What is Iran Thinking?

Has anyone been following the news about the British soldiers captured while patrolling waters near the Iran-Iraq border? I've been following the negotiations between Iran and England since this happened and all I have been wondering is 'What the hell is Iran thinking'? Do they actually expect us to believe that the confessions made by the British soldiers under their custody are legit? Do they really expect to accomplish anything by parading the captured soldiers in front of the media to plead for their lives? What good can possibly come out of putting these soldiers on trial in Iran? Is Iran trying to wreck diplomatic ties with Western Europe, in addition to the already severed ties with the US?

The British, thankfully, are not backing down and paying lip service to a horrific regime. They have offered proof that Iran captured the British soldiers in Iraqi water.

Iran isn't fooling any rational person with this charade. Furthermore, they are just inviting retaliatory action from the US and Britain, two military powers that they will never be able to overcome. This whole thing seems so dumb, but it's not like I have ever believed that Iran is capable of doing the right thing. They are the biggest risk to any sort of peaceful existence on the Middle East, and will likely be the cause of any war that may break our in the future.

This could get a lot worse before it gets better. Expect any completion of a war in Iraq to be followed up with a much more necessary military conflict with Iran.

Lots and Lots of Work

My new rotation at work was recently finalized. I have started my new job this week and have quickly realized that I know absolutely nothing about everything and everyone that I am responsible for. It's a difficult transition after knowing my job so well for the past couple years. However, it should be a good challenge.

The only downside with job rotations is that it's hard to get a clean break from my old job. I am supposed to wrap up a couple projects before I am completely "free". Unfortuntaely, my new job responsibilities are not put on hold until this is done. I am juggling two jobs for the next week or two. It's not as bad as the summer of 2004 when I was juggling two jobs for two months, but it's still rough. As a result, I have been leaving for work around 7AM the past several days, often not getting home from work until 7PM, only to spend another hour working from home in the evening (since I need to get up to speed in my new job ASAP).

That's why you won't hear much from me for the next few days. I'm burned out, and there are two more days until the weekend. :(

Good-bye JMFJ

I must admit that I am still very bitter about Michigan's loss last night. However, I have tremendous respect for sophomore defenseman Jack "MF" Johnson.

He had no business playing one year of college hockey, yet he stayed for two. One of the most dominating college defensemen I have ever seen play. He'll be great in the NHL. I also appreciate how he closed the loop and announced his decision early in the offseason, unlike several other Michigan defections in recent years. Hopefully Berenson will allocate JMFJ's scholarship to a competent goalie.

We'll miss JMFJ's dad, too.

Another video - see 5th video on 1/12/07 game.

I promise I'll stop writing about sports tomorrow. Seriously.

Wanted: One College-Level Goalie

That was the most frustrating Michigan hockey game I have ever seen. In fact, I cannot think of a more frustrating Michigan loss in any sport except for possibly the 54-51 football loss to Northwestern in 2000.

You'd think I could be optimistic after watching Michigan score two goals IN THE FIRST MINUTE. I was thrilled, don't get me wrong, but I was not relaxed. Why? Because Billy Sauer is a sad excuse for a high school team goalie. Why is he starting at the University of Michigan? The correct answer is "because Gary might be a better goalie than backup Steve Jakiel".

8-5 loss to the Sioux. Twelve goals scored in the first thirty minutes. Eight goals allowed on 27 shots. Too bad the North Dakota goalie showed up for the second half of the game because Michigan missed a lot of chances to get back in the game during the last thirty minutes. Michigan completely dominated this game when both teams were at even strength.

I said that Michigan would win if they did two things, minimized turnovers and penalties. The good news is that they limited turnovers. The bad news is that North Dakota went on the power play eight times. The Sioux scored on five of those opportunities. Five power play goals. FIVE!! That's sick. Michigan only killed one power play that lasted a full two minutes. All of the other kills were due to the Sioux taking a penalty during while they were on the man advantage.

