The Director's Seat - Andy's Blog

This is probably a one-off that I'm passing off as the start of something grander to legitimize not studying for my last exam of 2011 over here in the Netherlands, but it's fun to dream. I'm well aware that the field of sports + pop culture combo blogging is quite crowded, but its crowded because it's kind of fun. This will almost certainly be a summer-only feature, and we'll switch back to a sports-only format once we have Michigan athletics to broadcast again. For now, bookmark this right next to your Simmons and Deadspin tabs.

Entertainment

Summer is either upon us or right around the corner, and there has always been a distinct "summer" style of music that I really enjoy. It's light, breezy, and jangly, and two new releases from hotly tipped bands have finally hit the interwebs.

First up is Cults' eponymously titled debut album, due May 31st, streaming exclusively via NPR. You can find it here. I just caught Cults in Amsterdam and they were really good, and this album starts as strong as any I've listened to all year. It's pleasant pop music for a pleasant summer. Here's the third track, "You Know What I Mean," which was a stunner live.

The much anticipated new album from Atlanta punks Black Lips, Arabia Mountain, has made its way to the internet ahead of its June 7 release date, and on first listen it sounds like all the concerns fans had about new producer Mark Ronson were unfounded. Perhaps slightly more sedate than their past albums, Arabia Mountain is still sure to be one of the most talked about albums of 2011. Here's a sample.

The only band whose album has actually already come out, Explosions in the Sky returned in 2011 with Take Care, Take Care, Take Care. The album is more of the same from the Austin-based band, which is to say atmospheric, soaring rock void of vocals. The result can be chilling if you're patient enough with the songs.

If that sound is familiar, it's because EITS provided much of the music for both the movie and TV versions of Friday Night Lights, which leads me to my next segment...

Everyone is watching Friday Night Lights on NBC, right? Because it's an incredible show, and in basically every way the best. Much more than a football drama (it doesn't hurt to be a football fan), this show captures human relationships better than any show I've ever watched, and it is a wholly engrossing viewing experience. The fifth (and final) season aired last fall on DirecTV, and NBC is in the middle of the fifth season now (Friday nights, 8 pm ET). Seriously, if you haven't already, do yourself the favor and start from the beginning and grow with this series. You couldn't ask for a better series. You'll find yourself wishing Michigan could hire Coach Eric Taylor to be a QB coach or something, I promise. Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose. Here's an introduction for the uninitiated.

I won't get into more TV for now, as most shows I watch have wrapped up their seasons, but everyone should be doing their best to stay up to date with Parks and Recreation.

Finally, Vulture brings us a handy guide to summer movies in a form most of you should find familiar: F, Marry, Kill: The Summer Movie Edition. It's full of great looking movies to be released this Summer, but perhaps the most important revelation is that there is going to be a 4th Spy Kids movie! I loved the first one, when I was 11, but the last two weren't worth watching. I won't bother posting all the trailers that look good, but suffice it to say I will certainly be seeing Harry Potter, The Debt, and 30 Minutes or Less in theaters.

Here's the trailer for 30 Minutes or Less, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Aziz Ansari, and Danny McBride - a dream team of sorts. Be warned the trailer is NSFW.

There are some really great looking documentaries included in that lineup, which should serve as a reminder to take full advantage of the Michigan Theater's summer documentary series running June-August! Their Facebook page has all the details. A personal suggestion? Blood Into Wine, a documentary about Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan's winery operation, featuring a whole slew of comedians, musicians, and actors.

(Inter)national Sports

Novak Djokovic's amazing start to 2011 continues as the French Open gets underway at Roland Garros. Djoko is now 38-0 to start the year and chasing all kinds of history. Rafael Nadal has owned the clay in Paris for quite some time now, but Djokovic could be on target to knock Nadal off and claim his first French Open title. S.L. Price wrote a great piece in the latest Sports Illustrated that's worth your time. Find it here.

Michigan alum and benefactor Fred Wilpon is in the news again, this time for criticizing stars Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Carlos Beltran in the midst of the Mets' on and off the field struggles. He doesn't say anything particularly wrong, but the candor is unusual. It appears that all three stars are in play for moves elsewhere.

