Category Archives: Football

Big House, Big Game, Big Babies

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I am writing this post before today’s football game in Ann Arbor. So, I do not know how it turned out and I will not be making any predictions. It is supposed to be a close game. It is sunny and bright here in the Lou, so likely we will be out and about during the game. Today is shop local Saturday and we plan on hitting some local stores in Maplewood. Tomorrow there is even a chance of snow. The chances are not that great, but they are probably still better than those of Michigan State’s this season. State’s coach misbehaved earlier this season, was fired for his deeds and the school has paid the price all season long.

Both Michigan and Ohio State come into this game with perfect 11-0 records—Two teams enter. One Team wins. Then both teams leave—Michigan has won in their last two meetings, albeit now under the auspices of scandal. If Ohio State wins today that casts into doubt those two victories. If Michigan wins, then they were the better team and did not need to cheat. I do not buy the rube that it was all just the machinations of some assistant coach. What self-respecting head coach would take advice from an assistant without knowing what was going on. Harbaugh knew, he condoned it and then profited off of it. Now he is on timeout.

This is not the first time that this storied rivalry has been marred by scandal. Back in 1971, I was in high school, kitty corner to the Big House. The same high school that Harbaugh later attended. We had scored tickets; my dad was attending Michigan at the time. We sat way back in the student section. At half time the students passed empty bottles of Go Blue wine up through the stands. They were balanced on the edge, high atop the stadium. Michigan won that game. It also snowed during the game. But that game is best remembered for the tantrum that Woody Hayes, the Ohio State head coach had. When a play did not go his way, he tore up the down markers and then was ejected from the game. 

The Big Game

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Sombre Helmet with Horses, Donald Robertson, 1952

This afternoon, the Michigan Wolverines, ranked 6th in the nation, came to East Lansing to face the Michigan State Spartans, ranked 8th. Both teams entered the game with identical, perfect 7-0 records for the season. Both teams entered the stadium undefeated, only one will leave like that. The game was broadcasted on Fox, which we could have watched over the air, but whether it was terrestrial weather or that G3 geomagnetic storm that is supposed to generate the aurora borealis tonight, maybe even far enough south for us to see here in Saint Louis, but the Fox broadcast was coming in all pixilated. Not to worry though, because we now have Direct-TV, which came in crystal clear over our Wi-Fi. The first quarter was all Michigan, aided by two State turnovers, for a 10-0 score. In the second quarter, the Spartans came back to take the lead, briefly, before falling back behind 23-14 at the half, but it could have been much, much worse. The second half was a see-saw battle, with the lead changing hands back-and-forth. In the end though the Spartans were victorious, 37-33. Go Green! Go White!

Superb Owl

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Silent Death – Barn Owl

Well, it’s game day. The one day out of the year that I regularly watch football. This year’s game seems like a rerun of past games though, but then 2020 felt like one long endlessly repeating groundhog’s day anyway. We have the KC Chiefs trying to two-peat and like a perennial, Tom Brady this time sans the Patriots. One new thing that today’s game will have is Sarah Thomas, the first female to referee in the Super bowl. I’m sure that she’ll do just fine, because women are generally excellent at point out things that men are doing wrong.

For me the football game is kind of an afterthought. The main agenda item are the commercials. In recent years, sponsors have taken to releasing their new ads before the game and I’ve viewed a slew of them online. My quick take is that they are mostly about beer and chips, with only a few oddball one thrown in. I mean, are they really offering a free trip to outer space? Is that what I heard? Are they giving away a ticket to some lucky nobody, who will get to look down upon the rest of us and rub elbows with billionaires who are paying his freight?

I watched about a dozen of these ads before even they began to get boring. We won’t be having any company over for the game and we’re certainly not going to a bar. So, that just leaves eating. We are dieting, so some responsibility needs to be shown, but we’ll likely skip dinner for snacks instead. Plus, we both have a pile of weekly points left over and I plan on using some of them. As I said, we need to show some responsibility, because tomorrow is our first weigh-in day.

The Marching Band Refused to Yield

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Spartan Marching Band Bones

Fifty years ago, I was introduced to Big Ten football in Ann Arbor. I was a kid then. My dad was a fellow at the U of M. I went to high school catty-corner to the Big House. Woody and Bo were headliners then. I met my one true love. She won an all-expense paid trip to East Lansing and I followed her there. College, courtship and marriage ensued. Like I said, it’s been fifty years.

Crisp autumn afternoons bring this all back. These days, football is not a big part of my life, but when I heard that our alma mater was playing the cross-state rivals, I scanned the dial, searching for the big game. I was rewarded, doubly so. Not only did I find the game, but Michigan State was ahead. Heavily favored Michigan (+21.5) was not playing well. State went on to win the game, upsetting Michigan by 27-24. This shouldn’t have come as that big a surprise, because their head coach Harbaugh has a habit of choking for the big home game. Every year Ann Arbor hosts a rival, either Michigan State or Ohio State. Against these two foes, Harbaugh has a dismal 1-5 combined home record. In college football winning the big game often counts more than a winning season. Sorry, Jane.

We had planned on skipping Halloween this year, but our next-door neighbors invited us over. They had setup a firepit in their driveway. We brought key lime bars to share, while they tossed candy bags to the trick or treaters. There was a pretty good turnout, with usually both the kids and their parents in costume. It made for a nice evening, with a fire to ward off the chill, under a full moon.