Michigan lacked the character of a champion this season. There is no excuse for taking so many penalties. Where is the senior leadership? I miss former captain Jed Ortmeyer. He would not have allowed Michigan to lose a game in this fashion. Current team leader and best player TJ Hensick is the counter example of a leader. He decided to help Michigan come back in the third period by taking a ten minute misconduct for mouthing off at the ref. Dumbass.

I had a false sense of security about Billy Sauer after a strong last two months of the season. However, performances like the one from today happened way too many times over the past two seasons. He should never play another game in net for Michigan. Assuming JMFJ leaves for the LA Kings and forgoes his last two years of eligibility, Coach Berenson needs to use that scholarship on a competent goalie. Although Sauer allowed a lot of goals where he had no chance, there were three or four that were embarrassing for a goalie to allow at this level.

Where does this leave Michigan for next year? Well, with TJ Hensick graduating and JMFJ likely leaving for the NHL along with two or three other defensemen, this team will be lucky to win half of their games next year unless a real leader steps up in TJ's absence. I kid you not. The 2007-08 Michigan team is shaping up to be the worst to wear the maize and blue since I started following college hockey in 1990. It's really scary. Michigan's run of 17 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances will not extend to 18 next season. Not without a new goalie.

I thought North Dakota was a better team than what I saw today. Minnesota will wipe them out tomorrow if they don't play better. The Sioux cannot count on all those power plays to bail them out every night.

Grrr....Michigan should have won this game tonight. With a good goalie, they would have won the title this season.

Cox Cable is my hero...and More Hockey Musings

Move over Mouse, you are no longer my hero. I've been searching through the TV clearances for the NCAA hockey tournament games all week. Since I don't get ESPNU, which is airing the game on tape delay at 11PM, I've been trying to find some way to see the Michigan game tonight.

According to the NCAA website Cox Cable was syndicating the ESPNU coverage all of the hockey games in Rhode Island, but not in Connecticut. However, the Cox Sports channel in Manchester has picked up every game so far. While I was unable to confirm whether the Michigan game will be on live at 7:30 in both CT and Rhode Island, I am extremely optimistic that I will get the game. WOO HOO!

I already have plans with DrT in New Haven this evening, but at least I'll be able to tape the game and watch it around 10:30 tonight! Although I lined up someone to tape the game for me on ESPNU tonight just in case the game is not on COX Sports TV, I didn't think I could wait until tomorrow afternoon to find out who won. Now, I probably won't have to.

Speaking of hockey, Brian at MGoBlog linked to a decent post on a different Michigan sports blog that previewed the upcoming hockey tournament and summarized the best 9 Michigan NCAA tournament games in recent history in a three part series. I surfed around this blog for a while since there was a lot of material about the MMB. I noticed that one of the three writers on that site was a member of the MMB trumpet section when I was in the band. We both joined the band in 1999. I never really knew him (there were 70 trumpets after all). I didn't realize that he was such a passionate UM sports fan, though I don't really remember him saying much during my three years in the band.

As a side note, I agree with most of the 9 selections in their series of posts on the best Michigan NCAA hockey tournament games. I would have added the 1993 frozen four OT loss to a Maine team that won the NCAA title and finished the year 42-1-3, a 2-1 OT loss to #1 seed UNH in the 1998 quarterfinals when Josh Blackburn made 45+ saves, and a 5-3 win over Denver in 1998 after falling behind 3-0 late in the second period.

GO BLUE! BEAT THE SIOUX!

My High School is Stalking Me

I have received two postcards from my high school over the past month. I have no idea how they found my address here in CT, but they want information from me in advance of my 10-year reunion next year since they are trying to put together biographies on each member of our huge class.

I'm not sure if I want to respond. I am not particularly close with most of the 1000+ people in my high school graduating class. In fact, I can only think of three people I have spoken to from the class of 1998 in the last two years, and one of those three reads this blog. I don't really see the point in letting a bunch of people I don't know and/or don't really care about know what I am up to and how to contact me. I wouldn't call high school my favorite years anyway, especially when compared to college.

