alamo bowl

So i think the Alamo Bowl was the worst officiated game I've ever seen - really horrible especially for a bowl game. I think the Sun Belt officiating crew was struggling for sure

I'm not going to try to make excuses why Michigan lost (since Casey Copeman thinks all of us M fans tend to always have an excuse)
The fact is Michigan was in control of the game when they were winning 28-17 and had plenty of chances.

Things that are pathetic though are the fact that Michigan had to use a timeout on two occassions in order to get the official to review a controversial play. Like the announcers were saying, you have the tool so if you are in doubt play it safe and check the replay. And what was up when like nebraska had stormed the field while the final play of the game was going on. yes some Michigan players did cross the field but while there prolly should have been a penalty the officiating crew was nowhere in sight. How pathetic

It was cool watching the game with Jenny El and Eddie who came down to my crib. We chatted, ate pizza and took in the game. It sucked because I didnt hit the bed til real late and i had to be in to do page design at 4 am this morning. But it was well worth it

Eddie and Jen crashed at my place and then Eddie took off in the morning after me and him played College Hoops 2k6 after i got home from work. Then Jen and I bonded and ran a few errands and got some lunch at Arbys and talked quite a bit for a vast majority of the day.

Crystal got back to Michigan and we chilled with her for a bit before she went to work. Then Jen and I talked some more before I met up with Eddie in Dundee to return her to her boyfriend. Now hopefully I'll get to see the Pistons aim for 24-3 when they take on the Heat shortly!

Alamo Bowl ending

Deeeeeeeetroit basketball

Today I got to head up to the Palace to go to the Pistons game against the Raptors. My uncle and I had courtside seats thanks to my kick ass aunts connection. I had sat in the same seats when I caught a game last January.



The game was good. Before the game my sister's dance troupe from her school danced which was cool. My parents made the hike to see it and I got to talk to them for a bit too.
And the Pistons won the game just as I figured since they were playing the lowly Toronto Raptors, who are one of the worst teams in the NBA right now



Maurice Evans and McDyess had good games off the bench and Rip, Chauncey and Sheed paced the starters. It was a pretty fun game to see. I switched off with my sister and let her have the court side seats for a bit and she enjoyed them as did my Dad when he caught some of the game from the lower level too.

home for Christmas

It was good to be home for a little bit of time.

I went home Saturday morning and did a lot while I was on the west side of the state for the holiday. It was cool to be with the family for a little bit and catch up with quite a few friends.

While at home I
- stopped and saw Renae and her husband Joel at their house in hartford. Seems like married life is treating them well and they have two greyhound dogs (former race dogs to keep them company)
- had lunch with a whole bunch of people from high school. that was pretty cool and there was a decent group of us. people there were Ashley Kolenko, my boy Jon, Amy K, Rick Matheny, A.J., Jamaal, and Brandon Briggs. Plus there Amy brought her older brotehr Erich (graduated the year before us) and her boyfriend. It turns out her boyfriend went to school with my friend Audrey from EMU and is good friends with her - small world.
Lunch was at pizza hut and it was pretty cool just to get updates about how some people are doing that you havent heard from/seen since high school
- Did some last minute shopping at the shitty Orchard mall
- Karaoke with the family on Saturday night after eating dinner
- Opened presents of course - I got some cologne, a stereo and some accessories for my Ipod which dont work. Plus i got a Rip Hamilton red pistons jersey
- Went to church Sunday morning and then had dinner with the family and our close family friend Ron
- Visited my frined Amy Wood for a bit on Sunday night
- Went to go pick up some meats this morning with my dad

oh and i cant forget my mom and sis made Christmas cookies so i definitely pigged out on those and got to take a batch home with me which was cool.

so all in all a nice trip home. only bad thing was that my parents found out about the ticket i got a little over a month ago - man they find out everything. oh well though - they werent too mad or anything and made light of it.

Besides being home other cool stuff going on:
- i'm perfect in both my college football pools so far - 7-0 through the first seven bowl games. off to a hot start i guess.. still 21 more to go so i cant get too carried away
- and I'm in the championship game in one of my fantasy football leagues on eSPn and it appears im headed to the championship game in my yahoo league. Thank you Shaun Alexander!!!

thats all i got for now. Hope everyone had a good Christmas

nite w/ the fellas

So I decided to make the hike up to Ypsi to catch a women's basketball game last night with some of my peeps from the Echo and it was a pretty good time.

Ended up going over to Larry's apartment and Nate met up with us over there and then we checked out the women's team take on Utah, which was ranked No. 22/21 in the country. The game was actually a pretty good one and EMU held tight for the longest before the Utes finally held them off to get the win.

It was also cool being there because Creighton, another former Echo sports writer was tehre cheering on the team. and Jason was on press row so it was like an Echo day. I ended up talking to Streeter (sports information guy) for a few minutes and said hi to the coach Ramsey (men's coach) and prof. Bunsis

Other than that I stopped and said hi to Rachel real quick and headed home to relax. Definitely not a bad night and it was pretty cool to see some people

Quite funny

A new billboard will be posted in Detroit this weekend dissing on Matt Millen

Heres what it says

Not this MILLENium
Rebuilding since 1957

And what is even funnier is that WDFN is having a million fan march as a peaceful protest prior to Sundays home finale against the Bengals

And on another note im wondering whos on Chad Johnson's list this week

A looooooooooong update

A lot to write about in this one - but i think I'll start with stuff relating to work

So last Thursday I was covering the Adrian College-Siena Heights mens basketball game with Sean. Adrian-Siena is a huge rivalry with both schools located in Adrian about three miles away frn each other so needless to say its a big deal in these parts and despite the massive snow we were gettin that night, it didnt stop people from coming out to the contest.

The game was a good close battle the entire night but Siena ended up winning at the end because Adrian missed a bit too many free throws (more on this later). So yea it was a good game, but I even found more entertainment and watching a co-worker of mine who was in attendance at the gaame. This individual happened to go to Adrian College and was doing everything he could do to try to help his alma mater win. he had several signs at the game which were quite interesting

His signs read these things
- Thou shall miss
- Trust Jesus
- Fred Smith, I am your father (in reference to Siena's coach)
- Fire Millen
and my personal favorite
- Brian Calloway is a stud

Sean joked that since he didnt have a sign for him that the Trust Jesus one was referring to him
Craziness. But everytime Siena shot a free throw in the second half he ran under the basket twirlign the thou shall miss sign, thinking that his little sign actually had an effect on the shooters
But it was quite interesting seeing him in his Adrian College gear

Anyways back to free throws - it seems like shooting them is a lost art these days. Adrian College's mens team seems to be horrible at them. During last Thursday's game they shot 37 percent from the line and during the next game they played they shot 40 percent. Definitely not a way to win games. I went to a high school game on Friday (Adrian-Dexter) and Adrian didnt fair too much better either - they were 9-23

This weekend wasn't too bad. Covered a basketball game on Friday even though there was no school for about every school district in Lenawee County because of all the snow that fell from 6 pm til about 1 am on Thursday night/Friday morning.
Also covered a game on Saturday and chilled with Crystal's brother playing video games.

On to other things

- High School boys basketball has started: One of my co-workers said finally real basketball and he couldn't be more right. I dont know why girls dont, but guys have more of a sense of urgency in basketball games and are more aware of game situations. girls just arent for some reason. Not to knock girls basketball because in some cases they are more fundamentally sound than guys and can probably shoot free throws better. but its nice to see dunks, like i saw last week at Sand Creek.

- Fantasy Football: I made the playoffs in two of my three ESPN leagues aand was the second seed in both. One league i finished the regular season with a 9-4 record, the other a 10-3 record. I'm currently still in the regular season of my yahoo league but should be in second place out of 12 teams when the week is over with a 9-5 record. What is ever better is I have won 6 of my last 7 games after starting the season 3-4. This definitely has been a good year of fantasy football for me.

- Ron Artest wants a trade from the Pacers: I welcome this

- Tigers sign Kenny Rogers and Todd Jones: Hopefully these older pitchers can stay healthy and be beneficial to us unlike Troy Percival

- Michigan hoops: Nice to see the Wolverines at 7-0. they actually look real good but UCLA should provide a good test this weekend

- Pistons: Can't say enough about them - hopefully I'll get to catch a game this month

- Lions lose again: I'm not surprised and I think Jeff Garcia has no business starting, but hey who am I. And i thought it was hilarious in last weekends game against Minnesota that fans were screaming for Harrington to be put in b/c Garcia was so horrible

- Fire Millen: Its obvious the man needs to go but with him gettin a five year extention it seems the city of Detroit and Lions fans are out of luck. Its sad that at a red wings game people are dissin on Millen.

