Sad news. Just saw it on the tv.

If this is true, how ironic is that "Dead Schembechlers' story from ESPN earlier in the week?

Talk about timing...

http://www.detnow.com/

This is unreal... the day before the biggest game in Michigan's history.

This is one of the most shocking sports stories that I can recall.

What's the "Dead Schembechlers" story?

Schembechler collapses, dies at 77

Associated Press

DETROIT -- Former Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler has died, television station WXYZ is reporting.

He was 77.

Schembechler collapsed Friday during the taping of a television show and was taken by ambulance to a hospital.

He became ill at WXYZ-TV in Southfield the day before the Ohio State-Michigan showdown, the station said. Schembechler also was hospitalized Oct. 20 after falling ill at the same studio.

Earlier Friday, Southfield police spokesman John Harris could not provide specific medical information, but said: "I don't think it was good."

Police were sent to the station about 9:25 a.m. with the city's fire department, and they escorted an ambulance to Providence Hospital, Harris said.

Messages were left with the university, Schembechler's office and the hospital.

Schembechler met with the media this week to discuss Saturday's game between the No. 1 Buckeyes and No. 2 Wolverines. He also talked about the device that was implanted to regulate his heartbeat after he was hospitalized last month. He said the device covered about half his chest, and doctors still were adjusting it.

Schembechler said he did not plan to attend the game in Columbus, Ohio, and he doesn't go to road games anymore.

Schembechler had a heart attack on the eve of his first Rose Bowl in 1970 and another one in 1987. He has had two quadruple heart bypass operations.

The seven-time Big Ten coach of the year had a 194-48-5 record at Michigan from 1969-89. His record in 26 years of coaching was 234-64-8.

What's the "Dead Schembechlers" story?

It's a band in Columbus.

http://espn-ak.starwave.com/photo/2006/1114/schembechlers_02_200x142.jpg

They were the front page story on ESPN on Wednesday, I think.


Dead Schembechlers Alive And Spewing

Phone rang Monday. It was Bo.

No, not Bo Schembechler (1). It was Bo Biafra (2). Lead singer/shameless promoter/maniac-in-residence with the self-proclaimed "Best Damn Punk Band in the Land," the Dead Schembechlers.

This is Michigan-Ohio State week (3), and if you had to pick which Bo to interview -- well, it's better to have Bo Biafra than no Bo at all.

Bo Biafra and the Dead Schembechlers are ready for Michigan on Nov. 18.If you don't know who the Dead Schembechlers are by now, you're not paying enough attention. Not to The Dash (see Sept. 12 installment ) or several other media outlets. Even the real, septuagenarian Bo acknowledged their existence earlier this month, asking Todd Jones of the Columbus Dispatch, "Have you ever heard of the Dead Schembechlers? What the hell is that?"

Here's what the hell it is: a quartet of Ohio State crazies who dress like Woody Hayes (4) and sing tender ballads such as "Bomb Ann Arbor Now" and "Wolverine Destroyer."

In other words: insane fans with guitars, an entrepreneurial spirit and a wickedly warped sense of humor. For the college football rivalry that already has everything, why not add a band from the lunatic fringe?

Which brings us back to the Monday conversation with Bo Biafra.

The Dash was in Columbus and was hoping to track down the Schems for a sit-down interview. But as Biafra informed The Dash, in an accent that switched back and forth -- sometimes in the same sentence -- between James Bond (5) and Foghorn Leghorn (6): "For security reasons, we have been scattered around the country to undisclosed locations. With the heightened attention on the game this year our lives are in greater danger than ever from the international Wolverine conspiracy."

Well, certainly. One can never be too careful in these dangerous times. How about a prediction for Saturday?

Woody Hayes went 205-61-10 at Ohio State."The final score has not yet been revealed to me by the late coach Hayes," Biafra declared. "However, I have stated since August that this will be the most glorious season in the history of Buckeye football, and it will reach its peak in this game. We will use the bones of the Wolverines to pick their flesh from between our teeth."

Nice visual. Do you have any favorite memories from the rivalry?

"I believe we're 102-0 against the Wolverines," Biafra insisted. "If you go back and check the lying, liberal Wolverine media, they'll make you believe they won many of the games."

Biafra explained that game footage was doctored, and crop dusters were flown over the stadium to drug fans and make them believe they were seeing Michigan victories. He pointed out the vast reach of the international Wolverines conspiracy by mentioning that the founder of Walgreen's, Charles Walgreen, is a Michigan alum -- and where do you think the maize and blue got the pharmaceuticals to drug Buckeye Nation?

To further the conspiracy point, Biafra said that the very week the band's "Bomb Ann Arbor Now" video debuted on YouTube.com, the operation was purchased by Google -- which was co-founded by a Michigan grad.

