It's not only Michigan's last home game of the 2012 season but, sadly, it's the last home game of one of the most electric players to ever don the winged helmet - Denard Robinson.
What a heck of a player and, from everything I've ever read or heard, an outstanding person. I just hope he gets to play today, even if only for a ceremonial play or two in order to get the in-game send off he deserves.
GO BLUE!
Tampilkan postingan dengan label Iowa. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label Iowa. Tampilkan semua postingan
Jumat, 16 November 2012
Kamis, 15 November 2012
Know Your Foe - Iowa 2012
Saturday is the last home game for Michigan's seniors who have gone through hell (the three seasons we will no longer mention) and back (returning Michigan to being Michigan). While U-M holds a 40-13-4 series record over the Hawkeyes, Iowa has won the previous three meetings. Last year, the Hawkeyes milked an early lead and got a favorable call at the end hung on in Iowa City. This year, 4-6 Iowa will have to win its last two games against ranked teams just to be bowl eligible. But that's not the info you're here to read. This is: the latest and greatest edition of the MZone's KNOW YOUR FOE: Iowa 2012.
History – The University of Iowa was founded in 1847 - and still has the legal name of - the State University of Iowa. The official university web site claims that Iowa was the first public university to admit men and women on an equal basis. In 1868, the university established the first law school west of the Mississippi. In 1870, the university opened the first co-ed medical school, allowing all of the lawyers from the first western law school to sue both male and female physicians. Iowa was also the world's first university to accept creative work in theater, writing, music, and art on an equal basis with academic research. With people confusing "State University of Iowa" with Iowa State, the Board of Regents approved the usage of "University of Iowa" in 1964.
Location – Iowa City, Iowa. It’s the sixth largest city in Iowa, and was the first state capitol until 1857. The Old Capitol building remains and is a centerpiece of the Iowa campus. It’s tied with Stamford, Connecticut as the U.S. Metropolitan area with the highest percentage of adult’s holding a bachelor degree (44%). Much like so many of the locales that are home to Big Ten schools, Iowa City is a stereotypical college town. There’s a pedestrian mall that includes many of the town’s restaurants and bars, with a lively music scene. And it’s been ranked as the eighth most enlightened town by Utne Reader, and the tenth smartest place to live by Kiplinger’s. It’s also the home to the ACT, so if you don’t “test well” and your ACT score kept you out of the school you really wanted to go to, you have someone in Iowa City to blame. Because KYF is sure that your 18 had nothing to do with you getting drunk the night before the exam.
Nickname/Mascot – Hawkeyes, named for the state of Iowa which is known as the Hawkeye state - the same way that U of M is known as the Wolverines. But how did the state - and thus the university’s sports teams - get the name Hawkeyes? Well, that’s subject to a bit of debate. There’s no questioning that the efforts of two men, Judge David Rorer and James G. Edwards, were the driving force behind the adoption of the name. But the origin is still unclear. Wikipedia claims it’s a tribute to Chief Black Hawk, following the Black Hawk War of 1832. But the Iowa Athletics site maintains that it originally came from the novel, The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper. In the book, Hawkeye was the name bestowed on a white scout who hunted and lived with the Delaware Indians.
The university has a costumed Hawkeye, known as Herky, who has been a symbol of the university since 1948. The university had had gone through a number of mascots, including Burch, a black bear cub who lived under the football bleachers until he was found drowned in the Iowa River in 1910 (thankfully, KYF had an alibi). Herky was conceived by a journalism instructor and his name was selected based on a statewide contest and is supposed to be a shortened version of Hercules (so much for all that creative writing stuff). His first appearance at a football game came in 1959.
Colors/Logo/Fight Song – Black and Gold. But is it really gold? If I remember my Crayolas correctly, gold is what Purdue or Notre Dame wears. The “gold” on Iowa’s helmet is more of a corn yellow or, dare I say, maize. The colors have always been the same for Iowa, but the football uniforms purposely mimic those of the Pittsburgh Steelers. When Hayden Fry came to coach the Hawkeyes in 1979, his main task was to eradicate the atmosphere of suckness in the program – Iowa hadn’t had a winning season since 1960 before he arrived. Since Iowa had the same colors as the most dominant NFL team of the day, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Fry copied the wide stripe on the pants, and the black helmet with single yellow stripe. Whether it was the uniforms, or more likely his coaching ability and getting better players at Iowa, Fry turned around the Iowa program quickly and made it into one of the Big Ten’s best during his tenure.
The Iowa logo showed up at the same time as Fry, and the football team’s success since then has ensured that the logo will be around for a while. It’s actually a very clever design, consisting of four separate pieces to make up a hawk’s head. It’s not only the helmet logo, but is a symbol of all of the sports teams and the university itself. Just about any piece of Iowa memorabilia contains the logo. Although we always kinda thought it looked like a certain cartoon character...
The Iowa Fight Song is rather generic, especially when compared to many of its Big Ten counterparts. The song only has 61 words, yet the word “Fight!” appears nine times. Even “Iowa” only shows up four times. Even the word “Rafters” shows up once, but that’s not surprising – this is a farming state.
Academics – Surprisingly, Iowa only rates as #72 on the U.S. News rankings of the nation's universities, tied with Big Ten cohort Sparty. KYF never would have imagined. The pride and joy of the University is probably the Writers’ Workshop. The Workshop is a two-year residency program which ultimately requires a creative thesis, usually a novel or a collection of stories, and its alumni have won a dozen Pulitzer Prizes with four graduates of the program having been named U.S. Poet Laureates. Oh sure, if Know Your Foe was in the hands of a Writers’ Workshop grad, it would be much more interesting. But would you get pictures like the one to the right? (Like you're even reading KYF at this point)
Athletics – As mentioned above, Hayden Fry breathed life into the moribund football program starting in the early ‘80s. Though only appearing in three Rose bowls since then (and losing them all), the Hawkeyes are a consistently tough Big Ten opponent (at least for Michigan of late). But wrestling is where Iowa really shines. Under legendary coach Dan Gable, the Hawkweyes won 20 national and 31 Big Ten titles. This included nine straight national titles from ’78 through ’86. So even though the basketball team has had some success, and the trampoline was invented by university members George Nissen and Larry Griswold around 1935, when you’re talking Iowa athletics, you’re talking wrestling.