Last night Joakim Noah became the second high profile player caught on TV dropping a homophobic slur, and while he quickly apologized, it will always come off as hollow. The NBA will almost certainly levy a fine like they did against Kobe Bryant, but none of this addresses the larger problem that homophobic slurs are a popular component of jock culture. With the recent news that Suns CEO Rick Welts is openly gay, the issue of homophobia in the NBA and in sports culture at large has been brought to the forefront, where it should be addressed candidly. It's time to hold athletes to a standard of basic human decency, and Steve Nash appears to be leading the pack.

Though Lance Armstrong has been dogged by doping allegations his entire career in a sport notorious for widespread doping, some of the strongest allegations yet have emerged from former teammates Tyler Hamilton and George Hincappie. 60 Minutes has the video report. Lance has always enjoyed a strong defense from sports fans and the American media, and it will be interesting to see whether these overwhelmingly damning allegations can finally tarnish his record-setting image. I've always found myself rooting for Armstrong and dismissing doping rumors as the work of the jealous French, but now we're forced to confront whether former American teammates would lie about Armstrong using illegal substances.

Chelsea F.C. fired respected manager Carlo Ancelotti yesterday, despite finishing second in the English Premier League, and winning the league in 2009-10. Roman Abramovich is a madman. Meanwhile, my Arsenal limped to a pathetic finish in the EPL, going from in the running for four trophies to fourth place in the EPL in a mere couple of months. So is the wild world of international football.

Michigan

Revenue sports are done for the year, and football recruiting will be the subject of dedicated posts throughout the summer. If you've been paying attention at all you should know that Brady Hoke and Co. are absolutely destroying it on the recruiting trail, and are on pace for Michigan's best recruiting class in recent memory. So that's fun.

In more somber news, Michigan was eliminated from the NCAA softball tournament yesterday after a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Kentucky that featured a 7th-inning collapse. The loss not only ends the season for Coach Hutch, but also marks the end of the historic careers of Jordan Taylor and Dorian Shaw. Big, big holes to fill next season. Recap on MGoBlue.com.

Lion Kim continues to be awesome, and Michigan surged to a win at their NCAA regional to earn a place in the NCAA championships in Oklahoma. Kim shot a career-best 65 to pace Michigan. He'll go down as one of Michigan's all-time greats, and treated M fans everywhere to quite a thrill following him at the Masters. The season is far from over for Michigan, which will be looking to pull the massive upset and take down #1 Oklahoma State in Stillwater. Recap on MGoBlue.com.

That's going to do it for now. Please leave feedback here, or hit me up on Twitter , and we'll see about making this a regular summer feature if people like it.

Most importantly, this thing needs a proper name if it's going to continue. Suggestions appreciated and acknowledged!

National Signing Day Predictions

Big day tomorrow for the Wolverines. With Thomas Rawls already in the bag for '11, can Meeechigan score a few more recruits to improve their current Rivals position of 24? Here's the way I see things shaking down...

TE- Chris Barnett? In. Will likely decide Saturday (not tomorrow), but I'm liking Hoke's chances. (Thomas Rawls spilled the beans about Barnett's good feelings towards Michigan in a Sunday interview with Sam Webb of the Detroit News)
DL- Darian Cooper? Out. Not too little on behalf of Hoke's boys, just too late.
OT- Jake Fisher? Out. Fisher's wavering + Oregon's awesome facilities= Trouble
LB- Leilon Willingham? In. Michigan is just a better fit than Colorado for such a talent.
LB/TE/ATH- Frank Clark? In. I get the feeling Frank would have signed earlier, but it's tradition in his football-rich hometown of Glenville, Ohio to announce on Signing Day with teammates.

We'll see how things really shape up. Hopefully coach Hoke continues making us proud tomorrow.

UPDATE 9:57am: With the Snowpocalypse (AKA the Snowtorious B.I.G) drilling what seems like the entire US with snow, Willingham will decide tomorrow (Thursday) at 9am as a result of a snow day today.

Thus far, everything is going as predicted: Clark to Michigan, Fisher to Oregon. Watch out for Willingham tomorrow... rumor is swirling that he might stay home and be a Buffalo.

