Category Archives: Sports

Ball State at EMU for football today at noon

Posted on November 5, 2011 by | 14 Comments

Once again, it looks like a beautiful day to watch a football game, and once again, I am thwarted from going.  Lots of “life” going on today (all in a good way), and besides, Michigan is playing at Iowa today, which means I’ll be watching that game instead.  Sorry, Emus.  But apparently both games will be on TV at the same time, so maybe I’ll flip back and forth.

It ought to be an interesting one though.  Football enthusiast Eagle Totem has a couple good posts about the match-up, and he points out that this is a chance for the Emus to actually have a “winning streak” against another team.  So we’ll see what happens.

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Posted in College Fun, Sports

Emus beat horses 14-10

Posted on October 23, 2011 by | 43 Comments

That’s right– the Emus have won two games in a row against real opponents, beating Western Michigan 14-10.  According to emueagles.com, this means they are now the Michigan Mac Champs, for which there is apparently a trophy and everything.  Read all about it here; here’s a quote:

The win not only helped the Eagles get closer to being bowl eligible at 5-3 overall and 3-1 in MAC action, but it also gave EMU possession of the Michigan MAC Trophy, which is given to the Michigan MAC university that defeats the other two schools in the same sport in the same regular season. This season in the rivalry games, EMU was 2-0, WMU 1-1 and CMU was 0-2.

Bowl eligible?  Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, folks.

Anyway, annarbor.com also has an interesting article, “Yes, Eastern Michigan is actually a good football team; and people care.” Here are a couple of quotes I found kind of interesting:

“I’m a dreamer, so I dreamed about this,” said third-year Eagles coach Ron English. “You know, I just think it’s going to get better and better here and so I’m just glad for all the people that can get involved.”

Sure, English was pleased that people turned out for the game. Is the reported attendance of 6,772 something to get that fired up about? Not really. But for Eastern, it is progress.

and, later in the piece:

Just outside of Rynearson before kickoff, a man in a multi-colored hooded sweatshirt stood with an arm raised, two fingers extended. Eastern Michigan alumnus Ronnie Martin couldn’t believe what he was seeing: A scalper … at an Eastern Michigan football game.

“You can usually get four tickets and T-shirt for 25 bucks,” Martin said.

And “Tailgate Town,” which is usually more like a ghost town on fall Saturdays, smelled of spilled beer and grilling brats. It was a college football atmosphere, off the field and on it.

Again, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves here, folks.

Yesterday was a picture-perfect day to watch a football game, it was homecoming, and they promoted the hell out of that game, probably more than any game since I’ve been here at EMU.  It was still easy to get tickets, so I have a feeling that “scalper” was a little confused, and while I am as big of a fan of tailgating as anyone, I’m not sure spilled beer, brats, and around 7,000 fans is a complete turnaround.

But sure, it’s an improvement, and relatively speaking for the MAC, it’s an improvement worth noting.  For whatever reason, ABC had on the Northern Illinois-Buffalo game on while the EMU game was going on, and I noticed that that game was being played to a largely empty stadium.  So compared to other MAC schools, Saturday’s game was a good showing.

Still, I’m conflicted.  I don’t want to be a hater, I really really don’t, but I have to wonder if all of this is “worth it” for EMU.  Sure, it’s great that the Emus are a lot better this year (though don’t buy your bowl tickets quite yet), but I am pretty sure the folks who were laid off this summer weren’t exactly overjoyed.

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Posted in College Fun, In the media..., Sports

Living Social deal on EMU Football tickets

Posted on October 20, 2011 by | 6 Comments

There’s a Living Social coupon deal going on right now for the EMU Homecoming game against Western on Saturday.  For $25, you get four tickets to the game plus a TRUEMU t-shirt.

I think it’d be a good deal if you knew you (and three others) were going to go to the game, but I’m still on the fence for this one because of weather and life.  If it’s nice (and right now, the forecast is mid-50s and sunny, ideal football weather), this might be a good game to attend.  On the other hand, if it’s nice, that would also be a good day to get some yard work done, and if it’s not nice, well, that’d be a good day to stay indoors.

Anyway, if you know you’re going to the game, you’re looking for tickets, and you have a small group, check out the coupon deal.  By the way, WMU is favored by 12 points, so it will again be an interesting test for the Emus to see if they can defy the odds.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Sports

Emus over Chips 35-28

Posted on October 16, 2011 by | 1 Comment

I wasn’t paying much attention to any sports yesterday because I was involved in hosting the WIDE-EMU conference I mentioned last week (and it went off great, by the way!), but apparently EMU was the only major college football team in Washtenaw county to win a game yesterday.  Here’s a link to the story with some pictures in annarbor.com. That was a definite “must win” game for them, so way to go!

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Posted in In the media..., Sports

You’re supposed to get better as the season goes on, right?

Posted on October 9, 2011 by | 16 Comments

Here’s the opening of the story “Eastern Michigan football routed at Toledo, 54-16″ in annarbor.com:

Michigan Stadium? Beaver Stadium? Pfft.

Playing at college football’s two largest venues was a walk in the park compared to the gauntlet the Eastern Michigan football team faced at the Glass Bowl in Toledo.

I realize that Toledo was favored to win this game and I didn’t see any of it so I have no reference as to how it went for either team, other than the score and the article in annabor.com.  But it does kind of seem like some of those big payday/punching bag games ought to help against games like this one, right?

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Posted in In the media..., Sports

Emus vs. Zips (and band day!)

