Yours truly? Best Daily writer?

According to polls of both the paper’s business and edit staffs, yes.

This past week, surveys were taken for the paper’s “Best of Ann Arbor” section due to come out in a few weeks. First the business staff ran a survey of the paper’s “readership,” which is actually one of the most rigged surveys around as the paper’s advertisers have a surprisingly high amount of the accolades. But under the term of Best Daily Columnist/Writer, I won. The paper’s edit staff ran its own survey. I won in that as well, “in a landslide” according to election officials.

While I don’t think I’m the best writer at the Daily, it’s great to get recognized. It feels pretty good.

Team Maneater’s season ends

Team Maneater lost in the playoffs tonight 3-1 to end its season. We controlled the run of play, but just could not score. I played goalie in the second half and gave up a goal. It was fun while it lasted.

My East Lansing Adventure

If you thought my St. Patrick’s adventure was insane, my weekend in East Lansing might have topped it. The column on the matter comes out Thursday, so I won’t give a blow-by-blow account, but here are some quick points.

-Cheering for Michigan State to blend in was harder than it looked in the pictures

-The 60 canisters of pepper gas fired into Cedar Village was mostly unwarranted

-Yes, I feel into a river

-Pepper gas sucks

The bar lines were all packed before noon 

Nothing like buying some Nati Light before going to watch some rioting 

Watching the second half 

I hype it for the camera 

The things I do to crash at other people's places 

Oh no! The Spartans are going to lose! Whatever 

Me with an uninterested espn.com Page 2 columnist Jim Caple 

Look at what some Nati light can do to you 

People getting ready to go nuts 

Jim Caple in action 

Me with the riot police 

People looking for a riot 

People acting semi-peacefully 

Go Green! Go White! 

Running away from pepper gas 

More running away from pepper gas 

More craziness 

Hype it! 

I have no idea who these girls are 

Damned horse police 

When the pepper gas rolled in 

At least I wasn't that guy 

Climbing from the river 

When my run away from the pepper gas caused me to fall into the Red Cedar River 

At least Dean and Caitlin helped me out 

Ahhh -- 6 a.m. at the Grand RIver McDonalds 

My e-mail to one Jim Caple

I will be traveling to East Lansing this weekend. Espn.com columnist Jim Caple will be traveling there this week. Thus I sent him an e-mail -- attached below.

Dear Mr. Caple:

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about your “Back to School” adventures thus far, and, if by chance you are still in East Lansing this Saturday to take in the Final Four, I have the ultimate proposition for you to end your adventure with a bang.

My friend Eric, my fedora hat wearing photographer Tony and I are heading to Spartan Land this Saturday to take in the revelry and account our exploits for my Weekend Magazine column in The Michigan Daily, the student newspaper at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (Now, before you head to your next e-mail because I don’t attend Michigan State, just hear me out). You see, we like to consider ourselves professional campus party chroniclers, and we would like nothing more that for you to join us for at least a little while on our wild ride.

This fall, while covering the Football team for the Daily, I devised an additional feature to our post-game coverage entitled “On the Road with Bob Hunt,” where I experienced the campus life of each school I attended while covering the team. Though this I did some pretty crazy things. At Ohio State, I risked my own life by walking down High Street (the main drag) in a Steve Breaston jersey. At Illinois, I infiltrated the Orange Krush during its midday basketball madness. At Notre Dame, I was confronted by a shadow-boxing Muhammad Ali in an elevator. In Hollywood at the Rose Bowl, I competed in a bull-riding contest with a girl from Austin.

My Illinois article can be accessed by this link:
http://www.michigandaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/10/20/41765005e4e1d?in_archive=1

These adventures prompted the Weekend Magazine folk to give me a biweekly column, which leads me to my plans for this weekend. We will be leaving Saturday morning to spend all day bouncing around bars and parties with Eric’s hot sorority friend and her posse, who live in the apartment complex where all the riots start. We will be experiencing the madness that is East Lansing just as you are, and will have our photographer right there to capture the fans riot win or lose. The riots will happen, you can count on it. While at this point I can’t guarantee you a specific place to stay, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of suitors for that.

If you’re still sick, don’t worry. We are professionals and have been at this longer than you have. With our help, your column will write itself.

We also know Detroit Free Press baseball writer John Lowe, whom I understand you also know, since he comes to our office to help us with the paper during the off-season. He can attest to my work. So, in addition to our campus party chronicling experience, we also have experience with professional baseball writers. Thus there are no other people out there more qualified to hang out with you than us.