2011: Johnny B's Make-or-Break Recruiting Class

Most people can foresee that the upcoming 2010-2011 Michigan basketball season will be a struggle. If you didn't know, allow me to refresh you with a simple equation:

Losing Team+ a bunch of decent freshman- leading scorer - leading rebounder= _________


I hate to sound too much like the kid who screams out answers before the teacher asks the class, but acceptable answers here are: uh-oh, damn it, a worse team, and do we really have to talk about the 2010-2011 Michigan Wolverines basketball team?

No. We do not have to talk about the 2010-2011 Michigan Wolverines (not yet anyway), because I believe that a true reflection of where a John Beilein coached team is headed is not exemplified by next year's team, but rather, is captured in the 2011 recruiting class. In essence, if you haven't been following basketball recruiting for the class of 2011, then you should. Currently, Beilein has only one commit, but is in the hunt for some premium talent. If all goes well, it could be the beginning of a flowering Michigan Basketball program under John Beilein.

What we have committed(according to scout):

6'1" Shooting Guard- Carlton Brundidge **** (Southfield, MI)
- Carlton is a scorer unlike any other we've seen at the University of Michigan in the past few years in the sense that does not have a lanky build like Manny Harris or Deshawn Sims. Sure, we've seen the undersized David Merritt drain the occassional 3-pointer, but this kid is a SCORER. He can't grab rebounds like Manny Harris, he isn't as tall as Darius Morris, but he puts the rock in the circular file. Remember this name, because he will surely impress when he sports the maize and blue.


What we have a decent shot at:

6'9" Center- Amir Williams **** (Beverly Hills, MI)
- While it is true that Michigan is competing with basketball powerhouses such as UNC, Duke, and Michigan State for this kid, Michigan still holds a few wild card factors that could play into its favor when attempting to land this kid. 1) He is a local kid. 2) He is friends with Carlton Brundidge (see above), and has done interviews with Carlton in which Carlton openly admits that he constantly recruits his AAU teammate Amir to come to Michigan. 3) He goes to Detroit Country Day. Now, the last time I checked, Michigan got a 6'9" center from DCD about 20 years ago and he went first overall in the NBA draft (I'm just saying...).

7'0" Center- Marshall Plumlee **** (Arden, NC)
- How John Beilein has found a way to maneuver Michigan into being one this kid's 3 "high interest" schools continues to baffle me, but I won't complain. Marshall Plumlee, whose two older brothers Miles and Mason just won a title at Duke, is a kid with size, versatility, and scoring ability. As mentioned, I'm not sure how John Beilein has slid Michigan into the race for this kid, but whatever he's doing, I like it.


What we have an outside shot at:

6'10" Power Forward- Cody Zeller ***** (Washington, IN)
- Yes, Michigan is in the hunt for a 5 star (according to scout) recruit. Much like Plumlee, I have no answers for how Beilein got into this position, but I do know this: Michigan is one of this kid's top 7 schools, and he has said in an interview that John Beilein is a guy that he could see himself playing for.



Yes, there is a still a lot of work to be done, and yes, star ratings are not perfect determinants of a player's potential. However, if your maize and blue heart is empty after a fruitless basketball season last year (and potentially one this year), I encourage you to look to the future. There is no guarantee that Michigan will land any of the non-committed recruits above, but if it could land one to compliment Brundidge, along with a 3 star supporting cast, John Beilein may be ready to take this program to the next level.

Huge Weekend for Michigan

#23 Michigan 74 Illinois 64

Let's start with the huge 74-64 win for #23 (for a few more hours until the new poll comes out) Michigan (11-3, 1-1) over Illinois (13-2, 1-1) on Sunday. It was a game that Laval Lucas-Perry said Michigan "needed to win" and they did just that to get to .500 in Big Ten Conference play. If Michigan wants to go dancing, they need to beat tough teams like the Illini on their home court. Illinois came in receiving votes in the polls and with a RPI of #18. With the way they've looked all season, I'd expect them to be around the top 25 at the end of the year.