Besides, anyone who wants to find me can do so on Facebook.

What do the rest of you think about your upcoming 10-year reunions? Do you plan to attend? Ju - are you getting these same mailings? If so, what are you doing about them?

Group of Death

UPDATE: MGoBlog summarized my thoughts much more eloquently and succinctly than what I have written below. Link.

Michigan lost a crucial hockey game last night. In the CCHA title game against a powerful Notre Dame team, the heavily favored Irish stole a 2-1 game in which Michigan was much more dominant, but unable to finish against the nation's #1 defensive team. The impact of that game was huge on the NCAA tourney pairings. A win would have bumped Michigan up to #6 in the Pairwise rankings, which would have paired Michigan in a regional in Manchester, NH with struggling #1 seed UNH and an overrated ECACHL hockey team (St. Lawrence). Michigan would have made it to the frozen four with that group.

Instead, Michigan is heading west (again) in a regional containing Minnesota (again), the nation's #1 team (again). The region also contains North Dakota (again), the nation's hottest team (again). Sound familiar?

That loss yesterday to the Irish really stings. Michigan may be the higher seed, but they match up horribly with North Dakota in the first round. The Fighting Sioux killed us 5-1 last year in the first round of the tournament. Michigan has the best offense in the country and UND has shaky goaltending. However, Michigan has shaky goaltending and defensemen that love to give the puck to opposing players in front of our goal. Michigan's key to victory is to stay out of the box and NOT TURN THE PUCK OVER IN OUR OWN ZONE! The Fighting Sioux killed us with their awesome power play last year, and they will do it again if Michigan plays stupid (note to JMFJ - don't be dumb).

A win will match us up with Minnesota, provided that Air Force does not shock the world like Holy Cross did last year. Minnesota beat us 8-2 this year. 8-2!! Minnesota has struggled to a 11-8 record since mid-January after ending their 22 game unbeaten stretch earlier this year, but they are still awesome. Just flat out awesome. And they have owned Michigan since 2000.

The Manchester, NH regional sort of sucks. BC is a great team and I'd love to watch them live next weekend, but I don't think any of the three games will be very close, and BC's "fans" suck. UNH plays a boring, defensive style of hockey, and UNH's fans are not very fun either. I think I'm staying in CT next weekend given these pairings and watch the other games on TV. Bummer all around. :( I wish I could have seen Michigan, Boston U, or North Dakota on the east coast this weekend.

So what do I think will happen? Here is my bracket. The tournament is more open than normal this year. There are some 2 and 3 seeds capable of making some noise this year. The hottest teams in the country down the stretch are BC, North Dakota, Notre Dame, and UMass. Only Notre Dame is a #1 seed.

Grand Rapids, MI
#1 Notre Dame crushes #4 Alabama-Huntsville 5-0
#2 Boston U beats #3 Michigan State 1-0
#1 Notre Dame beats #2 Boston U 3-1

Rochester, NY
#1 Clarkson beats #4 UMass 4-3 (OT)
#2 St. Cloud State beats #3 Maine 4-2
#2 St. Cloud State beats #1 Clarkson 4-3 (OT)

Manchester, NH
#1 New Hampshire beats #4 Miami 4-1
#2 Boston College beats #3 St. Lawrence 6-2
#2 Boston College beats #1 New Hampshire 5-2

Denver, CO
#1 Minnesota beats #4 Air Force 9-2
#3 North Dakota beats #2 Michigan 6-3
#3 North Dakota beats #1 Minesota 4-3 (2OT) - will be the best game of the tournament

Frozen Four
North Dakota beats St. Cloud State 5-2
Notre Dame beats Boston College 4-2
North Dakota beats Notre Dame 4-1

A 3 seed winning it all may be a reach given past history, but the Fighting Sioux are scary good and on fire since a horrible first two months of the season.

