text:
to play football, not to play trumpet
Ding Dong, The Divisions Are Dead (Again)
After months and months of leaks to the effect that the Big Ten would use the opportunity presented by their (nonsensical) expansion to ditch the current divisions and go with a straight East-West breakdown, the Big Ten… actually, wait.
The proposed Big Ten West includes the six teams located in the Central time zone -- Illinois,Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern andWisconsin -- plus Purdue, sources said.
The proposed Big Ten East includes Indiana,Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State,Penn State and Rutgers.
"Just take a ruler and a map [and split the 14 teams]," a source said.
A source? Didn't we just do this last month? ESPN?
ESPN.com reported last month that the divisions debate was down to whether Purdue or Indiana would go to the West. Purdue's campus is located west of Indiana's.
Yes. We did. Every Big Ten blog has a post on this today. The news: Purdue and Indiana have been situated. This came out in the middle of a surreal terrorist manhunt, and we still care. News is weird, but let's get swept away in the tide of history.
Competitive upshot
cowboys ride for free… wait, seriously, Kansas?
Anyone with a keyboard to tap at is making a Big Ten West == Big 12 North comparison, and… yeah, down to the school that'll probably be making the conference's last stand against the dual hegemony in the other division. The best team out of Iowa/Illinois*/Nebraska/Wisconsin/Purdue/Northwestern will probably be pretty good. They'll be a dog in most every championship game, but this is what happens when you expand with absolutely nothing other than the rapidly-fading cable television model in mind. More like NONsense and NONsensibility and zombies, amirite?
Meanwhile, the other division is Michigan, Ohio State, and Also Ran until such time as Penn State gets off the deck from their NCAA sanctions. Michigan State's trying to puff their chest out, but it's over for them. State's recent run of quasi-relevancy (still no BCS bowls… ever) coincided with a three-year period in which
- Michigan was busy punching itself during the brief Rodriguez era
- Ohio State was off the schedule (2009 and 2010) or having their one-year tatgate implosion.
MSU has one win over a good OSU team since 1974, and four total. While they've been a little less futile against Michigan, before the Rodriguez run their record the previous 20 years was 5-15. With Michigan and Ohio State poised for decade-plus long runs of coaching stability and recruiting dominance, there aren't going to be a lot of opportunities to pick off easy wins against teams struggling to .500 records or worse. It's over.
More interesting is Rutgers. New Jersey is fertile recruiting ground. With Penn State down, eastern Pennsylvania should be easier to get into. They've been recruiting on a level commensurate with a middling Big Ten team despite being stuck in the Big East. If the financial and prestige boost from their move bumps them up a notch, they could become the most annoying ankle-biter in the division.
Penn State has to dig out, obviously, and then who knows what they're like without Joe Paterno? Early returns are good, as they managed to acquire some serious talent despite the sanctions. Christian Hackenberg and Adam Breneman signed up for a team with three more bowl ban years upcoming—that says something about PSU's enduring pull with Pennsylvania recruits.
They still have no chance to keep pace. They have to be down to 65 players this year and are currently on track to have a recruiting class of eight guys this year even with some attrition that's 10 to 12 players. Doom awaits. By the time they're good the Big Ten will probably be at 84 teams. Short term thinking, that's our motto.
Indiana and Maryland enjoy basketball.
*[Yeah, Illinois. Every ten years they have a good team and then implode.]
Should we be thinking long term?
The ACC is trumpeting a very long "grant of rights" deal that hypothetically locks the TV revenue from the 15 member teams—ND included minus football—to the conference they're currently in until 2027. This will save the conference unless something totally improbable happens. That thing: lawyers!
Unless a league member decides to go to litigation to escape this down the road, the ACC believes a Grant of Rights will protect it from conference realignment poachers.
Because lawyers never get involved in these things. While the GOR provides an extra hurdle, it's a deterrent designed to look super scary. Just how effective it'll be in the event of a departure is unknown. See: Maryland, currently involved in that litigation stuff over a $50 million exit fee the ACC voted in just before they left. Maryland will likely pay something less than that in a settlement.
People in charge of things are just in charge of them
Goodbye, Successories Conference.
leadership is more about not being clueless than eyebrows
Let us pour out some gasoline for our dead homie division names, and light them on fire. Burning is the most terrible way to die, but as the wisps arise from the charred notions that were "Legends" and "Leaders" it seems far too kind. If that debacle doesn't prove to you once and for all that our tendency to worship any bushy-eyebrowed dim bulb who manages to ascend to the talky bit of any enterprise is destructive, I don't know what to tell you.
Whenever someone cocks their eyebrow at you and condescendingly says that you don't have the vast amounts of information and knowledge they do about complicated geopolitical processes like conference realignment, just remember that those guys are the ones who made the conference a national laughingstock for years. They did this by doing something that was such a bad idea from the start that they promised they'd reconsider after literally every person who heard it laughed in their face.
Therefore their projections that media markets are still going to matter in 10 years…
Nine games
At least there's that. Starting in 2016, Big Ten teams will play nine conference games each. It looks like there's an easy way around the unbalanced schedule issue: have all the teams in one division have four one year, five the other.
I'd rather play more Wisconsin/Nebraska/Iowa than any nonconference opponent you care to name save Notre Dame—RIP, ND series—so I look on this as no downside. With Michigan buying home games from the Oregon States and Cincinnatis of the world, they can have their seventh home game with a nonconference schedule that consists of one cupcake, one interesting guarantee game against a midlevel foe, and one marquee matchup. Well, most of the time. The 2016 nonconference schedule is now locked in: Hawaii, Ball State, and Colorado. Er.
Complicated solution to problem time
Time to re-iterated my desired solution for the basketball situation: everyone plays round-robin, and then the conference is split into a top seven and bottom seven, whereupon another round-robin commences. 19 total games, best overall record wins. Pros:
- Conference championship is almost entirely fair. Home-road is unbalanced in the first half, but none of this "you didn't play team X" business. The regular season championship is a really big deal right now; this would make it bigger.
- No divisions. Divisions kill the importance of the regular season title.
- The last six games for the top half are a must-see all-out war. Dude, take this year's league and do this to it and imagine a stretch run where IU-OSU-M-MSU-Wisconsin-Iowa-Minnesota OR Illinois OR Maryland only play each other. That would be nuts.
- Doesn't require you to expand the conference schedule too much to get coverage. No 20, 22 game conference schedules but you don't get all that discussion about how team X doesn't play team Y.
Cons are obvious and large: potentially problematic ticket sales since you don't know who you're playing or when, a potential for teams near the bubble to get blasted off it (if you're #7 in the top half) or have little opportunity to climb out of it (for #8 stuck with the little people). I stole the RR-split-RR system from Scottish soccer, which has a compelling narrative at the bottom as teams try to avoid relegation that doesn't exist in college sports.
