Hail! to the Victors Valiant

Posted on January 2, 2024 by RegenAxe

The champions of the west were victorious last night over Alabama in the Rose Bowl. Winning their semi-final game and securing their berth in next week’s championship. There they will face Washington, who also won their game last night. Of personal interest, Harry was happy with the win and happier still that it had been achieved before nine, so that he could go to bed on time. Out in Seattle, Jay has a “Come to Jesus” moment looming this coming Monday night. Next week, will she be rooting for Michigan or Washington? Youth wants to know! Anyway, if it does not come out the way that she wants, she can always give it that old college try and try again next season when Washington hosts Michigan during their inaugural season in the Big 10, or is it 14 or 18 now?

In other college football news, reports of Texas State draining the stadium dry in their initial postseason appearance at the First Responders Bowl, may have been overblown. Reports said that the Texas State Bobcat’s side of the stadium ran out of beer by halftime. Not to be detoured, during halftime Bobcats fans crossed over to their opponent’s side of the stadium and by the end of the third quarter drank all of their beer too. Texas State has a reputation as a party school, but this alleged feat has been denied by the stadium’s concessionaire, who claimed that there was still plenty of beer available by the end of the game.

Big House, Big Game, Big Babies

Posted on November 25, 2023 by RegenAxe

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.

CityPark

Posted on September 18, 2023 by RegenAxe

Last week, the school district was sponsoring a fundraiser by selling tickets to a soccer game. Anne got the tickets on her phone and we went together on Sunday. We took the train downtown and got off at Union Station. From there it was a short walk to the stadium. CityPark is brand new. It has not even been open a year. It hosts two teams, St. Louis City Soccer Club and City 2. St. Louis City SC is the Major League Soccer team, while City 2 is its minor league affiliate. St. Louis City SC has been a hard ticket to get. We saw City 2 beat LA Galaxy II 4-1. Both Saint Louis teams have been doing well in their first season. St. Louis City SC leads its division and is playoff bound. While with its win yesterday, City 2 clinched their own playoff berth too. It was open seating, so we grabbed the best seats that we could find. We were clueless about the team, first mistaking the white jersey players for the home team. Only after City 2 quickly scored their first goal and it was marked on the scoreboard did we finally figure things out. From comments from neighboring fans, we learned that our striker is only a sixteen-year-old. Another STL player was sporting a cast for a broken wrist. Another oddity was that they ran the sprinklers right before the game and during halftime. There were also two other groups of men on the pitch, sporting two different sets of uniforms from either of the two teams that were playing the game. They could be seen running around the edge of the field during the game or passing the ball during halftime, in-between the sprinklers. I still do not have a clue what they were all about. Up four to nothing, towards the end of the game, City 2 began substituting players. Playoffs don’t you know. LA was able to get their one goal then. After they scored the crowd seemed to lose interest in the game. The kids began chanting S-T-L and other fans started doing the wave. I later learned that we were a record crowd for City 2. After the game, we trooped back to the MetroLink station and almost immediately caught our train back. We had a late supper of Vietnamese at Mai Lee, before heading home. By then we were tired, but it had been a fun day.