A Dollar Saved is a Dollar Burned

The last day of the training was the first of a two part training session about our customers, business segments, and the importance of capial and strategic planning. This training ends in late June when we all give several group presentations on a series of time-consuming take-away projects where senior executives at the company will listen to our presentations and grill us with questions.

There were several presentations yesterday from top level executives. The CFO of the company was there for several hours to ensure that he met each of the 25 people attending the training and give a presentation to the group.

My favorite presenter was the Treasurer of the company. He is an actuary who reminds me more of a 'Mad Professor' or zany high school science teacher. Picture a guy with a bushy mustache, unkept hair, a button down shirt that is way too big, and wrinkled khakis. He was speaking to us about financial values. To illustrate how important it is to consider your cost of capital when making investments, he provided two hypothetical investment opportunities. One project would increase your earnings by 5% per year and earn your investors a 15% return. A second project would increase your earnings by 10% per year, but earn your investors only a 12% return. Although irrelevant to the problem, the internal cost of capital is 13%. Which project do you choose?

For the section of the room that chose option A, the MadProfessor took out $1, handed it to the nearest person, and said that everyone who chose this option can share the $1. Woo hoo! 80% of the group won 5% of a $1 bill!

For the rest of the room, the MadProfessor took out another $1 bill. By failing to recognize that return trumps earnings, that more is better, and selecting a project that did not meet our cost of capital, the MadProfessor criticized us for eroding customer capital. He said we were essentially burning money. Then, HE LIT A $1 BILL ON FIRE and held it up until it almost completed burned away! I must admit, it's the first time in my life I have ever seen someone actually burn a $1 bill. It was hilarious.

The message, you ask? Burning money attracts the attention of large groups. The end.

Bracket Madness

Good thing I am not excited about the NCAA hoops tourney this year. I have to go to Philly for a couple days this week for training, and then I am in another all day training session in CT on Thursday. To top things off, I have meetings that last until 4PM on Friday. There will be no ducking out early this week to watch games.

However, that won't stop me from inviting all of you to participate in my NCAA pool. You all know the drills. If you wish to participate, shoot me an e-mail and I will give you the details. I am looking for more poor souls who think they can outlast and outwit the defending champ. You have no hope of beating me, but I hope you try! :)

I doubt I'll be posting before next weekend with my hectic schedule next week. I'd call it my spring break, but it's anything but a break from my everyday life.

Poor Bucknell

Sadly, Bucknell was not able to three-peat this year. An early 20 point deficit was too much to overcome, despite a fantastic comeback to tie the game late in the second half. Despite the outcome, it was a fun game to attend.

There was a Bucknell stand outside the arena where RoopDogg and I received free Bucknell hats, a cheer card with the low-down on popular Bucknell specific cheers (such as "De-Fense XX De-Fense XX" where X = clap...no joke), and this sign:



How can you not like a school at passes out this sign to their fans that are entering the arena?

There was a good showing of Bucknell fans. At an arena that seats roughly 3,000, Bucknell had between 500-750 fans. Not bad.

Watching Bucknell play basketball is entertaining. They have excellent motion on offense and really move the ball well. It makes Michigan's attempt to resemble a college level offense look sad. It's no surprise that Bucknell creates such havoc for other teams in the NCAA tourney with their stellar ball movement and three-point shooting. Holy Cross was the better team on Friday and they have better athletes than Bucknell, but they will not create matchup problems for any top level team in the tournament. I do not expect them to win a game next week and I will show them no love in my NCAA bracket(s).

Here are a couple other pictures from the game:

Bucky the Bison gets taunted by three random students wearing chicken suits. One of the chickens was tossed from the game in the second quarter when they jumped in front of a TV camera man that was shooting live footage of the Bucknell cheerleaders. Sensitive ushers I guess...

How original. A "Sucknell" sign. Like that hasn't been done before. The Holy Cross crowd was fairly lame. Their response to a Bucknell student cheer of "You wear puruple XX-XXX" was simply "We wear purple XX-XXX" (X = clap, in case you could not figure it out).

