Wednesday night I posted video of new Michigan football coach Brady Hoke referring to UM’s Buckeye rivals as “Ohio” over and over and over again.

At the time I posted the footage, I wasn’t completely sure that Hoke had deliberately enacted an abbreviation-based embargo on Michigan’s interstate neighbors.

Now I am.

Today I was sent a photo of a rather unique clock currently on prominent display in the Michigan football team’s weight room that rules out Hoke’s halfway characterization of the Buckeyes as anything other than gamesmanship. The Wolverines coach has installed a reverse countdown clock in the UM conditioning facility that tracks the exact time ’til Michigan takes the field against Ohio State on Nov. 26, 2011. Under the clock’s display is a Buckeye football helmet and the words, “BEAT OHIO.”

But “Ohio” isn’t the only UM rival assigned such in-house hokum by the Wolverines coach.

Hoke also has a backwards-running clock for Michigan’s Oct. 15, 2011, East Lansing engagement with Michigan State.

A supposed quote by Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio - apparently uttered at a recent gathering of Ohio high school football coaches in Columbus - is also noted by a sign erected in the same UM training area: Read more…

So far during his young tenure, new Michigan coach Brady Hoke has repeatedly taken to calling UM’s Columbus-based arch rival “Ohio” instead of the more customary “Ohio State.”

Having covered Ohio State football as a local, credentialed media member myself for several years, I can assure you that Hoke’s insistence on abbreviating The Ohio State University during press conferences and interviews, whether deliberate or not, is not going over well in Columbus.

And though his “State” embargo doesn’t extend to East Lansing, what else is Hoke supposed to call the Spartans?

UPDATE: It’s official. I talked to a UM athletic department staff member Thursday morning and was told that Hoke is indeed engaging in some gamesmanship with the Ohio “State” embargo.

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• USA TODAY’S GAME ON drinks in the news that a new wine will be sold named in honor of the late Bo Schembechler.

• BRAHSOME hits the reset button, as the new “Blitz II: The League” football video game will feature the talents of Frank Caliendo & Jay Mohr.

• WALKOFF WALK didn’t realize how dangerous shaving cream pie tosses could be. Just ask White Sox catcher Toby Hall.

• PRO FOOTBALL TALK doesn’t want to be a snitch, but right before training camp, new Titan Alge Crumpler stopped by the prison to visit Michael Vick.

Read more…

LES SHEDS MILES OF TEARS WHEN ASKED ABOUT UM JOB: The University of Michigan hasn’t contacted Les Miles about their football job opening, and that makes him sad:

USA TODAY grabs a hankie, as the LSU coach teared up during a media luncheon when asked about the availability in Ann Arbor.Miles said that Michigan hasn’t called, but added it was “unfair” to expect them to do so. He told reporters, “What I’m doing is what you should do — let it rest. I’m playing football for LSU. I love this team.”

Then the waterworks came. Les paused for 15 seconds, before regaining his composure and continuing, “And I’ll not do anything to hurt it.”

Analysts have been talking how Miles is a “Michigan Man”, playing and coaching under Bo Schembechler. He even met his future wife when she was an assistant for UM’s womens basketball team.At his own retirement announcement, Lloyd Carr was even approached about the “Michigan Man” issue, when asked about selecting his successor. Carr responded by bringing up Wolverine coaches of the past:

“Bo Schembechler wasn’t a Michigan man. Fritz Crisler wasn’t a Michigan man. Fielding Yost wasn’t a Michigan man.”When pressed by the press about his job decision, Miles replied, “I’m not going to talk about jobs, don’t care about jobs. I don’t want to involve myself in that thought process….Don’t ask me that question anymore.”

Then Miles went off to find his blankie.Some Bayou Bengals believe that they’ll soon be Les-less. LSU RB Keiland Williams knows what it comes down to: “Michigan is a very prestigious university, and we all know of Coach Miles’ past ties to that school….This is a business. You can’t fault anyone for that.”

The LOS ANGELES TIMES reports the rock band Dead Schembechlers will headline tomorrow’s “Hate Michigan” pep rally in Columbus, Ohio.

Some of the band’s setlist includes: “Bomb Ann Arbor Now,” “I Don’t Wanna Be A Wolverine,” “Schembechler Kicked My Crippled Dog” and “Bo for 24,” a reference to former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler’s “failing to win a national championship in his 24 years” as UM head coach.

SbBer USFL Fan has a suggestion for an encore: “Hold That Tiger”.