Famous alums – While not a super-impressive list, they pick up points for being able to claim Tom Brokaw, John Irving, Tennessee Williams, Eddie Robinson and Gene Wilder (who was married to Michigan alum Gilda Radner). But they have to lose some points for having Tom Arnold, Ashton Kutcher, and Lou Holtz as alumni. And though she didn’t attend school in Iowa City, current U of M President Mary Sue Coleman held the same post and the University of Iowa prior to moving to Ann Arbor.
The Game – Saturday will be the last time Michigan great Denard Robinson suits up in the Big House. He likely won't play, but the Michigan fans (who show up on time) will be able to give him the tremendous send off he deserves. It's likely to be the only real exciting part of the day. Michigan should roll a truly bad Iowa team that's fortunate to even have the four wins on their record.
MICHIGAN - 35
IOWA- 9
 |
| This looks like a made-up seal for a soap opera |
Location – Iowa City, Iowa. It’s the sixth largest city in Iowa, and was the first state capitol until 1857. The Old Capitol building remains and is a centerpiece of the Iowa campus. It’s tied with Stamford, Connecticut as the U.S. Metropolitan area with the highest percentage of adult’s holding a bachelor degree (44%). Much like so many of the locales that are home to Big Ten schools, Iowa City is a stereotypical college town. There’s a pedestrian mall that includes many of the town’s restaurants and bars, with a lively music scene. And it’s been ranked as the eighth most enlightened town by Utne Reader, and the tenth smartest place to live by Kiplinger’s. It’s also the home to the ACT, so if you don’t “test well” and your ACT score kept you out of the school you really wanted to go to, you have someone in Iowa City to blame. Because KYF is sure that your 18 had nothing to do with you getting drunk the night before the exam.
Nickname/Mascot – Hawkeyes, named for the state of Iowa which is known as the Hawkeye state - the same way that U of M is known as the Wolverines. But how did the state - and thus the university’s sports teams - get the name Hawkeyes? Well, that’s subject to a bit of debate. There’s no questioning that the efforts of two men, Judge David Rorer and James G. Edwards, were the driving force behind the adoption of the name. But the origin is still unclear. Wikipedia claims it’s a tribute to Chief Black Hawk, following the Black Hawk War of 1832. But the Iowa Athletics site maintains that it originally came from the novel, The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper. In the book, Hawkeye was the name bestowed on a white scout who hunted and lived with the Delaware Indians.The university has a costumed Hawkeye, known as Herky, who has been a symbol of the university since 1948. The university had had gone through a number of mascots, including Burch, a black bear cub who lived under the football bleachers until he was found drowned in the Iowa River in 1910 (thankfully, KYF had an alibi). Herky was conceived by a journalism instructor and his name was selected based on a statewide contest and is supposed to be a shortened version of Hercules (so much for all that creative writing stuff). His first appearance at a football game came in 1959.
Colors/Logo/Fight Song – Black and Gold. But is it really gold? If I remember my Crayolas correctly, gold is what Purdue or Notre Dame wears. The “gold” on Iowa’s helmet is more of a corn yellow or, dare I say, maize. The colors have always been the same for Iowa, but the football uniforms purposely mimic those of the Pittsburgh Steelers. When Hayden Fry came to coach the Hawkeyes in 1979, his main task was to eradicate the atmosphere of suckness in the program – Iowa hadn’t had a winning season since 1960 before he arrived. Since Iowa had the same colors as the most dominant NFL team of the day, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Fry copied the wide stripe on the pants, and the black helmet with single yellow stripe. Whether it was the uniforms, or more likely his coaching ability and getting better players at Iowa, Fry turned around the Iowa program quickly and made it into one of the Big Ten’s best during his tenure.
The Iowa logo showed up at the same time as Fry, and the football team’s success since then has ensured that the logo will be around for a while. It’s actually a very clever design, consisting of four separate pieces to make up a hawk’s head. It’s not only the helmet logo, but is a symbol of all of the sports teams and the university itself. Just about any piece of Iowa memorabilia contains the logo. Although we always kinda thought it looked like a certain cartoon character...
The Iowa Fight Song is rather generic, especially when compared to many of its Big Ten counterparts. The song only has 61 words, yet the word “Fight!” appears nine times. Even “Iowa” only shows up four times. Even the word “Rafters” shows up once, but that’s not surprising – this is a farming state.
 |
| You're supposed to be reading about Iowa's academics. Shame on you. |
Athletics – As mentioned above, Hayden Fry breathed life into the moribund football program starting in the early ‘80s. Though only appearing in three Rose bowls since then (and losing them all), the Hawkeyes are a consistently tough Big Ten opponent (at least for Michigan of late). But wrestling is where Iowa really shines. Under legendary coach Dan Gable, the Hawkweyes won 20 national and 31 Big Ten titles. This included nine straight national titles from ’78 through ’86. So even though the basketball team has had some success, and the trampoline was invented by university members George Nissen and Larry Griswold around 1935, when you’re talking Iowa athletics, you’re talking wrestling.
Famous alums – While not a super-impressive list, they pick up points for being able to claim Tom Brokaw, John Irving, Tennessee Williams, Eddie Robinson and Gene Wilder (who was married to Michigan alum Gilda Radner). But they have to lose some points for having Tom Arnold, Ashton Kutcher, and Lou Holtz as alumni. And though she didn’t attend school in Iowa City, current U of M President Mary Sue Coleman held the same post and the University of Iowa prior to moving to Ann Arbor.The Game – Saturday will be the last time Michigan great Denard Robinson suits up in the Big House. He likely won't play, but the Michigan fans (who show up on time) will be able to give him the tremendous send off he deserves. It's likely to be the only real exciting part of the day. Michigan should roll a truly bad Iowa team that's fortunate to even have the four wins on their record.
