Football Friday: Bye Week

Well last weekend was a bust.  From the ugly uniforms, to the poor playing (on Michigan's part), and the dirty playing (on msu's part) it all just sucked.  And now it's behind us, onto the future!  We (Michigan) can still make it to the big ten championship game if we win out (be positive!) and MSU loses to Wisconsin (which will happen, have you seen how good Wisconsin is?) and any other big ten team (also very likely because sparty will be sparty).  Although the big ten championship game might be a lopsided one since Wisconsin seriously looks good (they really should be getting more love in the polls).



There was a collective WTF when these uniforms showed up on the field


This week, we have a bye, which seems kinda like a let down, I get sad when i can't watch my team play :(  But its probably a good week for a bye, let some players get healthy and let the staff figure out all the things that went wrong against msu (starting with the uniforms, please, Dave Brandon, never again).  We will be ready to take on Purdue next weekend, I have a good feeling about it!  No worries though, there should be plenty of games to keep me interested this Saturday.

The most exciting games will be on in the evening.  That's when (the previously mentioned) Wisconsin vs MSU game is on, and I'm really hoping for Wisconsin to put MSU back in their place.  An interesting west coast match up is Stanford vs Washington.  Stanford hasn't play anyone worth anything, and they do look good, but this will be the first time they play a team that is worth anything.  Even though Washington isn't great (they lost pretty bad to Nebraska) they should give us a chance to see if Stanford is worthy of  being in the discussion for first place.  A good game of unranked teams is the notre dame vs usc game.  I have a hard time with this one because I hate both teams.  A notre dame win would help us, but if they win the rest of their games (since they have a cupcake schedule, except Stanford) they would be BCS eligible which is ridiculous, the aren't good enough for the BCS and really don't deserve it (again, always overrated).  The Auburn, LSU match up earlier in the day should be good, but I don't really see LSU stumbling in this game so it will just be LSU winning, again.  That's it for the week, enjoy all the football!

Michigan plays other sports, too!

To recap, we spent a week in Michigan (Part 1 about the football game is here, and Rob's permanent souvenir is here).  When I was a student at Michigan I went to all the football games but rarely ventured out to see all the other sports the school had, this is one of my biggest regrets.  Now, I subscribe to to a special sports package on my cable so I can get the Big Ten Network and take in as many Michigan sports as possible.  So while we were in Michigan I thought I'd take advantage and try to attend some other fall sports!

I really wanted to go to the women's volleyball game against Nebraska.  Our volleyball team has recently gotten very strong and the big ten has become a competitive conference, even more so now with Nebraska.  Sadly, the game was sold out by the time I got there so I wouldn't get to see them play.  I had actually attended quite a few volleyball games while I was a student and it is a very fun atmosphere in their arena.  They play in a smaller arena than basketball and it makes it very loud and exciting in there.  I'd never been much of a volleyball person (I suck at playing it) but I now understand it better and have since become a big fan and love watching it!

We did make it to a men's lacrosse game.  On Sunday, after the football game, they were playing in some exhibition games in Michigan Stadium.  Our lacrosse team just got promoted to varsity level (they were very successful at the club level) so I thought it was a good time to check out the sport.  We had a great time watching it (even though we still don't understand all the rules) but its a fun, fast paced, scrappy game.  Sadly, Michigan lost in OT but we still had a good time and I am now very interested in the sport, hopefully they'll be showing some games on TV this spring!

Go Blue!


And finally, we went to a men's soccer game. I LOVE soccer, I've loved the sport for much longer then I've loved football.  Michigan men's soccer went the the semi-finals of the college cup last year, so they are coming off their best season ever.  Unfortunately, they've had quite a let down year (so far).  I really wanted to go to one of their games because they just built a new soccer complex.  The new field was really nice and the student section (which was nearby where we sat) is right on the field!  Sadly, we lost the game but it was a really great game to watch.  The student section has a lot of good chants and although there weren't a lot of students that night I could see it being a fun group to cheer with. (side note: the men's basketball team sat right next to us, I was a little star struck when I realized I was so close to Stu Douglass and Tim Hardaway Jr!!)

UPDATE: The men's soccer team just (well two days ago) beat #4 ranked Akron in OT!!  It's one of the biggest wins for this team, ever. Maybe this will turn their season around, keep it up boys and Go Blue!

Should I NaNoWriMo?

I love to read but I've never been much of a writer.  I don't think I've written a story or anything creatively since middle school (I didn't have to take a single engilsh class in college).  I enjoy writing (hence the blog) but I just haven't had much instruction or practice.  This brings me to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writting Month), where you are challeneged to write 50,000 in the month of November.  I think that I have good ideas for writing a novel but I've never sat down and organized my thoughts and tried to write them all down as a story.  I think I'm ready to try, and I think NaNoWriMo is a good opportunity for me to do just that.  I haven't signed up yet since I'm still a little unsure but I like the idea of it and I'm almost ready to pull the trigger!

I'm hoping to get some pointers from anyone out there who has done it before (or something similar).  I work full time so I'm worried about how much time I can commit and how to be the most productive with the time I have.  Should I update my blog during that month or devote all of my writing to NaNoWriMo?  How can I keep myself interested enough in my story to keep writing so much everyday? Anything else I should prepare myself for?

