Yesterday, I asked my readers to finish off the $52 left in Piqua Whitney's classroom fundraiser. She started the day with $200. She finished with $1680 and me take the link down at 3:30 p.m. "before it got out of hand."
She wanted to thank her donors personally:
Eleven Warriors Family —
I want to express my gratitude for your contribution to my classroom. Through your generous donations, you have blessed me with opportunity to help my students grow and learn in ways I never imaged.
A commenter shared that readers from over 16 states made my project possible. I wish I could have captured the looks on my students' faces when I told them our project was fully funded (and some!) by so many contributors.
Our school focuses on teaching students kindness, responsibility, and respect… you all have shown great kindness—a lesson my students and I won't forget.
Thank you, and Go Bucks!
No way she can dump me for at least another six months, so thank y'all for helping me renew my lease.
My promised AMA is over here. Between smashing this fundraiser and Piqua appointing me to Park Board, it's all bad omens for the Wolverines in the last 24 hours.
ICYMI:
- Michigan scouting report.
- Wolverine RB Higdon: "Everybody knows we definitely beat [Ohio State last year]."
- Urban Meyer and Jim Harbaugh presser notes.
- Film Study: Opening the playbook ahead of Michigan.
- Rivalry runs in Meyer's blood.
- Terry Glenn passed away, and Buckeye Kingdom remembered him.
- Help put a life-size statue of Woody Hayes in his hometown of Newcomerstown, Ohio.
Programming note: The Columbus Crew host rival Toronto in the first leg of the Eastern Conference MLS Finals at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
Word of the Day: Flimflam.
BAPTIZED BY BRUCE. Jim Harbaugh said Monday his earliest vivid memory of the Rivalry happened while attending the 1973 contest in which Ohio State won, 10-10.
While Meyer undoubtedly grew familiar with the Rivalry growing up in Ohio, he said his most vivid early memory happened in 1987 during what proved to be Earle Bruce's last game in Columbus.
From dispatch.com:
Meyer was a 23-year-old graduate assistant in 1987 when he and the rest of the coaching staff were summoned into an office that he now occupies. There, athletic director Rick Bay informed them that coach Earle Bruce had been fired and that the Michigan game would be his finale.
“Coach had his face down on his arm,” Meyer said on Monday, “and I was like, ‘Oh my God, is this really happening?’ ”
Meyer recalled planes flying above Ohio State practice that week and the marching band playing outside Bruce’s house. Michigan was heavily favored, but the Buckeyes, famously wearing “EARLE” headbands, summoned an emotional performance in a 23-20 victory in Ann Arbor.
“He taught me the intensity of it, and no one respected the rivalry more than him,” Meyer said of Bruce.
Another great chapter in Ohio State wins over that Team Up North, and another example of WHY THE RECORD BOOKS GET THROWN OUT WHEN THESE TWO TEAMS MEET.
Thankfully Michigan didn't axe Jim Harbaugh this week after paying him damn near $25 million for divisional finishes of third, third, and fourth place in his first three years.
UNDERDOGS DON'T BITE. While we will always consider it a Rivalry, there hasn't been much of one since El Chaleco and his big brass balls rolled down I-71 to Columbus.
In fact, the underdog hasn't won since Troy Smith's coming out party against Michigan, a game the Buckeyes no doubt won because I attended.
From The Toledo Blade:
The past decade-plus has not exactly been a renewal of the Ten Year War. The favored team has won the past dozen games in the series dating back to 2005, an unusual stretch for a rivalry that has seen plenty of upsets in its history.
Like I'm saying: It's all bad omens for Michigan this week. This win would already be sealed in the stars if it involved any other team.
HARBAUGH THINKS THEY'RE CLOSE. Michigan will probably lose four games this season. They have yet to even be considered for the playoffs, let alone make them.
Yet the man cashing the biggest checks swears they're close:
Harbaugh on the radio: I really do believe we are close ... close to being a great team.
— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) November 21, 2017
Harbaugh also made a bold proclamation abut the health of his redshirt freshman quarterback's brain:
Harbaugh says Brandon Peters was 50 percent better today its totally in the doctors hands, we hope for the best.
— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) November 21, 2017
No update on Speight. OKorn got starters reps today.
I'll be shocked if Peters doesn't start. If O'Korn starts, it's curtains for the Wolverines. Peters can at least move the ball down the field via tight ends, whereas O'Korn can't move it at all.
COOP REMEMBERS GLENN. Jon Cooper had a great line while remembering the life of former player Terry Glenn yesterday: "He played better than I could coach."
From theozone.net:
Still in shock Glenn passed. He was one of the first men that made me realize there were people on Earth blessed with alien athletic ability. Probably could've gone for for 150 yards and three touchdowns this weekend in Ann Arbor, too.
CHIP KNOWS LEVERAGE. It appears Chip Kelly will coach at UCLA or Florida next year. As somebody with Bruin sympathies, I'd like to see Westwood win the race.
But it will undoubtedly come down to who can wave the biggest bag of cash in his face.
From Bruce Feldman of Sports Illustrated:
The 53-year-old Kelly has made it clear from the beginning that he’s going to be pretty deliberate in this process, sources say. Regardless of how well the Sunday meeting went, there was never any intention that Kelly would fly back with Florida brass on that plane as their next head coach. The next 72 hours figure to be very interesting.
Both vacancies offer some compelling possibilities. At Florida, Kelly would have a great recruiting base, good facilities, a very strong commitment from the school and an impressive program history where two coaches have won national titles in the past 20 years. At UCLA, Kelly also would have a great recruiting base (much better than what he won big with at Oregon), would be back in the Pac-12 and would enjoy the favorable dynamic of not being in the middle of the fishbowl situation he would face at some schools such as Tennessee, where virtually everyone in town seems to be hounding you for something.
Going to be interesting to see how Chip recruits without Phil Knight at his back, because the dude hates it. I'm not sold he'll return to his old form, either. Still, he'd be an upgrade on the corpse of Jim Mora Jr.
THOSE WMDs. Ketchup is a pickle... West Point cadet makes list of Rhodes Scholars... Genetically, you're more like your father... When unpaid student loan bills mean you can no longer work... First intersteller astroid is nothing like astronomers have ever seen.