MICHIGAN - 35
IOWA- 9
Rabu, 14 November 2012
StubHub vs Season Tickets: Iowa and Season Totals
Today we conclude our 2012 home-game feature StubHub vs. Season Tickets, in which we compare the cost of getting seats to each and every Michigan game in The Big House on StubHub vs buying season tickets, "seat donations" and all.
Our hypothesis for this ultra-scientific MZone study is as follows:
Even when paying over face value for the handful of big games in which supply and demand cause StubHub ticket prices to rise, it will still be cheaper - and probably substantially so - to buy one's tickets each week via StubHub
To recap the parameters of our study and what different seats in The Big House cost:
We're assuming two tickets to each game (together) and looking at different seat locations, all of which now require a "preferred seat donations" (aka PSDs). For those not familiar with PSDs, Michigan's website describes them as follows:
Cost to Purchase U-M Season Tickets in 2012
Michigan only has 6 homes games this season due to the opener in Dallas against Alabama. And of those six games, all of them have a face value of $75 each - except the MSU game which is $95 per ticket. Thus, one's "face value" ticket cost would be $470 per ticket. But...
The Athletic Department cuts one a break and charges only $390 for season tickets, which works out to $65 per ticket (it's impossible to know how/if they charge differently for the "big" games so we'll have to make it an even $65 each).
Then tack on your "donation" of $50-$500 per seat and your actual cost of one season ticket is $440 in the endzone, $515 in the "Blue" section, $640 in the "Maize" section, $765 in the "Valiant" section and $890 in the "Victors" section. Now double that for a pair of tickets.
IOWA
Well, this is it. The last home game of the 2012 Michigan season and, thus, the last in this series. First we'll look at Iowa prices then talk about the season as a whole. Note: The ticket prices for this article were gathered on StubHub late Wednesday night. At the time, there were just under 2,900 tickets available for sale.
Season Ticket Price - Endzone Seats:
You, dear season ticket holder, have two seats in the endzone which cost $130 plus $100 for your PSD divided by 6 ($16.67) for a grand total of $146.67.
StubHub Price - Endzone Seats:
We found two in Endzone Section 39, Row 87 for $33/each. Now take on $4.95 for the StubHub "electronic delivery charge" (read: a fancy way to charge you for an email) and $6 bucks for StubHub's service fee.
Endzone Total:
Season Ticket Endzone Guy - $146.67
StubHub Dude - $77.55
Winner: Mr. StubHub - $69.12
Want better seats? Okay...
Season Ticket Price - Maize Section:
Two tickets in sideline sections 3, 4, 20, 21, 42 or 44 cost you the same $130 as Endzone Guy. But you also had to shell out $500 divided by 6 ($83.33) for a grand total of $213.33 for your chance to watch Michigan take on the Wildcats.
StubHub Price - Maize Section:
Found two in Section 42, Row 62 for $50 each. Same $4.95 "electronic delivery charge" and a service fee of $10 for a total of $114.95.
Maize Section Total:
Season Ticket Maize Guy - $213.33
StubHub Dude - $114.95
Winner: Still Mr. StubHub by $98.38
Now let's live large...
Season Ticket Price - Victors Section
Two tickets in Section 1, right on the 50, only cost you $65 each as part of your season tix. But $1,000 divided by 6 tacks on another $166.67 (yikes!).
StubHub Price - Victors Section Price:
I found two tix in Section 2, Row 82 for $65 each (plus $4.95, plus a service charge of 130).
Victors Section Total:
Season Ticket Victors Guy - $296.67
StubHub Dude - $147.95
Winner: NOT Season Ticket Guy by $148.72
Season Totals
So, what's the bottom line and was our hypothesis correct? First, one caveat to these totals:
We didn't start this series until after the Air Force game and thus don't have exact figures, but a cursory check before that game as we were thinking about a post topic like this revealed something between the UMass and Illinois numbers. Thus, in order to get our season totals we'll factor that in here today and unscientifically pick an amount between UMass and Illinois.
Endzone Seats on StubHub:
UMass - Saved $64.72
Illinois - Saved $31.72
MSU - In the red $155.28
Northwestern - Saved $42.72
Iowa - Saved $69.12
Air Force Guesstimate - Saved $45
Total Endzone StubHub Savings/Loss for the 2012 Season - Savings of $98.12
Maize Seats on StubHub:
UMass - Saved $87.38
Illinois - Saved $43.38
MSU - In the red $176.62
Northwestern - Saved $52.18
Iowa - Saved $98.38
Air Force Guesstimate - Saved $63
Total Maize Section Savings/Loss So Far - Savings of $167.70
Victors Seats on StubHub:
UMass - Saved $165.24
Illinois - Saved $98.12
MSU - In the red $161.48
Northwestern - Saved $117.92
Iowa - Saved $148.72
Air Force Guesstimate - Saved $130
Total Victors Section Savings/Loss So Far - Savings of $498.52 *
Conclusion:
For the 2012 season, Michigan fans buying all their tickets on StubHub saved a good chunk of coin over getting season tickets - a chunk of change that got larger the better the seats purchased.
Endzone ticket buyers saved 11%
Maize ticket buyers saved 16%
And Victors ticket buyers saved a whopping 39%
So this completely proves our hypothesis, right? In the words of Lee Corso, not so fast.
As noted, the 2012 Michigan home schedule - how should we put this? - sucked balls. There was only one "must see" game: Michigan State. And as the tally above indicates, that didn't exactly work out in the StubHub purchaser's favor (especially for EndZone guy).
Next year, Michigan has three marquee home games: Notre Dame (for the last time!), Nebraska (revenge) and Ohio State (Urb's first game in The Big House with the Bucks). Thus, one could reasonably expect to pay - and I think this is the correct term - a f*ckload more for those games.
On the flip side, Michigan also has 7 home games instead of this season's 6, which is one more "enh" game in favor of a StubHub purchase. Plus, one of those 7 is Akron. Forget StubHub, Dave Brandon will probably be trying to dump his pair before that game for a stick of gum and half-finished bottle of Coors Light.
My guess is that any StubHub savings will be wiped out next season due to The Big Three games. But, like poker, where one must factor not one night or one week in Vegas but the ups and downs over a much longer period of time, I still believe that, over said long haul, StubHub will be cheaper.
