What a massively insane day in college football today.

On a related note, A&M beat Baylor today. Yippee. I still hate Fran.

And now for something completely different...has anybody heard about buying "day old" at Jimmy John's? Jimmy John's has several locations here in Ann Arbor, and the big time late night snack after a night on the town is to stroll into and order a day old loaf of bread for 45 cents (the footlong roll they use for the sandwiches). I haven't done it myself yet, but I feel like I should, as if it's some sort of University of Michigan rite of passage.

"Moreover, I advise that Fran must be canned."

I really don't have enough superlatives right now to convey the joy that I have after watching the Cowboys absolutely dismantle the Bears on their home turf. I tell ya, somehow everything in the world just seems to make sense and I feel better prepared for the week ahead after a Cowboys win like that.

I saw a really solid defensive effort tonight, and the good news is, its only going to get better as T-New's status improves and Greg Ellis returns to the lineup. Despite the Roy Williams' "shove" on Desmond Clark, the secondary really had a nice game with some solid heads up plays, including the fumble recovery and pick by Roy. Then again, they were going up against a QB that had the crowd chanting the backup's (Brian Griese) name halfway through the game.

Offensively at the moment, the Cowboys are just unstoppable. This is the first time in many years that I can really stop and think to myself "Honestly, this is an elite team in the NFL." Romo is a freaking Jedi...this is not the QB you want to tackle...My sports man crush bromance with MB3 grows exponentially each passing week...the guy just runs with such intensity and unadulterated violence...it's a truly wonderful spectacle to behold.

I will definitely be going to my lecture tomorrow with a smile on my face. How 'bout them Cowboys!!!

Okay, and just to be non-sportsy for a brief moment, I did a bit of 'sploring this weekend to try and figure out if there is any kind of acceptable Freebird's ersatz here in Ann Arbor.

I tried out one place on Friday night at the suggestion of another of my fellow mechanical engineering comrades, called Big Ten Burrito (or just BTB, as everyone calls it here)...it wasn't too bad. Sort of on the order of a Qdoba/Chipotle type situation. Also, I discovered that right across the street from me (yeah I know I keep saying everything is right across the street, but really, you don't understand how much crap is right around me), is a place called Panchero's, which is essentially a Chipotle clone. So while I'm not entirely bereft of a bounty of burritos, there is definitely no substitute for the greatness that is Freebird's. The Mexican-esque food is definitely hard to come by this far north, though. Of course now that I know where to go to get hummus, who gives a crap!

Oh and here is something kind of funny. I don't know if you know, but they did actually make one of the Coors Light press conference commercials based off the Dennis Green blow up last year (my freaking dream!). Here is a homemade one that is kind of funny, and is super Mitchell-esque at the end.



"Moreover, I advise that Fran must be canned."

Hoegaarden is super good.

"Moreover, I advise that Fran must be canned."

There is someone stealing 2 million dollars a year from A&M...

...and the perpetrator's name is Dennis Franchione. About the only positive I could take out of that abortion of a football game last night was that almost assuredly, the Board of Regents will oust this thief at the end of the season.

For all you that were buying into the whole A&M dark horse theory that pundits seem to keep formulating season after season, based on the rather dubious basis that Fran is some kind of genius coach...you can probably go ahead and just forget about that. I saw an offensive line, that with max protect, couldn't stop an extremely basic 4 man rush! And just as I have the past 4 years with Fran, I saw a defense that is absolutely talentless. I saw a team get absolutely outclassed, and out-athleticized by Miami. Moreover, I saw a team not ready to play that game and with a completely nonsensical game plan (no carries for Lane until midway through the 3rd quarter???). And frankly in the college game, much of that culpability for the lack of talent and game planning has to fall to Fran, who is being paid national championship contender money to recruit mid-tier level I-A talent and blow big games. As a rabid fan of A&M football, I am tired of mediocrity...A&M has thrown WAY too much money into their football program for no return on their investment.

