The Weekend Roundup, St. Patty's Day Edition: 3/17/08

​We'll do this in paragraph form this week...

As you celebrate the bursting of the Buckeye's bubble, I direct you to the BBC, which is celebrating Terrelle Pryor taking Michigan off of his list. The writing has been on the wall for a while, and the assumption has been that it was PSU or OSU...I still don't see where TP has named the two teams. In fact, on Saturday, he said he was down to two schools, but declined to name them. So, not that I care, but nothing's official. I would also like to take this Buckeye recruiting moment to rehash the fact that Maurice Clarett, fabulous Buckeye freshman, once was caught with guns, vodka, a hatchet, and a bullet-proof vest. This has nothing to do with this link, I just like to bring it up.

Also in basketball news, John Beilein hasn't lost hope despite a school record 22 losses, and reminds you that he "grew up on an apple farm and we got pruned many times this year so the apples will grow bigger and better every year. So we've gone through that process and we embraced it as much as we could, as hard as it was." OK. What does this have to do with the fact that we have no significant incoming freshman? How about "we're running out of seeds and there will soon be no trees" ???

Practice started this weekend for football, which is exciting. Barwis is kicking their asses,and so is Rodriguez. Nick Sheridan and Steven Threet are the leaders in the clubhouse at QB.

"I have better endurance," Boren said, referring to the offseason conditioning. Even better is this quote from an ESPN article by Ivan Maisel:

The Michigan players look and feel different. Mathews went from being able to touch his toes to putting his palms on the ground. He had to buy size 36 jeans to accommodate his thighs. His waist remains a 34.

Dude...what was going on under the previous regime? Were they really pumping cake icing into players?

Hockey (for the Godfather) swept Nebraska Omaha to move on in the CCHA tournament. They won 10-1 on Friday.

In made up scandal news, Jim Carty spent a year and a half writing an article full of complete bullshit. Varsity Blue takes the Ann Arbor News to task on it. This will no doubt be a topic of discussion, probably nation wide as the week goes on...because everybody loves to hate us. More Clarett fun for deflection purposes.

For you bracketologists...a method to your Cinderella picking madness.

Basketball vs. Hockey

​The Hoover Street Rag provides you with the stat of the season: On Friday, the hockey team was 10 of 40 shooting. The basketball team was 10 of 50.

Brackets tomorrow.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand Done

​Wisconsin 51, Michigan 34. At the half? No. End of game. End of season.

34

34

34...cue wikipedia...

34 is the ninth distinct biprime and has four divisors including unity and itself. Its neighbors, 33 and 35 also are distinct biprimes having four divisors each, and 34 is the smallest number to be surrounded by numbers with the same number of divisors as it has. It is also in the first cluster of three distinct biprime, being within; 33,34,35, the next such cluster of biprimes is; 85,86,87. It is the ninth Fibonacci number and a companion Pell number. Since it is an odd-indexed Fibonacci number, 34 is a Markov number, appearing in solutions with other Fibonacci numbers, such as (1, 13, 34), (1, 34, 89), etc.

and...

34 is also:

• the traffic code of Istanbul, Turkey


• a song by Dave Matthews Band, titled "#34"


• the magic square puzzle in the 1970s 34 Skidoo


• part of the title of the 1947 movie Miracle on 34th Street, remade in 1994


• the number of the French department Hérault


• the code for international direct-dial phone calls to Spain


• the lucky number of Victor Pelevin's protagonist Stepan Mikhailov in the novel "Numbers", published as part of DTT(NN) [Dialectics in Times of Transition (from Nowhere into Nothing)]


• in the book The Count of Monte Cristo, 34 is Edmond Dant's prisoner number.


• an internet subculture joke, rule 34, which states: "If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions.", meaning that any fiction or nonfiction has had an erotic drawing/parody made of it.


• the number worn by famous baseball player David Ortiz."


• American football player Walter Payton's number

How dare they leave off Hayes Grooms.