(Ed. Note: the assumption for the Michigan fan in our "study" is that he/she goes to each and every home game. If you don't - if you only want to catch a couple each year, then StubHub is REALLY the way to go (unless you're a big fan of CMU, Akron and Indiana with plans to sell your ND, Nebraska and OSU ducats). Because if you're only going to the "big" games - or the "big" games and a couple others - then selling the rest on StubHub, you're probably going to take a huge bath since you're going to lose big on the "lesser" games in the secondary market.)
One commenter when we first started this series said the reason to purchase season tickets is to support the university. I don't really buy that one. It's not like paying less on StubHub means the athletic department gets less. Somebody has already paid the school full price for the tickets and seat license fees before they hit StubHub. Plus, I'd be very surprised if U-M wasn't getting some sort of piece of all the BS extra StubHub charges for making StubHub the official U-M ticket reseller. So the school is doing fine. Plus, the season ticket wait list is thousands long. Don't worry about Dave Brandon.
Thus, if it's just about the numbers, see above to guide your decision regarding season tickets. And if it's not? Well... Some people enjoy sitting next to the same group of people each season (unless you're seats have you stuck sitting next to "that guy"). Some people like knowing where their seats are each week. And some people just like to say they have season tickets.
So, bottom line - does this "study" prove you should buy season tickets or go the StubHub route?
Neither.
I think, more than anything, what our little series "proves" is that Dave Brandon and the Michigan athletic department better think long and hard before they keep raising ticket prices and seat "donation" charges. Because they might unwittingly start making the decision for Michigan fans without even realizing it.
Our hypothesis for this ultra-scientific MZone study is as follows:
Even when paying over face value for the handful of big games in which supply and demand cause StubHub ticket prices to rise, it will still be cheaper - and probably substantially so - to buy one's tickets each week via StubHub
To recap the parameters of our study and what different seats in The Big House cost:
We're assuming two tickets to each game (together) and looking at different seat locations, all of which now require a "preferred seat donations" (aka PSDs). For those not familiar with PSDs, Michigan's website describes them as follows:
The Victors Club Preferred Seat Donation is a part of University of Michigan Athletics overall annual giving program. Currently, three sports have some portion of the season tickets requiring a Preferred Seat Donation -- Football, Men's Basketball Courtside Seats, and Ice Hockey Club Seats. (Note: Courtside and Hockey Club Seats are sold out. You may contact the Victors Club Office to learn more about future availability.)
The color-coded diagram indicates the football preferred seating areas of Michigan Stadium. There are four different annual donation requirements -- Victors ($500 per seat), Valiant ($375 per seat), Maize ($250 per seat) and Blue ($125 per seat). The End Zone donation requirement ($50 per seat) applies to any new season tickets holders in 2005 and beyond.
Cost to Purchase U-M Season Tickets in 2012
Michigan only has 6 homes games this season due to the opener in Dallas against Alabama. And of those six games, all of them have a face value of $75 each - except the MSU game which is $95 per ticket. Thus, one's "face value" ticket cost would be $470 per ticket. But...
The Athletic Department cuts one a break and charges only $390 for season tickets, which works out to $65 per ticket (it's impossible to know how/if they charge differently for the "big" games so we'll have to make it an even $65 each).
Then tack on your "donation" of $50-$500 per seat and your actual cost of one season ticket is $440 in the endzone, $515 in the "Blue" section, $640 in the "Maize" section, $765 in the "Valiant" section and $890 in the "Victors" section. Now double that for a pair of tickets.
IOWA
Well, this is it. The last home game of the 2012 Michigan season and, thus, the last in this series. First we'll look at Iowa prices then talk about the season as a whole. Note: The ticket prices for this article were gathered on StubHub late Wednesday night. At the time, there were just under 2,900 tickets available for sale.
Season Ticket Price - Endzone Seats:
You, dear season ticket holder, have two seats in the endzone which cost $130 plus $100 for your PSD divided by 6 ($16.67) for a grand total of $146.67.
StubHub Price - Endzone Seats:
We found two in Endzone Section 39, Row 87 for $33/each. Now take on $4.95 for the StubHub "electronic delivery charge" (read: a fancy way to charge you for an email) and $6 bucks for StubHub's service fee.
Endzone Total:
Season Ticket Endzone Guy - $146.67
StubHub Dude - $77.55
Winner: Mr. StubHub - $69.12
Want better seats? Okay...
Season Ticket Price - Maize Section:
Two tickets in sideline sections 3, 4, 20, 21, 42 or 44 cost you the same $130 as Endzone Guy. But you also had to shell out $500 divided by 6 ($83.33) for a grand total of $213.33 for your chance to watch Michigan take on the Wildcats.
StubHub Price - Maize Section:
Found two in Section 42, Row 62 for $50 each. Same $4.95 "electronic delivery charge" and a service fee of $10 for a total of $114.95.
Maize Section Total:
Season Ticket Maize Guy - $213.33
StubHub Dude - $114.95
Winner: Still Mr. StubHub by $98.38
Now let's live large...
Season Ticket Price - Victors Section
Two tickets in Section 1, right on the 50, only cost you $65 each as part of your season tix. But $1,000 divided by 6 tacks on another $166.67 (yikes!).
StubHub Price - Victors Section Price:
I found two tix in Section 2, Row 82 for $65 each (plus $4.95, plus a service charge of 130).
Victors Section Total:
Season Ticket Victors Guy - $296.67
StubHub Dude - $147.95
Winner: NOT Season Ticket Guy by $148.72
Season Totals
So, what's the bottom line and was our hypothesis correct? First, one caveat to these totals:
We didn't start this series until after the Air Force game and thus don't have exact figures, but a cursory check before that game as we were thinking about a post topic like this revealed something between the UMass and Illinois numbers. Thus, in order to get our season totals we'll factor that in here today and unscientifically pick an amount between UMass and Illinois.
