For those watching the World Cup the past couple weeks, many of the stadiums are quite familiar (sans sponsor names, of course). 11 of the 16 venues are in the United States, with all of the American venues currently home to NFL franchises: Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles x2, Miami, New England, New York x2, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle.
Michigan
Why Transfer OL Andrew Dennis Re-Committed to Michigan State
Michigan State transfer offensive lineman Andrew “A.J.” Dennis’ world was turned upside down when Michigan State went through its Mel Tucker calamity last year.
The Tucker news broke just after Dennis has committed to the Spartans. Instead of immediately changing his mind, however, Dennis waited it out before he ultimately decided he would commit to Illinois.
He discussed the situation when he joined “The Drive With Jack ” on Friday.
“Had some contact with the staff and I waited about a month or two, and there’s no new information about what’s going,” Dennis said. “So, you don’t really have a head coach less than a month from signing day. It’s getting stressful by that point because you don’t know if you should wait or find a spot. And so, I just wanted to find a spot. And we were actually on our way back after I committed to Illinois, and you see Coach Smith get hired, so it was kind of a funny timing.”
After Jonathan Smith was hired as Michigan State’s new head coach, the Spartans took the opportunity to pursue Dennis once again.
“You kind of look at the term rebuild, and he [Smith] did a great job of that at Oregon State,” Dennis said. “You see that, whether it’s winning 10 games or putting guys in the league like they did last weekend with [Taliese Fuaga]. … So, you see that’s there, they’re not just kind of selling it to you. So you see that, and when I was committed, I told them, ‘Hey, I’m not going to go visit anywhere else.’ And that happened with Illinois, and I told them the same thing. [Michigan State was] like, ‘Hey, we get it, wholeheartedly, 100%.’ And so, they [Michigan State] understood that, and they came up and saw me once, and I heard them out.
In an effort to not “burn bridges,” Dennis told Michigan State he appreciated them coming to talk to him. That effort would end up paying off.
“I was around some great people [at Illinois], but I just didn’t feel like it was the best fit for me,” Dennis said. “I wanted to be closer to home, and here we are today.”
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Michigan
WNEM Morning Extra: Lane closures begin across mid-Michigan for bridge inspections, road work
SAGINAW, Mich. (WNEM) – Lane closures begin today across mid-Michigan for bridge inspections on M-13 and US-23 and ongoing road work on M-71 in Owosso and Smith Road in Argentine Township. Owosso Public Schools will ask voters Aug. 4 to approve a $38 million bond for building upgrades. Plus, volunteers will paint homes, repair roofs and plant trees along three Saginaw streets this week as part of the 13th annual One Week, One Street program.
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Michigan Democratic House members have introduced three bills that would create a commission to study reparations, establish a state office and track data for descendants of enslaved Americans.
The proposed legislation, identified as the Reparative Justice Package by the Michigan House Democrats and the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus, was presented to the chamber on Thursday. State Rep. Donavan McKinney, who is sponsoring all three bills, says they “take important steps toward understanding Black history and building a stronger future for Michigan.”
House Bill 6111 would create the American Freedmen reparations commission, a group of four state lawmakers and five governor-appointed experts that would “study and develop reparations proposals that provide reparations to American Freedmen,” according to the legislation’s text.
The commission would need to submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature within 18 months of its first meeting.
The second piece of legislation, House Bill 6112, would establish the office of Freedman affairs, which, according to the proposal, would “advocate, coordinate, research, and make policy recommendations on matters affecting American Freedmen” living in Michigan.
The governor would appoint a director who would serve as head of the office for five years.
Under House Bill 6113, state agencies collecting demographic information from an individual would be required to include the following subcategories for Black, African or Caribbean categories:
- A descendant of an individual who was enslaved in United States, American Freedmen.
- Not a descendant of an individual who was enslaved in United States, American Freedmen.
- Descendant status is unknown or individual chooses not to identify.
“Michigan has always been at its best when we are willing to confront challenges with honesty, listen to one another, and build institutions that serve the people,” Democratic state Rep. Helena Scott, who is also sponsoring all three bills, said in a written statement. “This package continues that tradition by creating transparent processes, encouraging public participation, and strengthening the relationship between government and the communities it serves.”
State Rep. John Roth is the only Republican sponsor of the bill to create the reparations commission.
CBS News Detroit has reached out to the Michigan Republican Party for comment on the bills, but has yet to hear back.
As a fun fact, Michigan has played games in a few of these stadiums, including the Peach Bowl loss to Florida in Atlanta, a couple season openers in Dallas, multiple Orange Bowls in Miami, and — of course — the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship Game in Houston.
How about the reverse? The Big House is not amongst the 11 U.S. World Cup locations, but it has hosted four different soccer matches over the past 12 years. All of these were preseason friendlies, with most involving some of the biggest brands in the entire sport. In honor of the current soccer craze, we briefly revisit these four fixtures.
2014: Manchester United 3-1 Real Madrid
Unsurprisingly when these two clubs share a pitch, but the inaugural soccer match at Michigan Stadium set the record for attendance in U.S. soccer history with a crowd over 109,000. An Ashley Young brace helped the English side win the contest, with Gareth Bale the lone goal scorer for Madrid; Cristiano Ronaldo was recovering from an injury, but he did make a cameo.
Hosting the biggest Premier League brand and the reigning Champions League winners was exactly the splash Michigan wanted to make. This is probably the greatest of the four friendlies in terms of prestige, with world-class talent filling both XIs.
2016: Real Madrid 3-2 Chelsea
Madrid returned to Ann Arbor a couple years later, again coming off a Champions League title — and on its way to win its second of three straight. Marcelo was the one with the brace this time, with Eden Hazard scoring twice late for the Blues, who came up just short of the win.
Chelsea was reeling from a horrendous domestic campaign that saw the 2014-15 champions fall all the way down to 10th place the following season. It was an immediate bounce back, however, as the London side would reclaim the crown in 2016-17, perhaps inspired by the friendly defeat to Madrid??
2018: Liverpool 4-1 Manchester United
It was an all-English affair in 2018, with the Premier League runner-up, Manchester United, taking on the Champions League runner-up, Liverpool. These historic rivals were both heading into the season with strong expectations, but it was the Reds who ended up meeting the task, falling a point short of Manchester City domestically, but winning the Champions League.
In terms of the match on campus, it was all Liverpool as well. A pair of penalties was enough for Liverpool, as four different players got on the scoresheet such as Sadio Mane and Daniel Sturridge. It was also a third-straight crowd of over 100,000 in the Big House.
2019: Barcelona 4-0 Napoli
The fourth and final European contest at Michigan Stadium was the second leg of something called the 2019 La Liga-Serie A Cup. Barcelona was the reigning La Liga champion and cruised to a 4-0 victory thanks to goals from superstars Luis Suarez (x2), Antoine Griezmann, and Ousmane Dembele.
Napoli is certainly the “smallest” brand to play at the Big House, but are far from obscure. The Italian side has won Serie A twice since its contest in Ann Arbor, and ended up winning the Coppa Italia in the season following this friendly.
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