Saturday, November 7, 2009

Listen: Michigan Attempts to Secure a Bowl Bid

Tune in to WCBN Sports today as Michigan hopes to return to Bowl eligibility against Purdue at noon from Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.

Game: Purdue Boilermakers at Michigan Wolverines
Time: Noon
Venue: Michigan Stadium
Line: Michigan -6.5
Broadcast Link: YouCastr

Friday, November 6, 2009

Game of the Week Tonight 7-10 PM

Busy awesome night on tap for you tonight on 88.3 WCBN FM if you tune in from 7-10 pm.

Bill Rothwell will be leading the crew in the studio and for the first half hour you can hear as the Michigan Men's Basketball team tips off their 2009-2010 campaign in the exhibition opener vs. DII Wayne State. We will play the first half hour of the basketball game, before sending it to Yost. You can listen to the entire basketball broadcast LIVE through YouCastr.com here.

But Yost is where the most important action will take place tonight as the #4 Wolverines take on the #1 Miami Redhawks. The puck drops at 7:35 PM and we will broadcast the game LIVE over 88.3 WCBN until our show ends at 10 PM. If the game goes longer than our show, you can listen to the conclusion of the game LIVE through YouCastr.com.

Bill will have the intermission reports from the studio along with whoever joins him there.

Action packed night on WCBN.

Enjoy.

Go Blue!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Big Sports Half-Week Ahead

Baseball? Check. Football? Of course. Basketball and Hockey? You know it. The four major sports in America are all on display this weekend, and WCBN will be tracking it all. We'll have the DSR on Thursday to recap Game Six of the World Series, Game of the Week on Friday will feature Michigan basketball's exhibition opener against Wayne State, Michigan hockey's showdown with #1 Miami, and our picks of the week (if you feel really smart, check some sports betting weekly info). On Saturday, Michigan hopes to secure a bowl bid at noon against Purdue before Michigan hockey completes their home series with Miami on Saturday night. All of the broadcast links can be found on the right --->>

Professional Games to Watch

Baseball

World Series Game Six: Andy Pettitte takes the hill for the Yankees against Pedro Martinez at the new Yankees Stadium, as the Bronx Bombers hope to complete their 27th World Series Championship. Joe Girardi is receiving heat from the New York press for his decision to start A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte on three-days rest after Burnett got rocked for six runs while recording six outs in Game Five. Chase Utley continued his record-setting World Series with two more home runs last night, giving him five in the World Series to tie Reggie Jackson's World Series record.

...let's be clear - girardi made the right decision by starting burnett and pettitte on three-days rest, regardless of the fact that the yankees held a three-to-one world series advantage. does anyone seriously think that starting chad gaudin on a month's rest would have been a better choice than burnett or pettitte on short rest? you start the pitchers that give you the best chance to win, and taking a world start away from andy pettitte in the bronx would have been insane. pedro was very good in game two, but facing the same team twice in a week does not bode well for the now-soft-tossing pitcher. pedro is resourceful and will figure out ways to get outs, but the phillies will need to score runs to force a game seven...

Hockey Games

Washington @ New Jersey (Wednesday 7 P.M.)

...lets see the caps without alex ovechkin...

San Jose @ Detroit (Thursday 7:30 P.M.)

...i still can't figure out these two teams. the wings obviously are feeling the losses of hossa and franzen, but san jose has been inconsistent. the joe might give the wings the lift they need...

St. Louis @ Philadelphia (Saturday 7:00 P.M.)

...the up-start blues take on an inconsistent philly team in a town either hung over from a world series win or desperate for some good news...

New York Rangers @ Calgary (Saturday 10:00 P.M.)

...the rangers complete a three-game road trip in western canada against a tough flames team, as sean avery shares a sheet of ice with dion phaneuf. this should be a fun one...


Baltimore -3 at Cincinnati (1:00 P.M.)

...i'm still not sold on cincinnati, but carson palmer is back and the defense is much-improved. i'd err towards baltimore in an afc-north game that may eventually decide an afc wild-card berth with the steelers atop the division in the end...

Arizona at Chicago -3 (1:00 P.M.)

...these two teams are still trying to identify themselves, but i just don't like chicago. jay cutler needs weapons, and matt forte looks nothing like he did last year in his rookie season. the defending nfc-champions have been playing good football recently, and soldier field is not quite cold enough to cool off kurt warner and larry fitzgerald...

Miami at New England -10.5 (1:00 P.M.)

...miami got out-played in every facet of the game with the exception of special teams, and ted ginn's two 100+ yard kick returns for touchdowns resulted in the dolphins' second win this season against the jets. new england has looked like the 2007 patriots of late, but 10.5 points is a lot in a game that will feature a ton of running from ronnie brown and ricky williams...

