Unverified Voracity Acquires Pig

Important! The offensive line has purchased a pig.

the wait is over and everyone's dreams can now come true We purchased a PIG!Introducing Dr. Hamlet III twitter.com/TaylorLewan77/…

— Taylor Lewan (@TaylorLewan77) May 28, 2013

God bless the offensive line for keeping the team's entertainment quotient off the charts even after Denard Robinson departs.

[UPDATE: YES THE NEXT FIFTEEN POSTS WILL ALL LEAD WITH THE SAME PICTURE OF DR HAMLET III]

World series. Congrats to softball, which endured some harrowing times in the super regional to get to the Women's Softball World Series. A two-run double from Ashley Lane rescued Michigan in the elimination game.

On to Oklahoma City, where Michigan gets #1 Oklahoma. Grumble about not re-seeding goes here. Michigan plays tomorrow at 9:30 on ESPN2.

We don't like things. Scott Dochterman FOIAed the dickens out of Iowa to get information about their seeming about-face on the recruiting deregulation that Mark Emmert spearheaded about a year ago. The revelations are about what you'd expect: fusty muttering about big spending oblivious to the Big Ten's place in the money standings. Urban Meyer (in a text message):

there are already teams that have made plans to have separate scouting depts. [sic]. there has already been nfl scouts that have been told they will be hired to run the dept. (hired for over 200k). I checked with an NFL friend and he confirmed that there was much conversation about this. Appealing to scouts because of no travel. Also, there has been movement to hire Frmr players/coaches with big names to work in that dept. and recruit full time. This will all happen immediately once rule is passed.

Emmert comes off as extremely frustrated that a year-long high-profile working group got bushwhacked by Big Ten teams who had simply not been paying attention. MSU's president chaired the frigging committee and was super pissed you guys about how everything went down:

"I find it interesting that I was advised by the conference to vote for these rules being assured that they had been discussed within the conference and we were involved in the committee process.”

She adds, “I must admit after all of our integrity and power coach discussions, I found the press release — the tone, the method and lack of conversation with Mark (Emmert) or me prior to release — very disturbing.”

Delany responded that "minds were other places" because, uh, football. Or something? Whatever they were busy with it certainly wasn't making sure Rutgers wasn't on the verge of becoming a national laughingstock.

Emmert was eventually forced to back down when other power conferences awoke from a refreshing year-long nap and agreed with whatever the Big Ten happened to be thinking that day. Emmert probably spent that night looking at his paycheck and thinking "still worth it."

Yoink. Hockey matches the football program's Drake Harris heist by securing the services of NTDP defenseman Nick Boka, a one-time MSU commit who thought better of it and is now headed… er… going to stay in Ann Arbor. Boka is a high profile defender who got an early invite to the NTDP and brings that grinding edge:

A good-sized kid who is probably still growing and he has a lot of upside to his game. He is not a flashy offensive-defenseman although he moves the puck well and isn’t afraid to skate it up either. He is quite mobile and plays aggressive. Boka showed some physical play at the back-end and plays sound position as well as controlling gaps. He looks to have pretty heavy shot from the point too.

Boka should come in for the class of 2015.

If he gets any taller he'll have to become two-dimensional. Tim Hardaway pumped up Caris LeVert to Andy Katz and Seth Greenberg, stating that the kid is still growing. A lot:

"The guy people are sleeping on is Caris LeVert," Hardaway told Andy Katz and Seth Greenberg during a recent ESPN podcast."I think he grew an inch or two this past year, they plan on him being 6-foot-8, 6-foot-7-1/2 (next year). He's not done growing.

"He's going to be an athletic, defensive guy who can grab rebounds, push it on the break and hit that wide-open 3 … he's going to be the X-factor for the Wolverines next year."

A 6'8" small forward is a luxury few teams have. And LeVert doubles as a sail!

Nick Saban and I are basically twins now. I'm creeped out by this development as much as anyone else, but he's the only coach in the SEC who thinks they should add a ninth conference game. He's concerned that fans are getting fed up with seeing Middle Tennessee State and Memphis in the middle of November. Meanwhile, other guys in that league are saying stuff like this:

“For me, when you add a ninth game, that’s seven more losses for our conference,” Freeze said.

And this from James Franklin:

When’s it going to stop? Two years from now they’re going to say, ‘You know, we probably ought to schedule an NFL team. You’re probably going to have to play the Jets. You’re going to have to play the Falcons.’

Congratulations on destroying the slippery slope argument even more than politicians, James Franklin. Where does it all end? You're going to have to play a team of cyborgs with swords for eyes, James Franklin. That's definitely happening. And then they're going to take your wife home.

Saban, on the other hand:

“The biggest thing we all need to do in some of these decisions that we’re making about who we’re playing and what we do is, ‘What about the fans?’ because one of these days they’re going to quit coming to the games because they’re going to stay home and watch it on TV.

“Then everybody’s going to say, ‘Why aren’t you coming to the games? Well, if you play somebody good we’d come to the game.’ That should be the first consideration. Nobody’s considering them. They’re just thinking about, ‘how many games can I win, can I get bowl-qualified, how tough a teams do I have to play?’”

I find this… awesome? I do. These are strange days in college football.

Fast! Hype for Delano Hill continues apace as he runs a 10.97 in "cold, wet and windy conditions" to win the PSL 100 M and won a regional with a 10.7. Already at 200 pounds, he won't have to add the kind of weight that would rob him of some pretty excellent top-end safety speed.

Etc.: Intermat names Michigan's wrestling recruiting class #1, following on the heels of another strong class last year. Everything Patrick Hruby writes is great and makes me angry. The SEC's recommending that schools put functional wifi in their stadiums, which… yeah. Origins of the alma mater. Hardaway underrated.