Archive for November, 2007
So, my brother Jon and I went to the Michigan-Ohio State game last week. As a college football fan, I was excited to experience what is often hailed as one of the premier college football rivalries. (Actually, the UM-OSU game is often hyped as one of the premier rivalries in all sports.) Although the stakes of the this year’s game were lower than last year, there was still a lot on the line: the Big Ten conference championship, a trip to the prestigious Rose Bowl, not to mention the pride and bragging rights that come along with winning a rivalry game.
I was thoroughly disappointed, to say the least. And I don’t mean I was disappointed by the outcome of the game (Michigan lost 14-3); I actually don’t care that much about the (mis)fortunes of Michigan football. I was disappointed by the flat atmosphere surrounding one of the (alleged) greatest rivalries in college sports. Granted, we weren’t tailgating from early on Sat. morning. But we did spend nearly 3 hours before game time around the stadium trying to catch a wiff of the rivalry’s spirit. But none was to be found–at least, not this year. The atmosphere was no more intense than the atmospheres at the Notre Dame and Penn State games I went to earlier this year. But, more relevant to my interests, the atmosphere was no where close to as intense as the atmosphere at Texas A&M-Texas games. Sure, my own perspective on that game is biased. But my brother’s isn’t. He’s experienced both rivalry games from a more disinterested perspective than I have and he made the same comment when comparing the UM-OSU and A&M-t.u. games.
All this is to say: don’t believe the media hype about the UM-OSU rivalry game. In terms of intensity of feeling, this game is no where close to the various rivalry games I’ve experienced among Big XII teams and I can only speculate, but I’d say it’s no where close to the intensity of SEC rivalry games as well. The fact is, football is a way of life in Texas and throughout the South–much more rides on rivalry games. Football’s only a Saturday afternoon diversion in Ann Arbor (a supposed mecca of college football); of course, you want to beat your rival, but the emotional investment of the average fan isn’t nearly as high.
We’ve changed the look of our photo page (and added some new pics too).
It may appear as though we’ve forgotten about this thing–we’ve kinda neglected it for a while. Although we’re not going to write a long post now in an effort to “make up” for our negligence, here’s a quick run-down on what’s been going on around here lately. (Sorry, no pictures for now…)
I (Dave) have been pretty busy doing the usual school stuff. I’ve also been to a couple of football games this season. Michigan football’s alright, but I’d rather be standing with the 12th man.
Barb is still working a few hours a week and enjoying it. She spends the rest of her time hanging with Zac,visiting friends, etc. Her and Zac recently joined the YMCA, so she’s able to drop Zac off at the child care and work out a bit.
Zac is growing quickly in every way. He’s quite strong; he’s sitting on his own and looking like he’ll crawl anytime now. He’s usually quite expressive and playful when he’s at home, but seems (initially) to be more reserved and observant when he’s in unfamiliar settings. Once he feels comfortable, he becomes playful again. He’s also very curious, constantly trying to grab things and put them in his mouth. Thankfully, he’s sleeping more during the night.
LATER ADDITION: I failed to mention that Zac and Barb have started a swimming class together. When we first took him swimming a few weeks ago, he was a little tentative for a while, but he seems to be liking it quite a bit now.
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