Towards the beginning of the Third Punic War, as Carthage remained a bitter enemy of Rome in the mid-second century BC, the great Roman orator and former senator Cato the Elder would end every speech he gave before the senate with the line "Moreover, I advice that Carthage must be destroyed", regardless of what he was talking about beforehand. The idea was that he wanted to incite his countrymen to war to end the threat of the Carthiginians once and for all. So in that vein, until Fran is fired, I will end all future blog posts with the following line:

"Moreover, I advise that Fran must be canned."

Son of a...man I'm tired. Long day today.

I just wanted to throw out that on two distinct occasions today when walking around North Campus, I was presented with opportunities to view some of our mammalian buddies up close.

As I was leaving my recitation today, what do I see walking right in front of me, but a rather sizable groundhog. I don't think I'd seen one in person before today.

Later, after a review session for another class of mine, as I was walking to the bus stop I passed by a tree where I saw a raccoon slowly sauntering up the trunk. It was rather odd, because as I passed by and glanced at him, he gave me this seemingly sheepish look of mortification, and began slowly descending the trunk without turning his body around, as if to say "Sorry for climbing the tree, buddy, I'm coming down now." I attribute the event to my tanooki powers.

Great win for the Cowboys today...definitely did not expect them to throw up 37 against the Dolphins defense, but I will absolutely take it.

A few thoughts about the game:

I think the most encouraging thing about this game for me is that they went into a hostile place that is tough to win, minus some key starters, against a solid defense, and they ended up with a really nice double digit win. It seems to bode well for the future, specifically next week where they will face an even more stringent defense.

I also realized today I have a total man crush on Marion Barber...man do I love that guy. The way he plays the game, and how he is so intense every single time he gets the ball is just exhiliarating. And just so everyone understands, I am not one of those dudes calling into the Ticket clamoring for starting Barber over Jules Jones; quite the contrary actually. MB3 is able to do what he does precisely because of the running back situation Dallas has established, and boy is it effective.

Can anybody find me a more useless human being than Tony Siragusa? Everytime I have to listen to those flaccid gums flap some inconsequential tripe, I can actually feel my life force being drawn from out every orifice of my body into the screen.

Anyways, I'm just looking forward to seeing what the Ags can do this Thursday night at the OB; it's their first real test of the season, and probably a decent gauge if Fran will be able to save his job during this "Rasputin year" of sorts.

Alright, enough sports for now, time for some engineering work. Lacey, out.

HAIL TO THE VICTORS, BABY!

Woo hoo!!! So finally, our football team gets a win. I have to say, the Big House is a great deal more enjoyable after a decidedly Wolverine-friendly conclusion. They do some pretty interesting things with The Wave as well (which I hadn't experienced until yesterday, because they only start it late in games when we are winning). It starts out as just the standard Wave we all know (and categorically see as generic), but then people, as if they were operating on some collective hive mind, begin to slow down, and then speed up the pace of The Wave (very cool affect from the stands). Apparently, if it goes long enough, they even do a split Wave, where two independent Waves work their way in opposite directions around the stadium to eventually converge, and then continue through each other...still waiting to see that in action.

On a related sportsy note, Notre Dame is abysmally terrible. Before their last possession of the game they had 22 yards of total offense. For the whole game. I don't think in all my years of watching football on any competitive level, I have ever witnessed a more inept display of offense, and consider to, that is coming against a very shaky defense in Michigan. I actually feel bad for Notre Dame fans, because with what they fielded yesterday, they aren't even going to beat the service academies.

Well, I'm at the library right now, getting a bit of work done before America's Team settles in for their epic struggle with the Dolphins. I sincerely hope the defense will make a far better showing than the track meet I had to watch last Sunday night. I'm not sure that I will have time, but the Sunday night game with the Chargers and Patriots just about has me foaming at the mouth, especially in light of the recent events with the P-Men, and regarding the outcome of the playoff game last year in San Diego. Anybody want to bet again LT having a career night tonight...didn't think so. I know that guy is gonna bring it.

While he not the most adroit broadcaster, Emmitt made an extremely good point today on NFL Countdown, regarding Belichick. He basically asserted that Belichick's actions were the epitome of arrogance; being caught for an illicit act, appropriately reprimanded, and then giving the middle finger to the league to turn around and do it again (and even more egregiously claiming by his 'interpretation' of the rules he thought it was legal...what nerve!). All I'm gonna say, is I hope the Chargers annihilate those dirty, cheating P-Men tonight. Down with Belichick! Down with Brady and his fun baby!