Bye bye Mooch

With today's firing of Lions coach Steve Mariucci, every coach of one of Detroit's major sports teams has fired/relieved a coach of their duties within the calendar year or even more specifically within the last six months

Red Wings - After the lockout got rid of Dave Lewis / hired former Anaheim coach Mike Babcock
Pistons - Parted ways with Larry Brown after 2 straight NBA finals appearances / hired former Minnesota coach Flip Saunders

Tigers - Fired Alan Trammell after three lousy years and a crappy August / Hired former Pittsburgh manager Jim Leyland

Lions - Fired Mariucci after three dismal seasons / Defensive coordinator Dick Jauron (a former head coach of Chicago) is the interim

But with the Mooch firing I think something had to be done and hopefully the team plays better over the last five games. I don't think the West Coast offense was the right fit for this team with its current personnel and whoever has this team next should adapt to the talents of those on the roster. And hopefully Kevin Jones will be better utilized

I'm just wondering who the hell is a likely candidate for a long term replacement - this whole process should be interesting to see

Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving - mine wasn't too bad.

This marked the first time ever that I wasn't with my immediate family for Thanksgiving. Kind of interesting but at least I still was with some sort of family. I spent the holiday up in Ypsilanti with my moms side of the family. I was at my grandmas house with a few of my mom's siblings (my Aunt Brenda and her husband Terry, my Aunt Ramona, and Uncle Errol) As always with my mom's family there is nothing short of a humorous expierience.

Whether it was my uncle being lazy and wanting Brenda to pratically wait on him or everyone scoring on how my grandma's tv completely sucked at reception it was rather a hilarious day. As far as the TV was concerned my aunt joked it was so fuzzy that we couldnt tell how little clothes Mariah Carey had on during the halftime show of the Lions game.

Speaking of the Lions what a sloppy performance for the second consecutive year on Thanksgiving. At least it wasnt as bad as gettin whipped by the Colts big time last year but still. Mariucci should be fired and I was hoping that Friday would have been his day like all of the Detroit media was predicting. But instead Detroit is stuck with him longer. It seems like national spotlight doesnt bode well for the Lions - i remember them getting spanked in that preseason game on Monday Night Football by the Rams - granted it was preseason but still. And why couldnt the Lions wear the traditional throwback uniforms - instead they wore the black ones.

I also hit the mall briefly this weekend but didnt do much shopping - more of so to check out what the crowds were like. I purchased a few things from JCpenneys but that was the extent of my shopping on Black Friday.

Talked to my sister the other day and she agreed to get me a red pistons jersey for Christmas - thats pretty exciting. Hard to believe I haven't seen her since May. Pure craziness.

Thats all I've got for the time being

damn the popo

So is driving back from Homer on Friday after covering a playoff game and was heading back to the office to type up my column on deadline. I'm back in Adrian and less than three miles from the office when I get pulled over by the damn police. I'm like damn - its almost midnight and I still have a story to type and im like 3 minutes away from the office.

He asks if i knew why he pulled me over - i reply no - he tells me i didnt come to a proper or complete stop at a stop sign further back. And this guy didnt pull me over until i was about a mile from that spot. I'm like yeah whatever and just keep quiet b/c you shouldnt talk back to the police especialyl being a young black male - (i heard about what happened to rodney king) anyways a few minutes later the guy comes back and issues me a ticket. He couldnt tell me how much it would cost so I had to call a number on Monday.

I call the number only to find out that the ticket was 110 bucks! im like damn. I'd almost be better off being caught speeding. so now i have like five days left to pay it and im thinking about challenging it - but who knows.

anyways that is my exciting news. other than that it has been a busy time for me of late and i like it that way
Heres what ive been doing

Last Saturday - cover Adrian College football game at 1 p.m. - start working on layout for Mondays paper

Monday - did page design at 5 am, covered two playoff basketball games at Manchester High School that night

Tuesday- Went to work to finish up the All-County football capsules. Added some things to a feature story and took care of a few more little things. made a few phone calls

TODAY - cover two district playoff games at Adrian High

Tomorrow- Do an interview out at Sand Creek for a feature that is running on Saturday before their state semi-final playoff game

Friday - to be determined but either hoops or page design

Saturday - State semifinal game at White Lake between Sand Creek and Unionville Sebawaing (USA)

I've been doin a lot of features later which is pretty exciting because it is something different from writing game stories - they kind of get boring after a while.

Jill Pfund feature
DJ Howard feature

Other than that the Pistons are still perfect and thats been awesome - Flip Saunders looks like a genius right now . but there is still 75 more regular season games so you cant get too carried away yet.

And I have to say I'm looking forward to the big game this weekend even tho I'm going to miss it - but lets go Blue!!

compelling items

Two things have compelled me to make my latest post to this blog - cheerleaders and T.O.



Starting with the cheerleaders - This weekend two Carolina Panthers cheerleaders were arrested for having sex in a bathroom at some club/bar in Florida. People complained about a long line waiting to use the restroom only to find out that the cheerleaders were getting it on.

Here is the article

After talking with two of my buddies I've gathered these responses:

"If i was at that club and i saw that i'd probably just walk into traffic immediately, i dont see my life getting much better than that"

"i wouldnt have called the cops, the show must go on!"

I must say I'd have to agree.


Second item : T.O. is all but done in Philly as the Eagles have decided he will miss the rest of the season following his four game suspension. To which I say it sux for fantasy owners who have him on their team - I'm glad I don't have him

At the same time in reality I wouldnt mind if the Lions became in the running for him. So T.O. doesnt like Garcia - thats fine. If Harrington is throwing to him he definitely can take criticism from T.O. after all he has faced in his career and his teammates this season. Plus he is demanding of the ball and makes plays - more than the Lions can say for any of their wide receivers with the exception of Scottie Vines.

The only problem is his price tag but what do the Lions have to lose - they arent doing anything with the offense they have - why not add a REAL playmaker.
But having a legit threat like T.O. might not matter if the offensive line cant block.

interesting quotes

Lately I've been reading stories or other things and have come across a lot of interesting quotes. Here are a few of them:

“From what I’ve seen on tape the last couple of days, the guy can do it all.... Two things are going to happen. The bad thing is, you have to cover me. The good thing is you can switch your insurance to GEICO and save 10 percent.”

- Cincinnati Bengal's wide receiver Chad Johnson speaking of his matchup with Green Bay cornerback Al Harris

“We'll see those bandwagon ass cats come May and June, that's when they'll predict the Pistons will win it. For now, it's good. We like being swept under the carpet because the dirt comes out in the end.”

- Detroit Piston's forward Rasheed Wallace on the Pistons not gettin much love from those predicting how the NBA will shape up this season

"The black athlete has made a big difference. They've changed the whole tempo of the game. Black athletes have done a great job as athletes and as people in turning the game around. Say what anybody wants to say about it, it's a different game because of them."

- Legendary Penn State coachJoe Paterno on how blacks have helped revolutionize college football

a weekend off

Definitely was a nice little weekend for me

Covered a football game on Friday between two longtime rivals that hadnt played in 18 years and then had the rest of the weekend off which I enjoyed.
Saturday I did a little shopping up in Ypsi-Ann Arbor and caught up with a few of my buddys. Cynthia went to the mall and ran all over Ann Arbor and Arborland with me and then i got to see my peeps Rach, Andrea and her boyfriend David and their roomie. On my way out of town I stopped at the football game for a few and hung out with Casey. Also got to holla at Eddie and saw Chuck, Lou, Bobby and the rest of them usual front row crowd at EMU sporting events. I even got a free t-shirt advertising the GMAC bowl - definitely can't beat getting free stuff even when your not in college.

As far as being back at Rynearson Stadium not too much has changed other than the turf and the product on the field. The Eagles look a lot more competitive and have a good defense but they still can't pick up a big win yet as they lost 24-23 because of a missed extra point in the final 30 seconds of the game. Tyler Jones looked solid at quarterback in his first start - have to like his speed.
One thing that definitely hasnt changed though is the attendance, as Saturday reminded me of a typical EMU crowd that I remember looking at from the press box in years past.

Today was a laid back day for the most part. Other than cooking i just watched tv. Jeff Garcia looked a lot better than Joey Harrington has looked at quarterback for the Lions and it was nice to see them beat the Browns to stay at the top of the NFC North with Chicago. Then the MHSAA state playoff selection show was on and five of the teams my paper covers qualified for the playoffs with four of them hosting games.

The matchups (teams my paper covers is in bold):
Southgate Anderson at Adrian
Onsted at Hillsdale
Napoleon at Addison
Madison Heights at Blissfield
Whitmore Lake at Sand Creek

Hopefully a few of the teams make long playoff runs

In the EMU news

wow i'm still finding my name mentioned in EMU related things even tho I've been graduated for about six monthe now.

Here is the latest:
(can be read online at http://www.emich.edu/focus_emu/101105/peoplecolumn.html)

* The Eastern Echo recently took first place in the "classified section" category and second place for "general excellence" among college Division I newspapers in the Michigan Collegiate Press Association competition.

"The big news is the second place for General Excellence in Division I," said Kevin Devine, manager of student media. "That speaks to the contributions of the entire team — writers, photographers, editors, designers, sales reps, classified staff, office assistants and even delivery staff."