Endzone Seats on StubHub:
UMass - Saved $64.72
Illinois - Saved $31.72
MSU - In the red $155.28
Northwestern - Saved $42.72
Iowa - Saved $69.12
Air Force Guesstimate - Saved $45
Total Endzone StubHub Savings/Loss for the 2012 Season - Savings of $98.12
Maize Seats on StubHub:
UMass - Saved $87.38
Illinois - Saved $43.38
MSU - In the red $176.62
Northwestern - Saved $52.18
Iowa - Saved $98.38
Air Force Guesstimate - Saved $63
Total Maize Section Savings/Loss So Far - Savings of $167.70
Victors Seats on StubHub:
UMass - Saved $165.24
Illinois - Saved $98.12
MSU - In the red $161.48
Northwestern - Saved $117.92
Iowa - Saved $148.72
Air Force Guesstimate - Saved $130
Total Victors Section Savings/Loss So Far - Savings of $498.52 *
Conclusion:
For the 2012 season, Michigan fans buying all their tickets on StubHub saved a good chunk of coin over getting season tickets - a chunk of change that got larger the better the seats purchased.
Endzone ticket buyers saved 11%
Maize ticket buyers saved 16%
And Victors ticket buyers saved a whopping 39%
So this completely proves our hypothesis, right? In the words of Lee Corso, not so fast.
As noted, the 2012 Michigan home schedule - how should we put this? - sucked balls. There was only one "must see" game: Michigan State. And as the tally above indicates, that didn't exactly work out in the StubHub purchaser's favor (especially for EndZone guy).
Next year, Michigan has three marquee home games: Notre Dame (for the last time!), Nebraska (revenge) and Ohio State (Urb's first game in The Big House with the Bucks). Thus, one could reasonably expect to pay - and I think this is the correct term - a f*ckload more for those games.
On the flip side, Michigan also has 7 home games instead of this season's 6, which is one more "enh" game in favor of a StubHub purchase. Plus, one of those 7 is Akron. Forget StubHub, Dave Brandon will probably be trying to dump his pair before that game for a stick of gum and half-finished bottle of Coors Light.
My guess is that any StubHub savings will be wiped out next season due to The Big Three games. But, like poker, where one must factor not one night or one week in Vegas but the ups and downs over a much longer period of time, I still believe that, over said long haul, StubHub will be cheaper.
(Ed. Note: the assumption for the Michigan fan in our "study" is that he/she goes to each and every home game. If you don't - if you only want to catch a couple each year, then StubHub is REALLY the way to go (unless you're a big fan of CMU, Akron and Indiana with plans to sell your ND, Nebraska and OSU ducats). Because if you're only going to the "big" games - or the "big" games and a couple others - then selling the rest on StubHub, you're probably going to take a huge bath since you're going to lose big on the "lesser" games in the secondary market.)
One commenter when we first started this series said the reason to purchase season tickets is to support the university. I don't really buy that one. It's not like paying less on StubHub means the athletic department gets less. Somebody has already paid the school full price for the tickets and seat license fees before they hit StubHub. Plus, I'd be very surprised if U-M wasn't getting some sort of piece of all the BS extra StubHub charges for making StubHub the official U-M ticket reseller. So the school is doing fine. Plus, the season ticket wait list is thousands long. Don't worry about Dave Brandon.
Thus, if it's just about the numbers, see above to guide your decision regarding season tickets. And if it's not? Well... Some people enjoy sitting next to the same group of people each season (unless you're seats have you stuck sitting next to "that guy"). Some people like knowing where their seats are each week. And some people just like to say they have season tickets.
So, bottom line - does this "study" prove you should buy season tickets or go the StubHub route?
Neither.
I think, more than anything, what our little series "proves" is that Dave Brandon and the Michigan athletic department better think long and hard before they keep raising ticket prices and seat "donation" charges. Because they might unwittingly start making the decision for Michigan fans without even realizing it.
Senin, 07 November 2011
MZone Autopsy: Dissecting the Iowa Game
MZONE AUTOPSY REPORT: Iowa
1. Michigan didn't deserve to win. Sad but true. Iowa played their best game of the year while Michigan played its worst. I'll even go so far as to say worse than MSU because this
2. There were some
And the last play of the game...WTF?! How was that NOT flagged for PI? As HSR said, "there have been efforts on Dancing with the Stars with less contact."
Yes, that's probably the worst end-of-game-in-the-endzone-non-PI call against Michigan since MSU in 1990 (go to the 7 minute mark, watch, get pissed again like it still matters).
And I'm not even bringing up things like, oh, the long PI flag that was thrown against Iowa...then picked up.
I know, Don't put the game in the refs' hands and you don't have to worry about this stuff. True. And even if we'd scored there at the end, Michigan still had to get a 2-point conversion just to get to OT. True. But still... &^%@!
3. Immediately after the game, Michigan fans took to the Interwebs, blogs, boards and Twitter to trash (or snark) the U-M coaches, mostly Al Borges and the offensive play calling. Even I was "that guy." In talking to my former MZone co-hort, Benny, in the aftermath, I was bitching about how easily U-M marched down the field its final two drives out of the shotgun. I gave Benny the most cliched, uninformed fan lament; one you've probably heard or will hear a lot this week: "Why didn't we do that the entire game?"
Benny's reply: "Because they weren't in the same defense they'd been in all game." His point was that the reason Michigan had an easier time on its last two drives was because Iowa was in a looser D. Up two scores with under 10 minutes left, they just didn't want to give up the big play.
Yeah, maybe.
But can I at least bitch that -- especially on the last play -- Denard should've been rolling out for a play that gave the most electrifying runner on the field a run/pass option rather than calling something in which he had to thread the needle?
In defense of the coaches, I will say that you can't blame the play calling for the missed XP, Denard laying the football on the turf, or throwing into double coverage at the end of the first half, or receivers dropping balls right in the numbers, etc. etc. You take away those glaring mistakes and, with the same game plan, we probably don't need an end-of-the-game miracle or have to worry about shitty calls.
SIDE NOTE: In looking for the clips above, I stumbled upon some dude bitching in the comments of an M/Iowa video about how Borges and his crew have ruined one of the best offenses in cfb. He then went on to state that if RR were still around, we wouldn't have this problem.