(Did The Dash mention that this dude is crazy?)

So the conspiracy is a real and present danger. But, Bo, you're going to risk life and limb to perform in Columbus Friday night at a "Hate Michigan Rally." (Biafra was all too happy to pass on ticket details.) What will the rally be like?

"Mardi Gras meets the bombing of Dresden."

OK, so rallygoers should wear beads and flame-retardant clothing. And where will the Dead Schembechlers be on game day?

"In The Shoe!" Biafra shouted, insulted at the thought they'd be anywhere else. "That's like asking Patton where he was going to be when the Third Army broke through at Bastogne! He was there on the ground!

"We don't shy away from danger. When the fecal matter hits the air-conditioning unit, we're there."

The Dash just hopes the Dead Schembechlers don't run into the Live Schembechler Saturday. The Shoe is big enough for only one epic confrontation.

http://deadschembechlers.com/

Win one for Bo!

Win one for Bo!

http://wtfdetroit.com/

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/9972/coachschembechlerbo2sa5.jpg

RIP. 77 years is gravy in this smog infested world. Hope he enjoyed as much as he could and then some of life in its purest form.

Man, this is shocking. I noticed it said he fell ill both times in the same studio. Wierd.

George Perles is going to be on Jim Rome in a bit to talk about Bo.

Even in death, he gives to the school, adding even more to the meaning of this historic game.

RIP Bo.

damn, sad news :(

R.I.P. Bo

What a sad fucking day.

So sad....

RIP Mr. Bo Schembechler.

There are a lot of great columns popping up about Bo.

Wetzel did a fine one for Yahoo.

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news;_ylt=Ano5P2wQAUDUphkGnFSotE85nYcB?slug=dw-schembechler111706&prov=yhoo&type=lgns


Remembering Schembechler

By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
November 17, 2006

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – They decided to bring a stool out for Bo Schembechler, because he was 77 and fresh off a heart procedure and everyone knew that once he got going at Monday’s press conference, once he started regaling everyone with stories of Ohio State and Michigan, of he and Woody, of a bygone era when college football was both more and less important, he was going to keep going.

Bo needed a stool. Bo needed to sit. Bo needed some help.

“I think I’ll stand,” he said, of course.

Bo Schembechler died Friday of a massive heart attack just before he filmed his weekly television show, just at the end of another busy, uncompromising week. If there is any solace to the sadness here, any silver lining to the loss, it is that Bo went out like Bo, fulfilling obligations, refusing to slow down, accepting no stool to sit on.

The winningest coach in University of Michigan history, a giant of an icon here in the Midwest, a legend of the sport, is gone on the eve of the biggest game in a rivalry he helped turn into arguably the best in all of sports.

“I just don't see one any bigger than this,” he said.

Monday he was everything Bo Schembechler ever was, charismatic yet uncompromising, charming yet combative. Bo was never one to tell stories about himself, that’s the kind of self promoting he would never stand for. But here on game week he was willing to talk about Woody Hayes, he was willing to stick up for his protégé, Lloyd Carr, he was willing to choose sides and say the things that others couldn’t or wouldn’t and fight for what he always believes is right.

He would laugh one minute and growl the next. He would bash Ohio State for silly gamesmanship one sentence and praise its class the next.

“I hope Bo didn’t say anything to screw this up,” Carr smiled, wondering if old Bo had just given the Buckeyes bulletin board material.

He hadn’t, of course. Schembechler was always tough but always respectful, especially about Ohio State, whose own excellence had driven him to greatness.

He was, as always, a throw back to a time when football was about building character, about accepting challenges instead of money, fame or glory. A window into a day and age that is about gone for good now, and not for the better. It sounds trite until you listened to Schembechler, until you looked into his eyes and saw the truth.

Bo never believed in national championships, never believed there should be or could be anything greater for a Michigan team than beating Ohio State, winning the Big Ten and playing in the Rose Bowl. He never cared to hold the school up for money, to move games to night for television, to play on a weekday, to make kids miss class.

For as unbending as his demands were, for as tough as he could be, for as all-encompassing as his focus was on winning football games for the Maize and Blue, he also always fell back on a realization that this was nothing more than extracurricular pursuit, that academics were the priority, that this wasn’t the pros.

He coached 20 years at Michigan (and five prior to that at his alma mater, Miami of Ohio). His team’s reached 10 Rose Bowls, including three in the final four seasons before he retired in 1989.

That run of success, 235 career victories, is what he will always be remembered for on the field. But Schembechler was always more proud of the kids he turned into men, of the degrees that were hanging on office walls, of the fact that in two decades the NCAA investigators never even bothered to sniff around Ann Arbor.