Posted on September 30, 2011 by | 5 Comments

Sadly, it’s another bad weekend for me to see a home football game because of life and because of catching up with that pesky day job.  But it looks like if the weather holds, it might be a lovely day to see the Emus take on the Akron Zips.  People who know better will correct me on this, but this is essentially the first “real” game of the year.  EMU should win– I think I saw them as an 8 or 9 point favorite– and if they don’t win, it’ll be a major bummer/setback for English et al.

One of the oddities of this game (and I guess a lot of other college games tomorrow) is they’ll be celebrating the Ronald Reagan centennial with a coin toss.  Here’s a CNN story about it, and a quote:

The 100th anniversary of the late President Ronald Reagan’s birth is getting the football treatment in September, with teams across the country kicking off their games by flipping a Reagan Centennial Commemorative Coin.

Games played during the weekend of September 23 through 26 will commence with the coin flip, followed by a loudspeaker announcement and Reagan football tribute video, according to the Reagan foundation. Reagan was born on February 6, 1911.

I’m not quite getting this, but whatever.

But more important than any of this– including the game, frankly– is that it is once again band day.  I went to see that once a couple years ago and it is indeed a site worth seeing at least once.  The press release on the EMU sports page says there’s going to be 11 high school bands; that along with the EMU marching band means there’s going to be a lotta tubas and trombones out there.  Check it out!

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Posted in College Fun, EMU Events, Sports

The Emus vs Penn State “Tilt”

Posted on September 23, 2011 by | 12 Comments

I was browsing some articles about EMU’s football game at Penn State this morning– the Emus are 28 1/2 point underdogs– and I came across the press release article on the EMU sports page, “Football Travels to Penn State for Final Non-Conference Tilt.”

Tilt?  Is that a normal term for a football game, a “tilt?”  Is that a different way of saying “blow-out?”

Anyway, according to the article/press release, the game is going to be on ESPN2 at noon.

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Posted in In the media..., Sports

Just want to point out: I’ve been saying we ought to be the Emus for years and years

Posted on September 18, 2011 by | 2 Comments

While looking for an article in the Eastern Echo about the new head in my department, I came across an op-ed piece by Michael Cassar,  “Eagle overused as a mascot; Should Eastern reconsider?” It’s dated 2010, but I have a feeling that’s an error– you’d think someone would do a little proof-reading over there….

Anyway, it’s kind of a gentle suggestion that as campus is being renovated, we ought to consider renovating the mascot.  I say “gentle” because Cassar isn’t saying we ought to go back to the Hurons nor is he suggesting what is the obvious choice of the Emus.  He does have a good point about the problem of being the Eagles:

According to my count, based on a list compiled by Adam Joshua Smargon, there are no fewer than 59 different colleges using the eagle as a nickname, and this doesn’t include variations like the 15 schools named the Golden Eagles. Bluntly, donning the eagle is so generic and bland that EMU might as well have for its motto “Because you’d rather be a Spartan.”

Good point.

Anyway, I have of course long advocated for a change to the Emus, though not the wimpy logo advocated by the folks behind thingsemu.com I’m talking an emu logo that is more in line with the news items I post here which usually involve an escape involving one of these birds that are notoriously tough and difficult to catch.  I’m talking a bad-ass emu kinda logo.

 

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Posted in College Fun, EMU Images, Emus (the bird), In the media..., Sports

“Eastern Michigan at Michigan: A Letdown Against the Eagles Is Highly Improbable”

Posted on September 17, 2011 by | 1 Comment

This article popped up in my Google newsfeed today or yesterday, from a football fan site called Bleacher Report.  I think it sums up my feelings of the likely outcome of the game pretty well, and also more accurately the state of affairs of football at EMU. Here are the opening paragraphs:

I just so happened to catch Inside Michigan Football on the Big Ten Network yesterday at noon, and it was Michigan radio personality Jim Brandstatter talking to head coach Brady Hoke about the Wolverines’ upcoming game this Saturday against Eastern Michigan. Hoke went on to tell Brandstatter how good of a job Michigan ex-defensive coordinator Ron English has done in Ypsilanti so far and that the Wolverines will “have their hands full” this Saturday.

I am going to go out on a limb and just say Hoke was being a nice guy.

Eastern Michigan is one of the worst teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and I think the previous three years can vouch for that statement, seeing as how the Eagles are a quite laughable 5-31 in that span of time. Let’s not forget how many 50- to 70-point games Eastern Michigan allowed their oppositions to rack up.

Yep, 5 and 31– which is better than I thought because I had forgotten that English’s Emus won three last year.

But hey, it promises to be a lovely day today to watch a football game– partly cloudy and high 60s/low 70s– so not all will be lost for EMU fans at the Big House.  Personally, I’ll be playing golf….

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Posted in Blogosphere, Sports, University of Michigan

Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story

Posted on September 14, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Colleague and friend of the site Marty Shichtman wanted me to alert everyone to an upcoming presentation/talk by Ira Berkow, a New York Times sportswriter and the author of Jews and Baseball.  The event is being sponsored by EMU Athletics, Campus Life, and Academic Affairs– not many events on this campus involve all three!

Here’s a link to the student life announcement.  It’s going to be Tuesday, September 20, at 7 PM in the Student Center Auditorium.  And it is available as a “Learning Beyond the Classroom” event, too.

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Posted in Academics, College Fun, EMU Events, Sports, Student Life