I’m sorry that there is no way we can make it out there until at the earliest Thursday night (I have a lot of work to do and do have to graduate), but if you’ll still be in town, please send me an e-mail at bobhunt5@gmail.com or give me a call at 734-546-0752 so that we can meet up. If you’ll be leaving, I just hope that you do it up big and be ready. Michigan State is by far the biggest party school that you have attended thus far.

But if you hang out with us, you’ll be happy you’re in our camp when couches start burning.

Cheers.

Sincerely,

Bob Hunt
University of Michigan Ross School of Business School Senior
Michigan Daily ex-Sports Editor and current Weekend Magazine Columnist

Bob Hunt announces plans for "Life with Bob: East Lansing"

ANN ARBOR, MI – Michigan Daily Weekend Magazine columnist Bob Hunt today announced his plans to travel to East Lansing this Saturday for his next column. This column will appear in print the following Thursday.

Hunt also announced that he will be using the help of Daily Sports Editor Eric Ambinder and former Daily Managing Photo Editor Tony Ding to cause havoc and capture the revelry on camera.

Hunt’s main plan will to recapture the hat that was stolen from him during his St. Patrick’s Day adventure. The hat, a five dollar purchase from Meijer, is being held hostage in the college town, Hunt’s intelligence sources said.

But it is also believed that Hunt will get really drunk and hang out with Ambinder’s friend, who goes by the name Andrea, and her “hot” sorority posse. Hunt is currently single, very funny and likes to have fun with members of the opposite sex.

Michigan State is playing North Carolina in the semifinals of the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament Saturday evening. Riots are expected no matter the outcome.

“This should be the best thing ever to appear in Weekend Magazine,” Hunt said.

Mexico 2, United States 1

After seeing my beloved Michigan Wolverines blow a 3-0 lead to piss away a chance at the Frozen Four yesterday, I was hoping for another one of my favorite fringe sport teams, the United States men’s national soccer team, to pull off a big win on Sunday. Didn’t happen.

The Mexicans dominated in front of the Mexico City crowd of 100,000-plus almost the entire contest, scoring two goals within a few minutes of each other about thirty minutes in. The Americans created some pressure early in the second half, as Eddie Lewis scored giving the U.S. hope, but it was not meant to be.

This means that the Americans play in a must-win contest in Birmingham, Ala. Wednesday night against Guatemala. The game is their third in their ten-game final round of qualifying quest for next year’s World Cup.

Livin’ it up in the GR

As many of you know, my roommate Brian is a huge, and I mean HUGE, college hockey fan. So when Michigan was placed in the NCAA Midwest Hockey Regional in Grand Rapids, I was convinced to come along. We also got our friends Eric, Ellen and Matt Venegoni to come along too.

The five of us crammed into my Jetta on Friday afternoon and finished the two-hour trip just before the start of the regional semi-final doubleheader at 5 p.m. But since Michigan was not playing Wisconsin until 8:30 p.m., Eric, Venegoni and I headed to “The B.O.B.” right across the street.

The “Big Old Building” had a bunch of bars and restaurants and the like, and also had the best happy hour special I have ever experienced. $1.50 pint drafts until 6:30 p.m. And this was GOOD beer -- pale ales, amber ales, etc.

We took advantage, as Venegoni and I took down five pints each. While we were pounding away, we met a couple from Chicago, Jennifer and Chris, sitting right next to us. Chris went to Madison, and took his girlfriend, who went to Northern Illinois, along for the fun. Jennifer said that I looked like a younger version of Chris, so I’ll take that as a complement.

Then we went across the street to meet up with Ellen and Brian, who were watching the Colorado College-Colgate game the whole time. Let’s just say I was pretty hammered. During the first period of Michigan’s 4-1 win over Wisconsin, I found Bucky Badger, the Wisconsin mascot, and started to fight him. Pictures of this encounter are below.

After the game, in which I passed out during the second period, we later met up with the Michigan Daily hockey writers and Chris Burke, a Grand Rapids native who happens to still be alive, at another establishment. It was fun, but it was also like 80% guys. In other words, pretty weak.

The five of us then decided to pass out Ellen’s parents’ house in East Grand Rapids, which is most famous for being the basis of the “American Pie” movies. No one was home there, so we did not get to meet the McGs. Damn shame.

