Wolverines, Spartans and Paul Bunyan

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

100910_UM V MSU FBC DENARD 2 LON

100910_UM V MSU FBC DENARD 2 LON, photo by AnnArbor.com.

In just a few hours, the University of Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State University Spartans will meet for the 104th time for rights to the Paul Bunyan Trophy:

The annual Michigan-Michigan State game gives the winner state bragging rights, an inside track to a bowl game, and last, but certainly not least, ownership of the Paul Bunyan – Governor of Michigan Trophy.

Presented for the first time in the 1953 meeting between the Wolverines and the Spartans, the Paul Bunyan Trophy is the lesser-known of Michigan’s two annual trophy games, shadowed by the nationally recognized Little Brown Jug Game between Michigan and Minnesota.

The Bunyan Trophy was put into circulation by then Michigan Governor G. Mennen Williams. The prize consists of a four-foot wooden statue of the legendary Paul Bunyan astride an axe with feet planted on a map of the state of Michigan. Two flags — one with the Michigan “M” and the other with the Michigan State “S” — are planted on either side of Bunyan. A five-foot stand supports the statue.

The Brown Jug is old news, because the game puts 1st place in the new Legends division of the Big Ten on the line, and both programs are in the top 25. Get a picture of the trophy along with all the links & history on the Michigan vs Michigan State Football Rivalry page on Absolute Michigan.

The photo of Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson being dropped for a loss by MSU’s Chris L. Rucker was taken by Lon Horwedel of AnnArbor.com in last year’s 34-17 Spartan victory. Check this out on black and in AnnArbor.com’s excellent slideshow from last year’s Michigan vs MSU game!

Never a night game at Regents Field & Ferry Field at the University of Michigan

Posted on by farlane

Ferry Field, Ann Arbor Mich 1904, photo courtesy Library of Congress

The University of Michigan Wolverines will play their first-ever night game at Michigan Stadium this Saturday at 8 PM, so I figured it would be a good time to look back at UM’s stadium history. The Michigan Stadium story at the UM Bentley Library says that “student agitation” for better facilities and concerns over holding football games at the Ann Arbor Fairgrounds led to:

In October 1890 the Board of Regents authorized expenditure of $3,000 to acquire land for athletic uses. A ten acre parcel along South State street, approximately where Schembechler Hall now stands, was purchased in 1891. At their May 1891 meeting, the Regents appropriated $4,500 “for the purpose of fitting up the athletic field.”

Michigan christened the field on October 7, 1893 with a 6-0 victory over the Detroit Athletic Club. In 1902, Dexter Ferry donated land immediately north of Regents Field to the university and it was renamed Ferry Field.

Regents Field was home field for several of Michigan’s greatest teams and individual stars. Center William Cunningham was named Michigan’s first All-American in 1898. Neil Snow, end and fullback, was an All-American in 1901, four time All-Western, and star of the first Rose Bowl, also excelled on the Regents Field track and baseball diamond, earning 10 varsity letters. The incomparable halfback Willie Heston, twice an All-American, scored many of his school record 72 touchdowns at Regents Field.

Michigan compiled an overall record of 87 wins 2 losses and 3 ties at Regents/Ferry Field between 1893 and 1905. Fielding Yost’s great “point-a-minute” teams of 1901-1905 went 44-0 at Regents Field, outscoring their opponents 2821-42. Possibly the greatest victory at Regents Field came in the 1904 Chicago game. Michigan beat the previously undefeated team of Amos Alonzo Stagg 22-12 to win the Western Conference title and be proclaimed national champion.

By curious coincidence, that game (which appears in the photo above) was filmed by the Edison Company in one of the earliest successful attempts to film a football game! Click here to view the video!!

The UM v Chicago game was played November 12, 1904 and had an attendance of 13,500. The U of M/Notre Dame game is expected to draw over 111,000 people. You can see another view of Ferry Field at the Library of Congress.

Many more shots can be found at the Michigan Stadium entry and the Ferry Field entry on Wikipedia and more about the University of Michigan on Michigan in Pictures!

Biggest Hockey Game Ever: The Big Chill at the Big House

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

The Big Chill

The Big Chill, photo by andykee.

On Saturday, December 11 2010 the University of Michigan Wolverines met the Michigan State University Spartans in The Big Chill at the Big House (Wikipedia entry). AnnArbor.com pegs the crowd at a world-record smashing 113,411 who saw the Wolverines pummel the Spartans 5-0.

It’s not the first time UM/MSU have set the record. In October of 2001, the 2 programs met at Spartan Stadium in The Cold War which drew almost 75,000 who saw the teams skate to a 3-3 tie. Check out this video of the record-setting crowd and here’s the highlight reel from the game.

See the photo bigger in Andy’s slideshow and check out AnnArbor.com’s slideshow from the event.