"The Great Michigan Spirit" Brings More Afternoon Delight

​We did it folks, and we did it together. My cubical row had their headphones in and gametrackers loaded on screen...what about yours? Aside from a ten minute scoring drought for both teams (In case you are wondering, ten minutes is a full quarter of an NCAA basketball game) that seemed like 3 hours, it was a decent performance and a good win. Just round one folks, keep the faith. Tongue and cheek game review from MGoBlog...

Victory! Michigan's road to San Antonio began today with a thrilling 6-4 victory over Iowa that featuerd a 12-minute field goal drought for both teams combined. Prediction for tomorrow's game against Wisconsin (noon, ESPN): Michigan 7,000, Wisconsin 5. Suck on that, BAD-gers. Zing!

Here here...by all means Barry Alvarez, suck it.

Amazingly enough, Iowa still cares about athletics, and they are somewhat perturbed with the loss. Here's Black Heart Gold Pants for ya...

That just happened. Not exactly a "march" on San Antonio. Perhaps "stagger" back to Iowa City is more fitting? The loss today was every bit as ugly as the entire season. You could show today's game to someone who hasn't watched a second of Iowa basketball this year and they would know. They'd just know. The inconsistent defense and turnovers may not have been enough to lose it today, so we added a new weapon to the mix. That weapon? Getting Cyrus Tate to the free throw line 17 times. See, this is bad, on account of Cyrus being one of the worst free throw shooters in school history. We went over 16 minutes in the second half with no field goals -- none -- and just 8 made free throws. It was hard to watch, like the entire season, and now it's mercifully over.

I have a funny feeling I might be using the same words tomorrow. For now though, we continue to visualize what it will be like when we win that lottery, and thank god we're not Northwestern...

69 NCAA Tournaments and we STILL have yet to qualify. Fun times.

Well, at least they live a world without expectations.

So You're Saying There's a Chance

​Ever bought a lottery ticket? Sure you have. It's funny how we often wait until the number goes over $100 million before we consider buying tickets, as if that minimum $12 million payout isn't enough. The truth is, most of us buy lottery tickets to be able to dream of what we'd do with the money. If only for a moment, we imagine what it would be like to tell the boss what we think, to travel the world, or to buy the corner of Main and Stadium from Ann Arbor Golf and Outing and build a party barn. What's a party barn? It's a place where I put all the tailgate stuff so I don't have to lug it back and forth to my home. There's a stove in there, large meat smokers, a couple of bathrooms, a home theater with satellite tv, and air conditioning. OK, I'm getting off topic...my point is that those 10 easy pick numbers you buy give you only an infinitesimal mathematical advantage over someone that doesn't even buy a ticket. The difference? You get to dream and they get to be naysayers. It almost makes it money well spent.

I've seen a lot of basketball, and while I'm not exactly well versed in the intricacies of the 1-3-1, I am well versed in what Ufer once called "The Great Michigan Spirit." Because I am so in tune with the Maize and Blue, and because I have seen shades of competitiveness from this team, and because the Big Ten is a lackluster conference at best, I can tell you this: That which you covet is not impossible. Tap into that part of your psyche that you use when buying that lottery ticket. Think about winning the next four games. Think about everything that is wrong with Michigan Basketball disappearing in a single weekend.

Just how ridiculous would it be for Michigan to win the Big Ten tournament? Well, it would be pretty nuts. But not more ridiculous than, say, a team from the Colonial Athletic Association making the Final Four. Not more ridiculous than Michigan dominating the Florida Gators in the Citrus Bowl. Not more ridiculous than The Giants over the Patriots. Not more ridiculous than Goody being married for more than 6 months.

So, yes, I'm saying there's a chance. And because there's a chance, it is your duty to support that chance until there is no more chance. Dream...don't naysay. And while it is much more likely that the chance will disappear at about 2:30pm Thursday, we don't deal in likely. Jalen is back. He's named the names of the once damned but still fabulous five. The demons have been exorcised. We are about shocking the world. For god's sakes boys, you've packed for it, now do it.

High noon...Thursday...Hawkeyes...