In any case, they could at least try it and see if the upside outweighs the downside.
Monday Recruitin': Just Pull The Trigger Already Edition
Tick tock, Maurice Ways
MI WR Maurice Ways did get his offer over the weekend. He did not commit, possibly so that he could follow through on a promise to go up to Michigan State's spring game. Ways said a Michigan commitment was a "huge possibility($). Huge!
But Ways did not commit. Why:
"I've got a scholarship so it's a good chance. But my parents were very excited, growing up a Michigan fan, being in the state of Michigan, playing for Michigan football it just seems like the right thing to do.
"But once again I do want to wait my options and not rush into anything and make sure it's the right fit for me and my family as a football player and as a young man."
Ways is setting up another Ann Arbor trip. When that occurs I will eat my hat if he doesn't commit. #justpullthetriggeralready
Visitors and such
Westphal is #21
IL CB Parrker Westphal was the headliner. Afterwards he told 247 that "Michigan was still the standard($)" and that he considered committing but decided to hold off until he goes on another couple visits in May. This was his sixth trip to Ann Arbor. If not for Ways, Westphal would be your leading candidate for next commitment. #jptta
BONUS: Westphal came in for a full-on (free) profile from 247. I lol'd:
"When my friends were out partying, I'd be at home studying, doing situps and pushups and go for a run at night," Westphal said. "I'd try and do what Herschel Walker did. Those 3,500 situps, 1,500 pushups, that dude was a freak. I think he lied about that. That's hard. You need time to do that."
AZ TE Mark Andrews visited OSU, told Eleven Warriors some noncommital things about Ohio State, visited Michigan, about which I can find nothing, visited ND, and told 247 some nice things about ND($). With Michigan seemingly days away from its second commitment from a 6'4" wide receiver, Andrews's positional preference probably means this is the last we'll hear about his recruitment:
"I don't want to be the guy that sits on the line and blocks. I want to be the guys making plays with the ball in his hands," the No. 62 overall prospect in the line said. "But with how Notre Dame uses the tight end it fits my skill set well. I love Notre Dame's offense and how they utilize the position."
Michigan has filled his spot if he's averse to playing TE. Also I can't turn up anything from the Michigan sites on him. Bad sign.
IL TE Ian Bunting was a little more open about his thought process:
"I liked it a lot. They have great people and just a really cool culture there." Bunting wasn't ready to name a leader yet but he did say he was going to sit down and narrow his list in the next couple of days. He wasn't sure if his list was going to be a top 2, 3, or even 5, but he did say Michigan would be on that list regardless of the length.
The M Block's vibe is that Michigan is still behind… someone. The conventional wisdom is that would be Notre Dame. He told Allen Trieu much the same($), saying Michigan was "near the top" and he'd have a shortlist soon. 247 got some more detail($):
"I got to sit down with the coaches and we watched a lot of film," he said. "We didn't just watch film from Michigan games, but also San Diego State games as well. They wanted to show me first hand the transition they are making from where they were when Denard was their quarterback to where they eventually want to get to in using their tight ends. I've played receiver my entire career, but know I will be a tight end at the next level and am ready to work hard and show that I can play on the blocks as well."
Turning Bunting's head is a little more important because of part of this next section.
A guy Michigan does lead for
Rivals's Josh Helmholdt interviewed MO LB Kyron Watson at the St. Louis camp that occurred over the weekend, and Watson flat-out said Michigan was his leader($):
Helmholdt: Is there a team you're really excited about right now?
Watson: Yeah, it's Michigan right now. [coy smile]
Evaluations are all over the place on Watson. He's 100th on ESPN, a 3/4 star borderline guy on Rivals, and a generic three star at the other two places. TCU, Missouri, and Illinois are the main competitors.
IL TE Daniel Helm was at that same event and impressed Helmholdt:
"I think he has the ability to play at an elite level," Helmholdt said. "He is a receiving tight end and won the MVP of the Rivals Underclassman Challenge last year, so we will see what happens."
Helmholdt said that, along with his physical makeup, the 6-foot-5, 220-pound player has a personality that draws others to him.
"First of all, he is a super-nice kid who is shy in the way that even he is impressed that we think he is a four-star player," Helmholdt said. "He is respectful and humble.
"As far as being a prospect, I think he has a lot of upside. Right now he has coat-hangar shoulders, and I could see him easily getting up to 240 or 250 pounds."
Also he is refreshingly honest about his F5-pounding abilities in re: his ranking:
"(I look) more than I should," Helm joked. "That is all I'm going to say."
Helm said he knew he was the No. 201 player in the country, as well as the No. 6 tight end. He added that he wasn't checking the rankings as a motivational tool but a measuring stick.
In an interview similar to the Watson one($) he mentioned that Florida had not actually offered him yet despite their presence in his top four. If that decision does come soon they would not be a factor, leaving just Tennessee and Ole Miss as competition.
Unfortunately, Rivals's Dallas Jackson came away from that camp thinking Tennessee was his leader:
If I had to make just one prediction from
@RivalsCamp St. Louis it would be #Rivals250 TE Daniel Helm to #Vols. Kid was gushing about #UT.
If I had to make one prediction about YOUR FACE it is that is is WRONG sorry sorry be professional… be professional.
We'll see if that's just a one-off thing or not. If you're looking at Helm's unease at waiting and possibly passing up a spot as a good thing for Michigan, Tennessee already has a TE this year and took two last year; Ole Miss took three last year. Options are limited at all of his top schools.
Wouldn't it be nice
ESPN has a feature breaking down the recruitments of their top ten players. Michigan is involved with four: CA CB Adoree' Jackson, VA DE Da'Shawn Hand, VA DT Andrew Brown, and NJ CB Jabrill Peppers. It won't surprise you to find out that ESPN says Michigan leads for Peppers, but they buck the conventional wisdom($) with one Mr. Hand:
Who's in the driver's seat: Michigan
Other candidates: Alabama, Florida and South Carolina
Dark horse: Virginia Tech
Most recent visit: Hand recently took a visit to South Carolina.
What they said: On Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Mattison: "He's always energetic. That dude is insane. I don't know how old he is, but at heart that dude is 21," he said. "We get there and he is listening to Rihanna and Drake, he was dancing and singing. The players said he's really like that, too. That dude is wild."
TomVH says Mattison is Michigan's "secret weapon." If Michigan does manage to snatch Hand away from VT there will be Bud Foster Forever Alone ragecomics.
Virginia is leading for Brown, and Jackson—an Illinois transplant who's only been in California for one year—is completely wide open. HOWEVA, Michigan was mentioned as a team "rising" for Brown at 247 and he told Scout that he plans an M/OSU trip($) "in the near future," presumably after he makes a southern swing through Alabama, Florida, FSU, and Not That USC.
