A Surreal Weekend
This was one weird weekend.
First off, the Michigan/OSU game was a classic. Troy Smith has that team's number and Jim Tressel is, to use the cliche, totally in Carr's head. Did you notice the brush off Carr gave Tressel after the game? All class, Lloyd. All class. Maybe that's how you react when you're 1-4 against your rival? I dunno.
I have no pity whatsoever for Michigan fans, though. For those old enough (Todd) to remember the Cooper era when OSU was 2-10-1 against Michigan, this is how it feels. Sucks, doesn't it? It was even worse when I was in school during such a run. In the 90s Michigan caused me to drink a lot of rum and coke. Rivalries go in cycles like this, though.
As for the game itself, wow. So many storylines. Michigan with 32 yards rushing on 24 carries; Ginn muffing 2 punts but growing up bigtime as a receiver with 9 grabs; Carpenter going down on the first play; OSU screwing up on special teams all game long, which never happens to this team; Troy Smith playing the like Smith OSU fans wanted to see all year long (we have crazy expectations); Pittman running for a tough 85 yards and running over Prescott Burgess for the game winner; Gonzo coming up huge against UM AGAIN; and Lloyd Carr playing not to lose with 7 minutes to go in the game.
For those that want to relive the game, it's on ESPN Classic Wed at 9 PM. Todd you are excused from this screening. 
I felt sick for Bobby Carpenter. One play in your last game against UM and you fracture your leg? He's also out for the Bowl game and most likely lost millions of dollars because of that play.
Anyway, OSU fans need to root like hell for USC and Texas from here on out. If USC and Texas win, OSU is in the BCS. Sorry, Oregon.
The Game was derailed a bit for me, though. Halfway through the 1st quarter, Mary calls me. She was coming home and was in an accident. Some dumb ass came out of an apartment complex parking lot and just nailed her. Even worse, he took off, fleeing the scene. Worse still -- no license plates. (Or so we thought.) The next night Mary goes back to the scene and sees the car! She sees tags in the window. She sees red paint on the bumper. I mean this IS the car.
The cops, shockingly, do not want to investigate because Mary never saw the guy, just the car. She cannot prove who it was, so they don't want to proceed. Our insurance company needs an ID of the guy in order to proceed for our coverage to kick in. It's a catch-22. We're waiting on the word from Nationwide.
Then the Browns shut out the Dolphins and Rueben Droughns runs for a 75 yd TD on the first play. It was like I was on Candid Camera. The Browns are 4-6, which is about 4 wins more than most people expected.
Oh, and in game news, I may be getting a 360 debug from GameSpy. If not, I'm not buying one at launch. I just cannot justify it. There are very few "I gotta play" games that are available for it right now. I guess if the buzz for Madden or NBA 2K6 is of fthe charts I'll reconsider. If not, I'm waiting at least a week or two as I get some reviews finished.
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Dan:
November 21st, 2005 - 12:02
First, sorry to hear about the car accident. Man that sucks. I assume Mary is okay, right?
I caught a bit of that brush off on the Sunday morning highlights (I was too busy stomping around and cursing to notice on Saturday), but I suspect that hasn’t got squat to do with the game and everything to do with the cops and bomb sniffing dogs incident from last year (there was *a lot* of talk about it in the Detroit media this week).
As I recall you thought the incident was pretty funny, and maybe it was, but I know that Carr and Michigan took that as a big sign of disrespect that was well beyond gamesmanship. (According to the papers, security people were screaming at them and the dogs were all over them. It wasn’t like a polite security check at an airport to just give the team a hard time. If true, that’s pretty low rent.)
I won’t deny that OSU is in Michigan’s head now. But then, OSU is just a better team right now too. But like you said, that’s how rivalries go. Michigan fans who didn’t see an OSU run like this coming at some point are deluding themselves. It happens. If it didn’t it wouldn’t be much of a rivalry.
November 21st, 2005 - 12:32
I thought the bomb stuff was blown way out of proportion by Michigan. It wasn’t like OSU officials had the dogs snarling at their heels. Even so, Carr acts like it was Tressel that ordered that in some kind of Woody Hayes-like head game. To brush off the coach like that, to me, shows just as much disrespect as being held up and having your bags checked.
Truth be told, I don’t care if they shake hands or not, but I was surprised that Carr wouldn’t even look the guy in the eye.
November 21st, 2005 - 13:03
Well, as easy as it is to say that Michigan blew the dog incident out of proportion, I wasn’t the one getting off a team bus to find myself confronted by security yelling at me with dogs sniffing around all my gear. The fact is OSU was the only place it happened so there was nothing routine about it.
And whether it was overdone or not, I do think Tressel ought to say that he, the school, security, that *somebody* handled it poorly. I’m not saying someone should be fired. Heck, I’m not even saying anyone should apologize. I don’t really care that much. But in every quote I’ve seen Tressel’s always so damn smug about it, giving the usual, “it was a standard security check.” Yeah, of course it was, Jim.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely not saying Carr shouldn’t have just shook the man’s hand and called it a day. I don’t think snubbing Tressel does anything but make him look bad, which he sure as hell doesn’t need. I’m just saying I don’t think it was because of Saturday’s game. I also think Carr genuinely dislikes Jim Tressell.
It sucks for Michigan fans, though, because not only do we lose we get to look like a#@holes in doing so and that perception I could live without.
Whatever, though. In the end it all just feeds the rivalry… and it was a good damn game.
November 21st, 2005 - 19:32
Interesting post. I am an avid online gambler and fantasy sports player and place most of my bets online. I find the internet to be a great tool and even use resources like StatShark to help me make my picks. What a great sports forecastings tool.