The Echo also had a number of individual award winners. Nathan Bomey, managing editor, and Brian Calloway, who graduated in May 2005, won first place in the deadline story category with their article, "Frat Member Dead." Bomey also garnered a second in the non-deadline story category with his story, "We're the Ones That Wanted to Go" and in the investigative reporting category with his article, "Attendance Figure Scandal." Kurt Hunt took third in the non-deadline story category with his article, "No One Wanted to Be Near Me."

In addition, Drew Dorian grabbed first place in the "reviews" category with "A Saab Story: One Sweet Swede" while Jason Idalski walked off with top honors in the "columns" category with his column, "Kerry Supporters Not Welcome at Bush Rally."

Bomey won an honorable mention Michigan Press Association award for a series of light-hearted debate articles that appeared in The Saline Reporter. The honorable mention was in the "lifestyle reporting" category in the weekly Class C division. The Saline Reporter while Craig Watson, the Echo's photo editor, took second place in the weekly Class C division with a sports photo in the Chelsea Standard.

ramblings

Different questions I have posed to myself of late


Can the Detroit Lions win a game without the benefit of flags?
In both their wins (home games against Green Bay and Baltimore) their opponent commited a lot of costly penalties, most recently the Ravens having 21 infractions and completely losing their cool this past Sunday in their 35-17 loss to the Lions. Are the Lions paying officials to call insane amount of penalties on the other team. Because certainly their offense isnt gettin the job done without some help. But hey at least they are sitting in first place.



Charles Rogers?
The guy seems to definitely be in need of an attitude adjustment and needs to grow up. His four game suspension for violating the leagues drug policy is ridiculous. Perhaps he should quit worrying about catching dime bags and focus on catching the pigskin when it is thrown to him and actually run his routes.
And with Charles Rogers out other receivers need to be steppin up, but we have Roy Williams injured and Mike Williams sore - it seems like the injury bug always strikes the Lions key players, hindering them that much more (like they needed anything else to hinder their abilities)

Defense
The defensive unit seems to be the key for every successful team that boasts underachieving offense. The defense for the Lions came up huge with Dre Bly having two interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery last week against the Ravens. And the Lions usually get their points off turnovers. Even at the high school level I've seen the same parallel with the Adrian High School football team when their offense doesnt meet up to expectations and commits costly turnovers. Their defense bailed them out with a goal line stand at the end of last weeks contest against Saline, helping them clinch a spot in the state playoffs.



the craziness of fantasy football
Roy Williams going out of the game early killed me in my yahoo league this past week as I lost a game by 1.5 points, putting me at 2-3. Damnit! With him being the main receiver i'm sure he would have pushed me over the hump - but oh well.
In my ESPN leagues I have a team that is 4-1 and my two other teams are 3-2. Definitely not bad starts through the first five games of the season.
Another thing that made me mad this week was Tatum Bell's huge day - I have him on three of my four teams but havent started him b/c Mike Shanahan is so damn shady on which running back he is going to start from week to week - might be some prime trade material.

Recent stories/work stuff
While at work today, I saw a fax come in about the Adrian College women's soccer teams latest game. The fax was its box score from its contest with Calvin College. When looking at the box I saw that Adrian lost 10-0 --- definitely not a surprise. They recently lost a game 12-1 and the one goal they scored - they actually didnt score because it was an own goal by the other team. That is pretty much the kind of team they are and earlier this season they broke a 20 some game losing streak. Anyways when I examined the box I saw that the team got outshot 55-0 for the game. They must have counted everything under the sun as a shot but I doubt that it was a stretch because when I saw them play, they didnt look to good.

These are just various things I've gotten to write about lately - all were pretty good contests with the exception of the tecumseh-lincoln football game.

One of the things I've written about in the past 2 and a half weeks was a basketball game in which I saw a whole bunch of girls sobbing after a regular season loss. Definitely crazy but the Sand Creek-Clinton girls hoops game lived up to its billing. Sand Creek led most the way but Clinton hit some foul shots within the final 30 seconds to take the lead. Sand Creek had a few chances to tie them but their player who had been on all night missed shots when they mattered most. As a journalist, close games like that are definitely what I love to see

Clinton-Lenawee Christian hoops

Tecumseh-Ypsilanti Lincoln football

Hudson-Blissfield hoops

Hudson-Clinton football

time to panic? i say no

I havent written in this thing for about two weeks now so a brief update on whats been going on - --- A whole lot of nothing. Been covering games, doing page design and watching the baseball playoffs (I'm glad the Yankees are out!) and football.

And speaking of football that is what a majority of this entry will be about it - so with that being said is it time to panic for UM fans like myself. I say definitely not. Michigan has three early losses this year, for the first time that I can even remember. People in Ann Arbor definitely aren't used to a .500 team at the midpoint of the season, and appropriately so. Expectations are high at UM year in and year out because of the great tradition of the program and the talented players that don the maize and blue each year.



Unfortunately that is just not enough to get over the hump and win football games. In years past Michigan tends to eke out victories in close football games like their latest loss to Minnesota (23-20) this weekend and their loss to Wisconsin on Sept. 24, but it just hasn't been so this year. They aren't catching breaks and opponents arent bowing down and rolling over for them.

There has definitely been a lot of firsts this season - like the first time in a long time that Michigan has fallen out of the Associated Press poll in addition to the .500 mark midway into the season and Minnesota has possession of the little Brown Jug for the first time since the 1980's (I thought the oldest trophy in college football had a permanent Ann Arbor address). But can Michigan overcome this? Most definitely.



Going back into history- well last year - I recall another team being 3-3 through six games. That being a bitter rival of the Wolverines - the Ohio State Buckeyes. Here is comparing their first six games with Michigan's first six.

2004 Ohio State
- Sept. 4 Ohio St. 27, Cincinnati 6
- Sept. 11 Ohio St. 21, Marshall 21
- Sept. 18 Ohio St. 22, NC State 14
- Oct. 2 Northwestern 33, Ohio St. 27
- Oct. 9 (No. 16) Wisconsin 24, Ohio St. 13
- Oct. 16 Iowa 33, Ohio St. 7

2005 Michigan
- Sept. 3 Michigan 33, Northern Illinois 17
- Sept. 10 (No. 20) Notre Dame 17, Michigan 10
- Sept. 17 Michigan 55, Eastern Michigan 0
- Sept. 24 Wisconsin 23, Michigan 20
- Oct. 1 Michigan 34, (No. 11) Michigan State 31
- Oct. 8 Minnesota 23, Michigan 20

The lone difference is that Michigan had a chance to win each of their contest in the final quarter while obviously Ohio State was blown out against Iowa. Also Michigan didn't get off to an 0-3 start in Big Ten play but1-2 isn't much better off. The Buckeyes overcame their problems and salvaged their season to finish 7-4, their lone setback coming to Purdue 24-17 a week before their matchup with Michigan. They ended their season with a victory over the Wolverines and then a 33-7 victory over Oklahoma State in the Alamo Bowl.

While Michigan is definitely not having a Wolverine type year and another share of the Big Ten title appears out of reach (although the Nittany Lions are the lone unbeaten team in league play), they too can still make a solid season and it starts with topping a surprising Penn State team that is ranked eighth in the nation and has a talented freshman class of receivers and a very mobile quarterback in Michael Robinson. And they definitely are coming to Ann Arbor with a steam of confidence after upsetting Ohio State in Happy Valley last weekend.

But to my surprise Michigan is favored in this game - I woulda never known had a I not read Rosenberg's column in the Free Press today. So I guess this will be a good tell tale sign of how the rest of the season will go for the Wolverines.

home sweet home, UM football and EMU

For the first time since like May I went home this past weekend - usually it takes a pretty special occasion for me to go home which was exactly the case on this latest visit. My friend Renae from EMU was getting married.

The wedding ceremony and reception were cool, but after sitting through it it made me think how weddings are overrated in a sense. Then Crystal quickly reminded me that weddings are for the women anyways not the men. But seriously, you do all this planning for a ceremony that last like 20 minutes (if your not at a ghetto wedding) and then a reception that seems to fly be quickly.



One good thing about this particular wedding was I got a chance to catch up with a couple of people I had known from hanging out with Renae during the summers and a few of our mutual friends from the good ol days at EMU. It was very good to see both Rachel and Kristi and it had been some time since I had last seen them.

And its interesting to see how people have moved on from their college heartbreaks. Kristi was dating my boy Zack, who i lived with for two of my four years at EMU. They had dated for the longest of time but she has since moved on and seems really happy. Same case with Rachel, who had a new man and finally seemed to had been real happy after a good relationship turned wrong in college.

Anyways enough of this kind of talk

Moving on, I'm still saddened by how bleak Michigan's football season looks. After losing to Wisconsin on Saturday, it looks like their can be a long road ahead. This is the first time since 1998 that they aren't ranked in the AP top-25 poll and if they were lose to MSU this weekend it would be the first time since I can remember that they were under .500 during the season. I hope to not see that day.