Also in Hand positive vibes, Steve Lorenz says Hand's dad is on board($) with M and that they're even with VT.
Everything's coming up Milhouse
NJ DE/TE Garrett Dickerson has a top five($), and it's an interesting one: Michigan, Alabama, Ohio State, Stanford, and Northwestern. His brother already plays for the Wildcats, if you're playing the One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other game. On Michigan:
"I visited there last year and had a great time, and really enjoyed that atmosphere and the coaches are great. The facilities are great as well."
Dickerson hasn't been back since that November visit. He also saw OSU around then. He just went to Stanford and Northwestern, and hasn't been to Tuscaloosa at all yet. The nerd schools have to be the favorites, then, until Dickerson finds his way to others in his top five. He had to shoot down some rumors that he committed to Stanford, FWIW.
Scott impresses, says recruiting is a foreign thing
FL WR Artavis Scott may not like talking to reporters about what he's thinking
One of the most impressive athletes out on the field at IMG Academy was Tarpon Springs (Fla.) East Lake wide receiver Artavis Scott. The 5-foot-11, 180-pounder caught upwards of five touchdowns passes on Saturday, showing his ability to run nearly every type route.
"I don't know. I really don't worry about all that stuff right now. I really don't have any standings on any team," said Scott.
His mom likes Florida "but, I don't know, it's whatever I want."
Semi-weekly Damien Harris tweet
2015 KY RB Damien Harris's latest foray into indicating to everyone he would like to go to Michigan:
Me and my bro
@GeorgeCampbell0 need to take a trip to Ann Arbor together soon! #136
Campbell, the massively-touted 2015 teammate of commit Mason Cole and target Artavis Scott, retweeted it. Let's all have a tizzy.
Just got off the phone with Coach Borges. Had a productive conversation! Go Blue!
The suspense is not killing me here. #jptta
Etc.: Michigan offers FL LB Darrion Owens($). Reminder: Tim Sullivan of Rivals confirms that offer to TX RB Vic Enwere I was a little suspicious of was a reporter getting M and MSU mixed up.
2015 stuff: Add the name "Tim Settle" to your radar; the VA DT has local offers and is claiming interest from all three Big Ten heavyweights. MI OL Kyonta Stallworth has offers from… uh, UCLA and Florida($)? Wow? M offers($) IL LB Terry Beckner Jr. M makes top ten($) for CO RB Christian McCaffrey (yes that McCaffrey).
This Week in the Twitterverse
I apologize in advance, but I'm not feeling very funny this week. Some weeks the world just feels really heavy, and it's tough to pick yourself up, let alone to be amusing for others. Some weeks you just want to sit very still, as if the bad things of the world will quietly move along. You can only hear so much about bombings and fertilizer factory explosions and ricin and shootouts and sinkholes and flooding before you want to just shut the world out just so you don't have to deal with it anymore.
Martin Richard was 8 years old. Come on. If that alone doesn't put a damper on your Universe, then I don't know what to tell you.
Since Monday's horrors, people have tried to articulate what, other than the obvious, made Boston affect us on such a deep and personal level. In my mind, it is because this tragedy invaded something we foolishly believed to be beyond the reach of such evil. Sports often serve as a welcome escape from the "real world" with all its highs and lows. We prefer the fiction we create that our favorite teams and pursuits are really life-and-death matters. We feel like at the end of the day, there is a floor to how much we can lose. I love Michigan sports, but no matter how devastating a loss might seem (PITCH THE BALL TO STEVE BREASTON), I know that at the end of the day my child is healthy, I have a home and a job, and my dogs will still be happy to see me. We have a presumption of the 'worst thing that can happen' in the athletic arena.
So when the "real world" seeps into our cozy little athletic realm, it strikes a special chord with sports fans. I think the reason people reacted so viscerally to Kevin Ware's injury wasn't because it was such a devastating long-term injury (he'll be back playing by next season). It was because it was such a graphic injury that it reminded us that while we like to imagine our athletic world as a comfy bubble that separates us from the dangers of our everyday lives, that bubble is and has always been a fleeting figment of our imaginations.
The Boston Marathon bombings were terrible in so many ways, beyond the obvious horror, fear, death and devastation. This one struck close to home for many people because the Boston Marathon lies at the intersection of our sports world, our national psyche, and our own lives. They attacked a major sporting event. They attacked an iconic American event. And they reminded us all that there, but for the grace of God goes any of us. My wife is running a half-marathon in Indianapolis in a couple of weeks, and if you don't think Boston will be on my mind, you're crazy.
Boston itself will be fine. I mean…
Yeah. I'm not worried about Boston. I'm a little bit worried about us. I feel like as much as we need to face our problems, trying to do so every day gets to be too much. We need a few hours every week where our biggest worry is the ability to pick up that A-gap blitz. The horror of Boston reminds us that in the grand scheme of things sports really aren't that important, but they also remind us why we need sports in the first place.
I guess what I'm saying is that after stuff like this, don't judge people for jumping back into what they know. After all, there is no wrong way to cope.
Except This
Okay, strike what I said. THIS IS THE WRONG WAY TO COPE:
This was the afternoon of the bombing. He's talking about a number of people who have lost limbs. Would it be nice if the Boston Marathon gave the victims an exemption to run the race? Sure. Would it be nice if they bought everyone a pony? Of course. But Jeebus, man.
On a related note, this may be my last Darren Rovell update. We had a disagreement over my assertion that his request that people tweet him pictures of the Boston bombing was (in the words I would have used had I known he was going to block me anyway) un-f*cking-believably opportunistic and voyeuristic and vulturific and dongish. He responded by deleting our conversation, and becoming the second person to block me. So if anything Rovell-related needs to be featured in this here column, someone let me know.
Worst Ace Ever
You know how I said Rovell was the second person (that I know of) to block me? I'm sure that you, as one who hates unresolved plot points, were saying to yourself, "I must know who the other one was." Wonder no more. It was, of course, Ace Williams. You all undoubtedly remember Williams as the guy who broke the story that John Navarre was Keyser Soze, and that Michigan Basketball was secretly the Monstars in Space Jam. But I've got some bad news for everyone: Ace is no more.
This is what used to be Ace Williams's feed. His history is Ace's history. But alas, as is fitting of this Week in Which We Can't Have Nice Things, this wealth of Michigan knowledge has departed for… something? The icing on the cake is that Ace's old account, @ChatSportsACE, has already been taken over by a parody account ("Parody Ace Williams").
Before he left, though, Ace fired off one last hilariously fabricated story (redacted above), the details of which will not be repeated here because it is hilariously fabricated. His "story" has also been parroted by his former employer's Twitter account, which I will also not link because see above. But for those who are wondering, "BiSB, how can I tell if one of these stories is fake?" It can be hard to tell, but here's a protip: no one tweets specifics about an "exclusive" story and then waits more than three days to publish the actual story. If you have a scoop, you don't say, "hey, CBS Sports/ESPN/ABC Sports/Deadspin/MGoBlog, there's a really awesome story out there. Here's exactly where to look. I only hope you don't publish your story before I finish writing mine four days from now."
