After a very forgettable football season, it looks like Charlie Weis is trying to put the Fighting back in Irish - as least in his vocal approach.

The DETROIT NEWS hears tell that the Notre Dame coach went off on the rivals from Ann Arbor before the Blue-Gold spring game last month.

Back on April 19, Weis was speaking to the crowd at the pre-game brunch (where else?), when he talked about what he expects at the start of the 2008 season. And his chatter soon drifted to the matter of Michigan:

(Video after the jump.) Read more…

The unfortunate events of September 1st are seven months and 27 days ago. But the University of Michigan’s defeat at the hands of Division 1-AA Appalachian State still stings. This weekend’s NFL draft only helped to make that pain even more vivid.

You see, Michigan’s 2007 season wasn’t supposed to be so bad. After the surprisingly awesome 2006 season, hopes were high in Ann Arbor. Offensive studs Chad Henne, Mike Hart, and Jake Long were coming back to school, just to win a championship. Along with standout receivers Mario Manningham and Adrian Arrington, the Wolverines were ranked as high as #5 in the preseason. Then It happened. Read more…

Central Ohio is all abuzz today as former Michigan offensive lineman has done the unthinkable: He’s transferring to Ohio State. Justin Boren, unhappy with the new Rich Rodriguez-led regime in Ann Arbor, will have sit out a year and, thanks to Big 10 rules, can never go on scholarship while suiting up for the Buckeyes.

So even though Boren is no all-american prospect**, he’s still a first class practice player for Jim Tressel. And a free player who doesn’t count against the team’s scholarship numbers.

We worked on the Ohio State radio network for five years (hosting Buckeye football pre- and postgame talk shows and co-hosting a daily radio show with Kirk Herbstreit) and can’t remember every hearing about a UM player transferring to Columbus. Or vice versa.

The COLUMBUS DISPATCH did some digging though, and the results as somewhat astonishing. Read more…

Earlier this week, Dan Le Batard interviewed highly-respected Yahoo Sports NFL writer Jason Cole on his WAXY-AM radio show. It was a throwaway “we have to talk about the NFL during Draft week“ segment until Cole said something in passing that we found very interesting, and a little shocking.

Cole was asked by Le Batard: “The Michigan Wolverines seem to have a running back, a wide receiver, a quarterback and a left tackle who are going to be drafted pretty high. So why did they stink on offense?” Read more…

Notre Dame-Michigan has been one of those classic college rivalries that’s recently lost some of it’s luster, thanks to the Irish’s football woes under Charlie Weis. (To be fair, the Wolverines didn’t help matters by limping into last season’s meeting 0-2, with a shocking loss to Appalachian State and a home blowout at the hands of Oregon.)

But the rivalry may be back on track, as the two schools will be hitting the ice against each in tonight’s NCAA Frozen Four.

Read more…

Will Beijing be the last chance to see Jennie Finch in all her Olympic glory?

• Could Brett Favre really come back with the Pack? “I very well could be enticed to do it.”

• But if he does return to Green Bay, will they still name a street after him?

• Speaking of retired QBs, Ryan Leaf is doing A-OK at West Texas A&M.

• So, Michael Vick really wasn’t playing pigskin in prison?

Read more…

Former University of Michigan wide receiver Mario Manningham found himself disappearing from NFL draft boards for “character concerns”, code for what the rest of us called “enjoying college to the fullest”. So what does a boy do when his character has been impugned by, you know, himself just before the biggest payday of his life?

(Because he got high)

Throw himself on the mercy of the court. Manningham, who insisted he had never tested positive for marijuana use at Ann Arbor, admitted to two failed marijuana tests but declared he had found Contract Jesus (distant cousin to Touchdown) and wouldn’t touch the Demon Weed anymore. Hallejulah!

Read more…

• THE DIRTY catches Bruce Pearl once again laying out with the ladies.

We expect nothing less from the man who was able to sneak a halftime hug with Erin Andrews.

• Poetic justice: Spencer Hall of the SPORTING BLOG realizes that Western Kenutcky’s Big Red has inspired ESPN photo caption writers to pen haikus.

• ODENIZED comes across Charles Barkley professing his hatred of NBA referee Mike Mathis. But it’s not like Chuck feels that way about all refs - right, Dick Bavetta?