Bo Schembechler did things his way, without excuse, without debate and his way turned out to be the best way.

He believed in personal integrity and responsibility, of ethics that never wavered, of doing things only one way – the right way – because any other way wasn’t worth doing.

He coached hundreds of players and taught scores of young coaches, but he also, through his powerful position, was a rock who navigated the turbulent 60s and 70s, inspiring a state, a region, a country even, with the reminder that bedrock values still had their place.

He wasn’t just a role model to his players, but to a lot of everyday people who had never been near Ann Arbor.

He was fair to whites and blacks, to men and women, to rich and poor, old and young. Even in his retirement, even as old age and modern challenges could have made him callous and unreasonable, he was still trying to relate to the kids, still trying to live in a bright new day.

Here in his final week, he was just as alive and just as active as ever. He wasn’t going to attend the game because travel was difficult, but he was as engaged in it as ever.

“I'm as excited as you are about this game,” he said. “Because I love to see Ohio State and Michigan come down to the end and, ‘let's play it.’”

"The leaders and the best," hails the school fight song.

About one man they could have written it for.

Over the past few years I've spoken about how the conservative, run at all costs, boring offensive game plan would remain at Michigan as long as Bo was alive, a comment that would imply enthusiasm for his eventual passing.

Now that he's gone, there is no enthusiasm this day. Say what you will about the many negatives from his career, but Bo is and was a legend and one of THE coaches to be remembered for all time.

Hopefully Tressel has enough class to avoid one of his dickheaded moves toward the team in Colombus this year.

Reports are that he's (Tressel) has already asked for (and been granted) a moment of silence to be carried out just before kick-off tomorrow.

http://deadschembechlers.com/

BO SCHEMBECHLER: OSU'S MOST VALIANT FOE: The band is crushed to learn of the death of Bo Schembechler. We named this band after Coach Schembechler to honor him as the face of Wolverine football. We have never wished ill will upon him in any way and have always wished him the best. When we learned that Bo had seen our web site and was amused by it we were delighted. We were simply delighted. He said to those with him as he read it, "See, I still matter in Columbus!" That may have been the greatest understatement in football history. We believe that he took the band's name as the compliment that it was meant as and that he was flattered by it. We wish to extend our deepest and most heartfelt sympathies to his family. We are truly sorry for their loss.

(Their server crashed from the increased use of it today.)

Bo was an absolute legend, and he is the reason that I am a Michigan fan today.

It's hard to believe that this is really happening and isn't something from a Hollywood movie. The face of the program dies on the eve of the biggest game in Michigan's history.

Win one for Bo boys. Go Blue!

Bo Schembechler
Michigan Football Head Coach: 1969-89 (21 Seasons)
U-M Overall Record: 194-48-5
Big Ten Record: 143-24-3
13 Big Ten Titles
17 Bowl Game Appearances
Miami (Ohio) Football Head Coach: 1963-68
Miami (Ohio) Overall Record: 40-17-3
Career Record: 234-65-8

· 117 players drafted into the NFL
· 38 first-team All-Americas
· 92 first-team All-Big Ten selections
· Ten of his 20 teams won 10 or more games in a season

I was told on the Golf course today by a phone call. If I hadn't heard it from a good friend, I would have thought it was bullshit. Unbelievable.

For UofM fans, this might be one of those 'where were you when you heard the news' type of situations.

Go Blue!

R.I.P. Bo.

He was everything we know the maize and blue as.
Win one for Bo guys. He hated OSU as much as we do.

Rest in peace Bo. You won't be forgotten.

shocking news. unbelievable really. his story was the main article on cnn all day. not sure too many sports figures would get that kind of treatment.

I was told on the Golf course today by a phone call. If I hadn't heard it from a good friend, I would have thought it was bullshit. Unbelievable.

For UofM fans, this might be one of those 'where were you when you heard the news' type of situations.

Go Blue!

I completely agree and had thought about that earlier. It's interesting because at the school I teach at we're watching the movie "13 Days" right now (about the Cuban Missle Crisis) as a part of our unit on the executive branch of government - to show who the people are in the President's team and how decisions are made. With that movie, there is that feeling, those who were alive remember when they heard the speech. Of course 14 months later would be one of the ultimate "I remember where I was when" moments as JFK was assisinated. So that theme was already on my kind. Then I'm watching CNN during my prep hour and I see the news. At least a dozen other teachers and administrators came to my room within the next 30 minutes to ask if I had heard. That's some crazy stuff. It's the release date for the PS3 and people are getting shot and attacked across the country and a retired coach controls the national headlines.

MOLA, I'm just wondering why your sig is Bo's signature, your location is "The Big House In the Sky", and you have a picture of Tom Landry for your av.