Yeah, life would be all lollipops and gummy bears.
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| Remember: he's a Buckeye! |
Is it "ruining" Denard's rhythm by inserting Devin each game? Honestly, I don't think DG is playing that much for it to be a problem. Plus, with Denard's propensity to get injured, U-M needs a back-up who can step in and play. Who hasn't just taken a couple knees during mop up duty. I think it's more of an execution problem.
5. Michigan is making progress and is a better team than last year. Before the season, I said to Benny that I thought Michigan would finish the regular season around 7-5, but be much closer to 9-3. This was in contrast to last year in which Michigan was 7-5 but, in my opinion, closer to 3-9. Put it this way, in both of Michigan's losses, the Wolverines had a chance well into the 4th quarter (and right until the last play against Iowa). Last year, when Michigan lost, they lost. You didn't have to worry about the refs or the calls at game's end because it was long over by then.
So I still believe we're headed in the right direction. However, 7-5 would now leave a bad taste in my mouth. I need a) a road win next week against Illinois and b) a victory over either Nebraska or OSU. Yes, I'd like wins against both, but I don't see that happening. Which isn't a slam because...
6. What did you expect? While it's good to be disappointed after every loss -- expectations in A2 should always make that the case -- did anybody really think U-M was ready to contend for the B1G title this season? While I always hoped for that, I certainly didn't realistically expect it. But we are making progress. Keep the faith, as hard as last Saturday was (and it certainly sucked balls).
Jumat, 04 November 2011
Know Your Foe - Iowa
The 7-1 Michigan Wolverines hit the road to face 5-3 Iowa at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday. While Michigan holds a 40-12-4 record over the Hawkeyes, Kirk Ferentz's team will be gunning for their third straight victory over U-M -- something that's never happened before in the history of the series. But you knew all that. What you don't know is found below in another hair-raising edition of...Know Your Foe!
History: The University of Iowa was founded on February 25, 1847, a mere five days after Iowa was admitted into the Union. Not surprisingly, it was Iowa's first public institution of higher learning. What is surprising is, regardless of what the seal says, the official name of the school is State University of Iowa. But in 1959, the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts changed it's name to Iowa State University of Science and Technology (aka Iowa State). Due to the confusion, rather than change its name, the State University of Iowa Board of Regents approved using "University of Iowa" (UI) for everyday usage in October, 1964. So, to recap: Iowa is actually Iowa State, Iowa State is actually Iowa Tech, and officially there is no such thing as The University of Iowa.
Iowa takes great pride in claiming to "be first" in a lot of things, some of which even have nothing to do with being the first to install pink locker rooms for the visiting football team. It was the first U.S. public university to admit men and women on an equal basis. It established the first law school west of the Mississippi (becoming one of the first institutions in America to grant a law degree to a woman and an African-American, in 1873 and 1879 respectively). And in 1870, the university opened the first co-ed medical school, probably so that all those co-ed lawyers had somebody to sue.
Continuing on with its theme of firsts, SUofI was the world's first university to accept creative work in theater, writing, music, and art on an equal basis with academic research, and to put an African American on a varsity athletic squad (Frank Holbrook, 1895). Iowa also pioneered standardized testing, so we can all blame them for those damn scan-trons (or thank them for keeping so many Spartans and Buckeyes from getting into Michigan).
Location: Iowa City, Iowa. It’s the sixth largest city in Iowa, and was the first state capitol until 1857. The Old Capitol building remains and is a centerpiece of the Iowa campus. It’s tied with Stamford, Connecticut as the U.S. Metropolitan area with the highest percentage of adult’s holding a bachelor degree (44%). Much like so many of the locales that are home to Big Ten schools, Iowa City is a stereotypical college town. There’s a pedestrian mall that includes many of the town’s restaurants and bars. There’s a lively music scene. And it’s been ranked as the eighth most enlightened town by something called Utne Reader, and the tenth smartest place to live by Kiplinger’s.
Nickname: They call themselves Hawkeyes. The state of Iowa is known as the Hawkeye state. How the state (and university) got the name Hawkeyes used to be the subject of a bit of a debate. Some claimed the name is a tribute to Chief Black Hawk due to the Black Hawk War of 1832. But the the Iowa Athletics site maintains that it originally came from the novel, The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper. In the book, Hawkeye was the name bestowed on a white scout who hunted and lived with the Delaware Indians.
Mascot: The university has a costumed Hawkeye, known as Herky, who has been a symbol of the university since 1948. The university had had gone through a number of mascots, including Burch, a black bear cub who lived under the football bleachers until he was found drowned in the Iowa River in 1910 (the MZone's first thought: ask Brutus the Buckeye where he was that day). Herky was conceived by a journalism instructor and his name was selected based on a statewide contest.
Herky's first appearance at a football game came in 1959, but he was soon banned from the sideline after a couple of problems. In Evanston he came close to starting a riot when he pulled the tail off Northwestern's Wildcat mascot, and he also caused a stir when he climbed an electric pole at a home game.
Originally made of papier-mache and chicken wire, today’s mascot has a couple seven pound Kevlar head versions: two wearing football helmets and one without. They heads are manufactured by the same Minnesota company that makes Sesame Street costumes, and cost a total of $5,880.
Colors/Logo/Helmet: Officially, they wear Black and Old Gold. For a previous Iowa KYF, Andy searched high and low, but could not find any related story as to how and why they picked these colors. And let's be honest, the “gold” for Iowa is really more of a yellow. But given that they grow a lot of corn in Iowa, it makes sense that their gold is more "corny."
The logo is something called a Tigerhawk and was introduced in 1979 when former head football coach Hayden Fry arrived from North Texas State University. Fry was allowed to hire a marketing group to create the logo to in an effort to reshape the image of the Iowa football team which hadn't had a winning season since 1960. It must have worked, because Fry turned the Hawkeyes into a respected football program where he gathered 143 wins, 3 Big Ten titles, and 14 bowl appearances in 20 years.