But most importantly...go Cowboys!

Dude, Michigan has an Urban Ninja club! Of course, they don't call it that, it's the Freerunning Club, or Parkour (the French term for being an urban ninja, I suppose). They had booths lined up on North Campus today, and one of the tables was for this club, where there was a dude doing flips and jumping all over and around tables...sweet.

Okay, last post of the day I think, something Cary asked me to post:

My schedule (revised to due to the fun week of class swapping I had):
M 1:30-2:30 PM
T 8:30-10:30 AM 1:00-2:30PM
W 1:30-2:30 PM 4:30-6:30PM
TH 8:30-10:30 AM 1:00-2:30PM 3:00-5:00PM (sometimes for an engines lab)
F 1:30-2:30 PM

A couple of quick hits while I have a second:

My linear systems professor looks like a slightly older version of Allison Cobb.

After attending A&M for 4 years, I just can't get used to taking shortcuts by walking through the grass here at Michigan; every time I attempt it I feel as if I'm committing some vile sin.

End transmission.

Man, I think I may just start referring to Wade Phillips as "Inverse Tuna" or maybe "1/Tuna". Seriously, that guy just comes off so casual and nonchalant in his interviews on the morning show...and I haven't quite decided yet if I like it. I suppose I may come around to his coaching philosophy if it translates to success on the field, but it's quite an adjustment after having four years of the always cantankerous Tuna.

I saw someone walking around one of the engineering buildings today in a "Fire Lloyd" shirt. Honestly, the guy is absolutely anathema to the student body here. When they announced the players and coaches last week before the Oregon game, everyone in the Big House booed at the mention of Lloyd Carr's name. On a related note, the shirt sighting made me consider an investment into a "Fire Fran" garment, though around it here it wouldn't make much sense.

Also, one other community quick hit, if you check out the site LiveVideoU, eventually once it launches, there should be a video of me talking about the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a bit about the Cowboys (I was wearing my Witten jersey when the interview was conducted). I was solicited as I was going to the library to study a couple of days ago, and apparently the site will have video interviews from a myriad of students' perspectives on various campuses around the U.S. Cary, you'll be happy to know the dude holding the camera and asking the questions was a graduate of UT, and he specifically grabbed me because he noticed my A&M ring (and Cowboys jersey) and suspected there was a greater than 0 chance I might have come from the great state of Texas.

One more thing to throw out there, a little tidbit I dug up:



For those of you who remember the commercials for backyard drills...well, this is a small sampling. Youtube has some more, all showing a rather upbeat Tuna, which I think somehow was not seen very often during his coaching career.

In the words of the great Keith Jackson..."Whoa nelly!"

What can be said about that incredibly wheels off game last night? Well, America's Team did get the W, so at the very least I can be content with that. Also, Romo and the offense just looked outstanding, running on all cylinders, and had extremely efficient execution throughout the course of the game. Crayton also played fairly well in Glenn's stead. And needless to say, I am wearing my Witten jersey today.

However, I can't help but come away from that game thinking it was a Pyhrric victory. It appears Jason Ferguson may be lost for the season, which is a tremendous blow for a defense that, in a continuation from the end of last year, still appears to be coming apart at the seams. Who knows about when Newman will return, and if so, how effective he could possibly be. And freaking Roy Williams...what exactly does he do for the defense? Take bad angles and get burned by streaking receivers? I am absolutely terrified by the Cowboys' secondary, in the sense that there is no telling how many big plays they are going to give up in the course of a game. For as much as Wade's new system has been touted, I didn't really see any change in the pressure up front, which only serves to further expose our extremely expensive and utterly disappointing defensive backs. I think the only chance for that defense to perform well is to put significantly more pressure on a QB than Eli saw last night. If an opposing QB has a couple of seconds to make his reads, he is going to shred the Cowboys secondary. Sigh...well it's just the first game, perhaps Wade can get things turned around. Maybe the stress from class is filtering over into my sports world, but really, the defense has to be better than what we saw last night.

