit Pistons sets. The shot of Rip is part of his pretty cool 2007 the year in pictures and he currently has a photography exhibition titled Detroit: The Way Things Are in Ferndale (through Feb 28).

The U.P. 200 & Midnight Run Sled Dog Races

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

P1010050c

P1010050c, photo by Dan & Mary.

The web site for the annual UP 200 / Midnight Run and Jack Pine 30 sled dog races explains that 1988 a group of mushers and others began to discuss a dogsled race in the Upper Peninsula.

When the race finally began to take shape, the trail encompassed Marquette, Alger, and Delta counties, and ran from Marquette to Chatham, Rapid River, Escanaba, Gwinn, and back to Marquette…

…and on a snowy Friday evening in February of 1990, the dedication and perseverance finally paid off. To the cheers of 10,000 spectators, the mushers of the first UP 200 Sled Dog Championship ten dog race sped down Washington street in Marquette into the night. At midnight, in the community of Chatham the first Midnight Run racers departed on the long, cold journey towards Escanaba. These racers went on their way into history, with many “tails of the trails” for the years to come.

The UP200 and Midnight Run have remained successful events each year and they take place this weekend (Feb 15-17) and you can get all the details (including the trail map and Breakaway’s Blog at the link above!

Mary writes that this photo shows a team is approaching the crossing at Forest Highway 13, heading west to the next checkpoint at Munising/Wetmore, MI. It’s part of a set of UP 200 / Midnight Run dogsled races 2007 photos (slideshow)

Climbing Munising’s Amazing Ice Formations

Posted on by farlane

Ice Climbing on Grand Island

Grand Island VI, photo by gowaterfalling.com

Waterfalls of the Great Lakes Region and Beyond is an incredible website – packed with pictures of waterfalls – including a ton of Michigan falls (full list on the home page). You may know about the beauty of Michigan’s tumbling cascades, but have you seen them when winter freezes them in their course? The picture above is from the cliffs on the east side of Grand Isle opposite Sand Point is just one of many on their Munising Ice Formations page which explains:

Munising, Michigan is located at the western end of the sandstone cliffs that dominate the Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore. Every winter, water seeping over and through the sandstone freezes forming ice columns, curtains and other formations. Ice climbers flock to the area to tackle the ice, but even if you do not climb the ice formations are a fascinating sight…

Grand Island sits in Munising Bay. In summer there is a ferry service that takes you to the island, but in winter the bay usually freezes over and you can walk, ski or snowmobile out to the island.

Numerous ice formations form on the sandstone cliffs shores of the island. The most accessible ice is on the east side of the island opposite Sand Point, but there is ice all around the island. All the pictures below are of the cliffs opposite Sand Point and were taken in February 2003.

They advise to check with the locals on the ice conditions before crossing – and I advise you to click over and look at more of the pictures – there’s a bunch of great views! If you don’t have a snowmobile, it looks like Grand Island Sled Rentals can help you out (some more great pictures of the ice too!).

You should probably check out the Waterfall Mosaic too!

hoops

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

hoops by Aaron Boot

hoops, photo by Aaron Boot

About this photo, Aaron says: “I find it very challenging to head outdoors and try to find objects and use them in an abstract context. This particular shot was taken with that idea in mind. It is taken from the backside of a basketball hoop and it’s one of my favorites.”

You can see more of his work with a variety of cameras (Holga, Banier, Chinon, D80, more) and using a variety of printing processes (Kallitype, Printing Out Paper, silver gelatin, others) at Aaron Boot Photography and at his personal site, Just Freeze.

Michigan Snowshoe: Extreme Edition

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

100_2066

100_2066, photo by tomthebomb.

tomthebomb says that this is a photo of Fisher getting EXTREME.

Michigan in Pictures regular Matt Callow tipped me off to the annual Bigfoot Snowshoe Race in Traverse City. The race takes place January 26, 2008 and while it probably won’t be this extreme, it is the Midwest qualifier for the National Championship Snowshoe race and looks like a lot of fun from the photos.

Fist of a Champion – Detroit’s Monument to Joe Louis

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Joe Louis 2

Joe Louis 2, photo by buckshot.jones.

Scott writes I simply love this piece of art work. It says so much about the heart and soul, the toughness, about the town and the people who live here and have built this area. Joe Louis Barrow, aka “The Brown Bomber” is one of the all-time great boxers. The 24 x 24 x 11.5 feet Monument to Joe Louis was commissioned by Time Inc. for the City of Detroit to honor Joe Louis. It was created by sculptor Robert Graham and installed at Jefferson Avenue at Woodward, Detroit on October 16, 1986.

Robert Graham’s page on the Joe Louis Memorial says:

The monument is a 24-foot long arm and fist held in balanced suspension from a pyramidal support of bronze poles. Weighing approximately 8,000 lb., it rises 24 feet above a major downtown intersection.

The initial arm was modeled in clay at 14 inches in length. With the aid of a computer, a full-scale steel armature, 24 feet in length, was made and wrapped with wire and covered with clay. The final clay model was divided into eight sections and cast in bronze, then assembled. The pyramid structure was fabricated out of steel, and faced with bronze plates. A tribute to Joe Louis is inscribed on the arm.