Fortunately, no one will ever, EVER mistake Ace Williams for Ace Anbender.
Never Saw THAT Coming
I'm sure you all remember Mike Rice, the disgraced former Rutgers coach who was fired because we're all a bunch of wusses. Also because he whipped basketballs at players' heads and called them f*ggots. But mostly the wuss thing. In any case, Mike Rice is back where he belongs: yelling at kids.
Sometimes in history a bold visionary will look at two things that don't belong together, put them together, and become a genius. Sour cream and onion chips, for example, sound like a terrible idea, but are pretty tasty. Likewise, combining Mike Rice, coaching, and 12-year-old girls may SOUND like a terrible idea… yeah its actually an even worse idea than it would appear.
That's Unusual…
This came from @bryan_starke, and I can't make much sense of it.
The disconcerting possibility is that the Spartans and Buckeyes are combining forces, but I don't know. If anyone can explain this I will sleep much better.
Jose Canseco UpdaOMG OMG OMG
Oh. Oh my. Jose Canseco did a Reddit AMA. I REPEAT: Jose Canseco did a Reddit AMA.
WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE CLICK THE LINK: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1clw9o/i_am_jose_canseco_famed_steroid_user_and_former/
Unverified Voracity Recommends Ruffage
I'm ignoring this Boston business. Should I have to mention this? Probably not. Rest assured that when the zombie apocalypse comes I'll be here speculating about how it affects Michigan's roster when the starting quarterback bites his center.
Anyway: stuff.
Fritz Crisler's advice to Walter. Eat plenty of ruffage, young man.
This is apparently a new find from user Messenger Puppet. The message board sleuths have identified "Walter" as a
missing Brown student Walter Freihofer, who had quite a life. The timing fits: he graduated high school in 1940 and died about a year ago; the letter was probably uncovered as someone was going through his things.
Yes, Wilton. Wilton Speight provides MLive with a picture of him hellaciously stiffarming a hapless fool who dares approach Speight's aura:
That's in an article about Speight's high ranking on ESPN. I was not aware that he'd reclassified after a serious collarbone injury in the first game of his junior season. In general that's a good thing—experience is everything for quarterbacks, who don't approach their ceilings until they're 35.
I should mention that I missed MO LB Kyron Watson in my rundown of Michigan targets in the ESPN 150. He's 100th.
Hated Chad Ford, man, you just don't get it. Hated Chad Ford is mostly a joke about how Chad Ford is all like taking my peoples from me, but come on man:
"His decision to return, considering his age (he turns 21 before the draft) and high draft stock at the moment, is a puzzling one -- I'm not sure his draft stock will ever be higher. A potential first-round pick in 2014."
There are things other than draft stock in life, like being the man on a very good college basketball team.
2014 looms. It appears that Michigan's got a one-year reprieve here from GRIII and McGary. Paste these two items together…
"We're like brothers," McGary said. "Coach says we're joined at the hip, I don't think it's that serious. But (part of my decision relied on) what he was doing.
"We just kind of wanted to come back together, make a run at it and play the way we play."
"It was 50-50," McGary said. "I might have been leaning a little bit toward (leaving at first), but I talked it over with my family, and I thought this was what was best.
"I kind of want to be a kid for one more year."
...and you get both guys planning on leaving after next year. This is fine. It gives Michigan time to replace them. It does mean that the 2014 recruiting class will burgeon to at least 5 players, more if there is a transfer or Stauskas blows up into a lottery pick. Or Spike, I guess.
In any case, Michigan's next basketball recruiting class is huge for the continued program upswing. It currently consists of Florida big man Ricky Doyle and Indiana wing Austin Hatch, if Hatch can get back on the court. That's kind of a big if; it seems likely Michigan signs the guy and puts him on a medical scholarship. They'll probably add four additional players: another post-ish guy who will be around (Michigan will have just Doyle, Donnal, and Bielfeldt in 2015), a couple wings, and then a wild card.
Michigan's caught the eye of Milwaukee five-star Kevon Looney:
In an interview with ChicagoHoops.com earlier this week, Looney listed Michigan as one of a handful of schools firmly on his radar.
Looney, who said his recruitment was still "pretty wide open," also listed Michigan State, Tennessee, Florida, Duke, Georgetown and Wisconsin as schools he's hearing the most from.
At 6'9", Looney is a Kevin Durant-style wing with range.
Putting him at the four in Beilein's system would be almost unfair. Let's hope that "Michigan" coming out of his mouth first means something down the road. One and done? Uh… probably. Don't tell Beilein.
Meanwhile, Sam Webb told his WTKA audience this morning that if Trevon Bluiett and Vincent Edwards were to pick today, they would both be headed elsewhere. (I'd guess those destinations would be Butler and Purdue.) That wasn't a lock or anything, but just a feeling from a connected guy. They seem to be leading for Devin Booker despite heavy attention from powers, but Booker isn't rushing towards a decision.
Michigan's going to see their options expand; this AAU circuit will see a half-dozen new prospects on the radar. The three guys mentioned in the previous paragraph are their only current offerees right now. That'll change in the next few months. UMHoops has some additional information on who they might offer.
While Beilein wasn't gung-ho about the possibility after Trey's departure…
"I don't think we're in a position where we have to use (Trey's scholarship)," Beilein said. "But if there's the right situation – last year Caris was more of a redshirt, was going to be."
…they could take a swing at a 2013 kid if one they like pops up. They've got two scholarships available. Assuming GRIII and McGary are gone after this year, if you can get a guy who you think you can be a four-year contributor more along the lines of Caris LeVert than Colton Christian that's a move you may want to make. There's a shaky rumor about Michigan reaching out to former Hofstra commitment Gabe Levin, so they're poking around a bit.
Okay, not just me. I was wondering if what I saw from Delonte Hollowell in the spring game was a hallucination or wishful thinking. Apparently not:
Defensive coordinator Greg Mattison indicated there's more to it than that -- that Hollowell had a terrific spring, and could force his way into the rotation come fall.
"I think you probably thought it was rhetoric when we first got here and you heard me say it before -- you're evaluated every day in practice," Mattison said when asked about Hollowell's start. "The thing that Brady (Hoke) does such a good job of is that we have competitions in practice. Competition means it's a game.
"How you react in that competition is going to decide who's going to earn the right to play the next day and be where they are the next day in the depth chart. So that depth chart can change day to day."
Hollowell played in 11 games last season, but mostly on special teams. He played in three games as a reserve defensive back, recording one tackle.
