Michigan Friday: It's all about the #4!

The two highlight of Thursday were Lion Kim at the Masters and the Michigan Hockey Team winning their Frozen 4 game. 

• Lion shot a decent +4 76 on Thursday.  Playing in your first major and with the likes of Davis Love III and former Master Champion José María Olazábal.  Right now it doesn't look good for him to make the cut unless he goes in red numbers today.  Either way it's a tremendous honor to play in the tournament and think he had done great!

• I will be the first to say that I know very little about Hockey.  What I do know is Michigan beat a great hockey team last night in North Dakota.  ND is said to be full of NHL players and pretty much blew out many of their opponents this year.  Either way, Michigan won a low scoring game last night and I even watched the last few minutes when Michigan scored the open net goal.  

 Other News:

• Michigan has already started on the 2013 class by already offering instate 6'3 187 pound QB Shane Morris who already has 4 BCS offers.   Shane and his family are Michigan fans. 

• With the new Big Ten Schedule formats - Michigan and Wisconsin will take 6 years off and the Wolverines and Badgers won't play until 2015. 

• ESPN loves Michigan Documentaries.  The Fab 5 was their highest rated 30/30 ever and now they are doing one on former Michigan QB Tom Brady, called the Brady 6. Which references the 6 QB's taken in the NFL draft before Tom.  Does any of these names ring a bell?  Chad Pennington (No. 18, Jets), Giovanni Carmazzi (65, 49ers), Chris Redman (75, Ravens), Tee Martin (163, Steelers), Marc Bulger (168, Saints) and Spergon Wynn (183, Browns). 

Michigan Thursday: A Wolverine at Augusta National

Rarely do we get a chance to cheer for a Wolverine at the Masters.  Even if your not a golf fan, this week you can support Lion Kim a U of M golfer that will be one of six amateurs in the field today at Augusta National.  Lion earned the invite by winning the 85th U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship last summer.  "Obviously, I'm extremely excited," said Kim, who ranks second all time at U-M with a career scoring average of 73.30 strokes per round. "I feel my game is at a good place right now and I'm getting to where I can compete at The Masters. It's exciting but it's also pretty nerve-wracking to know that you're playing on the biggest stage in golf."  Lion is playing with Davis Love and José María Olazábal today.

If your a golf fan you don't need another reason to watch the Masters.  If your not, please tune in and support Lion and maybe you can see why so many of us love this sport.   Augusta National is a special place and I got chance to be at the tournament 3 years ago.  It's a perfect golf course and that pretty much sums it up. 

On a side note:  Maybe this is the guy RR kept talking about when he kept referencing the Lion King movie? :)  Good Luck Lion and Go Blue!

• From a good news to sad news:  The Michigan Men community lost a member yesterday, with the passing of Vada Murray to his fight to cancer.   Vada as you know was a Wolverine Safety from 1988-1990 and then a Ann Arbor Policeman after he graduated.  RIP Michigan Man, RIP.

• The Michigan Hockey Team is in the Frozen 4 Tonight.  Go Blue!

• Michigan Football Walk On News:  Michigan has added a new offensive line recruit for the 2011 class.  Gary Yerden has accepted a invitation to be a preferred walk-on at Michigan.  Gary is a 6'6 330 pound offensive lineman with only one year of football under his belt at Portage Northern.  Gary has a high upside with his lack of football experience but guess what?  The kid is strong!  He is the 3 time State Champion in weightlifting by dead lifting a state record 630 pounds.  Wow! Sounds like a great pick up.

• ESPN is saying Michigan's Basketball preseason ranking should be #16.  I would agree if Darius Morris stays in Ann Arbor.   

• TomVH has an interview up with 2012 TE prospect Evan Baylis.

Golf's Hat Trick

As some of you regular readers of Bighouseblog know, I am a golf fan. This year, I have had the unique opportunity to attend three huge professional golf events: The Masters, The PGA Championship, and this weekend's Ryder Cup. Each of these tournaments were different but special experiences. So if you will allow me to "go off the board" for a minute, I would love to share with you my thoughts and experiences from such a "lucky" year for attending such great events.

The Masters: As Jim Nance says, it truly is "a tradition like no other". When your on the hallowed grounds of Augusta National it's something very special. The place is magical, beautiful, and perfect all together. If you ever get a chance to attend, you should whether your a golf fan or not. I have never seen an event run so well. Like their name says they have "mastered" every aspect of your viewing and attending pleasure. You can get a 2 drinks and a sandwich for less then $10. Television doesn't come close to showing the speed and breaks in the greens and most of the pin placements aren't even fair. It's a wonderful experience to just attend and enjoy the historic course, there is also some pretty good golf played there as well.

The PGA Championship at Oakland Hills: We were lucky enough to attend Friday's round (the day with the best weather) when it was Hot and a little windy. This was a day where the best golfers in the world (minus Tiger) were against the long Oakland Hills golf course and the course won. We watched golf for 11 hours and could have counted the number of birdies we saw on one hand. I have been to US Open's and Ryder Cup's at Oakland Hills but this was as tough as I have ever seen this course play. Great Day of watching golfers trying to take on the "Monster" and end up looking like most of us do playing on the weekend.

The 2008 Ryder Cup: This weekend was like no other golf event I have been to. (When I attended the Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills the US team got beat badly and only manged one point the entire day) This past Saturday was filled with tremendous golf from both the US and European Teams. Many different crowd eruptions from fans from "across the pond" and even here in the "good old" USA.

The players were on both sides were very focused and the fans were chanting "USA, USA, USA" all day. This weekend was as special as watching golf gets. It wasn't one golfer against the course, this was a team and country event. It was Olympics for Golf.

Both teams were playing "out of their minds" with amazing shot making and un-believable putting. Both teams were playing to the crowds and you could really see that Paul Azinger put together a team of good players but players with personality that could thrive in this format. Boo Weekly played perfect golf, his energy, humor, and "down home" personality was a perfect fit for the US. Tie that in with Kentucky natives JB Holmes and Kenny Perry with the young "AK" Anthony Kim. The US team was tough to beat.

The energy and memories of this past weekend will last a lifetime. If you think golf is boring to watch or not for you, give the Ryder Cup a chance. It's the Masters meets Michigan - Ohio State. It's the US Open meets the Olympics. It's a wonderful chance to be patriotic, it's a wonderful chance to get your blood boiling, It's a wonderful chance to be American and cheer for your love for golf and for the love or your country. It's a chance to put the thoughts of $4 gas, historic foreclosers, Presidential elections, and a down economy away and just be American for a few hours. Well done gentlemen, you made your country proud.