Detroit Yes writes in Downtown Montage that he may be the only person in Detroit (other than Scott) who likes the Fist:

So great was Joe Louis that is difficult to measure the historical contribution of this immense figure who, without a close second, is by far the greatest sports figure to ever arise from Detroit and assume center stage on the world theater. It was he who helped shatter the Nazi myth of racial superiority with his dramatic defeat of German champion Max Schmeling during the rise of Nazism. In doing so and then serving his country nobly in the segregated army of World War II, he laid bare the disgraceful hypocrisy that denied Afro American athletes access to the major leagues of American sport, not to mention all Afro Americans who were and are denied the basic birthrights of American citizenship.

He did this with his fists and determination. So it is fitting that he is honored with a place at the center of his hometown with an artwork as powerful and controversial as he was.

You can get a birds eye view of the Joe Louis Memorial on the Absolute Michigan map of Michigan. Also see Monuments of Detroit from the Detroit News, a slideshow of photos of the Fist and a video look at the Joe Louis Fist Statue. For more about Joe Louis, Wikipedia’s Joe Louis entry and the Official site of the Joe Louis Estate.

Spartan Stadium at Michigan State University

Posted on by farlane

MSU Aerial Photo by clayton_busbey

MSU Aerial Photo, photo by clayton_busbey

Be sure to take a look at other photos Clayton took on this day – they include aerial views of Lansing & Mackinac Island.

I’ve certainly given the University of Michigan and the Big House ample time here on Michigan in Pictures. Looking back, I see that the football stadium at my alma mater, Michigan State University, has received rather less attention. What can I say – my grandmother was a dyed-in-blue Wolverine fan. As usual, you can get lots of the basic information from Wikipedia’s entry for Spartan Stadium in East Lansing which begins:

In the early 1920s school officials decided to construct a new stadium to replace Old College Field. The resulting stadium was ready in the fall of 1923 with a capacity of 14,000. Over the years the stadium grew. In 1935 the seating capacity increased to 26,000 and the facility was dedicated as Macklin Field. John Macklin, football coach from 1911-15, put Michigan State football on the map with a 29-5 record over five seasons with victories over big name programs such as Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin. After admittance into the Big Ten in 1948, Michigan State increased stadium capacity to 51,000 and the field was renamed Macklin Stadium. With Spartan football attracting national attention under Clarence “Biggie” Munn and Hugh “Duffy” Daugherty, 9,000 seats were added in 1956. The following season upper decks were added to the east and west sides boosting the capacity to 76,000. That same season Michigan State dropped the name Macklin Stadium in favor of Spartan Stadium.

In August of 2005 a press box and luxury seating were added – here are photos and renderings of the addition to Spartan Stadium and the page on Spartan Stadium at Ballpark.com (has a cool view of the stadium on game day).

For more photos, head over to Flickr where Patrick Power (love the Spartan Stadium Sundown!) and Alex (excellent Spartan Stadium Panorama) each have a ton of photos of the stadium. Also look in of the Michigan State University Fans pool on Flickr and get some shots of on the field action from the Spartans Football photo gallery at MSU.

There’s Nothing Like a CMU Sunset

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Theres Nothing Like a CMU Sunset

Theres Nothing Like a CMU Sunset, photo by brandonjb.

This photo from a Central Michigan Chippewas football game is part of Brandon’s The Life and Times At CMU set.

Central Michigan University is located in Mt. Pleasant and their CMU History page says:

Central opened its doors in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute. At that time, few of the state’s teachers received any formal training in teaching. School founders made teacher training their mission in founding the state’s second normal school.

Thirty-one students attended classes in second-floor rooms over an office on the corner of Main and Michigan streets in downtown Mount Pleasant. Most students at the time were eighth-grade graduates, attending the “Normal” for a few weeks or months prior to beginning their careers as teachers. Within the first two years, land was acquired and a $10,000 Normal School Building was constructed where Warriner Hall now stands.

In their virtual photo & video tours they have a photo of Kelly/Shorts Stadium and you can at a ton of information on the CMU Chippewas at cmuchippewas.com.

cornhole sunset

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

cornhole sunset by bingo_todd

cornhole sunset, photo by bingo_todd

Winner of this month’s most interesting title…

The Cornhole Game Association says:

There are many people who have varying views of how to play cornhole or what the actual name is, cornhole, bean bag game, softshoes, etc. We have discovered the most popular way to play and have standardized the rules and dimensions so people from all over the country can play the same way.

Their forum looks at the conflicting accounts of the origins and evolution of the game. A Cincinnati native who recently moved to michigan noted …the trend is getting hot up here. They are all calling it ” Polish Horseshoes”. I just laugh and tell them that we call it Cornhole. Oh well they will get it soon enough.

The Cincinatti Enquirer says that Cincinnatian Ryan Whetstone started the Cornhole Game Association, so you Polish horseshoers may be in the wrong.