On the other hand, the inner state rival, Michigan State is having a Michigan-like season. I don't know what has gotten into them but I know three of their wins have been easy. While they are playing like a team that should be ranked in the top-15, they also have beat up on Hawaii, perennial Big Ten doormat Illinois, and a Mid-American Conference team in Kent State. And let us not forget that you blew a 21-point lead to Notre Dame and then were lucky enough to win the game in overtime. And if i recall last year, you blew a lead to Michigan as well. So Spartan fans hold up before you get too excited.

Facing Michigan and Ohio State back-to-back will show us what you are really made of. But until then don't jump ahead of yourself. I've heard too many MSU fans out bragging of late, but I guess this is the first time in awhile they've had something good to talk about when it concerns football and having the upperhand on Michigan.

Even with all that, I'm still saying Go Blue this weekend and I think they will win. Besides its not too often that Michigan loses back-to-back games and MSU could be in BIG trouble playing the Wolverines after a heart breaking loss.

Also gotta root for EMU in their homecoming game against Kent State on Saturday. Its weird not being up there for Homecoming. Here is hopes that they dont lose on Homecoming which they have done the past two years to Western Michigan in '03 and Idaho in '04.

Funny comics from the CM-Life

Came across these funny comics from the CM-Life, Central Michigans school newspaper. I work with a couple of former writers for the paper and they told me about these comics they have done in light of the football players going to jail in connection with the death of a man at a bar in Mount Pleasant.

Here are the comics done by Evan T. Shaner. Pretty creative.

football rambling

Well this weekend ended on a sour note as it looks like I'll more than likely lose all my fantasy football games this week but also having to see the Lions get whipped in Chicago yesterday was just ridiculous. I saw myself flashing back to the ugly preseason game that was at Ford Field against the Rams.

Everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong for the Lions. And based on my discussions with Nate and Mr. Scott Mcneish, it is very feasible that the NFC North winner could very well be 8-8 or 7-9. It would almost equate to baseball's pitiful National League West Division. Even Minnesota, who was supposed to be the front runner in the division, is 0-2 after getting whipped by Cincinnati (WHODEY). Then Green Bay is 0-2 and Detroit and Chicago are tied for the division lead with 1-1 records.

Speaking of whippings, Eastern absolutely got demolished by UM - just as I expected. But I thought at least the Eagles would be able to move the ball or score some points. I was very disapointed that they weren't able to get on the board, even against Michigan's scrubs. I hope they come ready to play in their MAC opener against CMU this weekend.



I guess at least EMU got paid $400,000 to travel seven miles for an ass beating. And hey maybe they can say they are the team that got Michigan back on track. I'm hoping for a better showing from Eastern when it plays Michigan again in 2007.

And to bring it to high school football for a minute, I got a chance to see Adrian play again and I think they are pretty legit. Minus a few stupid special teams penalties they dominated Chelsea. They are two wins away from reachin the playoffs but have a tough game on the road at Pioneer this week. But the thing they have going for them is a great defense, which is a big part why they are the No. 2 ranked team in Division 3.

As far as fantasy football is concerned I was surprised by a lot of performances this week like Daunte Culpepper throwing five interceptions. It seems like him and Joey Harrington are on the same level.



Also i'm surprised Kevin Jones hasnt been able to run the ball that well in the first two games. Just as dismal as his performance has been, on the other hand Pittsburgh's Willie Parker has had a couple of good games. And former UM receiver Braylon Edwards had more than 100 yards receiving in his second game in the NFL. Hopefully he wont be a bust like the most recent UM receiver that was a top-10 draft pick - David Terrell.

A good start

With this past weekend being kickoff to the NFL football season, it also meant the first week of fantasy football and my teams got off to a perfect spots as I won my opening games in each of my three leagues that competition has started in.

Peyton Manning helped kick ass for me with two of my teams - man I love that guy.

And it was also nice that the Lions opened up with a victory over the Green Bay Packers.
Here is a funny photo from that game



The only mellow point to my weekend football wise was seeing Michigan choke against Notre Dame. In all though, it was just a bad week for the Big Ten with Iowa falling to Iowa State and Ohio State losing to Texas. At least EMU and Toledo won though. I'm lookin more and more forward to this weekend with my two favorite teams playing - EMU (my alma mater) and Michigan (my favorite team since I can remember)

Now that the NFL has began playing, I get three straight days of football which is very appeasing to me. Friday is high school football and I've covered three solid games this season. Most recently a good game between Blissfield and Hudson last Friday. And this Friday I hope to see much of the same when I get to see Adrian place Chelsea, which is a football power house.

Outside of that I've covered some other very interesting things in the past week. Last Thursday I covered the Adrian-Tecumseh swim meet --- not to be mean or anything but there were some pretty big girls on one of the swim teams and it surprised me that those girls were even on the varsity team because they were the slowest in the pool. I remember when I arrived to the meet, the photographer immediately pointed them out to me.

Tuesday I covered a basketball game at Adrian High School between them and St. Mary Catholic Central. I saw Adrian's star Kelly Kohn set the school record for points in a game with 38 and she also grabbed 19 boards. And the basketball game was a pretty close contest too which is surprising for a matchup of a Class A school and a Class C or D school.

Also during the JV game between the schools an argument broke out between the SMCC coaches, an SMCC fan and the scorekeeper because the game was stopped a minute into the fourth quarter because a few players from SMCC had not checked in to the scorekeeper at the change of the quarter, like your supposed to. The scorekeeper didn't notice it until then and brought it up to the officials and they gave SMCC a technical. The SMCC coach got mad and thought they shouldnt bring it up a minute after the fact. The scorekeeper was telling the SMCC coach she was just doin her job when a snotty SMCC fan yelled at the scorekeeper and told her to not talk to their coaches. I thought the scorekeeper and this lady were gonna duke it out for awhile because they kept arguing with each other when finally the scorekeeper was like I dont have to talk to you, your a spectator.

So that was crazy. Lastly today I was at a women's college soccer match and I think Adrian has to be the worst college soccer team I've ever seen. I didn't realize before I went to the match that they were coming off back-to-back one win seasons, but I realized today why. They ended up gettin defeated by Calvin College 7-0 and looked pretty awful the whole game. The team has lost 22 straight games dating back to last season and has been shutout in four of their five contests this year.

During the game i was sitting nearby a girl and her mom and heard them talking about the game and what Adrian was doing wrong. Little did I know the girl was a recruit and the coach told me it was his prized recruit that he was hoping to reel in. After seeing them get beat that bad I doubt that recruit will want to attend Adrian College.

So enough about those ramblings. On a side note its been good to catch up with all the EMU people and a few others who I havent talked to in awhile.

whats goin on with the Tigers

The Tigers can't even buy a victory is what it seems like of late. They either get decent pitching and don't hit, or hit and get crappy pitching. Or they can do both and get routed. Of late their has been nothing to cheer about and a team that I thought would fare better than last year's team looks to be heading toward the same kind of finish.



Not to long ago there was a stretch where the Tigers had played good ball and had gotten back in to the wild card chase with a string of winning baseball. But since that stretch things have gone south. Its usually at the end of the year that you want to be playing your best ball, but the Tigers are at a season worst 12 games below .500. Now it could be worse and Detroit could be like the lowly Kansas City Royals. But the Tigers had a season similar to K.C.'s not to long a go when they almost set the American League record for losses in a season.

Its too often in Detroit that you have to look towards next season for hope of breaking the stretch of under achieving baseball. The Tigers haven't finished above .500 since I was in freakin fifth grade - its been a good 12 years.

Magglio Ordonez, the Tigers big free agent acquisition this past offseason, even came out and stated that the team stinks in an article in today's Detroit Free Press.

The Tigers, and for quite some time now, cant seem to have players who stay healthy for an entire season to aid their cause. You have Carlos Guillen, who seemed to have never fully recovered from the injury that cut his 2004 season short. Then their is Ordonez who missed half the entire first half of the season because of injury.

The pitching seems to have run out of gas, in particular Sean Douglass and Jason Johnson. Jeremy Bonderman looks like he hasn't recovered since gettin hit a few starts back and is having elbow problems which are forcing him to miss his next start.

Usually when a team falters like the Tigers have of late, blame is turned to the manager. Obviously something isn't right - it might not necessarily be Trammell but something needs to be done differently because what the Tigers have right now isn't working. Which makes it interesting that the Detroit News had an article about Jim Leyland, who had a lot of success as a manager in professional baseball and is looking to get a job as a coach again.

Should Trammell be let go at the end of the season he might be the perfect candidate, especially since he actually has a track record of having success as a manager.



So I'm done with my venting about how the Detroit has yet again under performed, but here is hopes that next year the Tigers and fans won't have to look toward September as being a month to gauge what kind of team/talent you will have next year. Lets hope next year we can be in the thick of a wild card race, which shouldn't be too much to ask - accept it is when your in Detroit.

