Kids Are Brats

Given that today is Halloween, I made sure that I had some candy on hand to pass out to kids that stopped by to mooch for free junk food. I wasn't expecting any kids to stop by since there are very few children in this apartment complex. To help keep me company, a few friends came over for a rare poker night.

No kids stopped by until around 8PM tonight, when I received the only group of moochers. There was a group of roughly 10 kids that knocked on the doors of every unit at my building. Apparently I was the only one who answered because they all swarmed to my place once they saw that I was handing out candy. The costumes were quite poor. There were mostly wearing a sports jersey of their favorite athlete. One kid who wore a white t-shirt and carried a toy gun. Where's the originality? When I was their age, I was always trying to come up with a cool costume. The kid who obviously copped out on his costume didn't get as much candy from me.

Since I wasn't expecting anyone else to stop by after this group, I gave everyone two Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Do you know what all of the kids did next? They tried to convince me that I forgot to give them candy when I was passing out candy to everyone else. They would walk away and come back 5 seconds later hoping that I wouldn't recognize them and try to score more candy. Even an 8-year old girl was trying to game me for extras. I looked into her bag and saw two peanut butter cups right at the top and called her out on her lie. I gave them two pieces each originally since they made the effort to stop by my apartment when no one else would. Did any of them say thank you? No! They complained that I wouldn't give them any more candy and then ran off to the next building to add to their Halloween stash.

When did kids get such a sense of entitlement that they don't have to thank people who give them free stuff? Yeah, the peanut butter cups only cost about 10-20 cents each. I would have given them more if they said thank you and asked nicely. It's not like I want tons of junk food around the apartment. However, if I behaved like that as a child, I'd be in serious trouble with my parents. I was taught to be courteous and gracious at Halloween (and during the rest of the year). If I didn't say thank you to free candy and my parents found out, I wouldn't get to go trick-or-treating the next year. These kids today need to learn some manners.

Misc.

In the last month, I have spent 14 days out of the state of CT. Between trips to Philly (twice), Minnesota, Penn State, Michigan, Boston, and some long days at work, I have not had much time to keep up with this site without sacrificing actually having a life during the rare evening in CT.

It's not like things will slow down next month. I have another weekend in Michigan for a wedding and an 11-day trip around Thanksgiving to Germany to visit Maverick, who is too cool to comment here now that she moved away. This trip meets the rule I established after last year's loss to OSU (leaving CT the weekend Michigan-OSU football game), but I really hope that we find a way to watch the game on the 18th since it might turn into an epic showdown if neither team chokes over the next two weeks.

That said, here are some random pictures from the Michigan-Penn State trip last month that I feel like posting.



We met at PhillyPhanatic and Nells's house before leaving. Now I know what PhillyPhanatic did with the ball that made the final out of the P&C championship season.

Our super awesome ride.
The RV parked next to us was a work of art. Literally. This was the mural on the driver's side of the RV. There was a mural of the Big House on the other side.

If you don't have tickets to the game and still want to tailgate, set up a massive projection TV with the Direct TV satelite that is hooked up through your RV.

See the kid in the sports coat and tie? Biggest. Tool. Ever. He wears that outfit to all Michigan games and drinks Belvedere at tailgates. FlyingV and I saw him in Ann Arbor the following week.

The random games played at tailgates never cease to amaze me.

FlyingV in deep thought.

Nosebleed seats with FlyingV, RytheRed, and CableGirl.

Why Did I Fail Elementary School Art?

I am not an artist. When there is drawing, painting, carving, etc, that needs to be done, I am not your man. Unless you are looking for a good laugh.

FlyingV and BuckeyeBoy hosted a pumpkin carving competition as part of their fall back jump off party. Needless to say, I was not crowned the "Pumpking". DrT and I shared a pumpkin. Since neither of us really had a creative idea, we decided to go with an abstract theme, despite that fact that neither of us care of abstract art. The result, you ask? A horribly deformed pumpkin with some hot earrings. Take a look and judge for youself.



I don't think I will put the pumpkin outside on Tuesday. I want people to trick-or-treat at my place, and this pumpkin might scare them away.

