Hat Trick Weekend

OK, just to cover some ground:
I attended the ice hockey game against Lake Superior State University with my dear friend, "The Bohemian Skoian." I find it odd that a person can go that long without ever having attended a sporting event. Also, I find it odd for a person not to understand the inherent purpose and draw of a student section. Furthermore, I find it very odd that a person is not automatically compelled to dance along with 6000 other people to the Blue Brothers entrance music. Yes, I find a great many things odd. Some people just have a different world views. As for the game. It was nice to see us clicking and behaving as a team. That is probably why we are winning again. Additionally, it was a very clean game. There were three penalties (and no major ones) in the entire game, and the first one was called with about fifteen minutes left in the second period. I can't wait for the next game.

Allow me to fast forward a bit.
The next pair of events I attended were men's and women's indoor track meets. What better way to spend my birthday? I suppose I could have gone down to Fayetteville for the basketball game, but that is another story for another day when I run out of remotely interesting stories to tell.

It may seem odd, but I have never attended a track event in my life. I was not sure what to expect, but I was hoping it was not a long drawn out process.What I found was that there can be as many as 5 events happening simultaneously.While this may be an ADD person's dream, I am sure it is a reporter's nightmare. At least it is never boring.

For some reason, the men decided to run all of their field events first, and then do their track events. I found myself a spot halfway down the track with a good view of the sprints, high jump and pole-vault, a partially obscured view of the throws, and a practically worthless view of the long jump. I became fixated on the jumps (probably because the failures are funny), and or course I enjoyed the races. I still have no idea how a person can jump over a 6-7 foot bar even with the Fosbury Flop. (OK, now that I do the mental math it all work out.)
The hammer throw men are big dudes. The meet was for Michigan, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, and Detroit Mercy. Central took an early lead by dominating much of the field events, but Michigan started closing in with the track events. Then I decided to take lunch at the Maize and Blue Deli, so I was gone for an hour. It was delicious. I highly recommend it.
Anyway, I returned for the Women's event and was informed by the fellow spectators that Michigan had in fact pulled it out with the track events. Awesome.

The women's even ran the Track and field events simultaneously Additionally, they substituted Bowling Green for Detroit Mercy in the Women's event. Also, for some reason they, allowed some unattached athletes to compete. Former athletes from Michigan and other schools did some awesome stuff. The pole-vault was a neck and neck battle between a Wolverine and an unattached former EMU pole-vaulter. It's pretty cool when a competition sets a facility record and keeps on going. It is even cooler, when your athlete wins the competition and sets a program record in the process.  There was also a former Michigan high jumper who was several inches taller than me and whose first miss was at a height several inches above where all other competitors had maxed out. Additionally we had a real treat. We got to see Tiffany Porter do sprints and hurdles. That woman is pure lightning.

The best part of the whole event were the other spectators. They were mostly parents, but they were very friendly and talkative. They also got along very well with parents of other schools. I think the nature of the competition lends itself to a friendly comradely.

A less friendly place is water polo. Most people acknowledge that it is a rough sport, and , quite frankly, I admire that these girls are able to go at it for a game. The length of the games are relatively short, but so are the breaks. Anyway, Michigan faced off against Colorado State today. There were several notable occurrences. The first is that I somehow sat next to some people in training for the Michigan Daily. I refrained from saying anything. The second is that Michigan dealt out a one-sided crushing that amounted to a 10-3 final, mainly on account of Michigan being a much more physical and aggressive team. The final thing I noticed was that I sat in the Colorado State section and they were not happy about Michigan being the more physical team. They stated quite clearly,a nd many times over that the referees were not calling nearly enough fouls on Michigan (even though I am pretty sure more were called on Michigan than Colorado State) The odd thing was that they never complained when Colorado State got away with a foul. Why was that? Anyway. I kind of regret not sitting in what appeared to be the student section because they appeared to be doing a lot of the hockey chants, which I love.

Up next is:
Women's Gymnastics vs Illinois
Friday January 27th, 6:00 PM
Crisler Arena
Followed by:
Women's Tennis vs.Maryland
Saturday January 28th, 10:00 AM
Michigan Tennis Complex

19 down, only 9 to go:
Baseball
Gymnastics (Men)
Gymnastics (Women)
Outdoor Track and Field (Men)

Outdoor Track and Field (Women)
Softball
Rowing
Tennis (Men)
Tennis (Women)