We woke up the next day with a few hours to spare, so we inquired with Burke about going to his house and meeting his family, since literally no one had ever met them. He said his sister was sick so we could not come over. Weak sauce. Thus we just watched “The Incredibles” on DVD, actually a pretty good movie.

Then we saw Michigan take on Colorado College for a spot in the Frozen Four. Things were looking pretty good when the Wolverines scored early in the second period to take a 3-0 lead.

But that was it for Michigan. The Tigers scored an a 5-on-3 advantage and once again while short handed. Colorado College then went on to win 4-3, and Michigan’s season ended. Not fun.

So the five of us ended out weekend by going to another bar to pick up some dinner and watch the unbelievable ending of the Illinois-Arizona game before going home. All in all, a pretty good weekend.

I take control on the way to Grand Rapids 

I take on Bucky Badger 

We shake hands after quite a battle -- while I was not drunk AT ALL 

I land a left jab 

Me in front of "The Bob" across the street from the arena 

I love hockey! 

Eric loves hockey! 

Gabe and I 

Yes, Chris Burke is still alive 

Time for some collar poppin' 

Schick and I 

Ian and Ellen 

Ellen says she looks bad in a hat. We all think otherwise.  

The five of us -- seconds before Colorado College tied the game at three 

St. Patrick's Day Weekend Column

To read about my St. Patrick's Day, click below.

http://www.michigandaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/03/24/4242b17d0ced1?in_archive=1

Team Maneater 5, Puckin Trojans 1

Team Maneater took another step Tuesday night to solidifying its place it the IM Broomball universe with a regular season ending 5-1 smashing of the Puckin Trojans (1-1-1). Despite having to play shorthanded for the game’s first four minutes due to a lack of female players and giving up an early soft goal, Team Maneater (3-0) enforced its dominance throughout the contest.

In his first shift at forward all season, Bob Hunt opened the scoring for Team Maneater to go into halftime tied at one. But Team Maneater – using a new short-shift substitution system – kept the ball on the other half almost the entire second stanza. Goals by Chris Ivezic, Kevin Ford and Elizabeth Balten blew the game open, while Hunt went back in between the pipes. Hunt enters the playoffs with a 0.67 GAA.

Playoff brackets come out Tuesday, with action beginning later that week.

Bob’s St. Patrick’s Day Adventure

Although my weekend column is not until Thursday, I could not wait to put the photos of our adventure online. Which photos will make the paper? You have to read Thursday to find out.

In line at Conor O'Neill's 

My English teacher John and I 

I talk in class 

Chillin' at Brown Jug 

I hang out with the bag pipe player at Ashley's 

Some dude picks me up at Dominick's 

I decide to hype it Ashley's 

Doing a little jig 

These girls were just hanging in this corner by themselves. But when you have a photog -- you can do anything.  

Yeah! Pyramid! 

I pass out -- at 3 p.m. 

The girl on the left stole my hat. I want it back. 

I chill with a girl whose five years older. That's not too much -- right? 

I pose with some athlete's girlfriends. Bill Martin must be so proud. 

Top O the morning to ya! I go to McDonalds at 6:30 a.m. 

Anne, Eric and myself at Conor O'Neill's 

Hypin' it with my pal Bernie 

Just because I have been drinking does not mean that I don't go to class 

Someone brought a fifth to class -- so, of course, I had to finish it off 

Meeting some folks at Dominick's 

Takin' in a Red Bull on the way to the Brown Jug 

Me at Ashley's 

When people steal my coat, they pay 

Me in line at Scorekeepers 

Another $2.50 pitcher of green beer 

Steve in one of his repeated attempts to choke me in order to get on camera 

I hype it in order to get this one girl to take a shot. Yeah -- she wasn't interested in me. 

Upstairs at Scorekeepers 

Girls dig the photog 

Venegoni and me at Scorekeepers 

Venegoni and me at Scorekeepers 

St. Patty's Day -- A True Adventure

To say that my St. Patrick’s Day was pretty wild would be an understatement. I’m not going to go into the details, because they will all be laid out in my weekend column due out next Thursday. However, I will on Sunday put pictures on the blog that will not make the column. Stay tuned.

In other news, my final four consisted of Illinois, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Duke with Illinois beating North Carolina in the final. I know that’s not very original, but I think the Illini have a lot going for them with senior leadership and getting to play the whole tournament within 300 miles of its campus. Yesterday, I got 13 of the 16 games right.