I brought this up on 'TKA yesterday tentatively and got the same vibe from Sam. While Hollowell isn't going to start over Taylor or Countess, hopefully they'll be comfortable enough to put a third cornerback on the field this fall if someone goes down. Now someone get him tweeting again.
Amara to the rescue. Another guy pushing his way up the depth chart is a key one for Michigan's next couple years, what with the receiver depth looking shaky. He's Amara Darboh:
"I knew Darboh was going to catch the ball," Gardner said. "We knew what was going to happen. We were planning to call that play (the day before the game), and Coach Borges just said get it up and give him a chance.
"That's what I did. He performed." …
"He can do everything well," Gardner said. "He can shake guys in the short-range game, and he can go deep."
That bomb was quality: Darboh got a release that gave him space to the outside and adjusted to a less than perfect ball comfortably. That takes skill.
We're Texas. That means our administrators specialize in sounding like twits. Multi-year scholarships are now legal, but the baton is being picked up slowly despite those press conferences in the immediate aftermath of that rule's passage where every coach in the country said they would offer four-year rides. Full numbers are hidden behind a paywall, but the Chronicle of Higher Ed reports that multi-year deals are rare:
Nearly two-thirds of the 56 most powerful Division I public universities now offer multiyear awards, according to a Chronicle review of public records. Yet few of those institutions do so for more than a handful of athletes.
Among the holdouts are some of the wealthiest programs, including the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Oregon, and Texas A&M. At the University of Arizona, Georgia Tech, and the University of Louisville, this year's NCAA men's basketball champions, you can count the multiyear beneficiaries on one hand.
Here's the bit where someone from Texas sounds like a twit:
"Who gets a four-year, $120K deal guaranteed at age 17?" Christine A. Plonsky, women's athletic director at the University of Texas, wrote in an e-mail to The Chronicle. "The last thing young people need right now is more entitlement."
This is an athletic department that has an entirely separate athletic director for their womens' teams talking about how young people are entitled. I wish I had a magic poverty wand I could wave at people.
Christine A. Plonsky finds herself in the kitchen of Taco Bell. She somehow knows her car is now a 1979 Yugo, her home a double-wide, her husband a machinist. She still makes more than 30k a damn year.
Sing to me, o fate, a tale of entitlement—
Shut up and make me 12 soft tacos.
Anyway. John Infante argues that this sort of inconsistent application of the new multi-year rule is actually a good thing. First, a few numbers he pulled out:
But even colleges that have moved toward the longer agreements have done so modestly. Six institutions signed at least two dozen multiyear agreements this academic year. They include the University of Florida (60), Ohio State University (47), North Carolina State University (40), Michigan State University (30), Arizona State University (27), and Auburn University (27).
But multiyear awards still account for less than one-tenth of all athletic scholarships at most of those institutions.
IIRC OSU and MSU were amongst the schools that promised all of their football folks would be on multi-year scholarships, which clearly isn't happening. Meanwhile, Michigan doesn't even appear on this list of moderate adopters. On the other hand, Infante mentions that Illinois is giving out multi-year deals to virtually everybody.
Infante's argument:
Recruits are beginning to understand their power in the negotiation as well as the tools they can use to get the best deal. Hopefully as the market in recruiting and athletic scholarships continues to mature, more recruits and schools will understand their bargaining positions. This encourages the best situation for athletes: when the agreement they sign is the same one that both they and their coach intend and understand.
Contrast this with setting scholarships at any one length. Under the old one-year maximum, coaches were flat out lying to prospects and their families. They would say that a one-year agreement was really for four years, and that as long as the athlete stayed eligible and out of trouble, the scholarship would be renewed. Then when the athlete was injured or did not live up to expectations, the grant-in-aid would be nonrenewed.
Requiring four- or five-year scholarships creates a similar situation. The coach assures the athlete that they have a four-year agreement, because look, there it is in a written contract. Then when the athlete does not pan out, the coach begins looking for ways to get out from under the commitment. That leads to deliberately confusing scholarship agreements and team/department rules which are inconsistently enforced.
As long as the guarantee remains in place—and the roster spot occupied—even when a guy is booted, that's about all they can do. But it'll be interesting to see if recruiting reporters start asking kids about the details of their "offers." Is Illinois explicitly using a longer-term promise as an incentive? Is, say, Western Michigan guaranteeing four-star commit Chance Stewart four years, and is that why he's headed for the MAC instead of the Illini? Shouldn't Da'Shawn Hand demand any school he signs with guarantee him four years?
It feels like a lot of stakeholders in the recruiting game are trying to downplay the existence of the multi-year rule. That can't last, and then things get interesting.
Etc.: Sap on Russell Davis. Baseball still cruising. Desmond Howard counter-sues photographer guy. Burke #1? With Marcus Smart out, maybe? Probably not. Rothstein on Gardner.
Dear Diary Dives, Rolls, and Eats Ruffage
Brian mentioned this in his spring recap but here again is the play Michael Scarn picture-paged:
He points out several things that happened here. One is James Ross moving so fast toward the hole he actually cuts off Desmond Morgan. Another is the wholesale disaster that was the interior blocking, as Miller got nobody, Braden didn't peel off to intercept the Will, and Kalis ran right by James Ross. Here's your money shot:
sorry for low quality—if you can find the play on here I'll make new.
Morgan was the playside LB but Ross is already past him and gunning toward the hole. Miller is looking the wrong way. Kalis is pulling and looking outside Lewan's and Braden's block. If you ever wondered what coaches mean by "head on a swivel" this is the opposite: his head is facing where his body is, and because of that he doesn't see the MLBs racing in. Braden too needs to recognize that his combo block on the playside DT has done its job; the Hutchinson thing to do here would be to find Ross and Morgan charging into the same hole, and using a block on the first to wall off the second.
These are things learned by experience, and are reasons you usually don't expect linemen to be very good until they're upperclassmen.
As for Ross, that millisecond diagnosis was so incredible people are arguing if it was actually a blitz (that stunts the MLBs? Coach-types, thoughts?). Michael Scarn, obvious Diarist of the Week, submitted a supplement on this diary covering Ross and how he compares to onetime-Cane, now-Steeler Sean Spence. I stand by my comparison to another safety-sized Steeler who made a career out of avoiding blocks by simply getting to the ball-carrier first, Larry Foote. Either way, here's betting when Brian sends us the roundtable questions for HTTV the annual 'breakout player?' wording starts with "Other than…"
Etc. For a second I thought Jake Ryan was Brock Mealer. Snowflake-y thing on next year's basketball team now that the personnel seems settled.
Best of the Board
Spring Practice is over and it's a long few months of coach-less physical training before fall stuff. To give you an idea of the things our players will be working on from now until then, here's a letter from Fritz Crisler circa 1941 dug up by Messenger Puppet.
Apparently the Michigan Method includes:
- Sleeping from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., 10:30 to 6:30 if you absolutely have to.