World Series Drama and Overused Phrases

Anyone paying attention to the World Series surely knows the controversy over whether Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers cheated by using pine tar to help him get a better grip on the baseball. I don't know what really happened, but the cynic in me believes that Rogers cheated in Game 2 and was caught by the FOX cameras. Not only do I think that Rogers cheated in Game 2, I think Rogers cheated throughout the playoffs and probably for many years by using pine tar, sunscreen, shaving cream, or whatever else pitchers use to get better movement on their pitches. It helps explain why a guy who used to throw an 87-mph fastball is throwing a 95-mph fastball in the playoffs this year.

I think there is a reason why St. Louis never formally asked to have Kenny Rogers checked out for illegal foreign substances. Their pitchers cheat as well. I think cheating is rampant throughout baseball. Not just with the use of steriods or HGH. Every player is looking for whatever edge they can get nowadays. There is too much money on the line not to try to get away with any advantage you can get.

However, that's not the point on my post. My rant is that the media is referring to the Rogers scandal as "dirtgate". Every scandal in this country is associated with the term "water" or the term "gate". It's been 34 years since Watergate. Does anyone else find it incredibly unoriginal that every scandal is related to a 30+ year old break-in? We had "Whitewater", "Monicagate", and "Clockgate".

I propose that the media find a more recent scandal to associate all new scandals with. It's been awhile since people talked about the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. Maybe we could tie the reference to the sticky substance on Roger's thumb. It would sure be funnier and more timely than "dirtgate".

I don't know. There has to be something more original out there. Any suggestions?

Questions, Spin, and Senators. Oh My!

I watched the Connecticut senatorial debate this evening. Generally, I cannot stand listening to politicians. They do their best to avoid every question asked and sling mud at their opponents. The senatorial election in Connecticut is especially harsh this year. Ned Lamont beat Joe Lieberman in a nasty Democratic primary. However, since CT independents and Republicans really like Lieberman in this state, Lieberman responded to his loss by running as an independent.

I never really knew much about any of the candidates before today even though Lieberman was such a national figure and Lamont was using his millions to litter the airwaves with ads.

The debate was mostly between Lieberman and Lamont. Like the rest of the CT media, the Republican candidate was basically ignored by the other two. Lieberman and Lamont attacked each other for the entire hour. There was even a period where Lamont backers in the group starting chanting/singing in an effort to drown out Lieberman when he was attacking Lamont for telling blatant lies in his commercials. Lamont didn’t try to shut up the protesters, but thankfully, the Republican candidate told the idiots to shut up and let Lieberman speak.

I never knew much about Alan Schlesinger, the Republican candidate this election. The Republicans didn't put forth a serious/financially-backed contender since the party unofficially supports Lieberman. Given how cynical I am about politics, is it any surprise that I am most impressed with the Republican candidate and disappointed with the other two?

Alan Schlesinger gave an outstanding a frank response about how to address the country’s health care problem. He was willing to attack Bush for his foreign policy views. In general, he seemed to speak his mind and provide logical reasoning behind his views instead of spinning questions into a stump speech. Schlesinger was everything I’d like to hear from a politician.

I don't consider myself a Democrat or a Republican. However, I have never voted Republican before in my life. I desperately look for a Republican candidate that I can vote for since I agree with a major part of their fiscal agenda. However, I disagree so strongly with the social views of the White House and their puppets in Congress that I am afraid to put my support behind any candidate until Bush is out of the White House.

Although the debate and subsequent internet research was enough to make Schlesinger my favorite candidate in the race, I don’t think I can vote for him. In today’s political environment, I believe that no matter what a candidate says they will do, we are electing individuals to support their party’s platform.

I think both the Republicans and the Democrats are spending too much time in crazy land these days. All the bad press going against the Republicans these days is a gold mine for the Democrats to take back Congress, but they are too disorganized and stupid to take advantage of the momentum and put forth an agenda that the general public will support.

Regardless of my political beliefs, I generally think that government is far more productive when the party in the White House does not control Congress. Therefore, I will sadly have to write off Alan Schlesinger, who is a distant third in the most recent poll for the CT senate seat up for grabs this year. I still need to decide which candidate I will vote for. Both Lamont and Lieberman disappointed me this evening.

Anyone have any thoughts on this race?

Quote of the Day

Courtesy of Grey's Anatomy:

"You're sexier when you're not talking" - Dr. Torres to McSteamy

Hilarious.

Although I may have a history of stupid comments, I have never said anything as bad as this. Never. Anything Mouse says to refute this is a lie. Never.