10/10/10: Football, Fall and our Future

Posted on by farlane

4th & Goal ...
4th & Goal … photo by NightFox Photography

Tomorrow is 10/10/10. While it could be that something catastrophic or wonderfully amazing happens, if it doesn’t you may be looking for a few things to fill the time.

The Big Ten

The University of Michigan Wolverines meet the Michigan State University Spartans at 3:30 PM today. MSU has won the last two meetings and both teams are undefeated and in the AP Top 25, with the Spartans at #17 and UM ranked #18. Tomorrow, green & white or maize & blue will have something to crow about … and the Paul Bunyan Trophy. While State is my alma mater and 2nd favorite college football team, I’m going to side with my dearly departed grandmother and a childhood of 3 yards and a pile of dust with Bo and say Michigan 35 – State 32 as Denard Robinson continues his campaign for the Heisman right over Greg Jones.

The Tenth Month

October in Michigan means apples and cold nights and fall color and haunted houses. Dig in.

10/10/10

October 10, 2010 is being promoted as a global work party by the 350 Movement. Simply put, 350 is the parts per million of CO2 that science says will roll back global warming. Plant some trees, explore going solar, lay plans for transforming your business to meet the challenges of the future, get out with friends on your bikes or find another way to say “Michigan is in this for the long haul”

Check Cory’s photo out bigger and see this and more in his slideshow.

UM vs MSU: Wolverines and Spartans Play Saturday!

Posted on by farlane

Vincent Smith - TD!msuVwmu1

Vincent Smith – TD! by SDJ~Photography and msuVwmu1 by M.Hallowell

This Saturday at 3:30 PM the Michigan State University Spartans travel to the Big House for a date with the University of Michigan Wolverines. Our Michigan vs Michigan State Football Rivalry page on Absolute Michigan says:

The Paul Bunyan-Governor of Michigan Trophy is awarded to the winner of the game between the Wolverines and the Spartans. U of M holds the series edge at 67-30-5, but the Spartans have held the trophy for the past 2 years. Right now both teams are in the AP Top 25, with the Spartans at #17 and UM ranked #18.

If you’re looking for tickets, stubhub has them for $175 – $1422. If you can’t swing that, it’s on ABC with the pre-game at 2:45 PM. The .00007% of Lions fans who are missing Matt Millen will be happy to learn that Millen has been picked as an analyst for the game by ABC. Millen won’t be the only coach in the press box because MSU coach Mark Dantonio (recovering from a heart attack) will be in the box as well.

Click through for more on the game including videos highlighting both programs.

You can see more of the Wolverines in Steve’s Michigan Football 2010 slideshow and get your Spartan on with State News photographer Matt Hallowell’s football slideshow!

There’s more University of Michigan and Michigan State University posts on Michigan in Pictures!

President Obama delivers the commencement address at University of Michigan

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

sjw.NEW.ObamaGrad.05-01-101391

sjw.NEW.ObamaGrad.05-01-101391, photo by Michigan Daily.

On Saturday, Absolute Michigan sent writer Jacob Wheeler to the University of Michigan for the commencement address to the class of 2010 at the University of Michigan. Be sure to read his engaging account at Obama brings full house to the Big House (includes full video of the graduation speech).

When looking for a photo to blog, I came across this great series of photos by Sam Wolson of the Michigan Daily. Check out President Barack Obama Speaks at Commencement and definitely view the slideshow – it’s great!

Congratulations, UM graduates and to all of the State of Michigan’s Class of 2010!

Earth Day at 40, Earth Day in Michigan

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Untitled, photo by Brooke Pennington.

Many folks may not know that Earth Day has deep roots in Michigan, at the University of Michigan to be precise. James Tobin at Michigan Today has the story of the Teach-In on the Environment that UM held in March of 1970 because Earth Day fell right in the middle of exams. Students and teachers formed a group called Environmental Action for Survival (ENACT) and booked Democratic front-runner Senator Edmund Muskie, Ralph Nader and biologist Dr. Barry Commoner.

Over four days, an estimated 50,000 people took part in ENACT’s teach-in—an astonishing success that fueled enthusiasm for Senator Nelson’s national Earth Day, which drew some 20 million participants four weeks later and transformed environmentalism into a movement of historic importance. (A number of ENACT’s leaders went on to influential careers in the field, including Doug Scott, a longtime executive at the Sierra Club who is now policy director at the Campaign for America’s Wilderness; David Allan, who became a professor and associate dean of U-M’s School of Natural Resources and Environment; and John Turner, who served as director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the first President Bush.)

“The Michigan event was by far the biggest, best, and most influential of the pre-Earth Day teach-ins,” Adam Rome, a historian and authority on the environmental movement told the Ann Arbor Chronicle. “It was the first sign that Earth Day would be a big deal.”