And speaking of which...time for some more studying. I'm out.

Oh, and one community quick hit I forgot to add (everybody loves community quick hits): the drum major for the Michigan band is from Plano, TX!

Michigan sucks and the A&M game was epic (they won in triple OT!). Just another day in college football.

At least a few good things came out of today.

Michigan Stadium sells Lemon Chills (the real kind, like they have at The Temple...genius!).

The small grocery directly across the street from my apartment has an idiotically large selection of beer, and Michigan actually stocks Hoegaarden. Genius!

I have already rearranged my classes once, and after a meeting I had Friday with the graduate chair for mechanical engineering, I find myself contemplating another possible swap for one more class, to ensure I can get all these qualifying exams finished that I have to take on my way to a PhD. I tell ya, my schedule was never in this much disarray as an undergrad, but they have just implemented a new system for PhD students in my department, making things a touch hairy at this point. I wouldn't say I'm in full panic mode at this point, but I am definitely a bit ill at ease, as I am still adjusting to college life again and trying to remember and moreover relearn lessons I have not utilized in many years.

At least it appears I will get some research up and running fairly soon, and with the professor that I was interested in working with from back in March during my campus visit.

Anyways, enough blog-prattle, back to studying for me (yeah, I know, sounds ridiculous, but it's absolutely necessary at this point).

So, turns out grad school is pretty hard. Go figure.

In what little spare time I have now, as a manner to relax and center myself, I've taken up writing poetry...tell me what you think of my latest composition:

Roses are red,
violets are blue,
Terry Glenn, T-New, and Greg Ellis are hurt,
the Cowboys are screwed.

Seriously, all these preseason injury situations have me greatly concerned about how effective the Cowboys offense and defense can be this year. I think Patrick Crayton might be able to step up in the number two receiver role, as we've seen some moments of greatness from him, but I don't think he can stretch the field the way Terry Glenn does. And perhaps Anthony Spencer can fill the void left by Crybaby Ellis, but the loss of T-New, if in fact he can't play...frankly, there's nobody I feel confident can do even half the job that guy does. Nate Jones and Jacque Reeves...not so much buddy.

By the way, if you weren't watching the Colts and Saints game on Thursday (okay admittedly I only watched a small amount, but I'm glad I tuned in) you missed a GENIUS slew of Cowboys oriented commercials, including the return of the brilliant Coors Light campaign of editing coaches' press conferences (now the Tuna edition - Cowboys style!):



This is a Diet Pepsi max commercial they showed during the game as well:



Brilliant!

Also I found this:



I didn't see this during the game, but it further acknowledges the greatness of America's Team.

There are actually two other Coors Light commercials involving the Tuna, but I couldn't find them on youtube yet. They are all super funny. Aaaand...I'm done.

Wow, the Sturminator is already calling for the Appalachian State blocked field goal call to be the Homer Call of the Year.

And as if I needed another kick in my sports nuts, Pat Forde (big time college football writer for ESPN), wrote that Texas A&M, among a small group of other teams, is an underachiever of the highest order (I'm not necessarily disagreeing, but man, ouch).

Well, tomorrow at high noon (eastern time, of course), will mark my first foray into a college classroom since finishing my final undergraduate course way back in mid-May of 2002.

It's funny how irony so deftly manuevers its way into your life. Had I taken one more senior level math course at A&M I would have received a minor in math, though I abstained from this route, thinking there was no need for any further math classes and no benefit to be gained from the minor.

Naturally, the first class I will attend as I start school again is...a senior level math course. Boomshakalaka.

So I had my first experience with the Big House today...

...and I had the distinct pleasure of bearing witness to the biggest David vs. Goliath-esque upset in NCAA sports history. The feeling immediately after the last blocked field goal was one of utter incredulity, as the event was almost too much for a human brain to comprehend.

It would have been nice to see a Michigan win (and I certainly hope there will be some this season), but just being a part of the Michigan Stadium atmosphere with the other nearly 110,000 people was awe inspiring. It's a very different feel from Kyle Field, but I think over the next few years I will enjoy watching some college football here in Ann Arbor.