So, now that last night is finally over, the question now is how much do rivalry games really matter. Certainly, bragging rights are a big deal. But the new format makes it possible to end up a National Champion with 2 losses and no conference championship.

Good start

The Los Angeles Trolley Dodgers have won the World Series.

Fire up the hot stove...here we go!!!

Free agent hitters:

Free agent starting pitchers:

Free agent relievers:

in this modern day of CFB. OSU is picking them apart. OSU is looking like Bama or UGA of 5-10 years ago.

ND's issue is they are so dependent upon the run. They do not have the passing attack we had last season (23).

I will guess that OSU will break 40 at this rate.

There was some talk about Wink potentially speaking with the Bengals. Early reports suggested Notre Dame's DC Al Golden was the favorite to get the gig, and minutes after the Natty it looks like the deal may have already been done.
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One of the two teams I despise the most will lose tonight. 😀

19 days till our reigning NFC North Champs kick off the regular season. Can’t wait!

thought it would be Raiders...

Further evidence that Michigan is in a great spot coming out of the weekend.

The trophy may end up in Columbus, but blah blah blah. Real ballers know who owns who, and who the rightful champ is.


So, back to back mission accomplished, how likely is a threepeat?

Step one get decent QB play and I think we got a shot

TCU championship game a few years back. Turning it to a movie

Right here in the Rumor Mill:

After a hiatus, we are BACK with another Subscriber Chat inside The Den!

Fire away with your questions and we'll get back to you.

It seemed like Northwestern was trying to go at Wolf when it was on offense. Did anyone notice this?

😁〽️〽️

Since the Lions season ended two days ago, going to create a thread so that folks can post links for the Lions heading into the 2025-26 season! Big offseason ahead! Go Lions

The Lions?

The Colts have interviewed "at least five" candidates for defensive coordinator.

Wink Martindale of course, Steve Wilks, Lou Anarumo, Ephraim Banda, and just on Friday Dennis Allen.

There is mixed reporting about whether the Colts will now make a decision from this group, potentially interview more candidates, or go to a round of second interviews, but the expectation is they will make a decision next week.

Two reasons this felt like a better landing spot for Wink than Atlanta, are the stated goal of the Colts to "be more aggressive" and the belief GM Chris Ballard is fond of Wink from years back.
But Ballard did confirm that Colts HC Shane Steichen will make the hire, but Ballard will provide input. You decide what that means. From what I can tell, Steichen does not appear to have any prior connections/relationships to any of the candidates.

Their Amateur Radio License ?
I just received my Technician license, last week.
KF8DDC

...what each team was missing and would be a continued concern for the upcoming season, through their offseason actions.

The QB concerns were probably kept quiet and in-house as much as they could be, but it was obvious that there would be issues when Jack Tuttle was asked by Coach Moore to "come out of retirement" (he was supposed to take on some kind of coaching role) after surgery to "try to play again".

Many saw this as a huge red flag. I was hoping at the time it was for depth and experience, but that theory went down the toilet once the season started. The QB room was devoid of starter-level talent.

Mea Culp, I'll admit that I was wrong to think of Tuttle's announced return as a player as a good sign, but instead was the reality of a bad QB room, as an injured Tuttle was probably the only hope of the coaches.

Tuttle's return also makes it clear that Jadyn Davis was not even seen as a possibility to develop before at least one full offseason of coaching. This was another idea I bucked, and I'll admit, I was wrong about at the time.

As for Coach May, his "mad scientist" way of putting together a team was fascinating to watch; Though I did wonder aloud and post on this board the question of "why was Michigan still aggressively recruiting Point and Combo G's after already having 3 true freshman PGs, Donaldson, Jones, as well as Gs like Burnett and Gayle, who can handle the rock in a pinch.

But after watching the system in action, closely, I truly see how this offense has a need for two true veteran CG/PGs to handle the ball at all times, as well as make timely shots.

I remember Michigan and Coach May still seemed to be aggressively recruiting Aidan Mahaney and Aden Holloway, even after commitments from Trey, Roddy, and Nimari announcing his return.

Today, even though Mahany isn't playing well for UConn, I can see exactly why his profile was a fit for this offense. Holloway, however looks like exactly what we could've used: 10.8 PPG in 20 minutes off the bench, 47% FG, 40 % #PT, 81% FT, 1.8 APG. Take a handful of minutes from Trey, about half of those minutes that Jones (19 MPG) has been eating up, and a few from Burnett and Gayle and we get 20 for the other true PG, that Day made it obvious this offseason the team needed.

Michigan is one veteran PG short, which requires too much decision-making by guys like Burnett and Gayle who are built to be finishers. Jones is smart, but not explosive. Donaldson is great, but to run up-tempo, it may be too much for one guy. The young PGs are, I'm sure developing behind the scenes- It looks like Pippen is in line to pick up a few minutes, but it's obvious that the team is without a playmaker when both Donaldson and Wolf are on the bench.

Thought it would be fun to have an ongoing thread to keep up with the Big Ten basketball season throughout the next few months, to see how things change every week or 2. We're about 1/4 of the way through the conference season, as all teams have played 5 or 6 Big Ten games thus far.

Standings: The current standings, as of 1/12, are below.

Contenders: Michigan and MSU look to be the top 2 contenders, along with Purdue, Illinois, Oregon, Wisconsin and Indiana in the mix. From my seat, it looks like Michigan/MSU at the top, and the next 2 strongest contenders, IMO, are Purdue and Illinois. Was great to see Illinois trip up and lose to USC this weekend (even with missing Jakucionas).

Schedules: One thing that is interesting is the conference schedules for each team. Everyone plays each school 1 time, and then has 3 teams that they play twice (home and away). Here are the teams that the leaders play twice:

-Michigan plays 2 against MSU, Purdue and Rutgers
-MSU plays 2 against Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota
-Illinois plays 2 against MSU, Wisconsin and Northwestern
-Purdue plays 2 against Michigan, Indiana and Rutgers

Question for the board - what conference record do you think the Big Ten regular season champion has? I'm going to predict Michigan wins the Big Ten at 17-3.

2024-25 Big Ten Standings​