---------------------------------

Here is a Michael Rosenberg column about the Tigs. A funny line from his column:

"Pudge Rodriguez can fly to Columbia but can't drive anybody home"

- in reference to Pudge's low RBI total

thoughts

First to address a few things from my college football post

Nate - Considering I almost went to UM but changed my mind at the last second, I'm a diehard Michigan fan at best. I would love nothing more but to see EMU put on a good showing against them but realistically I want Michigan to win. Although when I play that game in my video game (NCAA Football 2006) I will play as EMU. Weird but I'll hope for a good game.

Corey - Heck yea I got to see some of the Ohio State game. Luckily down here I get the ABC Toledo channel so I get to catch those games. I just saw your post about not minding Michigan which is pretty respectable. We need more Ohio State fans like you.

Anyways as to what else is up. All my peeps from EMU are back at schoool. Man i miss being up there right about now, but I also feel that I have moved on to better things. Its been good to see some of my pals though, like Cynthia when she stopped here last Friday on her way back to campus from Cincy. I also got to see Laina and Miss Casey Copeman as well so thats been great.

I definitely dont miss the homework or the walks across campus, especially how hot it was today. I do miss the student paper - its the only place where you can get the best experience and afford to make silly mistakes and not pay too severe consequences for it - most of the time.

Tonight i filled in for as a sub in a bowling league and bowled like shit - haha. A 111, 120 and 128. Pretty shitty but at least as a consolation I didn't lose any of the games to Crystal. Even the last game, which we tied, I hit 9 pins in the last frame to ensure that she wouldn't beat me. I also never realized how much it bothered me when people bowl SLOW. i find it so rude when they take their time and dont pay attention which prolongs the game. I wanted to fall asleep while waiting for our opponents to quit gossiping.

Last night I had to work and covered a soccer game between Adrian College and Siena Heights and do desk work. I also got a chance to hit the Cafe for a few games of volleyball after that. Was pretty cool thats for sho and I thought I played pretty well.

Anyways thats all I got for now. I'm hungry now so I'll write more later

Kanye West

Kanye West is a grown ass man, that is for sure.

Most recently he made the news because of his comments during a national televised airing to benefit those hurt by hurricane Katrina

Here is the associated press story

It began, fittingly enough, with jazz from New Orleans natives Harry Connick Jr. and Wynton Marsalis. But "A Concert for Hurricane Relief," a heartfelt and dignified benefit aired on NBC and other networks last night (Sept. 2), took an unexpected turn thanks to the outspoken rapper Kanye West.

Appearing two-thirds through the program, he claimed "George Bush doesn't care about black people" and said America is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible."
The show, simulcast from New York on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and Pax, was aired live to the East Coast, enabling the Grammy-winning rapper's outburst to go out uncensored. There was a several-second tape delay, but the person in charge "was instructed to listen for a curse word, and didn't realize [West] had gone off-script," said an NBC spokesperson.

West's comment about the president was cut from NBC's West Coast airing, which showed three hours later on tape.

Comedian Mike Myers was paired with West for a 90-second segment that began with Myers speaking of Katrina's devastation. Then, to Myers' evident surprise, West began a rant by saying, "I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food."

While allowing that "the Red Cross is doing everything they can," West declared that government authorities are intentionally dragging their feet on aid to the Gulf Coast. Without getting specific, he added, "They've given them permission to go down and shoot us." After he stated, "George Bush doesn't care about black people," the camera cut away to comedian Chris Tucker.

Concluding the hour a few minutes later, host Matt Lauer noted, "emotions in this country right now are running very high. Sometimes that emotion is translated into inspiration, sometimes into criticism. We've heard some of that tonight. But it's still part of the American way of life." Then the entire ensemble performed "When the Saints Go Marching In."

In a statement, NBC said, "Kanye West departed from the scripted comments that were prepared for him, and his opinions in no way represent the views of the networks.

"It would be most unfortunate," the statement continued, "if the efforts of the artists who participated tonight and the generosity of millions of Americans who are helping those in need are overshadowed by one person's opinion."

During the show, viewers were encouraged to contribute to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund by phone or on the Web. Some 18 presenters performed musical numbers or gave information on the tragedy's huge scope.

Louisiana native Tim McGraw teared up as he told Lauer, "I know the citizens that weren't affected by this directly are gonna stand up and do good things for people." He sang two songs, then became the first of the evening's stars to sign a Gibson Les Paul Special guitar to be auctioned online.

Faith Hill, a Mississippi native, sang "There Will Come a Time," with the inspiring lyrics, "The darkness will be gone, the weak shall be strong. Hold on to your faith." New Orleans son Aaron Neville performed Randy Newman's soulful "Louisiana 1927" with the memorable chorus, "they're trying to wash us away, they're trying to wash us away."

New York governor George Pataki presented the Red Cross with a check for $2.5 million and promised, "This great state will do far more."

Welcome back college football

Oh college football how I missed you. Many schools had their season openers today and it was great flipping through the channels to see college football on. This has to be the thing I love most about fall - weekends of football.

Waking up this morning and being able to flip through a couple of channels and catch Bowling Green playin Wisconsin, Ohio State vs. Miami-OH and a few other games is simply the best. I don't know what it is about the game - whether its fight songs, the school spirit or whatever - college football is just appealing and marks one of my favorite times of the year.



Nothing gets me more than seeing the maize and blue and hearing Hail to the Victors or Lets Go Blue - Going to a UM game is an experience that simply tops it all.

With the return of college football, it also means there were upsets - like Oklahoma getting beat by TCU 17-10. Even my alma mater, Eastern Michigan, almost pulled off an upset on Thursday but fell to Cincinnati 28-26.



Speaking of that, whats goin on with Sherrell not even traveling with the team to Cincy. That is pretty crazy.

Other random stuff:
- I covered a college football Division III game today - well if I can call it a game. It was a romping - Adrian College beat Heidelberg College 61-14.
- The Tecumseh-Adrian football game last night was so one-sided but there was a few plays on the highlight reel for Adrian High senior Oscar Johnson who has a block that laid a Tecumseh player out on a 70-yard punt return for a TD by Ronald Walker. After the play the Tecumseh player was still laying on the field down. Adrian ended up winning 33-0.
- I never knew this but Lloyd Carr was an assistant at EMU back in the day, like in the 1970's. Came as a very surprising thing to me - but a lot of those big time coaches get their start in the MAC, especially at a school like Miami-OH which is like a coaching factory
- Any controversy about the Lions starting quarterback situation should be over now that Jeff Garcia is out 6-8 weeks after getting injured (broke his leg) in the preseason finale last night. The Lions did win though - its about time

How embarassing

New uniforms did the Lions no justice last night.

It was quite embarassing to see them get blown out on national television. To get a gauge of how bad they looked, fans started filing for the exits before the half way point on the third quarter.

Thigns were so bad that when the Lions did get into the end zone the touchdown was called back because of two holding penalties on the same play. Granted the Rams are a good team, but are the Lions that bad??

Michael Rosenberg's column in today's Detroit Free Press simply displays how terrible the team looked and echoes my thoughts on the situation perfectly.

My hopes are now that the first unit will please please score a touchdown sometime in the next preseason game - cuz right now im not even sure if they are capable of reaching the end zone. The only touchdown that the Lions scored last night came in the final minute with all the third stringers in and like no one in the crowd.

Last night just must have not been the night to be a Detroit sports fan. Because while the Lions were being taken to school, the Indians were beating up on the Tigers. The Tigers had a 5-0 entering the bottom half of the first and let Cleveland score 6 runs in that inning to take the lead. When your ace is on the mound (which was the case with Jeremy Bonderman pitching) I'd expect that five runs would be enough. But apparently I was wrong.

Now I'm trying to figure out which is worst right now - the Lions offense or the Tigers pitching

IN OTHER NEWS:
* Right around this time is when I was always gettin prepared for the long days of OTEAM/NSOA training leading up to the four day orienation at EMU which starts on Saturday. I'm glad to not have to go through such long days this year. Sure I might miss it slightly but mainly for the people aspect
* The hurricane's domino effects are hurting my pocket. I wish gas would go down and stay down for awhile.
* The Pistons added former Chicago Bull Ron Harper to their coaching staff
* My feature turned out well - Check it out here Kelly Kohn

i choked

the weekend turned out to be a solid one with the things I covered. Friday night I saw a solid football game between Addison and Onsted, which Addison won 25-14. Pretty competitive the whole night. At least it wasn't like this other game in our county that featured Morenci beating Mt. Zion Academy 85-0 (I'm still trying to figure out how that happened)

Yesterday I was at a soccer tournament at Lenawee Christian that was in memory of Bronson Mansfield, an All-State soccer player at the school who died in a car accident. Pretty solid tournament but Tecumseh ended up whipping Adrian 5-0 to win the title.

Then this weekend I managed to finish my story on Adrian High's star basketball player Kelly Kohn. Funny thing when I was at Adrian High on Friday, I ran into Ronald Walker, one of the players I had to interview for our football preview. The funny thing was that he was there considering twice when I went to the school at interviews he was ALWAYS at the doctor and no where to be found. He came up to me and asked if I was goin to their game and told me that they would beat AA Huron - he was right. Him and his boys made our sports staff look good after we put them on the cover touting their high powered offense. He had like 130 yards receiving and three TD's, the running back Marqone Russell ran for 182 yards and the star quarterback Steve Threet threw for 180.