Who's excited for Michigan-Iowa. I am I am! Who's excited for Michigan-Miami hockey tomorrow night? I am I am! Here's to a third and final weekend of Michigan football in 2006. Hopefully the high wind and rainy forecast in CT doesn't keep me from getting out of town. I'm not ruling out a January 2007 game, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Go Blue!

Blame Game BS

I need to vent about a very frustrating day of work. I discovered a mistake that I made on a pretty important project today. The size of the mistake was relatively insignificant (worth more than my salary but only a small portion of what my company makes in a given quarter). I was not entirely at fault for the mistake, but I was probably 75% at fault. The rest of the blame lies within another division of the company due to poor communication in response to an instruction e-mail I sent out two weeks ago.

I sent an e-mail outlining my mistake to the related parties around noon today. The head of that said department read the e-mail around 4:30 and flipped out. He came by my desk unannounced with three of his direct reports who were loosely involved with the situation. His goal was merely to assign blame. Once his finger pointing game was done and he was comfortable that I was mostly to blame for the mistake, he told his reports to work with me to fix the problem and let him know when we were all set. He then proceeded to walk back twice in the next half hour to interrogate me some more and then insist that nothing be changed until my manager has called him and given approval to any changes.

It's not like we were talking about a $25 million error, or even a $5 million error. The amount was relatively insignificant for this company. I have a good working relationship with this individual that came down hard on me today, but he does not manage adverse situations very well. The way he comes down on people when things go wrong is terrible. As a division leader at the company, he should encourage you not to be afraid to admit to a mistake so that the problem can be resolved appropriately. I imagine that most of the people in his area often hide their mistakes so that they don't get yelled at. This finger pointing game is pure bullshit. All the leaders in that general area are notorious for coming down hard on people that make mistakes. He would have been much more effective if he accepted that a mistake was made and helped be part of the solution. It's not like I didn't understand the magnitude of the situation. That's why I spoke up and admitted my mistake today before it was too late to resolve.

Needless to say, I was very upset that I was embarrassed in front of other people. However, I kept my mouth shut and worked to resolve the situation until I finally left work this evening around 8PM. I am dreading the potential backlash tomorrow morning. I may have fucked up, but I am still irritated on how I was blindsided and called out in front of others.

Journey to Happy Valley, part 2

The game day experience at Penn State is a treat. Throwing Michigan out of the equation since I may be a tad biased, Penn State is definitely the best place to see a football game in the Big Ten. You have the best combination of pleasant fans, good football, and great stadium atmosphere.

We spent the entire day on Saturday tailgating, starting with a “good morning” burger and beer around 11AM. We pretty much stuffed a bunch of unhealthy food and beer into our systems throughout the day while waiting for the 8PM kickoff. I went on a three-mile search for CableGirl when she called to say she was parking her car. If she had given a better description of her location, I would have only had to walk 500 feet to find her. However, I was still happy to see her.

RytheRed had a friend from college in a nearby RV. His friend’s parents are Victors Club members (huge UM donors) and have the sweetest RV ever with satellite TV, wireless internet, etc. We hung out there for a while, as did many others including the guy who runs Mgoblog. By the time 7PM rolled around, we were all fired up and ready for some fun under the lights in Beaver Stadium.

Our seats were near the top of the upper deck. However, we were in the Michigan section, so it was ok. A nearby fan snuck in a portable TV to watch the end of the Tigers game. Word spread quickly when Ordonez hit a home run, and our section went crazy. We were definitely ready for a game now.

So was Penn State.

I warned FlyingV that Beaver Stadium would be louder than any stadium he had ever been to before. I don’t think he understood exactly what I meant. Based on my past two trips here in 1999 and 2001, I knew that the crowd would be loud. Watch this video the crowd chant “We Are…Penn State” shortly before the game started.










We were definitely impressed by the volume. When Michigan started their first offensive possession, the crowd ramped it up even more. FlyingV gave me a look of amazement over how loud the crowd was. It was awesome, even though it was for the other team. The PA system often plays “Zombie Nation” after a big Penn State play. The crowd goes crazy during the song. The upper deck shook violently when this song was first played. I was glad I was in the upper deck and not underneath these seats at this point. Thankfully, things quieted down as the game progressed since Michigan was “delivering the pain”.

Even though the final score was 17-10, I never felt scared. Michigan was in control of the game from the moment Penn State missed a field goal on their opening drive. It took nearly 24 hours for my voice to return to normal. What an awesome game.