San Diego at New York (NFC) -5 (4:15 P.M.)

...the giants are reeling after a bad loss in philly before the yankees gave new yorkers some redemption with a sunday night victory. san diego is an explosive offensive team, but they've struggled at times this season. look for this game to go back and forth, and expect the team with the ball last to win a wild one at the meadowlands...

Dallas at Philadelphia -3 (8:20 P.M.)

...i love philly in this game. dallas is overrated after a couple of good wins and philadelphia is hitting their stride with desean jackson and jeremy maclin emerging as two of the best young wide receivers in the nfl. tony romo is mistake-prone, and philadelphia loves to capitalize on that type of quarterback, as they did against eli manning last week...

Pittsburgh -3 at Denver (Monday Night Football)

...denver lost their first game of the season last week as the ravens took it to the broncos in a resounding 30-7 win. meanwhile, pittsburgh appears poised to repeat despite a lackluster start to the season defensively. this should be a close, defensive struggle, but the home dog is a sucker pick on monday night. roll with big ben...

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Michigan vs. Illinois Football Live at 3:30 ET

You can check out WCBN's live broadcast from Illinois for today's Michigan Football game here.

John, Tyler, and Roberto have the call.

Go Blue!

Friday, October 30, 2009

GOTW Friday 7-10 PM-LIVE Michigan vs. Wisconsin Volleyball

Be sure to tune in at 7 pm as we will have Live coverage of #10 Michigan Volleyball vs. Wisconsin.

Throughout the show we will preview tomorrow's Football game between the Wolverines and Illinois.

We will also briefly discuss Michigan Basketball, the World Series, the NBA, the NFL, and our weekly college football picks.

Go Blue!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Michigan Basketball- First Open Practice Impressions

Prior to witnessing the Michigan vs. Penn State football debacle, Andrew Goddeeris and I dropped by Crisler Arena on Saturday to check out the first Michigan men's basketball practice open to the public. I can't say that this was the most eventful venture, but I came away with some notable impressions.

Darius Morris, the most highly touted of the Michigan freshmen, looked a little nervous, but none the less solid. Morris showed promise during a Maize vs. Blue scrimmage when he ran several fast breaks and showcased an ability to find open men, most of the time DeShawn Sims, underneath the basket.

Blake McLimans can shoot. Although the 6'10" freshman out of the Worcester Academy in Massachusetts was not a big recruit by any means, McLimans proved to be impressive in drills when he hit, by my count, 9 out of 11 jump shots from just inside the three point line. McLimans, it should be noted, also proved to be a solid rebounder in the scrimmage.

Ben Cronin still cannot run. I know it's disheartening to hear that all of the 7 foot center's mobility issues cannot be pinned on his left hip injury last year, but the fact that Cronin still resembles a tree on the basketball court is the truth. Cronin still runs with a limp/waddle and by my guess will never see significant playing time with this squad. He was last in wind sprints, last to get into team huddles at mid court during practice, and will probably be the last big man to come off the bench come season play.

There have been changes in physique on some players on the Wolverines. Andrew and I both agreed that Laval Lucas-Perry looked like he had cut a little bit of his baby fat off from last year and seemed toned, and, in my opinion, ready for a big year with Michigan. I also believe that Zack Novak has put on a little bit of muscle, but, since I know he does a lot of work in the paint, maybe that's just wishful thinking.

Manny Harris is in a league of his his own- literally. Very rarely did Andrew and I see Michigan's most valuable piece even run drills with the team, as most of the time, Manny was working on his jumpshot by "stopping and popping" over on the side hoops of Chrisler arena. Harris did not participate in the Maize vs. Blue scrimmage and seemed relatively uninvolved in any activities that the rest of the team was doing. I guess that's just Manny being Manny.

My last impression, and I'll admit that this one did not fully come together until about 7:00pm Saturday, is that John Beilein is, without a doubt, the best athletics coach that the University of Michigan has in any sport. Beilein's practice was directed, controlled, and efficient, and I have no doubt that Michigan, under the lead of Beilein, will once again be a tournament team.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Listen: Penn St. at Michigan (3:30 PM)

Tune in to WCBN Sports today as Michigan seeks their second win over a ranked opponent this season and their first Big Ten victory since Indiana in Week Four.

Opponent: Penn State Nittany Lions
Time: 3:30 P.M.
Venue: Michigan Stadium
Line: Penn State - 4.5
Broadcast Link: YouCastr

College Picks

Updated picks are posted to the right sidebar. Feel free to comment to this post and add your own picks for the week!

P.S. Lee Corso disagrees with the entire WCBN crew - he took Michigan St. over Iowa, while Kirk Herbstreit picked Brandon Minor and MICHIGAN to beat Penn St.