- Rolling on the ground
- Cut out stimulants such as alcohol and nicotine in order to do better justice to yourself in a football way.
- "Crabbing"
- 10 to 15 minutes of "setting up exercises," followed by a cold bath.
- Eating plenty of ruffage to keep your digestive system normal at all times.
This is the video shown at the basketball banquet. It starts with Novak and Stu after winning the B1G last year then goes to the freshman class and then…
For the tiny subsection of the fanbase for whom heuristics on the interior DL three-deep is news, little shreds of such news have trickled out that could be read as Godin and Heitzman are awesome but probably mean Strobel is still far from playing time (and is a redshirt freshman GAWD U GUYz!)
This sparked a thread led off by Blazefire on Tom Strobel's (below: Fuller) move to 3-tech, apparently because of an injury to somebody in that group. Which injury? Could be Ryan Glasgow, or it could have to do with Wormley being unavailable for most contact this spring. Don't know, guessing Glasgow.
Tom's coming in for a little bit "oh no not LaLota" fear since of that ridiculous interior d-line class he's the highest rated to not yet push for serious playing time: Wormley was mentioned as a potential competition for Roh's job last year before his injury, Pipkins played, and Godin and Henry were 3-stars and your 2nd string 5-tech and 3-tech respectively in the Spring Game.
From Mattison's quote it sounds like it's mostly a convenience thing. They need depth at three, and at the five—which is pretty interchangeable—there's a pecking order emerging of Heitzman the starter, Godin the backup, and Wormley the nominal third string with a lot of upward mobility. Speculation centers on why Strobel was moved and not Godin, who's 10 pounds heavier.
On one hand GAWD U GUYz he's a redshirt freshman who always needed to put on weight and for whom "on track" would mean pushing to play by 2014. On the other Godin is now almost certainly ahead of him and the Godin hype hasn't hit anything like Jake Ryan levels where you figure we just found a diamond. Waaaaaaaaay too early for this: absolutely. Irrational fan voice squeaking this anyway: yeah. Impact if true: small. They can't ALL become next-RVBs (4-star DE are about 25% to become NFL draft picks).
The NCAA has put in the time these last few years to establish itself as the most incompetent group of people since they invented Comcast customer service, and as a consequence opened themselves to ALL THE zing.
When Oregon found major violations, the thread is all 'nothing will happen' until ZING!:
"You're wrong there. The NCAA is sick and tired of being looked at as an impotent and largely powerless organization incapable of meting out justice to offenders.
"This time they are mad. This time they mean business. I predict that the NCAA is SO upset at what Oregon's been doing that South Florida's going to get their scholly's cut again." –mGrowOld
When reports surfaced that Ohio State's bow-tied president was trotted out to recruit Drake Harris, the thread began wondering if that's, you know, crossing some sort of line and ZING!
"When presidents are involved in recruiting, it's usually dead ones like Grant, Jackson, et al. See Auburn, University of." –Victor Hale II
People in the thread have a bunch of stories of how beloved Gee is on campus because he goes to bars (!) and sometimes remembers people had crutches (!). He's also the former lawyer who instigated Ohio State's lawyerly defense of itself for Tressel's tenure, thereby undermining the NCAA's self-regulatory compliance system and exposing the organization's true impotence. I don't really have a problem with a school president meeting a recruit; I do have a problem with this president who sees his job as head of Buckeye Phi, until such time as Jim Tressel decides to fire him.
People who agree: Brown University calls its spring game port-a-potties the "E. Gordon Gee Lavatory Complex" in honor of his short and generally disastrous tenure there. There's a reason this guy and Emmert are best buddies.
Ohio State made rings for their Year of Shame.
Hey, surprise, the school that couldn't find honor if you put it around a Clemson player's neck doesn't do contrition very well. On the last ring they posted the Game's score from last year, calling us "TUN" beneath a horseshoe so detailed you can see them carrying Tressel off on their shoulders. Mr. Yost suggested they should just wear asterisks. ZING!
CaliUMfan pulled some tweets from people who spoke to Beilein after the "they're back" presser that suggest Michigan plans to move Glenn Robinson to small forward and play McGary at the four, creating a crunch at the two/three of GRIII, Stauskas, LeVert and Irvin. This can be taken in many ways, most of which come back to "yeah you tell Morgan he's the expected starter again."
The guy who played the cynic on the Imperial board of directors in the original Star Wars has passed away; for this site, this absolutely constitutes a board thread. If you can't appreciate Richard LeParmentier's acting ability, I suggest you imagine how you'd do if George Lucas handed you a script that read:
"Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the Rebels' hidden fort—[NOW PRETEND LIKE HE'S CHOKING YOU!]"
And yes I claim the Star Wars geeks as mine. When Brian can go three references in a row without flubbing a quote or acknowledging the prequels exist he can have you back. Also when he learns to moderate the board like this:
ETC. If recruiting his son means Dakich can't do Michigan games anymore, or even if it makes him stop trolling us, it is SO worth a scholarship. Jonvalk suggests a new MGobanner. Novak profiled in local paper, mentions MGoShirt. Will basketball or football end up ranked higher next year?
Your Moment of Zen:
Forty-two not 16 'cause it was Other-Robinson Day.
McGary, Robinson Back (Muppets)
Hey we're gonna have a real good time with basketball next year, too.
Program muppets:
And you can't have one without the other…
Let's get that third straight banner.


text:
Mona Siddiqui, Professor of Islamic and Inter-Religious Studies, Assistant Principal for Religion and Society, New College on the Mound, University of Edinburgh
Growing numbers of us are living long enough to suffer from dementia. Those in the next generation are beginning to see that we too might end up as dependants, stripped of our memories and identities. For some, continued medication might help, but in the end death awaits us all.
Even though I know that heaven definitely exists and that, as a Professor of Islamic and Inter-Religious Studies, eternal happiness almost certainly awaits me, I'm curiously reluctant to go there. This world is of course fleeting and insignificant, but I do rather hope that in the eternity ahead, I can remember something of who I was here in this trivial, unimportant existence.
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subset: commoncrawl


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(The same colors are available in Weanling & Newborn Halters)
More colors are pictured further below!
(these measurements will work unless your donkey has an
unusually large head...so please measure before ordering!)
If you are having trouble combining orders just drop us an email or call (615-504-4536) with your order and we will send you a pay pal request for the total due including your shipping.
Two more colors (not shown):
Rose Pink (a very soft baby pink) and Navy (deeper/darker than Royal).
All Colors Above are Available for Weanling & Newborn Miniature Donkey Halters too!
The Newborn will only fit a very recent newborn and the weanling will fit
a newborn from one month to possibly weaning age unless your donkey has an unusually large head but I would order
a yearling to insure that it will fit and be useful for a longer period of time.)