Michigan trailed by one at the half but battled back and eventually pulled away in the final minutes to earn the ten point win. After playing man-to-man for most of the game against Wisconsin, the Wolverines spent much of the Illinois game in their 1-3-1 zone. While Illinois only turned the ball over eight times, the zone was effective in hiding Michigan's lack of size down low. There were still a few times where Beilein had four guards in the game and Bruce Weber exploited that size advantage for a few easy buckets by his big men but I like Michigan much better defensively in that 1-3-1.

Michigan used a balanced scoring attack as Harris lead the way with 16 but Sims, Perry, Novak, and Gibson also reached double figures. Novak earned his second start of the season and played well in the first half, scoring all of his 11 points on 5-6 shooting, 4-5 from beyond the arc. For those keeping track at home, that makes Novak 8-11 from beyond the arc (or 72.7% if you prefer percentages to fractions as I do) in the two games he's started - I'm disregarding the desperation three that he shot at the end of the Wisconsin game. Novak was neutralized for much of the second half by an Alex Legion elbow that left a trail of blood from the far basket all the way to the tunnel and required six stitches above Novak's left eye (see picture above).

Zach Gibson played above the rim, showing signs of athleticism that caught everybody, including Gibson, off guard. I know Gibson wasn't expecting himself to dunk because he couldn't stick the landing on his first slam, falling straight on his tailbone. Gibson jokes aside, he had a monster game for Michigan with the fast break dunk, a huge block on a Brock layup, a three pointer, then beating Tisdale off the dribble for his second dunk. His three pointer gave Michigan a lead that they would not surrender. The win improved Michigan's RPI 13 slots to #39 while dropping Illinois just one spot to #19. Michigan will next be in action on Wednesday night at 6:30 at Indiana with the game televised on the Big Ten Network. Now, moving on to recruiting...

Michael Chandler Commits to Michigan...and Lousiville?
After the Michigan win over Illinois, they won a verbal commitment from Michael Chandler, a 4-star, #4 ranked 6'10" Center in the 2011 class. This commitment seemed to come out of nowhere so I decided to do a little digging to find out about this Michael Chandler. ESPN's Scouts Inc. grade him at a 96 and said this about him:

If you want to see him play, you better get to the JV game at Lawrence North High School. He runs the floor extremely well, he is active on both ends of the floor and he rebounds very well. He is very coordinated for a kid his size and his age. He oozes with potential and is certain to attract a lot of attention as he gets older and continues to develop as a player.

Did scouts inc really send someone to watch this kid's JV game???

Chandler apparently has offers from Duke, Michigan State, Kansas, Indiana, Louisville, Kentucky, Ohio State, among several others. The strange thing? Of the three recruiting sites I checked out (Rivals, Scout, and ESPN) Scout was the only one that even listed Michigan as a possible interest!

Better yet, tonight Rivals posted their own article saying that Chandler committed to Lousiville today! Scouts and Rivals need to get together and figure out whats going on, or better yet, they need to stop covering high school sophomores in their JV games. Who's willing to put any amount of money that this kid actually puts on a maize and blue jersey in three years?

William Campbell Commits to Michigan...Again
During the third quarter of the Army All-American Game, Cass Tech's 5-star Defensive Tackle Will Campbell announced his commitment to the Wolverines (wait, hadn't he already done this...?) Campbell who seemed to be enjoying the recruitment process way too much faked for the LSU hat before donning the block M. Earlier in the week, Campbell had told the media that Michigan as no longer under consideration...so much for that, I guess. Campbell is the only 5-star in Rich Rod's 2009 class and plays a position where Michigan will be extremely thin next year as the entire Defensive line minus Brandon Graham (if he stays) graduates.

We'll leave you with some WCBN percentages after the weekend's events. Feel free to argue them in the comments section :

• Chance Michigan hoops makes the NCAA tournament: 75%
• Chance Zach Gibson ever has two dunks in a game again: 10%
• Chance Alex Legion's mom hears another prophecy from God about her son's basketball career and Legion transfers to University of Detroit Mercy: 17%
  
• Chance Will Campbell signs with Michigan: 90% (He's supposed to enroll classes and start on Wednesday)
• Chance Michael Chandler ever wears Maize and Blue: 20%
  

For the audio highlights of Michigan's win over Illinois, click HERE