I think every Big Ten football fan must see a game at Beaver Stadium some day. However, I have three complaints from the trip.

1) PA system – I thought it was bush league that the PA system would pump in music to fire up the crowd AFTER MICHIGAN BROKE THE HUDDLE. Henne is calling the signals under center and there is music coming from the PA system. That can’t possibly be allowed. Penn State has great fans and a sweet atmosphere, which makes it even more upsetting that they resort to these tactics to make the stadium louder. This didn’t happen every play and went away as the game progressed, but it should never have happened in the first place. It made the stadium feel more like a minor league baseball game than a big time college football game.

2) PA system (con’t) – I was disappointed that Penn State used their PA system to play music and that the marching band rarely played music. It seemed like they played something about 4 times a quarter, and never during TV timeouts. College bands are one huge advantage over a pro sports atmosphere, so it was unfortunate.

3) Logistics – Penn State cannot logistically handle an 8PM kickoff. The parking situation there is disastrous, especially when everyone leaves town after the game. It took people three hours to make the one-mile drive from the parking lots to the highway after the game. The RV was huge for us since we could just wait until Sunday morning to leave. Also, Penn State did not provide trash cans or dumpsters at the tailgating sites and there were nowhere near enough port-o-johns, which lead to long lines and other “problems”. When everyone is tailgating for an extra eight hours on game day, Penn State should be better prepared for these things. The parking lots looked like giant landfills on Sunday because no one had any place to put their trash unless they drove off with filled trash bags in their cars.

I took very few pictures this past weekend, so I am not going to bother posting any here. The trip definitely lived up to my expectations, and I would have said that even if Michigan lost.

Thugs

I am sure most of you saw this highlight last weekend. Watch this clip with audio provided by a local channel covering the game. The person providing the color commentary is a former Miami player. He carries the tradition of thuggery at the 'U' perfectly. They need to fire their coach and kick several players off the team after this mess. There have been fights in three Miami games this year. Thugs. Nothing but a bunch of thugs. If the video is not enough proof, note how Miami provided a mere slap on the wrist to the offenders.

I'm glad that this will NEVER happen at Michigan.

The play-by-play guy seems shocked at what the color commentator is saying during this fight. Very funny.

As it turns out, the color commentator was fired today.

Journey to Happy Valley, part 1.5

I forgot one funny story at the end of the night.

RytheRed, a friend of his from Michigan, and I were walking back to our RV around 1:30. We ran into this large group of Penn State fans. They briefly heckled us and then started chatting with us since we were all going to the same RV lot. I think most of the guys were around 30 years old. AS it turns out, one of the guys was Chad Henne's high school math teacher. He raved about how great a person Chad is. He said Henne is smart, kind, and humble. He held doors open for people and was pleasant to everyone. He was extremely proud of Henne even though he spurned Penn State. Apparently Henne was booed at his home games during his senior year after he committed to play college ball at Michigan. I asked the guy what he thought of Morelli, the Penn State QB. He pointed to a large tree nearby and said that that tree is about as smart as Morelli.

We had to walk by the stadium to get to our lot. As we got close to "Paternoville", a cop stopped us. The PSU fans freaked out since they had open containers. After she made them dump their beers, she radioed that she had the Michigan fans. Apparently, they were on the lookout for the three of us in Michigan gear. They were instructed to stop us from walking through "Paternoville" since they thought we were going there looking for a fight. After chatting with the police officer, she realized that we were not looking for any fight. We just wanted to show off our beautiful sweatshirts while taking the most direct route to our parking lot. Unfortunately, the officer told us that we had to walk all the way around the stadium. Apparently, the students in "Paternoville" were extremely drunk and she could not guarantee our safety if we walked directly through the heart of the tent city.

The PSU fans took the long route with us and helped us get back to the lot so that we did not get lost. Very nice people.

Journey to Happy Valley, part 1

I’m breaking this post up into two parts since I don’t have time to write up the whole trip tonight.

I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for a long time. How long, you ask? Five years. This is my fifth season of Michigan football and yesterday was the first Michigan game that I could drive to. Due to a quirky schedule, I had to wait five long years for this game.