Although, as we stated in a previous post here at the MZone, if you turn it on its side, their logo looks a lot like Fred Flintstone. You be the judge:
And their uniforms look a lot like those of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, another change courtesy of Hayden Fry's attempt to make the woeful program he took over play like winners by looking like winners. With the approval of the Rooney family, Fry basically copied the Steelers uniforms. Prior to that, Iowa had a series of non-descript yellow and black helmets. About the only thing that has changed on the Iowa helmets since 1979 is the addition of a small, circular yellow decal containing the letters "ANF" on their helmets; the acronym stands for "America Needs Farmers" and was intended to draw attention to the economic plight experienced by many farmers in the American midwest.
Fight Song: The Iowa Fight Song was written in 1951 by Iowa native Meredith Willson, creator of Broadway play The Music Man. The song only has 61 words, yet the word “Fight!” appears nine times. Hell, the word “Iowa” only shows up four times.
The word is "Fight! Fight! Fight! for IOWA,
Let every loyal Iowan sing;
The word is "Fight! Fight! Fight! for IOWA,"
Until the walls and rafters ring (Go Hawks!)
Come on and cheer, cheer, cheer, for IOWA
Come on and cheer until you hear the final gun.
The word is "Fight! Fight! Fight! for IOWA,"
Until the game is won.
Academics: According to the latest US News and World Reports rankings, Iowa is #71, tied with BYU, V-Tech and fellow B1G school, MSU. However, they more than make up for this so-so ranking with a #4 spot on the Princeton Review list of the Top Party Schools.
The pride and joy of the University is probably the Writers’ Workshop. The Workshop is a two-year residency program which ultimately requires a creative thesis, usually a novel or a collection of stories. It was the first creative writing degree program in the country and it’s alumni have won a dozen Pulitzer Prizes, and four graduates of the program have been named U.S. Poet Laureates. So I’m sure if Know Your Foe was in the hands of a Writers’ Workshop grad it would be much more interesting.
Football: Football was first played as a club sport at Iowa in 1872, but it was not a varsity sport until 1889 (and may not be again after last week's loss to Minnesota). They lost their first official varsity game to Grinnell College in the one and only game they played that season. The next year they won a game. Ten years later they went undefeated and were offered a place in the Western Athletic Conference, which later became the Big Ten. Iowa has won eleven Big Ten championships, the last in 2004. Nile Kinnick won the 1939 Heisman Trophy, beating out Tom Harmon (#Bullshit). In 1970, Michigan’s Bump Elliott became Iowa’s Athletic Director a year after Don Canham replaced him as coach with Bo Schembechler (#NotBullshit).
Over the years, 92 Hawkeyes have been named a first-team or second-team All-American, and 22 have been named consensus first-team All-Americans. They have produced three members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, including Michigan native Paul Krause. Nine players and five coaches represent Iowa in the College Football Hall of Fame, including 1985 Heisman runner up Chuck Long. As previously mentioned, Hayden Fry brought Iowa football back to life in 1979. They have been a consistently tough Big Ten opponent since (although, did we mention they lost to Minnesota last week?).
Other Sports: The University of Iowa currently fields 24 varsity teams. But when you think Iowa sports, you need to begin with wrestling where they rule. Legendary Olympian Dan Gable and 2 other coaches have led the wrestling Hawkeyes to 21 national and 32 Big Ten titles, includes nine straight national titles (1978-86). Their men’s basketball team has had some success, making it to three Final Fours. Their baseball team made the drive to Omaha and the College World Series in 1972.
Famous Alums: Famous non athletic Hawkeyes include Actors Gene Wilder (who was once married to U-M alum Gilda Radner), Tom Arnold and Ashton Kutcher. TV news anchor Tom Brokaw and Pulitzer Prize winner Tennessee Williams and novelist John Irving . The founder of famous public opinion poll, George Gallup was a football player and editor of school paper. Grammy winning singer Al Jarreau and Academy Award winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno) both spent some time in Iowa City. And they must live with the shame of Lou Holtz on this list as well.
Ron's pick: I believe in our kids, and they'll keep it rolling. This is not last year or the year before. They get it done.
Michigan - 28
Iowa - 17
Yost's pick: Last weekend was a huge game for Michigan. Not only wasn't it a loss, but it wasn't close. They put away an inferior team and didn't let them hang around or let them back in it. And before The Dark Period, Saturday's game in Iowa would probably be a road version of last weekend. But, even after their loss to Minnesota (did we mention--? Nevermind), Iowa is 5-0 at home (0-3 on the road). So while they played poorly last weekend, Iowa isn't a bad team (right?). Still, are these Wolverines really going to lay an egg for Brady Hoke during his birthday week? Just can't see it. Very close. Comes down to the forth quarter but I think we pull it out.
Michigan - 28
Iowa - 27
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| The picture was crooked on the official university bookstore website. Guess they weren't 1st in graphic design |
Iowa takes great pride in claiming to "be first" in a lot of things, some of which even have nothing to do with being the first to install pink locker rooms for the visiting football team. It was the first U.S. public university to admit men and women on an equal basis. It established the first law school west of the Mississippi (becoming one of the first institutions in America to grant a law degree to a woman and an African-American, in 1873 and 1879 respectively). And in 1870, the university opened the first co-ed medical school, probably so that all those co-ed lawyers had somebody to sue.
Continuing on with its theme of firsts, SUofI was the world's first university to accept creative work in theater, writing, music, and art on an equal basis with academic research, and to put an African American on a varsity athletic squad (Frank Holbrook, 1895). Iowa also pioneered standardized testing, so we can all blame them for those damn scan-trons (or thank them for keeping so many Spartans and Buckeyes from getting into Michigan).
Location: Iowa City, Iowa. It’s the sixth largest city in Iowa, and was the first state capitol until 1857. The Old Capitol building remains and is a centerpiece of the Iowa campus. It’s tied with Stamford, Connecticut as the U.S. Metropolitan area with the highest percentage of adult’s holding a bachelor degree (44%). Much like so many of the locales that are home to Big Ten schools, Iowa City is a stereotypical college town. There’s a pedestrian mall that includes many of the town’s restaurants and bars. There’s a lively music scene. And it’s been ranked as the eighth most enlightened town by something called Utne Reader, and the tenth smartest place to live by Kiplinger’s.