'Ray Bucknell

What are you doing tomorrow at 4PM? If you are not planning to join RoopDogg and I in Worcester, MA when Bucknell visits Holy Cross for the Patriot League Championship championship, then you better be tuned to whatever ESPN network is carrying the game (hopefully it is not relegated to 'The Ocho'). We'll be in the 'Sea of Orange' that will be drowning out pathetic home crowd. After all, I need another reason to wear my Bucknell sweatshirt.

Go Bison (Bison)! That's right, ITAMFBAS!

JMFJ For Hobey Baker

I got a kick out of this video on YouTube (via MgoBlog). I can't wait for the NCAA Hockey tournament in two weeks!

I Support the Mahz and Bloo

I received a call from a solicitor trying to convince me to renew my expired membership to the Michigan Alumni Association. About a year ago, I decided not to renew my membership since I was already giving directly to the university and didn't think it was worth having an alumni association membership when only a portion of my membership dues is used to benefit the school.

The person on the phone was really talking up how great the University of Michigan is. He wasn't going to get an argument from me. I totally agree that Michigan is awesome! He asked if I read US News & World Report. When I said no, he mentioned that their latest rankings listed Michigan as the #3 public university in the country. I decided not to point out that we were the #2 public school when I was a student.

The guy on the phone then said how some of my alumni association dues would be used to fund scholarship. I neglected to ask how much since I was not going to badger someone trying to solicit funds for the awesome University of Michigan.

However, the guy finally broke me when he asked me to show my support for the mahz and blue by renewing my membership. Um, excuse me? Mahz and blue? What's mahz? If this is your job, surely someone should have trained you how to pronounce "maize". After all, it's almost as bad as referring to our colors as yellow and blue, or worse yet, blue and gold. At this point, I laughed and corrected him. Then I politely declined the request and hung up the phone. He'd hate his job soon enough if no one pointed out that mistake.

Seriously, wtf is 'mahz'?

I'm Back, and Other Random Stuff

I think we can all agree that I've let a post titled "Mouse is my hero" stay at the top of this blog for way too long. For that, I apologize profusely. I won't let it happen again.

I don't have any reason for slacking off this past week. I just haven't had anything that exciting to write about, I guess.

Here's some random tidbits from the past few days and for the upcoming week:
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I've been following a made for Law & Order story in the Detroit papers recently. Check out some of the articles in this story. Truly bizarre, quite disturbing, and very sad. You only expect to see strange storiese like this on television these days.
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DON'T LOOK NOW, but Bucknell is one game away from the Patriot League Championship. Assuming Bucknell wins against lowly Army and Holy Cross wins this week, I will be joining RoopDogg for a Friday afternoon trip to Worcester for the big showdown. I'm always looking for a reason to wear my Bucknell sweatshirt. Not sure yet if I'll go to Lewisburg if Bucknell ends up playing American University.

RoopDogg - are you going to be able to hook us up with tickets if the game is at Holy Cross?
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It looks like I am going to have to go on one last business trip to Philadelphia. There is a two-day training that my department is attending that my boss wants me to attend as well. Unfortunately, since Southwest Airlines stopped their service from Hartford to Philadelphia, flight prices up to $600 instead of the $150 my company used to pay to send me down there. That means I get to by train next time. Woo hoo!

Still no word on when I'll finally transition to a new role in a different division. It should be any day now, but option #1 didn't pan out as I had hoped. After nearly three years in the same general area, I am looking forward to a new challenge.
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I miss hockey. I rarely see a game live or on TV these days. The NCAA hockey tournament starts in just under three weeks. There are two regional sites within a 5-hour drive from me, but both sites would require an overnight stay since they are a little too far from here. I am less motivated to make such a trip by myself, but it has become my tradition to watch some of the tournament games each year. I'll probably make my decision after the pairings are announced, but unless Michigan comes out east, I may stay home.
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I guess that's all for now.