Pictures from the MAC Championship Game

So I went down to the MAC Championship game today.  It is the first time where they held it on a Saturday instead of a Friday evening.  I hope they continue this because it makes it easier for working people (and fans from the teams) to attend the game.  It wasn't too bad of a day though.

The game is held in Detroit at Ford Field.  It's been there for a while and I think it will be held there for a while because it represents a good central point for the MAC.  I know it works for me because it's relatively close.

 One of the majorettes for the Miami band.

 The Central Michigan band takes the field.

 One of the Central Michigan majorettes.

 There were quite a few Central Michigan fans at the game.

 The Miami Redhawk mascot.  Apparently, his name is Swoop too.

 The Central Michigan color guard during the halftime show.

One of the Miami running backs finding a hole.  As always, if you want to see more game shots, go to Hustle Belt.

Miami RedHawks at Eastern Michigan Eagles - Basketball

I went to the Eastern Michigan basketball game yesterday.  Because of weather and not really feeling well, this was the first game I've been to in a while.  Sadly, the game didn't live up to my expectations as I left at halftime to catch a ship that would be passing Detroit.  Eastern Michigan was down by seven points at that point but it didn't look like they were going to be mounting a comeback.  These are my pictures from the game, if you want to see actual game shots, go to Hustle Belt.

 The drummer playing during the Star Spangled Banner.  I like it more when they have the band playing to song.

 Swoop looking on.

 The Eastern Michigan dance team during one of their routines.

 Kevin McAdoo getting mugged on the way to the basket.  I think they called this charging.  Anyway, Eastern Michigan was having a hard time finding the basket.

 I stuck around for the halftime show, it was pretty entertaining.

 Some sort of stunt dogs.

 Jumping over some stuff.

 the two dogs were rolling this as the other dog walked around.

 A conga line?

The guys were running around and the dog was jumping over them.

Eastern Michigan would end up losing the game 59-48.  I was able to listen to it as I was heading to Detroit and it sounded about as ugly as what I was watching at the game.

Miami Redhawks at Eastern Michigan

So I went to the Eastern Michigan game today.  They need one more win to be bowl eligible although I think they need to finish the season at 7-5 to get a bid to a bowl.  They were facing the Miami Redhawks.

 It was a beautiful fall day today as it reached 70.

 Another shot of some foliage.

 I caught some pictures before the game.  This was probably my favorite.

 The Eastern Michigan band takes the field.

 I kind of like this shot a little better.

 The drum majors.

 I kind of liked this shot too.

 The majorettes.

 A couple of the band members.

 The team comes on the field unified.  I think this is pretty cool.

 The pre-game eagle.

 Another shot of the eagle.

 I kind of liked the look of the stadium in the tuba.

 One of the drums.

 This was probably my favorite shot.  Eastern ended up losing the game 28-15.  They looked pretty lethargic through the whole game.

 It was band day today.  Normally they do a giant "EMU".  I couldn't catch it with the lens I had.

So I used my iPhone.

Eastern Michigan at Miami Football

Eastern Michigan was playing at Miami University (of Ohio) today and I decided to head down there to take pictures.  Given the records of the two teams, I thought that Eastern actually had a shot at victory.  However that was not the case.  Once again, I will post pictures of other than the game here.  If you want to see game pictures go to Eagle Totem.

 Miami Field was opened in 1896 and was the home to the Miami Redskins until 1982.  By 1928, it had a capacity of 7,240 and it when it was closed, it could seat 14,800.  It was the second oldest college football stadium after Franklin Field for the University of Pennsylvania.

 In 1982, Yager Stadium was opened with a capacity of 25,183 fans.  The stadium was started with natural grass but that was replaced with FieldTurf in 2003.  I will have to admit that it is a pretty nice stadium.

 Miami University is known as the "Cradle of Coaches".  There are many famous coaches that got their start there.  My favorite of those being Bo Schembechler.  I don't really think I need to go into details here about him, as I've posted several times about him.

 A close up of his face.

 I would have liked this picture a lot more, but there is the disjointed hand of a ref.

 I saw this dog in the stands and I thought he was pretty cute.

 I'm not sure what kind of plane this was, but it was close enough to get a picture.

 The Miami band was pretty cool though.

 I kind of liked the percussion too.

They were honoring veterans at today's game.  These people represent Miami's Veterans Organization.

 One of the flag girls.

 This was a pretty cool tribute to the Iwo Jima statue.

 This is the Miami Redhawk.  At one time Miami was known as the Redskins and when the controversy over that name first started, they actually asked the Miami tribe what they thought about it.  Apparently, they didn't really have a problem and they helped them with cheers and stuff that weren't so offensive.  It seemed like a pretty good relationship.

 A shot of the stadium.

 Weeb Ewbank was a multi-sport athlete at Miami University.  He began his coaching career in 1928 where he coached at various high schools in Ohio.  In 1943, he joined the US Navy and was a coach for a service football team at Naval Station Great Lakes.   After the war, he became an assistant with Paul Brown for the Cleveland Browns.  They ended up winning an All-American Football Conference Championship in 1949 and an NFL Championship the following year.  In 1954, he left the Browns to become the head coach for the Baltimore Colts.  He ended up leading them to an NFL Championship in 1958.  He was fired by the Colts in 1963 and was picked up by the Jets shortly after.  He led the Jets to an AFL championship in 1968 and won Super Bowl III in the same year.
He was also the coach during the famous Heidi Game.  During this particular game, his Jets were leading 32-29 but the Raiders would score two touchdowns in the last two minutes to win the game.  It was dubbed the Heidi Game because NBC Executives decided to show the movie Heidi instead of the last two minutes.  There were so many complaints that NFL games are now shown in their entirety.
He would end up retired from football in 1973 and return to Oxford, OH.

 Ara Parseghian was another famous coach that went to Miami.  In 1964, he would become the coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish where he would win two National Championships. 

Paul Brown began his coaching career at Severn School in 1931.  Shortly after that, he became the head coach for Massillon High School in Ohio.  During his 11 seasons there, his team only lost 10 games.  He was hired by Ohio State and led them to a National Championship in 1942.  He ended up joining the Navy and became the coach for the Naval Station Great Lakes.  After the war, he was hired by the Cleveland Browns, where he led them to four AAFC Championships and 3 NFL Championships.  He fired after a conflict with the Browns' owner Art Modell in 1963.  In 1968, he co-founded and was the first coach of the Cincinnati Browns.  He would remain there as coach until 1975 and remained their President until 1991.
He was the first coach to use game film to scout his opponents.  He also implemented a number of other innovations in football.  He was not well liked because he was a very controlling (but obviously successful) coach.  He died in 1991.