Read the rest and see photos and even a documentary from The 40th Anniversary of Earth Day at Michigan.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality can point you to Earth Day events all across Michigan, from the Get Clean/ Go Green Earth Day Celebration in Twin Lakes to the Michigan Earth Day Fest in Rochester held this weekend (Apr 23-25) where they expect 100,000 people to learn about green and healthy living through earth-friendly alternatives in food, energy, transportation, clothing, wellness, career, home, garden, finances and more.

Brooke took this photo on Earth Day last year. Check it out bigger in his Spring slideshow and view more of his work on Michigan in Pictures.

There’s a whole lot more in the Earth Day slideshow from the Absolute Michigan pool!

The Game: University of Michigan Wolverines vs Ohio State Buckeyes

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Michigan vs Penn State Wide-Angle

Michigan vs Penn State Wide-Angle, photo by AdamJacobsPhotos.

One week from today on Saturday, November 21, 2009 UM and Ohio State square off at the Big House in Ann Arbor at 12 noon.

The Game: Michigan Wolverines vs. Ohio State Buckeyes on Absolute Michigan has all kinds of information about this historic rivalry.

Michigan won the first meeting in 1897 (sweet photo of the teams!) and Ohio State didn’t notch a victory until 1919. At the Official Opening of Michigan Stadium in 1927 (click through for a photo) Michigan blanked the Buckeyes 21-0. While Michigan leads 57-42-6, OSU has won the last 5 meetings and is the favorite this year as well.

Be sure to check this out bigger in Adam’s slideshow!

The Atlas Experiment and the Large Hadron Collider

Posted on by farlane

Large Hadron Collider

ATLAS instrument (Large Hadron Collider), courtesy University of Michigan

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, involving over eight thousand physicists from over eighty-five countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories. University of Michigan physicists and students were heavily involved in designing and building major components of ATLAS instrument which is one of two main particle detectors in the LHC. In Michigan integral to world’s largest physics experiment, the UM relates that tomorrow:

After 20 years of construction, a machine that could either verify or nullify the prevailing theory of particle physics is about to begin its mission.

CERN’s epic Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project currently involves 25 University of Michigan physicists and students. More than 100 U-M researchers have been involved in the project over the years. CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research, located in Geneva, Switzerland.

…The collider will, in essence, recreate the conditions of the earliest universe. It will tear apart particles so physicists can study their components and observe as the particles put themselves back together.

You can see the Atlas being built in this video and also take a video tour of the LHC on YouTube. There’s some cool large photos at the Boston Globe. For more photos of Atlas and other components of the LHC, visit the official LHC web site and (highly recommended) The Atlas Experiment, where you can see movies, watch webcams, read about the experiment and even check out a virtual tour of the Atlas instrument.

When writing about the LHC, it’s pretty much required that you note concerns about the safety of the experiment, and then say that the chances are infinitesimal (1 in 50,000,000 or less) that Earth-devouring black holes, strangelets or quantum gates will be created.

You’ll be able to tune into a live webcast of the Large Hadron Collider almost certainly not destroying the world at 4 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, September 10, 2008.

Michigan March Madness: Crisler Arena at the University of Michigan

Posted on by farlane

Gophers at Crisler Arena by B Cohen

Gophers at Crisler Arena, photo by B Cohen

Crisler Arena at the University of Michigan hosts men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s gymnastics and women’s gymnastics. It opened in 1967, was named for Fritz Crisler, legendary UM football coach and athletic director and designed by Dan Dworsky. Wikipedia’s page on Crisler Arena says that is is often called “The House that Cazzie Built,” a reference to superstar Cazzie Russell. Russell led UM to Big Ten titles ’64-66 and his popularity caused the team’s fanbase to outgrow Yost Fieldhouse. The arena seats almost 14,000 and you can read more about it at the Crisler Arena page at MGOBLUE.com.

Wikipedia’s entry for the University of Michigan Wolverines men’s basketball says:

The Wolverines have won 12 Big Ten regular-season conference titles, as well as the inaugural Big Ten Tournament in 1998, which it later forfeited due to NCAA violations. The team has appeared in the NCAA Final Four on six occasions (1964, 1965, 1976, 1989, 1992* and 1993*) and won the national championship in 1989 under Steve Fisher. The program later forfeited its 1992 and 1993 Final Four appearances due to NCAA violations. Other notable players who played for Michigan include Daniel Horton, Bernard Robinson, Gary Grant, Terry Mills, Glen Rice, Jalen Rose, Rumeal Robinson, Jamal Crawford, Juwan Howard, Chris Webber, Cazzie Russell, and Mark Hughes. (I’ll  add Robert Traylor, Rudy Tomjanovich and Phil Hubbard to that list)

More items of interest for you include a biggee-sized view from up high, this photoset titled Paging the Fab Five and a couple of photos of Crisler Arena from the Bentley Historical Library.

More Michpics Michigan March Madness!