As I have mentioned about one hundred times, a few of us rented an RV for this game since it is impossible to get a hotel room within an hour of State College during football season. Given that the game traffic in State College is the worst I have seen anywhere, that was a great decision. I’ve heard that most people who stayed until the end of the game last night and tried to leave State College did not get on the highway (less than two miles off campus) until 4AM or later.

FlyingV, RytheRed, and I decided to show our Michigan pride on campus when we arrived on Friday night. We were going out for a late dinner and drinks and decided to wear Michigan sweatshirts and brave the cold night. We were heckled everywhere we went. We walked by “Paternoville”, which is where the students that want good seats for the game camp out on Friday night. However, this was a fairly tame area at 9:30PM, despite the large number of tents around there.

We were heckled like crazy once we started walking through campus. Whenever a girl walked by, she would tell us how much Michigan sucked right to our faces. Whenever a guy or a group of guys walked passed us, they would wait until they were about ten feet beyond the three of us, turn around, and yell something to the tune of “Michigan sucks”, “Go Home”, or “Fuck Michigan”. Apparently, they were afraid that we would beat the crap out of them or something because they would never say those comments to our face. Nells, a UConn grad who came along with PhillyPhanatic (and hence, to support Penn State), found this pattern funny. She was walking about twenty feet behind us and noticed that a group of three PSU students turned around and looked at the three of us in confusion. Nells yelled “Fuck Michigan” (shocking all of us in our group) when she saw the perplexed guys. Those guys then proceeded into a profanity laced anti-Michigan tirade. Hilarious.

With one exception, our only response to the comments was a friendly verbal jab in return (some reference to being “owned”) or just yelling “Go Blue”. There was one guy who was quite drunk and looking to show off his “guns” by wearing a tight t-shirt and no coat on a cold night. He decided to bump into me and stare at me menacingly in order to show me who was boss. Given that I had no intention of resorting to a steroid-induced rage, I just walked on without saying anything. Unfortunately, FlyingV felt that this was a good time to stand up for me and fisticuffs nearly ensued before I pulled him away. Whether or not someone agreed with the logo on our sweatshirts is not worth trading punches.

We finally walked into a bar a little after midnight. When the students saw our Michigan sweatshirts, we were booed loudly. The Philly-raised PSU fans broke out into an “ass-hole” chant (that and E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES! are the only two cheers heard from Philadelphia sports fans…and plenty of both cheers were heard on Friday). The three of us frequently went back and forth between the upstairs and downstairs section of the bar to rile the crowd.

Clearly our presence was not appreciated on campus Friday night, but despite the heckling, the students were very nice. Many of them talked to us and wished us a happy stay in their college town. Some of them complimented us for being brave and supporting our school. It was a very enjoyable night out.

Tomorrow I will write about the game day and game night experience.

If I had an AP ballot

My rankings are based entirely on performances so far this season. Just because you have an easy schedule and will likely win all your games (cough cough West Virginia cough cough) doesn't mean that I will rank you very high.

AP rankings in parenthesis. This ballot has been submitted to the prestigious RCI. Everything after #20 is crap since I don't really believe those teams are any good. I also struggled with the SEC since they are all beating each other up.

1 - Ohio State (1)
2 - Michigan (2)
3 - USC (3)
4 - Florida (9)
5 - Tennessee (7)
6 - California (11)
7 - Louisville (6)
8 - Auburn (8)
9 - Texas (5)
10 - Notre Dame (10)
11 - West Virginia (4)
12 - Georgia Tech (13)
13 - Arkansas (15)
14 - LSU (14)
15 - Clemson (12)
16 - Boston College (22)
17 - Oregon (16)
18 - Rutgers (19)
19 - Wisconsin (21)
20 - Oklahoma (20)
21 - Nebraska (17)
22 - Boise State (18)
23 - Wake Forest (25)
24 - Pittsburgh (26)
25 - Texas A&M (23)

Off to the Valley of Happiness

This time tomorrow, I will be enjoying a two-day tailgate party in an RV!!

Can I get a "WE OWN..."


Sorry for the lack of posting lately. I didn't think working 7-6:30 for three straight days would make for exciting reading here. Tomorrow will mark my 5th consecutive 7AM morning. At least this time it's because I am taking a 1/2 vacation day.

News of the Day

My Penn State tickets arrived today. Woo hoo! Too bad I won't get to see Super Mario live this weekend. :(





I went apple picking this past weekend. Since I bought way too many apples to eat one a day before they go bad, I made my first attempt at baking an apple crisp tonight. It tastes even better than it looks. I surprised myself! Yummy. The leftovers will be enjoyed at the tailgate on Saturday in State College, PA.

