Miracle on Turf

With such a busy news day and an even busier weekend upon us, I thought that another blog post would be appropriate. The veritable flood of news on Friday gives me a fair bit of material to talk about, but there is really only one story that dominated my day: The Game.

The annual grudge-match between Michigan and Ohio State has taken a backseat to other more "important" games this Saturday. Oklahoma-Texas Tech and Penn State-Michigan State might be more fashionable or more loaded with BCS implications, but The Game is always the most interesting game when people least expect it to be.

Michigan has a historically abysmal team at 3-8. Ohio State has a good team that has come up short of expectations at 9-2. In any fair and logical universe, Ohio State wins this game by 20.5 points. Unfortunately, the fair and logical universe is but a distant parallel to the one which we occupy. The best and most memorable games of the series have been won by the underdog. However, the underdog in tomorrow's game has never been so poor. Quite frankly, there are virtually no ways for me to reasonably plot a Michigan victory tomorrow. Michigan can keep the game close, but it would take an epic collapse from Ohio State to push Michigan over the edge.

I dare not make a final score prediction, but I will be surprised if Ohio State covers the spread.



Every year, I am amazed by the emotion that this game brings out. I hate Notre Dame/the Yankees/the Cowboys as much as any other American and Michigan State is always an amusing distraction. Ohio State, though, is in a different league. I maintain a certain degree of respect for Ohio State that Notre Dame could never earn, but at the same time I feel a deep vitriolic loathing of the Buckeyes. I always forget what it feels like a week after and that feeling doesn't return until the Wednesday before the next meeting. I want Michigan to win badly, but this year will require a miracle of 1980 US Olympic Hockey team proportions. I believe in two things: Ohio State sucks and miracles.

Recommended viewing this weekend:

- Michigan-Ohio State game
- NOT the new film Twilight. Honestly, a little bit of me dies every time I see media coverage of squealing high schoolers at theatres across the country, not to mention flashbacks of boy bands in the 90s. Here's a great idea. Instead of going out to see an underage, vampiric, love-drama fest, go to your local library and borrow Bram Stoker's Dracula.
- Detroit-Tampa Bay football game. Feel free to ignore the game and look for me in the crowd, or, rather, amongst the empty seats.

Recommended reading this weekend:

- Aforementioned Bram Stoker's Dracula with conditions
- The National Intelligence Council's Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World

The NIC's latest Global Trends assessment is a fascinating projection of international relations, trade and conflict in 2025. Weighing in at 120 pages, it is by no means "light reading," but it is not overloaded with techno-babble or difficult concepts. You can obtain your own personal pdf here.



GO BLUE!