Other than that I got a chance to hit the bowling alley this weekend to avenge my shitty performance a couple weeks ago against crystal. It turned out to get into a pretty heated battle. She manhandled me the first game b/c i bowled like shit - She had a 113 and I had 95. I came back in the second game and finally started to compete beating her 137-126. We decided to go for the winner takes all match and thats where it got heated. She marked in every frame but the final two but we pretty much had matched each other through the first six. I didnt mark in four frames (the first, fifth, ninth and tenth) but bowled several strikes including a turkey.

I even had a chance to catch her at the end but choked and did shitty. Man I should concentrate more. anyways i lost 179-161. oh well ill get he next time

Busy work schedule begins

Its been some very busy times with me of late. With school starting means the return of high school sports and the laid back schedule of working in the summer is changing to fast pace. The last week I've been kept pretty busy with NASCAR (all last weekend) and working on our high school football section all this week. It comes out today so I'll finally get to see how our finished product turned out.

The busy times continue today with the kickoff of HS football. I'll be covering Addison vs. Onsted, one of the better games going on between Lenawee County teams tonight. Before that I have to interview Adrian High school's standout basketball player for our preview on the girl's basketball season which starts on Tuesday.

College football picks up for most teams next week. I'm definitely pumped about that and looking forward to seeing how EMU will stack up.

Other than work, not too much has been going on recently. I really don't remember what I've been up to in the past week other than my Dad visiting me last Thursday and Crystal and I have hung out every day whenever I haven't been busy with work and shes not had class or homework to do.

Oh and the other thing was they finally put my picture up on this website from a few weeks back after I rode in a two seat IndyCar. Check it out

It's pretty cool. My mom like sent it to all her friends for some crazy reason, but whatever.

Anyways here is the NASCAR stories from last weekend. I'm glad to be done with doing that kind of stuff for awhile. It wouldn't be so bad but race traffic kills me because theres so many damn people at MIS for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup races that it takes forever to get home from it, no matter where your going. Oh well though, I guess that is part of being at a big event that is in the middle of nowhere.

And one more funny thing bout my time at MIS. During the middle of the race I went down to the media center just to sit down and watch the race from a TV and I heard this guy from some TV station talkin on the phone and naming football players - then I finally came to realize that he was doing his fantasy football draft over a phone and having somebody draft players for him. Thought it was rather hilarious when he kept shouting I said Janikowski in reference to kicker Sebastian Janikowski.

Steve Wallace wins ARCA
Nemechek wins GFS pole
Newman wins Busch race
Mayfield wins GFS 400


Oh and it was nice to see the Tigers show some life in August and pop off five straight wins and ride Carlos Pena's bat. They got back up there within the wild card contenders but then proceeded to drop the next 2 games with Oakland- argh

Streak!

You never know what you will see at a baseball game

Streakers at Comerica Park

Detroit News story

Free Press story

Harrington vs. Garcia

Well so much has been made of this quarterback controversy in Detroit between Joey Harrington and Jeff Garcia, with a majority of people ready to see Garcia take over the reigns immediately.



However I think differently and for more reasons than being a fan of Harrington. Sure he has not produced up to standards yet but he has had a lot of things going against him. Keep in mind last season he got the Lions off to a solid 4-2 start before they kind of fell off. But look at what he had going against him:

Roy Williams being not at full strength
Charles Rogers hurt again
A bad case of wide receivers with dropped ball syndrome (Az Hakim, Tai Streets and anyone else)

In most of his seasons he has had receivers prone to drop the ball like Bill Schroeder which doesn't help. People say he isn't accurate enough, but if a receiver can get their hand on the ball they should be able to pull it in.
Hopefully he will finally be able to use his full compliment of receivers of Charles Rogers can finally string together a healthy season in the NFL. Having him out I believe has hurt Harrington considering he is a first round pick that was expected to do big things.

This year hopefully things will come together for Harrington and I see no reason to play Garcia over him. Lets see what Harrington can do with solid compliments in his offense. He has a legit tight end in Marcus Pollard who has played with the best in Peyton Manning. He has a legit rushing attack to help him in Kevin Jones, who should be one of the NFL's top backs this year, anad he looks to have a solid core of receivers in Rogers, Roy Williams, Mike Williams and Kevin Johnson. Let's hope they can stay healthy because thay will be an important key to Harrington having success.

Also if you look at the numbers from last season, Harrington has a leg up on Garcia and had improved numbers from his previous seasons in the NFL.

Harrington

Comp/Att - 274/489
Comp % - 56
Yards - 3,047
TD - 19
INT - 12
2004 record as starter - 6-10

Garcia

Comp/Att - 144/252
Comp % - 57.1
Yards - 1,731
TD - 10
INT - 9
2004 record as starter - 3-7

Granted Garcia split time with two other quarterbacks look at the touchdown to interception ratio. Some might argue that Garcia is better acquainted with the West coast offense thanks to his days in San Francisco under coach Steve Mariucci. While it is a plus I still don't think it is reason enough to play him over Harrington. I'd go with Harrington for one last chance - this will be his third year in the offense and the first year with a real compliment of talent. If he can't get it done this year, then you start trying to find a viable replacement, which I dont think is Garcia.

LINK
Det News article about Harrington's meeting w/ Terry Bradshaw, who also faced the same problems as Harrington has early in his career.

bowling - blah

Now I know that I can never EVER take so much time off from bowling again. After not having bowled since some time in June I made my return to the alley and threw like shit.

I went out with C Money (aka Crystal) to this alley called Ten Pin Lanes out in Tecumseh. It was my first time there and Crystal had been there once before back in the day and she killed me. She got me 132-117 the first game and 122-91 the second game. I had never had such a crappy game like I had that second game where I didnt even mark until the eighth frame.
This leads me to believe I hate the Tecumseh alley, although it was nicer than the other place I'd been in the area.

It was pretty cool because after your roll is completed it tells you the speed of your ball. I'c never been to a place like that before.

After bowling we jsut went back and chilled with Bobby and Rob and watched the Bonnaroo DVD until I started to get tired from my late night on Tues night and hit the bed.

Busy

This has to be one of the best times of year with everyone beginning to play football again. I love football season but with that being said that also means I will start being real busy with constant coverage of high school stuff. I say bring it!

With Monday being the first day schools could hold football practice, I found myself out at Onsted High School seeing some of their practice and doing the generic story that every paper does announcing that the guys are back on the field. Besides going to Onsted, I called a couple of the coaches from the top programs in the county to do a little first glance at the teams.

Yesterday I ended up running into Jeff Arnold, who covers EMU football for the Ann Arbor News at Michigan International Speedway and asked him his thoughts about what the Esgles for the season, about the freshman and the mystery of Tyler Griffin. Griffin was the defensive newcomer of the year last year and shortly following his stabbing and spring practices he was no longer on the team's roster.

Anyways, I was out at MIS to cover Paul Tracy who is going to be attempting to run a race in the NASCAR circuit after racing in open wheel series the past 11 years. Quite interesting.
After doing all that and doing a story I got a chance to meet up with Laina Shuey for dinner to discuss some crap and her adventures in DC.

Then after that I got a call from Casey Frazee who I go way back with at EMU. We worked at AVP together for a bit, had a fun memory from the Tigers excursion sophomore year and from PR class. Anyways I caught up with her adn she invited me to our PR professor (Lolita Hendrix) house for a cookout on Aug 21. Unfortunately I can't go because of NASCAR but its pretty tight the PR gang is getting together with Lolita. That lady loved our class when we had had in Fall 2003 semester, and everyone in the class seemed to click well.

I capped the day by having a real random evening that started with sand volleyball, which looks as if it will become a weekly tradition. Had most of the same group out again with Crystal, Bobby, Rob, Ryan, Dayna and a few others. Fun times. After the place shut down at 2 am we wll made a run for the border (aka Taco Bell) and ate our food in the parking lot and then kind of split off and I went to watch Guess Who with Crystal, Bobbby, another kid named Rob and his wife Jaime. It was a real late nite and I didn't get in until 5, which is the time I have to go to work on Friday AM. So I need to catch up on my sleep fast!

The other crazy thing about yesterday deals with office politics at the paper and seeing a good journalist being let go from the paper. A blog is becoming more and more of a dangerous place to discuss work-related things so I will leave it at that for the time being.

women's golf

The other day golfer Morgan Pressel made a remark in regards to Michelle Wie and how the young phenom should in essence quit trying to mix between the mens and womens events and just golf with women to help boost the sport and bring in more revenue, media coveragae and endorsements and things like that. She pretty much thinks Wie can do to the LPGA what Danica is doing to the IRL (in a different sense) by bringing a lot of attention.