Since I think I will be writing a dystopic novel (my favorite genre right now), I decided I should read as much as I could in that genre before all the writting starts.  This brings me to the second point of this post a link up with Seven Day Push.  The challenge this week is to read a book and I will gladly take on that challenge.  I'm going to read Genesis by Bernard Beckett (a nice short book, yes) but it is one I've been wanting to read for a while.

Football Friday: If you can't get into college go to state...

It's Michigan vs Michigan State this weekend!!

This actually has a lot at stake for both teams,  who ever wins this game will have a very good chance at winning the legends division in the Big Ten.  Michigan has lost the last three and we are very hungry to take back the Paul Bunyan trophy and put little brother back in his place!  This is an interesting rivalry since a lot of people outside of the state of Michigan don't realize its a big deal.  People who live in Michigan say how annoying the state fans have become, but again that isn't seen outside of the state of Michigan (I guess not many state fans make it out of there...).  So usually this is one of our lesser rivalries, but this year its going to be a big deal.

While I was a student at Michigan we beat state every year and I have some great memories from those games.  The best football game I have ever been to was against MSU in 2004.  Michigan was down by 17 points with under 9 minutes to play and that's when things got exciting.  It was getting late, cold, and it was Halloween weekend so lots of students started to leave (a really really bad decision). 

In the last 8 minutes Michigan was able to score 17 unanswered points to bring it to a tie (this was helped with a recovered onside kick and it might've been the first time I learned what that was ;).  With a few seconds left state attempted a very long field goal.  I was in the marching band at the time and during big games they would have us sit on the field so they could sell out seats.  Our section happened to be on the field right behind the endzone so depth perception is a little off.  Anyway, from our seats it looked like the field goal was good and I remember feeling crushed, but only for a second or two and realized the stadium was cheering because we were heading to overtime!

 Edwards had a huge part in the comeback

Overtime was ridiculous since the played at the endzone that was right in front of us!  The stadium was so loud and excited (well those that didn't leave early) and I think I was shaking the whole time (not sure if it was nerves or the cold, probably a combination).  After one OT we were still tied, then after two we were STILL tied.  Third overtime in college football means you have to go for the 2 point conversion if you get a touchdown.  We were on offense first and scored a touchdown (yay!) then went for two, and Henne threw the ball to Massaquoi (who had some really bad drops in the game) and he caught it!!  All our defense had to do was stop them, and they did!

Next thing I know we are rushing the field jumping around with the football team and cheering our hearts out!  Rob and I watched a replay of this game yesterday and as we saw the band rush the field we recognized so many people and caught glimpses of each other in the clips of celebration they showed.  Here are two videos of the second (second half comeback) and third (OT win) parts of the game (don't get down when we go down by 17, it gets better, trust me!), bonus points if you find me in the videos!

I don't have energy or time to write about any other games this weekend, I will be watching all of them but this is a big weekend for my Wolverines.  Let's Go Blue beat msu!!!!!

Michigan Vacation Part 1: Football!!

So I realize I've been missing for a while (almost two weeks!).  And I thought it was about time I updated you on where I've been and what I was up to.  I was in Michigan for 9 days so lets start with the first event, Michigan Football!

We arrived at the Detroit Airport and waited what seemed like forever in the rental car line.  We had a small issue with the rental car, we had reserved a small compact car (since we would be driving a lot, and we love to be efficient) but they couldn't seem to find a small car for us so we ended up with a free upgrade to one of the smallest cars they had, a Ford Flex (not small at all, it seats 7, and is really just a minivan in disguise).  It was also super cold and raining, we were not ready for this weather!

Check that ext temp for September 30th!

We spent the first weekend in Ann Arbor mostly for the football game, but also got to see some old friends and eat at some favorite restaurants.  First I wanted to do this link up with the Belles of Saturday and show off some of my gameday pics (and try and expose their blog to some northern schools!):

I <3 Denard

If you look closely you can see the ball in the air headed for Vincent Smith!

The game was great and Michigan won 58-0, yay! (I realize I've missed two Fridays for Football Friday, but I promise this week will be a good one with the big game we have against little brother!)  There were some fun offensive plays in the game where we used two quarterbacks (Gardner at QB and Denard in the back field) and the awesome trick play where Vincent Smith (usually a RB) threw for a touchdown.  It was also nice to shut them out (even though it took a lot of mistakes on their part to help us with that).

Most important were the people I saw before the game while tailgating.  I got to see most of my closest friends from college and I saw every person I ever shared a room with (which is pretty good considering I live in CA and only make it back there once a year).  Its always so nice to see old friends and catch up with them and their lives.

Roomies 417 Michigan House, "Reunited and it Feels so Gooood" (thanks for the great pic Typh!)

After the game we bar hopped to see the rest of the games of that day/night.  Including Wisconsin destroying Nebraska and little brother (michigan state) beating that school down south (ohio state)!  I did all this with my girl friends since Rob was off getting a tattoo and then going to a "bachelor party".

As for the food we had throughout the day, we started the day with bagels, cream cheese and fragels from Bagel Fragel on North Campus (jalapeno bagel with parmesan artichoke cream cheese, yummy!). Then some great tailgating food and drinks (Apple Cider and Hot Dam!). For dinner we went to Cottage Inn, and I got a quick snack at NYPD!

A great day in Ann Arbor full of football, food, and friends!

More of my Michigan trip to follow...