Poor Gary

Does anyone know the cure for the common cold? Anyone? :(

This is going to be a crappy week.

Little Miss Sunshine

I went back to Boston to meet DrT’s parents on Saturday. Her brother was in town from LA for a wedding, so it was a good time to go meet her family. The plan was to hit the road for Boston early, do some “New Englandy” things for a few hours, eat lunch, and return to CT in time for DrT to get her first Michigan football viewing experience by watching the game with me, FlyingV, and RytheRed. Unfortunately, the best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry.

The “New Englandy” plan was to drive to Crane’s Beach on the north shore and enjoy an October day on the beach and see the pretty fall colors on the way. Since there were six of us in the car, we took the old family minivan that was purchased in 1992, even though her family had purchased three new cars over the past four years. The point of the trip was to spend time together, and taking one car, no matter how old it was, was the ideal choice. The car was struggling a little bit on the drive, but we attributed it to age. Unfortunately, as we were ready to leave the beach, we learned that the car had been leaking transmission fluid. We were stranded at Crane’s Beach! DrT’s brother was serving as the justice of the peace for his friend’s wedding he was attending this weekend. Thankfully, the wedding was on Sunday, but he needed to be back by 4PM for the rehearsal dinner. Obviously, getting back to CT for the Michigan game was not nearly as important.

At one point we started pushing the car to try and get it into gear. We all felt we were enjoying a real life recreation of the movie Little Miss Sunshine since we would have probably had to rush into the car if it started moving. Thankfully, we gave up on this plan since it didn’t work out.

While we waited patiently for AAA to arrive, we enjoyed wonderful kindness of the New England folks. One family agreed to drive us into Ipswich so that we could buy transmission fluid. However, we later decided to continue waiting for AAA since whatever we put into the van would leak out anyway. Another nice woman was going back to Belmont, which is not far from where we were heading (Brookline). She agreed to drive four of us back to DrT’s mom’s house, which was extremely generous and unexpected. DrT’s brother was able to make the rehearsal dinner on time. We didn’t get back to the house until around 4PM, so it was definitely too late to give DrT a true Michigan football viewing experience. Besides, I would have felt bad rushing out of there since we never really were able to relax and spend time with her parents since they were dealing with the car issues. We watched the Michigan game together at her mom’s house while flipping over to the Tigers game frequently so that I could enjoy the Tigers win and DrT could enjoy the Yankees loss.

Given that the attempt to meet DrT’s parents and enjoy a lovely fall day together had sort of fallen apart because of car drama, we went out for a nice dinner with DrT’s mom after the game. Since everything worked out in the end, I thought the whole ordeal was a funny story, especially since it was my first time meeting DrT’s parents.

Ode to a Yankee Killer

By Kenny Rogers:

On a warm summers evenin on a train bound for nowhere,
I met up with the gambler; we were both too tired to sleep.
So we took turns a starin out the window at the darkness
til boredom overtook us, and he began to speak.

He said, son, Ive made a life out of readin peoples faces,
And knowin what their cards were by the way they held their eyes.
So if you dont mind my sayin, I can see youre out of aces.
For a taste of your whiskey Ill give you some advice.

So I handed him my bottle and he drank down my last swallow.
Then he bummed a cigarette and asked me for a light.
And the night got deathly quiet, and his face lost all expression.
Said, if youre gonna play the game, boy, ya gotta learn to play it right.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when youre sittin at the table.
Therell be time enough for countin when the dealins done.

Now evry gambler knows that the secret to survivin
Is knowin what to throw away and knowing what to keep.
cause evry hands a winner and evry hands a loser,
And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.

So when hed finished speakin, he turned back towards the window,
Crushed out his cigarette and faded off to sleep.
And somewhere in the darkness the gambler, he broke even.
But in his final words I found an ace that I could keep.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when youre sittin at the table.
Therell be time enough for countin when the dealins done.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count you r money when youre sittin at the table.
Therell be time enough for countin when the dealins done.


I watched most of the Tigers game last night. For someone with a reuptation as a playoff choker, Kenny Rogers was brilliant. The Tigers are one game from shocking the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MinnesOta

I may be a week late, but it's not too late to recap the MinnesOta trip for the game last weekend.