(The weanling and newborn halters do not have a snap throat latch nor an adjustable nose band.)
Additional colors available but not shown are:
(Click individual photos for a larger version)
Now offering embroidering on halters!!!
14 letters or spaces for an additonal $15!! Please allow a week to
10 days to fill orders if you desire embroidering on your halters
Please specify thread color as well as color of halter. Drop us
an email if you would like embroidering on your halter.
Please...do NOT have your halters embroidered if you
have any doubts about the halter fitting your donkey!
NOTE!!! Our wine halters are unable to be embroidered due to
their denser stitch count. So all colors except wine can be embroidered.
Finally, an outlet for my creativity! Below are a few examples of my "For Sale" custom blinged nylon halters. I will be happy to customize any of the halters above with conchos created to your specifications for you and your donkey. Please allow two to three weeks as each concho is individually handset with Swarovski crystals. You can allow me to chose your colors or you can request your own custom designs and colors. Contact me, Dena Wilson, for more details at 615-390-2277 or email me to request your customized colors.
Send Checks to:
Dayle Haworth or Half Ass Acres
2359 Feedmill Road
Chapel Hill, Tennessee 37034
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Last Updated: February 1st, 2016
Web Design by Dayle Haworth
Copyright © 2011-2020 ~ HAA Miniature Donkeys ~ All Rights Reserved


text:
One of the more disappointing aspects of being a pro sports fan in modern times is the disconnect that has grown between fan and athlete. In fact, many athletes seem to have outright contempt for the people who watch their every move, and they show it through stonewalling every media inquiry that comes their way.
So it's refreshing on rare occasion that an athlete sticks his or her neck out and actually has an opinion. It's even more interesting when an athlete breaks the unwritten code of silence when it comes to other athletes. That's why Brendan Haywood's comments regarding Browns receiver Donte' Stallworth stood out. No band of brothers here, and to tell Haywood tell it, behind the impassive eyes and tired cliches that athletes trot out to their adoring public, some of them might even feel strongly about things.
Haywood writes a blog for YARDBARKER and wrote of his reaction upon hearing Donte Stallworth's ridiculously light sentence for killing a person:
While I was watching Sports Center with some of the guys, we were all shocked to see the story about NFL player Donte' Stallworth pleading guilty to DUI manslaughter and being sentenced to 30-days in jail and 1000 hours of community service. For me, this really hits home because my mother and I were hit by a drunk driver earlier this year.
So let me get this straight, Michael Vick gets two years in jail for killing dogs and Stallworth gets only 30 days for killing someone? Now they say that justice is blind, but even Stevie Wonder can see that more than 30 days in jail was needed here. I think this was a terrible injustice. This is why so many people look at pro athletes with disgust and disdain. I was thoroughly disappointed.
I don't think you'll find much argument on that, Brendan. But it's good to know that athletes are indeed paying attention to the goings-on in the world. Too often they come across like they don't.


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|China House Restaurant
|Mike's Place, Cavelossim, Goa
sharonf_2001 - Visited this restaurant for dinner with friends. A large Portuguese house converted into an open air restaurant with dim, mood lighting to give it the ... more
sharonf_2001 - Visited this restaurant for dinner with friends. A large Portuguese house converted into an open air restaurant with dim, mood lighting to give it the perfect ambiance and settee for a nice evening out. We settled for seafood throughout our meal with starters to include fish masala fry and buttered calamari, all done perfectly to our taste. Main course was the ever famous Goan specialties - Shark Ambotik (sour & spicy gravy with boneless pieces of fish), Prawn Balchao (spicy baby prawn pickle) and plain white rice to go along. The food was delicious and service being neat and quick. We enjoyed ourselves and definitely recommend this place for a true and authentic Goan meal. less
|The Standard
WineAdvisor - As I have mentioned before, in other dining reviews, Sunday brunch is my favorite time and meal of the week. Picking up the Sunday newspaper, sipping ... more
WineAdvisor - As I have mentioned before, in other dining reviews, Sunday brunch is my favorite time and meal of the week. Picking up the Sunday newspaper, sipping on some good wine, and dining on something that includes both breakfast and lunch creations is my ideal way to spend a few leisurely hours each week. To date, I have found two restaurants that provide nearly ideal environments for that activity. The Standard Restaurant, located in the River District of Fort Myers, is a top venue that combines a credible wine list and appropriately varied menu. They offer endless Mimosas for $15, made with sparkling wines that may change from week to week. They negotiate with one or more of their wine distributors, to find appropriate wines that are of moderate quality and/or reputation, and have enough personality to be enjoyed on their own, yet not have their flavor and character completely masked when paired with orange juice. This is in direct contrast to 'Prime de Leon', located just around the corner, that uses the cheapest sparkling wine available for their Mimosas – just one of many reasons to avoid patronizing that establishment. The Standard's menu selections for brunch are varied and thoughtful, including several vegetarian and/or vegan options. Carnivore choices are evident in a variety of preparations, and include their house made sausage, which should be on your "must-try" list. One item that I'd like to see added to the menu is Eggs Benedict, a personal favorite of mine, but that omission doesn't keep me from going back again, and again. The owner (chef) and his fiancee, the latter a highly skilled mixologist, are cordial and knowledgeable hosts who appear to have a genuine interest in making you feel at home in their restaurant. Even though they have a diverse wine selection, with many offerings by the glass, customers are permitted to bring in their own wine without being made to feel uncomfortable or disrespected when doing so. Their brunch business seems to be very robust, so reservations and/or patience may be required – I've been fortunate to find a seat at the bar during each of my visits. And, I'll be back. less
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|Hideway Garden Restaurant
iamhappy - Hideaway is a beautiful licensed restaurant in an enchanting and cool garden setting where you'll surely find your favourite place to sit and eat by t ... more
iamhappy - Hideaway is a beautiful licensed restaurant in an enchanting and cool garden setting where you'll surely find your favourite place to sit and eat by the river. Discover good local food, fine wine and a friendly atmosphere. The restaurant is also a perfect setting for your weddings & reception, business meetings, anniversaries, birthdays or private parties. less
|the aristocrat
hazelmaida - The food is lovely! it taste great, the chicken is moist. People really fall in line just to eat at Aristocrat. once you have tasted their food, you'd ... more
hazelmaida - The food is lovely! it taste great, the chicken is moist. People really fall in line just to eat at Aristocrat. once you have tasted their food, you'd want to dine and dine and dine at Aristocrat. I so Lovvee Itt! less
|Pizza volante
|The Office Restaurant and Lounge
WineAdvisor - If you go to this restaurant's website, to look at their menu, the first thing that you may notice is that the font they use is small, and the color c ... more