Nickname: They call themselves Hawkeyes. The state of Iowa is known as the Hawkeye state. How the state (and university) got the name Hawkeyes used to be the subject of a bit of a debate. Some claimed the name is a tribute to Chief Black Hawk due to the Black Hawk War of 1832. But the the Iowa Athletics site maintains that it originally came from the novel, The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper. In the book, Hawkeye was the name bestowed on a white scout who hunted and lived with the Delaware Indians.
 |
| Who's your mascot? |
Herky's first appearance at a football game came in 1959, but he was soon banned from the sideline after a couple of problems. In Evanston he came close to starting a riot when he pulled the tail off Northwestern's Wildcat mascot, and he also caused a stir when he climbed an electric pole at a home game.
Originally made of papier-mache and chicken wire, today’s mascot has a couple seven pound Kevlar head versions: two wearing football helmets and one without. They heads are manufactured by the same Minnesota company that makes Sesame Street costumes, and cost a total of $5,880.
Colors/Logo/Helmet: Officially, they wear Black and Old Gold. For a previous Iowa KYF, Andy searched high and low, but could not find any related story as to how and why they picked these colors. And let's be honest, the “gold” for Iowa is really more of a yellow. But given that they grow a lot of corn in Iowa, it makes sense that their gold is more "corny."
The logo is something called a Tigerhawk and was introduced in 1979 when former head football coach Hayden Fry arrived from North Texas State University. Fry was allowed to hire a marketing group to create the logo to in an effort to reshape the image of the Iowa football team which hadn't had a winning season since 1960. It must have worked, because Fry turned the Hawkeyes into a respected football program where he gathered 143 wins, 3 Big Ten titles, and 14 bowl appearances in 20 years.
Although, as we stated in a previous post here at the MZone, if you turn it on its side, their logo looks a lot like Fred Flintstone. You be the judge:
And their uniforms look a lot like those of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, another change courtesy of Hayden Fry's attempt to make the woeful program he took over play like winners by looking like winners. With the approval of the Rooney family, Fry basically copied the Steelers uniforms. Prior to that, Iowa had a series of non-descript yellow and black helmets. About the only thing that has changed on the Iowa helmets since 1979 is the addition of a small, circular yellow decal containing the letters "ANF" on their helmets; the acronym stands for "America Needs Farmers" and was intended to draw attention to the economic plight experienced by many farmers in the American midwest.
 |
| You can spot the difference by noting that only one of the teams above would lose to the Minnesota Gophers |
Fight Song: The Iowa Fight Song was written in 1951 by Iowa native Meredith Willson, creator of Broadway play The Music Man. The song only has 61 words, yet the word “Fight!” appears nine times. Hell, the word “Iowa” only shows up four times.
The word is "Fight! Fight! Fight! for IOWA,
Let every loyal Iowan sing;
The word is "Fight! Fight! Fight! for IOWA,"
Until the walls and rafters ring (Go Hawks!)
Come on and cheer, cheer, cheer, for IOWA
Come on and cheer until you hear the final gun.
The word is "Fight! Fight! Fight! for IOWA,"
Until the game is won.
Academics: According to the latest US News and World Reports rankings, Iowa is #71, tied with BYU, V-Tech and fellow B1G school, MSU. However, they more than make up for this so-so ranking with a #4 spot on the Princeton Review list of the Top Party Schools.
The pride and joy of the University is probably the Writers’ Workshop. The Workshop is a two-year residency program which ultimately requires a creative thesis, usually a novel or a collection of stories. It was the first creative writing degree program in the country and it’s alumni have won a dozen Pulitzer Prizes, and four graduates of the program have been named U.S. Poet Laureates. So I’m sure if Know Your Foe was in the hands of a Writers’ Workshop grad it would be much more interesting.
 |
| This is either Hayden Fry or a police sketch of a serial killer |
Over the years, 92 Hawkeyes have been named a first-team or second-team All-American, and 22 have been named consensus first-team All-Americans. They have produced three members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, including Michigan native Paul Krause. Nine players and five coaches represent Iowa in the College Football Hall of Fame, including 1985 Heisman runner up Chuck Long. As previously mentioned, Hayden Fry brought Iowa football back to life in 1979. They have been a consistently tough Big Ten opponent since (although, did we mention they lost to Minnesota last week?).
Other Sports: The University of Iowa currently fields 24 varsity teams. But when you think Iowa sports, you need to begin with wrestling where they rule. Legendary Olympian Dan Gable and 2 other coaches have led the wrestling Hawkeyes to 21 national and 32 Big Ten titles, includes nine straight national titles (1978-86). Their men’s basketball team has had some success, making it to three Final Fours. Their baseball team made the drive to Omaha and the College World Series in 1972.
Famous Alums: Famous non athletic Hawkeyes include Actors Gene Wilder (who was once married to U-M alum Gilda Radner), Tom Arnold and Ashton Kutcher. TV news anchor Tom Brokaw and Pulitzer Prize winner Tennessee Williams and novelist John Irving . The founder of famous public opinion poll, George Gallup was a football player and editor of school paper. Grammy winning singer Al Jarreau and Academy Award winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno) both spent some time in Iowa City. And they must live with the shame of Lou Holtz on this list as well.
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| Iowa alum Gene Wilder and the pre-Hayden Fry Hawkeye football team |
Ron's pick: I believe in our kids, and they'll keep it rolling. This is not last year or the year before. They get it done.
Michigan - 28
Iowa - 17
Yost's pick: Last weekend was a huge game for Michigan. Not only wasn't it a loss, but it wasn't close. They put away an inferior team and didn't let them hang around or let them back in it. And before The Dark Period, Saturday's game in Iowa would probably be a road version of last weekend. But, even after their loss to Minnesota (did we mention--? Nevermind), Iowa is 5-0 at home (0-3 on the road). So while they played poorly last weekend, Iowa isn't a bad team (right?). Still, are these Wolverines really going to lay an egg for Brady Hoke during his birthday week? Just can't see it. Very close. Comes down to the forth quarter but I think we pull it out.
Michigan - 28
Iowa - 27
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