Which kind of brings up interesting points because seeing some of the LPGA British Open, women's golf has a lot of bright stars and attractive people they could market that aren't being recognized. Take for instance Paula Creamer, who is in a sense a rival to Wie. Creamer is just 18 and from California and did decent at the British Open, and recently won the Evian Masters




Paula Creamer, Wie, Morgan Pressel

In addition you have fairly young golfers in Annika Sorenstam (34) and Christie Kerr (27) and women's golf could be in the limelight for a long time to come with a good mix of stars, with Wie kind of serving as a Tiger Woods to open the flood gates because she is a young stud.

So should Wie continue to compete with the men? She is obviously good enough to compete with a lot of them but should stick with the women's tournament for now. The girl is still 16. Nothing against her competing with men because she has proven she can hold her own, but Pressel has a point in what she can do for the women's game. After she helps them get established then she can do what Sorenstam has done.

life at the little league ball park

One of the most experiences I've had since I've been working was tonight when I was sent to cover an 11-year old state championship all star game in Tecumseh. It was quite funny because Wasinger was there shooting photos and upon arriving there he found me in the press box to find out what color was the team wearing that we cared about and I told him and then he whispered to me "well we really dont care about either team" and I quietly laughed.

Thats been one of the interesting points this summer. The former sports editor loves covering all these little league events whereas Sean mainly wants championship games for it only as opposed to having us cover all those games. And most of the writers prefer to not cover little league anyways.

But seeing today's state championship game was nuts and made me imagine what if press was out covering games like this when I was growing up to see some of the crazy embarrasing things that goes in little league sports. Like in the game I was at this girl was pitching and wasn't doing well and her team was already gettin blown out. Well when her coach went to pull her out the game she started crying on the mound and had to be consoled by the catcher and the first baseman. Then when she got moved to left field she was still crying and a coach ran out and talked to her.

Besides that you had a catcher on this South Portage team that couldnt keep her mask on if her life depended on her and it seemed like she had to readjust her glasses after every pitch.

What kinda makes the job more frustrating for someone covering this is this girl from Tecumseh pitched a one-hitter in the four innings the game went on (ended because of the mercry rule with Tecumseh taking a 15-1 victory) didn't even know what to say when i asked her questions about her performance but it was good and her dad(who coached the team) was pretty much standing there telling her what to say.

Needless to say she didn't get quoted in the paper. I know that this happens in the older ranks where you have hard times getting things out of people but thats just one reason why its harder to cover little league stuff. Its a totally different atmosphere and a different level of maturity with the kids.

Needless to say Wasinger and I had an interesting time at the ball park today

In other news:
Hung out with Crystal, Trisha, Bobby and Rob last nite for a bit and made a late night trip to Wally World (Wal Mart) with them which was fun and rather interesting. Everytime I've hung with those people I always have a funny story to tell out of it. but one thing that was pretty cool was I got to play Tecmo Super Bowl for nintendo when I was over there. Its VERY hard gettin used to the limited controls on the nintendo when your used to playing on a PS2 all the time.
In Tecmo Bowl I beat Bobby pretty bad. He took my team (the Lions) which I always used when I played taht game b/c I let Barry Sanders run like crazy. so what I did was I picked Buffalo, remembering that they had Thurman Thomas back in the day. And i beat him pretty bad (like 31-7) and rushed for 200 yds on 20 carries and three TD's with Thurman and held Barry to 15 yards on 15 carries.
That game is seriously one of the things I miss most about nintendo... It was a classic one

sand volleyball at the Cafe

For the first time since I've really been down in Adrian, I've found myself immersed in the culture. Last night I headed up to the LA Cafe, meeting up with this girl Crystal I met last week. I guess they typically go and play volleyball on Tuesday night so I was able to join the fun and had a blast. My team of 4' s even won the mini tournament that we had. But it was a cool night of playin volleyball from 10:30 - 2 am and enjoying 50 cent drafts and meeting some new people like Crystals cousin Trish and her husband Bobby and several others who were out playing volleyball

I hadn't played in awhile so it was tight to get back in the swing of things - even if I came home sandy like crazy. Met this girl Dana from Tecumseh who was an interesting character. Pretty cool gal but she was tellin me she got kicked out of college for walking down her hallway naked with alcohol in her hand. And i guess her school had a dry campus too. Found it interesting but she was on my team most of the nite when we were tearing it up

Then a crazy black dude named Quinton was drunk as fuck tryin to play volleyball. He had a classic shirt that said "It's not easy being easy" - I was like nice buddy. But he was talking about how living in the Bronx was so cheap when he had to be corrected by Crystal and her cousin because they are all from Syracuse and know the lifestyle of NY. Crazy times fo sho

Now if I could only completely get all the sand off me

Weekend at the races

This weekend I spent at the superspeedway known as MIS. It began Friday with media day which was at Victory Lane Speedway in Brooklyn where I had an opportunity to talk with Buddy Rice, Sam Hornish Jr. and Tomas Scheckter. Then from there I headed over to MIS for the Indy Racing Experience

Boy was this the experience of a lifetime. I ended up suiting up in racing gear (fire suit and boots, helmet and all the get go) and riding in a two-seat IndyCar. I was kinda nervous about it after signing all the paperwork before hoping in - I felt like I was signing my life away, but after doing it it was simply amazing. Kinda scary flying in one of those cars at speeds of 170 miles per hour around the turns at MIS. You definitely could feel the g-forces. Out of my experience I was able to come up with a column.
Fox Sports Detroit reporter Ryan Field was there and was doin a little segment on his experience on it for FSD nightly show. He asked me how it was when I saw him in the dressing area shortly after I finished and I told him he'd like it.
After being in that car though I definitely got a first hand appreciation for what drivers do.

Saturday was qualifying for the race and that was pretty cool and exciting. Nice to see Danica Patrick drive for the first time in person too. And after the press conference for the pole-sitter and runner-up, they had a special half hour conference with Danica, who qualified eighth for the Firestone Indy 400. Ended up gettin a story out of that.

Yesterday was the race which ended in an exciting way with Bryan Herta, who won the pole, taking the checkered flag. It was kinda disapointing that 10 drivers didnt finish the race for various reasons (accident, mechanical problems) and Danica was one of them. all in all an awesome weekend at MIS and with the Indy Racing League.

I cant figure out which one is better, NASCAR or IRL. But after talkin to A i think IRL takes it. especially because there was less traffic when leaving the track than at a NASCAR event.

In other things:
- hung out with my landlord and her sister for a bit on Friday night - very interesting experience
- my mom seems to be recovering fine from her surgery she had on thursday
- was sad to see Farnsworth dealt by the Tigs yesterday but knowing he was going to test free agency made me feel better bout it
- been playing a lot of Tiger Woods golf/NASCAR lately on the PS2 when i've had time- not sure how I got onto those kicks
- my summer camp story ran yesterday
- Lastly an interesting quote that was in SI that Milwaukee Bucks guard Michael Redd said after signing a 90-million dollar contract :

"To me, I'm the same person I was five years ago when I was making $700,000."

figured u'd like that one Nate, being a Bucks fan

a visit w/ Art, work stuff and Danica

An interesting day today. Began bright and early at 5 am with me gettin my first run at pages. Typically theres only three pages to design in the AM but today there were five. Just my damn luck. So after completing the pages and proofing them it was time to work on my big story which is 80 inches long - crazy shit.

Sean and I went through it and then I left for a bit and came back in the office at 1:30 ish to talk to James about the story and he hadn't read it completely but marked it up pretty well when he was done with it so its back to the drawing board on that one.

Art came down today which was pretty awesome - got to have lunch with the prof and his wife at one of my new favorite establishments - Garfields which is located in the lovely Adrian mall. Good times for sure and it was kind of cool showing Art my work and stuff like that and gettin his feedback, just like the good ol days.

While I've been talkin about work, I swear these parents of these little league kids are freakin nuts. While in the office yesterday I got a call from some guy bitchin bout why we dont have a reporter covering little league and the championship game for the 11 year olds in midland and the coach complaining b/c no one got his results when he phoned it in to the wrong number and a couple of parents calling right after i got off the phone with him. Like clearly I didn't think your calls were staged. Then I'm in at 6 am and another parents is being an ass and calls. I mean seriously 6 am - take your ass to work or go back to bed. Why bitch that early in the AM.

Then today this guy I always saw when I covered Blissfield games comes in and is like hey buddy and drops off a damn picture with his second place little league team that went 5-1 in this tourney. He had called earlier bitchin at us to put something in. I swear these people think were some kind of yearbook or something. They are driving me nuts!

Ok done with that rant.
Other things newsworthy today
-Tigers at .500 (50-50)
- my other team the Nats keeps on slippin and blew Livans lead - damn bullpen (right J)
- The Freep had a big story on Danica today and Art told me the News should have one tomorrow
(Free Press Danica story)

Danica Patrick - what a hottie


And I got an email from this guy at MIS not too long ago and me and my boss Sean might get to ride in these passenger cars designed to imitate IRL cars around the speedway on Friday. Freakin sweet.

if the glove don't fit you must acquit

Haha - most people know my thoughts about O.J. Simpson and the whole dealings with Nicole Brown and such because it was something that came up in many random convos at the Echo when we all should have been working on stuff for the next edition of the paper or on pizza Thursday nights.



