Fear not for Manuel
Still the one
Good morning, all and happy Sunday!
Fear not for former UConn Athletic Director Warde Manuel, who has been pushed out as Michigan AD. He will be able to afford that beachfront house.
The chaos surrounding the Michigan football program the last two years has led to his impending departure - He will leave at the end of this year - even though the basketball team won the men’s national championship. At Michigan as at most big time universities, football is king.
Anyway, according to Front Office Sports, here is Manuel’s separation deal:
Within 21 days of his departure he receives a one lump-payment of $7M
He receives $108K in retirement funds
He gets access to AD benefits like sports tickets
Michigan will pay his attorneys fees, which amounts to roughly $82K
In the end Manuel was forced out of his job, but remember he is a Michigan alum and the Wolverines take care of their own. A beachfront house is looking mighty nice right about now.
Tom Moore departs UConn
Tom Moore is resigning as general manager of the UConn men’s basketball team. Moore has been associated with the program for 21 years, interrupted for 10 years, when he coached the Quinnipiac men’s basketball program.
Moore is leaving because the job is becoming too much. He told David Borges of Hearst Media Connecticut, UConn had just lost the national championship game to Michigan this spring and there was no time to decompress. On the plane ride back from the title game, he was already consumed with recruiting a team for next season. After the plane trip home came 35 days of meetings to complete the building of the team.
Mind you, Moore was not criticizing coach Dan Hurley. This was more about the current, Division I college basketball environment. What with NIL, players getting paid, etc., the season never ends. Moore has had it with the rat race.
Like it or not the collegiate sports culture has changed and Moore has had enough. We wish him well.
Schaefer is still the one
I walk every morning without fail. It’s the best healthcare plan in the world. By 6:50 I am usually out the door for my mile-and-a-half walk. I’m back home in 26 minutes. I never leave the house without my iPhone and Air Pods. Others might walk and listen to podcasts, books or music. I listen to old baseball broadcasts readily available on You Tube.
Recently I have been plugged into listening to games of the 1957 Brooklyn Dodgers, of which there are many on YT. How did the broadcasters handle that last season? The New York Giants made no secret they were heading to San Francisco at the end of the season. Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley was coy. He admitted Los Angeles was wooing his franchise, but there was talk the Dodgers might hold out for a new stadium in Brooklyn.
Meanwhile, Dodgers broadcasters Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett and Al Helfer made no mention of this being potentially the last season for the Dodgers at Ebbets Field. They broadcast the games, promoted upcoming events at Ebbets Field and Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City - where the Dodgers played seven home games - and hawked the sponsors.
Baseball on the radio then was much different than today. In 2026 - especially if you listen to the New York Yankees radio broadcasts - there are so many advertisers I do not know how they get a ROI. Ask me who sponsors the Yankees games and I will fail the test. Ask me who sponsored Yankees games on radio in the 1950s, 60s and 70s I can give you the sponsors and sing their jingles.
And in the case of the Brooklyn Dodgers, their advertisers are still getting a return on their investment, at least from me. The Dodgers had two sponsors on radio: Lucky Strike cigarettes and Schaefer Beer. Hell will freeze over before you get me to smoke a cigarette, but 70 years later, the way Scully, Doggett and Helfer pushed Schaefer Beer on their broadcasts, it got me to wondering, do they still brew Schaefer? The answer is a resounding, “Yes.” “Schaefer is the one beer to have, when you’re having more than one.” Although I stick to one.
Times have changed, of course. Schaefer is no longer brewed in Brooklyn, which made them a natural fit for the Dodgers. Pabst Brewing Co., makers of Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, now brews Schaefer, a lager beer, which they claim uses the same recipe as back in the Dodgers Brooklyn days.
So thanks to Vin, Jerry and Al, I went out and bought some Schaefer Beer last week. The only problem is, you cannot buy it in those cool six-packs Scully was advertising. At my package store it was a 30-can case or nothing. Hey, at less than a dollar per can, how could you go wrong? So I bought the case. I might be drinking Schaefer until next baseball season but so what.
It may not be the exotic, microbrewery beers of today, but I enjoyed it. And why not? If Vin Scully told me it had a quality taste, who am I to quibble with the greatest baseball broadcaster ever.
So next time you’re at the store, “be sure to pick up some Schaefer Beer.” Meanwhile, if you are reading this early in the morning, I am probably on my walk. When I return I will have a good cup of coffee. In the meantime, I have another Dodgers game to listen to, wondering if they can make it two in a row, after a game-winning home run by Gil Hodges - They did not call them walk-off homers back then - to beat the Milwaukee Braves in a Sunday afternoon contest at Ebbets Field.
Have a splendid Sunday and thank you for subscribing to the newsletter!
DAN