Mpls Ju, Mouse, and I went out for pizza, drinks, and more drinks on Friday night. I'd like to say that a few beers and a couple shots of tequila are no match for a 6'2 200lb man such as myself, but my tolerance has gone south in recent years since I don't drink much these days. By the time we needed to go back to the airport to pick up Mo, I was ready to part with my dinner drinks and food and go to sleep. :(

I was recovered and ready to go by Saturday, but I was in no mood for a drink. The back-to-back days of drinking don't sit to well with me, especially considering that I do not like attending Michigan football games under the influence. We tailgated with some of Mpls Ju's grad school friends, but their Gopher spirit was laughable compared to our Wolverine obnoxiousness. In fact, the general school spirit among the Gopher faithful was embarrassing for a Big Ten school. I would argue that their football team should be demoted to the MAC if not for the fact that they are finally moving to their own on campus stadium in 3 years.

While the tailgate in the unseasonably sunny and warm October afternoon was lovely, I was very upset that I violated my first rule of attending a Michigan football game. Due to some drama involving one of Ju's former roommates, I was not in my seat twenty minutes before kickoff. I missed the MN marching band's pregame show. I also missed the opening kickoff. In fact, I missed the first five minutes of the football game. The first play of the game that I saw was the TD pass to Arrington at the end of Michigan's first drive. Grr... While I was quite pissed about being late to the game, I understood that Ju needed to be a good friend at that point in time.

Our seats were in the portion of the Gopher student section set aside for people who purchase single game tickets. However, most of the people around us were rooting for Michigan. My guess is that most of the fans around us were graduate students at Minnesota that went to Michigan for their undergrad studies since they appeared to be near our age. I was surprised that there were very few Michigan fans in the stadium. I think that there were fewer than 3,000 Michigan fans among the 60,000 in attendance. We weren't overly obnoxious at the game, but I did get great use of the cowbell. The cowbell must have carried well in the stadium because some dude on the light rail after the game said that he could hear it from his seat in the lower deck of the student section. Not bad!

The Minnesota fans were very friendly to us after the game. They didn't seem too upset with the loss and wished us all well. They definitely rank up there among the Big Ten fan bases, though I remain disappointed with their lack of school spirit.

The trip was a great start to my month of Michigan football. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.


Most efficient tailgate packing. Ever.



Mpls Ju made some wonderful cookies. Just don't tell her that the drew the state of Michigan backwards. The thumb is on the east side, Ju.

Cornhole. Greatest drinking game ever, yet the first time I have ever seen it played at a football tailgate.

Sexy shirts.

Why is Mouse on an anti-Gopher rampage? Because it's great to be a Michigan Wolverine.

I may have missed the MN band pregame show, but I enjoyed the halftime show. Well, I couldn't hear anything since the dome has shitty acoustics, but they did a video game/cartoon themed halftime show with a medley of various shows/games and creative formations for each. Here is their tribute to Super Mario (Manningham). They made good use of the 'M' logo at midfield. My favorite part was when the band made tetris pieces, rotated them, and fit them together.
In an age where every team storms the other sideline after the end of the game to take their trophy and plant a flag at the opposing stadium, I thoroughly appreciated the class this team showed when they walked over as a team to reclaim the Little Brown Jug. It made me proud to be a Wolverine.

Post game antics. Look at the straw!

Wolverine Roots

If you are a sports fan growing up in Michigan's lower peninsula, there comes a time in your life when you decide if you like the Wolverines or the Spartans. I remember when I made that not so difficult decision. I was good friends with two twin brothers from my elementary school. One day during the fall, they asked me which time I liked more. I didn't know the difference between the two teams (I was like 8 or 9 years old). I said that I liked Michigan more. Maybe it was because their father played for Bo Schembechler or maybe it was because their father would eventually become a regent of the University of Michigan, but I think my friends probably pressured to say Michigan that day. Once I was a solid Michigan fan, their family would start taking me to Yost Arena with them for hockey games for the next few years. However, I didn't need the bribe of free hockey tickets to know that I chose wisely.

Tomorrow is the Michigan-Michigan State football game. It's the Catch-22 game if you are a Michigan fan. Win, and the only feeling is relief. You can't talk trash against your Spartan friends because they will respond by saying that it's no big deal since Michigan was supposed to win. Lose, and you don't hear the end of it for the next 365 days. It's like playing a game against a younger sibling. There is nothing to gain. Hopefully I will be breathing a sigh of relief tomorrow night!!

