Seventh heaven

Today mark's one year since last New Year's Day, when I watched as Michigan Football ended a disappointing season with a bowl loss to South Carolina, then got over it and posted a bunch of new Mario Manninghams from Sportlots.  That means it's been seven whole years since I spun off this here blog from the original Too Many Grandersons!

I think the calendar rolling over deserves a quick recap of Michigan sports and my collection progress from 2018.

The football team went 10-3 with those 10 straight victories coming after a season-opening loss to CFP semi-finalist Notre Dame.  The Wolverines avenged 2017 losses against Wisconsin, MSU, and Penn State thanks to newfound offensive success that can largely be attributed to transfer QB Shea Patterson.  Unfortunately the team wilted in a beatdown in Columbus, then looked just as flat in the Peach Bowl loss to Florida.  Questions abound for the 2019 team, but lots of returning starters and an outstanding recruiting class could portend good things.

The hockey team, meanwhile, enjoyed a bit more success, losing the conference tourney to Ohio State before edging Northeastern and bombing BU in their NCAA tourney regional, heading to yet another Frozen Four.  Their season ended there with a 4-3 loss to Notre Dame, but it was a vast improvement over the previous year.  Super talented D Quinn Hughes was a big part of that, and I'm anxious to see what he can do this year before heading off to the NHL.

Finally, Michigan Basketball was the toast of Ann Arbor in 2017-18 thanks to a very good regular season that gave way to a conference tourney title that included double-digit wins over Michigan State and Purdue.  In fact, John Beilein's squad swept the Spartans, including another 10-point win in East Lansing.  After an early February loss to Northwestern his guys won 14 straight, only seeing the streak end in the March Madness final against Villanova.  That included the incredible scene immortalized above when a Jordan Poole prayer lifted Michigan to a crazy one-point, buzzer-beating victory over Houston, not to mention a win against the tournament's Cinderella, Loyola-Chicago.

Beilein continues to reward the patience of the athletic department and fans; to add to his already impressive resume of two finals appearances with Michigan, his team went undefeated in this season's 13 non-conference games, two of which were North Carolina and revenge against Villanova.  Who knows what great things April could bring this season?

As for my Michigan PCs, things were less roller coaster and more like a well-oiled machine.  I had 15 trade packages to show off, some of which were actually TMM-specific, so that was great.  The year was a productive one in getting more player collections put together and posted, with more good things on the way this year.  And I hit a big milestone with--what else?--a Mario Manningham card, my 2000th hit from my alma mater.  Besides those heavy hitters I added lots of other cardboard (and more) to those collections, and that also looks to be a trend I'll be able to continue in the new year.

Here's hoping things get even better for Michigan and that 2019 is a happy BLUE year!