WineAdvisor - If you go to this restaurant's website, to look at their menu, the first thing that you may notice is that the font they use is small, and the color contrast with the background is poor - making it less than easy to read. The next thing that you may notice is that the first food item listed is Foie Gras. This somewhat controversial food, with origins dating back more than four millennia, and which is illegal to produce in some states, happens to be one of my favorites. If you go back on the internet, and do a "Google" search for "wine to serve with Foie Gras", the first few thousand responses will all include, in one form or another, a wine called "Sauternes". This luscious, late-harvest, sweet white wine is produced in an appellation within the larger region of Bordeaux, France. There are a number of similar, but perhaps not comparable, wines which might also be listed, with sourcing as diverse as New York, California, Germany, central Europe and Australia, to name a few. So, why would you open a new (they have actually been open more than 2 months) restaurant, under the pretense of being "gourmet quasi-French", and not have a Sauternes on the wine list, particularly when you are offering Foie Gras? Would you open a Japanese restaurant, but not offer Sake as a beverage, or and Italian restaurant that lacked Pinot Grigio or Chianti? They do not have a single wine, on a generally inferior list, that comes even close to being comparable. The single white wine they offer, that might have even a little residual sugar, is a German wine that comes from almost the absolute bottom of that country's quality scale. Taking it one step further, they don't offer even one dessert wine from any source! To add insult to injury, this establishment has chosen to place itself at the top of heap of local restaurants that charge far too much for a "corkage fee". If you are not familiar with this term, it is a charge, paid by a customer, who elects to bring in his/her own wine to consume with a meal that they eat in the restaurant. The original presumption or justification for charging such a fee, is to cover the cost of equipment and utensils for the wine service - decanters, glassware, breakage and ware washing expenses. Over time, corkage has also become a profit source for restaurateurs who put together wine lists that are so mediocre that savvy customers are almost forced into bringing their own wine with them - which is entirely applicable to this case. Again, this establishment has not a single wine on their list that satisfies a centuries-old tradition of what to serve with Foie Gras, but they choose to charge as much (or more) as the cost of an entire dinner for the privilege of bringing in your own wine to enjoy. This is, quite simply, disrespectful to patrons. I also feel sorry for the chef and those who toil in the kitchen, because being able to enjoy a fine, fairly priced wine with a well thought-out and prepared meal may almost certainly result in a dining experience that is better than the sum of the parts. Unfortunately, that's probably not going to happen here. Yes, I know that "The Office" has received at least one positive professional review. But, that critique focused entirely on the food, and made no mention of the wine list or the potentially abusive treatment resulting from poor (make that terrible) management decisions. At the same time, if the "cost of goods" used to calculate their wine list pricing is justified or substantiated by the amount of their "corkage fee", then they are charging too much for their wine from the outset. Charging more than twice the price of what you would pay for a wine at retail is abusive and insulting, and people expecting respect should go elsewhere. Like me. Not surprisingly, there is no wine list to be found on their website. If you think that I am being overly critical, allow me to provide a different perspective on the management. On a Sunday, just before noon (they open at 11 AM), without a single customer in the restaurant, they unequivocally refused to negotiate a more equitable corkage fee. It wasn't like they would be making a concession in front of a crowd, who might ask for the same or similar treatment in the future. They obviously preferred having no business, to some business that would have absolutely no negative impact on their food cost or very little on the bottom line. Our local newspaper occasionally publishes briefs about pending or current restaurant openings. With a few exceptions, such announcements often indicate that the new establishment will be occupying space previously used by a failed eatery. At some point, in the not too distant future, I expect to see such an announcement for this location. less
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Laura Mercier Eye Crease Brush
53 reviews
96% would repurchase
Package Quality: 4.2
Price: $$$$
Package Quality: 4.2
Price: $$$$
Age: 25-29
Skin: Normal, Fair-Medium, Not Sure
Hair: Black, Other, Other
Eyes: Brown
I like this brush so much. I found it good for crease, nose, contouring, and blending. It gives a sheer color, and goes better with high pigment powders. the only problem is ... it wore out quickly after several months, considering the $29 investment, It should last longer. I plan to buy another one in substitue of the wore-out one
Age: 18 & Under
Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium, Warm
Hair: Blond, Straight, Fine
Eyes: Blue
I use this every single day. It's definitely the best crease brush I have ever used.
Age: 36-43
Skin: Normal, Fair-Medium, Not Sure
Hair: Brunette, Other, Other
Eyes: Brown
This product is good but makeup artists and I agree Paula Dorf's eye crease brush is the best!
Age: 19-24
Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium, Cool
Hair: Brunette, Straight, Medium
Eyes: Brown
Perfect for the crease!
Age: 30-35
Skin: Normal, Fair-Medium, Warm
Hair: Brunette, Straight, Medium
Eyes: Brown
Love this brush. Nice dense bristles to deposit color and perfect size to contour the crease. My go to. Better than the MAC and Stila crease brushes I have-they were too big and fluffy. My HG.
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Eyes: Blue
Oh this is the mother of all brushes! It is fantastic. I also have the LM angled eye color brush with is super for highlighting. Worth the expence.
Age: 25-29
Skin: Acne-prone, Tan, Warm
Hair: Black, Wavy, Medium
Eyes: Brown
I bought this brush because of the reviews here on makeupalley. After using it, I've concluded that it DOES live up to all the hype. I'm glad I bought this. It is a really soft brush that doesn't irritate or poke my eye area. This brush is everything I wanted the MAC 226 to be and more!
Age: 30-35
Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium, Not Sure
Hair: Blond, Other, Other
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guys thank you for the reviews...my mac creaser is way ready to retire...i was looking at the lm brush on sephoras website..wasnt sure if i wanted to get it, but now i will DEF give it a shot
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I love this brush! It's my first LM brush and I'm tempted to buy more. I use it for more than just my crease. This brush is pointed enough but not too pointed, so that I can even use it to dust color all over my lid as well.
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Hair: Brunette, Other, Other
Eyes: Brown
This brush is amazing and so soft! It creates a beautiful application also!
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text:
Best Place to Reconnect With the Past -- and Your Childhood (2002)
Blinky's Antiques and Collectibles
Blinky's Fun Club, the long-running children's variety program that once found a home on Channel 2, has been off the air since 1998. But the show's star, Blinky the Clown (aka Russ Scott), hasn't been pulled out of syndication. Six days a week, Scott can be found in the very cramped environs of Blinky's Antiques and Collectibles, the itty-bitty shopette he owns and operates on South Broadway. Along with a claustrophobia-inducing assortment of vintage instruments, sporting goods, jewelry, watches, dolls and figurines, photos of Scott in clown mode are also on display, reminding us of the Blinky we used to know and love. Fortunately, there's plenty to embrace about Scott's current endeavor. Just don't expect him to sing "Happy Birf-day" to you. For a clown, he can be rather cranky.
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Best New Use for the Old DIA Toll PlazaParking
Best Place to Buy a Parking MeterAntique Center on Broadway