GO BLUE!

Flying Frustrations

I have time to kill at the hotel tonight, so you all get a special post. Woo hoo!

Does anyone else think that the new regulations regarding "liquids, gels, and creams" is incredibly stupid? It made more sense to me when everything was banned, even though it really sucked to have to check a small bag for short trips. However, now you are allowed to bring 3oz packages of certain common items (toothpaste, shaving cream, etc). However, the materials must fit into a quart-sized sealed (ziplock) bag in order to pass security. Does it really matter if everything is sealed in a bag? It's not like we can't remove the items from the bag once we pass security, so why does security need to go on a power trip and send people away who used a small travel kit for their items instead of a sealed plastic bag?

Since I didn't fully understand the changes until today, I checked my bag for the flight to Philly. However, I was glad that I arrived at the airport for my 7:15AM flight just before 6 this morning. The changes caused the security line to move really really slowly. It didn't help that people were bitching left and right and security decided to yell back and go on a super huge power trip. I have never waited 35 minutes to get through security at the Hartford airport before. It was ridiculous.

And it really sucked to have to check a bag on a flight to Philadelphia. That place has the absolute worst baggage handling people. Ever. I've waited 45 minutes for my bags to arrive before. Today, I arrived in terminal A, which happens to be the international terminal since my flight was continuing to Cancun after arrival. I followed the signs to the baggage claim area and found the US Airways baggage claim section. However, the monitors did not indicate where my bag would arrive (or where the bags were arriving for any other flight, either). Since there were only two options for US Air in that terminal, I just waited. And waited. And waited. I knew it would take awhile since the airport sucked and I expected to wait a while for my bags. After about 25 minutes, I was getting really impatient. It was already 8:45AM and I needed to get to work. On a hunch, I decided to walk about 1/4 mile along the road (no sidewalks) to the baggage claim at terminal B. Wouldn't you know, the bags from the Hartford flight were sent over there. THANKS FOR TELLING ME!! How am I fucking supposed to know that I had to walk 1/4 mile along the road to the next terminal for my bag when my flight arrived in terminal A. Way to be helpful, US Airways. I hope you go bankrupt for a third time because your guys are worthless when it comes to service. I still got into the office around 9:30AM, which was only about 15-20 minutes later than I should have been. Given that I worked until 8PM tonight, it was not too big of a deal.

Moneyball

I'll get around to posting about the Minnesota trip at the end of the week. I don't have time to write anything tonight or tomorrow, and I am in Philadelphia on Tuesday-Thursday this week.

I read a great book this weekend while traveling between Hartford and Minneapolis. Moneyball, which is a great book about how the Oakland As keep winning year after year despite having one of the lowest payrolls in Major League Baseball. Oakland identified several underappreciated and highly important statistics in baseball that could be used to effectively evalute hitting and pitching talent and used it to draft, trade, and sign players that most other teams would not touch, and therefore be able to pay these players a small amount of money and watch them outperform their peers. The talent evaluation aspect of the ballclub was essentially transferred from the scouts to "computer geeks" with no prior baseball experience, but who knew how to analyze statistics effectively. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and definitely recommend it to any sports fan, even if you do not like baseball that much.

There were a couple parts of the book that I especially enjoyed. Back in 2001, Beane fired his head of scouting for a first round draft pick that violated the rules he thought he established for player evaluation. "Do not draft high school ballplayers" (even though Beane himself was a first round draft pick out of high school back in the day). Although the pitching prospect was tall, strong, and had a great arm, Beane believed that he was too much of an unknown at the age of 18 to risk such a high draft pick. A couple years later, the pick was a throw away player on a 3-team trade involving Jeff Weaver from the Detroit Tigers. That player? Jeremy Bonderman. While Beane's system is correct most of the time, it's not always perfect since Bonderman has blossomed with the Tigers.

The main focus of the book was the 2002 season. After losing Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon, and Jason Isringhausen to free agency after 2001, the team came back and won even more games in 2002 despite beign written off because of their losses. The A's took advantage of an inefficient marketplace that refused to accept knowledge/research from those outside the game and used it against the rest of baseball by winning cheaply. Pure genious!

Thank you, DrT, for the recommendation!