So even though OJ is a free man, he found himself back in the news again about a decade after he first bursted on the scene for something other than being a star running back and being a spokesman for Hertz (I believe). A decade after the famous white bronco chase I remember watching as an 11-year old

Today OJ was fined for stealing DirecTV programs basically. How ghetto is what I have to say to that. His boy Johnnie Cochran wont/and cant help him get out of this one (RIP).

OJ Simpson story

How Ghetto Are you?

I saw this on my myspace and found it interesting so check it out and do it


Ghetto Test

If the statement is true add the points in parenthesis to your score.
Scoring is given at the bottom of the test. Post you're answer at the bottom.

1. You've ever used an album cover or old envelope for a dustpan. (5 points)
2. You've ever put foil on your TV antennas to get better reception. (8 points)
3. You've ever had to use pliers to turn your TV on. (7points)
4. You had to come in the house when the street lights came on. (6 points)
5. You had a candy lady in your neighborhood. (5 + 5 extra points if your house was the candy lady)
6. If you can count more than five police cars in your neighborhood on a daily basis. (3 points)
7. If you ever had to pick your own switch or belt. (3 points for each)
8. If you've ever been beaten with an extension cord. (15 points)
9. If you have ever had to walk to or home from school. (2 points)
10. If you've ever passed someone a note asking "Do you like me?" or "Can I have a chance?" check _yes, _no or _maybe. (7 points)
11. If you have ever used dish washing liquid for bubble bath. (9points)
12. If you have ever mixed up some Kool-Aid and the found that you didn't have any sugar. (4 points & add 4 if you put the pitcher in the refrigerator until you got some sugar)
13. If you have ever played any of the following games. (2 points each): (hide and go seek, freeze tag, captain or momma may I?, or red light..yellow light..green light 123!)
14. If your neighborhood had an ice cream man. (2 points + 2 if he rang a bell + 5 if he played R&B)
15. If you remember any of the following candies. (1 point each): cherry clans, lemon heads, Alexander the grape, ring pops, Chico sticks, baked beans, candy cigarettes, powder packs with the white dip stick, big league chew, "Wine" Candy (jolly ranchers), jaw breakers, and candy necklaces.
16. If you refer to Now and Laters candies as "Nighladers". (6 points)
17. If you've ever ran from the police on foot. (5 points + 5 if you got away)
18. If you remember underoos or the Wonder Woman bra and panty set. (6 points + 4 if you owned some)
19. If you've ever had reusable grease in a container on your stove. (5 points)
20. The batteries in your remote control are held in by a piece of tape. (5 points)
21. If you've ever used any of the following for drinking glasses. (3 points each): jelly jars, mayonnaise jars, mason jars, or peanut butter jars.
22. You've ever covered your furniture in plastic. (2 points)
23. The heels of your feet have ever looked like you had been kicking flour. (1point)
24. If you have ever worn any of the following fragrances. (1 point each): Brute, Hai Karate, Jean Nate, Old Spice, Chloe, English Leather, Stetson, Charlie, or Faberge'.
25. You've ever used Tussy. (9 points)
26. You've never been to the dentist. (10 points + 10 if you've never been to the doctor.)
27. You've ever wore clothes with the tag still on them. (4 points)
28. If you're acquainted with someone with a name as follows. (3 points): Kay-Kay, Lee-Lee, Ree-Ree, Ray-Ray, etc.
29. You have ever paged yourself for any reason. (3 points)
30. You've ever worn house shoes outside of the house. (2 points)
31. You add "ED" or "T" to the end of words already in the past tense (for example, Tooked, Light-Skinneded, kilt, ruint, etc). (3 points)
32. You pronounce words like this (1 point for each example you can think of skrimps or strimps, skreet, axe (ask), member (remember), frigerator, etc.
33. You use nem' to describe a certain group of people (for example Craig and nem' or momma and nem'). (6 points)
34. You've ever had a crack across your windshield and never bothered to get it fixed. (3 points)
35. You've ever driven on a donut more than 2 weeks after your flat. (4 points)
36. You've ever asked a perfect stranger to take a picture with you and told your friends it was someone you dated. (3 points)
37. Your child drops his/her pacifier and you sanitize it by sucking it. (7 points)
38. If you've ever ran a race barefoot in the middle of the street at approximately 11 at night. (10 points)
39. You've ever left a social gathering with a plate. (1 point)
40. You leave a restaurant with silverware, sugar, and/or jelly. (8 points)
41. You think "red" is a flavor of Kool-Aid. (4 points)
42. You can't hold a glass because of the length of your nails. (3 points)
43. The gold teeth in your mouth spell words. (8 points)
44. You don't have your own place but your child has a leather coat and a pair of Jordan's. (5 points)
45. If you've ever had to get to the driver's side of the car through the passenger side door. (8 points)
46. You have ever slept in a chair to avoid messing up your hair. (7 points)
47. You constantly hit *69 and ask, "Did you just call here?" (10 points)
48. You won't answer the phone if you don't recognize the number on the caller id box. (7 points)
49. You know a child who can't speak, but can do the "bank-head bounce." (15 points)
50. You think Tupac is still alive. (20 points)

Scoring
0 - 30 - You have enjoyed a nice sheltered life in the suburbs.
31 - 60 - Hood movies have given you a little exposure.
61 - 100 - You may have visited the hood a few times or on weekends.
101 - 130 - You probably spent a few years in the hood, and moved to the suburbs.
131 - 160 - You're the genuine article. You are no stranger to hood life.
161 - 200 - You are definitely, without a doubt an expert on life in the hood.
201+ - Congratulations! You are Ghetto Fabulous!


Jhess-- 97, guess I'm not all that ghetto!
Josie--124. What Jhess? We grew up in the same neighborhood! I have a higher score than you AND I'm white! haha
Cynthia-- 108, LOL...WOW...Guess the Nati is pretty ghetto!
Brian - 100 - how the hell is Cynthia more ghetto than me

controversial story

So of late I've been working on my big long story about summer camps but they funny thing is that a story I had in Sunday's paper keeps coming up and it seems to be a little controversial.

Check this out - Legion baseball story

I've interviewed five people for my story that mentioned this story and asked if the reason I was doing it was because of this, which totally wasnt the reason. I was assigned to do it before this event happened but luckily this thing came a long which can help add to my story.

Anyways yesterday got a chance to catch up w/ Robers after her weekend at home and we met at Applebees in Dundee for lunch/dinner. That was pretty fun and I enjoyed a nice little car ride listening to the Tigs beat the Twins. Its nice to see the boys in the hunt for the wild card - only four games out with the trade deadline fast approaching. This week will definitely be a big one

And it will be busy for me as well. Tomorrow I'm going to some MHSAA luncheon and then other than working on my story. Wednesday morning i'll be doing pages and then I'll be at MIS the entire weekend it looks like. Man will it be crazy but I hope its not so hot!

what a game

Last night I lucked out and caught another great Tigers game, watching them romp to a 12-6 victory over the Twins as they had a season-high 18 hits. Craig Monroe was the freakin man going 5-for-5 with 6 RBIs. Not a bad day at the ball park. And it was a pretty fun game. It was nice to see Curtis Granderson (one of my fave up and coming Tigs) called up and having a solid day (2-for-4) in his season debut.



Ended up checking it out with Jen Dick, her friend Krysta and Katie. It was kinda last minute that we decided to go but it was definitely a fun time. Saw Eddie Davis working the entrance gates and then got to holla at my boy Scott Biggar who I caught at the game again with his girlfriend Karen and her dad and sister. It was pretyt cool and I actually met up with him before the post-game firework display at Comerica.

Leaving the game was another random experience. As we were waiting for traffic to move again this guy in a white SUV rowed down his window to blare his music and was like yeah that guy likes my music pointing at me. He then proceeds and gets out of his car to give me some fist, so we pounded our fist together and he got back in his car. They moved farther along in traffic and when we caught up to them again he was like where you from - i told him just outside of benton harbor - he was so drunk he had no clue so I was like by lake michigan. He responded sweet and said hope to see you at more Tigers games dude and I was like fo sho and he said for sure.

We passed them along in traffic and they caught up to us and he was like you guys go to EMU and I said yea and asked if we knew someone and I was like no but is she hot. He waved his hands to say shes alight but I wouldn't tap that. That pretty much resulted in the end of our convo but it was definitely pretty random.

When I got back into Adrian last night I went to Rallys which is becoming like my Friday night ritual. Every time I get off work I'm always there at 1 am on a Friday night.

This morning I went to cover a legion baseball game but the team that was playing the Adrian/Blissfield posts had to forfeit because they only had seven players because some of the team was missing to participate in various football camps. Kind of a shame since it was a district championship game. What can you do? Still turned in a interesting 10 inch story out of nothing though. So a pretty easy day thus far.

Looking forward to watching Justin Verlander pitch tonight whether it be in person or in front of my tv. Go Tigs