Well, one semester is over and I am quite pleased with my progress. I spent far more time at sporting events than I intended , and I wrote less than I intended. I consider this a win.
Now, let us discuss two pairs of games. The first pair is Michigan Hockey Vs Union and Michigan Hockey vs MSU.
Foe hockey, the contrast was our team's attitude.
All I can say is that our game against Union was embarrassing. It was embarrassing because it felt like we were not even trying. It's hard to go to a game and watch us not play with fire. When I came to Michigan, our Hockey team was one that would steal the puck in the neutral zone, and bring it hard on the penalty. Why were we letting them pull that on us? Well we did play with fire when we were two men short and getting scoring opportunities. We also hammered it to them int he last few minutes.
Altogether, as a fan, it was disappointing. The crowd was small and the team didn't push it. I did start a new trend of wearing a fedora and a Michigan flag to all games.
So our team went up to Alaska to find themselves, (and snap the losing streak.)
The MSU game was completely different. We scored first, we pushed hard, and kept the puck away from them. Also, the crowd was really into it. The best chants were "BCS" and "rough the punter." They came turned on. Unfortunately, they decided to fall asleep a couple of times; once after our first score giving MSU a goal and during a couple of penalties in the first five minutes of the third bringing the game to within one. Still, we showed how we play when we bring it. We just have to bring it for the full sixty minutes. It is good to see our effort back.
Now let us talk about a pair of games attended mostly by children.
The first game was the Women's basketball game against Iowa State. The game had no student section, but there were tons of little girls, (a lot of whom were girl scouts.) There was a significant birthday party in front of me. I suppose that is a good idea. My kids will be raised on Michigan Sports. Actually, I am very disappointed in our students. Our ladied are very good, and they played an exciting game. Yes, I understand that the students can't give everyone their time, but I think I saw three other students there (other than the teams and the band.) I might head back, the team earned my respect. They already have the respect of the band and the national media, just not the students. Ug. Just go out people.
So, let us wrap it up with Men's Wresting vs Wisconsin. This was odd, because I was surrounded by children once again, but this time they were boys. I guess it figures. Little boys like wrestling. I was actually quite surprised at how well attended the match was. Anyway, little boys come for the sport, not for birthday parties. They come for themselves. I guess I am just projecting gender bias now. So I will shut up. As for match, what is there to say about Wrestling? It's a simple sport that moves pretty quickly. It can be pretty exciting, especially when it is close. Michigan went up early, then Wisconsin tied it up with three matches to go. However, we won the last three putting us on top. I guess I have a few observations. The first observation is about weight classes. Obviously, it is to a wrestler's advantage to be muscular and lean to try to maximize their effectiveness of their allotted mass. All of them pretty much looked alike, except their frames (an bicepts) got larger as the weight classes got higher. The heavyweight was an odd jump though. Since all weight helps these guys have some extra padding on them. Muscle helps more than other mass, but there is a diminishing return on the effectiveness of building muscle. Bodyfat, on the other hand is easy to add. I would never call these guys fat, but they are noticably bigger than all of the other weight classes. It was a stark contrast since they went last. My other observation is that almost all of the wrestlers for both teams, were state champs in high school. When you think about it, there are a number of weight classes in high school, and like 8 athletic division, so for each state there are quite a few kids crowned champ in a year and they have four years to get it. So, I guess, having state champs isn't that uncommon. Also, Michigan and Wisconsin, pretty much have their pick of the litter when it comes to in state recruiting. However, to have teams full of them shows that these are the big name schools in wresting. Once again, this is a sport for which I could attend quite a few events.
I am sorry, if these are not the most exciting posts. I will try to get back to the before-after format I had at the beginning of the year. Now that I am not worried about papers and assignments, I should have a little more mental energy. Also, I may not attend as many events next semester.
OK now for some statistics for the semester.
Sports Attended: 16 (of 28)
Events Attended 43
Weekly High (6)
Daily High (3)
Next Event: Ice hockey vs Lake Superior State, January 6th
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